Diary of an adult runaway

OMG, so many things to do!

Yeah, I know, I know, I said I was going to get back into regular blogging but I've had too many things to do. Like, you know, write! Heading for the finish line in revisions of The Lake Effect, and wondering how it is that I started this book over a year ago and I've just realized the heroine's favorite musician is Lisa Loeb? Which I probably won't even mention in the ms, but it's nice to sort that out.

So! Anyways! I'm wriggling my way into a new routine. Because I need to. I was getting up at 5.30 and heading to Starbucks to write @ 6.30, but since the mornings have been cooler, I can't sit outside and the music inside is a little too loud and my brother, Kurt, hasn't given me my birthday present of cool white Sennheiser headphones, even though my birthday was almost 2 months ago (named and shamed, baby, named and shamed!) so I've just been heading early to work. And that means no writing, because I get wrapped up in other things then just want to chill at night. (And by "chill," I mean "watch Who Do You Think You Are, Treme, and United States of Tara. Oh, and Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution.")

So I've set the alarm for 5, hauling the laptop into bed and getting some good wordage down. Next week, I'm going to set it for 4.30; the week after, for 4, so I can do some yoga before work. Yes, I'd rather be going to bed at that time, but that's not going to happen while I've still got an office job, so let's try the reverse.

Funny thing, though--I've had more energy this week, even on that schedule. In fact, I'm so downright perky that I'm at risk of pissing off my colleagues. I'm currently like a Glee character, bursting into song without warning--and considering I'm currently listening to Boston's Magic 106.7, that can often mean 80s movie themes or cheesy Chicago songs. That's a direct result of me getting good writing done. I'm a much nicer person to deal with after I've written. In fact, if you ever come across me and I'm supremely grumpy, don't even bother with that old chestnut "you need to get laid." Just say "you need to go write." Please. It'll be better for all involved.

Apart from writing, something that's been giving me joy lately are those cute animal photos. And so, just for the lovely Jenny, I've included a photo of Bug the rat (who departed last year, but left us with her rodent sweetness):

And then there's this little one (is it just me, or does he look like Bill Clinton?):

We'll file these next 2 under "me likey, me want!":

 

And finally, Fearless Kung Fu Warrior Kitteh says BRING IT ON, GRASSHOPPER, YOU LITTLE BITCH!!:

The part I love the most about this...

...is how fluffy the kitteh on the left's butt is. Bump to top of cuteness queue! (I was going to spell it "quteness" but I can't stand deliberate misspelling for non-satirical purposes. Except Krispy Kreme. I'm good with that.)

And I'm not kidding!

I don't know about you, but I'm lovin' this kitteh:

Giggle of the day

Just couldn't resist

Poor little pet:

Kinda what Cherry the Wonderdog looks like every time Kody turns his attention her way:

Pumpkin would just kill me, but it's ohhhhh sooooo tempting...:

   

LOLCats

And now it's Caturday!

Well, the cats are, but I'm getting things ready for Kurt's arrival in about 28 hours. Via the wonders of the Internet, I see his flight took off 14 minutes ago, 1 minute ahead of time, from Melbourne. Yay!

Oh, and I see I made a grievous error yesterday ~ I left It's Only Love off my (ever-expanding, nay, neverending) Top 10 Elvis Tracks list. The opening guitar twang, Elvis's big voice with the Imperials and others backing him up, the band mixing country and funk like only they could.

Last Elvis week comment: I don't share the same beliefs as Elvis, but the picture on the right made me tear up. Yes, I know. But whaddaya gonna do? It's Elvis. C'est tout.

What a difference a cane makes

So, it's been an interesting week (thanks for the good wishes and the telephone calls--I'm feeling beaucoup du love :-) ). Went back to work yesterday and finally got some walking canes that are doing the trick, because right now I can't put any weight on my knee. I'm really, really surprised and humbled by how nice total strangers have been, offering help. I know I've said Parisians live in a cone of blindness, but (shh, don't tell anyone!) I've been proven dead wrong.

