Second Blooming

RTT: Oscar Recap 2012

For years, Jimmy and I have been trying to get Jude to sit and watch the Academy Awards with us. We always make a big deal of it (this year they requested an encore of our Valentine's fondue feast) and we loved the idea of Jude joining in. Well. Be careful what you ask for. This year, he sat and watched the whole thing and the kid WOULDN'T SHUT UP! He had seen both Hugo and The Artist, so he was feeling pretty "in the know" and suddenly had opinions. He was very upset that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two didn't win anything, "It's the best movie I've ever seen!" And the endless questions! "What's a Documentary Short?" "What is Cinematography?". "Why was that funny?" "Why is that lady crying?" "Who is he?" "Who is she?" "Who is he?" "Who is she?". On and on and on. I fear that we have created a monster.

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Does anybody else think the Oscars were painfully boring this year?

I've always loved Billy Crystal, but he was pretty dull Sunday night - classy, charming...dull. But I'm afraid it's because he just didn't have the material. His trademark opening song had to include NINE Best Picture nominees, one of which (The Tree of Life) I'd never even heard of. I mean, I'm an ACTOR who lives in LOS ANGELES, and I had never heard of it! I bet that most people who live in the middle of the country hadn't heard of half of them!

In 2009, they changed the rules so that up to 10 movies could be nominated for Best Picture. Apparently, one of the main reasons for this change was an attempt to combat declining television viewership of the awards show. The theory was that including more films in the Best Picture category, the Academy could include more popular films, and that might encourage more people to tune in. THIS IS NOT WORKING PEOPLE. 

Because the real problem is that the studios make a bunch of crappy movies, and don't promote the well-made films AT ALL. Hence my having never HEARD of one of the nominees. There's just nothing worth going to see any more. There are films that are fun and escapist. Or of the block bustery/adventure type. But big budget, well-made films just don't exist. Pretty much everything I deem worth watching lately, is on television. True.

Look at the Oscar nominees from the last half of the '70s:

1975 - One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Barry Lyndon, Dog Day Afternoon, Jaws, Nashville

1976 - Rocky, All the President's Men, Bound for Glory, Network, Taxi Driver

1977 - Annie Hall, The Goodbye Girl, Julia, Star Wars, The Turning Point

1978 - The Deerhunter, Coming Home, Heaven Can Wait, Midnight Express, An Unmarried Woman

1979 - Kramer Vs. Kramer, All That Jazz, Apocalypse Now, Breaking Away, Norma Rae

Damn, those were MOVIES! Every single one of these movies is a brilliant classic! How can you compare even one of the NINE nominees this year with ANY of these movies?! Sad.

Okay, I hearby step off my soap box.

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Angelina, Angelina, Angelina. For those of you who missed the controversy...

Angelina Jolie showed up wearing a truly stunning black Versace gown. The problem was that every time she stood still she arranged herself in this bizarre, ridiculously awkward pose, with her right leg thrust out to the side to show off the dresses slit, and her left arm stuck uncomfortably on her hip. She did this over and over on the red carpet...

Which is really all fine, because the red carpet is all about the fashion and posing for the still cameras. But then, when she walked out on stage during the show to present the Best Adapted Screenplay award, she stopped in front of the microphone, and carefully arranged herself yet again in this awkward pose, popping her right leg out and then strangely arranging her left arm on her hip again. It looked downright uncomfortable...

...then started talking. I actually said out loud "What the hell is that about?" I mean, who does that? Then, when The Descendants screenwriter Jim Rash came on stage to accept his award, he rather snarkily arranged himself in the same silly pose...

And people kind of got mad at him for making fun of her, but really...she was absolutely fair game. Just silly. I hope she's fired the bone-headed stylist who no doubt convinced her that she needed to do this. She is so gorgeous (albeit freakishly, painfully thin), and the dress was so gorgeous, that she absolutely didn't need to do this silliness at ALL.

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The other big controversy? J Lo's nipple. Look veeeeeeerry carefully on her left boob...

Yep. That's some areola. Pretty sure. I mean, that's a lot of gown there, and no amount of double-face tape is gonna assure you that there's no slippage.

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I do love me those women from The Help! Didn't Octavia Spencer look fabulous?

Every plus-size woman in Hollywood should rush to Tadashi Shoji, the designer of her gown. He completely used her curves to her advantage, and made her look fabulous. Somebody PLEASE give Melissa McCarthy his number!

I LOVED that Viola Davis chose NOT to wear a wig! I hope every little black girl in America saw her and thought "I have pretty hair just like her!" Though I think she should have left it it's natural color too. She looked amazing.

Jessica Chastain, who is as cute as a bug, literally...actually, she's probably cuter than most bugs...had one of the best dresses of the evening...

And Emma Stone somehow made a dress with the biggest bow on the planet look chic...

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Enough of my ranting. Head over to Stacy's for more Random Tuesday Thoughts!

 

Spin Cycle: Jimmy's Top 11 Favorite Movies

To my husband, Jimmy, movies work like a balm to his soul. He may be in a dark, miserable mood, but turning on a favorite movie will completely shift his view of the world. He reacts to a beloved movie in a passionate, visceral way.

The films on this list are not necessarily Jimmy's picks for the best movies ever made (though some of them certainly qualify). They are the movies that he most loves and connects with on a deep, personal level. These are the movies that, though he's seen them each a hundred times, if he's channel surfing and happens upon them, he can’t turn them off, and he ends up sitting and watching the whole thing. They are all extremely personal for him, and served as seminal moments in his life.

I tried to make this a top 10 list, but he had such a hard time wheedling the list down, that I let him go with 11, or 12 if you count the Godfathers separately. And the quotes are pure Jimmy. Here they are in alphabetical order...

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948 -  Directed by Charles Barton, Starring Bud Abbott, Lou Costello, Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney, Jr.)

A favorite of Jimmy's since childhood. Part comedy, part classic horror movie, Jimmy says this movie still always manages to make him laugh and scare him to death. For him, it's serves as a movie version of comfort food. Sweetly, the thing that Jimmy says has always touched him most about this movie is Abbott and Costello's friendship, that "amongst all the monsters, they always tried to help and take care of each other." When he was a kid, the part when Abbott goes back to save Costello always made him cry - "they were best friends even in the face of death".

Casablanca (1942 - Directed by  Michael Curtiz, Starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman)

Aside from simply being great film, Jimmy loves that it's hopelessly romantic. Romantic with a capital R. Not just the romantic love story, but also Victor Laszlo's heroic conviction to his cause, and Bogie's sacrifice for the greater good. This movie also happens to be Pop's favorite movie of all time.

The Godfather, Parts 1 & 2 (1972, 1974 - Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, Starring Marlon Brando, Al Pacino, Robert De Niro)

Both movies sweep you up and into the world of the Corleones. Coppola created a  combination of sounds, smells and images that bombard you every moment. The thing that gets Jimmy is the beautiful paradox at the core of the films,  that the story is really about a family like any family, they eat together and laugh together, but they're murderous gangsters, which sets them apart from the rest of the world. The tragedy of Michael Corleone was that his life could have gone another way,  but it didn’t. His father meant to do well, he tried to do everything for Michael, but in the end, he made him someone just like himself.  Vito Corleone wasn’t a vicious man, and yet he was a murderer. We knew what he was doing was wrong, and yet here was a gentle man who loved and cared for his family. The beauty about Brando was that he had so much pathos about him, and that made the viewer confused.  Brando brought that to it. "Any other actor wouldn’t have brought that to it, but that cat? Come on."

