Roam if you want to

What a great time we had in Rome!  We rented an apartment just north of the Piazza Popolo, and spent the whole time in Rome, wandering from church to gelateria to museum to trattoria.  Here's a view of St. Peters - oh, that Renaissance symmetry!

One of the best parts of our trip was meeting up with my Italian sister, M, and her husband, A.  M lived with us my senior year of high school and then I went home with her to Milan for the summer after we graduated.  Unfortunately we lost track of each other, and when I tracked her down about a year ago I discovered that she'd gotten married and had three kids!  They were kind enough to make the trip down to Rome and spent about 4 days with us.  It was fantastic catching up again.  

We're all sitting in front of the Quattro Fiumi (Four Rivers) fountain, designed by Bernini.  Oh, Bernini!  Madonna, did we see some beautiful artwork.  My favorite Berninis, of course, are The Ecstasy of St. Teresa and his David.  We also saw just about every Caravaggio in Rome (might have missed one or two), which I will review for your edification in the coming days.  

Red letter weekend

Before our vacation I saw a couple of great plays - I have season tickets at Steep Theatre - it's a great Chicago theatre company that's starting to blow up like crazy.  I've never seen a bad show there.  We saw the first performance of Making Noise Quietly, which was exciting.  It's a play about war and pacifism, told in 3 vignettes.  A beautiful, sparse set, with fantastic performances.  So, check this out... at the end of the first vignette, which is a scene with these two guys, and at the end of the scene... this is kind of a spoiler... one guy takes of his pants.  And I'm like, Oh, ok.  Then, get this, he takes off his underwear and I'm like, This is happening.  And then!  The other guy takes of his pants! And I'm like, HOLD ON.  Full frontal male nudity times two?  That's why you have to love Chicago theatre.  But, also, give a girl a little warning, knowhatImean?

The night I saw Making Noise Quietly, my parents came for a visit.  So, they show up really late, and in the morning, I tell them this funny story about seeing two unexpected things in the play, and we all had a laugh.  Anyway, I had got us all tickets to Metamorphoses at the Lookingglass theatre downtown.  It was absolutely stunning.  It's directed by Mary Zimmerman and it's a restaging of the show that won the Tony in 1998.  If you're in the area, I hope you make the opportunity to go see it - it was a real experience and we all absolutely loved it.  The stage is a pool of water, and... you just wouldn't believe how amazing it is.  And! Get this!  Full. Frontal. Male. Nudity.  Again!  You gotta love Chicago theatre.

We are just returned from our fabulous Rome vacation, so I'll be posting about that in the near future.  We had a great time, but I'm pretty happy to be home.  I'm pretty sure I got Stendhal Syndrome while I was there.  Good to be home with a lot of wonderful memories!

w00t: Dead Island

So, as previous mentioned, M was playing this game called Dead Island on his PS3.  In it, you play a character who's on some kind of vacation resort island, and suddenly almost everyone turns into a zombie except for you and a bunch of other people.  So, then you gotta run around the island, killing zombies and doing stuff.  I kept asking M, "WHY did everyone become zombies?"  He claimed not to know OR care.  Unsettling.

If you like zombie stuff, you'll probably like this game.  M really enjoyed it.  I liked it OK, but I have to say, it was kind of stupid, it's like, all these zombies?  They're all wearing bikinis.  It's like the whole game is a dumb ruse just to get zombies in bathing suits for some reason.  Then there are these challenges?  So, like, someone will say, Hey, I'll give you 200 bucks if you run across the island and get my handbag or whatever and then it's like... is anyone seriously motivated by US currency in the event of a localized zombie outbreak?  I don't think so.  You'd wanna, you know, figure out how to get off the island, or discover if the virus has spread or whatever.  Nahmean?

If I were playing the game, I would just barricade myself in my hotel room, preferably a suite, hopefully with running water and a little bit of food, and wait for reinforcements.  If the cable still works, great. If not, that's why you have to choose your vacation books carefully, people.  Yeah, you want something that's engaging, but also intellectually stimulating.  Additionally, if you're in a zombie-type situation, you've really got to ask yourself: Why not just join the zombies?  I mean, if it's inevitable, why cause yourself a bunch of unnecessary stress?

