It's Turkey Dinner!

This week's Tube Tops post is now up on the SFGate Culture Blog!

Oh, sweet merciful fog. How I love you so...

If I Ever Go Missing

I suggest the first place you look for me would be in front of my TV set...

FIRST place. Not the place you decide to finally check after 42 years.

RIP WMC

I've got a new Streets of San Fauxcisco post up on the SFGate Culture Blog.

Read it, then go home. In fact, it's still pretty hot out. You should be heading home already.

Feature About Creature Features and Its Upcoming Feature

I've got a brief post about Bob Wilkins and the documentary "Watch Horror Movies - Keep America Strong" up on the SFGate Culture Blog. Go read it now! Unless the heat makes it too difficult to even click on a link, in which case, I totally understand. TOO. HOT!

Edited to add: Peter Hartlaub has another Bob Wilkins-related post up on SFGate, this one focused on his "Captain Cosmic" character.

The Oops File

Just in case you missed Stephen Colbert's response to Pappa Bear O'Reilly's freak-out...

WE'LL DO IT LIVE!

I had to deal with my health insurance and the billing department at my hospital today (shouldn't there be a rule that if someone waits over a year to bill you for something, you should just be able to write back "Too late, sucker!"?) and at the end of it, I felt a lot like this. Especially after they started talking about Sting videos.

It's Sublime!

This week's Tube Tops post is now up on the SFGate Culture Blog!

Happy Mother's Day to my mom and all the other moms out there! Here's a special greeting just for you.

This Just In: It Is Possible to Cook Actual Food At Home!

After many years of take-out, delivery, and the always convenient burrito, I decided a couple of weeks ago to start cooking my own dinners. I don't have an aversion to cooking, and I'm actually pretty good at it, but too often I'd be faced with a grocery store full of food and have absolutely no idea what to cook for dinner, and I'd inevitably leave with a frozen pizza or some Lean Cuisines. It finally came to me that I shouldn't be walking into that store with no ideas, and instead enter the store knowing full well what I want to make.

But where to get those ideas? Well, when Martha Stewart Kids magazine went out of business they replaced my subscription to that with a subscription to Everyday Food, and those issues have been piling up for two years. I decided to just go through them, and whenever I found something I'd like to make, I flagged it. I then had a stack of magazines flagged, and all I had to do was pick a week's meals. Then I made a shopping list specific to those recipes, and voila! One trip to the store and I had a refrigerator full of food ready to be cooked each night. Also, cooking dinner is a lot easier when you have a recipe to follow. Who knew?

Here's what I've made this week:

Monday - Pork loin over sauteed spinach with an orange honey mustard vinaigrette.
Tuesday - Penne with shrimp, asparagus, feta, olive oil, and lemon juice.
Wednesday - Salmon with zucchini and shallots en papillote. (Yes, I actually made something en papillote. And it was really easy!)

Tomorrow I'm having a chicken breast wrapped in prosciutto with roasted green beans, and then Friday the rest of the prosciutto will go into a pasta with peas and leeks.

Also, currently chilling in the fridge are some low-fat semi-sweet chocolate panna cottas.

Cooking. How novel!

It's Cellophane!

This week's Tube Tops is now up on the SFGate Culture Blog!

Alrighty then!

March Round-Up

Are you kidding me? It's almost May? How is that possible?

Well, let's look back at March, back when the year still seemed fresh.

Movies Seen: Twelve, with none in a theater. None. That's a damn shame right there. I think my favorite was "Enchanted," in that I really enjoyed it; it wasn't a masterpiece, but it was fun. As someone who has an almost visceral reaction to classic Disney movies (I usually start crying the minute the opening credits begin, don't ask me why) there was really no way I wouldn't like it. I just wish it ended about 10 minutes sooner than it did (and the old ladies in the deleted scenes on the DVD's extras summed up my feelings about that ending perfectly, which is probably why they cut that moment out). My least favorite was "Beowulf," unless it was supposed to be a comedy, in which case, it was hilarious.

