Grey's Anatomy Jumped the Shark. But I'll Still Watch It I'm Sure Because I'm Committed Like That.

I'm not ashamed to say I've watched Grey's Anatomy from the very beginning. I binged on the entire first season via DVD with my mother and have been hooked ever since.  


OK...I am ashamed to say it. But I said it anyway, so I'll scream it from the webbie rooftops: 


I'VE WATCHED GREY'S ANATOMY FROM THE VERY BEGINNING.  


I've stuck with them through the following:  


1. A favored character getting fired for making anti-gay statements (he left his fiance at the alter, which is how they wrote him off the show) 


2. Another buying the farm by getting hit by a bus


3. A third getting stage 16 skin cancer and running off to--well, we never found out where but she LIVED. (But prior to running off to live forever with stage 16 skin cancer they bring back her lover who died 2 seasons before and kept him around for a dozen episodes. How does this happen, you ask? You give her stage 16 skin cancer in which she experiences tactile, visual and auditory hallucinations.)


3. THE main character almost drowning but ohmigawd saved by the magical doctors and some Ouji-board type communication with her dead mother. (I sense a theme.)  


4. The entire hospital being taken over by a mad gunman (only minor characters died off after that one)


5. A near-fatal ambulance crash for some major characters


6. A near-fatal car crash for a major character (who, by-the-way, was married to the man that got hit by a bus but now she's a lesbian) that lead to a fucking SINGING episode (so she's a singing lesbian), because those docs are all just Broadway stars in disguise, and now?  


7. Plane crash.  


That's right.  


A plane crash where they ALL survive except one main character. But she kicks it only after the man she's been chasing for three seasons finally admits that he LUUURRRVVVSSS her and they're going to get married and make lots of beautiful babies.




Say you: It's drama! What's your point? 


Say me: My POINT is that no WAY does anyone survive a plane crash, let alone most surviving a plane crash. Not even in LOST--an entire show that revolved around a plane crash (don't get me started on that disastrous final season)--did they survive. 


MY POINT is that I could suspend disbelief for a very long time but they have finally crossed a line here. 


Plus my life is boring. 


Proof: I've never been forced to operate on anyone at gunpoint and I've never communicated with the anyone from the afterlife. Oh, and I can't sing.  ->

RIP Whitney

I was never a huge fan, but if you were raised as part of the original MTV generation as I was, she was hard to miss. Her's is a tragic story of the rise and fall of a star. Here she was in her prime: a voice electric enough to raise the hair on your arms, sassy, sultry, stunning, embracing female talent of yore and on the horizon and pregnant.  

Betsy's Trinket

I saw The Boy going to his car with a pair of scissors last week and wondered what on earth that was all about.  


He was in and out in a matter of moments and so I had to ask: 


Me: What were you doing in there? 


The Boy: Oh! I was taking something off my car ornament.  


Me: Your car ornament?  


The Boy: Yeah. You haven't seen it yet?  


Of course he's going to get a car ornament for the vehicle. I drove the car for years and never gave it a name.  The Boy gets use of it and within a week she was christened "Betsy" and now she's wearing jewelry.  


As I was walking around to the front of the vehicle to take a gander, I wondered what on earth could have passed muster enough to bedeck Betsy.  


Batman? 


Superman? 


Green Latern? 


Darth Vader? 


No.  


Not for my kid.  He's more likely to choose a Sheldon Cooper bobble head.  Or some obscure Skyrim character. A Marine action figure.  Obama.


Or I could see him going for the complete cheese factor and buying fuzzy dice. Or the Hawaiian hula wiggle girl.  


A blow up doll?


Surely not.  


Oh God help me! It IS.  He bought a BLOW UP DOLL for his car. OMG, I'm horrified....


Then I got to the front of the car: 

And I take a closer look: 

That's right, folks.  


Twilight Sparkle.  


I just look at him...


The Boy: WHAT?  


And I reach for my phone...