Ultimately, something was wrong with M's disk and he got stuck in a wall or something.  He was quite distraught.  He had not killed all the zombies he wished to kill.  Anyway, apparently the game is very "buggy".

Rating:  Only Mildly Unbearable, IF you like zombies.  Watch out for bugs.

What's on?

So, there was some kind of marathon of this show called My Cat From Hell, and it was really awesome.  It was like Take My Dog, Please! or whatever, only for cats.  This guy with odd facial hair helps people solve their cat's problem behaviors.  I mean, dude looks like he's from Panem.* As far as I could tell, basically just playing with the cats at a designated time was the solution for everything.  Although, I did learn that if you blink your eyes real slow at a cat it means I Love You.  So, I tried blinking my eyes at Kaya for a while but she never blinked back at me.

I've also been watching Breaking Amish, which I hate, but can't stop watching.  If you like watching dummies get sloppy drunk and try to order food in Manhattan, then that is the show for you.  Why do Amish people dress like they're from the Jersey Shore when they leave the nest?  Ah, apparently that whole show is bs.  What's next? We're going to find out Honey Boo Boo's family AREN'T hillbillies?

In other news, I'm mostly better, but would you believe I still have a niggling cough.  I'm starting to think I have some 18th century disease like consumption.  Don't mind me if I just delicately cough a little blood into a hanky if I get too excited.

*Where my Hunger Games fans at?

video games

Finally, I started feeling a little bit better this weekend!  Enough to leave the house and have dinner out and watch a movie and everything.  We saw Dredd.  It was pretty bad.  In a remarkable twist, M bought ME a video game, and I played it.  Review coming soon.  Also, he has a new video game - here's a brief conversation we had about it.

M: Let's play my video game this afternoon!
K: What? Oh, you mean... together?
M: No, just me.
K: Is it 2 players?
M: No.
K: [makes face]
M: It's called Dead Island.
K: [makes face]
M: Because it takes place on an island.
K: [blank look]
M: and has dead people on it.

Teaching to the Test

Have you been following the teacher's strike in Chicago?  If not, or you're not sure what the heck is going on, I found an article that spells it out pretty clearly.  I come from a proud Union family (my dad was in UAW and my sister is in the Teachers Union in California), so I'm on the side of the teacher's union.  Some politicians are doing a good job of fooling the public into thinking you're either on the irrational, money-grubbing side of the teachers, or, you're for "the kids".  I applaud their effort, as I do that of all evil geniuses, but it's utter BS.  When teachers (don't forget that means, literally, the people who are educating the next generation) benefit, so do students.

I'm not surprised to hear Mitt Romney talking shit about unions, but what's up with Democratic Mayor Rohm Emanuel?  Frankly, I'm utterly SHOCKED that it's even socially acceptable to bash unions.  Do people not REMEMBER what it was like before unions?  Weakening, or, heaven forfend, eliminating unions would take us back over a hundred years of progress.

Apparently the sticking point now in negotiations are regarding tying teacher evaluations to student performances.  This seems like a no-brainer to me, but the only way it works is if you have a standardized test for the student, and if the teacher's performance is based on that test, then the teacher is going to end up Teaching to the Test.  I defy you to find an educator that thinks this is a good idea.  Personally, I hate standardized tests, I think we should eliminate them completely (and, HOT TIP, we could do that pretty easily if all parents would just follow my simple advice and not allow your kid to take them.  They're not mandatory.)   There are all sorts of reasons you could have the best teacher in the world, but she'll have a hard time overcoming any social issues that may effect her district, like poverty, students for whom English is not a first language, or even weather, not to mention aspects that are common in impoverished areas like abuse, parental uninvolvement and nutrition.  Imagine if your performance review was influenced by whether your co-workers had a healthy diet!

Grilled Pizza!

