Alien Spouse

Middleton-Windsor.

When I got up this morning Nancy was meowing and meowing and meowing, so I turned on the television for her so she could watch the Royal Wedding. Nancy loves the Windsors. I watched it with her whilst I had my breakfast, and I saw Kate arrive at Westminster Abbey before getting ready for work.

At work the Royal Wedding was a very popular topic of conversation, so I ended up looking up all sorts of stuff on-line to properly perform my duties as resident British person. I found photos of everything - the dress (gorgeous!), the earrings, the bridesmaids, the cake, the cake from a different angle, the guests, the guests' hats, and the crowds. It was all quite lovely I thought; not necessarily the best use of several million pounds, but quite an impressive bit of pomp and pageant.

My opinion is that Kate seems like a very nice girl, and I also think William has done rather well. Also I think this whole think this makes me feel old, because I remember going to London for the day with my parents to see Charles and Diana's wedding. And that was 30 years ago.

The Amazing James Randi.

This is James Randi, who was speaking as part of the Skeptic track of events at the conference.  This was one of the few photos I took of an actual person at Dragon Con, and it's annoyingly a bit blurry.

This was one of the events that I insisted we had to attend, and it was well worth queueing to hear The Amazing Randi speak about his dual careers as a stage magician and a paranormal investigator.  I could have listened to him talk all day.

Dragon Con : Monday

This morning both Doc and I agreed that it would have been really nice to take today off to recover from our long weekend, and get some sleep.  We are both exhausted today, but we have tea and some chocolate biscuits to keep us going until dinner.

In the mean time I promised the re-cap of Monday at Dragon Con.  This was perhaps the most exhausting of all, because we were in such a rush to get to the last available "Battlestar Gallactica" photo opportunity that we skipped breakfast.  The important thing was that we got there in time to sign up for a photo with Edward James Olmos, an actor with a long and illustrious career, but who Doc and I love best in his role of Commander Bill Adama.  We only had to wait in a queue for about twenty minutes before Eddie arrived, and then we were whisked in, posed with Eddie and out the door again.  It took perhaps 30 seconds, but Eddie was very friendly and the picture we have is of him with an arm around each of us.  Squee!  Adama hugged us!  So then we went to the "Battlestar Galactica" panel (Edward James Olmos, Dean Stockwell and Richard Hatch) which was mainly a Q&A with the audience.

After that we hung out for a while and looked at the photos waiting to be collected.  They were great!  There were dozens of science fiction stars at the conference, and several of them had posed for photos with fans; some clearly more happily than others.  Out of all of them I have to say that Eddie McClintockdeserves a special mention, because in all of the pictures he looked as though he was having a great time.  I already liked "Warehouse Thirteen", but now I am all the more charmed.

The final thing before we left was a quick return run to the trading hall, because I wanted to buy a piece of jewelry that I had seen the day before and realised that I needed to own.

Is it not the most magnificent thing you have ever seen?  It can really only be described as a Star Trek Drag Queen accessory, and was (according to the nice man who sold it to me) designed by Majel Rodenberry; who apparently was as much of a magpie as I am.  

We had also intended to pick up a couple of t-shirts, but the very last morning of a convention is not a good time to find clothes in a specific size.

I very very nearly almost bought this for my Mum though:

And THEN we had breakfast.

Dragon Con Saturday

One of the websites that Doc sent me a link to in advance of our coming to Dragon Con gave the very sensible advice that you do have to very consciously remember to eat, drink and sleep.  That sounds redundant until you get here, and find that there is something interesting going on from 8:30 in the morning until 1 in the morning, and that's just the official program.

Today we got up at about 9, had breakfast at our hotel then walked over to one of the other hotels hosting the conference for our first session.  This was part of the Skeptrack schedule, and it was a fascinating and extremely inspiring discussion about the need for secular lobbying groups in American politics.  Hell yeah!  Obviously with us and others like us in the audience the man was preaching to the choir, *snort*, but it was still very refreshing to hear.

We left during the Q&A because I wanted to find the loo before we went to the talk by James Randi.  We found the mens toilets fairly easily, and correctly guessed that the ladies would be opposite, I walked around the corner and there were Dean Stockwell and Scott Bakula signing autographs!  (Post script: That makes it sound as though they were actually in a cubicle in the ladies' loo, I can assure that they were not; they were just right outside.  It was perhaps not the best of locations.) It was most surreal, but I was in too much of a rush to get anything signed - Besides, I had absolutely nothing appropriate with me, so it would have just been a receipt or something stupid like that.

