A Little Snow, A Little Beer, and A Lot of Funk

Memorial Day 2006
We went up to the cabin for Memorial Day weekend. The main reason for going was to get lots of sleep. Well, that was the main reason I was going. As usual, things didn't work out as I had planned. We arrived at the cabin around 9:30 Friday night and it turned into the typical too-wound-up-to-settle-down-so-let's-have-a-few-beers-and-play-a-few-cards sort of evening. (It's a good thing my friend from work brought ear plugs with her.) We woke up Saturday morning with the fabulous idea of popping down the street to get bagels for the group, and were quite surprised to discover it had snowed during the night. Surprised and dismayed, since none of us had brought anything warmer than a sweatshirt (and I had promised my friend that the winter weather would be quite gone for her first trip to the cabin). The good news is that the snow melted by the afternoon, but the bad news is that it was still too windy and cold to do spend much time outdoors during the day, and of course it was even colder at night. So being stir-crazy again in the evening, we decided to go bowling. I scored a personal best the first game (I think I broke a hundred), but the wheels came off during the second game (or maybe the beer kicked in), and I finished in the gutter. Again, the evening last for some time after we came back, and I don't think I remember to drink any water. On Sunday, the boys left to play golf, so we girls took a nice long walk down to the marina, got yelled at while trying to cut through someone's backyard, bought some snacks at Safeway, and settled in back at the cabin for an afternoon of movie watching, s'mores cooking, and futile efforts to keep the fire stoked. That night, we all ventured out for a real evening and went to the former Caesars's (which is now some cheesy-even-though-it's-trying-to-be-hip casino) for the (wait for it!) George Clinton concert! Can you believe that! The PCU references were flying, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect. We staked out a table a little far from the stage and during the first couple of songs, I wasn't really into it. But then we girls pushed our way to the front of the crowd, so we had an excellent view for all the sights, sounds, and smells, and those guys really do put on a great show! My favorite part was when George's granddaughter came out to do a song. Afterward, we parted ways with the boys who went to gamble, and we went to check out the casino's "nightclub," where we had a couple more drinks and chatted with these two guys whose names I can't even remember, but the single guy's wingman was too drunk to remember his duties and he ended up showing us pictures of his kid. And the evening ended with half of us coming back to the cabin to discover that we weren't in possession of the keys, and my dear friend, who'd already had a crash-course in cabin life, broke in through the window, and was quite spry in the process. My last chance at a long sleep-in vanished with the bright morning sun, and then we were home again, home again by Monday afternoon. Good times.

Saturday night

I really need to lay off the cheap wine. Or at least lay off the You Tube homemade video of Jim yearning for Pam set to the song "You're Beautiful" while drinking the cheap wine.

In other news, we recently acquired a circa 1987 Nintendo console, and I played a little Mario Bros. for the first time in at least 10 years. Those spinning fire things get me every time.

Woah, I just saw a commercial for what will certainly be a crappy TV show called Windfall, and whose face did I see? One Jason Gedrick. Ah, Jason Gedrick, that Iron Eagle, that dufus-y 1980s teenager who needed lessons on how to be cool from his deceased 1960s greaser dad. I love these sentimental flashbacks from my childhood. And this flashback just reminded me that the actress who played Jason's mom in that movie later went on to play Malcolm (in the middle)'s mom, and who in real life is married to Bradley Whitford, of West Wing fame, but who I will always remember fondly as the jerk who cheated on Elisabeth Shue in Adventures in Babysitting. I love that movie!


.... Damn, this is good wine....

Here We Are, Face to Face...

'Twas very excited to discover this website (courtesy of Pop Candy), which has MP3s of the theme songs to many a favorite television show, including Punky Brewster, Simon and Simon, Gimme a Break, Silver Spoons... the list goes on.

Speaking of TV, during my obsessive internet surfing for things related to The Office and John Krasinksi, I discovered this list on Wikipedia of British TV shows that were remade for American TV. I was shocked to see several shows that I have watched and had no idea they were based on British shows:
Dear John ("were there any sexual problems?")
Too Close for Comfort
Three's Company / Three's a Crowd
Max Headroom
Sanford and Son
All in the Family (OK, I think I remember hearing something about this one)

Recently Watched
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
The Squid and the Whale (do you think little Owen Kline's parents were concerned about all the language and semen?)
Good Night and Good Luck
Mrs. Henderson Presents (This one wasn't as good as I thought it would be, but what annoyed me the most was that one of the actresses looked familiar and I couldn't figure out why. Not but two days later my sister sent me a link about the actress who has been cast as Tonks in HP5. It turned out to be Natalia Tena, who played Ellie in About a Boy ... and who was the very same actress I was trying to identify in Henderson!)
Northern Exposure first 2 episodes (we just got the first 4 *seasons* on DVD, and we're determined to watch them in order. Yay - something to do this summer!)

Recently Read
I am on YA novel kick, and I picked these up at work:
If I Have a Wicked Stepmother, Where Is My Prince? by Melissa Kantor
Amazing Grace by Megan Shull
Dairy Queen (I liked this one a lot) by Catherine Murdock

Reading
Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson (Despite the humdrum title, I am loving this! It's a prequel to Peter Pan, and I keep humming "yo ho, yo ho, a pirate's life for me"!)

That Wonder Years was a darn good show!

I am now, like many other women in America I am sure, mildly obsessed with John Krasinski, who plays Jim on The Office. The season finale was last week, and he had such a great “grab her, squeeze her, kiss her on the lips” moment, that he is now a full-blown dream guy. So I looked him up on IMDb and found out he is a playwright and he is appearing in several upcoming movies. And he’s tall, which is just gravy. But, darn it, he is only 26! And if his appearance on the Ellen show is anything to go by, then he is just as cute and affable in real life as his character is. "He's all ease and friendliness. No false dignity at all!"

One of the upcoming movies is a Christopher Guest movie, which is double bonus because that guy does nothing but good. And he is a fucking baron!

This new-found obsession should certainly not undermine my less-new obsession with Martin Freeman, who played Tim in The Office, and the cute porno stand-in in Love Actually. In fact, is it just me or do John and Martin kind of look the same? By gum! That must be what the casting directors had in mind!!

And speaking of cute guys, Craig Ferguson is coming to town! It all comes back to the Scottish!