I've been really sick lately - total bummer.  I'm kind of making a comeback now (thanks to a second round of antibiotics), but it's pretty slow.  So, life's been pretty boring for me lately - haven't done much but lay around on the couch watching the slim offerings of Netflix (exhausting everything they had to offer in the British Lady Detective genre) and going to bed crazy early.

But, this weekend, thankfully, I did finally feel a tiny bit better.  Enough to go out for brunch, hang out in the backyard, and even do some cooking.

I made a pumpkin bread with buttercream frosting and salted caramel drizzle that sounds better than it tastes.  I made peach ice cream, which tastes even better than it sounds.  And tonight M & I grilled pizza.  OMG, so delicious.  We made the dough ourselves, and three kinds: Margherita, Mexican, and... wait for it... peach and goat cheese with truffle oil and honey.  It was bonkers delish.

W00t: pWn Mass Effect 3

Poor M hasn't gotten much access to the xBox 360 since I've been monopolizing the tv through my 18th century-style illness (minus home-doctor visits or visits of any kind, but with plenty of moaning about End of Life and the Pain! Oh, the pain.)  The only thing that seems to eleviate my (notable) suffering is a stream of British lady crime dramas, between which he occasionally manages to squeeze in this Mass Effect 3 business he's been into recently.  Straight up, I do not like Mass Effect 3 because they use this language from Firefly (yes, that's right, Joss Wedon's doomed, yet critically acclaimed 2002 space-opera television show.)  Namely, "Shepard" and "Reaper", which I find so distracting I can hardly bare it.  

So, it's a FPS (First Person Shooter!) and you can design your own character - what a surprise, M has designed a hot, cyborg lady with blonde hair and giant sunglasses (an homage to his wife, perhaps?)  and she runs around shooting Reapers (gawd).  Seth Green does one of the voices.

As far as I can tell, he spends a lot of time in the menus, doing God knows what.  Switching guns, I suppose.  Or changing outfits.  BTW, there's an old article in the NYT about how much time men spend dressing their characters in video games.  Very interesting.  But, anyway, to my (keen) eye, Mass Effect 3 appears to be very similar to Rage and Killzone, which was pretty similar to Call of Duty.  What I think would really be more interesting would be if the FPS were like a detective?  And she needed to solve a murder while exploring a seaside town on the north side of England.  And she crept around in stone cottages and cleaned out attics and drank tea and called people "Pet".  Sure, she's lonely sometimes but being a woman at her level on the force required a lot of sacrifices.  Shooting is largely unnecessary because she solves her cases with a combination of feminine intuition and trenchant knowledge of the human condition.

Sick!

Well, now we've really done it.  I got the cold/flu M had/has, so we're a fine pair, sniffling and coughing, our house a total pit because we can't care for each other or even ourselves.  This is the worst, I tell ya. The worst.  *frowny face*

Naturally I've been desperately trying to distract myself from the grotesqueness that is my own existence (how can there BE so much mucus?), but sometimes it's like Netflix doesn't even know who I am...  I watched Catherine Breillat's Bluebeard, which was weird and interesting but not the feminist tour de force I was expecting.  We watched 21 Jump Street, which, I hardly need to tell you, was absolutely terrible.  I rewatched A Very Long Engagement - had theory that crying would help my head feel better, but it didn't.  I watched a bunch of 30 Rocks - theory that laughter is best medicine is also total shite.  Finally remember the masses of British crime dramas with leading ladies and that's helped a bit.  Unfortunately I haven't done much of anything for the past 5 days but lay on the couch surrounded by a pile of cast of tissues, moaning and occasionally watching television.  Again, you can imagine me frowning.  So, if you have any streaming suggestions, please...  And, if you feel like coming to our house in a hazmat suit, we'd be much obliged.

the cottage

My friend has a family cottage in Indiana and invites a group of us to go down in the summer - oh, it is pure heaven!  The only sad part was that poor M was sick and didn't go with us.  But, my weekend travelling partner was my good friend MZ, who is about the best travelling partner you can ask for.  Here she is, over the moon about a lovely cream pitcher.

