let's play catch up
I have the day off today, as I am working tomorrow, and it seems that I am mostly going to spend it cleaning and playing online. Not a terrible shock, and as the holiday season is always hectic, it isn't exactly unwelcome. I went back to Ohio for Christmas, and because I couldn't get vacation days, it was a super quick trip - in very late Friday night and back to New York on Monday. It was a fantastic time and I looooved being able to see all of my family, whom I miss terribly. Since I had to go right back to work on Tuesday, though, seems like I haven't had time to just relax and breathe a bit, which is where today comes in. I slept in and have been listening to the radio (I love you XM!) and it's been nice. Soon I shall go do dishes and clean the apartment a bit more thoroughly than has been done in awhile. Which will be good too, not only because I hate the mess but because I've always found the cleaning process a bit cathartic.
Before that though, as I am feeling type-y, I thought I would scroll through the vox archives and answer some of the Questions of the Day that I missed. I am bad a regularly logging on here and posting, something I sort of wish to change. If I were a believer in New Year's resolutions, doing so might be one of mine. The questions are probably my favorite part of vox, and maybe the photo hunt will go along with that, since I want to start using my pretty camera more. So, we'll see.
In the meantime, here are a few answers that I've missed giving these last few months.
How do you take your tea or coffee?
I wish that I liked tea, because it seems like such a cozy thing to drink and I like the idea of putting the kettle on and snuggling down with a cuppa, but I really don't. Maybe I should try it some more and it will grow on me, as I can't imagine that I was instantly a fan of coffee when I started drinking it (which I do believe happened when I was in college). I do so love my coffee though, and tend to take it black, no sugar. Preferably iced. In general, I'm just not a fan of hot beverages. Which could also go a ways in explaining my reluctance to embrace tea. Although I do love hot chocolate ... Anyway, back to the coffee. I can drink it with milk or sugar, but generally don't like to. I like it strong and bitter. I find it very interesting that, here in New York, people think you generally odd if you drink it this way. I can't tell you how many clerks in coffee shops give you looks - and even ask you questions like "Really? Are you sure?" if you say no to milk and sugar. Sometimes I like to get a shot of syrup in the coffee, usually raspberry. I also enjoy mocha cappucinos and other fancy starbucks drinks, but don't get those so often.
What are your superstitions?
My boyfriend teases me that it is a fine line between superstion and o.c.d. Thinks that I might clarify as the one would be seen by someone else as the other. Thus, thinking not about quirks that may seem slightly obsessive-compulsive and limiting myself to traditional superstitions, the one that I am most consistent about is knocking on wood, which I do frequently. I also pick up pennies. And while I don't avoid sewing on Sundays, when it's necessary, I invariably feel a little guilty about it.
What books did you love as a child?
Oh, so very many. I was hugely into Nancy Drew and other syndicate series books, like the Dana Girls and Trixie Belden. I loved the Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume books, like practically everyone (even still today - I love it that I am always having to replace these books at work because so many kids read them). For a long time, my favorite books was The Westing Game. I loved all the Katharine Patterson books, especially The Great Gilly Hopkins and Bridge to Terebithia. Where the Red Fern Grows. Mr. Popper's Penguins. Remember Me to Harold Square. The Anne and Emily books by L.M. Montgomery. Going back earlier, Are You My Mother? is the picture book (although it's really an Easy Reader) that I remember adoring and reading over and over again.
What is your favorite board game?
Scrabble. It's a classic for a reason, and remains the one that I play most frequently. We also play a lot of Yahtzee, although technically there's no board with that one. I love Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Life and Clue, although Trivial Pursuit is the only one of thse that we play even a bit. Scattergories is always a good time. I haven't kept up with new games that much, although I really enjoyed the few that I played at parties - like Apples to Apples and that one where you build train lines, the name of which I don't remember. In general, I adore board games and when I was younger my sister and her family would come over and we would have "Family Fun Night" which frequently involved playing games. It may seem sort of cheesy, but I always loved those nights and they are some of my favorite memories.
Top 5 Tv shows of 2006?
The show I've been most into this season is Bones. It's one of those shows that sort of creeps up on you and is much better than you expect it to be, even though it doesn't get tons of buzz. I am still very loyal to Veronica Mars - although I haven't been as into this season as in past ones - and The Gilmore Girls - which I know lots of people are critical of and think has jumped the shark, but I'm actually enjoying this season way more than last season, which I just thought was so Not Good. The Office is probably the only comedy that I look forward to watching. Um, that's only four, so for the fifth, pick the guilty pleasure reality show of your choice - Top Chef, Project Runway, Big Brother, etc.
What song gives you the most holiday cheer?
Fairytale of New York. It's Christmas (Baby Please Come Home). Silver Bells. Winter Wonderland.
What were you afraid of as a child that seems silly to you now?
That my entire family would be replaced by pod people when I wasn't paying attention. Seriously. I think I must have seen Invasion of the Body Snatchers at a fairly young age, although I don't recall doing so. Just the fear, which I never realized was probably inspired by said film, until I saw it with a friend during the college years.
What is your favorite cover song?
Recently, I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight, as covered by Sleater Kinney.
What tv show was cancelled way too soon?
Well, I have the Freaks and Geeks and Wonderfalls DVD sets for a reason.
These answers are getting shorter - must mean it's time to sign off and clean, no? Thus, I'll just offer one more, which seems a good sort of summing up one -
How did you pick your Vox name? Does it mean something?
