verbatim

Please Call Me Jennifer for a Few Days

Sometimes it pays to procrastinate. Last fall I swore that as soon as the kids went back to school, I would do a bunch of things for myself. (A month later, I still hadn't knocked much of that list.) One of the treats was supposed to be a visit to LuxLash to have my eyebrows waxed properly. Never happened.

Then, just a few weeks ago, a woman who does PR for LuxLash happened to be Googling about and found verbatim. After reading a bit, she discovered that we both take our families to the White Mountains and both enjoy all kinds of corny activities up there, like Polly's Pancake Parlor and the Lancaster Fair. Feeling an instant kinship, she invited me to go to LuxLash for a free eyebrow treatment!

Today was the appointment, and what a magnificent day it was for strolling along Newbury Street with all the beautiful people! I feared that LuxLash would be very foo-foo and I would feel like the mother of all, well, mothers there, complete with minivan, but it has a very comfortable atmosphere. It most definitely felt "special" but not snooty.

Aside from doing a great job on my eyebrows, here are two reasons why the woman who did them really made my day:
1. She looked like Angelina Jolie! If you have to gaze up at someone while they rip hot wax off your face, she might as well look like a movie star.
2. When I fretted that my eyebrows have no natural arch, she assured me that I have the exact same eyebrows as Jennifer Connelly! I bet Jennifer Connelly has never had Angelina Jolie rip hot wax off her face.

So now I feel very glamorous, and it didn't even cost me a cent.

(Far less glamorous, but still a very pleasant surprise was the free package of CO2 cartridges that the owner of the Kleer Drain company sent me for my nice review of their power plunger. At which point I had to apologize for my crack about the cutesy misspelled name. Oops!)

Shiner!

Pete got his first* black eye yesterday! He and Henry collided at a laser tag party. He was surprisingly stoic about the pain and even more surprisingly self-conscious about the bruising! He didn't want to go to school because "people would ask about it." But I made him go. He wouldn't let me take a picture, either.

I would say, "You should see the other guy" but the other guy just has a bump on the top of his head.

*Andy swears that Pete had a shiner after that injury a few years ago that required stitches below his eyebrow, but I've repressed that entire incident, so I can't comment. Lalalalalalalala, I'm not listening!

That Crazy New England Weather

This morning we stepped out of the house onto the driveway, marveling at the mild temperatures. But then, oops: black ice! Slip! Swoop! Plop! Three kids down like bowling pins. (Mama—still juggling her tea mug, keys, sunglasses, and cell phone in doorway—takes note and carefully steps onto slushy area.)

By noontime I was outside with no jacket on. On the last day of February!

But we're supposed to get a huge snow and rain storm tomorrow night.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Mine sounds better than it really is:

Unjust enrichment is a legal term in English law and in several other jurisdictions, denoting a particular type of causative event in which one party is unjustly enriched at the expense of another, and an obligation to make restitution arises, regardless of liability for wrongdoing.

A typical example of a claim based on unjust enrichment is that of payment by mistake. Imagine that customer B is accidentally given $10 too much change by shopkeeper A. B does not notice the mistake. There is no way that B can be accused of any wrongdoing. Nonetheless, the law imposes an obligation on B to repay $10 to A. This is because B has been unjustly enriched by $10 by A’s payment. Unjust enrichment, if proved, always triggers an obligation to make restitution. It never triggers an obligation to pay compensation because such an obligation might leave the defendant, who is normally entirely innocent, out of pocket.

I thought it would be something more along the lines of "That's not fair! I didn't want those 7 essential vitamins and minerals in my breakfast cereal!" Good thing I didn't go to law school after all.

Not Again!

CNN says:

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A suicide bomber attacked the entrance to the main U.S. military base in Afghanistan Tuesday during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, killing up to 23 people and wounding 20 more....

Ricky adds:

"I heard a loud boom," Cheney told reporters. "So, naturally, I just assumed I shot somebody in the face."

Ten on Tuesday

Ten Things You Would Do If You Were Younger

1. Have another kid
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

(I did everything else.)

Could've Been Much Worse, But Still

Back in December, just before Christmas, there was a car accident right in front of the school. A mom (whom I know a little) was driving her kids to school. As she came around the corner, the sun was suddenly right in her face—later she even recalled muttering, "I can't see a thing"—and at the same time a brand-new student teacher started to dash across the street there. The car hit the teacher probably just as I entered the school with my kids (we had walked); by the time I came back out, the ambulance was there and a small crowd was gathering. The teacher ended up with no physical injuries but was obviously quite shaken. The mom was absolutely rattled. She was surely not speeding—she's a sensible person and in any event would have been slowing down to drop her kids off anyhow, plus there's usually enough traffic there that you couldn't speed if you wanted to. That particular corner is a dangerous spot to cross, so there's a crosswalk and a crossing guard about 100 yards away, but apparently no one had mentioned to this new teacher that it's not safe to cross there. (And, in truth, I see parents with their kids crossing there all the time, although they should definitely know better.)

This event really shook me up, too, although I didn't see it happen and I don't really know either of the two women well. I tended to identify more with the mom, probably for obvious reasons. I too have been temporarily blinded by the sun at that very spot and that very hour and could imagine not seeing someone suddenly dart into the street. I happened to think of it today, although it wasn't sunny, because some people were walking in the street to avoid the snowbanks, and I wanted to shout at them to get on the sidewalk!

Ups and Downs

Good news: Vacation's over!
Bad news: We had snow overnight and into the late morning!
Good news: School wasn't canceled!
Bad news: My piano movers canceled!
Good news: They can do it on Wednesday instead!

As Young As I Feel?

