|
Friday, May 16th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:27a
Poem for Friday
( Blake )
If I hadn't posted the lyrics to Vienna Teng's "City Hall" less than a year ago, I'd have posted them today -- I was singing them all of Thursday afternoon after I got the news from California. Finally news that puts an unreserved smile on my face! Because while I think the woman in the MySpace suicide case deserved to be indicted, that's not exactly happy news, and the news out of China about the quake toll keeps getting worse, and while it's nice enough that Brad and Angelina are having twins it's also boggling to me that that's a top news story.
I met ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) gblvr for lunch, insisting on the mall so she could get sushi and I could see if Sears had the same skort I got yesterday in another pattern but they didn't have it in my size. Then I persuaded her to come back to my house because I had some stuff for the con.txt giveaway table (old fan club newsletters and zines) and art by mamadracula for the art show, which then led to me calling the artist herself to wax nostalgic about when we both loved Voyager and all related fannishness. I spent the early evening going through a huge stack of magazines -- mostly EW, Smithsonian, British Heritage and Astronomy with a few others thrown in -- trying to figure out what we wanted to save out of the huge number we need to recycle. If anyone knows a specific issue in the last three years that you're dying for and that you suspect I won't want (like, you can't have any Russell Crowe covers or Jamestown landing anniversary stuff), let me know!
( From the Brookside Gardens Conservatory )
I can think of no nicer way to describe the Smallville season finale than an enormous letdown, but really I could say that for the season itself, too...I wasn't bored the way I've been at times in earlier years but it was so wildly inconsistent that I didn't know what show I would be watching from week to week and I often didn't care. ( Spoilers. ) The Next Gen episode I need to review Friday came across a lot better by comparison -- "The Defector," one of several superb bottle shows this season. With Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner doing Henry V.
|
(comment on this) Thursday, May 15th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:48a
Poem for Thursday
( A Spring Day )
The major event of my day was my annual visit to the OB-GYN to discuss such thrilling matters as familial cancer history, whether I would be a good candidate for DNA screening, whether the benefits of progesterone-based IUDs outweigh the disadvantages, the fact that emergency contraception is most effective if taken within 12-14 hours rather than the 24-48 advertised, how it would be nice to be John McCain's 96-year-old mother in terms of her health, spirit and intellect (though not, you know, to be John McCain's mother) and the fact that she and I both have sons who become very upset if they see a cat catch a small rodent. I like my OB-GYN very much and would probably think about inviting her to lunch if I knew her in some other context, but the rest of the yearly exam pretty much kills any urge to see her socially!
Then I went to the mall to meet my mother for lunch, stopping in Sears because I got there early and discovering that they have belted cotton skorts on sale for $13! And denim shorts for $9 -- both of these are half price, along with pretty much everything in the store through this weekend, and since those and a new bathing suit were pretty much my only remaining shopping requirements before we go out of town next month, this was a very successful shopping trip. (Can you tell how much I do not enjoy clothes shopping?) Also, Sears has penguin hooded towels, so younger son, who used a Bug's Life towel since -- well, pretty much since A Bug's Life was in theaters -- now has not one but two new towels for the summer. And because I know I am not the only person around who looks for penguin items, Claire's has penguin nesting dolls for $8. *whistles* Mom and I had yogurt and granola and ran into the father of my oldest friend, whom I missed at this year's Superbowl party.
( Frying Pan Farm Park Crafts )
Son made us watch Deal or No Deal filmed in South Africa...if you're the host in another country, do you have to shave your head like Howie? I liked the dancing and the drummers, otherwise disliked the show as usual. Then we watched Boston Legal, in which William Shatner gets his opportunity to run for President of the United States -- he's Canadian and Kirk would have to run for President of the Federation, a thankless job if ever there was one, though at least Spock could be his running mate! ( Spoilers. ) As for the current administration, it's too little too late, but at least the Department of the Interior has finally declared the polar bear a threatened species. Wow, you noticed? But still, this is better than nothing!
|
(comment on this) Wednesday, May 14th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:47a
Poem for Wednesday
( Inheritance )
Most of Tuesday was a catch-up/chore day for me, except for lunch with vertigo66 whom I had not seen in ages! We met at the Corner Bakery and I went early so I could walk around the lake and see if there were goslings, but I only saw one lone baby with the older geese -- I think they must have spoiled the eggs but missed this one, because there have been years where there were more than 30 babies. I took home as much salad as I ate, and I stopped at Target to get this penguin towel for younger son and this shark towel for older son, among other travel necessities.
