Our Paris trip is getting closer. So close that I am asking my staff, "If you were standing in the middle of Paris, what would you buy?"
Pat - shot glass
Keisa - ash tray
Monica - ankle bracelet
Pat doesn't really drink except once in awhile with her bowling league. Keisa doesn't smoke. Monica, well, Monica is the type to wear an ankle bracelet. I'm so glad I quizzed them. I would have gotten all of them candles from Notre Dame or scarfs.
The four of met this past Saturday to discuss our plans - and then to watch Paris Je T'Aime.
Among other items, we discovered this about the weather via a travel web site:
The November Thermometer
Minimum
temperature: 5 degrees C (41 degrees F)
Maximum
temperature: 10 degrees C (50 degrees F)
Average
temperature: 6 degrees C (42.8 degrees F)
Average
rainfall: 54 millimeters (2.1 inches)
How to Pack
November
in Paris is rainy and chilly, with low temperatures approaching freezing.
Factor in wind chill and fewer daylight hours and you'll immediately
understand why your suitcase should be well-stocked with plenty of
sweaters, scarves, coats, and warm socks.
An
umbrella and/or a waterproof jacket with a hood are a must in this wet
season.
In
terms of footwear, you don't necessarily need boots, but suede shoes or
shoes made of any non-waterproof material are to be left at home. If you
enjoy sporting heels, remember to bring at least one pair of flat shoes
for walking, as the streets and even metro stairs can be slick from the
rain.
A
light pair of gloves will make walking around the city more comfortable.
You
may also want to think about bringing a small thermos so you can warm
yourself with hot coffee or tea while seeing the sights.
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My To Pack list now includes a heavy coat, a scarf, gloves and a wool hat.
I'll post more details about our upcoming Paris trip soon.
As I walk through my day, many thoughts pass through my mind. Here are some quotes by others that reflect ideas I think.
Take your work seriously, never yourself.
Maturity is the ability to do a job whether or not you are supervised, to carry money without spending it, and to bear an injustice without wanting to get even. - Ann Landers
The skill in attending a party is knowing when to leave.
Angry people want you to see how powerful they are...loving people want you to see how powerful you are. - Chief Red Eagle
For us TV junkies, the Fall is the best time of the year. New shows to sample. Old shows returning.
Here are my Top Ten Television Shows I'm Looking Forward To - Fall 2011...
10. Grimm (New Show - NBC, Friday nights) - I've always been a fan of fairy tales. This show proposes that those tales were real - are running around New York City. It could be interesting; it could be very lame. I'll watch the first episode and decide.
9. Terra Nova (New Show - FOX, Monday nights) - Time travel. I'm hooked before I even see an episode. I love good time travel yarns - the 2007 TV series Journeyman, the 1989 movie Millennium, (though it seems everyone else hates this movie), the 1995 movie 12 Monkeys, the 1979 movie Time After Time - but will quickly turn against bad ones - 2003's Timeline, no matter how cute Paul Walker is; 2004's The Butterfly Effect or any of its sequels - so I'll watch this show just based on that one point.
8. The Amazing Race (CBS, Sunday nights) - My friend Debbie turned me onto this show about five seasons into its run. I'm not a huge fan of reality shows. Except for Survivor, I really don't watch reality TV - though I did watch The Real World through the first New Orleans season. As far as The Amazing Race, if I like the contestants, I stick around.
7. It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia (FX, Thursday nights) - Such subversive fun. The people remind me of my friends and I back in high school - if we ran an empty bar and were all sociopaths. Here's a typical scene from one of my favorite episodes:
6. The Big Bang Theory (CBS, Thursday nights) – The first season is still the best. (I think the show is on its fourth season now.) But it’s still the second funniest comedy on TV. The first? See further up my list.
5. The Good Wife (CBS, Sunday nights - moved from Tuesday nights) – Carlos and I sampled this show last season – the show’s first – and loved it. Bonus: Carlos can point out Julianna Margulies’s wig in every shot.
4. Survivor (CBS, Wednesday nights) – As with The Amazing Race, if I like the contestants, I stick around. With Survivor, however, I don’t think I have ever not liked the contestants enough to completely delete the show from my DVR – though certain seasons are definitely better than others.