GoodFellas (1990, Directed by Martin Scorcese, Starring Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci)

Jimmy's first reaction when thinking about this movie was a deep exhalation. "Edgy. GoodFellas is edgy, it’s sharp, scary, sexy." It has a similar family element like The Godfather,  they all stuck together and took care of each other. But in GoodFellas,"these people weren’t family, they behaved like a family because of their business, because of money. And when you realize that at the end of the movie, when they all start to rat on each other, as an audience member it destroyed me. Because you thought that their life was just grand. But they were vicious, vicious people." Unlike the poetic Don Corleone, these people had no pathos, they were cold-blooded killers and didn’t pretend otherwise. And yet, "Scorcese did it again. He made such a great film, that you can’t stop watching it."

In the Heat of the Night (1967 - Directed by Norman Jewison, Starring Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger)

"Explosive. Great acting. Great story."  Poitier and Steiger's performances are "an acting lesson", they were both at the peak of their talents.

La Dolce Vita - (1960, Directed by Federico Fellini, Starring Marcello Mastroianni, Anita Ekberg)

A brilliant Fantasy. "Marcello Mastroianni is poetry in motion." The dream sequence is "one of the most brilliant and frightening scenes I’ve ever seen on film". Watching Fellini’s film "was like going to Coney Island."

Last Tango in Paris (1972 - Directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, Starring Marlon Brando, Maria Schneider)

"Tragic. Romantically tragic. Sexually tragic. Psychologically tragic." And yet, there was a beauty underneath the whole film. "The score really lit up the beauty, and heightened the emotional life of the characters." Beautiful and sad and raw. A journey into the human conditions. It's always fascinated me that when Jimmy was 16, Pop and Mommy took Jimmy and his friend Scott to see this movie, which was, at the time, notoriously rated X. After the first scene, when Brando and Schneider meet and have sex, Pop leaned over to Jimmy and told him "You and Scott. Other side of the theater." Apparently, Pop didn't mind him watching the movie, just not watching the movie while sitting with his mother!

Manhattan (1979 - Directed by Woody Allen, Starring Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway)

"When Annie Hall came out,  it was ground-breaking in that nobody had ever seen a movie like that, and nobody expected Woody Allen to make a film like that . Then, with Manhattan, he took it to another level. It has a class to it, a maturity." He matured as a director and in the subject matter. Manhattan hit a deep spot in me about how we can take  loved ones for granted in relationships  and not realize what you might have.  "The intellectuals on the Upper East Side with all their problems fascinated me." It was extremely funny, and very sad. "Mariel Hemingway was a gem. I met her right before they did the pizza scene but I didn’t know who she was. My cousin Aurelio was an actor in the scene, he played the pizza parlor guy and I went to visit him the day they shot it at John’s Pizza in the Village. I hung out there all day. And I’m sitting on the ground, talking to this girl and I thought 'Oh what a cool chick.' and then all of a sudden one of the grips came over and said 'Mariel, we’re back on the set now.' And she left. We rapped for about 20 minutes.'"

Raging Bull (1980 - Directed by Martin Scorcese, Starring Robert De Niro, Cathy Moriarty, Joe Pesci)

Scorcese brilliantly captured the violence of these people. Not just in Jake LaMotta and his brother, but in the whole culture. "Just really scary and upsetting , but it was beautiful violence. The violence itself wasn’t beautiful, of course, but the artistry of the film made it beautiful. The photography was exquisite. As was the editing and the acting. You can only watch Raging Bull maybe once or twice a year tops because it’s too disturbing."

Swept Away (By an Unusual Destiny in the Blue Sea of August) (1974 - Directed by Lina Wertmuller, Starring Giancarlo Giannini, Mariangela Melato

Life-changing. It was a "special era" in Jimmy's life. In the summer of 1975, HBO was just coming onto the scene, and Swept Away was one of the first movies they showed. "It blew everybody’s minds and I turned everybody on to it that summer – Swept Away summer was a golden summer.  A lot of romance in the air. Like we were just waiting for it, and it was perfect timing." The film was voted the most controversial film of the seventies. People were talking about it around the dinner table. From Manhattan all the way to the suburbs of Long Island, where Jimmy was. "I fell in love with Giancarlo and Mariangela Melato. Everybody had a crush on her after this movie. You wanted to fuck her and slap her at the same time. It was sexy watching this movie. It was hot." 

[Jimmy wants me to make it clear that he is NO WAY condoning the horrible Madonna remake of this film. "It was disgusting. She ruined a masterpiece. A fart must have got into her brain. I can’t even discuss it, it’s so horrible what she did!"]

The Third Man (1949 - Directed by Carol Reed, Starring Joseph Cotten, Orson Welles)

 

Sinister. Filled with "intrigue and style." Anton Karas' zither music was "darkly romantic and fit the movie like a glove – genius."

Okay, I expect you all to go immediately to Netflix and line up the ones you haven't seen in your queue!

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Please do the polite thing and visit all of this week's spins on the topic "The Movies"...

Peg in Square Peg in a Round Hole

Kendra in Life in the Slow Lane

Jan in Jan's Sushi Bar

Aimee in AimeeWrites

Vandy J in The Testosterone Three and Me

Jen in Sprite's Keeper - OPENING FRIDAY!!

Michele Renee in Must Be a Full Moon - OPENING FRIDAY!!

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Next week on The Spin Cycle...

Phobias

We all have them. If we're willing to admit it. Mommy has MANY of them.

What are you afraid of? Snakes? Heights? Needles? Airplanes? Enclosed spaces? Fluffy kittens?

Lucy Van Pelt said it far better than I ever could...

 

Please examine yourself deeply and spin up your fears!

The doctor is "real in".

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WWTK Wednesday - Fog

Oh no.

Do you remember back two years ago, when I spent two weeks on the sofa with stinking, fracking vertigo? Well, I did. And now I fear that it's BACK.

It's not as bad as before - I don't actually feel like I'm on a boat. I just have a head full of cotton, a complete inability to think straight, and I'm about half deaf. I'm guessing it's the same inflammation of the inner ear thing as before. I really don't NEED this.

I seem to be unable to concentrate, or come up with any ideas. But luckily, Mamarazzi has provided a bit of inspiration, so I'm diving into WWTK Wednesday once again...

1. What is for dinner tonight (bonus for sharing the recipe)?

We have been crazy for veggies around here lately, because I've started getting organic produce DELIVERED to our home, which is a little bit of brilliance. I have a whole post planned about this, so the details will be forthcoming as soon as the cotton clears out of my brain. Anyway, we have been eating lots of excellent produce. And since the thought of grocery shopping makes me slightly queasy, this delivery thing is excellent. Tonight I'm pulling some chicken/apple sausage out of the freezer and serving it with Jan's Pan-Fried Fingerling Potatoes and some fresh spinach, which I'm just going to saute with a little olive oil and garlic. Now here's my question...do I still get the bonus if I'm only providing a link to the recipe? And what is this bonus anyway? Ooo, I hope it's money.

