Do Not See This Movie

In general, I'm pretty accepting of movies. I can tell a bad movie from a good one, but that fact that a movie is not a masterpiece doesn't get in the way of my enjoyment of it. So when I think a movie is unwatchable it really has to stink. Such is the case with The Weather Man. Kristen and I went to see a free showing of this cinematic disaster last Thursday. Neilson warned me--I believe his exact words were "What are you thinking? That movie looks horrible." But how I could I pass up a free movie? Also it co-stars Hope Davis, who usually has pretty good taste. How bad was it? Well, we left about an hour in, so I can't give you a full report, but suffice it to say it may be the worst movie I have ever seen. For one thing, unless incredibly well done, movies about the difficulties of being a middle-class white male are inherently annoying--I understand there are pressures and difficulties that come with being born into this position, but it still gives you more advantages than just about any other one in our society, except that of a rich, white male. Then, a major plot in the movie is how fat Nicholas Cage's daughter is and how difficult and disappointing her appearance is for the entire family. The young actress is repeatedly humiliated by discussions about her weight, by wearing ill-fitting clothes, and by endless allusions to the fact that, because of her tight pants, the boys in her school call her cameltoe. (If you don't know the meaning of that phrase, I am not going to explain it, but it is certainly an inappropriate thing to call a little girl. The movie makes it worse by having images of cameltoes flash across Nicholas Cage's mind. I have no idea why this little girl's parents allowed her to be in this movie, but she is going to be angry about it later.) The final straw was the plot twist, played almost for laughs, in which Cage's son was molested by his drug rehabilitation counselor. That is when we decamped for a tasty Indian restaurant nearby. I know this movie isn't getting great reviews, but none of the ones I have read come close to suggesting just how distasteful, how really God-awful, it is. Don't let any lingering affection you have for Nicholas Cage from Valley Girl or Vampire's Kiss or Raising Arizona lure you into this film. He may have recently named his son after Superman, but he has gone to the dark side for good.

Family Pets

Why so sad Oso? Is it because it can't always be about you?

I thought it might be about time to post some pictures of the animals currently dwelling in South Texas. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait for a picture of Clio, otherwise known as Squeky, as she has developed a rather unreasonable fear of Weese and so will not set foot in the house until Weese is sent packing, unless of course it is cold or rainy, but as neither of those are particularly common weather conditions for the area, we generally have to leave the house to provide her with her share of food and pets.

But here are the other animals of the house.

Weese and Kym (notice the knitting and knitting books underneath Weese).

I'm afraid both Cab and Weese are somewhat stereotypical in their love of sitting on my knitting. They seem to have a sixth sense about whether or not the item is intended for a friend with cat allergies. The green blanket in this photo is headed straight for a friend with a severe allergy. As a result, I can't seem to keep Weese off of it.

Betsy and Oso

Oso is somewhat bigger than Nola at the moment, but he is still cute, if somewhat smelly. Oso is pretending to be shy in this picture, but it is all a lie. Normally he preens in front of the camera.

Kym and Cab

Now Cab is quite the love-pig these days. He crawls all over me whenever he suspects I'll be in one place for 5 minutes and gets quite offended whenever I move. Weese, of course, is still regretting teaching him that a cat can remain both fierce and dignified even while begging for pets, not that Cab is ever particularly fierce, but he does endlessly strive for dignified. He has beaten her at her own game and even though she loves him, I suspect that in her heart she is planning a little revenge, or at least a comeuppance.

So there they are, minus Squeky. I'll track her down later for a picture.

Geneva in the Fall

I'm in Geneva, just down the road from Oswego. Anders previewed his Halloween costume before returning to Denver, looking cuter than ever dressed as a kitty.



The day before I arrived, everyone carved pumpkins, under the guidance of Uncle Johnny. Here is Eliza next to her pumpkin, carved to look like a kitty.



And here is a picture of Nip, half of the dynamic kitty duo, Nip and Tuck.



As may be becoming apparent, the Geneva crowd is very pro-cat. Aunt Crunch's black lab Evie has won us all over, however, and is generally acknowledged to be just about the best dog ever. Yesterday, we took her for a walk through the cemetery, a favorite Geneva destination. She and John William looked like a J. Crew ad as we made our way home at dusk.