We had a totes fab brunch on the way out of town at Nellcôte.  I highly recommend it for brunch if you're in the area.

This is moi on the pier, heartbroken that the weekend was about to come to a close.  

Indiana, oh, Indiana!

A few weeks ago we went to Indiana to visit family.  I saw both my Grannies and M saw his gran.  My nephew was extremely charming, when he was not being uncharming.

We visited our beloved IU campus and also made it to the Chocolate Moose.  One summer I went to the 'Moose every night with my roommates J & B - back then you could get a twist cone for less than a dollar - what a bargain!

give me the shoes!

I had this crazy experience yesterday - I need a new pair of tennis shoes, so, I popped over to the local tennis shoe shop (that one on Dempster and Hinman, if you're a local), and it's like I have to audition for this freakin' pair of shoes!  Have you ever had this experience?

First, the guy makes me WALK FOR HIM.  I probably shoulda left right then.  But, like a chump, I walk.  Then, I'm like, I want this brand of shoes, and I like this one, and he says, Let me bring out a few pairs for you.  So, whatever, but then he comes out with totally different shoes.  Then I say, Those are ok, but I want that one.  And he says, HE ACTUALLY SAYS THIS, "That would not be wise."

That's when I start putting my own shoes back on.  And he says, "We don't actually like our customers to pick out their own shoes."

No one, but NO ONE keeps shoes from me!

PS, did anyone notice those awesome yellow trainers some of the Olympic runners were wearing?

In other news, I'm in exciting Madison for the rest of the week for a conference.  Wouldn't it be funny if  I ordered some cheese curds and the waiter says, "That would not be wise"?  Who am I kidding, that would never happen in Wisconsin!

video tutorials!

I recently became aware that there are like, 17 bazillion beauty tutorials online and have since then wasted many an hour watching tutorials of things I will never do to my face, nails or hair.  But, I have gotten a few good ideas, I guess.  I found a really good tutorial on how to apply false eyelashes...


It appears the key is waiting for the glue to get a bit tacky.

Speaking of tacky, I also saw a video on how to make your eyelashes ridick "massive". It turns out you just continuously apply mascara for 4.53 minutes!

seemed like a good idea at the time

 The first thing I ate when I got to New Orleans was this catfish po-boy.  It was crazy-delicious, but little did I know that basically every meal I ate would be comprised of fried things.  

It seems that no visit to New Orleans would be complete without a trip to Cafe du Monde, which basically has two items on the menu, beignets and cafe au latte.  A general good rule of thumb is, The Less Things On the Menu The More Likey Each Item Will be Amazing.  In this case, it applied.

The streets had these fantastic gas lights.  Why do we find outdated technology charming?  I don't know, but it was charming as hell. 

I thought the (non-fried!) shrimp below would be my last meal in New Orleans, but the joke was on me when my flight was cancelled and I ended up ordering a meal of desperation in my airport La Quinta - wait for it...  a bunch of fried food! Ugh.  I like pub food as much of the next person.  Possibly more, actually.  But I felt my arteries hardening by the moment.

I'm going to miss being called Sugar-baby by strangers.  

More New Orleans

Here are a few gorgeous pictures from my trip.  I loved all the beautiful balconies in the French Quarter, why aren't ALL balconies like that? 

I like run-down buildings too - this was a fabulous little stretch.  Tomorrow: a bunch of ill-advised fried food I ate...

New Orleans

Well, I'm in new Orleans this week for a conference, and aside from missing a ctain husband I'm having a pretty good time. My hotel is on canal stret so I've been exploring the French quarter when I can. Wow, so beautiful, romantic, dirty, and mildly terrifying. At envy moment I'm afraid someone is going to dump a bucket of filthy water on my head.I think this is probably what ancient Rome felt like. When I first arrived, I kind of went overboard on fried fish, which, yes, in retrospect was a big mistake. I think I ate three meals in a row with nothing but fried food culminating in woe beignets from cafe du monde that were really spectacular. But after that I had to find a nice salad. I'm having trouble adding my pics from my phone to my iPad to blogger (oh, technology!)but I'll post them pretty soon.