2) Share something you are currently looking forward to.

I am determined to get to Austin this summer! My old college gang is planning another reunion, and I am going to do everything I can to make it a nice long trip so I can see all my girlfriends and my cousins. PLEASE God makes this work! I need me a Texas fix!

3) What are your thoughts on re-gifting?

I would say that it depends entirely on the thoughtfulness behind the re-gifting. If someone gives you something and you're not sure if you'll ever actually use it, but when you look at it you think "That's SO perfect for..." whoever, then giving it to whoever is fine and dandy. If someone gives you something that you don't want and you give it away just to get rid of it and because you're too lazy to go and shop for somebody, then it's just plain tacky.

4) How often do you rearrange your furniture?

Never. I'm stuck in a rut. 

5) Share a picture from your cellphone or camera.

Oh well now, isn't this handy! Jude and I spent a pleasant but mostly uneventful weekend at Cub Scout Winter Camp in Lake Arrowhead, and I was wondering how I was going to work in the pictures! I went a little crazy with the Hipstamatic...

And a fun time was had by all.

Please visit Mamarazzi, Crazy Mama and Queso for more WWTK participants.

 

RTT: Madonna, Botulism and Lawyers

So...where do you come down in the great Madonna at the Super Bowl debate - for or against? Just in case you missed it...

 

I gather, from my Facebook news feed, that lots of people thought she was just terrific. So this might not be very popular,  but I hated it. Just for full disclosure, I must admit that I haven't liked anything the woman's done since Desperately Seeking Susan, so you can take this all with a big grain of kosher salt. I do appreciate that she's a wonderful showman ( the production value was very high - all those gladiators and lyre-playing cupids were pretty impressive) and a savvy business woman (she was smart enough to invite all those other recording artists that the "young folks" like to join her, so she would appear to still have relevance in the musical world). But the whole performance just left me cold.

And I'm about to say something that I really can't believe I'm gonna say. I am a fellow middle-aged woman, and I have never felt that age should make a woman stop acting like herself. I think that women of all ages can and SHOULD be sexy as hell. And Madonna still has an absolutely smokin' body.

That said...I think she's just gotten a little too old to do all that hootchy-cootchy dancing. I mean, the woman is 53 for God's sake. I kept thinking that she was gonna hurt herself. And she did, in fact, almost fall off the stage at about the 3:30 minute mark. No way she could have done those cartwheels without the spotters! And the 53-year old cheerleader thing was just silly. Jimmy kept asking "Why does she have that stupid smile on her face?", which he was right about, and all I could think was that all of us middle-aged women photograph a little better with a smile, and she was just working that.

Okay, I'm sorry, I'm a bitch.

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Remember a few weeks ago, when I posted this recipe for Jan's Make Ahead Monday - Turkey, Artichoke and Spinach Stuffed Shells? Well, I had actually made it for Jimmy a few days before that, on Friday, January 13, to be exact. We ate most of it, but then Jimmy stuck the last leftover bit in a plastic dish, covered it with foil and stuck it in the fridge. The deal with the foil is an issue in our house, as Jimmy can never manage to locate the lid that fits the plastic containers - NOT REALLY THAT HARD. Anyway...

Last Thursday, February 2, at about noon, I noticed that it was still in the fridge and thought "Yuck, I need to throw that out." I pulled it out of the fridge and stuck it on the counter. Now, I realize I should have thrown it out immediately, but I forgot. Later, I went to my choir practice and didn't get home until about 9:45. Thursdays are often "fend for yourself" night around here (because of the aforementioned choir practice), so when I got home, I asked Jimmy what he'd eaten for dinner. He said...prepare yourself..."I ate the rest of those stuffed shells you left out for me." I stared at him for a beat, then started to laugh, assuming he was joking. He. Was. Not. Yes, my husband had chowed down on food that had been sitting in the refrigerator for THREE weeks, and then on the kitchen counter for SEVEN hours. I was speechless. Jimmy was aghast."Do you think it was bad?" he asked, very worried. I will remind you that Jimmy is a bit of a hypochondriac. "Well..." I said "If it didn't smell bad, I guess it was okay." But inside I was saying "EEEEEEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!" Amazingly, he did NOT get some kind of botulism, but felt fine. Which leads me to ask...are my ideas of what is and what is not a reasonable time to keep food in the refrigerator incorrect? Or...is my new refrigerator just really, really excellent at keeping stuff fresh? Or are my stuffed shells just that damned good?

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The other day at Jude's school, his class got to come to school dressed as their "Dream Job" (and yes, it sounds like a Spin Cycle topic). After a bit of consideration, Jude decided to go as...a lawyer. I'm afraid that only the child of two actors would consider being a lawyer to be a "dream job".

I love his "Don't bother me, I'm on my way into court." gesture. He kept making me call him "Counselor". I know my Daddy must be smiling down from heaven. Let's all pray that he sticks with this plan instead of veering into a life of doing something "artistic". Mama needs somebody to pay for her old folks home - I want to be put some place cushy.

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Please explain to me why in a world in which Facebook knows to show me ads specifically geared to a "50-year old actress in Los Angeles who has a child under 9, sings in a church choir and believes in gay marriage", Amazon keeps sending me emails for things geared for TODDLERS? YES Amazon, I did in fact purchase a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD from you FIVE YEARS AGO. But that same child now has no interest in ...

Get with it!!

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Okay, I realize that I am reeeeeaaaaly late to the game, but the other night, after the Super Bowl, I finally watched The Voice for the first time, and I'm hooked! So much better than American Idol! Everybody is a great singer. None of those stupid bad auditions that you have to fast forward through! It's not all just high school students or guys who work in a paint store, but actual professional musicians who just haven't had that "big break" yet. The judges actually have a say in who wins or passes on to the next round! I'm so excited to watch the rest of this season.

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Well there you go, folks, another Tuesday for you. Head over to Stacy's and check things out.

 

Spin Cycle: The Cause

I am not, generally, a particularly political person.

I'm a registered Democrat, and tend to define myself as a liberal, but really? I'm pretty moderate. I have always had a peculiar ability to see and respect all sides of an issue. Maybe it's genetic, since both of my grandfathers were judges. Or maybe I'm just wishy-washy, and basically hate to argue.

I've done volunteer work for various candidates over the years, and have been known to slap on a bumper sticker or hammer in a yard sign. But...that's about it.

But during the 2008 election, I took up a cause.

I not only took up a cause, I started an organization, created a website and sent out newsletters.

On the ballot in California during that election was something called Proposition 8. In early 2008, the California Supreme Court had issued a ruling giving gay and lesbian couples a constitutional right to equality under the state marriage laws. Proposition 8 was intended to overturn the Supreme Court ruling, and actually change the California State Constitution to state that only marriage between a man and a woman is valid and recognized in California. In other words, voting "Yes" on Proposition 8 would have made gay marriage in California illegal again. A "No" vote meant that you were FOR gay marriage. I know. It confused everyone.