The Boy: Oh God, you're taking pictures? This is going on the blog, isn't it?  


Me: Ya think?  -> 
  

Flashback

On this, the second-to-last day of 2011, I'm traveling back in time.


So my friend posted this to Facebook and I think it's the coolest thing. But I was only able to guess a few of the movies. The ones in red are ones that readers identified. Apparently this thing has been making the web rounds for a while and I was way behind the curve. Thanks everyone for your help in filling in the blanks.   


A: Airplane
B: Back to the Future
C: Coming to America 
D: Dirty Dancing 
E: ET
F: Flight of the Navigator
G: Ghostbusters*
H: Honey I Shrunk the Kids
I: Indiana Jones
J: Jumping Jack Flash
K: Karate Kid
L: Labyrinth 
M: Mannequin 
N: Nightmare on Elm Street
O: Octopussy 
P: Princess Bride (?)
Q: Q
R: Rambo
S: Short Circuit (I get partial credit, as I remembered Ally Sheedy was in it.)
T: Teen Wolf
U: Untouchables
V: Vice Versa
W: Weird Science 
X: Xanadu 
Y: Youngblood
Z: Zelig


Fact: I still have my original Xanadu soundtrack. On vinyl. No judging, I was 12. 


On a different note, the site responsible for this poster has some great t-shirts.  I'm going shopping. 


And in the spirit of the 80's:

*I'm simply appalled I didn't get that one.  It's so obvious. 

Friday Fun!

I started a page for this blog on Facebook. As of this writing, a dozen people "like" my blog.  Look out, Heather of Dooce.  I'm SO right behind you.  


Get water stain on jeans.  Snap picture.  Become immortalized. 


Crows have an interesting chirp. Ok, never mind.  They really don't.  I heard a bird at the gas station yesterday and his song sounded kinda pretty.  I thought it was a crow.  But the sound clips I'm listening to aren't what I heard yesterday. Either that or my memory is quite bad.  You know what?  Scratch that.  My memory IS that bad, and I've got an upcoming rant on that very topic.  On a somewhat related note, who on earth has the nerve to keep a raven as a pet and name him Edgar?   


When you put soap and water in a big bowl, and then you put a bundt pan in the middle of that and keep filling the outer bowl with water, suds pop out the middle of the bundt pan.  It's a volcano! Look:  

I even tried it again, you know to apply the scientific method.  And guess what?  It worked again!  Who says my blog can't be educational? 


The iFive was a huge iBust.  And I can't even bitch about it because Steve Jobs died.  I wonder if now is a good time to invest in Apple?  Or perhaps Samsung, their main competitor in the smart-phone wars?


All snark aside, RIP Steve Jobs.  There's no denying the impact you had on modern-day culture.  There's no denying the fact that in the end, we all face mortality.  It's there, lurking, waiting patiently and oftentimes unkindly. Steve Jobs became ravaged by pancreatic cancer, which I'm sure was not a pleasant way to face one's humanity. Life can be ugly and mean and unfair.  But it can also be beautiful.  Mr. Jobs left behind a beautiful legacy, some beautiful products and undoubtedly a beautiful family. 


Song of the week: 

Earth

-Posted using (enter requisite phrase which brags about your cool gadgets and applications for said gadget here)

Angry Birds

 

Now available on your pajama pants.  ->

60+ inches

Winf

This little gem will only set you back $9.95.  The boy counted the pages for me.  There were 45.  Needless to say, I didn't buy it. -> 

Azkab

Little Missy is working her way through the series again. This is her second go-round. ->


-Posted using (enter requisite phrase which brags about your cool gadgets and applications for said gadget here)

Housesitter

Remember these? They take you back, don't they?

I'm old enough to remember when the whole concept of renting a movie and watching it at home was a big deal. I also remember that in the beginning, there were two sizes of tapes: Beta and VHS. I don't know why VHS, the bigger and lesser of the two, became the standard, but it did.