The queue for the Randi talk was epic, and we were not 100% sure we would get in, but we did and even managed to get good seats on the center aisle.  James Randi himself was a very interesting speaker and engaged with the audience in an intelligent and charming manner, although really we were all clearly fans so there was no debate or dissension.  Still he's like a cross between Yoda and Darwin and he can do conjuring tricks, which makes him a pocket-sized version of the ideal grandfather.  Utterly adorable.

Then we had lunch, and then we headed back for another talk - This time on the solar system.  It was 5pm by this point, and when I realised that the sound was going to be terrible and the room slightly too warm I told Doc C I was going back to the hotel and left him there.  I bolted back to our room and had a bath in our ridiculously fabulous whirlpool bath and read some Sherlock Holmes.  Then I had a nice cup of tea and a nap until Doc C woke me up for our next event at 7.  We decided we probably wouldn't get into the Battlestar Galactica panel, so we went to the academic discussion of "The Watchmen".  This had some good observations, and an almost complete set of Watchmen in the audience; although I was even more pleased to see a group dressed as characters from the 80's BBC TV version of The Hitchhiker's Guide.

At this point we headed back to our own hotel, because we wanted to go to the seafood restaurant there and then visit the special after-hours Dragon Con opening of the Georgia Aquarium.

And now we sleep.

Friday Night Still On My Mind.

I'm still kind of stunned by the Q&A with Amy Sedaris last night, it was just so cringe worthy.  This is why we can't have nice things people! 

The hijacking of the whole thing by local businesses was just so rude (I only mentioned two incidents in my post yesterday, but it was more like 10 or 11 out of the 15 questions), and it was all the more outrageous because the audience paid $30 a ticket, so it was like paying to sit through a tacky infomercial.  Oh and we were told several times that the ticket price was subsidised, so I think we were supposed to be indulgent of it becoming a marketing seminar.  I have been bitching about it to Doc C on and off all day.  Fortunately he's been doing the same thing, so he didn't mind

I hate to think what Amy Sedaris thought of the whole thing.

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Amy Sedaris Has Great Legs.

Amy Sedaris was appearing in town this evening as part of the University's Summer Arts Program, and I have been really looking forward to it since May.

Amy Sedaris was great; she was funny, gracious and incredibly patient.  This may seem like an odd thing to say after seeing a comedienne, but there was a Q&A session with the audience at the end and the host who had been chatting with Amy Sedaris earlier was choosing who got to ask questions.  The majority of the people who were invited to "ask a question" were just hogging the microphone to promote a local business.  At one point Amy Sedaris invited an audience member to make a craft project with her.  One enthusiastic young man was selected first, he literally vaulted onto the stage and really seemed into the whole thing.  There were really only enough materials for one craft project, but the host then pulled a woman out of the audience as well.  She turned out to be the owner of a large local shop, and getting her up on the stage seemed to be purely a way for the host to mention the name of it.  It was just so transparent.

Amy Sedaris is staying at a local spa, and, during the Q&A, the owner was given the mic.  She asked if Amy Sedaris liked eggs, Amy Sedaris seemed a little non-plussed by the question, but said no, not really.  Don't like eggs?  Umm, no?  This seemed to go on forever, until the spa owner eventually said that she had been planning to make Amy Sedaris breakfast.  It was like when a small child tries to tell a knock-knock joke to someone who doesn't know they are supposed to say "Who's there?" and the child just keeps trying to tell the joke anyway.  But obviously the owner of the spa is an adult, so it was more uncomfortable then that even! 

Amy Sedaris has a book, "Simple Times: Crafts for Poor People", coming out in November, that I think I might buy because she was just such a sweetheart this evening to put up with all the nonsense so politely.  And I wished I had a copy of her last book, "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence" to get signed after the show, and I might just buy a copy anyway because she was so nice and funny.  We should all get copies!

p.s.  Amy Sedaris changed out of an ankle length gingham dress into a second-hand dress that a friend had altered for her and made extremely short.  This is how I know Amy Sedaris has great legs.

The Original Constant Reader.

The second hand bookshop that we really love in Asheville has a small bowl of badges (American Translation: Buttons or Pins) next to the till, and all these badges have photos of authors on them.  I usually take a moment to rummage through the bowl, and usually only recognise a couple of the portraits, and then it's never anybody I enjoy reading.

Except, on this last visit, I found Dorothy Parker.

 I did double-check with the booksellers that it was actually Miss Parker before I bought it, although who else could it be really?  She looks both hungover and world weary, with a distinct air of sarcasm in her pose.

Did you know that D.P. left her estate to the Dr Martin Luther King jr foundation?  And her ashes were not officially claimed for 17 years and were just sort of kicking around the place, including being stored in a filing cabinet in her attorney's office, until the NAACP claimed them in 1988 and designed a memorial garden for them outside their Baltimore headquarters.  Isn't that great?

Happy Smiley Face.

