toastykitten

For those of you who can't get enough of Brokeback Mountain, there's KCRW Bookworm with Annie Proulx - turn up the volume, because Michael Silverblatt talks really low.

I just finished reading Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen. I'd forgotten how good it is. I like Elinor as a protagonist much more than Fanny, even though the two characters are superficially similar. I didn't realize how much scandal(!) there was, too; women being seduced! Libertines! Of course our heroine does not succumb to the libertine. She has too much honor for that. Although I think it would be interesting if she did.

I browsed the magazine section today, like I always do, and sort of marveled at all the magazines with very, very specific markets. There's Conceive (which, I don't know, if you're trying to conceive and you have no real problems, wouldn't it only be worth about 2 issues?), there's Hair and Short Hair, Cosmo, CosmoGirl, Cooking with Paula Deen, etc, etc. I would really love to be at those meetings where they pitch them - "Look, we'll have this cooking magazine, but it'll have Paula Deen writing in a Southern accent and then people will think it's authentic!"

I kind of like TeenVogue. I used to like NYLON, but it's all style, no substance now. Not that there was much substance then, but I'd at least look through the magazine again. GiantRobot is going bimonthly this year, so I think it's about time I subscribed. This month's issue was awesome - lots of great art, lots of interviews with interesting people, including an Asian American guy who shot up a school and is in prison for life.

I haven't even watched the latest Project Runway yet, and I already know who lost. (Don't know who won yet - don't tell me.) And you know how I found out? From reading fucking James Wolcott. He's supposed to be writing about politics!

Politics sucks. What else is new?

The San Francisco Bay Guardian changed its look. I like it; it's much cleaner, and it's smaller, thus easier to hold up. I don't know if I like the editor's note being on the cover page, though. Looks a little messy. Last week's cover story was about how the police did nothing about an attempted murder. How this is shocking, I don't know.

LA Weekly also redesigned-their website at least. There's an interesting debate between one of the movie critics there and Roger Ebert, about whether Crash is the best movie of 2005 or the worst movie of 2005. I haven't watched the movie yet; maybe we'll rent it one weekend or something. I just find the commentary about the race relations interesting.

My pick for best movie of 2005 is A History of Violence. I think I watched it when it first came out and I still can't get it out of my head. It is seriously disturbing.

GLEE, I tell you. I made it as far as today without buying a magazine, but then I saw Jane. Because thoughts of Claudine Ko and the whole American Apparel brouhaha was bouncing around in my head, I picked it up. Did you know it's only $1.99 now? (And what's up with the trend of magazines publishing only 10 issues a year?) I saw that one of the cover headlines, in tiny print at the bottom, was "Dov Charney wants to prove he's not a perv" or something like that and totally had to pick it up.

I was going to find a link for the original American Apparel article, but Jane's site doesn't run without Flash. Flash doesn't like my computer. So bleh. Man, I haven't even read the original article.

This follow-up article has Charney all scared and shit, because he's been slapped with a few sexual harassment suits. He describes himself self-defensively as a "sensitive soul" - which, just made me laugh out loud. Sure, as a sensitive soul myself, I love it when people I barely know jack off in front of me just to show they like me. It's a great introduction, don't you think?

Oy, more later, when I don't have a major headache.

Women in Free Software, by Fernanda G. Weiden

Great article on barriers to entry for females in the free software world; don't read the discussion threads unless you want to bang your head against the wall, which might, in fact, actually be less painful than listening to people say stuff like "There's no such thing as a gender barrier; it's UP to YOU to make it happen!"

Apparently 9/11 is an occasion for gaudy, tacky memorials. SBC Park put up one right around their Willie Mays statue. I shit you not, it was a gigantic glitter American flag ribbon, surrounded by huge purple banners of names or some such thing; I didn't get close enough to read. (I wondered where the SUV was.) I couldn't take my eyes off the huge, ugly thing; it seemed to me to represent the worst aspects of American culture - the sentimentality, the exaggeration, the thoughtlessness, when it should have been a day of reflection, of remembrance.

Speaking of Ugly Americanism, I bought Vanity Fair again. I should just subscribe to them already.

(Is it me, or is it kind of disingenuous of James Wolcott to be bitching about "the media", when he is the very friggin personification of it? I mean, I agree with his stuff, but come on, he works for a national magazine!)

My HMO has a website. When you click on the "Contact Us" link, it takes you to an email form. There is no listing for a phone number, in case you might want to talk to an actual person. If you use the email form, you get a note saying that they won't be able to get to your email until at least 48 hours later. Last time I sent my HMO an email, it took them almost a week to respond.

I hate my HMO.

I hate my DMO, too.

I am trying not to watch the news, because I'm afraid of what I might hear. Reading stuff is making me sick already.

It was a yummy, toasty weekend; the Grillfest turned out fabulous. Mark and I tried out a new recipe from my Fine Cooking magazine and made Moroccan-style Grilled Chicken Kebabs for everyone. It was met with approval and descriptions such as "very lemony" and "mmm, so good", which I take as good signs. The evening included buffalo wings, courtesy of Amy, caesar salad (me), and lots of beer and other good stuff. (I think we still have lots of beer left over.)

There was cake, singing, gossip, and fantasy scenarios of Celebrity Chef Smackdowns. All in all, a really nice time.

Sunday we went and saw Mr. and Mrs. Smith, which was awesome. It has a really stupid plot, but the chemistry between the two beautiful people more than make up for it. Plus, a girl just really needs to see things blow up sometimes. The house fight was awesome.

I think I will have something more substantial to say tomorrow. Right now I'm tired!

Article on Chez Panisse - sounds more affordable than French Laundry, but is it really worth it?

Roald Dahl museum opens.

Zine libraries! There was one in UCLA?!! Grr...I think it's stupid that you have to make an appointment to go.

This space is for link-dumping. Yes, I read a lot. You will find me obsessed with certain topics - namely, China, the Middle East, tea, robots, and magazines.

I'm kind of irked by all my favorite indie-ish type magazines "branding" themselves - ReadyMade has their own brand of paint, Giant Robot opened a bunch of toy stores and now they have a restaurant on Sawtelle! Dwell produced a shoe and a television show. Why can't they just let these magazines be magazines?!