I do read books, too!

Since I have a take-home final to write this weekend, I am obviously procrastinating. :) As you've noticed, I've been talking a lot about TV shows and movies I've watched lately. I hardly ever talk about books, though. Which is partly because I'm in grad school and so most of the books I read are NOT FOR FUN.

But just for kicks, I thought I'd do one of those "books I've read this year" lists, and I was a little surprised at how many fun books I managed to squeeze in. This is everything I've read thus far in 2010, roughly in chronological order:

1. Luncheon of the Boating Party, Susan Vreeland
2. Skeletons at the Feast, Chris Bohjalian
3. How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
4. Total Lobbying, Anthony Nownes
5. Congress: The Electoral Connection, David Mayhew
6. Congress and Its Members, Roger Davidson and Walter Oleszek
7. Congress Behaving Badly: The Rise of Partisanship and Incivility and the Death of Public Trust, Sunil Ahuja
8. The Broken Branch: How Congress Is Failing American and How to Get It Back on Track, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein
9. Congress Reconsidered, Lawrence Dodd and Bruce Oppenheimer
10. Unorthodox Lawmaking: New Legislative Processes in the U.S. Congress, Barbara Sinclair
11. So Damn Much Money, Robert Kaiser
12. The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, Robert Brownstein
13. Changes, Jim Butcher
14. Almost Home, Pam Jenoff
15. The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, David Wroblewski
16. Broken Paradise, Cecilia Samartin
17. Hostile Takeover: How Big Money & Corruption Conquered Our Government - and How We Take It Back, David Sirota

Plus scores of articles, essays, and reports on various topics for class.

Catch-up on TV stuff

I watched Tin Man, the Sci-Fi miniseries based on The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and I rather enjoyed it, despite Zooey Deschanel being stoned out of her mind the entire time (or at least that what it seemed like). I generally can't stand her acting, with the spaced-out expression and the bizarre, flat speech patterns. It's actually rather similar to her sister's acting style, but at least Emily plays a character who's supposed to be totally out of touch.

The special effects are way better than you usually see in a Sci-Fi Channel original movie. Or maybe they've gotten better since the last time I watched the Sci-Fi Channel (which was before they changed the stupyd spellyng). I really wished they'd stop talking about "the O.Z." though. Every time they said it, it reminded me of The O.C. and I found it incredibly annoying.

I finished Dexter season 3, and okay, first, let's just get this out of the way: OMG JIMMY SMITS' MUSTACHE! I admit, it took me a little time to adjust and not think of him as President Santos, but that mustache... lol. Anyway, it felt like this season was a little off, but I'm still a big fan. Overall, I thought it was poorly paced and started off really slowly, but the Dexter/Miguel interactions were worth it. I really hope they try a new formula next season, though, because it's starting to feel repetitive.

I was disappointed in Rita's arc this season. She felt very much like a pregnant woman cliche, and although she and Dexter had some nice moments, overall it seemed like she was there more because she had to be, and not because they had anything interesting to do with her. On the other hand, I think I like Deb better now. Although I thought that at the end of last season, and then this season started and she was back to being dumb and obnoxious and had to work her way back up to mature and competent again. It's kind of starting to piss me off, that she has the same character arc every season, and then the next season it's as though it didn't happen.

I've started watching Dead Like Me, which I like so far, though I find it a little too quirky. (I thought the same thing about Arrested Development and Bryan Fuller's other show, Pushing Daisies, and both of those became so quirky as to be unwatchable, so we'll see). I'll probably post a reaction once I've finished season 1.

So how was your week?

With the drama out of the way, here's how my week has gone:

I went to DSW on Sunday to return a pair of shoes (because they hurt my feet), and came home with three new pairs of shoes - one of which, it turns out, hurt more than the ones I returned. I swear to God, the women's shoe industry has ceased to make footwear and is now deliberately constructing torture devices. I love DSW for their wide selection, because for every three pairs of shoes I buy, I return two of them.

A big storm on Tuesday night knocked out the power in the whole area for about four hours. I happened to be watching an episode of Doctor Who at the time (the one with James Corden) and the power went out just as time went wonky, which was a bit freaky. The batteries were dead in my flashlight, and I didn't want to light candles after last time (I ended up with a singed and traumatized kitty cat), so I wandered around using my laptop as a source of light, lol. (My mother commented on the fortuitousness of having a pet who can see in the dark. Ha! She tried to trip me!) I woke up around 1:30 to find the power had kicked back in (and, thank goodness, the A/C was back on), so I went around and turned off all the lights and went back to sleep.