Gallantly streaming

Did you have a nice Fourth of July?  It was literally 110 degrees in Chicago, so we tried hard to stay inside most of the day. We went down to the Art Institute, where, I hate to say, I haven't been for quite a while - there's a Lichtenstein retrospective there.  I really like Lichtenstein, but I realized he's better in small portions.  Seeing all these pieces together was sort of cynical and cold.   I was dying for some more heartfelt artwork after it was over.

This period was great, though.  There were two rooms that just knocked our socks off.

After the museum, we found a shaded spot in Millenium Park for a patriot concert.  No one can here resist being a conductor when they drop a little Phillip Sousa - it was funny to look around and seeing everyone directing the orchestra.  After that, we hit our favorite Italian Ice shop - really just a window out of which a dude sells fresh, homemade, delish ice in a cup as large as you can handle.  Then, back home where we jumped on our bikes, headed over to the beach and saw the fireworks show.  There was a little boy sitting next to us who kept saying, with increasing alarm, "They're coming right towards us!  They're coming right towards us!"  That's a boy after my own heart.

I'm off to New Orleans this week for a conference.  I'm presenting a topic, the breadth and width of which would no doubt impress you.  ha.  It's gunna be a barn burner, folks.

Spiderman, Spiderman, something something spiderman

We saw Spiderman on opening night - it was pretty fun and I mostly liked it.  The following things were cool:

1. When Peter Parker turns into a spiderman, he's crazy strong and breaks his doorhandles and whatnot.  I'm a real sucker for that kind of Jason-Bourne-y-OMG-how-am-I-doing-this? stuff.
2. Emma Stone as whoever this Gwen person is?  

and these things were dumb:

1. The fact that it was made
2. This armless scientist had supposedly been working for decades on an arm-growing serum and one day Peter Parker's like, try this, and he grows a damn arm?  And also turns into a lizard?
3. Lizard villan.  Amirite?
4. The actor who plays spiderman is too skinny, but he has a cute tuchus.  

But, I mean, honestly, I really liked it.  Do you know I used to be a real movie snob back when we lived in San Francisco, and I only wanted to see Indie-art-house films all the time.  Now I hate that stuff and I only want to see silly things on opening weekends.  There was even this scene, which felt very calculated, it was like, you could picture the flow-charts that guaranteed it would stir emotions in people aged 29-45, when Spiderman needs help and all these blue-color guys in NY help him.  And even though it was so cheesy and calculated, I still found it quite stirring.  What is wrong with me?

Oh!  As promised, here is a short list of actors I cannot tell apart:

• Jodie Foster and Holly Hunter
• The Rock and Vin Diesel
• Erika Christensen and Julia Stiles

Spiderman

At first I thought this new Spiderman looked really stupid because I thought it was derivative of the Toby McGuire movie, but I'm getting kind of excited about it.  Plus, I really like this Andrew Whatshisname's hair.   Also, I love Kirsten Dunst, but she really ah-sucked as MaryJane.  I think Emma Stone will be good.  One thing I don't understand is this whole Dennis Leary/Willem Dafoe thing.  I mean, honestly at first I thought they were the same guy.  For realz those guys look exactly the same.  You know what would have been totally cray cray?  If they had cast Elijia Wood as Spiderman.  I have a hard time telling him from McGuire.  Coming soon:  a complete list of celebrities I cannot tell apart.

Did you see The Hair on the Daily Show?  This is too much...

passing time on the couch

kissing ass

I had another procedure done on my left foot on Friday.  Swollen and booted (again!) I spent a lot of time on the couch this weekend, asking M to bring me stuff and watching movies on tv.  Here's what I watched...

Valmont (on demand, free) 1989.  It stars Colin Firth and Annette Bening and is not as good as Dangerous Liaisons.  Meg Tilly uses her big girl voice.  Firth looks creepy in a 17th c. mullet.