Oswego in the fall

I was in Oswego recently visiting Hosmer. Some of the highlights of my trip were carving a jack-o-lantern, and seeing the bench in the park Hosmer had put there in memory of Mom.

Pain in the Ass

Okay, so the title should warn you that this may not be the most lady-like of posts, but hell, if you are reading this blog, chances are good you aren't expecting that of me anyway.

So, as you may or may not know, Molly and I have been training for the New York Marathon, which is coming up in just 2 weeks so the excitement is building. There have been many ups and downs to the training. Many a long run spent wondering why I ever thought this was a good idea, only to feel confident and psyched afterwards, even as I was suffering through the pain of icing down my feet. At least the new shoes, see earlier post, have solved that particular problem. I am a real wimp when it comes to icing. Can't explain it, but it is true. I hated icing my shin splints when I was a hurdler, which probably also explains why I had such trouble managing them. But I suffered through icing my feet because I am just that dedicated to this marathon.

I ran 18 miles through 95+ heat and during the dreaded red tide and its attendant respiratory problems. I ran through a massive rain storm in San Antonio that, according to the people organizing the run, threatened to wash the slow, stupid girl away (that was me). Apparently they were concerned I was too dumb to realize I shouldn't run across a flash flood and too slow to escape one. Molly made it back from that run. They insisted on picking me up before I could finish. But I must admit that it was none of those experiences that threatened to pull me out of my marathon dream; it was the pain in my ass, and I mean that quite literally. During my last really long run, I had to stop at 19 miles because the pain in my ass had spread down into my back thigh, as it is prone to do and was so bad I was afraid I was doing injury to myself. As my father came out to drive me the 1.5 miles home, I tried to tell myself that I was just being smart, but there is something shameful about being brought down by your bum.

I was worried enough, and desperate enough, to actually go to a doctor who told me I have Piriformis Syndrome. Huh? Turns out the sciatic nerve travels under the piriformis muscle in your hip/butt region and if the muscle gets too tight and/or inflamed, it aggravates the sciatic nerve. Thus, my ass pain, and my leg pain. The cure: anti-inflammatories, physical therapy, and lots and lots of stretching. I'm feeling better, although still working my way towards 100%, but the marathon is still on the agenda and my 10 mile run this weekend felt great so me and my ass are feeling fine.

Now if only someone could figure out a treatment for my other pains in the ass, namely those so-called superiors at work, and today, the children themselves, who seem to have gone crazy with the weather change.

Phone love

I am a little bit embarassed about my deep love of electronic gadgets- it's something I discovered well after entering my 4th decade. Black and white tv without cable, or cableless color tv that needed blow-drying to work in Manhattan's rainy season was enough for me for most of my life. That's all changed now.

My first cell phone was the iconic Startac, also a Motorola, and I loved it deeply. I jumped ship to get a different provider, and a Samsung color phone that had MIDI opera ringtones. It recently died- giving me the excuse to buy this new fancy piece of equipment. I spent a little too much time creating ringtones, resizing photos and uploading them all (via my bluetooth connection!) this weekend. Yes, now I can shoot really inadequate video- and send it to you from my phone!

As you can see, it looks nice both on the street and in my apartment.

The Squid and The Whale

I finally saw The Squid and The Whale this weekend. It is very smart and funny, and captures New York, and adolescence, in the mid-1980s perfectly. Parts of it are hard to watch, as the kids fall apart and the parents use their children to get back at one another. It also has one of the more accurate--and squirm-inducing--portrayals of teen romance I have ever seen. Neilson's mother, Erica Abeel, interviewed the director, Noah Baumbach for indiewire.com. As a divorced New York-based writer with two kids, I think the subject of the movie made her a little uncomfortable, but she and Baumbach have a very interesting exchange about film, autobiography and how viewers' own experiences influence their reactions to a story.

Gilmore Girls Update

A few weeks ago, Molly and I discussed how annoying we find the character of Rory Gilmore on the Gilmore Girls. For those who agree, Glarkware is selling a "Shut Up Rory" tee shirt for a limited time. (You need to order by November 2.)

