That's How My Love Goes

Ahhh, the 80s.

Oops

I just noticed that the formatting on my fall fashion post was all screwed up, making it partially incomprehensible. Geez, you guys! You probably wouldn't tell me if I had spinach in my teeth or if my skirt was tucked into my underwear either! :)

TV Musings

Phew! Last night's episode of The Office was exponentially better that last week's. The people on TWoP's message boards totally called Toby having a crush on Pam. I thought they were full of it. Toby is one of my favorite secondary characters so I hope this is just a quick thing; I don't want to see him sad all season, a la Jim.

ER was good last night. I liked the return of Sally Field, loved that Uncle Jesse and Neela are going to be an item, am glad that the spawn of Abby and Luka is ok, fainted when Goran spoke Croatian or whatever the hell language they speak in Croatia, didn't hate Morris, and wished I knew an old Italian dude who was friends with the DA and who could get me out of jams. Dare I say that ER has jumped back over the shark? I guess it's too early to tell.

The Munchies

Domino's new brownies must be damn good: Domino's Brownie Bust.

It's Hard Out Here For a Shrimp

Karen's post about buying clothes at Target inspired me to get up off my ass and buy new clothes, which I desperately need. The repressed preppy in me became excited at her mention of argyle and houndstooth. When my parents bought me clothes I was all about the Gap and j. crew, but now that I'm an adult and have other bills to pay, I go to Target. Besides, Gap and j. crew don't sell tampons and greeting cards, and I'm all for one-stop shopping. I don't usually buy trendy stuff because I go clothes shopping about once every five years, so what I buy has to have staying power. I have some clothes from high school that I still wear. Unfortunately most of them don't fit, but that's another story. I perused Target's fall fashion catalog online and found that it is still no fun being 5'1 with some extra baggage.

Leggings: I wore stretch pants in middle school. They had stirrups. They were ill-advised. I prefer not to c: *shudder* This reminds me of middle school when we tight-rolled our jeans. I'd like to tight roll the neck of the person who brought this look back. Not only is this a horrible look for short people, but I have massive clown feet and I use boot cuts to make them look smaller.

Tunics: I suppose the point of tunics is to elongate the torso, but this is not a good look when you have junk in the trunk as I do.

Wide belts: Just what I want to call attention to: my mid-section!

Shoes: My love of shoes is pretty much the only girly thing about me. Guess what's hot this season?! Ballet flats!! Nothing will give me height like shoes with a 1/8-inch sole!

Gauchos: Ugh. Do you realize how short and stumpy my legs would look in these things? I think they look cool on tall girls, but on me? Not so much.

Palazzo pants: Longer than gauchos, these look like too-short slacks. Just what I need: something to make my legs look fatter and shorter.

American Idol Review

Here's my "just the facts, ma'am" review:

Pop Tarts presents American Idols Live (no, the irony of the sponsor isn't lost on me)
September 19, 2006
Giant Center
Hershey, PA

Pre-show: My dad dropped my mom off at my work and we headed to the McDonald's in Hershey to get dinner. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the parking lot of McDonald's back to the main road (about 1000 feet). I was not pleased. Our seats were situated in front of 5 10-year-old girls who shrieked the whole time. The shrieking actually hurt my ears. I'm never having children. At least not girls.

Banter: Everyone did the mandatory banter about how much they love chocolate, Mandisa talked to us about god, and Kellie seemed like a 5-year-old trying to remember her lines in the school play.

Show: The show started with Mandisa doing "I'm Every Woman" then "If I Was (BIG grammar pet peeve) Your Woman." She moved on to some drecky song (I believe it might be called "I'm Your Angel") during which Ace came out to join her. Ace then sang "Father Figure," complete with strange chest pumping then did "Harder to Breathe" where he tried to headbang. I've come to the conclusion that Ace is like a puppy who pees on the floor. You're not happy about the peeing, but he's so cute that you forgive him. Then you sleep with him. Ace, not the puppy. Ace introduced Lisa who did "Signed, Sealed, Delivered," "Your Song," and "Someone Saved My Life Tonight." She was playing the keyboard, but it kept playing when she walked away. Lisa introduced Paris and they did a duet of "Waterfalls," then Paris did "Midnight Train to Georgia" and "Crazy in Love."

