Archives for the month of: September, 2008

full article here – my favorites are the castlevania, super mario and contra samples.

via eric

We awoke in Zermatt and took the Gornergrat Bahn up to see the Matterhorn. The Fates were with us, and the sky above the Alps was crisp and clear. We had a perfect view of the Matterhorn. At the Gornergrat overlook, we had our photograph taken with some cute St. Bernards. Amy, Mom and I opted to hike down to the next station and it was lovely. We had breathtaking views of the Matterhorn, glaciers and the valley. There were all kinds of tiny colorful flowers poking out between the rocks and a pretty, still lake.

Back in Zermatt, Amy and Laura left to meet their guide for a mule trek to the next town. Aunt Pat, Mom and I walked to the Mirabeau Hotel for our spa appointments. While we waited we were served wine and chocolates. Mom and Aunt Pat had massages and I had a facial (my first!). Afterwards I had the goats’ milk cream and lavender blossom bath in the copper bathtub in this large stone-floored room with views of the lawn and surrounding Alps. You can see a photo of it on the webpage linked above – it was heavenly. The water stayed so hot and afterwards I was sooooo relaxed. I got to soak for longer than scheduled because at that time of day we were the only people at the spa.

After my soak I emerged and found Mom and Aunt Pat similarly noodle-ized. We floated our way back to our hotel and relaxed with some wine while we waited for Amy and Laura to return and de-mule themselves. We walked around the corner and had dinner at a Chinese restaurant; by this point in the trip we were a bit tired of meat and potatoes.

ok i know this movie has already attracted a lot of outrage – the dakota fanning rape movie! omg! but the CHILDREN what about the CHILDREN etc etc – but this bizarro television trailer is not helping matters (sorry i can only find the theatrical-length ones online). it sort of dances around the rape while clearly being all about it (no mention of the rest of the film’s actual plot, save a fleeting shot of maybe-elvis) with a voice-over that is completely misleading in tone. maybe it’s because don lafontaine is gone – he couldn’t lend his gravitas to the narration – but…come on! this guy sounds like he’s describing a heartwarming family film on the hallmark channel about a lost puppy. fail.

tonight i saw tony bennett at the greek theatre and it was completely magical! his energy and showmanship, his voice – amazing! i met up with arden, klaus and the rest of the group at the tangier for drinks and snacks beforehand, then we hiked up the hill to the theatre. his daughter did a few numbers as his opener. priceless moment: during the intro for ‘the best is yet to come’ tony bennett shouts out “vote for obama!” and the crowd goes WILD. the band was also incredible – count basie’s favorite drummer, and amazing pianist and an insane guitarist. afterwards we went to the derby for a nightcap and it was an absolutely fabulous night. now – early to bed (ok, lies – will probably watch tivo’d ‘mad men’ or read some more comics) so i can run before driving half of our group to the cabazon outlets tomorrow morning. already this weekend is great!

cameron sent me this and immediately we were both laughing so hard we couldn’t speak. i was crying – eyes are still watering. it raises some questions tho – couldn’t the cat just walk through the side? does it do it all the time? in any case, HILARIOUS and dammit i wish i had a cat.

update: super slow motion and cat video montage

this morning i went up to my new orthodontist’s office in burbank and got braces. again. approximately 15 years after i first had them. admittedly they’re only in the back on the right side. and only for five months (and then 9 more months of invisalign). but still. this is kind of lame right? i’m writing about it here to get it out so hopefully i won’t have to keep explaining why this has come to pass. i’m 27 years old and i have braces. ugh.

originally i had checked into invisalign because i wanted my teeth to look better. i’d never been happy with how my teeth turned out after braces in junior high – front teeth didn’t match up, bite felt funky – and then once my 12-year molars fully erupted they were all sideways (chewing surface faced my cheeks) and messed things up even more. as time went on, even though i’ve always been a faithful retainer-wearer, things got more weird in there.

so – invisalign. my teeth would look better and hey, added bonus: my bite would improve and maybe i could get that 12-year molar thing finally fixed since 10 years of a series of special retainers wasn’t quite getting it done. i had a couple consultations, shopped around for prices, and holy crap people. it’s like $5000 AT LEAST. five THOUSAND dollars. my CAR cost $5000. needless to say i was all, “yeeeeeahhhh….no thanks.”