On Fametracker, there is a much more positive analysis, or fame audit, of the career of Lauren Graham, a.k.a. Lorelai Gilmore.

And finally, and most strangely, Madeline Albright will have a cameo on the episode airing October 25. Albright reported, "I am a big fan of Gilmore Girls and I had a great time. It was an opportunity to do something different for a quick minute, and I learned how hard it is to memorize those lines."

Culkin Family History

Most of you who read this blog probably know a lot about the present day Culkins, perhaps more than you wish to know. For those interested in the Culkin family history, Mary Banning Friedlander--apparently a cousin--has put together a detailed Culkin genealogy site, as part of her larger history of her family. There is a wonderful picture of our ancestor Francis Dugan Culkin, along with his many, many siblings. (Although when I see this picture, my first thought is always, "Thank God for Margaret Sanger.") There are also reminiscences and letters, some of which suggest the family penchant for dumb jokes is inherited.

Finally a cool law professor

It has finally happened I meet a cool law professor. I just began the writing part of my legal research and writing class and after being horribly insulted the first day of class, we were told that we were all horrible writers, we got a lecture from a funny enviromental lawywer from Austin. One of the points on her outline was to keep the TTC low.

I think we all assumed that this was some legal jargon that we just didn't get. In reality it is shout out to my beloved Television Without Pity. She explained that it means Time To Corpse and is used by the old CSI recapper. Her point was to get to the point quickly in writing.

She told everyone in the class to read the site since it is so good. I sadly doubt that anyone will since the majority of conversations revolve around alcohol and juvinille class shirts. Yes that is right I have suddenly been placed back in high school, but at least I have a cool professor.

Ukrainian National Home

On Saturday, after seeing the funny and charming Wallace and Gromit movie, my friends and I found ourselves in a typical weekend night in the East Village dilemma. We were starving, but every restaurant we walked by had a huge line. The Italian place we had hoped to go to told us it would be at least 40 minutes. The idea of the always-tasty Veselka was tossed around, but that too would be a very long wait. One person in our group doesn't like Indian, so 6th street was out. As our tummies were grumbling and one person had to get home early to his very pregnant wife, it was looking dire. Then someone remembered the Ukrainian National Home, located at 140 Second Avenue. I believe it is some type of community center, but there is a good, cheap restaurant serving hearty Eastern European food to the public on the first floor. We walked right in to sit down in a space that looked like a dining room set up for a big family holiday. In the room next to us, there was a benefit going on for Bid-a-wee, an animal shelter, so we were serenaded by a very loud cover band, but apparently it is usually very quiet. I had a satisfying meal of potato pieorgies with sautéed onions ($5.95), an enormous Slovakian beer ($5.00) and, apparently inspired by the pro-vegetable theme of Wallace and Gromit, cooked carrots ($1.95). Everyone else's plate was filled with equally filling and economical fare, including kielbasa and schnitzel. The Ukrainian National Home is also excellent to keep in mind if you are in the neighborhood and hear nature calling; the bathrooms are located down a staircase to your right before you get to the restaurant.

Wilbur

Wilbur is my knew beta fish that I got at a wedding. It turns out that the bride and groom were very big fish fans so they made had of their center pieces be tropical betas, and because they didn't want 40 betas they decided to give away the center pieces at the end of the night.So we got a fish and brought home and everything was fine until Thursday of this week. When I woke up and went down stairs I found Iris drinking out of Wilbur's bowl!What was funny about this was that she wasn't even trying to get the fish but was just drinking out of the bowl because she likes to drink out of everything except for her bowl. Wilbur was just swimming around like nothing was happening. It was the weirdest thing I have ever seen.

Mr. Charisma

It is almost impossible to describe the charisma of Ezra, my parent's cat, in words. He prances in like a show horse, head held high, bell ringing, and it is like Mick Jagger or Bill Clinton has entered the room. All attention shifts to him. Although he sometimes gets into fights with other cats, Ezra loves people and has befriended most of the neighborhood. He sometimes just walks into strangers' houses to say hello. Ezra is an excellent worker, having cleared out all mice in the area. And he is also wonderful help when it comes to writing conference papers.