I just did something that's making me feel both young and old at the same time. You know how I've been just dying to see Martin Sexon in concert, right? Every time he comes to town (which, frankly, isn't that often), there's some reason I can't make it happen. Today I learned that he has a new CD coming out in April, and then he's coming to Boston! So, without even checking whether I can get a sitter, I bought two tickets online—and even did the thing where you print out your tickets yourself! So here's the problem: He's not playing in a concert hall, it's a big dance club called the Avalon Ballroom. It didn't even exist when I was young enough to go to such places, so I've never been there. On the one hand, I don't expect the audience to be made up of (exclusively) really young people, because he doesn't have that kind of following—or at least I don't think he does. On the other hand, it is a dance club.... So I guess there's a chance we'll be "those old fogies" off in the corner. My other concern is that he has always recorded and performed solo, but this whole tour is with a band—a band I assume accompanies him on the new CD. I haven't heard anything at all about the new CD, so I hope he hasn't suddenly gotten all rock 'n roll on us. And I certainly hope he does at least a short solo set of his older stuff—for us, his older fans.

The Wife

After seeing "Breach" last night, Andy and I have been talking about Chris Cooper a lot today. We first saw him in "Lonesome Dove," then "Lone Star," then suddenly he was everywhere. We both think he's terrific. He lives locally, and his wife had a great little essay in today's Globe. It's about being the nonglamorous wife on the arm of a movie star husband at the Oscars. Take a look.

Movies

Once again I find myself falling behind in my movie-reviewing responsibilities. Let's knock a few off right now.

Last night Andy and I went on a date! Out! Without the kids! First we saw "Breach," which just opened this week—it has been a long time since I was among the first to see a new movie! We just love Chris Cooper, and he didn't disappoint in this one either. It's the retelling of the story of how they caught Robert Hanssen, the FBI lifer who turned out to be the biggest Soviet spy in U.S. history. Laura Linney was great; Ryan Phillippe was fine but didn't really stand out. The movie was very interesting and suspenseful, with pretty much nothing scary or violent in it. It's rated PG-13, but I was still surprised (and, I admit, disapproving) when I saw one of Steph's classmates there. For one thing, the movie didn't get out till 10:00; but more importantly, it just isn't appropriate subject matter for a kid. It's not a "spy movie" of the kind that a 10-year-old would want to see—he probably didn't even understand most of it. Plus there's a subplot where they're also trying to nab Hanssen on Internet porn charges, which is really inappropriate for kids to be exposed to. Suffice it to say that he and his brother were the only kids in the packed house, so I guess I'm not the only one who doesn't think that kids belong at that kind of movie on a Saturday night. Oh, and afterward we had yet another excellent meal at Legal's.*

And on to the rentals:

I enjoyed "Memoirs of a Geisha," but I have a feeling that if I'd read the book, I'd have been disappointed, as is usually the case. I suspect that the life of the geisha as presented here is more than a little sugar-coated. It really didn't seem all that bad, frankly, and the beauty of the cinematography, actresses, and costumes only added to that. Oh, the actresses! Ziyi Zhang, Gong Li, and Michelle Yeoh all together in the same frames! Be still, my heart. (I recall that there was quite an uproar when three Chinese actresses were cast for this Japanese film, but I was very happy to have a chance to see them all again—and not in a martial arts film, for a change!) I also just love Ken Watanabe, so that was a pleasure. I guess I ended up feeling that this was a lightweight movie, made to be appear more beautiful than the lives it depicted actually were, but I still liked it.

I went into the 2005 remake of "Pride and Prejudice" with fear and loathing, as you may recall. Most of my concerns were founded, I'm sorry to say. Concern the first: Keira Knightley is not Elizabeth Bennet. She just isn't. And you know what else? I don't like her, and her simpy smile makes me gag. As Andy said, "It's a sorry thing when you have to say that someone is pretty until she smiles."  Jennifer Ehle in the 1995 BBC version was just right for the role. Concern the second: Where the hell did they find this Matthew McFadyen guy, and who the hell thought he could play Mr. Darcy? My God, he was awful. There is no way anyone (no matter how desperate for a husband) could have fallen for him. He was Caspar Milquetoast to the nth degree. As anyone who's seen the BBC version will attest, there can never be another Darcy besides Colin Firth. It's just been done. My other complaints are not huge ones. For instance, it's obvious that a 2-hour movie is going to leave out a lot that a 5-hour movie was able to keep in, so I missed lots of plot moments from the book—Elizabeth never even gets to go to London in this one! But I understand that that's the nature of movies, and that wouldn't have been a deal-breaker if they'd managed to do a better casting job. Oh, but speaking of casting, I did enjoy Brenda Blethyn and Judi Dench and Rupert Friend in this one. Overall, if you have never seen the BBC version—and, moreover, if you've never read the book—you will probably like this. The scenery and costumes are luscious; the story is of course interesting. But it is far inferior to the original.

Oy, "Derailed" was creepy! Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston have a near-fling that turns into a nightmare when a Bad Guy catches them in the act and blackmails them. This got mostly lousy reviews, but I liked it. Good performances all around, edge-of-your-seat suspense, and an interesting plot. It's a thriller—although perhaps not all that thrilling—that held my attention from beginning to end.

I am a long-time fan of the comedies put out by Christopher Guest et al. That brand of humor is right up my alley. If you've never seen any of them, you are in for a real treat. That is, if you appreciate the kind of subtle humor that Guest, Harry Shearer, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Fred Willard, Jane Lynch, Parker Posey, and the rest are known for. Those are movies I'm happy to see on DVD because I frequently need to hit "pause" just so I can finish laughing without missing the next funny moment. With all of them, it helps if you have some experience with the subject matter, but it doesn't hurt if you don't. For instance, if you've ever watched the Westminster Dog Show—particularly in the days when it was hosted by Joe Garagiola—you'll appreciate "Best in Show" that much more; "Waiting for Guffman" probably hits home more for those who've been involved in community theatre productions (I have not); and "A Mighty Wind" is even funnier to us folkies. So we were very excited to watch their latest project, "For Your Consideration," which tells the story of the making of a small indie movie that suddenly starts getting a lot of Oscar-buzz press. (Public Service Announcement: If you're drinking something right now, swallow first before you read on, or you might spray it all over your keyboard.) The movie is set in the Deep South in the 1940s and is called "Home for Purim." I couldn't stop giggling every time one of the characters said something in Yiddish with a Southern accent. That being said, though, this was, for me, far and away the least successful of the Guest movies. It was certainly worth watching—and there are plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, particularly with Willard and Lynch as hosts of an "Entertainment Tonight"-style show—but it lacked something, some punch. It pains me to report that it was just not nearly as funny as the others.