then came the day of unexpected $1500 dental work. dental work that could’ve been prevented if my 12-year molars weren’t all jacked. suddenly, paying $5000 to have that problem put to bed didn’t seem so unreasonable. now the order of my priorities with regards to considering another year of orthodontia were: fix bite to avoid insanely expensive dental work and then, hey, i guess my teeth will look better too.

so, here i am, with poky brackets on all of my right teeth and another appointment in five weeks for a new wire and some crazy rubber band thing they’re going to do to correct my misaligned bite. so far there’s no real pain (after so much orthodontia and retainers over the past 15 years i have a pretty high mouth-pain tolerance anyway), just that wonderful feeling of the inside of my cheek being rubbed raw. more thrilling details about the inside of my mouth to come!

update: omfg my teeth are killing me. i already need to have the top wire clipped.

kristina sent me the link to her website and it’s brilliant. she’s hilarious and her daughter is so awesome i would have a billion kids right now if they could be like her. but with my luck i’ll end up with a date-rapist jock or a slutty cheerleader or some other variant of [derogatory sex-related adjective] [architype nerds stereotypically hate/fear/secretly admire].

*ahem* anyway…some excerpts:

So Nora is grooving on her math problems while we clear away the dinner dishes, and she wants more, and eventually she asks, “Can I do this instead of TV tonight?” Uh, yes. Absolutely.

Of course, later she was peeing naked before bathtime and ended up falling off the toilet and bruising her hip as a result of attempting to sit an extra-special krazy kreative way (backwards, one leg up over the tank, who even knows WTF). From “gifted” to McFly in just around thirty minutes.

SUGGESTION BOX ON THE DEATH STAR

I really like it when Nora improvises Star Wars dialogue. For instance, she will say, in her Darth Vader voice, “I am going to destroy your planet.” And I’ll say, “No! Please don’t! I really like my planet!” Then she breathes Vader-style for a few beats and comes back with, “I am going to destroy it anyway.” The Dark Lord of the Sith welcomes your feedback!

Long story short, LT is a manly man who smells like a man. Which is why I was confused when I noticed that the scent name of his latest deodorant is “Showtime.” Could it get any gayer? Why not just name it “Jazz Hands” or “Mojito” or “First-Row Seats At Madonna Concert”? Showtime for armpits! Whatever.

WELCOME TO BED

The two things I like to do in bed are (a) fuck and (b) sleep. I also like to read and chat, but those are warm-up activities to one of the two main events.

I do not like to snuggle. I feel kind of bad about it, because LT is a world-class snuggler, but whenever he’s doing the snuggle thing I can’t help wishing that we would either skip straight to the Sexy Times or else go to sleep. I cannot fall asleep while being hugged or snuggled, it just doesn’t work. Hug hug hug that’s very nice, now quit touching me so I can sleep. Isn’t it terrible? I am a meanie potato of a wife.

Don’t even get me started on the snuggling AFTER I have already fallen asleep. The other night I woke up very suddenly to LT kissing me on the face, and I was extremely freaked out (possibly because there was a GIANT FACE LOOMING over me) and whisper-shrieked “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?” It is possible that LT was not fully awake either because he mumbled something and rolled away from me, and then I saw fit to reply with “AHHHHH!” and rolled away from him. It is funny now but jeez, what a night. Good morning darling, did we sleep well? Well no, because you menaced me with your big snuggle-face and then I screamed at you like a deranged person. We will have to try again tonight.

Isola Bella is one of the Borromean Islands of Lake Maggiore in Italy. We took a ferry from Stresa. The palace and grounds were beautiful and felt like a fairy tale. Outside of the palace the twisty narrow city streets are filled with vendors. We ate some delicious gelato here and had a lovely lunch sitting at a cafe by the water watching the people go by.

very cute and fun video about an octopus trying to rescue his girlfriend. there’s a neat making-of video on the website.

today is my birthday and guess what came in the mail? the new issue of mcsweeney’s (8 hardcover illustrated mini-books about fables!) and the first 4 volumes of wholphin! hooray!!! and i found a pretty blouse and abercrombie and cute jeans at ae! plus cameron made me red velvet cupcakes! that means cupcakes TWO DAYS IN A ROW (thanks eric!). and when i walked in the door she was watching ‘the cutting edge’! so far this birthday is going pretty well.

…toe pick!