What I'm Doing

What I'm Reading
I just finished I'll Be There by Holly Goldberg Sloan.  It's a teen novel that made me cry a tiny tear down my face, because anything that even casually mentions children without mothers makes me weep on the sidewalk, and two of the main characters in this one are motherless.  It was good.

What I'm Watching
The Olympics.  Obviously.  Because I don't hate the world.  Steve doesn't actually like the Olympics and we didn't see any of the 2010 games, but I forced him to watch part of the opening ceremonies this year, which he found quite interesting because it involved so many familiar people and places and we ended up calling out to the TV and to one another, Look, that's Leuchars over there!  St. Andrews!  We love the Kingdom of Fiiiiife.  (We do love the Kingdom of Fife.)  I've also been attempting to lure him into watching the events by promising him treats when Canada wins gold medals.  I had no idea they would win so few, though, so it's backfiring a bit.  Offering treats when Kazakhstan wins gold would have been more motivating (and we would have 3 treats now instead of 0).

What I'm Listening To
A terrible baby CD.  I really don't care for little children singing on recordings (real life is a different thing), especially if they have lisps that make them sing about 'widdle chi'dwen.'  I think The Bairn and I are going back to our regular listening program of Dar Williams, This American Life, and Roger Whittaker.

TV, I Love You

Steve and I don't own a TV, but we catch a few things on the BBC iPlayer, like Human Planet (episodes about people living in jungles and on oceans=awesome, episodes about people living in the arctic and in deserts=just okay), and we sometimes get our hands on a movie, like the other week when someone was feeling the stress of writing a PhD and had to be instructed in the art of taking a vacation from his problems by Bill Murray in What About Bob?

Also, there are Thursdays.

On Thursdays we wake up at 5:30 am to get Steve out the door for work in another city. He usually arrives back home at 10 or 11 pm, so I have a big, long day to myself in which I bake and do my soul-destroying work (but I can only ever really do about 5 hours of soul-destroying work on any given day for the obvious reason that it's soul-destroying) and eat cookie dough and edamame salad for dinner (the cookbook said that salad would feed 4 but it just keeps giving) and watch TV on the Internet.

At the beginning of Steve's term, I watched all the most recent episodes of MI-5 that aren't available in the US yet. Then I called my sister to give her hints about what might happen, because she's only season 3 or something.

Then I discovered that there are full episodes of Supernanny on YouTube. I love Supernanny. She's the best.

And now I've gotten my hands on a few episodes of So You Think You Can Dance. Oh, I love the dancing! (Have I mentioned that I've been going to Zumba, which is a bit like dancing except with the elderly and the overweight? I like it.)

Today's episode of SYTYCD included this dance, which caught my fancy. I think I've watched the clip about 15 times today. (Maybe I will have to check my eye-rolling next time Steve becomes very, very enthusiastic about a particular railway video clip.)

This video of it is actually better. If I were you, I'd link over and watch it from there.

Tuesday

What I'm Reading
This morning I picked up the following books at the library (at our local branch library, which suffers from Local Branch Library Syndrome, a sad, sad disorder that involves filling a little library primarily with Danielle Steel and the top 5 books on the bestseller lists. My parents' branch library suffers from the same syndrome):

Loving Frank by Nancy Horan (F)
Salmon Fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday (F)
Ostrich Boys by Keith Gray (YA)


What I'm Eating
Chips and Salsa (made by Steve)


What I'm Watching
When Romeo Met Juliet - documentary about a production of "Romeo and Juliet"
Mary Queen of Shops - a retail guru attempts to save ailing, independent shops in British towns

I love the BBC.

Wisdom Teeth Continued

Yesterday's problem was that my face was numb until about 8:00 pm. It's hard to eat with a numb face. I had to take my bowl of ice cream into the bathroom, so I could use the mirror to guide my ice cream into my mouth. Today's problem is that half my face swelled up in an alarming manner last night. The other half did not. I need one of those Phantom of the Opera masks.