( Washingtonian Lake Geese and Turtle )
I folded yesterday's laundry and watched this week's The Tudors On Demand; I wonder whether I will want to watch next season, because it's impossible to root for Henry or even feel sorry for him at this point except as an exemplar of the axiom that absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I'm not even sure who I really like at this point (Jane is too sweet and innocent and bendable to everyone else's will to take seriously, and we all know how long she lasts after providing the much-demanded son, anyway). Plus no matter how much I dislike Henry, I am incapable of rooting for Thomas Boleyn to be Lord Protector of England.
Much of my late afternoon and evening was taken up with moving books among the new bookcase in the basement and various others; most of the poetry is now upstairs, all of the photography magazines are downstairs on shelves, the new fiction is shelved with the old fiction although not remotely alphabetized as yet. This will be a many day project. I was sorry to see that Robert Rauschenberg has died; he was a monumental talent. And I feel awful for the people trapped in the natural disasters in Asia -- the images from that high school in China are unbearable.
|
(comment on this) Tuesday, May 13th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:05a
Poem for Tuesday
( Towards Kiyomizu )
I spent a very soggy Monday with dementordelta, who braved traffic through flooded Virginia to get here. Sadly, because of the rain, we could not go see goslings or Great Falls or anything scenic, and I didn't feel like fighting with traffic being rerouted in the rain so we just went to the mall for lunch. But then we spent the rest of the afternoon watching hot men -- first Daniel Radcliffe in the deleted scenes and interviews for My Boy Jack (I must say that Kim Cattrall really impressed me in the latter; it's so nice to hear her talk about something other than Samantha, though she's the only thing I really loved about Sex and the City).
Then I wanted to show her Captain Jack on Doctor Who -- I still like his character better there than on Torchwood, though the latter grew on me last season -- so we watched "The Empty Child" and "The Doctor Dances," followed by Jack's farewell and the Doctor's regeneration in "The Parting of the Ways." My children came home in the middle of this and insisted that we watch the Dalek army, too, so younger son could show off both his new stuffed Dalek and his remote control action figure. And then I had to show Delta "The Shakespeare Code," partly because of the Globe Theatre and the actor playing Shakespeare, partly for all the Harry Potter references. And she brought me seahorse socks, a penguin magnet and a fantastic book on Legendary Britain!
( Frying Pan Farm Park Piggies )
We had turkey burgers for dinner and I got four loads of laundry done over the course of the day, though none of them are folded yet. I also did some work on my bookshelves -- we have a new six-shelf bookcase down the basement for the books that have piled up on various tables, and I moved some stuff I never look at down the basement so I could move more art books and poetry upstairs. Every time local basements start flooding, I get the urge to move the heavy art books off lower basement shelves, even though we had to replace the rug and put in a sump pump not long after we moved in. At least the noisy drain cleaning of last week seems to have been well worthwhile: our cul-de-sac did not flood!
|
(comment on this) Monday, May 12th, 2008
littlereview
|
9:30a
'Boston Legal' Gets Fifth Season!
This is sufficiently good news to warrant its own post. Reports suggest cast cuts are likely, but I don't care -- as long as Spader, Shatner and Bergen return, they can continue to play musical supporting cast. I'm not attached to any of this year's additions nearly as much as I was to Paul and Brad but I still love the show.
Also, since this is a gratuitous post of fannish joy, here are photos of the Daleks my mother-in-law knitted for my sons. It's an adaptation of the pattern formerly posted at Entropy House that seems to have disappeared.