Anyway! Enough of that because I want to talk about my new discovery. I know Amra's been grooving on Entourage for a while, so I took being last week as the perfect opportunity. IOW, I OD'd on Seasons 1-3 and I'm thinking of getting a "What would Ari do?" tattoo on my ass, because I fucken LOVE that guy! Sure, in real life I'd want to kill him but I admire that he never gives up, never gives in, always has the last word, and says whatever the hell he wants. I enjoy it even more on the rare occasions that he's stymied and you can see him trying to figure out how to get what he wants. It's a lovely moment when Ari Gold is speechless. Loved Jeremy Piven in The Larry Sanders Show and Smokin' Aces but he completely shines in this. And let's hear it for Kevin Dillon. I keep laughing at that perpetually confused look on his face. Oh, and Rex Lee (Lloyd)? Perfect! Especially when he yelled at Ari "Fuck you!....sorry, reflex." Genius, genius writing. I think I need me one of these:

And a completely different kind of show, but very funny, too. I watched the pre-air of Aliens in America (did you check that one out, Anna?), about a midwestern family who want an exchange student to make their geeky son cool and who should lob up but a sweetly sincere Pakistani who praises Allah for his good fortune. Much gentler than Entourage, but the pilot did a good job of taking gentle jabs at our prejudices. I see Luke from Gilmore Girls has taken over the role of the father, though I thought the guy in the pilot was fine. Oh, well.

Funny. I read an article, I think it was on The Age's site, about how men are ruling TV, there are no great shows for and about women, and I guess, I think, maybe I should be upset about this? You know, being a (gasp!) feminist. But, um, I'm not. Sure, there are some girlie shows I liked--Gilmore Girls, though sometimes that Lorelei... (sorry, Keris <g>) and...I don't know, can't think of any more. So what does it say that my favorite shows are mainly guy shows? Rescue Me (ohmigod OHMIGOD OHMIGOD TOMMY!!!!!!!! PUT THE BABY DOWN AND BACK AWAY!!!!!!!!) (Seriously, if the ending of episode 3 this season was shocking, episode 7 ratcheted up that tension to a level that had my heart pounding. Who said TV was relaxing?), Entourage, Californication, Dexter. There are some great female characters in all those shows, but not the leads. And the latest shows I've watched with female leads haven't grabbed me. What is it? Is it a double-standard, that women are supposed to be likeable, whereas Ari is a total asshole and Dexter kills people and I'm like "Excellent character!" Maybe it's just because I know they are characters? Well, no, I know the chicks from Lipstick Jungle (see, can't even remember their names) and Bionic Woman are characters, but I...just don't care.

Maybe it's just that I'm more interested in what the guys are doing (roadtrip to Vegas sounds like a lot more fun than running a motion picture studio. Ohhhhhhhhh, waaaaaaaaiiiiiiit. I think I'm getting it. The chicks in Lipstick Jungle--all successful career women. High-powered jobs they're angsting about. Compare that to Dana or Barbara in Entourage. They're successful, they're just not angsting about it--they just walk in and get shit done. And Jaime in Bionic Woman (whose name I of course remember because I loved the original, though I notice they've changed the spelling from Jamie), at some stage she's going to have to save the world and honestly? CBF'd! I'd rather be on a roadtrip to Vegas. I am just.not.interested in saving the world. (And while I really like Holly Hunter's character in Saving Grace, I'm still waiting for her to get preachy. Though, from the way she flashes the neighbor, I'm probably just looking for toruble where there is none.)

So what am I missing? Are there TV shows out there with strong, funny, non-angsty female leads? None of that bloody Scully traipsing around muttering "Mulder, Mulder?" shit. FOR GOD'S SAKE, no Mere-death, either, or I'll hit you with my cane. I might just have to wait for Reaper. Ooh! success! Just found the pre-air, I'll watch it tonight. Hopefully she'll be a bit like Georgia from Dead Like Me, who had her fair share of angst but offset it with deadpan humor. Though it bothers me that the only female lead I can find who appeals to me is 18. Surely, SURELY TO GOD, there has to be a mature female LEAD who can kick ass without being a raving bitch.

Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Oh, and make the tabby in this pic Pumpkin and the black and white cat Kody and you'd have life at my house this past week. Wherever Pumpkin was on the bed beside me, Kody had to get. Pumpkin? Not happy.

Mighty fine

It's Friday and I'm feeling mighty fine, mighty fine! My officemate came in dressed all satiny and disco, so in keeping with that theme, we tuned into Sirius's 70s station and danced around to Boogie Oogie Oogie. Until we busted the same move at exactly the same time then started giggling. And it's not even 9am. Long day ahead! Until I get out of here:

 

Stop me before I kill someone (like, say, oh, Meredith GREY!)

Ok, if you read anything more about Grey's Anatomy on this blog, you're welcome to come over and slap me silly. Because that's what I feel like doing to myself for sitting through that season finale. Why did I even watch it? Because I really like Addison, I think she's an excellent character, and fingers crossed that the non-spin-off becomes a spin-off (come on, Shonda, what's with the disingenuousness?), if only so I get to perv on Tim Daly.

