Last night, I had cause to say
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to throw my eggplant at you.”
The woman on line ahead of me at checkout was very nice about it.
Archive for Deborah Lipp
Eggplant is a fun word
Ice Cream Tips
Good food tips on serving ice cream, including some gems:
- “Temper” ice cream before you scoop – leave it at room temperature for 8-10 minutes before serving. Return ice cream to the freezer immediately after it has been served to minimize the formation of ice crystals.
- Forget what your brother-in-law told you about nuking it for 10-20 seconds. Resist the temptation for immediate gratification! Ice cream is a good enough treat on its own!
Stolen shamelessy from Deb.
Olberman Wants Your Love
Well, he doesn’t say that, but give it to him anyway.
Dating Normativity
Over at Alas (A Blog), Rachael linked to a bunch of blogging about interracial relationships. I was struck by this very sharp observation:
One thing that really gets me frustrated when I read about interracial relationships [is] the whole normativity of same race relationships. When people marry or date people of the same race, their racial views are not interrogated; the racial nature of their relationship is not questioned or noticed largely because it is considered normal.
This struck me very strongly. In part, because one argument in favor of interracial relationships is that they should be normal; there should not be a special term for them. Mostly, though, because I think you get into a place in life where you want to feel normative. You want to get home, and kick off your shoes, and not be Other. Not be Interesting.
In a blog entry that lists reasons that black people should date each other, Racial Realist includes:
Shared Experiences/ Shared Worldview – For anyone who wants a life partner/ soulmate (as opposed to a fling/ relationship driven by enhancing one’s status), it’s natural to seek out an individual who has been through/ is going through what one has been through/is going through
I get that. It’s comforting.
» Read more..
I sold my first items on e-bay
Okay, I earned less than $40 total for both sales, but still. I have overcome the intimidation of learning a new computer skill, and one that involved money.
I realized the other day that the reason I’d never sold anything on e-bay was that I didn’t have a digital camera, and hey, I bought a camera last December, so no excuse. So I sold some inexpensive stuff; makeup I’d never touched, to sort of break myself in.
I’m pleased to report I’m not actually broken.
Which X-Man are you? (Cool Geek Quiz)
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You scored as Rogue. Rogue is a strong but tragic personality. She loves Gambit. Because of her mutant powers, she cannot touch anyone without hurting them. Therefore, she longs for human contact. However, this southern gal’s strong personality has allowed her to deal with this. Powers: Absorbs lifeforce and powers by touch, Super strength, and flight
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Most Comprehensive X-Men Personality Quiz 2.0
created with QuizFarm.com
Monday Movie Review: A Prairie Home Companion
A Prairie Home Companion (2006) 10/10
An old-fashioned radio show has its last performance after a corporate buy-out of the station. Directed by Robert Altman.
This is, to an extent, an if-you-like-Altman movie. So many of his are. It’s probably available to you to walk out of the theater and say, “What was that about?” You shouldn’t do that, but you could.
What it’s about is radio, and people, and fragility, and connection, and the random hand of death, and change, and all sorts of things that people might experience in a few hours thrown together. A group of people who have been working together, as performers and backstage, for many years, on their last night. They love, they fight, they hope for more, they settle for less. Possibilities become manifest, and some things just aren’t meant to be.
The backdrop of all of this is a scaled-down version of Garrison Keillor’s famous radio show. In the fictional version, it is a local show heard only on a local station. The musicians aren’t famous; they’ll be singing at churches and county fairs when they go off the air. The crux of the movie is the backstage interactions.
Meryl Streep and Lily Tomlin are on-hand as Yolanda and Rhonda Johnson—the Johnson Sisters were once a foursome of children, now they are an aging duet, still doing the same songs. Their performances are flawless; Yolanda is fragile, always fluttering away from knowing what she’s saying at any moment, but grounded in her music (and Streep, it turns out, is a wonderful singer). Her sister is solid, supportive, and deeply connected to their past. She cares for Yolanda and harmonizes with her won weaker voice. Yolanda’s daughter (Lindsay Lohan, in a wonderfully natural performance) plays at being depressed and disdainful.
When we’re not watching backstage interactions, there’s the onstage performances (wonderful) to enjoy. There’s also Kevin Kline, who plays Guy Noir in slapstick fashion. On the radio, Guy Noir is a comedy bit; a take-off on radio mysteries of the 40s. In the movie, he’s a real detective who fancies himself written by Raymond Chandler while he closes his fingers into drawers and knocks over hat stands. Also on the scene is a mysterious woman in white (Virginia Madsen) who is more than she seems. Her mystical presence works surprisingly well in the mix.
The set design deserves its own paragraph. It’s amazing, the kind of thing I want to take home on DVD so I can study the details at 3x zoom. Dressing rooms are like a history of broadcast radio, as well as a personal history of each character.
The Altman movies that I love do a lot of different things, and then bring them all together. Nashville, The Player, and A Prairie Home Companion do this. The current movie mixes music, drama, comedy, allegory, and a whole bunch of folks. It’s a delightful stew and I’ll be happy to watch it again.
Breath, Man, and Laws
Many, many years ago, I overheard my friend Ruthie (whatever happened to Ruthie?) say
Breath is the difference between man and laws.
Well, that certainly sounded deep, but what did it mean?
Then she added
Or Rampal.
Oh! She meant Herbie Mann, Hugh Laws, and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Ruthie played the flute.
I was thinking of this because I heard Jonathan Schwartz play Rampal. Rampal was wonderful of course. It’s the breath.
Naked Bialys
Earlier in the week, I found fresh bialys at the market, so I bought three. For breakfast Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. And I get home and slap my forehead. “I forgot to buy cream cheese!” ARGH! What good are bialys without cream cheese? I don’t know either.
So all week those naked bialys have been sitting in the fridge, burning a hole in my appetite. (Yes, I can mix metaphors better than you.)
Last night I went shopping to entertain myself with pretty colors, and I got tired, and I got in the car to come home, and I remembered the bialys. And thought about all the hassle of going to the supermarket just for cream cheese. And my scary brain, which was tired, thought,
“Is there a drive-thru cream cheese place?”
I thought that. And by the Gods there should be. But it turns out, not so much.
I went to the supermarket. Such is life.
I straightened out the mess I made of August
I accidentally scheduled two events for the same weekend, which frightens me about my brain. It’s all fixed, and thank you Crystal Fox for being accomodating about the brain thing.
