gobble gobble

For the holiday, some musings on turkey:


Of course there is the animal. Also the country.

A turkey is also:
1. a failure, flop; especially : a theatrical production that has failed
2. three successive strikes in bowling
4: a stupid, foolish, or inept person

Cold Turkey is a good one, as both a noun:
1: abrupt complete cessation of the use of an addictive drug ; also : the symptoms experienced by a person undergoing withdrawal from a drug
2: unrelieved blunt language or procedure
3: a cold aloof person
or an adverb: all at once : abruptly, without a period of gradual adjustment, adaptation, or withdrawal; without preparation

You can talk turkey: To discuss in a straightforward manner: “The time has come to talk turkey about our national debt.”

Watch out for the jive turkey, a phrase I still associate with George Jefferson.

And my favorite, the Turkey Dump: When a student returning from college breaks up with their significant other from high school. So-called because it traditionally takes place over thanksgiving break, the first time most students return from college.

Also, be sure to check out the Poultry Slam on This American Life, celebrating this season of elevated poultry consumption.

Happy Thanksgiving.

I miss my TV boyfriend already

Dear People Who Watch TV,

I'm beginning to suspect that you wouldn't recognize good television if you were given a mugshot and detailed description (including birthmarks, tattoos, and other identifying characteristics.) 

Thanks for nothing, stupid Nielsen families. 

Bye Piemaker. You too, Eli. 

I miss you already. Zil

Ow. My Ankle.

So I twisted my ankle at the gym yesterday. It was extra dramatic, because it involved me actually falling down during a step class, which was great, because falling down in front of a bunch of people is always enjoyable. Did I mention that I am generally quite the clumsy girl? Because, yeah, I totally am.

I hobbled home and applied the usual ice/compression/elevation routine (it's not my first time around the sprained ankle block. Actually, I sprained my ankle in a high school soccer game a hundred years ago, and ever since my ankles seem to want to rebel against me. If I take even the slightest step in which the entire sole of my foot isn't abolutely flat on the ground, my ankle is like "Oh hell no. That's it, I'm out" and it just rolls over. Such a whiny thing)

Anyway, It's not really that bad. No crutches or anything, just a couple of days worth of bithcing and limping about. I've been convalescing and hanging on the couch since the incident, which has allowed me time to work my way through some of the backlog on my Ti-faux (I used to have an actual Tivo, which I loved, but alas it did not want to play nicely with the HDTV) I also watched Love, Actually on cable (making it's annual appearance for the holiday season, I guess) I joined the film a bit late, but the beauty of the DVR is the ability to rewind live TV, which worked out perfectly because it allowed me to fast forward through all the Laura Linney parts of the movie. Don't get me wrong, I generally enjoy Laura Linney, but in this film I think her whole story line doesn't work.

[here are 2 unrelated interrupting thoughts: 1. One of the things I like about Love, Actually is the interrelated story lines. I seem to enjoy that kind of thing. I love it in Go (still one of my favorite movies), Pulp Fiction (ditto) and even Playing by Heart (if you haven't seen this one, it's worth a look. Jon Stewart --acting!-- also Sean Connery, Gena Rowlands, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Phillippe, Gillian Anderson, Madeleine Stowe, Dennis Quaid, Jay Mohr, Anthony Edwards, Ellen Burstyn...quite the star-studded affair. 2. Have you seen that Laura Linney movie P.S.? I stumbled upon it on one of my movie channels a while back. It also has Topher Grace, who I also really like. It was pretty good, but the premise is that Linney believes that Grace is the reincarnation of her dead husband or something and that whole concept, not to mention the sex scene between the two, was a little disconcerting. Thus endeth the digression]

I also watched this version of Hamlet that I had never seen, featuring Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepard, Kyle MacLachlan, Bill Murray, Liev Schreiber, and Julia Stiles. I vaguely remember being aware of this when it came out. I have to say that it was surprisingly enjoyable. The language is Shakespearean, but the setting is modern. The "kingdom" is a Fortune 500 company with the "King" its CEO. I really liked the little modern touches like some of the dialogue coming in the form of TV news reports, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern reporting in to Claudius by phone and fax, Ophelia forced to wear a wire to try and get proof of Hamlet's madness, and the play-within-a-play taking the form of an arty movie shot by Hamlet. My ankle still hurts, though.

