August Round-Up - 2010

I am writing about August, which was, for the most part, cold and foggy, at the end of September, during a week that has had some horrid hot days. That is why I never complain about our cold summers. Because hot summers in a city with no air conditioning? Are hell. The only time I want to walk outside and start sweating is when I am walking from my room to the pool in Palm Springs.

Movies Seen: Twelve, with one in a theater. That one being "Piranha 3D." OF COURSE! It was everything you could want from a 3D movie about killer piranhas. And more! I only wish a major spoiler about the film's end wasn't totally given away in the trailer. Curses!

Of the DVDs watched, "The Ghost Writer" was probably my favorite, although I feel really, really dirty giving good marks to a movie directed by Roman Polanski. The worst was "The Losers," another in a long string of useless comic book movies. I only sat through the whole thing so I could look at Jeffrey Dean Morgan.

Books Read: Two. The first was "How Did You Get This Number," by Sloane Crosley. I had read her first book "I Was Told There'd Be Cake," and actually wasn't that impressed, so I don't know why I decided to read her latest. But, it was actually better than that first book, though I still don't think she can hold a candle up to other, similar, essayists, like Merrill Markoe, or Cynthia Heimel (who I really, really wish would write a new book!), and in the age of blogs, I don't think she's much better than any number of bloggers out there. So. Basically, I'm just totally jealous of her and her book deal.

The other book was "Jacqueline Susann's Shadow of the Dolls" by not Jacqueline Susann. It's a "sequel" to "Valley of the Dolls," that is reportedly based on the notes Susann had made for a sequel before she died, and was ultimately written by someone named Rae Lawrence. The infuriating thing is the book takes place in the late '80s, with the women all pushing 40. Of course, the math for that doesn't make a lick of sense, whether your writing a sequel to the movie OR the book, since the women are hitting their 40s at the end of those, and this is a few decades later. So, basically, the book upholds the horrible notion that women any older than 40 are not worth a story about. The book is as badly written as a Susann book, though, so kudos there!

Fancy Dinners Out: None, really, although I did attend a birthday brunch at the Presidio Social Club, which was very nice....

Live Shows Seen: One, and what a show! That would be Lady Gaga in San Jose, which I wrote about here and here.

Shoes Bought: One pair. These Isabel Toledo for Payless flats, which HURT LIKE HELL.

Coming Soon!

This blog may have seemed rather quiet of late, but that's all going to change soon! October is almost here, and as I have done for the past several years, I will be posting daily as part of a great big bloggy Countdown to Halloween. Woo! And: BOO!

How excited am I? I'm Sally-Draper's-going-to-see-the-Beatles excited, that's how excited!

Summer: OVER!

This week is the first official week of Fall TV, which means my carefree days of TV avoidance are OVER. Alas. Of course, I am glad to see the return of some shows ("Community; "30 Rock," and....uh...could that be it??) and am somewhat relieved to learn there really aren't a lot of new shows I'm that excited about. WHICH! Brings me to the reason for this post. I'll be giving a quick rundown of this week's new shows every day over on the Appeal, and you can read today's post right here!

And, as always, you can see my weekly Hey, Watch It! post on the SFGate Culture blog. Go, now, and learn about Elvira's return to late night movie hosting!

Conaw Is Coming!

July Round-up - 2010

July was great. July was terrible.

July was great because I spent another vacation in Palm Springs with the gals. Once again we stayed at the Chase Hotel. Once again it was a totally fabulous and relaxing week.

July was terrible because a week after I returned from vacation, Tori got very, very sick, and I had to have her put down. She deserves a separate post, but I still feel really sad about it, and miss her terribly, and just haven't been able to write that post yet. But I will...

So, let's look back on some of July's happier moments instead.

Movies Seen: Ten, with none in a theater. The best was a small movie from Ireland called "The Eclipse." It's a spooky movie, but I think it's best to not know much more than that going into it. Have to say, though, that it genuinely startled me more than once, which is something not many movies are able to do to me these days.

The absolute worst was "Remember Me," the non-vampire movie starring Robert Pattinson. It's supposed to be a tragic love story, but the ending is SO shameless, and exploitative, that all I could do was scream, "You have GOT TO BE KIDDING!" as I was watching it.

Books Read: Six. Most of my lounging-by-the-pool time was spent reading.

I read Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City" before I actually left for vacation, but it was a quick read. It was in the remainder pile at the bookstore, and being that it's the only (non-fiction) book of his that I haven't read, I figured I'd pick it up. Who knew there was enough to be said about 1980s heavy metal music to fill up a 200+ page book?