3. Criminal Minds (CBS, Wednesday nights) - I also watch the reruns on Ion Television and A&E. According to my spreadsheet, I have seen every episode at least three times. I also talk with other fans via two different newsgroups. For those who watch the show, I'd like to tell you that there are two episodes that I refuse to watch again: 100 and Mosley Lane. They're just too disturbing. Sorry: No spoilers here for those who haven't seen the episodes, but if you're a fan of the series, I urge you to see those episodes – but only once. I have tried to indoctrinate Carlos into the show. He can't get past that much of the violence is against women. I can't blame him, but I look past it.
2. Modern Family (ABC, Wednesday nights) – Even when I’m home alone, I laugh out loud. By far, the best comedy on TV. This would be my choice as the best show on TV except for …
1. Supernatural (The CW, Friday nights) – I discovered this show in reruns on TNT during its third season. Until I caught up, I was watching older episodes – first through season five, then back around to season one – along with the newer season six at the same time. I even buy the monthly Supernatural magazine at Barnes and Noble.
Honorable Mention (in no particular order):
Two and a Half Men (CBS, Monday nights) - Just the first episode to see how Ashton Kutcher does. I've never liked this show. Maybe I will now. (Update: I watched the premiere last night. Nope, I still don’t like the show. Though the Darma and Greg cameo, a show also created by Chuck Lorre, was cute.)
Glee (Fox, Tuesday nights) - I have to like the show. It's in my Gay Agenda contract. But I've never really been crazy about it. Please don't turn me in. (Here are my past posts about Glee.)
Bully Beatdown (MTV and MTV2, various nights) – Another reality show from Mark Burnett, the creator of Survivor. In each episode, show host Jason “Mayhem” Miller challenges bullies to fight against a professional mixed martial artist for a chance to win $10,000. The money they get depends on their performance against their opponent, with any money they don’t win going to the bully’s victims. It's great fun to see the bullies get their ass kicked.
1 Girl 5 Gays (Logo, various nights) – A Canadian talk show that premiered on MTV Canada in 2009 and on Logo in 2010. The female host sits down with a revolving cast of five gays to discuss love and sex. (Here is my past post about 1 Girl 5 Gays - from April 2011.) I used to love the show, but now that the novelty has worn off, I seek it out less and less.
Here are a few sample questions from the show:
Would you let someone go down on you if you hadn’t showered?
Is long hair sexy?
Describe your shortest-lasting sexual encounter.
Who would you do – John Stamos or Johnny Knoxville?
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What show are you most looking forward to this season?
Season 1 was Fall 2010. Season 2 was Spring 2011. After this Season - Fall 2011 - I think we're only going to have them in the Fall. Spring is just too busy here in New Orleans.
Or we may end after Season 3. We'll see how this Season goes. Like any good "show"that ends with everyone wanting more - think M.A.S.H., Seinfeld, Mary Tyler Moore - we want to end on a high instead of limping to an embarrassing end - think Mad About You, Scrubs, Laverne & Shirley.
To recap, here have been ALL the Themes we have used so far...
Season 1 - Episode 1: Cold Food Episode 2: Vegetarian Episode 3: Dish Rhymes with a Saints Player’s Name Episode 4: Idioms (e.g. “Spill the Beans”, “Couch Potato”, “Sour Grapes”, “Cut the Cheese”, and so on) Episode 5: Dish Based On Your Fantasy Place to Live Episode 6 – Part 1 of 3: Appetizers Only Episode 6 – Part 2 of 3: Dish Rhymes with the Name of a Celebrity Episode 6 – Part 3 of 3: Food Must Be on a Stick
Season 2 - Episode 1: Healthy Food Episode 2: Dish That Reminds You of a Favorite Movie Episode 3: In Honor of Valentine’s Day, The Dish You Love The Most Episode 4: Mardi Gras Food (Purple, Green, Gold, or Parade Food) Episode 5: Jeopardy (Each person picks a theme from a hat, but does not reveal. The night of our dinner, everyone tries to guess the themes.)
Season 3 - Episode 1: Let Them Eat Cake
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Since Season 3, Episode 1 is fresh in my mind - because we met this past Wednesday - here is a list of dishes presented:
Christine - Tofu Cakes with Jicama Relish Greg – Crab Cakes Jason K. – Petit Fours on a really cute tiered platter. He named the presentation “Babette”. Jason S. – Angel Hair Pasta with Crab Cakes & Marzipan Cake (though that may not be correct) (first place for both dishes) Julie – British Fish Cakes and Chips with little British forks Marshall – Potato Pancakes (third place) Mary – Recession Cake (second place)
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A few people have dropped out this season. I am working on recruiting some fresh members. Everyone seems to be having fun, but we need a couple of dynamic personalities to lubricate the evening. I get nervous hosting any event. When I get nervous, I get quiet.
