To all the ships at sea

If I see one more walleyed lawyer doing a damages commercial about transvaginal mesh patches, I may throw something at my television. Yes, this is related to the subject line because I’m watching Message In a Bottle on TV and apparently only women are watching this movie because all of the commercials have to do with transvaginal mesh damages, household cleaning products, Weight Watchers and Jenny Craig. I wish this was an exaggeration but literally EVERY single commercial break has consisted of these four commercials.

I’m not a particular fan of Nicholas Sparks and I know we’re all meant to swoon over the very first letter from Garrett but I’ll admit that the letter which really resonates for me is the one from Catherine:

To all the ships at sea, and all the ports of call. To my family and to all friends and strangers. This is a message, and a prayer.

The message is that my travels taught me a great truth. I already had what
everyone is searching for and few ever find. The one person in the world who I was born to love forever.

A person, like me, of the outer banks and the blue Atlantic mystery. A person rich in simple treasures. Self-made. Self-taught. A harbor where I am forever home. And no wind, or trouble or even a little death can knock down this
house.

The prayer is that everyone in the world can know this kind of love and be healed by it. If my prayer is heard, there will be an erasing of all guilt and all regret and an end to all anger.

Please, God. Amen

Especially the bit about a little death. If your house can withstand that, you’ve built something good.

Among Others

Everything I read about Among Others by Jo Walton could be summed up as “if you love books, you LOVE THIS BOOK.” The story is told from the viewpoint of  a teenage girl who is an avid reader, so there is that. She comes from some interesting family circumstances and is attending boarding school. What I really enjoyed about this book are the way the characters use books for conversation (thoroughly believable) and the female relationships characterized at the boarding school (also believable). It’s a fantasy novel of the ‘magical realism’ sort, which is to say that it’s pretty modern with fantastical elements that are important to both the story and the characters. While I did really enjoy the book, I did not love it and that was disappointing. There are so many things about it which mean I SHOULD have loved it but it just didn’t grab me as I’d hoped.

SOPA boycott – I’m not the only one

Originally posted by at Seems I Am Not The Only One….

The Ohshitometer Pegged at 20

Let me tell you a story about crap tv. Not crap as in bad or terrible, but crap as in campy, melodramatic and awesome. One of those shows is Revenge, probably one of my favorite shows of the new season. But maybe the best crap show of all time – chock full of HOLY SHIT and OMG – with great pacing and clever writing is… The Vampire Diaries.

Yes. Really.

I remember when the show first started, I caught a couple of episodes and was pretty meh about it. It fell off my radar until right around the finale maybe? At that point, my lj buddy Roniabirk was HOLY SHITTING all over the place about how awesome it was (season 1? season 2? I feel like it was maybe season 2). At her urging, I went back and watched the entire season 2 including, no lie, one of the most holyshitterific finales I’ve seen and lo- the show made it onto my DVR queue this season.

It is one of my favorite shows because you literally never know what is going to happen. No one is safe. There is clever dialogue and age-appropriate pop culture references. There are (of course) pretty people (it IS the CW). It’s darkly funny and as previously mentioned, excellently paced. It is some of the most fun on TV.

That said, one of my other favorite things about this show is the recaps done by Jenny at Forever Young Adult, in no small part due to the ohshitometer which is possibly the best invention in television reviews of all time. Fair warning, that recap is for the most recent episode. The recaps are just as clever as the show, chock full of non-target-audience-age-appropriate pop culture references and a drinking game guide in every one.

So yeah. You should be watching. It’s about 10 million miles better than Grey’s Anatomy.

Double Feature

The other night we watched Ides of March and Shark Night. Yes, I know, it’s a PERFECTLY LOGICAL combination.

Ides of March was solid, but I kind of feel like Clooney gets nominated for taking a shit these days. I mean, it was good but I don’t think it was better than State of Play (which got NO love when it came out). Evan Rachel Wood is pretty fantastic in a small part and everyone else is basically exactly as good as you think they’d be.