Bucky did "Superstitious," "Drift Away," and dueted with Kellie on "You're the One That I Want." Kellie did "I'm the Only One" and "Walking After Midnight."

After intermission Chris did "Wanted Dead or Alive," "Whole Lotta Love," and "Renegade." He played guitar semi-competently, but there is no comparison between Styx doing "Renegade" and Chris doing it. I speak from experience. Chris started to sing some crappy modern rock song and Elliott came out to join him.

Elliott did "Moody's Mood for Love" and two other songs I didn't know; one may have been called "Trouble." Elliott, Chris, Ace, and Bucky sang "Patience" together and it was surprisingly good. After that Katharine came out and did "Black Horse, Cherry Tree," "Think," and "Somewhere Over the Rainbow." Taylor ran down to the stage via the row next to us singing "Jailhouse Rock." It would have been cool if I didn't despise him. He did some songs I didn't know, "Taking it to the Streets," and his shitty single, "Do I Make You Proud."

Then group came out and sang "We Are the Champions" and a song about America. I can't remember the name of it for the life of me but I do remember that Ace did something with his hips that gave me the tinglies.

Overall the show was decent, but I wish I had seen this before Styx, because I think that is the cause of some of my lack of excitement. I have to give everyone except Kellie props; they all improved a lot since the show. Even Taylor didn't annoy me as much as he did on TV.

Sorry this is so poorly written, but I realize most of you don't care and I just cranked it out so I could return to my Office marathon :).

More Office Thoughts

Here is an interesting article in Slate about versions of The Office from France and Germany and how they differ from the British and US versions. One point the writer makes is that British people tend to have a more glum outlook on life than Americans do, which makes sense. It reminds me of the line from Pink Floyd's "Time," "Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way." I've never really been able to explain the difference between the UK and US versions to people who haven't seen them. I understand why original fans of the UK version wouldn't like the US one. I watched season 1 of the US, then all of the UK version, then season 2 of the US. I love them both in different ways.

As for Thursday night's show, a lot of people seemed to love it. I need to watch it again, but I lent my tape to a co-worker so that will have to wait till next week. I still stand by my over-the-top judgment though.

My season 2 DVD FINALLY came last night (damn you, Amazon), so I started watching the deleted scenes and commentaries today. I really wish it were an hour-long show.

Premier Night

I was pretty meh about The Office premier last night. I hope people who watched it for the first time last night, like Feather, give it another change. I'm interested to see where they're going with the Jim being in Stamford thing and the Roy/Pam breakup. I felt the whole meeting, especially the kissing Oscar thing, was too over the top, even for this show. There's no way in real life Toby would have allowed that to happen. I think the show is starting to get too sitcom-my. I think the writers need to have a marathon of the UK version. Don't get me wrong, I adore the show, but I think season 1 was the best and it has been slowly going downhill. I did like Ryan's "that'll show 'em," Dwight's thinking about Angela with another woman and Stanley's speech about the toaster.

On the other hand, I thought ER was really good! I was going to be royally pissed if they killed Luka, Abby, the spawn of Luka and Abby, or Jerry. Damn, Goran looked fine last night! Yay, Mrs. Costanza! Usually I despise Sam's stories (and I blame the writers because I love Linda Cardellini), but last night's was pretty cool.

I still have high hopes for my Thursday night TV and I hope they keep Deal or No Deal on at 9 so I can watch my tape of The Office without worrying about missing something good.

*Update: Maybe I'm being a little too harsh since I've had a massively shitty week. Or maybe not...