Report on the Colbert Report

Last night, through the generosity of my wonderful former student worker Eileen, Neilson and I were able to attend a test taping of the Colbert Report. Honestly, the experience did not get off to an auspicious start. Despite having confirmed reservations, we had to get in line at 6:15 to get tickets at 7 for a show that was supposed to start at 8, but actually started more like 8:30. For about 30 minutes after we got our seats in the studio, the audience was subjected to music played at an ear-shattering level. I thought I was just getting old, but then I realized the hipster college students next to me were also complaining about the music. Someone eventually asked the stage manager to turn it down, which he quickly did, and we were all a lot happier. Finally Steve Colbert came out. He seemed a little nervous at first, stumbling over lines in the opening segment. But he soon found his rhythm, discussing the Minnesota Vikings sex-boat scandal at length and conducing a hysterical interview with Buzz Bissinger, the author of the great book Friday Night Lights. And there was a very funny final segment, where Colbert commemorated the fact that Peter Mayhew, the actor who played Chewbacca, has recently become an American citizen by ceremoniously placing an action figure of the our favorite Wookie on a shelf full of knick-knacks. He concluded by throwing candy out into the audience-I may frame my used Starburst wrappers. I do still fear that the Colbert Report will end up diluting the talent of the Daily Show and neither will end up being as funny, but for now Steve Colbert has my support.

The Lost Museum

Yesterday I wrote about sites that allowed you to conduct research on the web. Today I want to point you to a site that actually tries to recreate a historical site. The Lost Museum (www.lostmuseum.cuny.edu) presents a virtual recreation of PT Barnum's Museum, once located in lower Manhattan. You can browse the galleries and zoom in on some artifacts in order to learn more information about them. There are background essays and primary documents and, for teachers, suggestions for classroom activities. You can even try to solve the mystery of who burned down the museum, if that is your cup of tea. It is really an incredible project. In order to make full use of the site, you need Flash 7 and Internet Explorer 5 or higher.

Democrats, Fashion, and Politics

I agree with Jane that wearing a political shirt simply for fashion weakens the message considerably but I am a sucker for cute and witty political shirts myself. Kym made the awesome shirt "My body is not an Incubator Protect Your Right to Choose" after he election and I wear it with such pride. I also love my Vote shirt and even still love my November 2nd shirt, although it brings back sad memories.

On the website www.zazzle.com you can make your own shirts, it is where Kym made the incubator shirts, there is another incredibly accurate shirt that says "We're Good At Putting Stuff on T-Shirts. Winning Elections Eh, Not So Much." http://www.zazzle.com/products/product/product.asp?general%5Frecs%5Fper%5Fpage=25&paging%5Fpage=2&searching=on&searching%5Fsearch%5Fcolumns=%2A&searching%5Fsearch%5Fcondition=democrats+&caching=on&product%5Fid=235717948011133563&index=47

How true that is, but I feel the tide is finally turning. Hmmmm is there some witty slogan in that that I can put on a shirt?

Pigs in Slop

Today, my American women’s history class had their session on conducting research in the library. They all looked like they could barely keep their eyes open. I really don’t understand how anyone could think research was boring. Nothing is more fun for me than digging up a piece of obscure information, especially on someone who has been dead for a hundred years. I’m lucky that finding that kind of information is what I do for a living. When I was at the Association for Documentary Editing conference this week, I had a conversation about this with a woman who works on the Benjamin Franklin Papers. She said, “For most people this kind of work would be hell. But if, like us, you like research, its like pigs in slop.”

There are a lot of great research sites online these days available free of charge. Here are a few of my favorites:

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Available through the Brooklyn Public Library website, this site allows you to search the Brooklyn Daily Eagle by word from 1841 through 1902. This is a great site if you love New York. www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/eagle/

American Memory. Available through the Library of Congress website, this site allows you to search by word for letters, speeches, published articles, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music. For written or printed items, there is often a transcription and a scan of the original document. There is really an amazing variety of material here. memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

Bartelby.com. This site allows you to search the full text of an amazing number of books, including the King James Bible, the 1914 Oxford edition of the Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Gray’s Anatomy, the 6th edition of the Columbia Encyclopedia, and the 1918 edition of the Fanny Farmer cookbook. If you are looking for a quote or a quick fact, here is the place to go. www.bartelby.com