*I forgot to mention last week that while we were up in NH, Andy's parents babysat the kids so we could go out to dinner! That means—drumroll, please—that we went on two dates in the same one-week period! Unprecedented. Also wonderful.

Another Thing to Keep Me Up at Night

At Steph's last regular (i.e., not GI) checkup, the pediatrician noticed that her spine was curved slightly to the left. I was stunned—that's always the part of the checkup I barely even pay attention to. She said it was very slight, and she wouldn't have even mentioned it if Steph were already, say, 16 years old, but because she still has quite a bit of growing ahead of her, it's worth checking out. (And I do indeed hope she still has a good 6" or so to go; she lost some growing time when she first got colitis, before we got it under control. She's 4'7" now; I hope she can make it to at least 5'. I'm a towering 5'3"—well, almost—so maybe she can get a boost from Andy's genes.)

So I took her yesterday to see an orthopedist at Children's Hospital. He said that her left leg is slightly longer than her right, which may be what's causing the curvature. (And yes, he did utter the dreaded word scoliosis, and yes, I did avert my eyes from the poster about bracing.) It has nothing to do with posture; it's just how the bones grow. He said that about 30% of kids have different-length legs and, more importantly that her difference in length was very small and would have to be at least 3x greater before he'd even talk about putting a lift in her shoe. He also said that 9 times out of 10, the curvature never worsens or becomes a problem in any way. He measured her curve with a special kind of level and said to come back in 6 months so he can compare the readings. He said an X-ray was unnecessary—I love when doctors say things like, "If she were my daughter, I wouldn't even take an X-ray."

So, just one more thing to worry about. Sometimes I feel like that poor kid can't catch a break.

Wicked Good Slipper Story

I've had my L.L. Bean "wicked good slippers" for many years. There's nothing like them for toasty warm feet in these New England winters. But when the weather started turning cold this year, I couldn't find them. I looked in all the closets, under all the beds and other furniture, down in the basement, everywhere. I asked Andy and the kids to help me look (I might have even offered a reward), but they didn't turn up. I suffered through months of cold barefoot mornings, asking every 8–10 minutes if anyone had seen my slippers. Nothing.

Finally, I decided to bite the bullet and order a new pair. They arrived this morning and I put them on and reveled in their glorious snuggliness, inviting the kids to join me in my celebration. I wore them all morning, happy and warm. As I was getting ready to take the kids out, I gazed lovingly at my slippers once more before taking them off. I said, "Oh, I'm so happy I have slippers again!" At this point Julie said, "Those look just like the ones behind the door in your office." Sure enough, there they were. I could have killed her (only she's that cute). So back into the box went the new ones, and back on my feet went the old ones.

How Cheesy Are You?

I will now be known as Oszczypek.

Oszczypek is a very old, smoked cheese, made by shepherds living in the Tatra mountains of Poland from unpasteurised sheeps milk. It has a distinctive, slightly salty taste, and its colour various from pale yellow to brown, depending on the duration of smoking.

(Better than this.) (Via the Nag)

FONbucks

I wonder if the folks at FON can get away with this?

If you live above or next to a Starbucks (or any cafe/coffee shop for that matter!), you are eligible for a free wireless router that will earn you cash from the minute you plug it in.... By installing your FON router, you let others share your broadband for a daily fee.... A savvy patron of your Starbucks need only pay $2 a day for your WiFi. They'd have to be a grande drip to pay the $10 Starbucks charges. Each customer who chooses you puts $1 into your latte fund. Cha-ching.... Your FON router comes with two channels – a private and a public – so you and your Starbucks customers will always be separate. Simple and secure.

Almost makes me want to rent a little studio over my local Starbucks. (Via Mental Floss)

Karen + Oxo = Victory in the Mango War!

Steph loves all fruit, which is a good thing, because vegetables? Not so much. Not long ago, she discovered that she especially likes mango, which I do not.* So I recently found myself in the position of buying a mango for the first time. I was overwhelmed by the range of sizes, colors, and shapes of the different varieties, so I asked my favorite produce guy to choose a ripe one for me. I brought it home, and that's when the fun began.

My first mistake was to peel the damn thing first. I ended up with a slippery goo-ball that was impossible to get a grip on. I'm lucky I didn't slice off my own thumb. Next up, I had no idea that the stone is so large and has such a strange shape—it's long and thin and flat. So I ended up just hacking at the thing, wielding my knife like a machete, and coming away with just a few edible hunks of fruit flesh. The phrase "mango carnage" came to mind.

The next time I brought one home, I left the peel on. I tried to slice away the sides of the fruit but kept hitting the stone, so again I ended up with a bunch of misshapen hunks of fruit. But then I had to try to peel those, so I lost even more edible flesh that way. I considered this attempt only slightly more successful.

Then I remembered that Fine Cooking had recently recommended a mango splitter made by my good friends at Oxo, the folks who brought my my wonderful apple corer/slicer:

The mango splitter looks like this:

(That's the mango, too, of course. I think it's from Haiti. The Mexican ones are supposed to be better; they're longer and thinner and more yellowish than greenish. I might have that backwards, though.)

So, first you hold the mango stem-down, with the longer axis going vertically. You line up the blades on the mango splitter to face the same way:

Then you just plunge it down, same as with the apple corer/slicer:

It was so easy, I nearly crowed with delight! You wind up with two nice fleshy mango halves and one yucky fibrous stone (bottom thingy):

Then you do the avocado trick, where you score the flesh in both directions (taking care not to cut through the skin, which is much thinner on the mango than on the avocado) and then just push and peel the mango cubes off the skin:

Look how little waste there is:

Dig in, Steph!