Office Stuff

According to Jenna Fischer on her MySpace blog, the season premier of The Office is called Gay Witch Hunt. Should be cringe-inducing. Don't forget to watch tomorrow night at 8:30! Also, Jenna and John will be on the Today Show in the 8:00 hour and John will be on Conan tomorrow night. When he was on Leno he broke out the Boston accent and I got the vapors, so I'm hoping for that on Conan. Yes, I'm a loser.

I fucking hate Amazon! I pre-ordered the Office in the middle of August. According to the tracking info, the package hasn't even been picked up yet. What the hell is the point of pre-ordering! The estimated delivery date is October 6!! WTF?!?! When I get my package Amazon and the USPS are going to get nasty e-mails.

American Idol review to come. I know March is particulary excited :).

Styx

*Edited--see bottom

While this will be nowhere near as good as Dim's, March's, or Rusty's reviews, I'll try my best!

Styx
September 14, 2006
York Fair

"Are you ready to get your Styx on?!" yelled Tommy Shaw at the beginning of the show. Yes, Styx is missing some original members, most notably Dennis DeYoung, the voice of the band, but this didn't put a damper on the fans' excitement Thursday night. The not even half-full grandstand screamed, clapped, and sang along to classics as well as some newer material. I was surprised at the mix of people. I figured it would be me and a bunch of middle-aged guys with mullets but all ages and genders were represented. I was supposed to go with Rusty, but instead I went with her dad, a man who loved classic rock before it was classic.

The original lineup of Styx included DeYoung, who is now doing solo work, John Panozzo, who has passed away, Chuck Panozzo, James Young, and John Curulewski. Curulewski left the band in the mid-70s and was replaced by Tommy Shaw. Since then, the band has dealt with decades of changing lineups. Members have left the band, been replaced, and returned, which brings us to the current line-up of Tommy Shaw on guitars and vocals, James Young also on guitars and vocals, Todd Sucherman on drums and vocals, Lawrence Gowan on keyboard and vocals, Ricky Phillips on bass and vocals, and Chuck Panozzo on bass and vocals. Panozzo has performed with the band as his health permits since he contracted AIDS in the late 90s; he was not at this show.

The band had tremendous energy and played for about 90 minutes which is incredible for men who are getting up there in age. They put today's crappy modern rock bands to shame. You could tell they were all having the times of their lives. They opened the set with Blue Collar Man (Long Nights) and the bass rocked the grandstand so hard that I felt like I had to puke. Now that's rock and roll! Gowan was absolutely fascinating to watch. The skinny man dressed in a suit complete with a vest was into the music the whole time. He had a revolving keyboard on a little platform and he was jumping up on top of it, playing it backwards, spinning it around, and running all over the stage when he wasn't playing. The other guys' guitar acrobatics were just as fun, and Scherman, while obviously limited in his stage movement, played dynamically.

After Blue Collar Man, the band played The Grand Illusion and Too Much Time on My Hands. After that I leaned over to Rusty's dad and said, "They HAVE to play Lady," and not two seconds later came the piano intro. The crowd went crazy. Miss America followed, and then Gowan had a keyboard solo of classical music that totally geeked me out since I love the combination of rock and classical. They did I am the Walrus, a Beatles cover from their 2005 album, Big Bang Theory. Afterwards Gowan came to the front of the stage for audience participation. He sang parts of other classic rock songs like Deep Purple's "Hush," Queen's "Fat Bottom Girls," and Grand Funk Railroad's "We're an American Band," and we completed them. When he had us complete lyrics to Come Sail Away, the crowd went crazy again and Gowan ran to his keyboard, beginning that song in a spotlight while the rest of the stage was dark. Fooling Yourself (Angry Young Man) followed. The finale was Renegade, easily recognizable by the heartbeat-like introduction.

I can see how people think Styx is cheesy, but I CANNOT get behind thinking they suck. Gowan was the perfect replacement for DeYoung. His vocals may not be as strong, but I think only hard core fans should be able to find fault. This was hands down the best concert I've ever been to. Say what you will, but 15 studio albums, 7 live albums, and 8 compilations later, fans are still more than happy to get their Styx on.