Ancestry.com. This is a subscription site, but you can get a 14 day free trial. This site was, I believe, originally designed for genealogists, and it is great for doing family or local history research. You can search census records, newspapers, genealogies, and local histories, among other material.
www.ancestry.com

Fashion mixing with Politics

I don't know if anyone else has noticed this but I have been seeing a lot of anti-bush shirts being worn.That would lead me to believe that not very many people like Bush, but then why are his ratings still okay. At my school I think it's almost cool to wear a shirt that say," Friends Don't Let Friends Vote Republic " or a anti Bush pin or something else.It's almost like no one really cares about what the shirt actually means, but instead just wear the shirt for fashion reasons alone. I don't know about you, but I think that it defeats the purpose of the shirt if you are just wearing it bacause it will make you look cool.

A European Life Style

In case there are a few people who haven't heard yet about Harriet Miers relationship with Texas Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht here is a link to the great blog Underneath Their Robes.
http://underneaththeirrobes.blogs.com/main/. One of my friends once described this blog as the US Weekly for the federal bench. Once again my two worlds of of pop culture and politics colide.

Also Judge Nathan Hecht was on the Diane Rehm show today speaking of his dear friend. Harriet.
http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/

Stuff Mom Doesn't Need To Know About

So I came to New York for a long weekend of stressful grad school meetings and the wedding of one of my best friends. While it would seem obvious that the meetings would be much more stressful than the wedding, but there was just one problem with me attending an October wedding in the northeast; I have been living in Texas with all my Texas, i.e. hot weather clothes, and all my fall and winter, and let's face it, spring wear is currently living in Spokane, with Matt. I can't even remember what that stuff looks like. So I had two days of stressful meetings, which actually went very very well, so I'm thinking certain individuals who shall remain nameless have recently upped their meds, and leaving very little time to find anything to wear to this wedding.

Jody and I were able to very successfully and efficiently deal with this problem in a single hour in only the 2nd store we went into. Clearly the stars were aligning in our favor and this dress was the result.
I was feeling a bit cocky, I admit. Later in the evening, after the final stressful grad school meeting and a nice tea break with an old friend, I was beginning to regret my cockiness. It was clearly a case of me tempting the fates as I remembered that I still had to buy shoes. Ooops. All shoe stores were closing in 90 minutes and after spending 45 in one and finding nothing despite its large size, I was feeling a bit uneasy. I went to another store hoping against hope, and again nothing. And by nothing I mean very little I could or would want to put on my sore marathon training feet, and even that very little was not available in my size.

This was where the Fates decided to not hold my cockiness against me because, after all, it was for my friend Jesus' wedding, and it would not have been fair to him to taint his wedding with my bad shoes. At least this is my only explanation for the very nice salesman who descended upon me and became almost immediately determined to find me good black danceable shoes for my fabulous dress. It took another 45 minutes, but I emerged from that shoe store with two pairs of fabulous shoes and my heart much lighter.

The wedding was a success and it had nothing to do, obviously, with my dress or my shoes, but I was able to enjoy myself so much more because I had them, and Jesus does love a well turned out friend.

Today was a different day of shoe/soul searching. I needed new shoes to finish my marathon training. More about that later, but again a very nice and knowledgeable salesman came to the rescue and now I am returning home with shoes a plenty, and all of them a blessing for my sad sore feet.

My mother, however, had warned me to only allow myself a taste of shopping while on my trip as a major part of the point of staying in Texas this past year has been to pay off debt and save, will be saddened by resigned to my spree. She will also silently, and without malice, blame Jody a bit for her bad influence. This is not fair as I am just as bad a shopping influence on Jody, but my mother will only see my shoes.

More Nola pics

Nola chewing on a stuffed banana.

Nola loves elephants just like me.

Nola Lives

I threw all logic to the wind and just got a new puppy. Nola turnes nine weeks today and we are getting along wonderfully. Nola, named after New Orleans Louisiana, is a weimraner. I joked that I got him because he matches Capers, grey hair and blue eyes. I want to be like Martha Stewart and have my pets match. In reality I have always loved weimraners and he will hopefully be a great running partner. He is a smaller male so will most likely not get bigger then 85 pounds.