These are the two highlights from my post-wisdom teeth extraction movie marathon:


Dear Frankie
This is such a lovely film! Frankie is a 9-year-old deaf boy who writes letters to the father he believes is a seaman on the Accra. Frankie's mother, Lizzie, responds to the letters to protect Frankie from the truth, but when Frankie discovers that the Accra is coming to town, Lizzie hires a stranger (a dreamy stranger) to pretend to be Frankie's father. The Scottish accents do not hurt one tiny bit.

Wuthering Heights - 2009
I don't actually like Wuthering Heights. It's billed as a romance but come on! What's romantic about a hero who's so broken that his "love" drives him to manipulate and destroy the lives of everyone in his entire family?

Still, and it might be the loritab talking here, I actually enjoyed this version of Wuthering Heights. Heathcliff's evolution from hero to villain is well-developed and almost all the characters (except Hindley) are portrayed sympathetically. And everybody's pretty. That always helps when telling a distasteful story. I'd still rather watch Dear Frankie, but if you're looking for a movie about a dysfunctional relationship, this one is better than the older versions of Wuthering Heights (or of Twilight).

Creepy Shakespeare

Anybody watched this film? It's a 1930s-style musical adaptation of the Shakespeare play with songs by Gershwin.


I like "Love's Labour's Lost."

The production by the Utah Shakespearean Festival with David Ivers was one of the very best plays I've ever seen in Cedar City. (Although I recalled Brian Vaughn starring in it. If photographic evidence can be believed, though, he was not part of the production at all.)

And I like Kenneth Branagh (who is the brains behind this production).


And I like Alessandro Nivola


who, if you're unsuccessfully trying to identify, you probably recognize from this film, in which he plays Henry Crawford:


This is one of my favorite parts of the film, when Henry is lovely and kind. Of course, immediately after this scene is the scene I only watch in fast forward, because I feel so bad for Henry. And then, of course, we discover that Henry's a terrible cad, so he deserves the scene I can't bear to watch.

I've now attempted to watch this version of "Love's Labour's Lost" about six times and I still haven't made it past the 15 minute mark. I don't think Alicia Silverstone was meant to do Shakespeare, and it turns out that Shakespeare and Gershwin together make for a bizarre cinematic experience (and not in the good way). I'll admit that I'm prejudiced against musicals, though, so if you've watched and enjoyed this film, I'm amenable to having my opinion changed.

It's Late and I'm Tired

Today was a shorter day at work than yesterday but then I had to come home and attend a meeting and watch MI-5, because I get so concerned about the emotional well-being of the MI-5 staff. They only last a season or two before they become dead inside. I didn't know when we started watching this show that it would require so much from me. It's such an emotional strain to worry this much about fictional characters. It doesn't leave as much energy for real people, like blog readers. Really hoping for better posting next week.

Quickly I will tell you, though, that my roommate found me another librarian romance. I haven't read very far yet (because it looked like Adam might not be able to handle the most recent MI-5 death and that he might be dying inside, so I had to be there for him), but these two brief passages from what I have read seem to indicate that the author knows at least a little something about the library world:

If you work in a library, you become used to the bad manners of the public. I don't mean to argue that it's forgivable, because it's not, but the lack of gratitude, the downright meanness and hostility, was an inevitable fact of life.

AND

I didn't get home until seven o'clock that night, after a day crammed with disagreeable library patrons. If you ever suffer from "Aren't People the Greatest?" syndrome, spend a day working in a library.

I don't think I'm going to love this book, but look at the cover. The cover I love.

Things I Have to Say to Fictional Characters

My roommate and I are watching Spooks/MI-5.

It's lovely, not least because of the casting of all these people. Four of my favorite British actors in ONE show. The BBC is good and kind.


HOWEVER, I have to do a lot of yelling at the characters while we watch. I have to inform them of straightforward things that they should already know. Things I will share with you in case you find yourself in a situation where it might be useful.

1. Always tell. If you are a spy, you should tell the woman you're dating that you're a spy as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the angrier she'll be that you lied to her and the more likely it is that she'll think you're having an affair when you get called away to release hostages. And if one of your co-workers is corrupt, TELL. And if you're in love with someone and she doesn't realize it, tell her. Always tell.