As has become tradition while in Palm Springs, I also read some Sookie Stackhouse books, this time "From Dead To Worse" and "Dead and Gone." That leaves just one more to read come next vacation, unless Charlaine Harris writes another between now and then...

I read Priscilla Beaulieu Presley's autobiography "Elvis and Me" in about one day. Key take-away: Elvis was creepy.

And finally, when all my vacation books were done, and I found myself with nothing to read, I bought a copy of "Valley of the Dolls" which, shockingly, I had never actually read before. It was the perfect poolside book. Which isn't to say it's good. God, it's badly written! I just couldn't get past how EVERY time there was a conversation in the book, the characters would address each other by name. People do not do this!

"Neely, you have to stop taking pills with liquor. That's dangerous!"

"Oh, Anne. You're so square. They work faster that way!"

"But Neely, you've already taken three!"

"Anne, you don't understand, I need to sparkle in the morning!"

[Insert name here], the key to good writing is trusting your reader can follow a conversation without constantly being reminded who is talking to whom.

Finally, I got "The Carrie Diaries," Candace Bushnell's young adult prequel to "Sex and the City," from the library when I got back into town, and plowed straight through that one in about a day. I think anyone who's a fan of the show would probably enjoy it. It's not great, but I have to say I absolutely LOVED the ending, specifically, the final line in the book...

Fancy Dinners Out: I'm going to say five, but most were down in Palm Springs.

The S.F. dinner was at Town Hall for Chuck's birthday. Once again, it was a fabulous meal.

In Palm Springs, we basically went to the same places we go every year. We're like that. It included Citron at the Viceroy, and I can't remember what I ate because the cocktails were so good; and a steak at the Falls, along with some smoking martinis.

We also had some good bar eats at the Ace Hotel, and went to Las Casuelas Terraza twice. Truthfully, I could eat their chicken ranchero every damn night and be happy; still looking for a a place in the city that serves something similar...

Live Shows Seen: Just the daily entertainment that unfolded at the pool.

Shoes Bought: Two pairs. One pair of really ugly Grasshoppers, suitable for retirement home living, but they were only 10 bucks. And one pair of red cork platform sandals by Nine West for 20 bucks. Both bought at the Cabazon outlets.

While at the outlets, I also got two handbags--one Kate Spade, one Cole Haan--for waaaaaaaay cheap. I mean, these were ridiculously priced originally--about 300 bucks each, and I got them for about 50 each. I love Palm Springs!

It's BALL, Not Balls. That Would Just Be Gross.

I went to the Lady Gaga show, AKA, the Monster Ball, on Monday, and wrote a review, which you can read over on the SF Appeal. Read it! DO IT!

A few things not mentioned in the review:

* I totally missed my exit once I got to San Jose, but was able to drive directly to the Pavilion, despite a total lack of signs leading the way, and despite the fact that I have only driven there once before. Do not doubt my sense of direction, yo!

* I took my 17-year-old cousin to the show, and she couldn't get over how many old people were in the audience. Aside from me.

* There were lots of girls wearing yellow CAUTION tape (ala the Telephone video) wrapped around their bodies, but there was also one girl wearing yellow CAUTION WET PAINT tape, which is either really sad, or totally awesome.

* One of the most memorable aspects of the show, to me, was hearing Gaga's heavy breathing during rare moments of quiet in between songs. Hearing the amplified sound of someone catching their breathe in an arena filled with thousands was a new for me. You'll never hear Madonna trying to catch her breathe during her shows, (since she's superhuman), or Britney at hers (since she doesn't actually sing). It was oddly humanizing....

* I left the parking lot at the HP Pavilion in San Jose at 11:45pm and arrived in San Francisco at 12:20am. That's driving, son! (Also, it was a sad reminder of the horrors of rush hour traffic, as sometimes my shuttle ride home from Sunnyvale, which is not too far from San Jose, can take two hours.)

June Round-Up - 2010

July was kind of a rough month for me, so let's look back on June, which was a little more light-hearted.

Movies Seen: Eleven, with one in a theater. That one was "Toy Story 3," which I loved. Of course. Pixar continues to hit it out of the park, and cause me to laugh and sob in the company of strangers.

None of the DVDs I watched were very memorable. I re-watched "Shutter Island," and found it was actually a more interesting movie this time around. It's definitely a different experience watching it a second time, so to anyone who didn't like it much on first viewing, I do recommend seeing it again...

The most disappointing movie was definitely Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland." I suppose I am not surprised I didn't like it; I've been nothing but disappointed by Tim Burton's movies for years now. I was just a little shocked at how pedestrian the story was. How can you take something as wonderfully wacky as the "Alice" books and turn them into something so cliched? I will admit I laughed a few times at Helena Bonham Carter's Queen, but really, she was the only source of merriment in the entire bleak and depressing thing.