I got him from a breeder in Houston who is working actively on taking down Tom Delay, so Nola is a democrat from birth, so no training needed on that front.

He is of course smart and actually kind of serious. He does have a weird tendency to pick up rocks and then carry them around in his mouth before dropping them at my feet. He is already instinctively "pointing" like a great hunting dog.

Capers seems indifferent to him, probably because he still controls all of the furniture including my bed and the fact that I bought him tons of new toys and his very own bed.

Here are some pictures, I will certainly be posting many more as he grows.

Happy Birthday Harriet

Today is the 175 birthday of the nineteenth-century sculptor Harriet Hosmer. She is a distant relative of the Culkins and is also the subject of a book I am writing and an exhibition Jody and I putting together. Here she is with a rather lascivious looking rendition of her sculpture Daphne. I have much to say about her, but right now I'm running for a plane.

It's a Family Affair

I'm in Denver this weekend, attending a conference and getting to know Anders. Today Sarah and I walked over the Bill, Pat and Jane's house. (That is Pat and Jane with Anders above.) I'm proud to announce Jane is joining the blog. I can't wait to hear what she has to say.

An alternative Daily Show?

Some fanatical Daily Show fans (as we know, there are plenty) purchased the old set and are going to tour it around the country, producing a new show called "The Daily Set, without Jon Stewart". They are currently looking for lookalikes of Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and the rest of the gang. Read the press release here.

Clinton Street redecorated

My neighborhood is currently being redecorated by a film crew working on a movie directed by Julie Taymor (of "Lion King" fame). From what I hear, the movie is set in New York in the "summer of love"- would that be 1967? I'm not sure. Anyway, it's kind of odd to see the fake grafitti and colorful facades develop all around me. And I'm curious- did the Lower East Side ever really look like this? It seems a bit too cheerful.

For Comix Fans

If you would like to subscribe to a free email newsletter about comics from Publisher's Weekly (edited by Calvin) click here.

T.V. Talk

The fall TV season is at last in full swing. Here is an e-mail exchange in which Molly and I devoted perhaps a little too much time to discussing how things are shaping up.

Molly:
Ok lets be serious for a moment and discuss what is really important. Clearly I don't mean our supreme court or even the tragedy of the gulf coast, I am talking about tv.

My biggest problem at the moment is that I am not sure who to love and who to hate on veronica mars. i love this show, i watched the last two episodes of last season when they replayed them and was immediately hooked. i thought i liked logan but clearly he is a jerk, and what exactly is the history of duncan? since the first season isn't out yet I am in need of catch up. I know you told me again and again to watch last season and I didn't listen but I beg you to take pity on me and help me out.

My second problem is that I hate Rory more and more, what they hell she suddenly is so brilliant at community service? I hate hate hate the way she acts at any job, i hated her at the newspaper and now at the community service and at the dumb dance class. what is that weird thing she does with her voice?

The OC had better get good soon, I don't have time to support a show that can't step it up at least a little.

any thoughts?

I'll talk to you soon. I can't wait to see you at the marathon.

molly


Kate:

Hi,

Lets see. First things first. And first is of course Veronica Mars.

1) Logan is tricky. He seemed like a complete ass at the beginning of last season, then, miraculously they made me root for the Veronica/Logan relationship. Now of course he seems like a jerk again. I kind of like it that he is neither black or white, but it is a little confusing. I think he really cares about Veronica, but just can't get rid of his creepy tendencies so quickly. Having your father beat you and your mother commit suicide could, I suppose, have some long-term consequences on your behavior. Also, although they didn't really get into this, it seems like the fact that Logan's father tried to kill Veronica would put a strain on the relationship.

2) Duncan. Last year, he always seemed mopey and kind of boring, so it was hard to see why Veronica had cared so much about him. But now we know he was dealing with a lot of stuff--he thought the love of his life was his half sister, he thought he had killed his actual sister, and he was drugged up to treat his depression as well as dealing with the fact that he epileptic. With some of that weight gone he seems to be much happier and more charming this year.