I am in favor of gay marriage. And as the campaign heated up, I quickly noticed that all of the "No on Prop 8" ads were filled with super-liberal celebrities. I felt that this was preaching to the choir. In order for Proposition 8 to be defeated, I believed that moderate Californians needed to be convinced. The "Yes on 8" campaign promoted themselves as the side of wholesome, family values, and the "No on 8" campaign as a bunch of liberal, anti-family, anti-children sinners.

And so, California Mothers for Marriage was born. It was meant to put a friendly, wholesome face to the No on Prop 8 campaign.  To quote my own press release - "Please join us in protecting the rights and defending the freedom of our children by voting NO on Proposition 8. Our nation was founded on the principle that all people should be treated equally. We believe that it's time to stand up and take action to protect this principle for our children and their generation. Regardless of how anyone feels about same-sex marriage, no one should be singled out for unfair treatment under the laws of our state."

My dear old friend David created a website for me, and I set to work. I recruited members, I sent out newsletters, I started a Facebook page. By the time of the election, we had several hundred members.

Please indulge me a bit of my own propaganda...

Proponents of Proposition 8 claim they are protecting California's children. We find this offensive and manipulative and we question their intention and motives. Are the supporters of Proposition 8 really trying to protect marriage? Or are they simply trying to take away the civil rights of a group of people whose lifestyle they don't understand? We don't agree that marriage between two people of the same sex somehow diminishes the institution of marriage between a man and a woman. Why would anyone determine the value of their own marriage based on who else has taken vows? On the contrary, we believe that recognizing same-sex marriage strengthens the sanctity of marriage by making it available to all who are willing to make a lifetime commitment to love each other .

As mothers, we love all of our children equally, and want them all to have equal rights and an equal opportunity for happiness. We hope that by taking a stand we can show our children the difference between right and wrong. That human rights need to be fought for and protected. We hope that they will be able to look back on our fight with pride and respect, the same way we look back on our mothers' fight for civil rights and our grandmothers' fight for suffrage.

People kept asking me why on earth I became so passionate about this issue. I'm not gay. I don't have a sibling/child/parent who is gay. I do have many gay friends. But why did this issue touch me so deeply?

I have defined my reasoning as the "Horton Hears a Who Syndrome".

Jude is not easily frightened by movies/books. He is absolutely fine with watching violence or scary/intense situations. Aside from the occasional "Voldemort's in the closet" dreams, he wasn't scared or freaked out by any of the Harry Potter stuff. What makes Jude lose it is what I have come to define as "issues of social justice".

When Jude was 4, I took him to see "Horton Hears a Who". Toward the end of the movie, there's a scene when the mean kangaroo and her minions have tied up Horton, and are trying to make him drop the clover on which he claims the Who's are living into a vat of boiling oil, or some such thing. At this point in the movie, Jude started sobbing uncontrollably. The child couldn't be consoled. On and on he cried. He cried through the rest of the movie, all the way to the car, and all the way home. He kept saying over and over "But Mama, they were so mean to Horton, he just was what he was. He didn't do anything wrong! They just don't understand him!"

And that, in a nutshell, is the way I feel about gay marriage. They just are what they are. They haven't done anything wrong. People just don't understand them. And for someone to be unable to marry the person they love just because some people don't understand them absolutely breaks my heart.

So I guess I truly am a "bleeding heart" liberal. If it touches my heart, it's got me. I don't so much vote over issues like the debt ceiling, the size of government or tax breaks for the wealthy. But if somebody's mean to somebody - I'm gonna try to do something about it.

Of course, anybody who keeps up with this kind of stuff knows that my cause did NOT win. Proposition 8 was voted into effect, and same-sex marriage is no longer legal in California. I was heartbroken. But far less heartbroken than I would have been if I had done nothing, and failed to take a stand. At some point over the next few years, California will, no doubt, once again try to make gay marriage legal, and I will, no doubt, once again take up the cause.

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Please EVERYBODY check out all the spinners who stepped up on their soapboxes and spoke out for something they believe in!

Patty at Pancakes Gone Awry

Peg at Square Peg in a Round Hole

Aimee at Aimee Writes

Jan at Jan's Sushi Bar

Sarah at 32 Flavors

Kendra at Life in the Slow Lane

Vandy J at The Testosterone Three and Me

Jan at Jan's Sushi Bar - AGAIN on FRIDAY!! (Jan has much to say!)

Michele Renee at Must Be a Full Moon - NEw on FRIDAY!!

Ginny Marie at Lemon Drop Pie - New on FRIDAY!!

Claire at incognitus scriptor - NEW, NEW, NEW!!

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NEXT WEEK on The Spin Cycle...

The Perfect Job

It's January. The start of  a new year, and the perfect time to set some work goals. So I'm thinking we should try going all "The Secret" and think about that perfect job that has somehow eluded us thusfar. Maybe if we think on it hard enough we will achieve perfect by December!

What job do you believe would fulfill your every dream? Want to be your own boss? Start your own company? Work from home? Travel? Or maybe it's a dream job for your spouse? Or your kid?

Maybe you had the perfect job and lost it. Yikes. Maybe your friend has the perfect job and you'd like to snag it from them.

Or maybe you already have to perfect job and want to tell us all about it.

And btw, SAHM is a job. Just saying.

It doesn't have to be practical or reasonable. Reach for the unattainable! Astronaut? Rock Star? Generalissimo of your own small country? Why not?

New to The Spin Cycle? Check out the guidelines by clicking on that little Spin Cycle tab up there. And don't forget to include the stylish and trendy button created by the brilliant Keely.

Spin it up!

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RTT: Twain, Madonna and Idris

TUESDAY!!

The other day I found the most amazing quote...

"My mother had a great deal of trouble with me, but I think she enjoyed it." - Mark Twain

This perfectly defines my experience thus far as a mother. I almost feel like it should replace my Agatha Christie quote on my header. Or maybe I'll find some other perfect thing to do with it. Any ideas?

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I had all these ideas about Jude and my MLK Day activities. Last year, we dedicated it to a "Day of Service" and walked around our neighborhood with Jude's little red wagon, asking everybody for food donations. We then drove all the food over to the Social Services Dept. at my church, which feeds thousands of homeless people every week.

Our idea for this year was to walk around asking for donations of coats and blankets. But...it was kind of cold and rainy. Well okay, not exactly rainy, more...overcast. But it was daunting. So we ended up staying home and having an amazingly fun day hanging out, just the two of us (Jimmy had to teach all day).  We cooked and baked cookies and fulfilled a bunch of his Cub Scout achievements. And then we played The Adventures of Tintin together on the Wii - SO fun.

Then, when Jimmy got home, he was really exhausted, and we served him a plate of homemade cookies and milk and decided that was enough "service" for the day.

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Did y'all watch the Golden Globes? I know that I usually do an entire "RTT: Golden Globes Edition", but there just wasn't enough to talk about this year. Ricky Gervais was funny, but not too offensive. There were no huge gaffes or surprise winners. Here are my thoughts in a pictorial essay...

Somebody in Hollywood needs to hold a Botox/plastic surgery intersession! Witness...

...all beautiful women. All looking like freaks. It really must stop.

It's official. Everybody hates Madonna except for the Hollywood Foreign Press.