( EXTERMIKNIT! )
|
(comment on this)
littlereview
|
12:39a
Poem for Monday
( The Hand )
I spent Mother's Day with my parents and in-laws, with my husband doing all the cooking and nearly all the cleaning, so it was a very nice day even though the weather was miserable! Paul made monkey bread and eggs benedict casserole and waffles for brunch, then w*e went to Brookside Gardens for the annual Wings of Fancy butterfly show, but the wait to get in was so long that we ended up just walking through the conservatory looking at the flowers and plants. Then we came home, played Mexican Train Dominoes and had dinner -- coq au vin, noodles, French bread, green beans, salad and derby pie. So I ate very well. *g* My mother got me Crocs (which I had told her I wanted); my immediate family had already given me my gift, a Nikon Speedlight, which I used to take family photos.
( Brookside Gardens Color )
We spent twenty minutes carrying defunct computer equipment from our basement out to my in-laws' truck in the pouring rain; there's a group of people in my father-in-law's church who takes old equipment and fixes it for kids who can't afford computers, and we had stuff down there dating back to a Mac Color Classic. So I got very wet and spent the rest of the evening sitting around in sweats watching Evan Almighty on HBO, because that is a totally entertaining movie with lots of animals that shows corrupt politicians the error of their ways, and really, how often do movies about God do that without turning all repulsive like The Ten Commandments. That would be a much better movie if the plagues were things like elephants blocking the overseers from tormenting the slaves and Pharaoh distracted by penguins swimming in the Nile.
|
(comment on this) Sunday, May 11th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:24a
Poem for Sunday
( Dead )
Not having had enough of sheep last weekend (because how could anyone have enough of sheep, really), we went Saturday once the rain stopped to Frying Pan Farm Park's Sheep and Wool Day, where we got to see all the animals at Kidwell Farm -- a 1920s dairy farm, with alpacas, goats, pigs, chickens, ducks, rabbits, horses, and of course sheep and cows -- plus the blacksmith shop and country store on the premises that sells fresh eggs and cleaned wool from the farm. There were crafts -- I made a lanyard weaving loops of fluffy yarn over my fingers -- and sheep shearing all afternoon, plus a chance to visit with and pet this year's lambs. It wasn't very crowded in the craft tent, where people were demonstrating dyeing, carding, spinning and knitting, and the weather was gorgeous, mostly overcast and not too chilly. Some baby animals for Mother's Day:
( Frying Pan Farm Park Sheep & Wool Day )
Adam was being amusing this morning and asked what if Daisy's name wasn't really Daisy -- the people we adopted her from told us that it was, but what if they were wrong? So I was quoting Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats to him about the naming of cats, and we ended up deciding that we should subject our children to the DVD of the London staging of Cats whose date I have been unable to ascertain but it must have been the 1990s; it has Elaine Paige, the original Grizabella, and Ken Page, who played Old Deuteronomy on Broadway, and John Mills, who was not the original Gus but is probably better known than anyone who did. I haven't watched any version of Cats in a decade -- since before I had cats or saw the Russell Hotel! -- and it was enormous fun.
Happy Mother's Day, if you are a mother or have a mother or know a mother...I will be with my mother and mother-in-law, meaning my husband has been put in charge of the festivities! *g*
|
(comment on this) Saturday, May 10th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:47a
Poem for Saturday
( Self-Portrait )
I was going to have lunch with cidercupcakes, but it was rainy and miserable all morning and she had to work in the afternoon, so we decided to postpone a week. I expect to be well-fed for Mother's Day, and we had dinner with my parents (barbecue chicken, mini potato knishes) so it's probably just as well if I did not eat out again! I wrote a review of "The Vengeance Factor", the episode I did not remember at all, and howled and cheered at Katha Pollitt on Backlash Spectacular!