I had an impromptu shopping trip on Wednesday. As I may have mentioned, my boss is out of town this week, and so, assuming I wouldn't have to go anywhere (and since it's 95 degrees out), I declared it casual Wednesday and decided to go to work in a T-shirt and capris. *sigh* My boss called to say there was an event on the Hill that he wanted me to go to this afternoon, which necessitated proper attire. So off I went to Dress Barn, trying on anything that might match my purple shoes. After ruling out several ill-fitting dresses, I eventually decided that the capris were fine and went with a dressier top.

The event, btw, was Micky Dolenz of the Monkees, who was in town to support our lobbying campaign and performed with three musically talented members of Congress. I was impressed; they were pretty good. They did "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone" and "I'm a Believer," which Micky made it a point to mention that he was singing that song way before Shrek, lol.

Also, I was talking to my mother yesterday, and I mentioned that I'd been reading Budget Travel magazine and now I want to take a cooking class in Italy. We also talked about work a bit, and then this happened:

Mom: "So, did you pick a class yet?"
Me: "Uh... no."
Mom: "Don't you need to do that?"
Me: "Not right now. It's kind of... early."
Mom: "When's the deadline?"
Me: "Um, I think they pretty much have them all year round. There aren't any deadlines."
Mom: "Well, we have classes all year round, too, but we still have deadlines."
Me: "...Are we talking about the same thing?"
Mom: "I'm talking about your [grad school] class that got canceled. What are you talking about?"
Me: "The cooking class in Italy!"
Mom: "Well, you probably want to wait until you've booked airfare before you choose a class."
Me: "I know! That's why I thought you were so weird. Weren't we just talking about Italy?"
Mom: "Oh. I move quickly. Try to keep up."

*sigh* I should never have introduced her to witty banter.

The final straw

I finally deleted my Facebook account. Not that I really used it ever, except as a glorified address book and source of birthday reminders. I have been increasingly annoyed at their encroachments on privacy, and the last straw was today when I logged in (to deny a couple friend requests from people I don't know) and was confronted with another change to profile settings. Apparently, you are now required to link any information on your profile (particularly education, work, and interests) to their Facebook pages. If you don't, then you can't fill in anything and you have a blank profile. Which is bullshit, because I don't mind telling people that The Princess Bride is my favorite movie, but I don't think I should be OBLIGATED to link to its Facebook page on my profile. So, goodbye, Facebook. I probably won't miss you.

Also, unsettling news. Our president lost his election this week, which means that we're getting a new overlord. Who may want to clear out the old staff and replace them with his people. No one really knows what's happening or when, but I'm updating my resume. The most likely scenario seems to be that I'll keep my job, but my boss will be replaced, which is still somewhat worrisome.

Yep, another movie post

This batch is better than the last one, but still nothing that wowed me.

The Business of Strangers - Julie (Stockard Channing), a workaholic corporate executive, befriends Paula (Julia Stiles), the young technical assistant she just fired, when they end up at the same hotel for their business trip. There's a definite edge of competition in their relationship, but it's mostly friendly, with a little UST - until things take a dark turn. Julie gets more than she bargained for when they encounter a young man whom Paula claims once raped her best friend, and the two of them decide to get revenge in a gender-reversed take on In the Company of Men. It's a very unsettling story, and I'm not really sure if I liked it, but both actresses turn in fascinating performances.

Crossroads - As a lapsed Catholic, I was intrigued by this story of a Jesuit seminarian struggling with his calling to be a priest. His decision only gets more complicated when he goes to work at a soup kitchen and falls for Jill (Amy Acker), the winsome humanitarian who volunteers there. Although the characters' religion is a major part of who they are, the movie is surprisingly free of preaching or propaganda. It's somewhat predictable and the storytelling is a little clumsy, but it's kinda cute.

Then She Found Me - Helen Hunt plays a schoolteacher in the midst of a midlife crisis. In the space of a few days, her husband (Matthew Broderick) leaves her, her adoptive mother passes away, her biological mother (Bette Midler) comes back into her life, and she starts dating the father (Colin Firth) of one of her students, all while she is desperate to have a baby and is worried it's too late. It wasn't bad, per se, but the story is somewhat weak, and all the big name actors are very stereotypically themselves (Helen Hunt is very neurotic, Bette Midler is very brash, Matthew Broderick is very immature, and Colin Firth is very... British).

