The Wordmistress

Lazy Self-Indulgence

Because jodi did it ...

Book
That changed my life: World According to Garp. I read this when I was in high school seven times in a row! I loved his prose, how he mixed bleak comedy and tragedy so masterfully. I was particularly touched by his account of how Garp used to put his hand on his sleeping child to make sure he was still breathing. Beautiful.
That I couldn't live without: Confederacy of Dunces. Because it taught me more about characterization than I had ever learned before.
That I could do without: Anything by Grisham.
Guilty pleasure: Me too. Chick lit. Can't help it. Don't want to.

Movie
That changed my life: Wings of Desire Because it is beautiful and simple and doesn't clomp you over the head with its messages of hope and heartache.
That I couldn't live without: Spinal Tap , Young Frankenstein and Waiting for Guffman. Duh!
That I could do without: Stuff with Ben Affleck, Colin Farrell and I'm sorry to say most of Russell Crowe.
Guilty pleasure: Teen flicks!

Event/Memory
That changed my life: Mia's birth
That I couldn't live without: Watching the gremlin get in trouble every day.
That I could do without: The untimely death of my brother.
Guilty pleasure: The weekly delivery of my People Magazine!

Music
That changed my life: The Beatles
That I couldn't live without: The Replacements and the rest of the 80s midwest swells.
That I could live without: Dave Matthews
Guilty pleasure: Elton John

Person
That changed my life: Mia's dad, Adrian.
That I couldn't live without: My friends who have been so fucking supportive of me through good and bad. I love 'em!
That I could do without: My landlord's electrician who is really mean to me.
Guilty pleasure: Flirting with the musician down the street and the married guy who owns a restaurant in Bucktown.

Lights On, No One's Home

I was amused to come across this conversation about dolls at Metafilter. Not only did it dredge up some pretty scary pix of dolls, it reminded me of an ongoing conversation I've been having with my mom about dolls for Mia. She keeps insisting that Mia needs dolls and I keep changing the topic. See, I'm a-scared. Thems dolls keep staring at me!! So I've been sticking to stuffed animals for the time being. I'm not really opposed to dolls that have soft, yarny faces. But those crazy porcelain faces with the wide open eyes. Yeesh!! Not ready.

Speaking of inanimate objects, I came across this news article on Bush's scaredy cat ways via the Two Things at Once web site. Dumb-dumb-dumb-dumb. DUMB!

I saw one of my favorite movies Sunday night: Guys and Dolls. Director Sydney Pollack did an intro and stated that despite criticism at the time of the movie's release, he loved Marlon Brando in the part of Sky Masterson, who was what Pollack called, a "dandy." Well, I agree. I thought the pre-carboloaded Brandy was just dandy. It's a great flick.

Finally, yet another Liza update. Word is that Miss Liza is going to guest (or is it gest) star on the new FOX show Arrested Development this Sunday. She has filed a countersuit against that nutbar of a soon-to-be-exhusband. I haven't seen Arrested Development yet, but it's supposed to be great. This would be a good time to finally tune in.

Things

Things I like: Cheese, funny, funny stuff, quarterbacks who scramble, pop music, Amsterdam.

Things I hate: Bad customer service, boneheads, unfairness

Things I support: freedom of expression, peace, Democrats in the White House in '04!

Around the House

Does this guy look familiar to you? He's the new Brawny guy. Am I wrong to be strangely attracted to him? The old guy was kind of pre-Friends Tom Selleck looking.

Ah, the things that take my attention these days.

I've been madly baby-proofing for the past few days, which mostly means keeping a couple of steps ahead of Mia as she boldly goes where many babies have gone before. I've tethered the bookcases to the walls, bought a new entertainment center so that the TV is finally in a safe place and won't come teetering down on her head. Last week when I was working so hard I kept missing her first couple of steps, which was a real bummer. Now I've seen 'em. Pretty cool stuff. Rock on Miss Mia, Queen of the New Frontier.