NPR's Morning Edition interviewed Jane Lynch this morning. Somewhere during that 7 minutes and 20 seconds, I went to Amazon and bought her new book.
Here's the short version of the interview.
It's a big week for Jane Lynch. Her memoir, Happy Accidents, was released on Tuesday, and this Sunday night, she'll be hosting the Primetime Emmy Awards. And she's a reasonably good bet to pick one up, too: her second in a row for playing the scheming cheerleading coach Sue Sylvester on Fox's Glee. On Friday's Morning Edition, she talks to David Greene about her career, her book, and the difficult process of telling her parents she was gay.
Lynch learned perseverance early after she quit a school play in which she'd been cast because she was afraid of making mistakes. Despite the fact that wanting to be an actress was her "first conscious memory," she became so afraid of failing that she walked away from the project. "That is the last time I walked away from anything," she says. "I've been a yes person now for a long time."
One person to whom she eagerly said yes was director Christopher Guest, whose work on so-called "mockumentaries" like This Is Spinal Tap and Waiting For Guffman she already admired when she met him when he directed her in a commercial for Frosted Flakes. Lynch and Guest ran into each other again later, and he cast her in his 2000 film Best In Show, where she played one-half of a dog-showing couple opposite Jennifer Coolidge. She went on to appear in Guest's A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration, as well as Judd Apatow's wildly popular The 40 Year Old Virgin, where she played Steve Carell's sexually accommodating boss who sings him what she says is a Guatemalan love song. As Lynch explains, though, the words come from a Spanish textbook and in fact vow to blame her mother for cleaning her room.
But in spite of her many successes, Lynch says it wasn't easy for her when she told her parents she was gay. "I went to see a therapist," she says, "because I was just suffering so much over this alienation I felt from my family." The therapist convinced her to try writing her parents a letter, with the understanding that, of course, she didn't have to send it. But when she wrote it and the words came easily, she sent it after all — which, she says, was undoubtedly the point of the exercise.
As she cruises into her high-profile hosting gig this weekend, Lynch says she's learned a lot about how to approach her own limitations: "I think the most important thing is that it's not like I'm done growing and evolving, but I certainly have so much more compassion and kindness for myself, and I have cut myself some slack."
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For the long version - or if you'd rather listen than read - follow this link and click on Listen To The Story.
Worst Ad Campaign of the Year? Sheets Energy Strips
This campaign for Sheets Energy Strips has to be the low point of 2011 advertising so far. This is a product you put in your mouth, yet it's being marketed with headlines that reference defecation. It's one thing to do a silly coupon—it's another to build a brand around this kind of thing. Pitbull (above) and LeBron James are among the company's celebrity endorsers (James is actually a co-founder of the company), but that won't do much to help its reputation—it'll just bring theirs down.
For those of you who watch the excellent show Friday Night Lights, the song played in the background when Matt asked Julie to marry him was Brandi Carlile's cover of Bryan Adams's song Heaven.
Tonight was the SERIES finale of Friday Night Lights. You'll be missed. More on that in another post.
Carlos and I are driving to Austin next weekend. I recommended that we bring some music to pass the driving time. I recommended that we each throw out suggestions for themes of three mixed CD's. Then have each of us create playlists based on the suggestions. Besides the listening pleasure, I thought that our contrasting approaches to the themes would be intriguing.
For the math impaired: That's 12 CD's. Austin is 8.5 hours from New Orleans.
I gave Carlos my three themes tonight:
1998
Dance Music
Music From Movies
He told me earlier this week that he is working on his themes - and that the first two were easy (as were mine) and that he would send all three by late tonight.
Carlos is a huge tennis fan. One of his default TV channels is the Tennis Channel. He is planning a trip for us to Austin to the Davis Cup the weekend of July 9th. (We're going on the cheap: Staying with my cousin, driving instead of flying, and so on).
He's such a fan of tennis that he even bought a $50 Wimbledon towel a couple of years ago.
Our friend Julie sent him this link to someone "who recreated the 2008 Wimbledon final between Nadal and Federer in paper form. The video flips back and forth between two hands holding notebook pages that show where the ball was hit and what the score was. Combined with actual player/game noises and crowd cheering, it’s such a clever final product."