*Go ahead, everyone, gang up on me for this, too.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Hoodoo Party - Paul Rishell
2. Crazy Love, Vol. II - Paul Simon
3. Coyote (live) - Joni Mitchell & The Band
4. The Guns of Brixton - The Clash
5. Terra Nova - James Taylor       
6. Milton Street Slide - Peter Keane
7. I Walk The Line - Los Lonely Boys
8. Dock of the Bay (live) - Dave Matthews
9. Blues in the Night - Eva Cassidy
10. Pay No Mind (live) - Beck & Flaming Lips

Friday's Feast

Appetizer: Where on your body do you have a scar, and what caused it?
On my soul, from.... Nah, actually, I'm still intact.

Soup: What is something that has happened to you that you would consider a miracle?
Pregnancy and childbirth.

Salad: Name a television personality who really gets on your nerves.
I only ever watch Food TV, and not very often at that. Emeril Lagasse and Rachael Ray both get on my nerves—Emeril with his mispronunciations and "shtick," Rachael with her goofiness and dizzying gestures. Alton Brown himself doesn't get on my nerves, but I can't stand the camera angles on that show (I don't really need to be looking at him from inside his microwave). And as for Sandra Lee, she doesn't "get on my nerves." She is an abomination and I will not watch her. She must be stopped.

Main Course: What was a funny word you said as a child (such as "pasketti" for "spaghetti")?
What do you mean? I was born speaking impeccable English. (Read: I don't know. I'll ask my family next time we speak.)

Dessert: Fill in the blank: I have always thought ______ was ______.
I have always thought dark chocolate was far superior to milk chocolate. Even when I was a kid and there wasn't much selection, I always went for the Special Dark bars in those bags of little "fun-size" bars.

Refrigerator: A Timeline

• 1993: Bought my first house, and needed a refrigerator for it. Got a beige KitchenAid and never had a single problem with it.
• 2000: Bought my second house. KitchenAid didn't exactly fit in the refrigerator cut-out in the cabinetry, but it was OK. Looked like hell, though.
• 2001: Couldn't stand it anymore. Bought a new, a stainless-steel GE Profile. Moved KitchenAid to the basement, where it quietly and conscientiously continued to chill and freeze "extra" food, particularly at Thanksgiving, what with the two turkeys and all.
• 2005a: The compressor (or is it condenser?) was still working fine, but the fan had stopped blowing cold air around, so the freezer became a fridge, and the fridge became a not-very-efficient fridge. Turned out the drainage something-or-other is a design flaw with these models; got it fixed.
• 2005b: Happened again. Fixed it again.
• 2006: Happened again. Fixed it again.
• 2007—specifically, Tuesday: Happened again. Fixed it again.
• 2007—specifically, today: Happened again. Was told that a call had to be put in to GE. Was told that GE sometimes takes several days to reply. Wondered what exactly my $125 had bought yesterday. Was on the verge of kissing the old KitchenAid in the basement, which graciously and humbly accepted all of the GE's exiles without so much as a sneer. Felt bad about not-nice words used to describe color of KitchenAid in the past. Love KitchenAid.

Secret Ingredient: Cornstarch

Whenever I try to make boneless pork, it ends up dry and tough, even if I don't overcook it. In fact, the only pork I cook anymore is bone-in chops. But I tried this recipe, and the cornstarch coating magically kept the meat moist. I will try to jazz up the veggies and sauce a bit next time.

Asian-Style Pork and Noodles

¾ cup fresh orange juice
¼ cup dark hoisin sauce
3 Tbsp cider vinegar
2 Tbsp ketchup
¾ tsp kosher salt
1 large head broccoli (about 1 1/3 lbs.)
8 oz. wide egg noodles
8 oz. sugar snap peas or snow peas, trimmed
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 lb. boneless pork loin or tenderloin, sliced into ½”-thick strips
3 Tbsp cornstarch

In a small bowl, stir together orange juice, hoisin sauce, vinegar, ketchup, and salt; set aside.

Cut off broccoli heads 1–2” below florets; separate heads into florets. Discard tough ends of stalks, then peel and thinly slice stalks crosswise.

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook noodles until al dente, adding broccoli (stalks and florets) and peas during last minute of cooking. Drain; transfer to a large bowl.

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Dredge pork in cornstarch, shaking off excess. Sauté pork until lightly browned and cooked through, tossing frequently, about 3 minutes. Pour in reserved sauce, and bring to a boil. Add to bowl with noodles and veggies; toss to combine.

Be a Barista!

I played this Starbucks game and have come to the conclusion that I would probably be a good barista, but I also think I would hate it. Loathing coffee certainly doesn't help matters.

Departure

Yesterday I took my Netflix envelope flaps to Blockbuster and got a few free movies for the kids to watch over vacation and, for us, "The Departed." We'd been dying to see it but never could make it to the cinema; it was released on DVD last week and has been languishing in the #1 position on my Netflix queue ever since! No longer!

Martin Scorsese has returned to what he does best: the organized-crime drama. And he managed to get pretty much everyone to be in this one: Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Mark Wahlberg, Alec Baldwin, Martin Sheen. It's in some ways a cliché plot, but it's successful, thanks to strong actors working with a terrific script. DiCaprio plays a deep-deep-undercover cop trying to infiltrate the Irish mafia, led by Nicholson. Damon plays a corrupt cop who makes sure Nicholson always stays one step ahead of getting nabbed. Both groups know they've got a rat—who will find it first?

DiCaprio was outstanding in this—surely his best performance to date. Mark Wahlberg was terrific too. The others were all good, but none stood out—I could just as easily imagine other actors in those roles. Which isn't to say that it was a "waste" of these actors, just that they didn't shine quite as brightly as DiCaprio. (Plus, wow, he's awfully cute.) The story was gripping from start to finish, pretty easy to follow if you're used to this sort of thing, and extremely violent. I mean, really, really violent. Blood everywhere. If you're squeamish, you might want to skip this one altogether—or wait for the abridged-for-TV version (which would be about 8 minutes long and feature no dialogue whatsoever—yes, "strong" language also plays a prominent role).