Seven unrelated things

1. El Segundo has come up twice this week on TV shows I was watching. And each time, all I can think of is "I left my wallet in El Segundo" (which has caused me to walk around all week muttering "I gotta get it, I got got to get it...")
   
   
2. I find diamond jewelry commercials weirdly affecting.  I don't even wear or like that kind of jewelry, but lately the sappy Kay Jewlery commercials have struck me as sweet.
   
   
3. How is it possible that Thanksgiving is on Thursday?
   
   
4. The Ashlee Simpson/Pete Wentz spawn finally arrived, and they named the kid Bronx Mowgli.  So...they love NY and The Jungle Book?  What is with celebrities and the jacked-up baby names
   
   
5. Have you seen the giant blue sculpture between the Dept. of Ed and the Civic Center (it's on Gaines St. + MLK Dr.)?  I like it, but apparently it's not sticking around forever.  Also, they fixed up that park.  It looks quite nice
   
   
6. Have I mentioned that I've taken up jogging?  I tried it a while back but fell off the wagon.  I'm really not particularly fond of running, but I've decided to suck it up and learn to like it.  Still very slow...the 4 minute mile has nothing to fear from me.
   
   
7. And now the weekend begins in T- minus 1 hour.  Hooray!

Scooped

So I love NPR, but they totally scooped me the other day. I was going to write a blog entry about this conversation I had with my father recently, where I was talking about all the non-U.S. actors doing excellent American accents on TV these days.  Then I heard this on Morning Edition. Although, I did know that Simon Baker was Australian and not Birtish like they said, so Ha!

Also, my research was more complete. For example, they didn't mention Aussie Poppy Montgomery, who's on Without a Trace with Anthony LaPaglia, and Marianne Jean-Baptiste, who they did talk about. They got Hugh Laurie, Rufus Sewell, Jason O'Mara, and Damian Lewis (who are all super hot, by the way), but they missed nearly as many: Johnny Lee Miller, Kevin McKidd, Ed Westwick, John Nobel, Anna Friel, Yvonne Strahovski, Anna Torv,  Lena Headey (actually they seem to have missed all the women except Jean-Baptiste.  I guess that's what an Oscar nomination gets you).  

So...what's up with this?  I do buy some of the arguments in the NPR story that UK actors are trained, and that there is a place in the theatre for actors who are not "leading man handsome", unlike in the US, so actors are nurtured and allowed to develop.  But what about the Aussies?  There's not really the whole acting-tradition-going-back-to-Shakespeare thing there.

I also wonder why some of these characters can't have their native accent.  I understand in some cases, like O'Mara as an NYC cop, and the various CIA and FBI agents...they generally need to be Americans for plausibility.  But couldn't Sewell be a British scientist consulting for the FBI?  Weswick the scion of an ex-pat family living on the Upper East Side?  Laurie a British doc in a Princeton hospital (Chase works there, and he's an Aussie playing an Aussie)?  

There's...not really a point to this.  I just found it interesting.

Who will play Marvin Gardens?

So, you know how I mentioned before that there are no new ideas for musicals?  Well, apparently, there aren't any for movies either.  Well, I suppose it's a new idea, it's just weird.

Also, I picture Marvin Gardens as a bon vivant and dashing man about town.

I'm all kinds of sugar and spice and everything nice, I swear!

So Gender Analyzer seems to think that my blog is written by a dude.

See:

Results

We guess http://capricious1.blogspot.com is written by a man (56%), however it's quite gender neutral.

Ok, so I'm "gender neutral", actually. Apparently I don't write enough about babies and shoe shopping and whatnot. Although ironically, I'm in the market for a new pair of black fancy heels because I recently messed up the heel of my current pair at a baby shower. That's actually true, but also, check me out now, gender analyzer.

Billy Ray addendum

See, Billy Ray, you shouldn't go spouting off so quickly or you will have to backtrack.  However, it is nice to know that whether or not the little Obamas appear on Hannah Montana is part of God's plan.

No, it's not Seasons of Love

So, I have had this song from Rent running through my head for days. This is odd for several reasons:

1. I do not recall having recently heard this song. Because,
2. Like most people, I have neither seen nor thought about Rent (either the musical or the film version) in years, and
   
3. This is not even one of the main songs from the show, or one I even particularly liked.

How does this stuff find its way into our brains?

