Popcorn

Sunday, I went to see "Batman Begins" with my spawn, because he fits the target demo, and on some whim I bought the Giganto Skip o' Corn and the Vat o' Pop, and a little glimmer of understanding about the obesity epidemic struck me. Just holding that great big trashcan of popcorn had an Alice in Wonderland effect on me and made me feel teensy and wee. This was compounded by trying to hold a cup which I couldn't even grasp sufficiently in one hand. I felt like a Lilliputian. Of course, we made the barest dent in our ill-begotten snacks even though we were, as they say in Scotland, stuffing our coupons. Which made me feel even more wee and teeny. It's easy to delude yourself when faced with a mountain of cheap carbs about how much you actually ingested when only a slightly smaller mountain remains after you have done your damage.

Anyway, the movie was pretty entertaining - I had very low expectations, even though it stars this man. It has some real acting and some real actors in it, as well as fiancee-of-the-month Katie Holmes. Anyway, Michael Caine is in it and as far as I am concerned, he saves every movie he is in.

Pagan Bonfire

I belong to a CSA affiliated with the local Waldorf school, and hence get super yummy Martha-esque bunches of veggies every Tuesday. They had a pot-luck and bonfire on Friday, which I went to with my son. Of course, it was pretty groovy; I'm not going to say anything about the whole Steiner/bio-dynamic thing because I feel like if you find something that makes you feel more connected to other people and the earth, more power to you. But it did make for a pretty funny moment. My son and I were sitting on some hay bales in front of the bonfire, and everyone else started sitting on the other side of the bonfire. It was obvious there was going to be some sort of ceremony type thingy and my son whispered to me 'Mommy, why is everyone sitting over there?', so I whispered back 'Because this is the naked side...', and pretended to start taking off my top. Tee-hee. I don't think I damaged him irreperably, do you?

Oh man, it's official

This is sort of depressing news that's been hovering around for a while:
Patricia Harrison president of CPB

I don't really understand all this talk of a liberal bias in NPR and PBS; they have both seemed to me like toothless tigers for a while now (remember the vulgar Reaganathon last year?), and pretty unthreatening. But I guess it's some kind of relativism to make the inevitable swing to the right, which I'm sure we'll now see, seem like a correction.

It's bad enough that our troops get plenty of Rush but no Al (on American Forces Radio). Of course, the troops are a captive audience, as are TV watchers without cable. How convenient. Propaganda is such a melodramatic word for this slow, insidious erosion of our tradition of a free media, but that's what's happening. I'm glad I ignored all those pledge drives now.

On a lighter note, I love, love, love 'Get Behind Me Satan' (except for Meg White singing). What the hell was Renee thinking, dumping Jack for sappy safe Kenny Chesney? Jack White is a genius.

My Neighbor's Muscle

My neighbor showed me his muscle while we were on the way to see Aimee Mann at the Museum of Art (which incidentally was an excellent show). It was quite an impressive bulge, and he even let me touch it when I tentatively asked him if I could. It was his bicep (what?...) and it was an honest to goodness Popeye-why-I-oughtta bicep. He achieved it from about five months worth of early morning workouts at the Y, and it's inspiring me to consider thinking about possibly joining so I can counteract the effects of being over 40 and liking my food and drink a little too much.

In other news, what does the following list make you think of?:

Golden Rain

Peach Flower

Wildcat

Mother Nature

Starfire

10 marks if you said fireworks (as purchased for my spawn for Independance Day) - the rest of you give me ten and take a cold shower

Walmart

I had to go to Walmart today. I really don't like Walmart for reasons that have been extensively documented elsewhere (http://walmartwatch.com/), but I regard shopping there as one of the ideological compromises motherhood has thrust upon me. Just like going to fast food restaurants and watching sitcoms, it's one of those things that makes me cringe inside whenever I do it, but I'm too lazy to put up a fight.

The immediate reason I don't like going to Walmart is the greeters make me feel like crap. They are always sweet little seniors or in a wheelchair, and they are always earnestly handing out smiley stickers, and I always feel their well-being is directly linked to the amount I spend there. On the way out, I have to resist the urge to hold up my Walmart bag and say 'See? You can upgrade to Fancy Feast tonight!', even though my rational self knows that some far-flung Walton is having the cabana boy polish up his new platinum spittoon instead.