My only complaint, and I know I sound like a broken record, but when will someone hire a proper Boston-accent coach? I mean, Damon and Wahlberg are Bostonians, so they did OK, but the others? Nah. It's not as simple as just dropping those r's, people. (For the record, I don't have a Boston accent—I watched too much TV as a kid, I guess!—but I certainly know the real thing when I hear it. I bet every Bostonian can pick out a phony accent after hearing just one sentence.) DiCaprio did surprisingly well, except for one small scene (look for him on the subway) when he slipped right into his "Black Diamond" Aussie African accent! The only woman in the movie, Vera Farmiga, sounds like she's from New Jersey. Because she is! And, even aside from the accent issue, I waited 151 minutes to believe that Jack Nicholson could possibly be Irish—Boston Irish at that—and it never came. Ah well.

But these are minor quibbles. Anyone who likes this genre will love this movie.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

And the winner is:

Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year

Best Pop Album (1999 - 1999)

    * 1999 - Barenaked Ladies, Stunt

Best Pop/Adult Album (2000 - 2000)

    * 2000 - Chantal Kreviazuk, Colour Moving and Still

Best Pop Album (2001 - 2002)

    * 2001 - Barenaked Ladies, Maroon

    * 2002 - David Usher, Morning Orbit

Pop Album of the Year (2003 - Present)

    * 2003 - Avril Lavigne, Let Go

    * 2004 - Sarah McLachlan, Afterglow

    * 2005 - Avril Lavigne, Under My Skin

    * 2006 - Michael Bublé, It's Time

I own none of those CDs.

Calling All TypePad/Mail Users

Does anyone out there use TypePad for blogging and Apple's Mail program (on a Mac, obviously)? I'm having a problem responding to comments—I'm getting all kinds of gobbledygook in place of the graphics. Please email me if you think you can help, and thanks!

Making Jam Without One Crucial Ingredient

Why would the Jam even bother having a reunion without Paul Weller? Hey, for the record, I saw the last Jam show (or one of the shows on the last tour, anyhow) when I was in school in London (back in the Dark Ages).

5 Months, 7 Days, and Counting

I'll just have to keep watching the trailers over and over.

In Tribute To

I still haven't reviewed a whole bunch of CDs I've bought in the last 6 months or so, so I'll try to knock off a couple here.

I'm a sucker for tribute CDs, even though they so frequently disappoint. "The Pilgrim" is a tribute to Kris Kristofferson, who many consider to be one of the greatest American songwriters ever (despite his croaking-frog singing voice). I'd agree, but I'd also quibble with many of the choices of artist-song combinations on this collection. You have to wonder who decides these things!

The high point for me is (who else?) Emmylou Harris on "The Pilgrim: Chapter 33," which begins with a spoken intro and acoustic guitar bit by Kristofferson himself, circa 1970. Emmy is helped out here by Sam Bush, Jon Randall, Byron House, and Randy Scruggs. Lovely. The low point is probably Brian McNight (who?) on "Me and Bobby McGee. " He makes it into kind of a soul ballad that just made me feel bad, with its electronic percussion. Ick.

So, as with most tribute CDs, a mixed bag. Oh, but it's also worth mentioning that the long bio in the liner notes by Peter Cooper is fascinating.

A far more successful tribute CD is "Beautiful Dreamer," which celebrates the songs of Stephen Foster. There's a definitely a country feel to these old folk songs, and I like it. A lot. The artist-song pairings were much better in this collection than in the Kristofferson one. I love The Duhks doing "Camptown Races" and longtime verbatim fave John Prine on "My Old Kentucky Home, Goodnight" and Michelle Shocked (with someone named Pete Anderson—never heard of him) on "Oh! Susanna"—and so many more that, if you are like me, you will keep saying to yourself, "Foster wrote that too?" as each song comes up. And I assure you, you will never hear a more gorgeous lullaby than Alison Krauss singing "Slumber My Darling" accompanied by Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor. Wow.

It'th Tho Exthiting!

Julie lost another tooth this weekend! Luckily the tooth fairy was able to find her way up to New Hampshire, and even to locate the tooth on Julie's nightstand although we hadn't brought our tooth gazebo with us.

Happy Whatever Day

From the New Yorker:    

According to some of the calendars and appointment books floating around this office, Monday, February 19th, is Presidents’ Day. Others say it’s President’s Day. Still others opt for Presidents Day. Which is it?… The answer, strictly speaking, is none of the above. Ever since 1968, when, in one of the last gasps of Great Society reformism, holidays were rejiggered to create more three-day weekends, federal law has decreed the third Monday in February to be Washington’s Birthday. And Presidents’/’s/s Day? According to Prologue, the magazine of the National Archives, it was a local department-store promotion that went national when retailers discovered that, mysteriously, generic Presidents clear more inventory than particular ones, even the Father of His Country. Now everybody thinks it’s official, but it’s not.

Whatever. Andy got the day off.

Three Below, Sans Wind Chill

It is now officially colder than a witch's tit.

The Family That Skis Together...

...is lucky to have a mom who doesn't, so she can take photos of them!

They had a great time yesterday and are out there again today. I'll join them for lunch in the lodge (it's the least I can do).

Road Trip

We decided it wasn't cold and snowy enough in Boston, so we headed north yesterday, to the mountains. We made sure to leave right at rush hour on the busiest ski weekend of the year, so that we could spend as much time as possible in the car. It took us almost an hour to go the first 15 miles, yippee! It ended up taking about 4 hours to go 150 miles, all highway. Luckily Pete and Steph couldn't stop "annoying" one another, so we didn't have to worry about having any long awkward silences during the ride.

Now the kids and Andy and Bammy and Grandpa are at the mountain. They got 2 feet of snow up here on Wednesday, and the temperatures are expected to get up into the 20s later on, so they're going to have a blast. As for me? Well, let's put it this way: That cup of tea isn't going to drink itself, now is it? Someone's got to man the fort.

Friday iPod Random Ten

1. Je Suis Désolé - Mark Knopfler
2. The End of the Innocence - Don Henley
3. Diner (live) - Martin Sexton
4. St. Judy's Comet - Paul Simon
5. Cool For Cats - Squeeze
6. Get Down - Bottle Rockets
7. Traffic Jam (live) - James Taylor
8. Hold On - RedBird
9. Gone - John Hiatt
10. It's Me - k.d. lang

The 86 Rules of Boozing

I don't agree with many of these—and plenty of them are insultingly sexist or just plain stupid—but there are some good ones. The first one may be my favorite. What's yours?