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) fridayfiver: ( Buy Me Flowers )
thefridayfive: ( Meaning of Life )
fannish5: ( Rereading & Rewatching )
( Maryland Zoo Animals )
Friday night TV was wonderful -- I was going to watch Battlestar Galactica no matter what because of Nana Visitor, but I actually enjoyed the episode more than the last, oh, twenty or so, even if it's no Sarah Jane Adventures. The second part of "Warriors of Kudlak" did such a lovely job paying tribute to Star Trek, too. ( Spoilers. ) I'd seen "Planet of the Ood" before so I had the annoying experience again of noticing cuts, but that's still a fantastic episode, so many moments I love. ( Spoilers. ) Then there's BSG. Where the women are still batshit crazy. Should it make me feel better that most of the men are at least moderately batshit crazy as well? ( Spoilers. )
|
(comment on this) Friday, May 9th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:26a
Poem for Friday
( She-Fox )
Let me begin by mentioning the awesomeness of the Platypus. And presales for Great Big Sea's Fortune's Favour start Friday at noon. And yay Wil Wheaton -- vertigo66, what shall we do the night the Star Trek movie opens? Go out to dinner, then watch "Amok Time" and "Requiem for Methuselah"? *g*
Today I had the pleasure of lunch with perkypaduan, followed by the first hour or so of the director's cut of American Gangster, though she had to hit the road so we will finish it next week. It was not immediately apparent what, if anything, was added in that first hour, but I only saw the theatrical version of the film once. I also helped son a bit more with his web page and captioned photos on Picasa and contemplated things I need to buy before we go on vacation at the end of next month, like another bathing suit and some shirts that are nicer than t-shirts but don't need ironing and hopefully an inexpensive skort. I loathe shopping for clothes.
( More Sheep & Wool )
We had jacket potatoes with turkey stew for dinner and watched Smallville, which would have been fun if it had embarked on this storyline while certain characters were still alive and had developed it over several seasons, but now seems to be playing "Canon? What canon?" with its own second season on top of chewing up and spitting out the previous history of Superman as I understand it. ( Spoilers. ) The Next Gen episode I watched to review is one I don't remember at all -- it was like brand new old Star Trek! Fun! Political commentary Thursday made me want to throw up all over people I like, far more than the opposition, so I am going to ignore everything until the Democrats have a nominee and then hold my nose and vote for him or her no matter who it is or who gets disenfranchised, insulted, underestimated, marginalized or misquoted between now and then. Sigh.
|
(comment on this) Thursday, May 8th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:09a
Poem for Thursday
( The Water Queen of Jerusalem )
Not the most exciting of Wednesdays. I worked on html for a web page for my son, who has decided that he desperately wants his own domain for penguin photos and the like, but for some reason a photo that loads fine on a local html file won't work when I upload the file to the web (I think it's because his new domain forwards to a page on my web site, so there are essentially frames keeping the domain URL in place and the frames are somehow screwing with the tables). Then I took younger son to the orthodontist, where we got some bad news: not only do the braces need to go back on, but because it's considered a new phase in his treatment, with new molds and a new apparatus, we have to refinance and argue costs with our insurance. So it's painful for all of us! At least the braces won't have to go on till we get back from our long trip this summer so they won't affect what he can eat while traveling. He has one adult tooth that is refusing to budge from the gums because his mouth is small and it would just fit straight between the teeth but it's coming in at an angle, so there has to be more room. Sigh.
( More Lake Whetstone Geese )
I see that the Olympic torch made it to the top of Mount Everest...I have mixed feelings because of the Tibet situation but it's a neat idea to take the Olympic flame to the top of the world, though I was wondering how they managed to light it with so little oxygen. Climbing is one of my favorite sports to read about, though not people who think the 8000 meters plus mountains are the only ones that count and not wealthy amateurs who pay tens of thousands of dollars for the privilege of losing toes, limbs or their lives in exchange for possible bragging rights. I made it up Mount Washington in the White Mountains, but I don't dream of climbing on Denali, let alone the Himalayas, though I would dearly love to walk around Mount Kailas.
|
(comment on this) Wednesday, May 7th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:31a
Poem for Wednesday
( The Water-Fall )
I got to get out of the house and have lunch with gblvr, yay! We had grand plans to go to P.F. Chang's but it was so crowded that we said to heck with it and opted for the quicker pleasure of Texas BBQ (which cost a lot less and frankly I like as much as most Chinese, though now that I know about that vegetarian place, I have a new favorite restaurant). I also got to meet wojelah, who shares my adoration of Donna Noble and did not run screaming when I admitted that I like Sam Carter better than Rodney McKay. Somehow while we were in the mall we managed not to notice the earthquake that hit the DC region, though on the scale of disasters I keep being grateful that I live here instead of in a major hurricane zone, tornado zone, etc.