Of course there is also Weevil, another kind of shady but charming character.
Also, I just read on Watch with Kristen that Joss Whedon is going to have a cameo on Veronica.

Gilmore Girls.
Yes, I hate Rory. Hate. She just seems more and more like a twit. That post-coital scene was really gross.

OC
Yes, they really need to turn it around. This week was really the worst. At this point, I could care less about any of the characters.

MY DVR cut off the second half of Alias, but I read about the events on TWoP. Did you watch? The most interesting part was seeing the attempts to disguise Jennifer Garner's stomach.

Have you watched Reunion or Prison Break?

Kate

Molly:

Thanks for the info on Veronica Mars, I sort of love Logan and was hoping that I wasn't crazy, clearly that is what they want to sort of make you feel a little guilty about liking him so much. I am totally hooked.

I still like Logan on Gilmore Girls, I just can't help myself, I wish he would dump Rory and move on maybe they will just write her out of the show and make it about Lorelie and Luke and the actual Yale kids, that would be fun.

I have started to watch Reunion, Kym filled me in on the first episode and we watched the second together, I am really intrigued but it seems really badly written and the acting certainly leaves something to be desired but it is a good concept so they have me for at least awhile longer. I particularly loved the crazy black ex-con character that entire thing was so weird.

I haven't been watching Alias consistently the past seasons but I heard all about the first episode. All I can say is Jennifer Garner is a total bitch for getting Michael Vartan kicked off the show, at least that is what I heard. Get a life lady and go hang out with your scruffy Boston boy and get your weird duck lips off of TV, lets all hope the baby has Ben's facial features or it will be a long life of Duck Lips Affleck.

I finally saw Grey's Anatomy, by far my favorite part was when the Burke asked who Dr. McDreamy was and Dr. Bailey said that she was. Seriously Burke is so clueless. Since the first 6 episodes of this season were suppose to be on last season the scripts got leaked a while ago so I basically knew what was going to happen, but I am glad my favorite 80s star is back.

My most pathetic guilty pleasure has got to be So You Think You Can Dance. I just love it, of course I also loved Dancing With the Stars. Seriously I am sucker for sequins and bad makeup.

I also loved the funeral scene in Desperate Housewives Marcia Cross is so amazing I can't handle it. When is she going to rip off the wig to reveal her scar? I think the situation with the new family is hard to swallow, they may be going too far for prime time it seems a little HBO or FX.

I'll talk to you soon.

molly

I haven't answered Molly yet, but let me just say I am in complete agreement with most of her opinions. Marcia Cross got robbed at the Emmys, its great to see Patrick Dempsey back, Jennifer Garner gets weirder looking by the day, and the Logan of Gilmore Girls, kind of like the Logan of Veronica Mars, is strangely appealing, despite being rich and spoiled. Also Reunion is really bad but oddly watchable. Its kind of like cheap jelly beans--they're gross, but I look forward to them every Easter.

Changing New York

On Friday, Jody asked why New York always looks better in black and white. I don't know the answer, but I couldn't agree more. As evidence, I offer the really interesting show at the Museum of the City of New York called New York Changing. The photographer Douglass Levere revisited the amazing black and white photographs Bernice Abbott took of New York in the 1930s as part of a WPA project. Abbott's pictures were published in the book Changing New York. It was reissued a few years ago in honor of the centennial of Abbott's birth; the new edition includes meticulously researched and fascinating endnotes about the buildings in the photographs. Levere, for the current exhibit, used Abbott's camera and, as closely as possible, recreated Abbott's shots, factoring in the location, angle, and time of day. Of course there have been dramatic changes--Abbott photographed streets that simply don't exist anymore. But I was surprised by the fact that so much had also stayed the same. New York changes, but I think less than many places in the United States. It's a fast-moving, hard-living, money driven city, but a lot of us love our heritage and want New York to look like the New York we fell in love with in the movies of the 30s and 40s and 50s.

Partners in Crime: The Juicers

Calvin and I visited the Baseball Hall of Fame this summer- I found this photo of Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire from their early glory days when they both played for the Oakland A's. The boys looked a bit smaller back then, didn't they?