Blockbuster Does It Again

Remember a while back when Blockbuster ran a promotion in the hopes of wooing Netflix customers over to their evil empire? They promised a free movie rental for every Netflix envelope flap (the part you normally throw out) you bring in. I was skeptical at the time, but I did it successfully. Well, they're doing it again: Now through next Wednesday, free Blockbuster movies for Netflix customers! I just ran scurrying to my recyclables to pull out two envelope flaps I'd tossed earlier today.

Valentine's Day Festivities

Yesterday afternoon, just when I thought we couldn't get any more bored, the kids announced that they wanted to go outside. Yes. To play in the sleet. I obediently bundled them up and sent them outside. (Me? Go out there? Are you nuts?) They crunched through the snow, they ate slush, they went whipping down the ice-coated slide. Then they came back in, positively soaked and frigid, and had hot chocolate. A nice break was had by all.

Andy finally staggered in from his long day of driving up from NYC through Connecticut in the ice and snow. Our driveway hadn't been plowed, so I never got the car out to go to the market and prepare a proper Valentine's Day feast. So I defrosted a Trader Joe's turkey sausage stromboli and opened a bag of chips. Do I know how to set the stage for romance, or what?

We ate while (re)watching the first three episodes of the American version of "The Office." You may recall that when it was first released, we tried it, but we had just come off of watching the entire British series and were so high on Ricky Gervais that no one could come close. We also didn't know Steve Carell then. Now, having seen and enjoyed him in "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and "Little Miss Sunshine," and having had some time elapse from our love affair with Ricky Gervais, we could really allow ourselves to appreciate the American version more. Truth be told, I had also heard Terry Gross interview the show's writers, and she said that the series got much better later on, so I decided to start back at the beginning and then play catch-up. Good decision, as it turns out. <Johnny Carson voice>Funny, funny shtuff.</Johnny Carson voice>

You Heard Right

I guess it was only a matter of time before Tommy Ramone starting playing bluegrass music. Huh? Sounds pretty nice, too.

Wiki Wednesday

Time to learn something!

1. Go to Wikipedia.
2. Click on "Random article" in the left-hand sidebar box.
3. Post it!

Mine sounds like "Dilbert Goes to Seminary School":

Ratramnus (died circa 868) was a theological controversialist of the second half of the ninth century.

He was a monk of the Benedictine abbey of Corbie near Amiens; beyond this fact very little is known about him. He is best known for his treatise on the Eucharist (De corpore et sanguine Domini liber), in which he contradicted the doctrine of transubstantiation, taught in a similar work by his contemporary from the same monastery Radbertus Paschasius. Ratramnus sought to reconcile science and religion, whereas Radbertus emphasized the miraculous. However the two agreed that Christ was present in the eucharist, Radbertus by miracle and reality and Ratramnus by faith and symbolism. Ratramnus's views failed to find acceptance; their author was soon forgotten, and, when the book was condemned as heresy at the synod of Vercelli in 1050, it was described as having been written by Johannes Scotus Erigena at the command of Charlemagne. During the Reformation, there was a revival of interest in the book; it was published in 1532 and immediately translated. It was especially influential in England, where Thomas Cranmer claimed to have been finally convinced against transubstantion by Ratramnus.

In the controversy about election, when appealed to by Charles the Bald, Ratramnus had written two books: De praedestinatione Dei, in which he maintained the doctrine of a twofold predestination; nor did the fate of Gottschalk deter him from supporting his view against Hincmar as to the orthodoxy of the expression trina Deitas. Ratramnus was famous in his own day for his Contra Graecorum opposita, in four books (868), a valued contribution to the controversy between the Eastern and Western Churches which had been raised by the publication of the encyclical letter of Photius in 867. An edition of De corpore et sanguine Domini was published at Oxford in 1859. He is also the author of a letter, the Epistola de Cynocephalis, on whether the Cynocephali (dog-headed people) should be considered human (Patrilogia Latina 121: 1153-56).

 

I Love You So Much I'm Cancelling School

In honor of Valentine's Day, we got just enough snow overnight to close the schools! Which means that instead of exchanging cards and candy with their friends, the kids get to sit around the house with me. All day. And instead of going to the gym (I haven't missed a Monday, Wednesday, or Friday in several weeks!), I get to sit around the house with them. All day. Oh, the games of Trouble we'll play! And Sorry! And Uno! Then, when all that's over with at 10 a.m., we'll all look at each other and wonder what to do next. (It's too cold and icy to play outside.) Andy's of course driving home from New York today—he always seems to be on the road when weather hits.

Meanwhile, I was so disappointed about the kids' valentine cards this year. In the past we've always spent a lovely afternoon making valentines for their classmates, using construction paper and doilies and stickers and markers and glue and glitter and stampers and scissors.... This year they insisted on buying those dumb little prepackaged cards: Looney Tunes for Steph, Spidey for Pete, and Tinkerbell for Julie. Sigh.

Little Dreamers

Yesterday Steph's class had their Dreamers' Festival. Inspired by their study of Martin Luther King Jr., they each researched another "dreamer" and presented brief biographies, all in costume! Steph was Clara Barton; we also had Mohandas Gandhi, Rachel Carson, Theodore Herzl, Albert Schweitzer, Jane Addams, Thurgood Marshall, Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, and many more, including a few I knew next to nothing about (Chico Mendes, Whitney Young) and a few I'd never even heard of (Chiune Sugihara, Mary McLeod Bethune, Quanah Parker). The kids also recited the entire "I Have a Dream" speech, which nearly brought me to tears. What a nice project.

Games for the Brain

If you liked Word Shoot, you'll want to give Speed Type a try. No gun use here, just type the words before they hit the ground. I haven't made it past Level 6 yet. (I haven't noticed any typos yet—unlike Word Shoot!—but beware of some British spellings.)

Then try Speed Read. I have so far only once been able to remember even 4 words! O short-term memory, why hast thou forsaken me?

Lots of other games there too.