Boys from the Dwarf

As the culmination of my Red Dwarf rewatch, I finally got to see "Back to Earth." And I have to say... not impressed.

I'm completely amused at the "Nine Years Later" opening. I've learned not to expect this show to EVER resolve its big cliffhangers, so it mostly just gives me a giggle to see them blatantly ignore things like Red Dwarf being blown up and everyone but Rimmer being in the mirror universe when it happened. Series 8 is easily my least favorite, so I don't really mind pretending it doesn't exist. I appreciated the return of Red Dwarf (I love Starbug, but it was getting claustrophobic), but the return of the whole crew with it totally threw things off. Plus, it basically reset Rimmer to series 1 levels of smegheadery. I love Rimmer so hard in the later series, and as much as it breaks my heart when he leaves to become Ace, I love seeing how much he's evolved, so it's frustrating to have him return to form.

But this is supposed to be about "Back to Earth." The two things that annoyed me most were the "Hey, we're characters in a TV show" premise and the return of the despair squid. Seriously? Has Doug Naylor been reading bad fanfic? Because the "characters discover their fictitious nature" thing is pretty much a staple of bad fanfic (of course, it usually comes with a Mary Sue who can tell them everything they're doing wrong). And then to resolve the whole thing by using the same plot as a previous "warped reality" episode? Bah. Especially since "Back To Reality" did it MUCH better.

I have to admit, the Starbug Smartcar totally cracked me up (I want one! It would fit in my living room). Other than that, though, I didn't find it particularly funny. Certainly nowhere near their best episodes. Sadly, it really doesn't add anything to the series, except that it hammered home just how long ago this show started, because damn, the boys are starting to look old.

AND WHERE THE FUCK IS HOLLY? (Actually, I remember reading that Norman Lovett was really cheesed that he wasn't invited back, and I have to say, I am pissed on his behalf. This needed some Holly.)

More movie reviews

I watched several movies over the weekend - unfortunately, none of them were all that great. I've been on a kind of indie/low-budget kick lately, but even though I keep going for movies with actors I like, I don't seem to have much luck.

Dare - starring Zach Gilford as Johnny, a bad boy loner who ends up in the center of an awkward love triangle. Alexa (Emmy Rossum, who is as bland here as she was in Phantom of the Opera) is using him to gain sexual experience, which she thinks will help her become a better actress, while her best friend, Ben, is using him for his own sexual awakening - and Johnny is so starved for affection that he doesn't realize they're both using him. Unfortunately, the guy playing Ben played him like a total creeper, and he looked like he was molesting Johnny when it was supposed to be consensual, which was just uncomfortable to watch. Really only worth it if you have a vested interest in seeing Zach Gilford play a different kind of kicked puppy.

Up - I really don't understand what all the hype was about. Okay, yes, the first half-hour was cute, and I recall a lot of people saying they wished the whole movie had been about the old couple. Agreed 100%. The second half-hour was pretty dumb, and by the final third, I was like, "WTF is even happening? This is absolutely ridiculous, even for a children's movie." Oh, Pixar. You let me down. Toy Story 3 better be better than this.

Deepwater - Note to filmmakers wanting to do a creepy thriller with a twist: be less obvious! This one is about a young drifter named Nat, recently released from the hospital, who comes across a car accident and saves the life of motel owner Herman Finch. In gratitude, Finch offers Nat a place to stay and a car, in exchange for Nat fixing up the rundown motel. In gratitude, Nat has an affair with his wife. There's something not quite right about everything, and Nat comes to believe that Finch is into some bad shit with the mafia, and possibly a murderer. Except it's pretty frickin' obvious from the way certain scenes are shot that Nat's perception doesn't match reality, and besides it's a RUNDOWN MOTEL. Everyone knows crazy shit happens at rundown motels!! So it's really hardly a surprise when we find out that Nat's a psychopath who escaped from a mental hospital. HE'S the one who murdered all the people, and a good deal of what's happened in the movie was all in his head (including the affair with Finch's wife). Sadly predictable, and Kristen Bell wasn't in it nearly enough.