Shark Night. Oh, Shark Night. Where do I even BEGIN. This is the kind of movie that is best enjoyed with a pitcher of alcoholic beverages close at hand and a group of friends intent on shouting at the screen because it can be a drinking game on FIRST VIEWING. Drink when what you think will happen, happens!  It is positively chock full of every terrible movie cliche and stereotype and the two of us alternated predicting the next scene/action and shouting at the tv. It is hilariously awful and I can only assume the actors were playing it that way knowingly, otherwise I am VERY concerned for this Katherine McPhee tv show coming up. Also, when you rent the DVD (and you really should) you MUST watch through the credits for the cast-made RAP VIDEO. NO I AM NOT JOKING. Yes, my soul died just a little bit because Spouse insisted we watch it all the way through. It is a cherry on top of the godawful.

We watched The Debt the other day and I don’t think I wrote about it. I heard a review of it at some point that said “It feels like it should be better than it is” which is absolutely and utterly accurate. That is not to say there weren’t some great performances, because there were, or that the story wasn’t interesting (it was) but it was missing a little je ne sais quoi that would have made all the difference.

FrankenPiper recovers

In the first week of the new year, we found out Piper had cancer. Mast cell cancer, which is vastly to be preferred over the osteocarcoma that our dog Lola developed. This week Piper had surgery to remove three lumps and the vet couldn’t locate her lymph node which seems to make a good case for it not being involved. All the lumps were subcutaneous, so there was no cutting of muscle tissue.

Piper has drugs and has had humans home with her all day for the last couple of days, so it’s safe to say she’s not that unhappy in her current circumstances. In two weeks the staples come out and in the meantime she’s taken JUST FINE, thankyouverymuch, to using a step stool to get on our bed. Also, peanut butter and bacon treats.

2012 films

Moneyball was pretty fantastic and did an amazing job of taking what COULD be the most boring subject (stats)  and crafting a compelling story that it was easy to get invested in. Highly recommended.

Midnight in Paris. I’d heard a lot of great things about this movie, which I would call solidly good. I’m not a huge Allen fan, as every single protag seems to always be him, but Owen Wilson made what could have been a ticky and annoying character mostly charming and affable. Rachel McAdams plays a perfect asshole. Perfect. The supporting cast did what it needed to do to support, but the bottom line is this movie is a love letter to Paris. I’m okay with that. It put me in mind of The Paris Wife (for obvious reasons) though I preferred that book to this film. If you’ve ever been to Paris, or ever wanted to go, you’ll probably enjoy this film.

The Last Werewolf

My latest read for 2012 was maybe one of the most lauded of 2011. What I kept hearing is ‘literary genre fiction’. Truthfully, as someone who reads a lot of genre, I’d say it was far more genre than literary. Sadly I think most of the critics of “genre” don’t read much of it, so they don’t know how much smart, incisive and thoughtful commentary exists in a lot of great genre fiction. Yeah, there’s brain candy but you find that in any book label. It was an interesting read with a different take on vampires and werewolves and the commentary was heavy on the meaning of life and death, the individual’s role in society and whether or not our history is really important to why we do what we do. All of which makes it sound like there was a lot less killing, shooting and fucking than there was. If you like the Hunger Games series and aren’t completely against the idea of werewolves, I’d definitely check it out.

Oh my fucking GOD you guys

My new scrubs finally arrived. I ordered them on December 29. This was not my favorite online shopping experience ever and let’s just leave it at that.

But the SCRUBS. Dude. I am marginally embarrassed that they say Grey’s Anatomy on them because SERIOUSLY but the tags are small and unobtrusive and HOLY SHIT THEY ARE SO COMFORTABLE that I almost don’t care. Almost. They are fantastic colors and they are so soft but sturdy that it was totally worth it. Not worth the WAIT, maybe but still worth it. Awesome.

This is random because I’m sitting in front of the TV but CBS just interrupted New Hampshire primary coverage for NCIS. I laughed out loud. Because bitchez, we know our old peeples like their NCIS and we are NOT giving up those advertising dollars for an election that doesn’t really COUNT yet!