What a bitch. It's just true. In her acceptance speech for Best Original Song win, she managed to use the words "I", "me" or "my" 23 times. Couldn't PAY me to see what she kept referring to as "my movie" just for that reason. Yuk. And what's up with the dress that cuts off all circulation to her boobs? Though I must admit that her crack at Ricky Gervais was pretty funny.

While I LOVE Connie Britton, and LOVE the idea of her wearing a dress that she bought at an LA thrift store to the Globes...THIS should not have been the dress...

I think this may well be the funniest acceptance speech I've ever seen. That Sofia Vergara is really everything that Charo ever wished she was...

 

I fear that George Clooney has finally taken the middle-aged bachelor bit one step too far when he has started dating a former professional wrestler and Dancing With the Stars also-ran...

While I was rooting for Viola Davis for Best Actress...

...it's hard to argue any time they decide to give an award to Ms. Streep. But Meryl, honey, what was up with the Temple Grandin costume?...

But in the end...my man Idris Elba WON!...

...and so all is right with the world.

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I just got the coolest iPhone app! Star Walk.

You just aim your iPhone up at the night sky, and it will tell you what constellations you're seeing! It's unstinkingbelievable. I can't wait to pull this thing out on the next Cub Scout camp out!

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Have y'all seen these?

They're personalized M & Ms! You can go to THIS WEBSITE and order them with your own phrases and pictures on them.  I keep thinking that they would be really cute for birthday favors for Jude's birthday in May. But on the other hand, they might just be a rip off. What do you think?

_________________________________

Okay, run over and visit Stacy who's still Uncorked, and still carrying on as the random thoughts rebel.

Best of 2011

I have a sinus infection. And Jude just threw up.

That said, I don't feel inspired to write much, so as part of...

I am choosing "Prompt #1 - This year in blog posts...choose a favorite post from each month of 2011 and share."

After much hemming and hawing, these are my personal favorites from each month of 2011. If you're new here, check them out. If you're an old-timer...check them out again, because they're good!

January -

If We Were the Queen of the World - A girl can dream, right?...

We (that's the royal we, y'all) would be fair but firm. In order to benefit the lives of my many subjects, I'm afraid there will have to be a few changes made around here.

BY PROCLAMATION OF HER MAJESTY QUEEN GRETCHEN I

The following changes will be made to the rule of order of the Planet Earth, effective immediately.

1. The muffin top is the new erogenous zone...

READ THE REST HERE.

February -  

Most Surreal Parenting Moment Thus Far - The one in which my poor child is faced with seeing his father...in drag...

Jimmy and I are both members of The Actor's Studio. Yes, the "world-renowned" Actor's Studio, as they say. The place founded in the forties by acting teacher guru Lee Strasberg, the birthplace of "The Method",  training ground to Marlon Brando, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Robert De Niro, Jane Fonda, Gene Hackman, Dustin Hoffman, Harvey Keitel, Paul Newman,  Jack Nicholson, Al Pacino, Geraldine Page, Sidney Poitier, Mickey Rourke and Christopher Walken . The home of "Inside the Actor's Studio". Yes, we are...da, da, da, dum...method actors...

READ THE REST HERE.

March - 

Picky, Picky, Picky - My kid's dreadful eating habits exposed...

My child will eat the following foods:

• pancakes
• french toast
• blueberry muffins
• whole wheat bread
• white bread
• good, crusty bread
• rolls
• pumpkin bread
• raisin bread
• flour tortillas...

READ THE REST HERE.

April -

The Uniform - The sad, sad state of my wardrobe...

Sometimes, I just don't know what has become of me.

Black yoga pants and a black hooded long-sleeved shirt.

This is what I have been wearing about 4 out of 7 days a week.

And don't misunderstand. This is not an attractive outfit. It is simply...comfortable...

READ THE REST HERE.

May -

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood - Murdering gang bangers are found and arrested while hiding under our house. Oh yes, it's true. Life in Los Angeles, baby...

On Friday, Jude and I were having a quiet afternoon at home.

I had just let Jude buy a new game for his DSi as a reward for letting me drag him around during the last day of his Spring Break to the hardware store, the drug store AND the Target, and he was sitting happily in the corner of the living room playing away.

I decided to use the time to make some progress on my ongoing bedroom redecorating, and spray paint a curtain rod.

So I grabbed some newspaper, the old curtain rod and the spray paint and went out the back door and around to the side of the house. As I was spreading out the newspaper and shaking my little spray paint can, I suddenly realized that a helicopter was hovering above me.

Now, helicopters aren't uncommon in the Greater Los Angeles area. But when I looked up, I realized that it was an LAPD helicopter, and it was hovering really close to the ground. Really close to the ground, and circling around. Really close to the ground and circling around...me, to be specific...

READ THE REST HERE.

June - Okay, I'm cheating here - I can't decide, so I'm giving you two...

Alienated - My mediocre career as a space alien...

When I first read that the Spin Cycle topic this week was "UFOs", I must admit, I was stumped. Disappointingly, I have never encountered a UFO, no matter how much I wished it.

But then I realized that while I have never met an alien, I have BEEN an alien. Yes, during my long and incredibly mediocre acting career, I have encountered aliens twice. And in rummaging through my old photo albums, I have actually unearthed photographic evidence...

READ THE REST HERE.

The Vibe - My attempts at decorating while living with a husband who has "opinions"...

Jimmy has opinions.

Damn him.

Most husbands have the sense to defer to their wives in all matters involving design, decorating and aesthetics. When it comes time to redecorate, the couple may discuss their mutual needs, and the wife might offer fabric swatches or paint chips, just so the husband feels slightly involved, but for the most part, the wife makes all the choices. Most husbands are happy with this arrangement.

But not Jimmy...

READ THE REST HERE.

July -

Camp Mama 2011 Week Six: Sisters - Our little, testosterone-heavy household is invaded by GIRLS...

As a thank you gift to my friends Lynn and Darren for hosting my 50th birthday party in their home, we took their two precious daughters, Julianna, 7, and Isabella, 4 for three days. In the past 7 years, Lynn and Darren have been away from the girls exactly...NEVER. Not ever. And when I suggested the idea to Lynn, she jumped at it so fast it made my head spin!...

READ THE REST HERE.

August -

Conversations with Mommy and Pop Part 1 - Visiting the in-laws in New York...

FADE IN:

The family is gathered around the dining room table eating dinner. Mommy has made pasta. Jude, who Mommy thinks isn’t fat enough, has already eaten one enormous bowl of pasta and about 4 slices of Italian bread soaked in sauce.

Jude

I’m done.

Mommy

But you barely ate any of your second bowl of pasta.

Jude

But I don’t want any more. I want ice cream.

Mommy

Oh no, you can’t have ice cream if you don’t eat more of your pasta. It’s not balanced...

READ THE REST HERE.

September -

The One Who Got Away -Regrets? I've had a few. But then again, to few to mention...

The other day, I was talking to my mother-in-law Mommy, and she was all atwitter.

It seems that they had gone to a funeral, a military funeral for an ex-marine, where they draped the coffin with an American flag. According to Mommy, this "brought to mind" an old friend of hers, who she hadn't seen since the '40s, who had been a Marine...

