Miley Cyrus, what is your problem?

I just came across this gem about how Miley Cyrus is not into Twilight. First, she says she's going to "ruin Radiohead" because they didn't feel like meeting her at an awards show. Good luck with that, Miley. Then she says how she doesn't find Robert Pattinson appealing at all. She later apologized for that lovely, umprovoked comment. Then she says she has never listened to Jay-Z, even though she's making money off of that premise with her "Party in the USA" song. Now, she's saying how vampires and wererwolves don't do it for her. I can understand if she was trying to maybe be self-deprecating to something? But she's just rude. All of these incidents together prove it. Screw you, Miley. Or rather your real name, "Destiny". Awesome.

UPDATE: I just read that Miley's tour bus crashed and killed a person today. I feel sorry for her, but I wonder if she herself even feels bad. She acts so spoiled and entitled, I'd be surprised if she even felt sadness over it. Lets hope so.

RIP, Eastwick

It was probably inevitable, and I shouldn't be so surprised, but I am crushed that the show Eastwick has been canceled. It's not like it was great, but I thought it was watchable. And I am a sucker for any show taking place in a charming New England town. What's really annoying is that even though the story lines weren't incredible, I'm still curious about what was going to happen, and now I will never know.

Dreamy TV Woman Pick of the Week: The Good Wife

I love this private investigator! What a bad ass! She is gorgeous and smart and drinks like a dude, and always wears high leather boots.

I also love her depth-- though she's tough and confident, she is not above being surprised or frustrated, like when she's under the L train, cars whizzing by-- and she's got her telephoto lens out and she's trying to get a shot of a license plate but the subject drives away before she can...

Wednesday's Exciting Moments in TV Production: Our Cups Were Half Empty

Once upon a time, the big entertainment company we work for used to keep our kitchens stocked with chips, cookies, granola bars, coffee, and milk. The cabinets were always well stocked, snacks sometimes varied (Doritos Baked Lays or Baked Cheetos, 100 Calorie Oreos or 100 Cal Chips Ahoy!), and this office distraction quickly became a frequent topic of conversation, and soon... an obsession.

Our kitchen stock lady (every floor had one) was on the ball. She got new shipments before we ran out. There were so many snacks, we had to eat some of the supplies just so the order would fit in the cabinets. We would have tasting parties, where we'd sit around the kitchen counter and taste the different flavors of granola bars (almond? or honey nut?) to determine which one was the office favorite. We sent around email reviews of the different coffees- there was a "jungle blend" that seemed to appease even the most picky of coffee connoisseurs.

We remember this period as the golden age. The time before people from other floors realized our abundance and began stealing entire boxes of our snacks. But once this started happening, it was as though the floodgates had opened. People started studying what our office hours were, and would come by to steal our food after hours. A few times, they were caught: once a man from a different floor came and took an entire carton of milk, and walked away with it; another time a girl came by and walked away with as many boxes of coffee pods as she could carry. Our 4th floor, west-elevator bank area became known, generally as, "the kitchen."

Our stock lady responded by having locks put on the all cabinets. Then the editors from the 5th floor learned how to pick them with safety pins. We began hiding boxes of snacks under our desks, but they found those too. They sought the crumbs like rats.

Our kitchen started going through snacks so quickly, the company began putting restrictions on how much we could order. And then the recession hit. And our big lovely company decided against spending thousands of dollars a shipment on its employees. In the end, we were only left with coffee pods and coffee cups.

The bad economy distracted us quite a bit from our snack drama. Although, the empty cabinets made us feel even more like modern-day Tiny Tims during the holiday season.

Immediately after the storm (December 2008 was the season of layoffs), we were left in the deserted office with only our lonely thoughts and our paper coffee cups. Signs went up around the kitchens to "conserve supplies, bring your own cups." Whenever I read that sign, I pondered the rude, frustrated tone of the office assistant that had to create it.

Over time we began to obsess over our supplies yet again.

By chance, I visited another floor's kitchen. I took a paper coffee cup from the plastic sleeve, filled it with water, and walked back to my desk. As I walked, I felt something different about what I held in my hand. The cup felt bigger. I looked down, into the depths of the cup-- my reflection seemed deeper, farther away. And then it hit me:

The cup from the other kitchen was bigger.

We were clearly no longer the company favorite. Our cabinets were empty, and our cups were smaller. I raced back to our half-empty office and made the announcement. My co-workers vaguely looked up from their seasonal-depression slumber, they roused. I repeated my announcement. Someone ran into our kitchen, grabbed a cup and placed it next to the one I held. We were astonished. We took a picture. We forgot, for a moment, our sadness and our insecurities.