Mail Wail

Man, do I miss Eudora. Yes, I could still use it, but my recent scare with PayPal (which appears to have finally been resolved yesterday) has made me a bit more security-conscious, and Eudora will no longer continue to be updated. You've already heard my complaints against Gmail; here's what I can't stand about Mail:

1. Web links don't show up as hot unless I put those little angle brackets around them (granted, this is a problem with Eudora too).
2. There's no bouncing dock icon to alert me that there's mail if I miss the alert sound.
3. I wish that when I delete/transfer an incoming message (after reading it), the next one would open up automatically.
4. This one's a biggie: When my blog gets a comment, Typepad sends me an email full of graphics. When I hit reply, I can respond directly to the commenter (if s/he has provided an email address). But all the graphics turn to gibberish! (And again, I apologize to all of you who've gotten these garbled messages from me.) I've tried fiddling with the plain text/rich text settings, but no luck.
5. This is minor, but I liked being able to queue up outgoing messages without sending them right away. I know I can save drafts, but still....
6. I can't figure out a way to import my address book from either Eudora or Gmail.
7. One of you may know the answer to this one: How can I get Mail to ask for my password before checking/sending mail the first time I open the application?
8. And finally, I just can't seem to get used to the interface. There just seems to be so much extra clicking involved.

I might give Entourage a shot, and someone suggested I check out Barebones.

Pop! Pop! Pop!

Why is this so damn satisfying?

So Good, and So Good for You!

The folks at Cook's Illustrated are always coming up with innovative ideas. This time they figured out a way to make multigrain bread that is neither as dense as a brick nor as fluffy as white bread, and all without making you hunt down and purchase lots of weird grains. Instead, they start with multigrain hot cereal mix! They recommend Arrowhead Mills or Bob's Red Mill brands; both are available at my Whole Foods and both are excellent brands. This bread came out great! I was very impressed with myself.

Easy Multigrain Sandwich Bread

1¼ cups 7-grain hot cereal mix
2½ cups boiling water
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ cups whole wheat flour
¼ cup honey
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2½ tsp instant yeast
1 Tbsp salt
¾ cup unsalted sunflower seeds
½ cup old-fashioned rolled oats or quick oats

Place cereal mix in bowl of standing mixer and pour boiling water over it; let stand, stirring occasionally, until mixture cools to 100° and resembles thick porridge, about 1 hour. Whisk flours in medium bowl and set aside.

Add honey, butter, and yeast to cereal mixture and stir to combine. With mixer fitted with dough hook and running on low speed, add flours ½ cup at a time, and knead until dough forms a ball, 1½–2 minutes; cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest 20 minutes.

Add salt and knead on medium-low speed until dough clears sides of bowl, 3–4 minutes. (If dough does not clear the sides, add 2–3 Tbsp additional all-purpose flour and continue mixing—I didn’t need to do this.) Continue to knead dough for 5 more minutes. Add seeds and knead for another 15 seconds.

Transfer dough to floured work surface and knead by hand until seeds are evenly dispersed and dough forms smooth, taut ball. Place dough into large greased bowl; cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled, 45–60 minutes.

Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 375°. Spray two 9x5” loaf pans with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and pat into 12x9” rectangle; cut dough in half crosswise with knife.

With short side of one dough piece facing you, start at farthest end and roll dough into log. (Oops, I did it the opposite way. No matter!) Keep roll taut by tucking it under itself as you go. Pinch seam gently to seal loaf. Spray loaves lightly with water or nonstick cooking spray. Repeat with other dough piece. Roll each dough log in oats to coat evenly. (Most of my oats fell off.) Place each loaf seam-side down in greased loaf pans, pressing gently into corners. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size, 30–40 minutes. (Dough should barely spring back when poked with knuckle.)

Bake until internal temperature registers 200° on instant-read thermometer, 35–40 minutes. Remove loaves from pans and cool on wire rack before slicing, about 3 hours. until you can’t stand it any longer and you slather a slice with lots of butter and eat it standing right there with the knife still in your hand. Makes nice toast too.

Does. Not. Compute.

Holy checkerboard, Batman! Deb pointed me to this stunning optical illusion. I flat-out refused to believe it until I tested it out myself, so I cut and pasted the little squares and laid them out side by side. Yup, they match! Cooliocious.

That's Me in the Dumpy Jacket

For years I wore a dumpy black "Squall" parka from Lands' End. Every November or December, when those first few cold days came upon us, I'd dig out the old parka, wonder briefly whether I ever ended up washing it the previous spring, and on it went. Don't get me wrong—I love Lands' End and have certainly given them more of my family clothing budget than anyone else, but some of their stuff is not exactly what you'd call stylish. But the parka was warm, it seemed indestructible, and it didn't cost an arm and a leg.

This year, however, I determined that I was due for a new parka, something a little more fashionable. The old one was still serviceable but noticeably worn out, and looking even dowdier than I'd remembered. So I was delighted to discover that Lands' End had a new line of parkas, and I bought a cute quilted one, shorter than my old one (although still black, which seems to be my default color when I can't make up my mind). I wore it for a few weeks, and I kept noticing down feathers poking through! And on a black jacket, white feathers really stand out! I'd pull them out, but half the time they just kept coming, one after another. So I called customer service, and they said to try putting it through the washer and dryer to tighten the weave. I did, and that definitely helped a little, but I still found tiny feathers all the time.

I finally decided it was making me crazy, so I called customer service again. They said it had to be just a dud, because they hadn't had a single other complaint against this jacket. Problem was, they were all sold out in my size, except for a really loud shade of magenta that I just couldn't do. I tried all the other usual suspects—LL Bean, Eddie Bauer, etc.—but no one had anything left in my size. So, with a heavy heart, I packed up the parka today and shipped it back to Lands' End, then put on the old fuddy-duddy parka from the closet. Sigh.

Worlds Colliding in a Beautiful Way

Here's a clip I wouldn't have believed if I hadn't seen it myself. In 1962 (the year of my birth), Jazz great Nina Simone performed "Eretz Zavat Chalav," an old Israeli folksong that every Jewish kid who ever went to Hebrew school knows. I wish I could find out the story behind this terrific performance!