Books Read: Three. Most of the month was devoted to finally getting around to reading Stephen King's "Under the Dome." I'm a veteran when it comes to gigantic King books. The first time I read "The Stand," I think it took me four days. And I read "It" in a weekend. Alas, this one took me longer to finish than the timeline of the book itself. (Yes, the huge tome spans only one week!) Ultimately, I did enjoy it, but I kind of wished he'd avoided an explanation for the dome that covers the small town, (I suppose any kind of explanation would have seemed preposterous, but what he went with was particularly silly), and if you're wondering if this one ends like many King books do, with a huge explosion or fire of some kind, the answer would be yes.

Also, reading this book was the only time I've even considered reading an e-book instead, because it was the hardback version, and as I mentioned, it's big. It's a bitch to lug around, and I do carry a book with me almost all the time, especially to and from work, as I read on the shuttle. So, I was prepared to buy the e-version for my iPod, just for those commuting moments, only to find Amazon was charging more for the e-book than I paid for the actual book. Why, oh why, do they not offer an e-book for free--or at least at a discount--if you've purchased an actual real version of said book already? Someone get on that, OK?

I also read Molly Ringwald's "Getting the Pretty Back." SHUT UP!

And finally, I read Daniel Clowes's "Wilson," which I found kind of...confusing. I liked it, laughed several times, and ultimately found it poignant. But his decision to do each comic in a different drawing style--that does not really have anything to do with the content of the comic itself--kind of baffled me...

Fancy Dinners Out: Four. Dine About Town happened again, so I took advantage of that a few times. Once at the Big Four restaurant, which I recommend, because it seemed a really good bargain compared to their usual menu prices, and the portions were huge. The other was at LarkCreek Steak, which was also very tasty, although the menu choices seemed a little limited.

As for the non-Dine About Town meals, one was at Baker and Banker, where I had a sweet corn bisque that I can remember liking, and something else that I remember liking, but can't remember what it was. I think it was a salad? The other was a Father's Day dinner at Town Hall. Once again, a fab meal was had there, and, once again, I got the jalepeno cream ham and egg app as my entree, but we also had their version of barbecue shrimp as an appetizer, and man, that was GOOOOD.

Live Shows Seen: One. Goldfrapp at the Fox. This was the first time I kind of regretted getting balcony seats (which I tend to prefer because I am old), because it just felt weird sitting there and watching when what she was performing was mostly dance music. But we did get up and boogie a few times, as much as that could be done up there. I thought the show was great, and it pleases me to no end that she is older than I am, and so utterly awesome.

Shoes Bought: One pair, these sandals, in turquoise, which I bought for the sole purpose of wearing during my Palm Springs vacation in July. They were selected because I liked the color, and also because they weren't designed like thongs. I can't abide thongs or thong-like sandals for a variety of reasons, but the main one is I cannot stand having something wedged between my toes. Drives me NUTS. So these were nice and kind of plain, and worked out well on my trip...

We Interrupt This Vacation to Bring You This Ridiculous Message

I write like
David Foster Wallace

I Write Like by Mémoires, Mac journal software. Analyze your writing!

Ha!

HA HA HA!

Strike Her!

In my post about "Little Darlings," I talked about how the movie came out in 1980, and how that meant, if I saw it the year of its release, I was only 10 at the time. Now the Internet is talking about the 30th anniversary of the movie "Airplane!" and I know for a fact I saw that in a theater when it came out, and I was with friends. I can even remember the theater: It was the Royal on Polk Street, and we sat in the balcony. (Alas, the theater is gone now, which is sadly the case with almost all of the movie theaters of my youth.) I think we may have stayed and watched it twice. And it may not have been the first time I had seen it either, as I recall seeing it with my parents as well.

I don't have a point, really, except to say that yes, indeed, I did go to the movies with friends, unaccompanied by adults, at the age of ten. Which I think is pretty awesome. Also, it's an excuse to include this compilation clip featuring my favorite "Airplane!" character.

Sweet Summer Sweat

Speaking of summer movies, and summer camp movies in particular, I saw that "Wet Hot American Summer" is playing at the Roxie this Sunday, along with "One Crazy Summer" for a double feature they are, of course, calling "One Crazy Wet Hot American Summer." Sounds like a good way to spend the Fourth...

"Wet Hot American Summer" is one of those movies I appreciated more than I liked. I adore what it was trying to do, and it spoke directly to my nostalgia. But it just wasn't as funny as I had hoped it would be. The opening credits though? Five stars.