Can you remember the last time you actually watched anythingin tape format? I can't even remember the last time we had a tape player in the house. Funny, how quickly technology passes us by... ->

Thunde

So. Oklahoma City found themselves the recipient of a professional sports team two or three years a go. We inherited the Seattle Blackhawks? Falcons? Tigers? I dunno. Some NBA team that was in Seattle. They were going broke there, I guess, and moved here.

Our city really likes them. And apparently we're pretty good. Not that I would know, I've never been to a game. But I hear they're fun, so I guess I should go check them out at some point. Frankly, though, I don't have to try too hard to know what's going on with them. Facebook posts always tell me the following: When there's a game about the start (you see a lot of "THUNDER UP" at this point. I guess this is our cheer?), how the team is doing (read: status updates about missed shots, bad calls, etc) and whether they won or lost. It's perfect really. Except I still don't know any of the players' names. Or who the coach is. Or what playoff's we're in.

But I do know this: We want Ellen to be our Thunder Girl. To date she hasn't made an appearance here. presumably, though, it's only a matter of time. ->

Shoe Box

 

If there was ever an artist that was brilliant at combining art and commerce it was Andy Warhol.  His bread and butter from the late sixties until his death were his "celebrity portraits".  (No, not Liz Taylor or Elvis, or Marilyn.  He made those for art. Besides, Marilyn's death inspired that series. I saw this one a few years ago. ) 

No, I'm talking about all the others. Screen prints of celebrities and monied people made from a Polaroid picture, he charged $25,000 for the first portrait and $5,000 for each additional one. Which in today's dollars translates to almost 100 grand.  

A bargain, really.  

I can't remember now exactly what started my Warhol binge, but for a couple of years I read every book about him I could get my hands on.  He wasn't a nice man. He was a workaholic that tended to take advantage of those around him--use them and throw them away.  From the very beginning, even before he made his transition from commercial artist to a fine artist, he had people in his posse do work for him for free.  Many of his earlier works were actually completed and signed by his mother, with whom he lived for years. He was a media whore obsessed with money and fame; he had amassed an estate estimated at half a billion dollars at the time of his death.  He didn't strike me as a particularly happy man.  

And yet I've always had an affinity for his art.  I find it fun and whimsical and accessible. Well, accessible on museum walls anyway.  I certainly couldn't afford any of his originals, which ironically makes them not accessible at all as art should be.  So I satisfy my cravings with accessories like this and consolation prizes like these.  I keep telling myself I'm going to jaunt to Pittsburgh and see his museum there, but I've yet to go.  

Because he was a lover of technology and reproduction, I imagine he would have adored the iPhone and in particular the Hipstamatic and photo booth applications. (I made myself use the "random" mode for this particular picture today.)  And hey!  There's a Warhol app!  I would download it, except I'm fairly certain he had no pivotal moments in his life that occurred in Oklahoma. ->

Related articles

• Art: The Best And Worst Of Warhol (time.com)
• Andy Warhol Portrait of Elizabeth Taylor to Sell for $30 Million Dollars (femmesdallure.com)
• Art: A Caterer of Repetition and Glut: Andy Warhol: 1928-1987 (time.com)

Gadget, Book And Music. Oh My.

 

Spring cleaning lead me to finding my very first iPod lurking in the depths of one of Little Missy's Stuff Containers in her room this past weekend.  

Amazing, isn't it, how quickly Yesterday's Hottest Item becomes today's cast-offs?  

I loved my iPod mini (version 1.4.1, 4 G).  I named him iBob and we went everywhere together.  I even bought (yes, bought, not borrowed) a book about how wonderful said iPod was.  I was devastated when I went out of town once and convinced myself I left it in the hotel.  My husband, dear that he is, replaced it with a nano, but I found iBob the next day (it was in the suitcase.  Yes, I checked it.  Like, a dozen times) and returned the newer! flashier! model, which astounded the sales clerk.  