Shades of Ray - Zachary Levi stars as a half-white, half-Pakistani actor named Ray who is torn between his white girlfriend of two years, to whom he's just proposed, and another half-Pakistani girl whom he's just met. I think it was supposed to be about racial identity and accepting who you are, but it kind of ends up seeming anti-interracial marriage. Ray's father feels he ruined his life by marrying a white woman, and is trying to prevent Ray from making the same mistake, so he introduces him to Sana (Sarah Shahi) - and somehow, after exactly four conversations with her, Ray is breaking his engagement to be with Sana because she "gets him," by which he means "is also biracial." Not that I don't understand the value in being with someone who comes from the same cultural background, but we don't actually see them connecting in any meaningful way. Presumably, he had a good relationship with his girlfriend, if he wanted to marry her, and he throws it away on a whim (which is a trope I LOATHE that comes up often in romantic comedies), and we're given no real basis for it except race. It could've been a decent story if their relationship weren't so poorly developed. Also, y'all know I love Zachary Levi to itty bitty bits, but Pakistani he is not. I especially found it impossible to buy the scenes of him auditioning for roles and being stereotyped as an ethnic actor. Seriously? They couldn't find an actual South Asian actor?

Movie reviews

Taking a break from the all Dexter, all the time that I've been doing lately, I watched a few movies. I tried Southland Tales, because I'll watch pretty much anything with SMG, but I definitely felt like I missed something... like, the point? I ended up turning it off after an hour and switching to Company, which is a Stephen Sondheim musical. It's surprising, because Into the Woods is my favorite musical ever, but I really haven't seen many Sondheim shows, so I'm attempting to fix that. This one was okay, but not going on the favorites list or anything.

I also watched a movie called Women in Trouble, because it starred Connie Britton and Adrianne Palicki and Sarah Clarke. I thought it was cool to find a movie whose cast is 90% women, especially with someone as awesome as Connie Britton, right? I should've known better. Lots of female characters does not a feminist movie make. Aside from the fact that pretty much every character is reduced to her sexual drives, it's kind of lacking direction and painfully cliche-laden at times. Bah. I think this review says it all.

Dexter

I've finished watching seasons 1 and 2 of Dexter, and I am officially hooked. If you've never heard of it, you live under a rock it's about a forensics consultant for the Miami PD who moonlights as a serial killer, but only kills other murderers.

First, let me say that this show definitely makes me think, "Wow, this is clearly on a premium channel," and you know why? It's not the nudity or the gore or the f-bombs - it's the insanely long intros. Only a show without commercials could spend five whole minutes on previouslies and the opening credits sequence. I know that a lot of people love the opening credits, and I give them kudos for being innovative and creepy, but damn. Longest. Credits. Ever. I have to admit, after the first couple episodes, I just started skipping straight to the beginning of the episode.

Anyway, I am a big fan of the morally ambiguous protagonist. (See also: Angel, Don Draper, Patty Hewes, Dr. Horrible.) However, it took me quite a while to get to the point where I felt more than a detached interest in Dexter. Like I'd be intrigued about what happens next, but not terribly invested in whether Dexter gets caught or someone close to him dies or whatever, and that's because Dexter starts out as a very emotionally detached character. I did think it got better over time, and by season 2, Dexter is much more capable of emotional connection. And while I still don't think I'd like to have a beer with him or anything (he is a serial killer, after all), I found myself caring very much about what happened to him and the people in his life.

I love Julie Benz like candy, so Dexter's girlfriend Rita is one of my favorite characters so far. I really didn't like Deb, Dexter's obnoxious sister, and I felt like the office politics at the police station were totally unnecessary, but I've really enjoyed the season-long arcs involving the Ice Truck Killer and the Bay Harbor Butcher investigations.

So, anybody else watching?

Movies

I've started watching Dexter so expect reaction posts forthcoming, but for now, I'll mention a couple movies I watched last week - The Hurt Locker, which is about as amazing as everyone said it was, and Carolina, which pleasantly surprised me. I was expecting a typical romantic comedy - it stars Julia Stiles and involves her best friend who secretly pines for her while she's oblivious - but it turned out that the relationship drama was rather perfunctory, and what sucked me in was the family drama (yes, I am predictable). Julia's the oldest of three sisters who were raised by their wacky grandmother (Shirley MacLaine), and is a bastion of normalcy in her eccentric family. It's really sweet. I love families!

Also, this is random but Cleolinda blew my mind a little bit, so I want her to blow yours, too. As it happens, I parted my hair on the other side the other day, just to see if there was a difference. No one else noticed, but I found it rather annoying to have to keep forcing my hair to go against its natural instincts. Oh, well.

