Resolved in February

1. Done! (NB: some of this is going to be pretty repetitive).
   
2. Hmm, not so great. 28.3% remains my total, but that's having been somewhat indulgent over the past month - SuperBowl, drinks, eating... it's all been a bit much. I wouldn't have thought of February as a decadent month, but pour moi... it really has been. But other than Spring Break (ulp!) no real issues in March, and hopefully will get back on track. I've been astonishingly lazy, too, which hasn't helped.
   
3. Well, we went dancing at Bembe for a friend's birthday, which was multo fun. But that's about it... still not doing well on this front.
4. Classic movies... well, I think In Bruges definitely counts. Ahem. No, actually, we did see several - Network, It Happened One Night, The Godfather, and all in one weekend. Sweet!
5. Read: Bartleby the Scrivener; Billy Budd, Sailor; Oedipus Rex; currently on The Merchant of Venice.
   
6. Nope, no flowers since. Should do something about that.
7. Well, I made pie, twice, and I also made crumiri, which were yummy, but a tad sweet, and there was just too much mixture. But we've not been as experimental as we could be.
8. We went to the Whitney, obviously, but also had a wondrous trip to the Met, which was one of my favourite visits in many years. We pottered, we looked, we studied... it was just lovely. And, as a consequence of my post, we have a fabulous book to read which I hope will work me through my fears and reservations about looking at art.

And with that... I'm off to the gym.

No Surprises, Please

Bill O'Reilly is an arsehole and a liar. Shocking news, I know. What IS shocking is that after all the crap rightly thrown at Golf Magazine, and the fact that even Bush recognizes there is no correct use of the term "lynching," O'Reilly has not apologized (saying I'm sorry if YOU took offence, i.e. it's your fault if you did, you oversensitive prig) or been censured is another indication of why Fox is horrific.

Plus, interesting take of Jackson's about Clarence Thomas's use of the word...

Tag Team

My lovely Xopo tagged me for this fabulous list - fabulous, because I get to talk about myself. Less fabulous, however, as I reveal just how much tv I watch to thems who I might want to protect from the knowledge (i.e, TOH).

Still, I have finished writing a statute on termination of at-will employment in NYS, and after that monumental achievement, I feel I can a) be a little self-indulgent and b) I should write it down to make myself face the facts.

Books I Have Been Reading: For once, I get to feel a little smug as I have actually done some reading of late, what with me doing Law & Lit. However, now I read them, it's a bit embarrassing I'd not read them before, but beggars can't be choosers and all that.

1. The Stranger. Albert Camus.
2. The Ladies of Grace Adieu. Susanna Clarke (the volume of short stories that is a quasi-follow up to Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell, which I utterly adored).
3. The Poisonwood Bible. Barbara Kingsolver (every American I know seems to have read this, so thought I'd give it a go).
   
4. The Trial. Franz Kafka.
5. Bartleby, Scrivener and Billy Budd, Sailor. Herman Melville.

Music I Have Been Listening To Far Too Much: Fortunately, I have scrobbling to help me determine what I've been listening to a lot of, so here goes:

1. Idealism. Digitalism. I wasn't sure about this at first, but am now a huge fan and extremely peeved I'm not going to the gig here in May.
   
2. Cease to Begin. Band of Horses. Came late to it, not sure I'm overwhelmed by it, but it's interesting, at least.
3. Old School Drum & Bass. Seriously, I've been listening to a lot of J-Majik, Photek, Roni Size, that sort of thing. I'm really back into it, and hoping to get my arse back out on a dancefloor or two for a bit of a dance to it in the very near future.
4. Falling off the Lavender Bridge. Lightspeed Champion. Because it's just lovely.
   
5. The Outsider. DJ Shadow. Endtroducing... remains one of my favourite albums of all time, and I do like the other ones, although less so; this is growing on me.
   
6. Lupe Fiasco's The Cool. Lupe Fiasco. Because the first album was utterly lovely, and this is proving equally so.
7. Love is Hell (pts 1 & 2). Ryan Adams. Again, late coming to this; most of it's pretty good, but his cover of Wonderwall is one of the most beautiful things I've ever heard.
8. General listening to plenty of LCD, MC Solaar, Jamie Lidell, and a recent downloading of the Cure and Pet Shop Boys, for old times' sake.
   