Totally unrelated, I love sudoku. No, this is not some kind of sushi or some exotic Asian sexual technique, but a puzzle which has created a CRAZE that is sweeping the U.K. I love crazes. And I love puzzles. And so I love sudoku. Give it a try - http://www.sudoku.com/

My Thrift Shop Score

It's pretty, isn't it?

Yarn

I'm (blush) expecting. Expecting a new addition to my yarn stash that is. My yarn stash is like my porn; everyone in a while, I take it all out and finger it and imagine all the things I'm going to do to it later, and create unholy couplings such as red Peruvian chunky wool with fuschia ribbon yarn. And if you're a friend of mine and happen to be in my house during a time of yarn stash transition, god help you. I will subject you to a full tour and make you say 'wow' and 'mmm that's great' at appropriate intervals. So far, my victims have been very nice about it, but I think it's because the lust-addled gleam in my eyes scares them. On another note that gets me all hot and bothered, I scored this awesome hand painted Italian bowl at the thrift store yesterday. I realize shopping at thrift stores doesn't make me less of a materialist capitalist pig, just a cheap materialist capitalist pig.

Blogoholism

Noun: The irresistable impulse to share the minutiae of your life to an unsuspecting world

Getting Started

I'm watching the 'Today' show, and Katie Couric is interviewing three gossip hacks about Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Is this not totally weird in so many ways? One, why is this 'news', two, why are the gossip hacks second guessing Braddie and Angelina's actions at all credible, and three who gives a shit?

Anyway, I digress because this blog was supposed to be about exchanging mix CDs and posting people's liner notes and playlists. I made some CDs and gave one to my friend and then read some post on someone's blog where giving someone a mix CD is akin to professing you want to fuck their brains out. Err - I don't think so. Unfortunately for me, completely ignoring someone is my expression of wanting to fuck their brains out.

Back to the CD - here is my playlist and liner notes:

Marianne's CD

Track	Artist	Comments
Loaded	Primal Scream	This is what was happening in the UK when grunge was happening here.
Stereotype	The Specials	What a great band - you will be going 'ah-ah-ah' like Boris Karloff after hearing this
Next Exit	Interpol	I know people like to bag on these guys for trying to sound like Joy Division, but I like this song. This is definitely one to sing in the car 'We ain't going to the t-o-w-n, we're going to the city' and try out your bass profundo
Young Pilgrims	The Shins	Somehow, the Shins remind me of Squeeze and I'm not really sure why
Should I Stay Or Should I Go	Ice Cube Feat. Mack 10	This works way better this way than the original (Parental Advisory!)
Hurt	Johnny Cash	God, I can't listen to this song without tearing up. Between Trent Reznor's lyrics and Johnny Cash's old broken voice, this is amazing
Darts Of Pleasure	Franz Ferdinand	Back to something fluffy and sexy. I like to think the 'German' part is 'Ich heise super fantastic, ich heise chocolate elastic'
Happy House	Siouxsie & the Banshees	Now I'm going to my room because I DIDN'T ASK TO BE BORN and NO-ONE UNDERSTANDS ME
Everything In Its Right Place	Radiohead	Now I want to spin around and around and around until I can't stand up
Jeepster	Marc Bolan & T.Rex	I am glad I'm old enough to have seen these guys on Top of the Pops. Can you believe this is more than 30 years old?
Ready Or Not	The Fugees	I have a girl crush on Lauryn Hill - beautiful, talented and bat-shit crazy
How Soon Is Now?	The Smiths	Who doesn't like the Smiths? They can make you laugh and depress you at the same time
Got To Get You Into My Life	The Beatles	I'm fascinated by Beatles tunes of this era - did they 'crossover' yet? I think this must have sounded incredibly innovative in 1966 from a bunch of white boys
The Stars Of Track And Field	Belle & Sebastian	Just listening to them makes me feel pale and delicate, although I'm only pale and rather strapping actually