*Big Bang Theory came out in 2005, not 1995.

Good Ol' York

Why does this area always get in the news for stuff like this? Mom admits rewarding son with pot.

Netflix

Here's a hilarious article in Slate about looking at your friends' Netflix queues. I love this part:

"It's the Netflix version of the divided soul: The end of your list is the person you want to be—Eraserhead, the eight-hour BBC Bleak House, the complete Werner Herzog—while the top is the person you actually are: Wedding Crashers, Scary Movie 4, The Bridges of Madison County."

I have some pretty embarrassing movies on my queue, but my only Netflix friends are Rusty and my dad.

Quick, Pretend to Be Beanbag Chairs!

Last night as I was doing dishes, the doorbell rang. Usually when our doorbell rings, it's neighbor A coming over to bitch about neighbor B, neighbor C asking me to get their mail while they're on vacation, or a random transient who thinks our house is the church rectory. I opened the door to a nicely-dressed man and a woman. My first thought was, "Fucking a'." My second thought was of the Far Side comic with the blobs who say, "Jehova's Witnesses! Quick, pretend to be beanbag chairs!" and I almost laughed out loud. The woman said something about how the meek will inherit the earth and asked me if I thought the earth they would inherit would be the way the earth is today. I thought to myself, "Whatever you do, don't say you're not religious!" I said, "Umm, we're not really religious." D'oh! Then the woman read me a passage from the Bible about how if you're building a house, you shouldn't do if half-assed, or something like that. She gave me two magazines and one was about why blood is important. I know that blood is important because it carries oxygen to parts of your body, but I have a feeling this magazine isn't about science.

I'm such a pushover. I'd have no problem telling these people that I'm adamately opposed to pushing one's religion on others and that's a part of the reason why I left Christianity in the first place if they were assholes, but they're so nice! This is my second run-in with Jehova's Witnesses. My first happened when I was a teenager and I was mowing my neighbor's lawn while she was on vacation. I was walking along with my Walkman turned up full blast (hmmm, do you think that's why I now can't hear worth shit?) and I came to the end of the yard, turned around, and saw 3 men standing there. They scared the bejesus out of me. They tried to talk to me about god while I was in the middle of mowing. When I told them I didn't live there and the lady wasn't home they gave me magazines to give to her which promptly went in the trash. It was a little easier to be an asshole to these guys because they were pushy and pushiness pisses me off.

The nice woman asked me if she could come back to discuss the magazines with me. I told her I work and she said she'd come back in the evening sometime. Greeeeat. I guess I won't be answering my door anymore.

Fattening Lard Bake

A new recipe is up on FLB: corn chowder. Or, for my buddies up in Mass, chowdah. I got this from the newspaper the other day. Make it now while fresh local corn is still available.

Weekend Update

On Saturday I didn't really do anything productive except clean the house and cat sit for a friend. I also played The Sims 2 for an inordinate amount of time.

On Sunday I went to the mall (yuck) to pick up a bunch of cards for people and headed over to Bath and Body Works to get something for my mom's birthday. That was a mistake because I ended up spending much more than I wanted, but most of it was for Christmas presents, so I suppose that's ok. Usually at this time of year I'm pretty much finished with my Christmas shopping. I'm sick, I know, but this year I haven't even started. I'm so disorganized lately. I feel like I'm falling apart, physically and mentally. I guess it's good to get rid of some of my anal-retentiveness.

When I got home from the mall, I did a bunch of little errands around the house, ordered my credit report after fighting with the printer before realizing that it wasn't plugged into my computer (Yes, I'm one of those people who has called tech support about a printer that wasn't plugged into the wall. The guy laughed at me and I apologized for being an ass.), did some laundry, and then watched the season premier of The Simpsons which was pretty meh. And I stand by my "meh" rating even though Chris thinks it's trendy not to like The Simpsons anymore.

Monday, yesterday, and today: work. Tomorrow: work, then STYX!!!!!

