Patti tells me that this will be the perfect year. I really do believe her (although she said that last year, also)... Happy 2011 everyone!!
Friday, December 31, 2010
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Sunday, December 26, 2010
black swan
Think ballet is all about frilly pink tutus and pretty satin toe shoes?
The thriller Black Swan shows us that not everything is beautiful at the ballet (which I could have told you for free, incidentally.). The movie is about an up and coming ballet star Nina (Natalie Portman, in full fierce bunhead mode) who has finally been given a starring role - the Swan Queen in a new production of Swan Lake. She is a natural for the White Swan, but can she play the darker, more sensual Black Swan?
Don't be fooled into thinking this is a happy little "a star is born" ballet story. It's a deeply creepy psychological exploration of Nina's increasingly paranoid emotions. As she strives to perfection in the dual Swan role, she feels the heat of competition, with other dancers trying to make it to the top. It's a cutthroat world, you know? Prima Ballerina, Beth, (great cameo by Winona Ryder) has just been pushed into retirement due to her old age. Ballet is a young person's art - although I watched a great profile on NYCB Ballerina Darci Kistle this morning - she just retired from professional dancing with the company - at the age of 46.
Nina grows more and more paranoid by the second, driven to the brink by the arrival of a new dancer Lily (Mila Kunis!! Doing awesomely in her post That 70s Show life! Goooo, Mila!!) who Nina thinks, of course, is out to get her. Incidentally, both of them did a lot of their own dancing, and it works very well. Rodarte designed the tutus, and they are truly fabulous.
Don't sit too close though or the camera action might make you spew. Other than that, totally go and see it.
Saturday, December 25, 2010
see how we've decked our halls...
...the angel on top of our tree...
Mainly, our tree includes angels, snowmen, and white cats. The big one at the bottom, aka "Goliath" is the first one we got, from sometime in the 1980s,
There is also the occasional sports themed ornament - we have da Bears, da Hawks and uh, one of Troy Aikman (for a brief time, in high school, I was a Cowboys fan. Although it was mainly to bug Angelo.)
New Hawks ornament!!!!
"Why didju put dis bow onna head, ziztur?"(shortly after I took this picture, she attacked the bow).
the greatest gifts...
A beautiful Christmas tree, a hot cup of tea on a cold, snowy morning, eating cheese with beloved friends, spending time with family, and of course, a puppy in a box (what more could you want?)
I hope everyone has a great Christmas and that you all got wonderful presents and are spending time with family and friends, like I am.
I hope everyone has a great Christmas and that you all got wonderful presents and are spending time with family and friends, like I am.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
pillow talk (no, really)
Can I share something with y'all? I.am.getting.old. And as an old person, I have become rather Set in My Ways. I'm basically a creature of habit, (despite by current bout of unemployment). I like things a certain way and if they aren't that way, then it Bugs me.
Case in point. Over the past several weeks, I have noticed some weird little puffy balls of fluff by the side of my bed. Upon close investigation, I discovered that they were coming from my pillows. From the gaping holes in the corners of my pillows, to be exact. I've had these pillows, oh, I would say at least since college (which was, yikes, 10 years ago!). They are Martha Stewart brand "Grandpa" bed pillows and I have two of them and I love them.
Now they are hemorrhaging cotton fluff, and I am faced with an immense dilemma: buying new pillows. Is it me, or did this used to be easier? You walk in, grab a bed pillow, pay for the pillow, go home, throw it on the bed, and you are cooking with gas, or more accurately, off to sleepy land with awesome new pillows. Right?
But now, you walk in, and there are all kinds of choices. There are pillows for side, back and stomach sleepers. They can be down filled or cotton fluff filled, or allergy safe, alternative whatever filled. They can be square or rectangular or full body sized. There are medium support, firm support or extra firm support.
I mean, really?? I have trouble making decisions on a regular basis anyway, but give me so many choices and it's like, impossible. Especially given the fact that this decision is so vitally important to my achieving a really good night's sleep. I love to sleep, and everything has to be just right - I have been known to get out of bed in the middle of the night and remake the bed because the covers have gone all bunchy and weird. I put my beloved pillows in the dryer every night so that they are perfect and puffy. I don't like squashy pillows. A little OCD? Perhaps. But like I said, I've become Set in My Ways.
I bought two new pillows. The first came from Target. It's an extra firm support and it is quilted (which gave me some worry, initially, because I thought I might wake up with quilt marks on my face?). Verdict? A bit bouncy but possibly workable.
The second is a Sealy, which I bought because they make mattresses, and should therefore know their shit vis-a-vis a comfortable sleeping experience. It's an extra firm with a gusset (wtf is with these pillow gussets anyway?) and this thing? Is like a rock. No way, no day.
So I am still on the quest for new pillows. The thing is, it's hard to know what they feel like until you're in your regular sleeping position, testing the thing out. Resting your head on it in the store is not the same thing. So I am afraid to get any others in case I don't like them. In the meantime, I've fixed the holes in my existing pillows (the Grandpa pillow, needless to say, has been discontinued) and will continue using them until they are nothing but cotton fluff balls.
Wish me luck!
Case in point. Over the past several weeks, I have noticed some weird little puffy balls of fluff by the side of my bed. Upon close investigation, I discovered that they were coming from my pillows. From the gaping holes in the corners of my pillows, to be exact. I've had these pillows, oh, I would say at least since college (which was, yikes, 10 years ago!). They are Martha Stewart brand "Grandpa" bed pillows and I have two of them and I love them.
Now they are hemorrhaging cotton fluff, and I am faced with an immense dilemma: buying new pillows. Is it me, or did this used to be easier? You walk in, grab a bed pillow, pay for the pillow, go home, throw it on the bed, and you are cooking with gas, or more accurately, off to sleepy land with awesome new pillows. Right?
But now, you walk in, and there are all kinds of choices. There are pillows for side, back and stomach sleepers. They can be down filled or cotton fluff filled, or allergy safe, alternative whatever filled. They can be square or rectangular or full body sized. There are medium support, firm support or extra firm support.
I mean, really?? I have trouble making decisions on a regular basis anyway, but give me so many choices and it's like, impossible. Especially given the fact that this decision is so vitally important to my achieving a really good night's sleep. I love to sleep, and everything has to be just right - I have been known to get out of bed in the middle of the night and remake the bed because the covers have gone all bunchy and weird. I put my beloved pillows in the dryer every night so that they are perfect and puffy. I don't like squashy pillows. A little OCD? Perhaps. But like I said, I've become Set in My Ways.
I bought two new pillows. The first came from Target. It's an extra firm support and it is quilted (which gave me some worry, initially, because I thought I might wake up with quilt marks on my face?). Verdict? A bit bouncy but possibly workable.
The second is a Sealy, which I bought because they make mattresses, and should therefore know their shit vis-a-vis a comfortable sleeping experience. It's an extra firm with a gusset (wtf is with these pillow gussets anyway?) and this thing? Is like a rock. No way, no day.
So I am still on the quest for new pillows. The thing is, it's hard to know what they feel like until you're in your regular sleeping position, testing the thing out. Resting your head on it in the store is not the same thing. So I am afraid to get any others in case I don't like them. In the meantime, I've fixed the holes in my existing pillows (the Grandpa pillow, needless to say, has been discontinued) and will continue using them until they are nothing but cotton fluff balls.
Wish me luck!
Thursday, December 09, 2010
did i tell you about the ferris wheel?
People! The Toys R Us in Times Square has a ferris wheel. Like, inside.
My mind? Totally blown. (And no, I didn't ride on it. But I was tempted.And yes, I am very easily impressed.)
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