Unrelated, the 2012 book list is underway! I powered through the first six Harry Dresden books (I’d previously read 1-5) and had forgotten exactly how much I enjoyed them. Now I’ll have to pick up the rest. In the meantime, I’m partway through The Last Werewolf which is – thus far- as interesting as everyone on the internet said it was. I’m reserving judgement until it’s over, though.

We saw Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol over the weekend. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Tom Cruise may be batshit nuts, but he works his ass off to try and make a good movie. I enjoyed it pretty much EXACTLY as much as I’ve enjoyed the others (which is a good thing) with a bonus of Simon Pegg. Afterwards I got snagged by a studio focus group person to answer some questions about the movie and about the movies we saw previewed. Wow, y’all. There’s about to be some SHIT coming out.

My favorite part: Why wouldn’t you see Ghost Rider?

Me: DID YOU SEE THE FIRST ONE? It was fucking TERRIBLE. (she actually had to type that all out. I was amused.)

Her: What could we change about the trailer to make you more likely to see the movie?
Me: PUT ANYONE BUT NICK CAGE IN IT. He’s been terrible ever since The Rock. In fact, put The Rock in it and I might go see THAT.

This was apropos of The Rock being in the equally terrible looking sequel to GI Joe. My response to that was ALSO Did you see the TERRIBLE FIRST FILM?

I won’t lie, I had a bit of fun with the fact that she was having to type my responses verbatim.

They don’t give you money or anything for doing those surveys but, as I told Spouse, if I’m going to keep bitching about the shit movies Hollywood is putting out this is the LEAST I can do to try and help. As it is, we rarely see films in theaters [response to actual question from survey lady: We like to see shit blow up.] but if you’re going to give me a chance to have input I’ll stop and answer the questions for the common good.

Surprise from the survey: Spouse saying he’d be most likely to see Snow White and the Huntsman (versus other previewed films) because of the people in it. Huh.

Work It is bullshit

And you know this from the jump because NEITHER of those dudes is hot enough in drag to get a pharma job.

How to have a Home Practice

When you hear people talk about their HOME PRACTICE it always sounds like it’s in all caps, a hushed and reverent tone as though you’re speaking about the Golden Fleece. We know it’s out there, it can be found, but it will require an epic journey and potentially lost lives. There are articles about starting a home practice in virtually every yoga magazine every single month. A lot of them talk about making a space, allowing yourself to fail, blah blah woo woo.

We’re spoiled by yoga studios and photos of them. Large clean, empty rooms with shining floors and mirrored walls. Clearly if you could have a dance studio in your home you TOO could have a home practice.

Most of us have smaller spaces. One of my favorite teachers always said, “You don’t need a space bigger than your mat. You can do this in a closet.” Yeah right. You haven’t SEEN my closets.

So those are the extremes – a dedicated space or anywhere you can. No one really talks about how, in  order to have a home practice, you might need to LEAVE home.

People who work from home or who (like me) are procrastinators understand that home is an obstacle ground of distraction. “I can practice, but if I move these shelves I’ll have more ROOM.” And then two hours have gone by, the shelves have been moved and you’re doing something that doesn’t involve yoga at all. Or you get a phone call and you have to take it because it’s work and then three hours have passed and you’re tired.

I’ve got all the same issues. I can’t really work out in the morning because Spouse is asleep and I don’t want to wake him. When I get home from work I have to cook dinner or I’m tired, or I’ve cooked dinner and I’m tired. There are times when even remembering how much better I’ll feel when I’ve done it can’t prompt me to get to the mat.

So what does it really take to have a home practice? 15 minutes. If you can start doing yoga for 15 minutes on a regular basis, that’s a home practice. In my experience, that 15 minutes will bleed into a half an hour or 40 minutes pretty quickly, but 15 minutes is what it takes. Find a spot where you’re comfortable or have enough room (a chair will do) and spend 15 minutes doing yoga. It might be breathing or stretching or any combination of the two.

My goal for this year is to get in a regular half hour each day. I started today by having to move some shelves but I got on the mat and worked through some sun salutations. I added in tree, twisting chair and Warrior I and II because it felt right. I started out feeling kind of anxious, knowing I was going to have to get ready for work soon, thinking about what I was going to eat. I put James Blake on my 2G Sansa Clip and let him override my worry mantra. I stretched my neck a little and got on the mat and worked it out. There are some muscles I haven’t used that way in a while because I’m the first to admit when I let my practice slack. It was good, though, because the balance poses brought me back to my body HARD and reminded me to be aware of how I’m moving.