Remember

Our generation will remember where we were when we heard about September 11 the way the generation before ours will remember when Kennedy was shot. I went to class at 9:30 that morning (Abnormal Psychology, I believe), and a girl was talking about how a plane went into the World Trade Center. At the time we thought it was just a freak accident. When I got back home we turned the TV on and saw that horror that was the reality of the situation. I sat there, dumbfounded, watching the reports, wondering if anything else was going to happen and how the world was going to be different. That night I sat in bed with the TV on, scared to fall asleep and miss something major. In the aftermath of the days after, I cried as the news showed people frantically posting pictures of their loved ones, holding on to a sliver of hope that they were still alive in a hospital or underneath all that wreckage. Mothers, daughters, wives, fathers, sons, husbands.

A couple years ago I was looking through some old photo albums and found a series of four pictures I took from the top of the Empire State Building and there it was, majestic yet simple. Two columns of metal and glass. The loss of that building leaves a hole in the heart of New York City as well as in our own hearts, and I regret that I didn't visit it when I had the chance. I still get chills and a lump in my throat when I see the footage of that day: the plane going into the building, the falling bodies of the people who decided it would be better to jump than to wait with uncertainty for help to arrive, people wandering the streets under a blanket of debris, documents that seemed so important just hours ago, now floating around in the breeze. I won't get political because this is a time to remember the thousands of innocent people who died while going about their daily business like most of us are doing today, and the heroes who died attempting to rescue them.

Insert Witty Title Here

This website has a bunch of 80s videos, and it's where I found this gem of Ricky Gervais, circa 1984. Hilarious. Now I can't decide which Ricky video is my favorite: this or "If You Don't Know Me By Now." I can't link directly to it; just scroll down to Ricky Gervais under the Rs. They're in alphabetical order; don't be lazy. Fellow 80s geeks, be prepared to waste a ton of time.

I really don't give a rat's ass about this, but apparently Tamyra Grey married the fugly guy from Color Me Bad. What really struck me is their wedding photo. Aren't you supposed to be, oh I don't know, HAPPY at your wedding?!

Speaking of fugly, did you ever notice that there's always one fugly guy in every boy band? This dude, Danny Wood, that Fatone guy from N'Sync...

Weekend Update

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I think of Labor Day as a fake holiday, but you'll never hear me complain about a day off of work! Rusty came home this weekend, so on Saturday we went out for dinner and then back to her parents' house to help her pack some stuff. On Sunday I went with her family to the Chinese buffet which is their (much-hated) Sunday ritual. Afterwards I tagged along for a trip to Wal-Mart, where I followed my over 1.5 years' boycott of not buying anything at Wal-Mart. Although now that I think about it, I did eat some Oreos that Rusty's mom bought there. Does that make me a pawn in Wal-Mart's master plan of corporate greed and global domination?

On Monday I did absolutely nothing of consequence except enjoy how beautiful it was outside. Yesterday I had off as well for a dentist appointment and a hair appointment. My teeth are clean and my hair is shorter. Now I'm back at work. I was sort of dreading it because whenever I take off I end up getting screwed with the amount of work I have waiting for me when I get back, but this wasn't too bad. I couldn't sleep last night though, and I massively overslept (as in I woke up at the time I should be leaving). Oops. I had to shut the window because my neighbors were outside talking, so then I was hot with the blankets on and cold without them. Then, around 2 AM, my other neighbors were vacuuming something. I don't know what the hell kind of vacuum they have that is so powerful that it can be heard through my closed windows, but it was unmistakably the sound of a vacuum, and it was loud and annoying as hell.

Enough crappily-written rambling. I hope everyone has a good week!

Holy Shit!

And yes, I literally said, out loud, "Holy shit!" to my empty house when I read that Steve Irwin died. That's insane. At least he went doing something he loved.

TV Quickies

The Office UK cast won't be making an appearance on The Office US. Source

Here's a list of when every show premieres. Feather, we were sort of talking about this earlier. Source

Read This

Garrison Keillor comes up with a brilliant solution to our healthcare crisis here.