READ THE REST HERE.

October -

LA Noir - My crazy trek across Los Angeles in search of murder...

It was a cloudy day in the City of Angels. The kind of morning that made you want to pour an extra shot of bourbon in your joe so you could face the day.

I looked at my face in the mirror and cringed. Bad night. Hot flashes. I splashed some water on my mug and headed on my way. I had a job to do. Some gumshoe work.

Armed only with my iPhone and a pair of mom jeans, I jumped into my stealthy Prius and started on my quest. My quest for...murder...

READ THE REST HERE.

November -

Dear Period -A love letter...of sorts...

Dear Period,

I fear that over the last few years our relationship has changed dramatically, that things between us have become increasingly uncomfortable and strained, and I know that soon you will leave me forever. Before we move into the next and final phase of our relationship, I'd like to take this opportunity to express my feelings, and hopefully, clear the air a bit...

READ THE REST HERE.

December -

5 Christmas Tips From Mommy - My beloved, eccentric mother-in-law's tips for the season...

For those of you new to Second Blooming, Mommy is my much beloved, 82-year old Brooklyn Italian-American mother-in-law. Mommy is a bundle of love and neuroses. Mommy's turn-ons are cleaning, chocolate, General Hospital, slutty tank tops, the Blessed Mother, blackberry brandy, flashy jewelry, sunbathing, talking to her girlfriends on the phone (all of whom are named Cathy) and her children/grandson. Her turn-offs include germs, bugs, lightning, elevators, bras, logic, "The City", all the scary things she hears about on The Today Show and often...Pop. Picture Edith Bunker with brassy hair and a top purchased from the Victoria's Secret catalogue. I adore her...

READ THE REST HERE.

 

The Choice

Do y'all remember that woman, Ayelet Waldman, the writer who is married to author Michael Chabon (one of my favorites)? A few years ago, there was a big hoopla when she wrote an essay in which she basically explored her conviction that a woman should consider her relationship with her husband more important than her relationship with her children. "I love my husband more than I love my children" she said. She also said that she could survive the death of her children, but not the death of her husband, and stated "He and I are the core of what he cherishes... the children are satellites, beloved but tangential." Do you remember that woman?

I am not that woman. There, I said it.

I could survive the death of my husband, but not the death of my child. I place my child first, and my husband second. I'm not saying this is a good thing or a bad thing. It is just what I feel.When I have to make a choice between the two, Jude always comes out on top.

Part of this stems from a belief that since Jude is just a little boy, he needs me much more. He is a child. He needs protection and guidance and love, love, love in order to grow to be a confident, capable man. To have confidence in himself, and confidence in my love.

Jimmy, however, is a grown man, who should have received all that protection and guidance and love, love, love from HIS mother. He's a grown man, for God's sake, and should already have confidence in himself and confidence in my love...oh wait. I see.

So here lies one of the biggest problems with being married...with children. We women start placing the kid first, and the needy little boy still deep inside our husbands is left out. Maybe this is incredibly obvious to all of you, but I must say, this has been a powerful revelation for me. Sometimes, Jimmy needs me to let him know that I love him. That I choose...him.

This all came clear to me last week.

Jimmy had planned a night out for us on Saturday. We seldom (and I mean SELDOM) go out on a date night. It's pathetic. But our friend Juliet Landau (yes, Drusilla to you Buffy fans) was in a play, which had been getting fabulous reviews, and we thought we should go see it to support her. Back in our pre-parenthood days, we used to see friends in plays all the time. Nowadays? Almost never, or at least almost never together. But Jimmy had been talking to Juliet's dad, Martin Landau (yes, him), and it turned out that Marty hadn't seen Juliet's play yet either, and wanted to come with us, so we could make the reservation under our name and surprise Juliet. So the plan was that we would take Marty with us, then maybe go out for a bite afterward. Sounds fun, right?

Then, on Wednesday, I got an email from Jude's Cub Scout leaders. Because Jude's pack sold the most popcorn of any pack in the Greater Los Angeles Area (some feat, I must say), the top 10 sellers were being honored with a Night of Royalty by the LA Kings hockey team, and Jude was one of the top sellers. They achieved this last year also, and it was EXTREMELY fun. Not only did each boy get two really excellent tickets for the game, but they got to go down and have their picture taken on the ice, meet with a Kings player, and during halftime, they went down and sat on the bench, and had their names announced to the whole crowd in the Staples Center, while their picture was put up on the enormous Jumbotron. A huge and exciting honor. Here they are last year...

In other words, an honor and an event that a kid and his mom would remember all their lives.

Oh, and did I mention when this was to take place? Saturday night. That is right.

What was I to do? How could I consider sending Jude on his Night of Royalty without me? But how could I tell Jimmy that I couldn't go to the play with him? Seeing this play was very important to him, and taking Marty with us meant SO much. Martin Landau is an actor who Jimmy respects tremendously, and our friendship with him is very important to him. And what's more, Marty is technically Jimmy's boss at The Actor's Studio, where Jimmy teaches.

And that was when I had my previously mentioned revelation. I had to make a choice. And I needed to choose...my husband.

I sat Jude down and tried to explain to him that I needed to be with Daddy, because sometimes Moms and Dads needed to do things just for themselves. I was prepared for him to be terribly upset that I wouldn't be with him. And guess what? He COULDN'T HAVE CARED LESS. He completely understood, and told me he hoped we had fun. I guess all that protection and guidance and love, love, love I've been giving him has made him a confident, capable boy. Confident in my love.

So Jude went off to his LA Kings game with his best friend A.J. and his mom, Ronda, and they had a BLAST! Here he is with his fellow top-sellers A.J. and Nick...

 

 Doesn't look too miserable, does he?

What did Jimmy and I do? We had a FABULOUS time. We really did. The play was excellent. Juliet was luminous, and surprised and delighted that her dad was there to see her. Martin was amazing company. And after the play we went out to dinner. Yes, dinner at 10:30 at night! To La Poubelle, a restaurant that we used to go to all the time apres theater back in the old days. We both had the Moules Frites (mussels in white wine, leeks, garlic, butter and thyme sauce with fries) and two glasses of an excellent wine. SO decadent.

So the choice was made, and I have to say I'm extremely glad I made the choice I did. Because while Jude is confident in my love, I now know that Jimmy needs to be reassured. And I know it was good for us both. I guess we all need a little protection and guidance and love, love, love.

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FEAR NOT! You have until FRIDAY to get your name in my giveaway for a chance to win a box of GORGEOUS A Papier Letterpress Stationery. PLEASE check out this link for more info...HERE.

It is truly special and elegant stationery. You SHOULD enter my drawing. Again, the link is HERE. Just follow the instructions. It's EASY. Good luck!

Thanksgiving According to Me

To my calculation, I have, as of this year, cooked and hosted Thanksgiving dinner in my home 20 times. Which is a hell of a lot of Thanksgivings.

Therefore, I feel that I have learned a thing or two about how to make it work, and perhaps I should share some of my accumulated knowledge with all of you, dear readers. Feel free to disagree with my opinions. But I am right.