I wanted to choose a name that was a little more annonymous than previous online monikers I've had. When I signed up for Vox, I was listening to a lot of Belle and Sebastian - they're sort of one of my go-to bands. The depth of my affection waxes and wanes, but it never goes away completely and sometimes verges on mania, when the mood is right. Slow Graffiti is not my very favorite song by them, but it is on my favorite ep (This is Just a Modern Rock Song) and I'm very fond of it. And, it sounds just interesting enough, even if you don't know the song. And if I were inclined to get very pomo and analytical about it - which I've never been tempted to do until this very moment - blogs are sort of like technical graffiti; and I am quite untimely about it, as the very existence of this post proves. So, there you go.
Comments
What is it with Veronica Mars this season? It's not that it's bad, it's that it's so... thin, these shorter arcs. Now they're talking about doing away with mystery arcs all together, which I think is a really bad idea... that's what actually makes the show unmissable. If it becomes a "case of the week" series, you really won't have to see any one episode to know what's going on, per se. (Think of shows like CSI, Criminal Minds, Monk. House does this very well, keeping an engaging background arc that viewers care about, but I don't know if VM could maintain it.)
Gilmore Girls has sucked, more or less for a while: let's hook Lane up with Zach, who is way too stupid for her, because we don't have Adam Brody on the show anymore! Let's keep Logan around for the 14-year-old girls, even though the show has sucked since he was introduced! Let's bring out totally artificial reasons to make Lorelai and Rory have fights where they'll stop speaking to each other, so we have a season cliffhanger! (That only works one time.) And, although I like the character of April and the actress who plays her, let's introduce artificial means to create stupid fights between Luke and Lorelai! (I mean, has Thing One that Anna, April's mother, has done, seemed like normal behavior to you?) The only new thing on the show that kind of amuses me is how the writers are now getting a lot of mileage out of torturing Lane in hilarious ways. Of COURSE, if she waited until her honeymoon to have sex, the one time she did it would be horribly uncomfortable and she'd get pregnant.
I love The Office and I vacillate on Earl (which, I know, you didn't mention). I loved it the first year, then I started to find it missable... but when I do watch it, I'm glad, because it's just so sweet. The last first-run episode that aired, the one where Earl and Randy try to rescue Catalina from Mexico (guest-starring John Leguizamo!), had this great bit where Joy was taking a Prozac-like pill that made her serene and perky; when lint from the neighbor's dryer (because their trailer was parked too close to Joy and Darnell's) was coming into the window, she said, "I love it! It feels like I'm being kissed by a thousand little bunnies!" I also love that Darnell is really, really smart (is in the Witness Protection Program and is clearly either very educated or extremely autodidactic, by some references he makes and stuff you see him reading now and then) - but he's this chilled-out guy who loves his family and his pet turtle, too.
Finally: one must always acknowledge the genius of Mr Popper's Penguins. I think that book was read to me in mid-elementary-school (sometime between 2nd and 4th grade) and I read it a few other times on my own. Loved it! I definitely forgot to mention it in my childhood books post, where you will see that I also loved syndicate series books. You know that someone really loved them if they mention the Dana Girls or Kay Tracey, which were a little more obscure by the time we were kids. I am also really tickled that you like having to replace the books you mention - although I think it's good for kids to have a little Fear of the Librarian in them, vis a vis abusing books, it's also awesome if a librarian likes to see certain books being read and loved to tatters by the kids.
PS - we also watch Bones. It's my mom's favorite show, but while I find the cast likeable, I thought it was really badly written for much of the first season. I'm getting more drawn into it this year than when it first came on. I realized I was into it when I found I was getting all shippy about Angela and Hodge.
The other night, an episode was on that begins with Tempy on a talk show, bombing an interview because she doesn't speak interviewese and doesn't plan to have kids. My mom was claiming that she sounded like me (not in what she was saying, but in the utterly deadpan way she was saying it) through most of the episode!
i admit that the gilmore girls has been a shadow of its former self for awhile - i think i hang on for sentiment, and that won't let me admit how far it's fallen. although i suspect that time will do so. during the whole of last season, i'd never let myself admit how disappointed i was in it, and when justin or someone else would make critical comments, i'd defend it. but now i am quite comfortable saying that i hated last season ... and maybe i give this season more credit than it deserves, because i don't have to deal with lorelei being a wimp about luke or pretend that i like april. who has grown on me a bit, and i actually like the storyline with her and luke now, when it's its own little thing and not integrated as conflict between luke and lorelei. but, yes, logan could very easily fall by the wayside and i'd be more than okay with it. i was actually a wee bit disappointed when the life and death brigade stunt didn't kill him, although the melodrama of that happening would've probably annoyed me to. which probably just means i'm difficult to please.
i could've very easily mentioned earl. it isn't necessarily a show that i look forward to and think "oo, my name is earl is on tonight!" but i usually watch it and enjoy it. i think what you've hit on and what they've done so well is make all of the supporting character endearing in their own way and more wel-rounded than what you find on your typical sitcom, and in a non-contrived way.
and i definitely think that bones is one of those shows that just creeps up on you. like i think i started watching it just because nothing else of interest came on at that time slot, and it seemed like good back ground noise. but i slowly got myself sucked in. it probably helped that that didn't happen until the end of last season, so i only caught that awkwardness when i got bored one night and watched a lot of old episodes on the fox website. but it was the same with my boyfriend - i'd have it on and he's sort of be half-interested, and then way interested but pretending that he wasn't, and finally to the point of saying, when the last one aired and the preview for the next said it wasn't going to air until the end of january, "what, over a month away! that sucks." and now i have a new image of you; i'll have to start imagining everything you write to be said in the tempe style!
and on the mystery tip, sort of, the dana girls were - by far - my favorite of the syndicate books, although it was really difficult for my eleven year old self to get ahold of them, so i didn't end up reading as many of them.