Taye Diggs is hot though.

I really hope this is true

Obama Declines Daughters' Hannah Montana Invite

I know Barack and Michelle have better sense than to do this.  The last thing that those girls need is to be TV guest stars, even if it is on a harmless tween show.  They are already under a microscope during a time when they are not only moving to a new town and school, but into the White House for God’s sake.  Get them the hypoallergenic puppy and keep them out of the spotlight.  Oh, and shut-up Billy Ray Cyrus.  Did the whole Vanity Fair thing teach you nothing? Leave those girls be.

Travel tribulations

So, I’m finally getting around to posting again. I’m back from Orlando, where the conference was fine and I got to visit my friend Juanita, who is now a resident of the God-forsaken place. I also met her fiancée, who I guess will also need an internet alias, and their highly active dog. And we went to Sea World, where I fed a sea lion and touched a sting ray, so that was cool.

I rode down to Orlando with work people, but stayed an extra couple of days, so I had to pick up a rental car at the Orlando airport, which took forever. (Advice: avoid renting a car at the Orlando Airport.  Huge lines full of vacationing families from throughout North America and Europe.) On the plus side, my trip to the airport did give me the opportunity to walk on a moving sidewalk. I do love the moving sidewalks. They are by far the best thing in any airport. I feel so speedy and important when I’m on one, effortlessly bypassing those walking-on-the-regular-ground losers. I think there should be moving sidewalks out in the world, taking people from their car to the mall or office or movie theatre and back again. I also have this desire to see those skyride aerial tram things you ride on at amusement parks (like the ones at Disney and Busch Gardens) used as a form of around-town public transportation. Think about it. It’s like a cable car, but in the sky. You get a relaxing journey with a lovely view. I confess this idea came to me in a dream, in which Tallahassee had such a system. I walked out to my corner, got into the gondola and was whisked across town to FSU. But, I digress.

Anyway, I finally got my rental car, and as usual it was kind of a pain in the ass. It’s nice to get to try out a different car, but there’s always so much hassle. For example, I hate coming out of a hotel or restaurant or whatever and not immediately recalling what my car looks like. I spent 10 minutes wandering around a mall parking lot looking for my car, because while I could remember that it way gray, I’m not routinely familiar with the lines and body shape of the Mitsubishi Galant. I kept pushing the button on the key to try and make the horn beep to let me know it’s location. I thought I was honing in on it, until I realized that this elderly couple was doing the same thing and I had been following their horn. 

I also hate how they don’t put the manual for the car in the glove box anymore. I guess people stole them? Way to ruin it for the rest of us, sticky fingers. Anyway, the manual has helpful information on how to do all the things I always have to spend a lot of time figuring out, like how to turn on the headlights or operate the cruise control. Invariably, I never try to determine how the windshield wipers work until it starts raining, then I find myself trying not to wreck while attempting to decipher the words on that little stick on the steering column. And my personal car doesn’t have those headlights that go on and off automatically, so I don't know how to determine if the rental car lights have come on, nor do I believe they will turn themselves off. 

A while back had one of those HHRs (the state makes you rent the compact, but AVIS is often out of them, so they just upgrade you to whatever’s around. The best was when I got a Prius.) Anyway, I was going to Orlando, as usual, and I didn’t need to roll down the window until I was approaching one of O-town’s many charming tollbooths. It was only then that I realized that I had no idea how to open the window. There was no button or knob or crank or anything on the door. I finally had to open the door at the booth to pay the toll, where the helpful tollbooth worker told me, “the window control is in the middle by the gear shift.” Apparently, it was not his first time seeing people with this problem. Didn’t make me look like less of an idiot, however. Ditto the time that I pulled up to the gas pump and had to spend 5 minutes trying to figure out how to open the little door over the gas tank. And I never remember to look beforehand at which side of the car the tank is on, so I’m always pulling up to the wrong pump.

Ok, enough bitching for now. But for real, someone needs to get cracking on that skyride transport system, stat.  That is totally the way forward.

Election thoughts

So, It's day 2 with President-Elect Obama (President Obama has such a nice ring to it) and I'm just getting around to talking about it because I'm at a conference in Orlando. I had to leave to come down here the morning after there election, and have been busy conferencing until now.