2. If you're dating a spy and he tells you he's a spy, you need to just accept that and move on. You're either okay with it or you're not, but don't go on and on and on about it. It's unattractive.

3. A house that requires a key to get OUT is very clearly a bad idea, and if someone you know proposes such a security system for you, you should Have Words. You're just asking to be blown up if you accept a security system like that.

Robin Hood

Have you seen this show?


My roommate and I have been working through the existing seasons for at least a month now.

It entered our home because of him


who you may recognize from this.

He's pretty.

This production of Robin Hood is from the BBC, but it's, um, different then most of the BBC period pieces I've seen. It's kind of really super cheesy.

AJ and I spend part of most episodes saying things like:

"Do you think they realize how cheesy this is?”
“How could they not? Robin just backflipped off that scaffolding in slow motion, triple replay.”
“Yeah, they must know. (pause) But why would they intentionally do that?”

And then Marian comes out in one of her stellar Middle Ages meets the 1980s outfits and we laugh at her for awhile.


Seriously. What's she wearing?

And THEN we watch another episode, because it's a surprisingly pleasing series despite the crazy costumes and the anachronistic dialogue and the Islamic girl named Jack.

Word on the reference desk (THE place to stay abreast of all BBC production scuttlebutt) is that Toby Stephens will be appearing in season 3.

The BBC has smiled upon us.

Love This

Hip hop's not really my thing, but I LOVE this performance from So You Think You Can Dance. I just saw it today when I was catching up on my reality TV.

FACT: I love The Office

I appear to have (self-diagnosed) whooping cough. And the cold weather continues. And I ate something like 82,000 cookies tonight, which I now regret. And I'm going to have to make some phone calls at work tomorrow afternoon that are going to make the headache I've had for the past two days worse. All is well, though, because new episodes of The Office are one of my favorite forms of self-medication (with none of the ill effects of all those cookies).

True Confession

When I was growing up, the TV show Beverly Hills 90210 was hugely popular. I never saw a single episode. It's not really my thing. The high drama of beautiful, rich, alcoholic teenagers (portrayed by 20-somethings) doesn't interest me. (Ugly teenagers are a different matter entirely.) I've also never seen episodes of Dawson's Creek, The O.C., or Party of Five. Or at least I hadn't until Friday. Someone donated seasons of The O.C. and Dawson's Creek to the Library, and my co-worker who does our A/V collection development offered to send me home with them, because, well, I'm not sure why she offered them to me. She usually places literary adaptations, foreign films, and romantic comedies set in London in my hands. I accepted her offer of The O.C., though, because Adam Brody reminds me of Dexter in Sarah Dessen's novel This Lullaby, and Dexter is one of my favorite fictional characters.

It was my weekend to supervise the library, so I got home on Friday night around 9:30 and needed to be back at work in less than 12 hours. Closing the library is always a little stressful, because no one wants to leave. (When I'm really stressed out--about anything, not just work--I dream that I'm trying to close the library, but the patrons won't leave and people keep entering the building and the phones are disconnected so I can't call for help.) By the time I get home, I'm usually a little grumpy, because I've practically had to wrench magazines out of patrons' hands or drag them from their computer terminals and personally escort them out the door while they call out, Hey, are those tax forms? Do you have any movies set in China? I just remembered I need to grab a book for my wife. I just need to check one quick thing in the atlas. Don't make me gooooo! The public displeases me when the library is closing. So, I'm saying that when I got home I needed to unwind a little.

So I watched The O.C. Until 3:00 a.m. At first I disliked it. I kept thinking that in all my years working with the incarcerated (over 5), I've never seen such an attractive and polite and well-spoken juvenile offender as Ryan Atwood (played by Ben McKenzie). But Ben McKenzie's actually a good actor. And kind of dreamy (he's so totally making the imaginary boyfriend list). And Adam Brody still reminds me of Dexter. And (I'm so embarrassed) I started to be deeply interested in the plot.

I feel like I need to go read some Foucault or Nietzsche to counteract the pejorative effects of immersing myself in pretty people programming. But first I have to finish watching every. single. episode. And the commentaries. And all the bonus features. It's like a sickness.