( Samson the Baby Elephant )
Finally we watched The Golden Compass, which I liked well enough -- it's probably my favorite Nicole Kidman role ever, she's so much better cold and insincere, heh -- but I could also see why it didn't catch on as the next Lord of the Rings, Narnia, etc. I started to feel a bit Farscape about all the talking animals -- give us more Asriel, even if his name is ridiculously pretentious, already -- and I was really looking forward to the alleged Church-bashing and was sorry it was so subtle, and that the world was still so hierarchical and aristocratic in many ways. Just like in C.S. Lewis's books, there's a rightful hierarchy and a wrongful hierarchy even among bears! And I'm kind of embarrassed at what Pullman obviously thinks American stereotypes are like. ( On which note...election stuff. )
The pictures from Myanmar are so upsetting, but it's almost as upsetting that only now does the world media seem to notice that there are thousands of refugees already -- more than in Darfur, according to some reports -- and the government is actively blocking humanitarian aid. It's a nightmare situation on top of a nightmare situation.
|
(comment on this) Tuesday, May 6th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:29a
Poem for Tuesday
( Executive Shoeshine )
Not a very eventful Monday; I mostly finished laundry, caught up on phone calls and tried to learn how to use my new speedlight -- an early Mother's Day present so I'll have it on our trip this summer and can hopefully take better photos of relatives, indoor scenery and the interior of the HMS Surprise. *g* Younger son came home from school all excited because he had found several caterpillars on the way; later, son's best friend came over excitedly to tell me to bring the camera because a bird had laid eggs in one of the nest boxes on their deck (received and painted as party favors a few days ago -- on Tuesday I am going to Michael's to get one of them!).
( Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival 2008 )
For dinner we had Mexican food to celebrate Cinco de Mayo (well, Tex-Mex, since I doubt anyone involved in that victory over the French had hard-shell chicken tacos and mini cheese quesadillas). Then we were going to watch The Golden Compass which apaulled brought home on DVD last week -- he enjoyed the book -- but older son took forever taking his shower, so we postponed that. Fannish comment: ( 'Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince' film spoiler. ) I'm so irritated that they're making two movies out of Deathly Hallows that I'm not feeling any particular desire to see Half Blood Prince, though finding out that the filmmaker may have more sense than the novelist about certain things makes me feel somewhat better.
Hope everyone is keeping safe from tornadoes, cyclones and all the other disasters that seem to be whirling around the world. I'm sad that Mildred Loving has died and still astounded that her lawsuit demanding the right to intermarriage took place during my lifetime. I'm hoping my kids are just as shocked and horrified one day to realize that gay marriage wasn't legal during their lifetimes.
|
(comment on this) Monday, May 5th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:27a
Poem for Monday
( Opera Night at Caffe Taci )
Daniel was still recuperating from his upset stomach on Sunday morning and Adam was fed and entertained at the Hebrew school's birthday party for Israel, so those of us at home had a quiet morning and a relatively small lunch before deciding it was too gorgeous a day not to go out somewhere. Since Daniel was feeling much better, we went to Lake Whetsone Park in Gaithersburg for our annual look at the goslings produced by the goose colony there (previous years here and here). Lake Whetstone also has a great blue heron colony at the top of the tall trees in the center island, plus ducks and ducklings, cormorants, turtles, cardinals, red-wing blackbirds, barn swallows living under the boardwalk and many other animals. Adam found a caterpillar that accompanied up on our walk for a while on his arm. It was gorgeous and cool in the woods and there were birds singing everywhere.