And then came iPhone.  

Just like that, my beloved mini was rendered obsolete and unceremoniously handed down to the progeny.  Who obviously forgot about it too.  

Poor thing.  

I charged it up yesterday.  It doesn't hold a charge for long now, and the click wheel is a bit persnickety, but it still works fine. I even have 1.3 gig of space left on it.  

Interesting, to go back through and check out music that was in high rotation four years ago.  And bonus! An album on the pod that's not in iTunes for some inexplicable reason.  Now if I can just transfer it....

Related articles

• Flip is Dead. MP3 Players, Point & Shoot Cameras Next? (news.dice.com)
• The Best iPod Touch Apps of All Time (brighthub.com)

Benefiting

I tend not to buy "Pink" products.  

No, I don't hate women who've had breast cancer.  


Yes, I'm aware of the statistics and realize it could be me someday. 

Yes, I want to see a cure.  

But do I think the concept of buying something in the grocery store to aid a cause is a bit disingenuous?  

Yes.  Yes I do.  

And don't try to equate The Pink Ribbon campaign, which you can't deny is close to the saturation point, with Suzi Smith from the local elementary school knocking on my door and selling me overpriced wrapping paper or candy because it's the not the same thing.  

Well, OK. Essentially it is.  But I'm not going to deny some cute kid the opportunity to peddle raise money for the The Man her education.  Besides, local school systems around the country have slowly been gutted over the years, teachers are under attack and I'm a huge supporter of public education. 

But I'm going to go out on a limb and say Bic isn't hurting. These marketing techniques, called "cause-related marketing", are wildly beneficial to the bottom lines of companies who throw a pink ribbon on their packaging.  There is no true philanthropy, right? I would call it schadenfreude if I was a cynic.  

(*cough*)

To be fair, Bic's money (which is to say, YOUR money if you chose to buy the product) is going here,  the gold standard for donating money for breast cancer research.  Of course, you could just give them money directly and cut out the middle man, yes?  ->

Eclipse

I have a great admiration for fiction authors.  Try as I might, I'm just no good at making up stories. Oh, I know.  There are no truly unique plots or characters.  They're all spins on stories that have been floating around since the beginning of time.  

Still.  I can't do it.  

What I find even more amazing is when an unheard of author manages to 1) write a story and 2) find a publisher.  Because from what I understand about the publishing business (which is admittedly very little), it's extremely hard to break in at all.  In fact, if you manage to get your book on the shelf by any of the major publishing houses you should consider yourself lucky. 

But to write a series of (mediocre) books, get them published when you're an unknown, and then manage to catch lightening in a bottle by having those books touch a nerve and hit the stratosphere in popularity?  That's like winning the multi-million dollar lottery.  


Yet it's happened twice in the past decade.  Of course I'm speaking of Harry Potter* and Twilight**. To a lesser degree, you can throw in The Hunger Games, although that one is far from reaching critical mass at this point.  Not to say it won't, of course.  It goes without saying that all three series were written for a younger, more impressionable audience.  Accident?  Doubtful. 

I simply don't remember books turning into hot commodities when I was a kid.  I don't remember midnight lines around the corner at bookstores when the next installment of a Nancy Drew or OZ series hit the stands. (Granted, that might be because they had all been published for decades by the time I got to read them.) My friends and I got excited about Judy Blume books, but none of those books were ever made into a (/n appallingly bad) theatrical release or had characters from said books turned into creepy looking figurines:  

Granted, the concept of merchandising is hardly new.  Disney got that ball rolling back in the 30's with Snow White and it's been around ever since.  And of course the third millenia doesn't have a monopoly on teen idols.  I think it's fair to say Rudolf Valentino gets the nod on starting that trend.  
But to garner a wildly successful franchise that originated from a set of books, as opposed to music performers, TV stars, or plots from the big screen seems like a new twist.  


Or am I missing something?  Please correct me if I am.  