Today the "days of the snacks" sound like local folklore when we speak of it now. But there it is, part of our personal/corporate history. I wonder when those times will return? And what will our future "golden eras" look like?

Two by Two

Somewhere between Cumberland, Maryland and Morgantown, West Virginia, some middle-american evangelical decided that the best way to spend their time and money was to "rebuild" Noah's ark alongside I-68(pictured here). Unfortunately, with HT speeding by well over 15 miles over the speed limit, I had only one chance to snap a picture and share the humorous structure with the blogosphere. Unfortunately for the architect, the "rebuilding" doesn't appear to have progressed much in the seven or so years HT and I have been driving this stretch of highway. He'd better hurry up-- I hear the world's going to end in 2012. . .

For All You Nesters

It seems to be coming up in several conversations and posts recently, so I thought I would link to this great website that will give you lots of good decorating, renovating, etc. info. Love it! AND….their house has a pink room. So it makes mine seem ok……

http://www.younghouselove.com/

Girl Wednesday’s Features

I looove GW’s new dreamy man of the week feature and am holding out until she includes the following:

I don’t get a chance to watch Criminal Minds all that much, but it has an absolutely amazing, quirky cast of characters – all of whom I seem to relate to in one way or another. But Shemar Moore (who plays Derek Morgan) is some eye candy I can’t keep my eyes off of. And he’s a smartie to boot! (some of you, not me! thankfully, may remember him from the Young and Restless. Let’s hope that you, in fact, are not one of those people. But he does have a “I smelled a fart” soap stare in this pose). Still ymmm.

Last Meal

Here's an interesting article about death row inmates' last meals.

I am not for the death penalty, but I think it's kind of strange that we maintain this 'last meal' tradition. It doesn't bother me that much, but the people these convicts murdered didn't get to choose and enjoy their last meals, that's for sure.

What Really Grinds Wednesday's Gears

I really like food. I love it. And I can really pack it in. Although, after I eat I usually feel sick... undoubtedly because I either eat too fast, or too much, or am probably lactose intolerant but am too afraid to find out for sure. Either way, I like food.

Tonight on the local evening news I learned of a "real danger" known as "orthorexia," and I just want to say- this really grinds my gears.

Really? Eating too healthy? That's like suffering from "not being lazy," or from "getting too many straight A's." I hate when people suffer from these conveniently flattering disabilities.

I've known one too many girls (sorry, yes girls) who claim to suffer from orthorexia. Though I've never heard them use the term "orthorexia." It usually sounds like, "I don't like salad dressing." Or, "Oh I eat fruit for dessert."

Gosh, that really grinds my gears.



Two please.

Girl Wednesday's Pick: Dancing-in-Her-Apartment Song

You might recognize this song from the Adidas commercial. We heard it recently on the boardwalk of Venice Beach. When we got back to the hotel, my friend hunted the song down on her laptop. We found it on Youtube and played it over and over and over....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ync5XfNNPo

Two Norwegian dudes made it. Here they are in concert:

Wednesday's Exciting Moments in TV Production: I Love L.A.

This past weekend brought me to Los Angeles where a producer-friend of mine and I did some filming of a local personality-- a DJ/break dancer/actor/model.

I have a really fun job.

At this club, Boulevard 3, there was a white lucite stage that raised behind the glowing, neon bar and patrons watched and cheered from the surrounding dance floor and the mezzanine balcony as the performances ensued...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IM-WjhOZdTY&feature=youtube_gdata

Break dancing is back!

Dreamy TV Man Pick of the Week: House MD

I could say that for me, it's his acerbic elitism, the way he tackles only the most unsolvable medical mysteries, his Nikes, or his love for rock n' roll, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit that what I love most about Dr. House is the possibility he represents that there really is a doctor out there who can figure out and cure almost anything.

Conceived in the likeness of my beloved Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Gregory House is all business. And even limping down the hospital hall on his cane, even while reduced to the everyday details of his desperate Vicodin addiction, and most recently, putting himself out there at a costume party, only to be rejected by his love- hospital administrator Cuddy-- he is still so dreamy.

My new obsession

The first step is admitting you have a problem.

I, similar to GirlFriday (with her fondness for Ethan Allen interior decorating), have an unhealthy obsession with real estate and furniture. I don't know when it happened. Probably some time during all the craziness of wedding planning when I realized that after the "big day" was over, I'd have lots of free time to plan the "ever after." I'm sure HT could tell you when he first started noticing the longer period of time I would spend pouring over the Pottery Barn Catalogue. . . I'm surprised he hasn't started throwing them out before I get home like I do with his Griots' garage car-washing supply catalogues. . . but I digress.