The Build-a-War Workshop

Excerpt from an editorial in today's Times:

It took far too long, but a report by the Pentagon inspector general has finally confirmed that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s do-it-yourself intelligence office cooked up a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda to help justify an unjustifiable war.

The report said the team headed by Douglas Feith, under secretary of defense for policy, developed “alternative” assessments of intelligence on Iraq that contradicted the intelligence community and drew conclusions “that were not supported by the available intelligence.” Mr. Feith certainly knew the Central Intelligence Agency would cry foul, so he hid his findings from the C.I.A. Then Vice President Dick Cheney used them as proof of cloak-and-dagger meetings that never happened, long-term conspiracies between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden that didn’t exist, and — most unforgivable — “possible Iraqi coordination” on the 9/11 attacks, which no serious intelligence analyst believed....

It is now up to Mr. Levin [Senator Carl Levin, the new chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee] and Senator Jay Rockefeller, the current head of the intelligence panel, to give Americans the answers. Mr. Levin’s desire to have the entire inspector general’s report on the Feith scheme declassified is a good place to start. But it will be up to Mr. Rockefeller to finally determine how old, inconclusive, unsubstantiated and false intelligence was transformed into fresh, reliable and definitive reports — and then used by Mr. Bush and other top officials to drag the country into a disastrous and unnecessary war.      

Really? Gosh, Beav, that's hard to swallow. You mean the war was begun under false pretenses? (Could I get any more cynical about this government?)

Winter Woes

The weather forecast says that it might finally be warming up enough to snow later today. We've been stuck in this cold snap* for what seems like forever, and it's been especially hard on the kids. For starters, they've had indoor recess every day for a couple of weeks, which means playing board games in their classrooms—can you say cabin fever? But here's the kicker: Just as the temperatures plummeted, a pipe burst at the school and flooded the three-year-old gym floor. Our school is positively falling apart, and this was the one new thing we had. But, beyond the immediate problem of replacing it (with what funds, exactly? no one knows), the kids are now not getting a real recess or P.E. classes! Normally, if it's too cold to go outside for several days in a row, the kids have recess in the gym, just to run around a bit and burn off some energy; alternatively, if they're not allowed in the gym for some reason (for instance, when they were first installing it), they have P.E. outside. Nix on both for now. Those poor teachers.

*Doesn't the word snap imply something quick? Harumph.

You Want Movie Reviews? We Got Movie Reviews!

Yikes, I'm way behind here. Alright, let's start off with an easy one:

If you liked "Ocean's Eleven," you'll like "Ocean's Twelve." That is to say, if you like a fun action movie that's not violent or gory, if you have a good sense of humor, and if you can think of worse things than gazing at George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Julia Roberts for two hours, then you'll like this. Pure entertainment from start to finish.

In fact, you should watch "Ocean's Twelve" twice rather than waste your time trying to sit through "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead" even once. What a dog. I love me some Clive Owen, but this noir-wannabe just couldn't cut it.

Andy swears we'd already seen "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas," but I'm sure I would've remembered it. Johnny Depp looks exactly like Duke, the Hunter Thompson character in "Doonesbury"—it's uncanny. Andy got fed up with his spazzy hand gestures, but I just took it as part of the character. The druggy scenes left me nearly queasy, there's of course no "point" to the movie at all, and it broke my heart to see Benicio Del Toro (as Dr. Gonzo) looking so repulsive. Still and all, I was glad I saw it. Not the heartiest recommendation ever, but there you go.

From the ridiculous to the sublime, we go to "Vera Drake." What a gorgeous, perfect movie. Imelda Staunton plays the title role, a housekeeper in post-war London, who has a happy family and is beloved by all. The secret she keeps is that she performs illegal abortions—for free—whenever she hears of a young girl in need of "help." I can't describe how real all the actors come across; it's certainly a testament to director Mike Leigh's method of allowing actors to explore their characters and improvise around a plot line. Yes, the movie is heart-breaking, but it's by far one of the best things I've seen in ages. Read Roger Ebert's review; I agree with him 100% on this one. Oh, and as flawless as Staunton's acting was, I couldn't help wondering how Anne Reid might have done in that role.

Another winner, although much lighter fare, was "The Illusionist." It's mostly just the usual story of a man and woman in love despite their very different social stations. What makes it special is the fact that the man, played with all the intensity and grace you'd expect of Ed Norton, is a magician. For most of the movie, you don't know what's real and what's not, what is just an illusion and what is actually happening—whether naturally or supernaturally. Andy and I figured out what was going on long before the movie ended, but that didn't spoil it for us. I wasn't quite sure throughout whether I liked Paul Giamatti in this; for a long while I wasn't buying his performance, but he won me over.

"King Kong," on the other hand, was such a disaster I can't even begin to tell you. On the first night, we watched the first hour. Nothing happened. Nothing. A certain amount of "setting the scene" is required in a movie; a full hour's worth is asking too much of the audience. Andy and I glanced at each other and turned off the TV. On the second night, we sat down for the second hour. Finally we got some action. King Kong himself, the dinosaurs, and the  horrifying man-size bugs were really wonderfully done, although some of the sequences with them and the actors were so obviously computer-generated that they didn't for one second look realistic. But still, the movie languished. Jack Black's overacting was almost criminal. Honestly, it was the sort of performance you'd expect someone like him to be spoofing. There was just nothing worth watching. So night three? Ain't gonna happen: the movie went back to Netflix today. (And, lest you think I just parrot whatever Rober Ebert says, he loved this movie and called it one of the best of the year. So there.)

And finally, we saw the first in a series of wonderful BBC ocean-life documentaries called "The Blue Planet." This one was "Seas of Life: Open Oceans / The Deep," a two-parter narrated by David Attenborough. Wow. They're discovering new creatures every day down there, and I learned so much in just under 2 hours. The underwater photography is breathtaking. Really, if I'd learned at the end that it had all been computer-generated, I wouldn't have been surprised. But no, it was all real. How they shot this stuff, I'll never be able to figure out. If you like marine-life shows on Nova or the like, you'll love this.