Food post

I hadn't done much cooking lately because I'd been feeling sick (on the bright side, I could do my grocery shopping for the week and spend about $10), but since I went for my treatment and then had a three-day weekend for Memorial Day, I decided to try some recipes.

On Saturday, I tried a "recipe" for Hawaiian Chicken, and I put that in quotes because it came from my mother, which means it's more like vague guidelines than an actual recipe, lol. I marinated chicken in a mixture of Lowry's Hawaiian marinade, pineapple juice, and white wine. I don't really have measurements, I just kind of poured. I used about half the bottle of marinade, a couple splashes of pineapple juice, and one splash of wine, lol. My mom browned the chicken in a pan and then simmered in the sauce, but I was lazy and decided to bake it instead and served it over rice. It was yummy and easy to make.

On Sunday, I made Asiago, Ricotta, and Spinach Rigatoni. I really need to get myself a regular food processor. Remembering the parsley sauce failure, this time I tried the immersion blender to combine the spinach and cheese, which sort of worked. I cut the recipe in half-ish, and did the bread crumb topping my way (melt butter and mix it with the bread crumbs before adding it to the dish, instead of drizzling the olive oil). It was good, but somewhat dry when reheated as leftovers.

The experiment for Monday was to duplicate a dish that I had a while ago at The Cheesecake Factory, their Roasted Pear and Blue Cheese Pizzette. I didn't bother to roast my pears, but it came out pretty similar. Here's the recipe:

pizza dough (I used Pillsbury refrigerated dough - I recommend thin crust, but any kind will do)
1 Vidalia onion, thinly sliced
pinch of dried thyme
3-4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup beef stock
1 Bartlett pear, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 tbsp crumbled gorgonzola cheese
handful of arugula
salt and pepper

Follow instructions on package for pizza dough (mine had to be prebaked for 5 minutes at 400 degrees).

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion and thyme and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions begin to brown. Add the stock, a tablespoon at a time, until the onions are caramelized to a dark golden color.

Drizzle pizza dough with olive oil, then spread onions in an even layer. Top with pear slices, gorgonzola, and pecans. Bake as directed (mine took an additional 10 minutes at 400 degrees), adding arugula when there's about 3 minutes left.

Now I have leftover gorgonzola cheese, and also havarti cheese, which I bought by accident and don't know what to do with, so if anyone's got any recipe ideas, let me know.

Because rape isn't a crime, you see...

My parents were here this weekend, and since the only time I do anything touristy is when my parents come to visit, we went to the National Museum of Crime and Punishment. The museum itself was really interesting and fun, but I was most fascinated by the glaring omission of anything to do with rape IN A CRIME MUSEUM. As we were walking up the steps to enter the museum, I thought, "I wonder if they'll address rape at all." And... no. They didn't.

The museum chronicles the history of crime (though it's more of a highlights version than a comprehensive history) that includes medieval times, the Salem witch trials, the Wild West, the "public enemies" of the Depression era, mafia families, and notorious serial killers, as well as sections on crime scene investigation and forensics, imprisonment and famous prisons, capital punishment, cold cases, and America's Most Wanted. There were exhibits about murder, kidnapping, robbery, arson, identity theft, counterfeiting, assassinations, fraud, terrorism, and more - and yet, the only mentions of rape were incidental references in, say, the bio of a serial killer who also raped his victims. No exhibit, no statistics, no profiles of cases. Nothing about other forms of sexual assault or domestic violence.

Not exactly a surprise, but still a disappointment. And unfortunately, completely representative of society's attitudes toward rape.

Genderswapped Chuck

Okay, this is kind of brilliant/hilarious: Chuck, with all the characters' genders flipped. I love the casting. Alison Brie as Chuck? Yes, please. Kristen Bell as Captain Awesome? OMG!!

Which raises some interesting thoughts, actually. I mean, I would pay huge amounts of money to see a female version of Casey. Like, HUGE. That goes without saying. But the thing I actually enjoyed about Chuck/Sarah in the beginning was the role reversal - Chuck is most often the damsel in distress and Sarah is the kick-ass hero who saves him. I love even more that they've grown into a couple who kicks ass together and saves each other's lives, but I don't think it would have been nearly as appealing if Chuck were a nerdy girl who always ended up in danger and had to be saved by the manly man CIA agent all the time (who, of course, she promptly falls in love with, because that's what women do with men who save their lives, right?).