Going to classes serves to give you a knowledge base, so that you can do your asanas at home. Classes can also serve as a tune-up or kick in the ass to get you back on the wagon.  But the only thing you REALLY need to start a home practice is 15 minutes.

Happy 2012!

We had a pretty fantastic party last night – great conversation, great food and fantastic music. It’s good to have a social circle, kids. This morning we did a quick clean up (We were all up until 2:30! What kind of crazy is THAT?), breakfast and I’ve been paying bills while Spouse catches up on Wingnut Weekly, aka Sunday morning news shows.

I’m beginning the new year a more chocolately shade of brunette than I was, my hair is longer than it’s been in 3 years and I’m really happy about my new job. My reading goal is going to be 55 decent books again. I’m going to do a bit more yoga blogging than I have been doing, I’m just debating whether or not I want to make it a separate blog. Incidentally, if you’re interested in meditation, the most recent issue of Yoga Journal is pretty excellent.

Things I have loved this year – tv, apps, podcasts

I listened to A LOT of podcasts this year. It started with The Nerdist (which I still love) and led me to some comedy podcasts that I DIDN’T enjoy so much but ultimately I found Girl on Guy (Aisha Tyler) and Sklarbro Country (the Sklar brothers) which made up for any missteps. Episode 1 of Girl on Guy has, by far, the funniest story I have ever heard. The rest of her shows are right in my wheelhouse. She’s a chick who thinks like a dude and has wide-ranging interests and plenty of geek hobbies. And she’s funny. Sklarbro Country is a great combination of comedy and sports with impressive guests. I’m less enamored of their ‘celebrity call in’ segment but it’s toward the end so I usually just skip it.

I also love Pop Culture Happy Hour and Culturetopia from NPR. The former was a recommendation by my friend Mimi and it consistently makes me laugh.

Book podcasts! Bookrageous is a fave because it’s three friends talking about books and graphic novels they like and frequently trying to convince one another to read something they love. It’s been great and I got a couple of excellent recs out of it this year, not to mention it’s fun to listen to. Incidentally, I recommend Brews and Books (Josh’s blog) since it’s the way I found the podcast and I love his beer reviews. Books on the Nightstand is a little more polished but also gave me great reading ideas this year.

Sound Opinions from NPR was my go-to music podcast and I enjoyed every single episode.

The 404 was my geekcast of choice, as I have raved about before. Buzz Out Loud switched to once a week podcasts with special coverage episodes, which means I listened to it more than I would have expected.

Doug Loves Movies was, hands down, the funniest podcast I listened to all year. I could be seen laughing out loud at work REGULARLY while listening.

Android Apps:

Words with Friends. Do I really have to explain this? I was the kind of kid who learned to play Scrabble by making the coolest words we could- we didn’t keep score. Words with Friends has taught me strategy. I dig it.

Tweetcaster replaced Tweetdeck toward the end of the year because it’s got a great user interface and it does everything I want it to.

No Time to Cook by Real Simple is a great app and cost about the same as one issue of the magazine. Consistently delicious recipes. ChefTap I already raved about but I am still loving it and having lots of success.

Foursquare continues to be my default ‘travel’ app, with a side of OpenTable for getting reservations. My fave utilities are Springpad and OurGroceries. My calendar is Jorte, whose only fault as far as I can see is an inability to create bi-weekly events. Now that I work in an office with a radio, I understand and use Shazam.

Gentle Alarm is still the way I wake up and I still love it. Tea Timer has been great for making tea, the Starbucks app is great if you’ve got a Starbucks nearby (I no longer do) and the Eljay app has made my LJ flist mobile.

Tab Tools is a GREAT app for guitar tabs and my goal for the new year is to actually USE the Meditation Support Timer.

Greader and Gmail are on my homescreen with G+ and Tweetcaster. Password Card is the best thing for creating safe passwords on the go.