Somewhere in the last two years, I have really, really started to want to buy a home. It has something to do with throwing upwards of a few thousand dollars away in rent each month, but it also has to do with just wanting walls I can paint and rooms to decorate, and a big red front door with an antique looking knocker.

HT and I spent the better part of Sunday afternoon wandering around a little haven outside of DC where we'd love to be able to buy a place. We clip-clopped along brick sidewalks and popped in and out of cafes and boutiques trying to avoid strollers and dogs, smiling families, and tourists. We sat for clam chowder looking out at the potomac, somewhat exhausted from our prior evening's activities and wished that we could just plop down right there, put down roots, and stop all the what-ifs that come with the ACTUAL headaches of homeownership.

The problem with the obsession is that it's fun right now. We haven't broached the topic with lenders, we haven't really, earnestly, tried to figure out what we can afford, and we haven't set foot across a threshhold yet. And I'm certain that once we make those steps, my tone might change. But right now, home to me is clapboard and blue shutters with a red door and crooked, colonial front step. And filled with pottery barn furniture. . .

Choose or Lose

If you could get four more seasons of Gilmore Girls (pre-Yale and the Birken bag), but that meant you had to watch every LA Clippers game on ESPN, would you?

If you could go back and keep Taylor Hicks from making it to Hollywood week on American Idol, but it meant Wesley and Princess Buttercup wouldn’t get together, would you do it?

This is a great link, check it out – I’d love to hear your thoughts. Are there any you would definitely choose?: http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/show/movies_without_pity/the_box_better_questions_they.php

Bad Sports

Saw this first thing this morning. What a bad sport! Someone find me a campaign where we can get her banned from soccer…..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-pF3OHY1c

Girl Fairway

GirlFairway is very sick, please pray for her.

Amen

Back in January, when we were discussing things we love to hate, I mentioned how much I hate when people complain about the way waiters are treated in the cases when they're actually really terrible waiters. This week the New York Times featured articles listing the things restuarant staffers should never do. Sometimes, I wish people in the service industry would realize that it's their responsibility to provide exemplerary service, and that's the point this veteran of the restaurant industry is making. The list can be found here and here. Enjoy!

Producers shouldn't act nor enable others to do so

Here's something that has been bothering me for quite a while. I love the show The Office. However, one character I do not care for at all is Ryan Howard, pictured below on the far right with the other major players of the show.

He is played by B.J. Novak, who is also a producer for the show. Though the character sucks (not in an enjoyable way) he has persisted for all of the seasons, given story lines, and is one of the "stars" identified in the opening credits. Even though he never really has story lines about him, and when they are there, they are forced. I have to believe the fact that he is a producer has something to do with it. If he wasn't, I'm sure he'd be written out. His character has dated the office ditz, Kelly (played by Mindy Kaling) who has some funny moments but overall isn't that great. But she's a producer too, so, she's still there. Please, NBC do something about it. (Girls, do you have any pull?) There are so many better actors/characters in that big ensemble!

In similar "my favorite TV shows" developments, Roxy Olin who now appears on MTV's fake reality show, "The City" has what looks to be a recurring role on one of my favorite favs, Brothers & Sisters.

I mean, she's okay. But whenever I see her on the show, I can't help but think about the fact that her parents are actors on the show, and I believe her dad produces and/or directs.

I don't know if it's just my knowledge of the situation that ruins it for me (probably) or she really does kind of suck and is extraneous. If you're on a reality show it seems pretty obvious that you are trying to act and be famous, and so here, it's kinda like, you could cut the nepotism with a knife.

It's fun and delicious when shows/films do a good job with casting, but it can really mess things up when  they let it slide.

Weddings and more

So 17 days to go before the big day! Getting really excited, stressed, nervous, anxious, anxiety, you name I feel like I have it :)

We started out dating over two years ago, for about a year of it we spent in airports waving goodbye or hugging hello. I lived in LA he lived in the big city. So finally a year and a half ago I decided to move here.  

I did love LA and most of my family there, or at least on the west coast, so for me this was a huge change, but for the best!

Now were just in the final stretch of organizing our wedding. I kind of feel like weddings are more for family and friends and less for you. We have had a lot of fun making our own favors, decorations, ect to bring out our personality's to the reception part.

