Death by Pinterest

Sometimes I wonder "how will I know when I've 'made it?'" I think the obvious answer is when I have a sandwich named after me.  I mean, what else do you need as affirmation, clearly. In the meantime, I was able to check this off my life goals list -  Write a Screenplay. So, it's a parody of Pinterest parties, among other things, and features a cameo by my infant son. Presto! I have strong feelings about all social media, so much so that I refer to these feelings sagely!/annoyingly/sincerely as my "digital politics." Yawn, right? It's just that I've been to so many over-grammed, over-planned, craft explosion birthday parties for babies and young children....

Seven years ago today

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Today I celebrate the woman who taught me I CAN have it all!

Thanks for teaching me how to be a massive overachiever! I love ya mo...

Nursery Rhymes For Modern Babies

Has anyone actually read these things called nursery rhymes? They're, what's the word, ghastly? Yes, I'll try ghastly for 200. The fact that we read these R-rated relics to babies is a tad strange. Although rhymey and sing-songy and deliciously bite-sized, they are really just EPITAPHS OF DOOM AND GLOOM. Poverty (Pop Goes the Weasel), Violence (Fee Fi Fo Fum), Widespread Disease (Ring a Round o Roses), Sexual Scandal (Georgie Porgie), Hunger (Old Mother Hubbard), Obesity (Handy Spandy Jack o Dandy) Domestic Violence (Peter, Peter Pumpkin Eater), Decaying Infrastructure (London Bridge is Falling Down), A Pig Who is Unjustly Excluded from Grocery Shopping! (This Little...

Ambitions

Sometime in my life, I want to present or be presented with a giant chec...

I think he's trying to tell me something

I was working on some freelance this morning and I quickly ran upstairs to get something. When I came back, Milo was on tip-toe in front of my desk, dragging the mighty mouse around in Illustrator and clicking away to his heart's content. So pleased with himself. This is what he created. I can't decide if I'm happy he has shown interest in design at such a tender age, or kinda bummed that the first thing he did was use the graph tool.  What is he trying to tell me? Does he want to be an artist or an actuary?!  Speak, largely lexicon-less child, speak! ...

Valentune

Jared is in production! This is good, but I don't see him as much as I'd like to once pre-pro starts. However, he does love me enough to wine and dine me, minus the wine. We went to Sundance Foundry Grill to celebrate our love. For food. Milo was mesmerized by the fire, and the yuppies. Milo contemplating the subtleties of the amuse-bouche. And . . . he likes it! Apres-lunch, we walked around bumping into rich skiers, looking at pictures of celebrities before they were famous, and admiring matte gold jewelry I can't afford. Jared is STILL doing production work, Milo is sleeping in some weird position, leaving me to my devices. SOO I just...

The Girl Crush

Happy Valentine's Day (this week). In honor of this most venerated holiday, I'd like to talk about a different kind of love. The Girl Crush. Though unable to date the phrase back to its first use, I think I first heard it floating around female lexicons somewhere around the year 2000, probably, knowing the crowds I ran in, in reference to the arthouse crossover Amelie. The titular character was disgustingly adorable - a twee brunette with large brown eyes and a heart of gold. She talked to her bedroom decor, played elaborate puzzles with a garden gnome and dressed not unlike the Lone Ranger all in her twisty-turvy plot to find love. And France be damned if it didn't...

Ten Times Ten

The boy is ten months old. Question Mark! The mom is in love. Double Exclamation Mark! There's that axiom that you don't know what it will feel like to love someone so much. That's true. You could try though. For me it's like this. Imagine swimming in a newly liquid sky through puffy cartoon clouds and that your arms stretch so far you can pull the entire world into your chest and hug it tight toward you, and then you craugh, which is a word I just made up that combines a deep belly laugh stirred up with a long, cleansing cry. Now cover that in cheese, not nacho cheese in a can type crap, but real good, real sharp cheese that's so pricey you can only afford to buy a...

2012: Read

My favorite books this year were both nonfiction (one biography). I don't think that's ever happened. I've always enjoyed well-written nonfiction and duly acknowledge, when done right, it's as potent a form storytelling as anything else, but it has never held the near-magical, whizzpop allure for me that fiction does. Being said, it's taken a few fantastic journalists to top my list this year. YAY! Every Love Story is a Ghost Story by D.T. Max Fiddler in the Subway by Gene Weingarten OVERALL YAY Most Evil by Steve Hodel Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell And Then We Came To The End by Josh Ferris Every Love Story is a Ghost Story Obviously,...

2012: Music

Don't you know I only listen to NPR now? And old mix CDs with the likes of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Fleetwood Mac and whatever my friend Sam gave me in college? And like, lots of Robyn when I'm working out? I'm changing the title of this category. AUDIO YAY Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me. Any episode with Paula Poundstone. Just look at that face. And tie. NAY Music in 2012. I think? Anything worth hearing? I sort of feel weird about Paula's image representing this categor...

2012: Film

The way I typically designate a good film is based on the following, rigorous criteria: 1. There is a story 2. The story works 3. I feel an emotion other than boredom, irritation, or complete and unresolved confusion 4. The absence of Katherine Heigl That's it. I don't necessarily have to agree with the filmmaker's intent, any moral, worry about the fps rate, or anything else. It's just got to nail the 4 principles and I will probably like it. Of course last year I saw movies that didn't qualify, of which there are legion. YAY! Argo Young Adult Silver Linings Playbook Anna Karenina Looper The "Am I Crazy? or Is this Movie About a 'Crazy' Guy Awesome?"...

2012: Television

(I don't see many shows as they air. Because, Netflix. So this is more of a personal chronology of exposure, rather than what actually premiered.) YAY! Homeland Nashville  The Wire *thirtysomething  The Cosby Show The "Can This Show Get Any Better?" Award Breaking Bad How DOES IT END? And DOES IT HAVE TO? NAY New Girl I find Zooey Deschanel intolerable. There. I said it. Let the hate mail commence. *Someday I will emotionally steel myself to write about this series and why, despite pushing 25-years-old, it's my favorite show eve...