But, I now have a moment to breathe before dinner, so I thought I would reflect a bit. To begin with, I am so happy and still in a bit of disbelief. I have to say that despite the fact he was leading in the polls and possessed an impressive grassroots organization and even though he seemed to have truly captured the imagination of the public, I spent all election day thinking it could still all go horribly wrong at the last minute. I mean, it's not like that is unprecedented, and lord knows I've been burned in the past. And early on CNN was killing me with those returns and those charts with all the crazy voter categories and that map with vote totals going all the way down to the county level. I really liked the map once things started to turn, but the early returns were worrying me. But, the forces of good triumphed in the end, and that's all the matters.

Here's some other stuff:

• Someone on CNN mentioned this interesting fact: the candidate with the better military record hasn’t won in the last 5 elections: Bush over Kerry and Gore, Clinton over Dole and Bush the elder.

• Also on the CNN front. I'm kinda torn on the holograms. They were freaky, but kind of grew on me. I mean, are holograms really that different than talking heads on a TV screen? Also, it's led to so many "help me (Barack Obama, will.i.am, etc.), you're my only hope" jokes. Also, I rather enjoyed Wolf and Anderson saying "now joining us live via hologram..."
  

• I can’t believe the anti-gay marriage amendment passed (not only in FL but in CA too). I just really don’t get this issue. How does a gay marriage diminish a straight one? Gay marriage does not impinge on the rights of straight couples or take anything away from their relationships. And if it’s an issue of faith, I don’t get why people think that the tenants of their particular faith should be put in the constitution. I mean, that’s like a bunch of Christians saying were down with Jesus, but the Jews aren't, so let's put "Jesus is the son of God" in the constitution, you know, just in case the Jews want to name another Messiah sometime. To me, this issue is no different from the laws that used to prevent blacks and whites from marrying. How do people not see that? Being that I am neither married nor gay, the issue doesn't affect me directly, other than we just put something in the constitution that takes rights away from a specific minority group. That's just disturbing...
  

• I also can't believe that Ted Stevens got re-elected immediately after getting convicted. I mean, thanks to Palin, we already knew that Alaska was messed up, but good lord people...

• I love that there will be little kids in the White House again. I just hope the press (and assholes like Limbaugh and his ilk) don't go all Chelsea Clinton on the girls.
  

Oh also, thank God this election is over. Two years of campaigning, ya'll.

That's enough for now. Yay Obama!

Go Vote!

Enough Said.

Still getting out the vote

I was happy to see this.  I hope it gets the youth vote out for Barack down there among the Republicans. 

Hip-hop stars stump for Obama in South Florida

I'm not much of a Diddy fan (quit changing your name already), but I love Russell Simmons, and if you have the 2 of them plus Jay-Z...that's quite the hip hop triumvirate.  Not to mention, those are some extremely rich dudes.

I really really hope we become a blue state this year.  Although, we have to make it through this to get there. 

Joe the Biden

Today I attended the the Joe Biden Rally over at FSU, where I got to stand in the front row and shake his hand, which was pretty cool. He seems like a nice man, and I look forward to his being our VP. There were a bunch of McCain protesters outside the rally, waving signs and generally trying to disrupt things. They had some sort of siren that they kept setting off during Biden's speech, but you really couldn't hear it, so their efforts were for nothing. They were also screaming and playing with their siren during the part of the speech where Biden was talking about reaching across the aisle and healing partisan differences, and working together for the good of the country, so nice one, McCain-ites.

Here's another tangentially related thing that happened yesterday. I went to get a pedicure with my friend Lucy (Black Onyx was my selected toenail color, in case you were curious). Afterward, we were standing outside the Tallahassee Mall by her car. She and her husband, Ricky, had been canvassing for Obama that morning. One of the houses they passed by had a McCain/Palin sign in the yard, but it also had a pile of 4 or 5 Obama signs that the resident had obviously snatched out of people's yards. Lucy and Ricky took the signs for redistribution (which I think works as some sort of metaphor for the whole "Obama wants to redistribute your wealth" thing that McCain is always on about with Joe the Plumber these days, but I can't quite work it out at the moment) Anyway, she had the signs in her trunk, and so I walked over to her car to get one. We were standing there chatting and I was holding the sign, when out of nowhere, this 30-ish African-American dude walks up to me and says "I just want to tell you that I'm a McCain supporter, and you might as well throw those signs away." Very odd...