Movies I've Enjoyed Recently. This is where I really fail. I saw none of the films nominated for Best Picture,* the first time since I was about 14, I imagine. Ugh. But, if I have to, I have seen and enjoyed:

1. Network.
2. The Godfather.
3. It Happened One Night.

TV I Love. This is where it gets nasty. Are we including dvds? I hope so.

1. Veronica Mars. Someone thought I'd not seen the finale of Season 1, and so lent it to me. Unfortunately, she'd misunderstood that I'd seen very few of the first half of the Season. That, however, has changed, as I've now seen nine. Ulp. It's utterly addictive, brilliant, but something I'd forgotten was how great the music is on it. In the first episode alone we have a lot of Air, Weak Become Heroes by the Streets... all good.
2. The Soup. I've now managed to get TOH into this. It's glorious - thanks L, always, for pushing me into obsession - I was frighteningly grumpy when it turned out they'd changed the time last week and so my flipping DVR had recorded a half hour E special on the "troubles" of Amy Wino. Not that I don't love her, but still...
3. Weeds. Genius.
   
4. Coupling. I'm watching re-runs on BBC America and absolutely loving them.
   
5. The Wire. We've been holding off on Season 2, but hopefully tonight is where we re-start.
6. For shows that are STILL not back, I am in mourning for Pushing Daisies - seeing Kristin Chenowith last night made me long for it.
7. Boston Legal. Mostly because it's about lawyers, but a lot has to do with William Shatner and James Spader, and Candice Bergen (she ROCKS).

This has made me realise how no one I know blogs other than the person who tagged me and the people she tagged. But I'll try tagging DR ANDUS and BEAN and PORTAX and LIGHTTRIPPERS/BEAN GROWERS anyway... just to see if they're out there.

* As penance (and for enjoyment, obviously), TOH and I are at least going to the movies on Wednesday to see which of them we can catch.

Silver(ware) Lining

Today, the mighty Spurs (TM - me?) won the League Cup for the first trophy since 1999 (also the League Cup). We beat Arsenal and Chelsea to do so. I got up after five hours' sleep and a minging hangover* and trudged to the Official Home of the New York Spurs Supporters' Club in Brooklyn Heights** with a wary heart. I was (and still am) wearing my Spurs top from when I was mascot, aged eleven.*** And we won. Somehow, we won. This may mean nothing to you, but it was fabulous.

It was a wonderful, brutish reminder of watching sport in England. We did not cover ourselves in glory - the "imaginative" insults I remember fondly when at baseball matches ("Yankees suck; You suck" - not exactly inspiring) were, essentially, variations on "you adjective c-word" (fat and fucking being the favourite adjectives"), you wanker, etc. It was pretty revolting. Yet, it was home. It smelled like it - beer everywhere, and the smokers outside were in sufficient number that their stench filled the bar. Not something I'd want to do every week, but it was joyous, briefly.

* Bought a friend a frozen margarita maker - best present ever. Seriously. Look at it - it's BEAUTIFUL.

** I think. I find Brooklyn neighbourhoods so confusing.

*** Passed the ball around with Gazza and got dubbed Gary Lineker's "lucky mascot" - by the grinning eejit himself. We won 2-1.

You say potato, I say bloody steak

I was intrigued by the article I Love You, but You Love Meat article today in the NYT. As someone who navigated a gradual change to meat-eating after years of vegetarianism, I'm interested in the compromise--or, rather, lack thereof--represented by these people, and aware that a rabid viewpoint on eating habits can change.

Further, as someone in a relationship with different eating habits-TOH still has been known to add ham to a vegetarian dish that is perfectly yummy-it was interesting that these people often just could not compromise. Those who had ethical reasons - the vegetarian and the kosher - seemed to be able to manage it a bit better simply because they understood the other's reason and knew that compromise had to be the key. Allergies, of course, are difficult to navigate, but the concerns for wellbeing probably override most irritation. But pickiness... that's the fundamental problem. One of my overwhelming fears about child-rearing is that the child will be a picky eater. I couldn't bear it.

It is interesting the symbolism that people place in food; how offended one gets if one's food has been rejected, particularly if, like me, that's about the sum of your creative impulses and output (my pathetic attempts at knitting notwithstanding). Fortunately, my first stab at shortcrust pastry and pie-making was extremely well-received--if a bit messy-looking--this weekend, plus of course crumble. There is no better way to get rid of pears; if only kiwi crumble sounded appetising.



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