( Lake Whetstone Gosling Tour 2008 )
For dinner Paul made jacket potatoes with chicken tikka masala -- Daniel doesn't eat that anyway, so he didn't mind having plain chicken and noodles -- then we all watched Doctor Who's "The Poison Sky" which I liked much better than its prequel for a whole lot of reasons. ( Spoilers! ) Then we watched The Tudors, which surprisingly dropped the opportunity to suggest that Anne had Catherine murdered -- I was so sure she was going to convince her brother or someone to poison Catherine, since she's talked about wanting her and Mary dead so often. But I was really glad they didn't go that route, even though they offered no explanation why Catherine died so young, apart from a broken heart. They're back to Henry being over Thomas More's death and turned on by Anne (son, who was in the room reading, asked why Henry liked to be choked during sex; I had no good answer immediately ready), so even though Jane Seymour is very pretty, it's not clear to me how they're going to work Henry into the murderous frenzy necessary to bring her to her well-known end.
I'm trying to find decent coverage of the British election, because our press isn't covering it for shit and the UK press is presuming more knowledge of British party politics than I have. Yesterday at the Sheep & Wool Festival, I told my mother-in-law that I wished someone was covering the Zimbabwe election controversy instead of garbage like Barbara Walters' love life, and a Muslim woman patted me on the back and said she was glad to hear someone who cared about real issues and then started lecturing about Rachel Corrie's foundation and the situation in Gaza. I almost bit my tongue off not arguing point for point...
|
(comment on this) Sunday, May 4th, 2008
littlereview
|
12:48a
Poem for Sunday
( Memory )
Saturday we took our annual trip to the Maryland Zoo's Breakfast With the Penguins, for which we had to get up very early and at which we got a bit sunburnt but it was worth it as always! This year there was a lot more food...in addition to all the breakfast meats and eggs and pastries, they had about eight varieties of bagels from a local place with several different flavored cream cheeses, plus fresh fruit and fruit juices as well as coffee for the adults and penguin squeeze bottles for the kids. (The penguins get smelly cold fish, so it's just as well there was no lox. *g*) There were two penguin ambassadors waddling on the grass and most of the zoo's 45 African penguins swimming around the penguin enclosure, along with some greedy gulls and a cormorant. This year, instead of bidding on a penguin painting, we bid on a private tour of the penguin enclosure to be held at a later date, and even though someone outbid us at the last minute, they offered to let us do it too for our bid price so we will be going back to see the inside of the enclosure soon!
( Breakfast with the Penguins )
We walked around the zoo a bit because there is a baby African elephant, Samson, who only just began appearing in public this week, as well as a young giraffe and lions, cheetahs, cranes, a porcupine, chimpanzees, rhinos and lots of other animals in the Africa section. We stopped by the Arctic zone, but we didn't see much of the rest of the zoo because we had plans to meet my in-laws at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I had never been before, and was expecting a bunch of local sheep and a couple of craft tents -- I had no idea of the size of it, and it's entirely free, even parking! We walked through four enormous barns of sheep, alpacas and llamas, several of which were being sheared and primped for judging, as well as dozens of craft displays and at least three musical stages, on one of which Maggie Sansone was playing. My in-laws are just back from three weeks in the UK and brought us Cadbury, Scottish souvenirs and a bunch of little Vikings in honor of their Swedish heritage.
On the way home we stopped at Ikea to get a bookcase -- now that we know where it is in College Park, we can't seem to stay away -- and had an early dinner there since the food is so inexpensive and we'd skipped lunch due to the size of our breakfast. It would have been a perfect day except that against my better judgment I watched the Kentucky Derby when Paul put it on, though I'd said after Barbaro that I was through with horses racing, but I didn't stick to it after we visited Churchill Downs two summers ago. Now once again we have had to watch an animal die for a big-money race, this time on the track after coming in second -- "It's not supposed to happen," the trainer said, but it happens far too often and I'm done watching the sport and supporting that kind of treatment even passively from my living room. Older son ended up with an upset stomach from our crazy eating and hectic hours today, so it was a quiet evening at home with the kids.
|
(2 comments | comment on this) Saturday, May 3rd, 2008
(2 comments | comment on this)
|
critical