I have made little soap owls for the bathroom, covered in tea tree and lavender oils. (I think my roommates who I live with now will be so excited when our apartment has less fragrance in it)

:)

Joe and I together now have made chocolate covered acorns and painted the tops of them silver and some gold, put them in little boxes and carving are names in the top of the box. (kind of going for the woodsy style)

Were having our reception up at Sundance Screening room. He filmed and edited a movie a little over a year ago and were going to be showing that along with one that I am currently working on.  Here is the one he made while I was living in Los Angles.

Dreamy TV Man Pick of the Week: The Mentalist

You thought I was going to say Simon Baker, didn't you?
Not this week!
This is the guy on The Mentalist who never smiles, almost always wears short-sleeved/button-down shirts with a tie, is surprisingly jacked-- Agent Kimball Cho, played by Tim Kang, is my pick for this week.

Girl Wednesday's Picture-Perfect Weekend

I'd been wanting to do a pumpkin weekend for a long time. I had so wanted to channel my junior-high love for Halloweens and homecoming bonfires and that time when everything is cozy and cool and echoey and spooky.



After a planned pumpkin-picking weekend with Girl Friday got rained-out, I had another opportunity with my boyfriend and some friends from work-- and seized it! Behold, my picture-perfect autumn weekend.....

Location: Long Island, NY

Corn Maze!!
(I'll admit, this was my most anticipated part of the trip, but I decided that while beautiful, the corn maze needed a little edge. Maybe nightfall could have been rapidly approaching and we couldn't find our way out, or a devil-possessed serial killer was chasing after us, or we consumed a bottle of vodka while trying to find our way out).







Pumpkins!





Pies!






(photos courtesy Si Hobbs)

Wednesday's Exciting Moments in TV Production: Safe Cavin!

This Wednesday I bring to you the aftermath of my funnest, wildest moment in TV production to date: cave exploration.

For a weather story on a cave flood from 1979, I went back to the original cave where the story took place. I met with the original rescuers (pictured with me, left) and crawled through scary-small places of the wet cave in northern Georgia.

Because Georgia had been hit with so much rain just days before my adventure, I was really nervous. But once inside, I didn't panic at all! In fact, I had a great time and would do it again in a heartbeat.

"Safe cavin," as they say. Or as that one guy says- the guy in the red jumpsuit. He signs his emails that way.

Like a chaperone at a high school dance. . .

My blackberry buzzed somewhere between Dupont Circle and Woodley Park on Thursday morning as I received an e-mail notifying me that my Mother had made a suggestion that I add my father as a "friend" on facebook. I'm sure I'm NOT the first to experience the full-family social networking, but it doesn't make me any more okay with it. Granted, I've already taken precautions with my profile-- I've turned off all broadcasts, I've turned off the wall, and I've limited the number of people who can search me. But there's something odd to me about having my Mom & Dad on facebook. I don't mind them seeing my game day rants about poor football performances, nor do I have any problem with them viewing my pictures or reading my cranky late-night-at-the-office status messages, but there is just something about it that I find odd.

My parents have ALWAYS been tech-savy. My dad was on the internet when all there was was compuserve and text-based message boards accessed using MS-DOS. He had a "portable" compaq computer roughly the size of a carry-on suitcase which my brother and I used to successfully conquer Math Blaster and the first version of Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. We had a cable modem as soon as they were available in the boonies, and they rigged wireless internet throughout the house faster than you can say linksys. They talk to my nephew across the country on a webcam, and they've got more cables wired into their new house than most office buildings.

Lucky for me during college, they never got in to InstantMessager or bothered with Friendster, MySpace, or even LinkdIn (though I'm probably wrong on that one). I called them once a week, e-mailed occasionally, but their virtual presence was relatively minimal. But now they have iPhones, macbooks, and facebook profiles. When I check status updates from my blackberry, I can see my mother's musings or learn my father's evening plans. My mom spent her entire visit to see my nephew taking and uploading pictures with her iPhone. My brother started chatting with me this afternoon on FB to try and determine how to launch a war against the adult infiltration of facebook.

Don't get me wrong, why shouldn't parents and other adults be able to reap the same reconnecting benefits we all enjoy about facebook. We all enjoy the random friend request from your childhood neighbor or the congratulatory message from the roommate you've lost touch with. I'm just weirded out knowing how much I stalk people on facebook and wonder if my mom and dad are now doing the same to me and my friends. And then there's the fact that the ever-growing facebook population that makes me wonder if we'll reach a point where parents and children communicate by Facebook message, notifying eachother of locations or curfew changes via status message. Who'll need chaperones if apple invents an iPhone app that tweens carry with them while their parents wait at home watching on the webcam?