Say you: How many times did you read Twilight et al and Harry Potter? 
Say me: No comment.  -> 


*Interesting, isn't it, that the actor who plays Edward from the Twilight Series also had a minor role in the Harry Potter series?  Two of the biggest franchises in the past decade and he was involved in both of them.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time.  Not to mention the fact that having chiseled good looks certainly doesn't hurt. 


**I do think the HP books are much, much better than the Twilight ones.  But Rowling's plot lines are over-the-top and I'm still mad at her for killing off Dobby. 

Swingline

 

When you care enough to own the very best.  -> 

News Feed

 

I posted this for my brother, who is 12 kinds of awesome because he bought me this little gizmo for my iPad.  Like Facebook paired with the iPad isn't dangerous enough, now I can really type!  

He's been on me since I started this project to put up a FB photo.  So, this is for you Stu.  Thanks again for my toy.  ->

Pions

Super Bowl tonight.  

Which is about American as apple pie and Black Friday. (The NFL is a multi-billion dollar industry, but I won't rant about that now.)

So what better picture than trying to capture the essence of the watch party, right?  

It wasn't so easy.   I tried for a TV screen shot, which ended in disaster.  I thought about a food shot, but tacos aren't really photogenic. Many in the crowd were adorned in cheese heads, but I just didn't think those would photograph well, so I opted for another route. I ended up taking a picture of my nephew's shirt more times than he would like to count, to his complete bewilderment.  

I didn't watch one commercial in its entirety.* But  I did managed to see the half-time show, which was entertaining.  Right up until Fergie tried to channel Axl Rose, at which point I was just baffled.  (I'm sorry, but when I think of the Black Eyed Peas doing a cover, I envision them doing for a nice rendition of Everyday People as opposed to rocking out with a dude called "Slash".)  And honestly, once I saw those two on stage,  I was really, really hoping for a wardrobe malfunction.  Alas.  No love. 

At any rate, I'm happy for my father-n-law, who was born and raised in northern Wisconsin, lived for a time in Madison, and has been a Packer fan his entire life.  

Final score: 

Green Bay Packers: 31

Pittsburgh Steelers: 25

(Yeah.  I had to Google that.)  -> 

*I didn't hear the National Anthem last night and didn't hear about the mishap until this morning. 

Take Two

 

What a creepy-ass movie this was.  Have you seen it?  

Now that I've got that out of the way, let the ranting commence.  

I was at Warren Theater a while ago, because if you were at all paying attention, I pretty much hated the first picture I posted and felt compelled to go out and get another shot.  

I'm beginning to learn "free country" doesn't necessarily co-exist well with "free market".  Because once again, I was approached and told I was not allowed to take pictures in an establishment.  Like me and my stupid iPhone camera that can't take decent pictures from more than 8 inches away (hence all the close-ups, not that this is a bad thing) poses a significant threat to all the people in there going to watch a movie. Or more to the point, it poses a threat to Warren Theater's business model.  In fact, I was so menacing looking that it took two employees to tell me that I wasn't allowed to snap photos.  

This isn't the first time this has occurred since I started my project.  Nor was it the second.  I've quit telling people I'm taking the pics for an art project.  Firstly, they don't believe me and secondly, they don't care.  I can't believe I haven't been nailed in Wal Fart, although I'm sure I will be at some point.  

So, my goal in life since I have an anti-authority streak in me: I'm going to take pictures with reckless abandon every time I'm in Warren Theater.  I urge you to do the same.  

On a completely different note, I love Art Deco architecture and the Warren has employed that look, as you can see above.  It works really well here.  But on a huge stretch of land sitting right next to a major interstate and having been constructed in 2008, as is the Warren?  Well, it seems a bit...incongruous.  Especially when there's a Furr's cafeteria and a Harley Davidson dealership right next door.  ->

Related articles

• Capital of Art Deco - Napier, New Zealand (travelpod.com)
• Five places where Art Deco lives on (sfgate.com)