Dear Emergency Medical Spanish App – YOU ARE AWESOME.

Untappd is a recent addition which I’m playing with. Verdict is still out.

TV.

Dude. I watched A LOT of TV this year.

Tops on my list: Revenge, Justified, Homeland, Community, Castle, Sons of Anarchy, Once Upon a Time, Grimm, Criminal Minds, Modern Family, Ringer, The Mentalist and Covert Ops.

Whether it was brain candy (Revenge, Covert Ops, Grimm, Once Upon a Time, Ringer), interesting crime drama (Justified, Homeland, Sons of Anarchy, Castle) or comedy (everything else), this was the stuff that made me keep watching.

Revenge is campy, but awesomely so (and FYA does GREAT recaps), Covert Ops is slightly less campy but equally fun. I’m enjoying the modern takes on fairy tales and I loved the comedies. That said, if I was going to recommend something to everyone, it would be Homeland, Sons of Anarchy and Justified.

Homeland had tight and intense writing, focused storylines without a dozen hanging threads and some INCREDIBLE performances. Claire Danes better get an Emmy. Watching Sons of Anarchy is like a terrible accident – you know what’s probably going to happen, you can’t look away and then HOLY SHIT something else comes out of the blue – but so out of the blue that you disengage, you’re just pissed you didn’t see it coming. Justified has Timothy Olyphant so that’s 1. He’s a cowboy in Wild West sense of the word, so that’s 2. It’s got one of the most interesting fencesitting characters (is he good? is he terrible? does he even KNOW?) in Boyd Crowder that I’ve seen on television, so that’s 3. Add in the very specific kind of subculture that happens in rural areas and it’s engaging, thoughtful and consistently a wild ride.

So there you go. That’s my favorites roundup. My list of this year’s books is at Goodreads and I think I posted about MOST of them, so you should be able to click on the 2011 books tag on this post and get all the entries. At Goodreads the books are all listed chronologically. I’m hoping to get through a reread of some of the Dresden Files books this weekend so I can start catching up.

Things I have loved this year- web and music

Websites:

I found Forever YA through my mad love of the Hunger Games series and this post pretty much sums up what I love about the site. Their recs of the best of the year cover a wide range of topics, narrators and genres. The conversations I’ve seen and participated in have been interesting and I frequently found myself bookmarking their recommendations.

Jezebel continues to be my go-to pop culture website. I love the snark and social consciousness and their no-holds-barred shouting about those who belittle/denigrate/reduce/disempower women. Also, the snark.

The Daily Dish has provided interesting political commentary from many sides (I rarely click through from my RSS feed, but still) and Questionable Content remains my favorite webcomic despite having flirted with a few others this year.

Paste has filled my GReader with lovely music tidbits and the BrokeAss Gourmet has given me good recipes as well as some culinary inspiration.

Possibly my single favorite recipe of the year is this one for General Tso’s Chicken, which proves that you CAN make takeout in your kitchen that tastes JUST as good as the restaurant.

Goodreads has not only been great for conversation about books but their book challenges (self-determining) and bookshelves have made a nice way to keep track of what I find interesting and what I’ve been reading. Twitter and Google Plus require no links but are my social media outlets of choice. My twitter feed is embedded on this site and it’s my first line social updating mechanism on my phone. I like Google Plus for different reasons – I’m more likely to share things there (links, comments) because it feels more like conversations and has far less asshats than does facebook (which I log into – at most – once a week).

Music:

This was an amazing year in music helped in no small part by the early 2011 release of The King is Dead by The Decemberists. It’s a fantastic and engaging album which even turned Spouse on to their tunes. In concert, they were every bit as amazing as their recordings and the house-crushing rendition of The Mariner’s Revenge is one of my favorite music moments of all time.

The Black Keys released another album (El Camino) and continue to THE band I want to see at Red Rocks. Spouse loves their work, too and it was difficult to determine who was more excited about the latest record. The bluesy-classic rock mashup style consistently makes me want to MOVE and it’s impossible to be in a bad mood with this in your ears.