2 Days in Paris - starts out as kind of a witty Woody-Allen-type comedy, devolves into shouting.  M walked in and said, "All people do in this movie is TALK!"

even the cat's upset

Chronicle - three stupid boys touch a rock and get super-powers.  They can't really think of anything interesting to do.

Carnage - two sets of parents sit down to have a civilized conversation about their kids' fight.  Society falls apart.  I like when Kate Winslet throws up.

Brave - really enjoyed it.  Is this the first movie about a princess that has nothing to do with how she feels about a boy?  Hallelujah!  And that HAIR.

Fiona!

I bought Fiona Apple's new album, The Idler Wheel... and it. Is. So. Fan. Tastic.  My favorite song is probably Werewolf.  The lyrics are amazing.  Dear God, can she write...

We are like a wishing well and a bolt of electricity But we can still support each other, all we gotta do's avoid each other Nothing wrong when a song ends in a minor key 

And then it ends in what I can only assume is a minor key.  I have no idea, really.  (BTW, are we supposed to stop listening to Pitchfork after Letter to Emily that's going around?)  There's a great review/article of her new album and perceived wackiness on Flavorwire.  


I'm totally obsessed with this Paul McCartney cover by Apple...  

Perfect weekend

We had a perfect weekend (aside me me accidentally spilling mojito all over M's laptops - whoops), lots of time in our garden, which is where we like to spend most of our time.  I had a pedicure, during which the esthetician called my feet "beautiful".  That's a word that has never been used to describe my feet.   Dinner with friends, time with some of my favorite gals at the beach, back to the garden (mojito incident) then off to Via Venito, one of our favorite Italian restaurants.  Evening in the garden - candles, fireflies...


Happy Father's Day to my dad!

Moonrise Kingdom

 We saw Moonrise Kingdom over the weekend - it's utterly charming and M & I both loved it.  Every moment is a visual pleasure.  Like most (all?) Wes Anderson movies, it has a great soundtrack, too.  I'm pretty happy to have discovered this song.

The film website looks like it might hold a few treasures - I'm going to pour over it later...

I also watched Higher Ground on dvd, directed by and starring Vera Farmiga.  It made quite an impact on me.  Lots to think about re: religion.  Parts were difficult for me to watch not because of violence or anything like that, but because of the particular expresion of religious dogma.  I recommend it espec. to my sister, I wish we could watch it together.  

Lest you think I whiled away the entire weekend, not so!  Most of the weekend was whiled away in our backyard oasis where the following ingredients (cat + hammock + mojito + good book + beloved spouse) formulate just about the most perfect summer day you could ask for.  On Sunday we ate every single meal outside.  Bliss.  

camping in LA

We went camping for just one night while we were in LA but we had the BEST time.  My nephew had never been before and it was so fun to experience it with him.  And my sister had never been (excluding a mostly disastrous trip when we were kids, so she was a good sport to give it another go).  We went to the Angeles National Forest, which is really huge (larger than LA itself, but not quite as big as LA County).  As we drove there, we were going through what was mostly desert and dusty, cactus-covered land.  Everyone was getting nervous because we all thought, "Is this the type of place where we're going to spend the NIGHT?"  But, when we got to our campsite in the mountains, it was a nice, wooded area that was more like what we were expecting.  My nephew loved seeing the tent go up and had a lot of fun playing and swinging in the hammock.  He got so dirty, and made us all laugh with his stream of chatter and excitement.  When M built a fire, he for some reason wanted to stand in the smoke, even though it was hurting his eyes.  Later, when I asked him what his favorite part of camping was, he said, "Sleeping in a bag!"  What's the least favorite part?  "Getting smoke in my eyes."

We were obviously practicing a lot of fire safety, and he said, rather matter-of-factly, "If I fall in the fire, I'll be like Anakin."

At the end of a lovely day, we all slept soundly on REI pads.  I listened to the wolves howling and felt secure as ever.

