some random television thoughts

What is UP with "Studio 60"? When this show debuted, I really liked it, but the more I watch it, the more it's really starting to annoy me. The language - the way people speak - is just sooooo...contrived. And everyone seems so self-righteous. I swear, if Greg didn't like this show, I wouldn't watch it at all. I still watch it because it's one of the few things we enjoy(ed) together. But seriously, Aaron Sorkin, get over yourself.

The big "Top Chef" finale is on tonight. Because the webmasters over at Food and Wine magazine obviously can't handle themselves, they accidentally managed to post an article about the winner (one of the prizes is a feature about the winner in that magazine) online for about 15 minutes the other day before they realized their mistake and took it down. So, yeah, I now know who wins. I will not comment on that, but I will comment on how disappointed I am with the cast this year - the only reason I'm happy Marcel made it to the end is because the rest of the cast just basically acted like douchebags the whole time. Focus on the food, people. So, once again, I get to the finale of a show and ultimately don't really care what happens. But I'll watch, of course, however probably not until tomorrow, since I already know who wins.

This is perhaps the most painful of my TV thoughts - I don't really care about the return of "Lost" next week. It's so crazy because I basically lived for this show two years ago, and now...meh. I'll watch it, sure, but I recently read an interview with one of the creators who said that they are going to focus much more on the relationships now, and less about the mysteries on the island. They think everyone cares much more about whether Kate is in loooooove with Jack or Sawyer. Ohmigod, I so totally don't care. Give me mystery! Give me action! Give me adventure! Give me Locke! Not some stupid drippy love story between three people that clearly have emotional problems anyway. Bah.

Luckily, my old standby "Survivor" starts up next week, and "Amazing Race All Stars" soon thereafter. Wahoo!

two words

So I was just driving home from work and I heard someone on the radio talking about a survey that asks people to give two words that described them in high school and two words that describe them now. I thought that was interesting, and came up with my words right away (actually they are not single words, but whatever).

High school:
*drama geek
*rocker chick

Now:
*theater geek
*in transition

OK, now it's your turn!

Because Lisa told me I have to

Lisa told me that I have to blog more, so here I am. Good Lord I am tired today. I have had two nights in a row of rehearsal for Fake, a staged reading I am doing at Thomaston Opera House tonight. Thomaston is about a half hour away, so it's been a loooong week of driving and late nights. I know two nights in a row isn't a lot, but I'm out of practice for my "rehearsal schedule" life, so it's been tiring.

Why is it so cold? I ask this rhetorically, because obviously, the answer is because it's winter and we live in Connecticut. But man oh man, I got used to having spring-like temps smack dab in the middle of winter. I suppose I shouldn't complain - in just a couple of months, it will be real spring, and not global warming spring.

I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet weekend, I hope. I have the reading tonight, and tomorrow night I'm going to a party at my friend Deb's house to reunite with my Simsbury theater peeps, but other than that, I am praying it will be low key.

I hope you all have enjoyed this incredibly boring post. See Lisa, that's why I don't post!

United 93

United 93 is one of those movies that I've been wanting to see, but I've never really been in the mood for. When are you in the mood to see a movie about one of the worst days you can ever remember? Last night we watched it, and I'm glad we did. While it was incredibly depressing, it was also oddly inspiring - that these ordinary people, people who could have just as easily been you or me, managed to overcome the terrorists on the plane and take it down before it made it to Washington. It is not a movie for the faint-of-heart, but it will remind you and amaze you about the regular people who became heroes on 9/11.

one night only!

I think everyone must be very excited about the opportunity to see Love Letters starring myself and Alan - I mean, seriously, when you get the chance to see two of your favorite bloggers LIVE ON STAGE? Together? Rarely, I would think. The only thing that would be better would be if we were reading our blog entries out loud.

Tonight we had our first rehearsal. It does figure that most nights I can be found sitting on my arse on the couch, but when I actually have to go out somewhere, winter decides to kick in and it starts to snow. Ah well. It was fun. I really do like this show a lot. I did it about four years ago and it's interesting to do it with another director and (very talented) actor (and hopefully without the bronchitis I had last time).

So if you want to see me and Alan get romantic - and who would want to miss that?? - don't miss our big performance on February 17. You have to get tickets in advance! Let me know if you want to come.

Grease is the word

So, I'm helping out with auditions for Grease in Southington. Anytime I watch auditions for a musical, I realize how much I lack the cojones to sing and dance in front of other people. Do a straight show? Sure, no problem at all. I love it. But I really can't sing (like, not even "Happy Birthday") and my dancing skillz are even worse. When I was watching the auditionees up there learning the dance combination, all I thought to myself was, "If I had a month to learn that, I couldn't." Yet these 16-year-old girls were getting it down in two seconds. I guess we all have our talents, and when it comes to musicals, mine come everywhere else but on stage (unless it's doing a set change during a blackout).

if it's too loud, you're too old

So Greg's band, KERMIT THE BAND, played out last night at Center Street Pub in Southington. (That's funny - when I typed "pub" the first time, I typed "pup" instead - guess you can tell what I'm usually writing about.) Anyway, it was fun -they had a decent crowd, although the room itself was kind of strange. They've gotten so much better over the past year or so, but I am still strongly encouraging them to learn more big '80's songs, because people love that sh*t. Next gig is at La Boca restaurant in Middletown (great salsa!) (the condiment, not the music) on February 2. I strongly recommend you put it on your calendar! I'll even share my salsa (maybe).

baby got back

I know, I know, I went from being the most frequent blogger ever to the least frequent blogger ever. It's been an achy-breaky week for me. On Sunday night, I coughed, and subsequently pulled what seems to be a pretty major muscle in my back. Having had back problems before, I decided to use some of my sick time so as not to make it worse and end up in the ER. I took off Monday and Tuesday, and finally went back to work Wednesday. Today, I have somehow pulled another muscle in my leg that is making the front of my leg hurt and it's kind of shooting up to my abdomen. Is this even possible? So, yes, I haven't been blogging. But as you can see, I would just have been complaining. And who wants to listen to that?

Al Gore is so full of it

It's a good thing there is no such thing as global warming, otherwise I'd think it would be odd to have a 72-degree day on January 6 in Connecticut.

Oh, Top Chef, how you torment me

So, the thing I'm loving about "Top Chef" this season, is that they've got this character (oh wait, I guess he's not a character, he's a real person) Marcel, and he's kind of a d**k, in an immature, socially retarded way, and all season everyone's really been hating on him. He's got this chick Betty just about ready to kill him since episode one, and since then, it seems like everyone else has turned against him, including the relatively benign Sam and Ilan, both of whom threw big fat hissy fits at him during last night's episode. But the thing is, everyone is being so horrible to him at the point - what with Ilan trash-talking his dish to the judges during the actual competition and what not - that now I actually feel sorry for him. That is, until he goes and does something d**kish again, which, inevitably, is five seconds later. By the very end, I really was rooting for either Ilan or Betty to get booted, because I really just felt bad for Marcel. Happily, the screechy Betty is gone. But Marcel? Lay off the foams.

It just makes me happy because usually there is a clear "good guy" and "bad guy," but in this case, I just can figure out who is who. Bravo really has some kick-ass reality TV shows.

(This blog entry won't make sense to anyone except Melissa, but I really felt like I had to get it off my chest. Perhaps you'd like me to blog about the TiVo'ed marathon of "America's Next Top Model" that I've been watching? I thought not.)

Happy New Year, y'all

Hope it's a great one for everyone.

In the meantime, I'm still sick, glued to my couch watching a marathon of "Ugly Betty" that I TiVo'ed yesterday. What a great show!