1. Preparation = Freedom. I believe this truism applies to most things in life. I plan the whole day down to the tiniest detail. I prep chronological lists of things to do. "Prep appetizer. Make dressing. Brine turkey." I like to think of an elaborate dinner party as a play, with me as the playwright, director and star. If everything is planned out, it's like having a script, and all I have to do is follow it, and it will all fall into place. And I must say, that about the time the guests arrive, I like to pour myself a big, fat 7 & 7 and enjoy myself while the aforementioned falling into place occurs.

2. It's easier just to do it yourself. Years back, I used to ask friends to bring a dish. Everybody had some favorite traditional food that they just HAD to have, so I'd let them bring it. This means that at the crucial hour when your guests are arriving, and you're spinning around your kitchen making gravy and rolls, a bunch of folks show up with stuff that they expect you to heat up, and usually they have some last minute thing they have to do to their dish, which usually entails taking up counter space, refrigerator space, and your personal space. It's EASIER to just do it yourself, and have your guests arrive and stay OUT OF THE KITCHEN. Also, the planning (See 1.) is totally screwed if folks show up and rock your world.

3. Don't let anybody bring a dish unless you really, really, really, truly trust that they'll do it right. I do, on occassion, allow someone to bring a dish - usually a dessert. Okay, I may, perhaps, be a teensy bit of a control freak. And I want everything served at my Thanksgiving dinner to be of high quality. And I hate to say it, but most people don't do high quality. So when most people say to you "Can I bring something?" You must say "Liquor." Which most people don't screw up.

4. Tradition/Schmadition. I realize that this may be considered radical, but I truly think that most "traditional" Thanksgiving dishes are extremely mediocre. And most people only want them because they've come to expect them, and their grandmother used to make them. But honestly? It's not that hard to make some simple improvements. You know what I mean? Sweet potato casserole with the marshmallows? I don't do it. Green bean casserole? Nope. And the truth is that, as long as you prepare delicious, seasonal foods, nobody misses the stuff that involves Cream of Mushroom soup. Now I'm not saying to go all freaky and make a...Tofurkey meatloaf or...quinoa dressing, I just mean that it's possible to make your own traditions. For years and years, I would dutifully make a pumpkin pie, a pecan pie, and a chocolate cream pie. The chocolate cream, though not traditional Thanksgiving fare, is Jimmy's absolute favorite (and my great-grandmother's recipe). Guess what everybody ate. That's right, the chocolate cream. Nobody ate the pumpkin or the pecan, but the chocolate cream was wiped out. So now, chocolate cream pie is our Thanksgiving tradition.

5. Nobody gives a damn about green vegetables. For years, I would insist on making a nice green vegetable. One year, I even made a salad. NOBODY EATS IT. They want bird, carbs and gravy. I will be making one green vegetable this year, but it involves bacon, so it might not count. If you insist on going the Green Bean Casserole route, PLEASE try Jan's Green Bean Casserole, which takes it to a whole new level of fabulousness (she makes homemade french-fried onions to go on top).

6. Lots of stuff can be made ahead of time. Mashed Potatoes? The day before. Sweet Potato Soup (oooo, that intrigued you, didn't it?) Two days before. Dressing? The day before. I used to think that I should make it all at the last moment so it was...fresh. Nah. Day before. And speaking of dressing. It's probably a good idea to explain the difference between stuffing and dressing. The aforementioned Jan did it very well here. Stuffing is what Northerners make. It's generally made from stale bread and/or biscuits, sometimes involves peculiar things like oysters, and is stuffed into the bird and cooked. Dressing is what Southerners make. It's generally made from stale cornbread, and is cooked outside the bird, in a separate dish. It's also far superior to that Northern version - oops, did I say that? My poor Mama always had to make TWO dressings, because she stubbornly insisted on making a white bread stuffing (what Daddy called “Yankee dressing” – Mama never could convince him that being from SOUTH DAKOTA didn’t make her a Yankee) and stuffing it into the bird, and Daddy stubbornly insisted she also make his mama’s cornbread dressing and cook it outside the bird. And I should note that we were a tiny family of 3. So the leftovers were plentiful. Amen.

7. Schedule it for dinner time. I know, I know, most people eat Thanksgiving at about 1:00 or 2:00, stuff themselves, then watch football for the rest of the day. But several years ago, I decided to turn the whole meal into a more civilized affair, and moved it to dinnertime. Guests show up about 4:00 - 4:30, enjoy their cocktails and appetizers, then move to the table. It's night time, so you can light candles at the table, and have a glass of wine with the meal without it feeling sad. And the big bonus? You don't have to get up at the stinking crack of stinking dawn to put the bird in the oven. You can get up...have your coffee...enjoy a little Macy's parade...then put the bird in.

8. Add a course. This too is a bit radical, I know. But, being married to an Italian, I have come to understand the value of the course. Of serving the food in stages, with brief intermezzos between each course. Now, of course, traditionally, Thanksgiving is served all at once as The Big Feed. It all comes out to the table, everybody gorges themselves silly, then retires to the den to sleep it off. It all takes about 45 minutes. Sad. But how to add a course to this traditional meal? I could add a salad course, but...See 5. So I have started making a Sweet Potato Soup, and serving it as a first course. It's really damned good. And it satisfies the need for the sweet potato. Here's the recipe:

  Roasted Sweet Potato Soup

4 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut up

3 carrots, peeled and cut up

1 large onion, thinly sliced

1 stick butter

10 cups chicken broth

6 tsp. brown sugar

3/4 tsp. ground mace

3/4 tsp. ground ginger

pinch of cayenne pepper

salt to taste

Creme fraiche (or plain yogurt) for garnish

Caramelized pecans for garnish (you can either make them yourself or buy them at the Trader Joe's - which is acceptable)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the sweet potatoes, carrots and onion in a shallow roasting pan. Cut up the stick of butter, and arrange the bits all around the vegetables. Roast until vegies are soft, and slightly browned, about 30 minutes, stirring once during cooking time. Remove from the oven, and cool. Place the roasted vegetables in a large stock pot, along with the butter they cooked in. Add the broth, brown sugar and spices. Stir well, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Puree the soup, in batches, in a blender or food processor until smooth.

At this point, you can refrigerate it for up to two days. Reheat just before serving, and garnish with a dollop of creme fraiche and a couple of caramelized pecans.

9. Make a buttload of gravy. Because, who doesn't love gravy? And you're going to need it for your leftovers. I always start Thanksgiving morning by making a big stock pot of giblet broth. Chicken broth, giblets, onion, celery, bay leaf. Then I let it simmer for hours until it's really rich. Mmmm...that's the makings of some good gravy. I'm telling you.

10. Rubber gloves.  One of the great Thanksgiving dilemmas is how the hell to get the bird out of the roasting pan and onto the carving board without tearing half the skin off the bird, giving yourself a second degree burn or juggling three spatulas and two forks. That turkey is heavy, and it's always a cumbersome issue. I have two words for you. Rubber. Gloves.

Stick your hands in a pair of clean, new rubber gloves, and just pick the turkey up with your hands. Brilliant. It works. You're welcome.

11. Give thanks. I find that it's a good idea to actually give thanks on Thanksgiving. I know it may seem a little hokey, but I like going around the table and making everybody name something they're thankful for. Kind of makes all the hullabaloo meaningful.