Mini-Break

We took a quick trip to LA this weekend to celebrate our friends' K & G's wedding - it was a beautiful wedding ceremony and a fun reception.  K ranks among the 10 Top Gorgeous Brides of All Time, I'd say.  Near the end of the reception she changed into a red satin cheongsam (pronunciation - btw, I've been driving myself crazy the last few days trying to remember what that particular kind of dress is called!)  They're great friends and we were very pleased we could be there to share in the fun day.  

This note was left in our hotel room, which we thought was particularly hilarious.  M and I spent a lot of time asking each other, "Whhhhhhaaaaad're yoooooooouuuuu doing?" a la The Californians - a skit on SNL that gently mocks Angelenos for their propensity to show of their comprehensive knowledge of the LA freeways.  Anyway, be sure to avoid specific substances in your hotel room.

Stay tuned for a few pics on our little camping trip!

investing sux

Us, on May 21st, a Play

Me: We should buy some facebook stock.
M: Yeah?
Me: How much is it?
M: about 33 dollars.
Me: Let's get some, just for funsies.
M: Really? OK. 
Me: What could go wrong?

I guess you don't make 1 million friends without making some dubious financial maneuvers with obvious questionable ethical implications with "long-lasting negative implications for an industry that can ill afford this kind of blemish." (source)

The Avengers!

We saw the Avengers this weekend and it was really great.  M's a big fan of the Avengers... I thought the whole thing sounded really stupid, but Joss Wedon wrote and directed it, so I figured it would probably be pretty good.  I guess I don't really understand the concept of putting a bunch of random superheros together, but apparently that is a not uncommon superhero comic book conceit.  So, like, for various reasons, all these superheros need to fight together for the fate of the planet and whatnot, but they don't exactly like/trust each other, so first they have to fight each other (this is also not uncommon, I guess.)  I don't think I'll ruin it for you by saying basically every combination of superhero has to fight another superhero.  The best was when Thor? He's like this demi-god from another universe and really hot?  He has to fight the Hulk for some reason?  And, anyway, when he realizes the Hulk is actually really strong and he can go ahead and beat him with his special hammer, he gets kind of excited.

There have been a couple of REALLY bad Hulk movies in the last decade... all I really care about is, what's the deal? He grows like 5 times his size but his pants still fit?  Come on.  Anywho, the Hulk is ably played in this movie by Mark Ruffalo.  Robert Downey Jr. is back as Iron Man, with le Gwyneth making an appearance, wherein they show of their amazing lack of chemistry (zing!).  The Natasha (Black Widow) character is played by Scarlett Johansson.  I don't think she has a previous movie and M doesn't know much about her.  She's in love with the Green Arrow, maybe?  The only thing is, as far as I can tell, she's not really a superhero, she's just really smart and a good fighter, so when they have to fight these giant whatevers and all the other guys are all tricked out with the flying whatnots, she pulls out this little gun, and it's like, damn girl, whatchugunnado with that gun?  


I could have stood for a few more quips, it being a JW film and all, but M felt it was plenty quippy.  Me? I was waiting for the moment when someone inevitably said, "We've got to figure out a way to close that PORTAL!"

Ooooo - Chris Helmsworth (Thor) is also the handsome boyfriend in Cabin in the Woods.  It's all coming together now!   So, it was great.  And, I think there's for-sure going to be a sequel - and maybe like, a Black Widow thing (let's try to get that started!).

awkward!

(Hulk) Smash

So, I did go ahead and delete Smash off the DVR - I just read this hilarious article in the New Yorker that sort of epitomizes how I feel. This Katherine McFee person, I suppose can really sing, but more and more her voice sounds like it came out of a can.  Megan Hilty is fabulous, though.    Nussbaum writes, "She has also delivered a few truly thrilling musical performances, a fact made possible by perhaps the most horrible thing about “Smash”: how good the songs from the musical within the musical are. The songs written for “Bombshell,” the musical about Marilyn Monroe, are generally zippy, magnetic numbers created by Marc Shaiman and Scott Whitman."  Did you know that?  I didn't know that.