After drafting this post last week, I ran across a CNN.com article yesterday discussing the trend among tweens lying about their age and bucking the membership agreements for social networking sites: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/11/02/kids.social.networks/index.html. Perhaps there's some real truth to my predictions. . . Frightening.

Beeeeuuutiful

I live in the most beautiful place on Earth. I love looking in almost any direction at almost any time and having a scenic, ever-changing view to cast my eyes upon. The leaves this fall have been particularly spectacular and the drive back last night from the airport was unbelievable. Fog rolling out across the mountain tops, making it look like whitecaps, glowing fall leaves brightening the mountainsides, an orange to pink to ice blue to navy sunset, and a full moon. Wowzers. If any of you out there have never been to the Southern Appalachians, they come highly recommended. But as the locals say, “please don’t move here.”

When You Miss a Flight

So I have never in all my years of flying missed a flight (for which it was my fault) – I’ve always been terrified that I would, either:

1. End up not making it to my destination
2. End up not making it home for days
3. HAVE TO PAY OUT THE ASS to prevent 1 or 2. Or in addition to 1 and 2.

But over the weekend, I had the pleasure of seeing what happens first hand. BoyfriendFriday was scheduled to go home Sunday afternoon. Or so we thought. But on our way to breakfast Sunday morning, a cursory check of the flight time lead to a discovery of a 6:40 AM flight. Not a 6:40 PM flight. Oooops. My bad.

Anyway, here’s what happens when you miss a flight. NOTHING! It’s grand. They just put you on the next one they have available (that you want) and you pay a $50 change fee (geck, but it could be worse). So he flew home at 6PM. No problems.

I can see how missing a flight at the holidays could cause a problem, or other airlines may be worse, but overall, I have been worried all those years for nothing. Not a really exciting story, but a good piece of information for those of you who get to the airport 2 hours early……..

But I do have some good stories about running to planes carrying my rolling luggage (it’s so much easier if you’re in a hurry to carry rather than try to roll, navigating kids, curves, and transitions to the moving walkway) to be greeted by a plane full of cheering people (they cheer when you get there because it means they can finally leave – it’s not like I’m a celebrity. Although I tell myself that).

One Year Ago Friday

We miss you Mr G.

On The Road Again

A cool shot I took out the passenger side window while me and my hubby were driving across the country last summer.

Crazy Town

Does anyone else get randomly emotional, to a pretty irrational extent? I hate to be the unfairly stereotyped hysterical woman, but it happens to me a lot. What's weird is that I am pretty even-keel most of the time. I make a concerted effort to be kind of strong and take life as it comes. But the absolute dumbest things, like sappy commercials and human interest stories on TV, just get me going.

Take for example previews for the upcoming film The Blind Side starring Sandra Bullock. I was vaguely aware of the Michael Lewis book about the true life story of pro-football player Michael Oher-- his difficult childhood and eventual adoption and nurturing by a well-to-do family, but when I see anything about this movie, I just starting bawling. Hysterically. And I know that's what the filmmakers want, and they add just the right touching moments into the trailer with the requisite sweeping music score quite purposefully. I don't think it's just that that sets me off though.

Whenever I see something about the movie, I can't help having deep, lengthy thoughts about Oher's situation. He never knew his father, his mom was addicted to crack cocaine. In the movie, Sandra Bullock's character sees him walking on a dark street, in freezing weather, with just a tee-shirt on. I just can't take the image. When she approaches him, he's so timid. He has nowhere to sleep. In my mind, I can't help thinking, Why? How? This innocent person, this child of God, without proper clothes or shelter. Several times I have weeped and weeped over this. As emotional as it makes me to think that someone could be in this situation, I am also completely moved by the kindness of the family that opened their hearts to him. But-- what if they hadn't? Who else is out there?

Obviously, crying about this widely-reaching problem is not going to help. I think what I can do is try to be the kind of person who appreciates her own blessings enough to realize that's it's my responsibility, as a human being, to take care of anyone going through a hardship, in any way I can. For now maybe it's just praying. Perhaps one day I'll be able to do more. In the mean time, I'm going to try to stay calm.

Damn it, just watched the preview again. I need to get some tissues.

Ethan Allen Style Quiz

Good morning friends!
I wanted to share with you one of my favorite wasting-time activities. I love home decor, and although I have never actually purchased anything from Ethan Allen, I really like their stuff. On their website, they have a Design Quiz, which helps you determine what your home decor point-of-view is. It's not perfectly scientific-- I take it over and over again and often get different results-- but I still think it's super fun. I hope you enjoy it! You can access it here.