Okay, do you have any helpful hints for me? I'll listen to opinions, even if you are wrong.

 

 

Book Thingy

The other day, the lovely, gracious and talented Elizabeth at a moon, worn as if it had been a shell, posted this book questionnaire thingy, and I thought it might be fun to follow suit. Here we go...

1) What author do you own the most books by? Robertson Davies. Closely followed by Anne Tyler and for some reason, Larry McMurtry.

2) What book do you own the most copies of? The dictionary.

3) Did it bother you that both those questions ended with prepositions? Honestly, the first time it didn't, because I am accepting of a certain amount of the colloquial, but the second time made me fear...ignorance. Nice to know it was deliberate ignorance.

4) What fictional character are you secretly in love with? Mr. Rochester. Which I know says something about me that might not be flattering.

5) What book have you read the most times in your life (excluding picture books read to children; i.e., Goodnight Moon does not count)? Charlotte's Web.

6) What was your favorite book when you were ten years old? Charlotte's Web.

7) What is the worst book you've read in the past year? I've read so few books in the past year (I've only returned to being A Reader a month ago), that I don't have many choices, and I never read anything if I'm not already pretty damned sure that it's good. So I've got nothing.

8) What is the best book you've read in the past year? The Women by T.C. Boyle. Novel based on the lives of the women in Frank Lloyd Wright's tumultuous, scandalous life. What a story! I mean, history provided the story, and these larger than life characters, but Boyle took the details and ran with them. Loved it.

9) If you could force everyone here to read one book, what would it be? Well, I started to say To Kill a Mockingbird, but then I realized that everybody IS forced to read To Kill a Mockingbird in high school, right? And it's become so very popular. There's even been a rash of To Kill a Mockingbird baby names - we know several Harpers, Scouts and Atticuses (or would that be Attici?) So I'll go with The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner. Because it scares people, but they should read it anyway. Because it's GOOD. And also maybe One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

10) Who deserves to win the next Nobel Prize for Literature? Oh who knows? They're always a very international group, aren't they? I often haven't heard of the winners. And they don't hand them out to people after they've died, so a lot of folks missed out - Tennessee Williams never won, neither did Virginia Woolf, James Joyce or Henrik Ibsen (but then the Swedes may be biased against the Norwegians).

11) What book would you most like to see made into a movie? I've always wanted to write a screenplay based on the book The Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer. I know, I know, you've probably never heard ot it, but it's a WONDERFUL book, apparently a cult classic nowadays. And no, it's not about gay people, which may be why nobody reads it anymore, the title scares them away. It's a brilliant novel (well, actually a trilogy of novellas) about Texas politics, written in 1961 by one of LBJ's staff members, and in fact, the character which runs through all 3 stories and ties them together is  the Governor, Arthur "Goddam" Fenstemaker, who is almost certainly based on LBJ himself. It's wonderfully funny and wry and smart, and I HIGHLY recommend it. I just found a quote from David Halberstam..."There are two classic American political novels. One is All the King's Men. . . . the other is The Gay Place." So if you don't trust me, trust David. Anyway, it would make a GREAT MOVIE!!

12) What book would you least like to see made into a movie? I've read several books by Charles Bukowski, and even though Barfly was a pretty good movie, I just honestly have no interest in seeing any of Bukowski's characters brought to life. Everybody's a disastrous, lowlife, train-wreck of a human being. I like reading about it, but have no need to see it in the flesh.

13) Describe your weirdest dream involving a writer, book, or literary character. Is this something people actually do? Yikes. I'm afraid I remember few of my dreams anyway.

14) What is the most lowbrow book you've read as an adult? Hmmm. Are you ready? Jerry Hall's autobiography, Tall Tales. Naughty good. I must say I do love the story of a gutsy Texan.

15) What is the most difficult book you've ever read? Ulysses by James Joyce. Hands down. In case you haven't read it, at the end there, Molly Bloom speaks two sentences. The first one is 11,282 words long, and the second is 12,931 words long. So...that was fun.

16) What is the most obscure Shakespeare play you've seen? I guess Coriolanus. Is Coriolanus obscure? I'm an actor, I've seen most of them at some point.

17) Do you prefer the French or the Russians? Ugh. I'm so embarrassingly underread in both of these areas. But...Russians.

18) Roth or Updike? Updike.

19) David Sedaris or Dave Eggers? Sedaris.

20) Shakespeare, Milton, or Chaucer? Shakespeare.

21) Austen or Eliot? Austen.

22) What is the biggest or most embarrassing gap in your reading? Uh...French and Russian literature. I've read lots of English and American.

23) What is your favorite novel? I don't think I could possibly pick one. It would be like choosing your favorite child.

24) Play? Again, couldn't choose. Also, my taste in plays is colored ENTIRELY by whether or not it has a good part in it for...me. So I'll just say most anything by Tennessee Williams.

25) Poem?

Resume

by

Dorothy Parker

Razors pain you;

Rivers are damp;

Acids stain you; 

And drugs cause cramp.

Guns aren't lawful;

Nooses give;

Gas smells awful:

You might as well live.

26) Essay? Santaland Diaries by David Sedaris. Sedaris's adventures as an elf at Macy's in NYC. I laughed so hard I peed myself.

27) Short Story? I'm stumped. I don't read many short stories anymore, I'm afraid. Though I very much enjoyed Raymond Carver's collection Cathedral - stark and profound. I don't know, maybe it's the time of year, but I do always love some good Poe.

28) Work of nonfiction? Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War by William Manchester. Manchester's DEEPLY moving and personal account of the WWII war in the Pacific, which he describes as the last "love war"- fought for love of country and democracy and comrade. And for a memoir, I dearly loved The Liar's Club by Mary Karr. Her depiction of her crazy Louisiana mother is unforgettable. Ooo, that would make a great movie too! Jessica Lange should have played the mother about 10 years ago.

29) Who is your favorite writer? See # 23.

30) Who is the most overrated writer alive today? Not to copy Elizabeth, but I have to say Dan Brown. Based on the simple fact that The DaVinci Code sold 80 million copies, and I thought it was so silly that I skimmed parts of it. I don't mean to be snobby, I guess it was a fun read. But, I mean, "a fun read" shouldn't be the best thing I can find to say about a book that sold 80 MILLION BOOKS.

31) What is your desert island book? Let's go with The Complete Works of Tennessee Williams. That way I can spend my island time staging one-person productions of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Streetcar Named Desire. I'm one hot Maggie the Cat. But in my little desert island production, I could also get to play Brick and Big Daddy and even that simpering Sister Woman. Oh, this is going to be fun! I could build a set out of twigs and a curtain and costumes out of palm fronds...

32) And... what are you reading right now? Just started Michael Chabon's The Yiddish Policemen's Union: A Novel. I always enjoy Chabon. So far so good.

If you click on any of the little book picture thingamajigs, you'll find that they are links to Amazon. Handy, yes? And if you happen to purchase any of the books I have kindly provided links to (that was that colloquial preposition thing I was talking about earlier), I, as an Amazon Associate, will earn a teeny-tiny-itsy-bitsy bit of money. So...click away!