The turduckin of cakes

I think this might be a challenge...



But I also think I might vomit if this comes anywhere near my kitchenaid mixer. Some things are sacred, y'all, and this might be the devil.

Semper Gumby: always flexible

I am so freaking late to the game on this one, but it has to be said: Generation Kill is AMAZING. The miniseries, I mean... I haven't read the book it's based on, but after watching only two episodes of the show I know it's next on my reading list (after I finish a truly depressing non-fiction account of the building of the Oklahoma City bombing memorial... you can probably guess why it's taking me a while.)

But honestly, I can't get over how phenomenal Generation Kill is. I've been nursing a cold (four months of winter the likes of which is usually only seen in Siberia, and the moment the sun comes out I get sick) so I've been staying in a lot, which has given me TONS of time with which to watch tv on my crappy little laptop screen. Its just like the summer after freshman year of college when I sprained my ankle and spent two months catching up on Veronica Mars, Alias and Sports Night, only this won't last as long.

The show is so well-paced, so well-edited, and the writing is tight, terse and clever all at once. I don't know why I'm surprised, given that David Simon (he of the Wire and Treme) is so centrally involved, but I am just floored by what I've been watching. And I say this as someone who really doesn't like war movies. I mean, don't get me wrong: watching shit blow up on screen is one of my favorite past-times, but I'm well aware that I prefer my violence fantastical and escapist rather than realistic and depressing. In Generation Kill, though, they neither glorify the violence or try to make it a tragic epic about the moral costs of war - instead, it just really feels like we're following these men through an actual invasion, with all the violence and humor and bureaucratic screw-ups that comes with it.

Anyway, I'm only two episodes in so I'm sure my appreciation for the miniseries will become more complex and reflective as I make my way through, but I just thought it had to be said now: Generation Kill is FANTASTIC, and anyone who isn't watching it needs to start right now.



*Oh, and one more thing: this is Ray, my favorite character so far. He got burned by an illegal camp stove that one of the other Marines was using to make espresso! He was on the debate team in high school, but all his fellow teammates thought he was high on uppers all the time! He wears pimp sunglasses and knows all the words to Avril Lavigne songs! He also has some of the most epic speeches on American society, the war, and the ridiculous recruitment commercials the Marines made with that stupid dragon, but they aren't very family friendly. If I removed all the swear words from my favorite monologue so far there would be, like, five other words, and most of them would be definite articles. In short: I LOVE YOU RAY.

There's two things in the world you never want to let people see how you make 'em: laws and sausages.

Have I talked about The West Wing? I know I'm late to the party - like, ten years late, but I believe in making a fashionably tardy entrance. I've been watching the first season (in between writing up a storm of personal statements for grad school and battling the actual snow storm outside my house) and holy crap, that was an amazing show.

Aaron Sorkin is sort of a sore spot for a lot of TV enthusiasts. It seems like either you love him and think he's God's gift to television or you hate him and wish he would die in a fire. And preferably take his too-witty fast-walking characters with him. But I've always sort of viewed myself as a swing-vote when it comes to Sorkin: I hated Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip but I thought Sports Night was probably the most underappreciated tv show of the last 15 years (and given that that year-span includes Veronica Mars, that's saying something) Clearly, I have unresolved issues. But people, West Wing... it's a revelation.

I suppose I shouldn't be so surprised. I mean, this is a tv show about the United States! And government! And smart people! Those are three things I adore! And the writing itself is so unapologetically in love with the idea of America, so optimistic about what American government could do, the positive agent of change it could be... I'm getting all verklempt just thinking about it. It's sort of strange to watch it now with 8 years of the Bush administration under my belt, but I'm also noticing a lot of overlaps between the Obama administration and the rocky start of the fictional Bartlet government.

Mostly I think I love The West Wing because it's just so ridiculously nerdy, and completely willing to revel in that fact. To wit, I leave you with the Antiquities Act (my fave!), a banking bill, and a fictional American president waxing rhapsodic over the great insitution of America's national parks*:





*I love the national parks too! Come hang out with me, President Bartlet... we can drink tea and I'll tell you all about Grey Towers! It'll be awesome.

Snowsuit up!

FIRST SNOW OF THE YEAR!

Okay, but see, now I'm torn. On the one hand: yay! It's pretty and white and fluffy and makes Chicago seem like a winter wonderland where a girl and a guy might Meet Cute, hate each other on sight, and then slowly warm up to each other through a series of hijinks until a terrible misunderstanding shows them how much they actually care! And then they kiss when the ball drops on New Years Eve, and it all happened because snow has the magical ability to turn the city of Chicago into a romantic comedy from the 90s starring Meg Ryan!

On the other hand: SNOW BOOTS. And slush. And slipping on the frozen sidewalk. And wearing three pairs of socks becuase if you don't, your toes will fall off. And waiting for the bus in sub-zero temperature. And the terrible gray color that snow turns as it melts and mixes with the filth of the city streets.

It hasn't snowed enough yet for the serious winter-wear and the terrible melt-freeze-melt-freeze cycle to pick up yet, though, so I'm staying optimistic. Snow looks so damn pretty, and as long as I can stay under my covers and watch it fall, I'm good. Just don't make me go outside.

Or maybe I should just snowsuit up and build an igloo!