Books Read: Only two. I finally finished "Stumbling on Happiness," which I really enjoyed when I read it, but promptly forgot most of the insights found in the book the minute I put it down, which tends to be my problem with most of the non-fiction I read. The other was "Adverbs" by Daniel Handler, the guy who writes the Lemony Snicket books. I haven't read a lot of books by people I know (or knew; I knew him during high school) but this one had a lot less of the "I wonder if any of this is based on anyone I know?" kind of thing that his book "The Basic Eight" did. (I basically spent that whole book pondering who he had based all the high schoolers in the story on. Some were incredibly easy since he only changed, like, one letter in their names.) But that aside, I can't say I really enjoyed "Adverbs." It was one of those books that's so focused on being clever, with overlapping characters and a confusing narrative, that it just felt like a chore to read, with no real pay-off for being so difficult.

Fancy Dinners Out: Four. One was another birthday dinner at La Traviata (this one for my dad). Another was a friend's birthday dinner at Perbacco, which was tasty and an all around fun evening, although I think I have come to the conclusion that I just don't like risotto that much. Another was Joe's of Westlake, although that's not really all that fancy; kinda old-school fancy (really old school). And finally I gave Farmer Brown another shot, and two strikes they're out, unfortunately. We stuck to appetizers this time, and they were cold, and bland, and in some cases, not really how they were described on the menu. Food coming out cold is really, really amateurish, and that's happened both times I've been there. It's too bad because they have some interesting cocktails and some incredibly good strawberry rhubarb pie. If I ever do go back, I'm just having a drink and that pie.

Live Shows Seen: None

Shoes Bought: Two pairs. The first was this pair, which were on sale for really cheap, so don't think I'd pay over 40 bucks for those (even though I do think they're super cute). The second pair was a pair of red satin flats by Steve Madden, kind of a combo between a sneaker and a ballet flat. I wore them once and they tore in about five places. I can't find a picture of them anywhere, probably because they are a total embarrassment, and not for sale anymore. So I exchanged them for these, which were the closest thing I could find to a relatively stylish walking shoe. And they really are quite comfy, even if they make my feet stink to high heaven when I wear them without socks...

No Fu-Fu-Fu-Fooling

Def Leppard was on "Dancing With the Stars" tonight. Don't ask me.

We Hate Polska/Polska Kielba-a-a-sa...

(Sung to the tune of Barry Manilow's "Copacabana.")

This week's reality TV locals post is now up on SFist!

"Top Chef," you're working on my last nerve...

It's Garbo's Salary!

This week's Tube Tops is now up on the SFGate Culture Blog!

Here's another tip: Gary Coleman is going to be on "Divorce Court" this Thursday and Friday. The story of his "marriage" just gets better and better!

The Line-Up

For those without TiVo or TiFauxs, note that "30 Rock" has been moved to a new time, swapping with "Scrubs." So, "30 Rock" is now at 9:30 and "Scubs" is now at 8:30.

Got it?

Good.

Also, there's a new episode of "Lost" tonight as well, and it's also moved times. It's now on at 10pm, which I'm kind of annoyed by. Not because it's late and I'm old and I'll fall asleep (although, who am I kidding, that's bound to happen) but because I've been enjoying the season so much, having to wait until 10 to see a new episode is a bit of torture in my primetime line-up.

It's Kind of Easy Being Green

Today is Earth Day. We all know the planet is going to hell in a hand basket, and some "green efforts" seem more for the benefit of making us feel better than actually making a difference. But here are three relatively easy things to do that, I hope, can help, especially if everyone does them.

Use recycled toiler paper. I know, some of that recycled stuff is pretty harsh, but some brands have gotten a lot better. I use Green Forest, which is luckily stocked at my corner stores, and my ass feels fine. I really don't understand why all toilet paper isn't at least partially made from recycled paper at this point...

Turn the lights off when you leave a room. There's no reason to have every light in your place turned on all the time. Of course there's added benefit if you get those compact fluorescent bulbs, but I can understand the hesitancy to switch out all bulbs for those: the kind you can find in your standard store shed some pretty harsh rays, all yellow and sickly. Most standard CFLs don't work in three-way lamps, and I know I can't find any mini bulbs for the one lamp in my living room I use the most. But at least switch out a few.

Avoid bottled water as much as you can. Get yourself a Brita pitcher or filter for your tap. I think it's unrealistic to never ever drink bottled water ever again--sometimes you're out, and your aren't carting your own bottle around, and you're thirsty. But buying bottled water in bulk? Probably not the best idea.

Of course you're not going to save the planet by doing any of these things, but you also aren't going to hurt it.