One of my vendors was playing something on his phone while working and it grabbed my attention in an unexpected way. “What IS that?” “The Cat Empire.” This began my obsession with Two Shoes which led to my purchase of their entire back catalog and not finding a single beat of disappointment on any song in any album. They describe themselves as a ska/reggae/jazz band and I defy you to find anything wrong with any part of that.

Miranda Lambert has single-handedly brought me back to country music. Between her latest album (Four the Record) and side project (The Pistol Annies), she is my new female music hero. Smart and snappy lyrics without the heavy pop sound a lot of country musicians are leaning on, she defines “kick ass”.

Feist and Florence + the Machine both put out new work which I enjoyed a lot but didn’t grab me like the aforementioned records. I’m also going to admit to enjoying Taylor Swift’s Speak Now. And I know everyone’s been creaming their pants about Adele’s 21 but I’m straight up going to tell you this was an album fungus for me. On first listen I wasn’t knocked out and thought it was fairly derivative of 19 (which DID knock me out, for the record) but it definitely grew on me. It was not my default listen of the year, though.

Baby, Darling, Dollface, Honey by Band of Skulls – I can’t remember when I got it but I definitely played it a lot this year. Grab you by the balls guitar rock.

Harlem River Blues by Justin Townes Earle, The Head and the Heart (self titled),  Sigh No More by Mumford and Sons, Guster’s Easy Wonderful and Sarah Jarosz’s Follow Me Down round up my most-played indie/folk albums of the year.

In dance music news, I had Femme Fatale (Britney) and Cannibal (Ke$ha) in hard rotation along with Robyn’s Robyn and Body Talk. When I was increasingly frustrated at work, these albums helped prevent me braining coworkers by chucking pallets at them overhand. Both Britney and Ke$ha had to grow on me – while several of the songs are out of the gate badass there are a couple of fungi in there. It got to the point where I even liked THOSE songs, so that says something. Robyn, on the other hand, INHABITS dance. I’m inclined to believe she can’t make a misstep when it comes to her album picks.

James Blake’s debut album is also excellent, blending a post-dub sound with mellow jam and making it perfect for entertaining.

Next post: apps, podcasts and TV

Kindle updates & Kindle Fire 3G?

I’m still loving my Ktouch, having thoroughly settled into its features. In fact, I’ve got four books (though one of them is technically six books) from the library and looking forward to more excellent reading in the new year.

Spouse is liking his Kindle Fire – at any rate has decided not to return it. The free apps have been a hit and the latest software update which allows carousel manipulation went over HUGE. He can check his secure work email, use Microsoft Office, play games and watch Netflix. He’s opted out of the Prime membership because he wasn’t that jazzed about the free (included) movie/tv selection.

Meghan asked if I thought Amazon would start offering 3g/4g service anytime soon. It turns out I DO have an opinion about this but I figured it would be longer than a comment. The short answer is no. With the regular kindle readers, the amount of information downloaded is pretty small given the size of book files. Of course, I don’t know the details of the whispernet deal but I’ve got to figure that even with the number of devices in use, the data chargers are fairly nominal.

The Fire changes that significantly, being as it is a device geared primarily for streaming. Whether it’s Netflix, prime service or music – that’ s going to add up to a lot of bandwith. Trying to spread that cost across devices would bring the price up to a point where people would start comparing the Fire and iPads as apples to apples and the Fire would come up short. As it is, one of the biggest complaints I’ve heard about the iPads is that in addition to a $400 device, NOW the user has to buy a data plan to make it functional.

That said, I see a definite market for Amazon to get into the data plan business. Without offering the more complicated network of cell service and all the pitfalls inherent to those sorts of plans, it wouldn’t surprise me if Amazon cut a deal with one (or more) cell carriers to offer strictly data service at a discount to their customers and at THAT point it would make sense for a 3g/4g Kindle Fire rollout with a wifi option.

Thus far, Spouse seems to be getting the use out of the Fire that he hoped for/expected. He’s mentioned on several occasions that he can do work on the Fire during meetings that he really COULDN’T do with a laptop because of the social implication that having the screen up on a laptop means you’re not paying attention. He gets to participate in the meeting but can also utilize his time wisely without an etiquette breach.