Sorry I've been so absent - grad school applications have eaten my life. More to come, though, promise!

Up, up and away

Just came back from a viewing of "Up" at the local multiplex. They have five-dollar Tuesdays, so I plan to see most of my summer blockbusters there. Or the Logan Theater, which is a tiny run-down jewel-box of a theater that plays second-runs for three bucks. Most movies eventually make it to the Logan, but it takes a while. The roommates and I couldn't wait to see "Up," so five-dollar Tuesday it was.

And let me tell you, IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH THE FIVE BUCKS. Seriously. As usual, Pixar* blows it out of the water. The colors, the shapes, the freaking masterful storytelling - I just... there are no words. Except these: go see it.

*Sidenote: the summer after high school I worked in downtown Emeryville in an office where my job was to purge old files and refile open cases. Yeah, it was thrilling. Every morning I caught the free Emeryville shuttle from McCarthur BART station. The shuttle went past the Pixar campus, and every day I watched as hip, cool, nerdy looking people in comfortable clothes and messenger bags got off at the pearly gates of Pixar and sauntered into work, looking happy and content, while the rest of us trundled on in the shuttle wearing our uncomfortable heels and ill-fitting suit pants. I swear, everytime after we dropped the Pixar folks off, the day got a little gloomier.

"Dammit Jim, I'm a doctor, not a..."

Oh wow, Star Trek.



Now to be fair, while I'm not what one might call a Trekkie* I did spend my formative years tagging along after one and absorbed some of the obsessive Star Trek love via osmosis. Still, even if I weren't already a fan, I'm pretty sure I would still think this movie was made of awesome. Because it is. Made of awesome, I mean. Seriously, go see it. I mean, it's fun and explosive and colorful and still stays true (kinda) to the foundational message of Star Trek: space racism is bad!

*Side note: when I spellchecked this entry, "Trekkie" wasn't highlighted as a misspelled (or nonexistent) word. Which means that it's entered into the Blogger dictionary. Oh, Google Blogger. Way to wave your freak flag.

"If you were a man, I'd knock your block off."

I just got back from a screening of "Victor/Victoria," and it has proven two things to me: that 1. Julie Andrews is the Queen of Everything, and 2. James Garner was smokin' hot as a youngster.

I'm serious, folks. I don't think I realized just how amazing he was in his younger years. I mean, you never hear him mentioned in the list of the truly attractive Hollywood stars of yesteryears: Paul Newman, Marlon Brando, James Dean, etc. But really, after seeing "Victor/Victoria" and being reminded of how much I loved "The Americanization of Emily" (also, strangely, starring Julie Andrews), I think I might have to add Garner to my personal list of Faces I Love to Look At.

Here, take a gander:



No one does square-jawed American insouciance like James Garner. Almost enough to make you forgive him for "The Notebook", isn't it?

Coming soon to a tv set near you

So today I might, just might have been scanning photos of Gifford Pinchot and his various forestry activities for a noted public television documentarian. Yes, that noted public television documentarian.* Who is doing a documentary on the national parks. And needs photographs. Of Gifford Pinchot. Photographs scanned by me. I'M FAMOUS.

No, but really, I'm inordinantly excited by my brush with intellectual-Americana fame. When you see the national parks documentary on PBS (and I know you will, you Teddy Roosevelt fans) just remember me and my tiny insignificant role in bringing it to your television set.

*You know who I'm talking about: he directed The Civil War, and Jazz, and Baseball, and The War, and is the king of PBS.

When did Kevin Spacey stop being awesome and start being weird?

Kevin Spacey always had that smart-alecky, off-kilter, cute-because-he-might-be-crazy thing going on for him, but man, he is freaking me out lately. I mention this because tonight I watched 21. While normally mediocre films about math-geeks-turned-lounge-lizards (I do love the hyphen) aren't my cup of tea (give me shit blowing up any day), my friend is recovering from major surgery and isn't allowed to leave the house (or, for that matter, wash her own hair) so we made do with what she had at her place. Which was, apparently, Step Up 2: The Streets, and 21. I voted for Step Up 2, obvi, but was outvoted by her boyfriend. Apparently he can't stand redemptive tales of dance, love, and straight-thuggery. Hater.

But ANYWAY, back to Kevin Spacey. 21 was, as I thought, unspectacular. Yeah, Jim Sturgess (sp?) is adorable, and for once the sight of Kate Bosworth didn't give me sympathy hunger pains (but man, someone needs to give that girl a milkshake!) but for a movie all about cheating the Man in Vegas, it lacked the polish and devil-may-care attitude to carry itself off. Also, as mentioned before, Kevin Spacey was FREAKING ME OUT. He was all loud yelling and fast talking, but not in a fun menacing way. Instead from the get-go I was worried about him. Like I kept on wanting to yell at the screen, "no Jim Sturgess, step away from the freaky old guy with the receding hair line! He is too angry and volatile too early on in the script! This can only lead to trouble!"

There really isn't any point to this post. Mostly I'm just concerned for Kevin Spacey, and I want to express that worry. Has he lost his touch? Has his mastery of the fine line between awesome-creepy and stop-looking-at-me-creepy slipped? I've decide to blame his downward spiral on that stupid Bobby Darin biopic. Because that was straight up, total creep-time, and I think he's probably never recovered.