But Meredith, Cristina, Izzie, George, Alex, Derek? We are done. DONE! Come on. Meredith whines to Derek about him just going ahead and dumping her and he says he's not going to but she's got to stop running off so she runs off? Though I guess he just gave her permission to do so, so why the hell shouldn't she? Then BURKE runs off? (He may as well keep going, what with the whole faggot comment crap.) Derek turns down the chief's post? The chief accepts that and stays chief, after what he's just gone through with his wife, whose main complaint about him was the time he dedicated to his job? George DOESN'T pass his exam? His wife DOESN'T beat the shit out of Izzy? Oh, and Bailey--BAILEY DOESN'T MAKE CHIEF RESIDENT??? *

(I fail to see how Oprah can say she loves this show yet she thinks romance novels are unrealistic and offer false hope to women.)

I wish this: that Shonda hands over Addison to someone who won't sacrifice her character for some cheap season finale gasps somewhere down the line. I found the L.A. people much more interesting than the Seattle Grace whingers, esp. Amy Brenneman and that cute surfer boy. Get Addison a tan, I say! And get her laid. By Tim Daly.

Okay, maybe I'm just unhinged because it was not a good week in reality TV land. Yau-man, gone. That Dreamz certainly was dreaming if he thought screwing over Yau was going to land him a million bucks. And Melinda, gone. GONE. WHAT IS UP WITH THAT???? Nothing personal against Blake, but come on, REALLY? I was all ready to have a self-righteous fit if I hit the trifecta, but settled down when Laila Ali made it through to the finals of Dancing. I love Laila, especially when she starts her "The CHAMP is here!" talk. Try saying that to yourself when you're feeling low and you'll perk right up. Fake it until you make it, I say.

And continuing with the whole "You watch too much TV" routine (do not!), I'm making an Australian movie DVD for my French office mate. So far, I've got Strictly Ballroom, Priscilla, Muriel's Wedding and Chopper. Strictly and Chopper are 2 of my all-time faves, though I wasn't interested at all when they were first released. Strictly I ended up seeing because I was at loose ends one Sunday afternoon, and found myself in the cinema a few hours later, standing and applauding like the rest of the audience. Chopper was a film my brother said I had to see, so he made me rent the DVD one day and I laughed and laughed until tears ran down my face. What's so funny about a self-confessed stand-over man who cuts off his own ears? Well, no one really knows what Chop did or didn't do (except yeah, cutting off his ears, we know he did that), whether he really killed people or just made everyone think that so they'd keep away from him, and Eric Bana is such a brilliant mimic that you swear it's Chopper speaking. The scene where he shoots Nevil (a.k.a. Nevil fucken Bartos, played to wog perfection by Vince Colosimo) for the second time then takes him to the hospital, while telling the cops he did no such thing because that would defeat the purpose of shooting him in the first place is my favorite, followed closely by the flashing in the bar, with the cop yelling "Fuck's sake, put it away, Chop!"

Chopper Read:

Eric Bana as Chopper Read:

 

Eric Bana as Eric Bana (much better!):

Yep, you can argue that this film glorifies violence (although anything that Rupert Murdoch and FOX object to can't be that bad, considering their track record--Fox News, anyone?) and Lord knows, with over 30 people killed in the Melbourne underground violence of the last decade, that's not a great thing. But I loved it for how absolutely Australian it was, just as I love the other films for the same reason. There's a level of subversiveness that I connect to, just as there's a recognition of our quirks and foibles. With Strictly, it's more than that--there's a great tenderness in this film, especially with Scott's father. All use very strong Australian accents to ground them and no one's got that Hollywood hair and makeup thing going on--except the boys in Priscilla. It's not surprising that dancing features in 3 of the films and ABBA in 2, and that there are a lot of bar scenes.

2 more films I want to copy for her: The Hard Word (Guy Pearce, Rachel Griffiths and Joel Edgerton are outstanding in this, with my favorite line being when Joel Edgerton says with relish, after he's asked if he enjoys being a bank robber, "Truthfully? I fucken LOVE it!") and Erskineville Kings, which I think is Hugh Jackman's finest work. And maybe some Secret Life Of Us, too. And The Nugget. Oh, and let's not forget The Castle. Hmm, and maybe there's room for some Kath & Kim, too.

My office mate might not understand it, but oh, the giggles I'll have!