This is the hand stamp I got from the show last night, I took the picture as soon as we got back to the hotel room so the blurriness is from all the party rockin'!

I've avoided scrubbing it off, but it's still fading from just normal hand washing.  sigh.

Oh!  You know what I forgot to mention in the concert post?  When we were watching the second support band, Earl Greyhound (They had some great t-shirts), I was looking around at the audience and across the bar I thought I saw someone I recognised.  It took me a moment to realise that, oh yeah, that would be Dan the drummer with Ok Go,  Well that makes sense I s'pose.  Dan got a pint, wandered over towhere we were to watch the band for a bit before going to get ready for his own band's performance.  An excellent, but hardly unexpected celeb spot!

Have A Doris Day!

As I have no gorgeous technicolour confections of my own to share with you, here is Miss Day with a pack of rainbow tinted poodles.

Many thanks to the fabulous Whorange for posting this first!

Exploring Civilisation.

I bloody love big cities.

This morning I left the hotel and headed out to find breakfast. Almost the first thing I spotted was Danny Bonaduce (He was in "The Partridge Family" as a small child, but to me he will always be the first victim of the Minature Killer in "CSI".  I loved that whole story arc, right up until the case was solved and it just got silly) walking down the street, and immediately after that I discovered a nice little cafe which did a decent latte and muffin, and had nice big comfy sofas to relax into whilst enjoying the refreshments.  Lovely.

After breakfast I walked over to Blick's Art Supplies which was just as pleasant to browse as it was on my previous visit.  Then I walked around Philly until I'd got myself thoroughly confused geographically but somehow I still managed to find vintage clothes, comic books, yarn and the hair care products I needed, before I decided to ask for directions back to the hotel.  Turns out the directions were turn left, walk straight down this street for three blocks and there you are!  Easy!  Barely lost at all really!  I mean I thought I was the other side of the hotel, but that's the beauty of a big city like Philadelphia; there is so much of it to wander around in.

So to re-cap, I left my hotel for roughly four hours and in that time I spotted a celebrity; had a delicious breakfast; browsed around some great shops without anyone looking at me like I shouldn't be there; bought some gorgeous yarn at a reasonable price, comic books and hair care products; AND got pleasantly lost and then found myself again.  It's been a busy morning.

Anyway, I might have a nap now before I go to get some lunch.  This is all very civilised.

Isn't It Ironic?

Today we got a whole bunch of stuff done (shopping, recycling and looking at houses), which was great, but by the afternoon I was feeling tired and headachey.

We were washing the car when we got a text asking out for dinner, which I didn't feel well enough to accept unfortunately.  So we came home and were having tea with some Girl Scout cookies, when we got a call from another friend inviting us out to see Lily Tomlin's stand-up act and go back stage to meet her beforehand.  After much debate we turned down that invitation as well, because there just wasn't enough time for me to sleep and see if that made me feel any better.

Honestly, nothing happens around here for months and then something really interesting happens and I need to have a little lie-down rather than actually be involved in it.

LAX-ATL-CLT

It can hardly be a coincidence that no language on earth has ever produced the expression "As pretty as an airport."

Douglas Adams - The Long Dark Teatime of the Soul.

So true. 

Let me reconstruct our journey through the non-pretty...

LAX - Nothing really momentous happened on our way through check-in and security, apart from discovering that the TSA actually don't give a toss if the liquids and gels in your hand luggage are in a one quart clear plastic bag; ours certainly weren't, and no-one blinked an eye at us.  So then we went to our gate to sit and wait.  Boring.  Except it was a pretty busy lounge in the terminal, and when a seat opposite us became free a man sat down who I immediately recognised.  Doc C and I have got to get some sort of subtle code going, because I couldn't think how to alert him to a quite excellent celeb spot without being totally obvious and uncool about it.  Fortunately the actor in question stood up to make a phone call, and I could mutter at top speed "Have-you-seen-"Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer"?-Because-there's-a-serial-killer-sitting-opposite-us!"  Doc C thought I was unusually rude about the gentleman in question for comedic effect, but soon realised what I actually meant and I have to say I was particularly pleased that Doc knew who he was too and we could both geek out.  I delights me to be able ton confirm that Michael Rooker is my first celeb spot since October 2008, and I was starting to worry that I'd lost my celeb spotting knack from lack of practice, so this was very reassuring.  And damn cool too!  The man has had an amazing career!  I have no idea where he was going though, he wasn't actually on our flight.

ATL - We had a stopover in Atlanta, and that felt like the longest part of our journey.  I just hate hanging around at a half-way point like that.  Plus there were no celebs to spot, and instead we had two groups of rednecks in quick succession on the seats opposite.  I wouldn't normally stoop to using a derogatory stereotypical description like that, but one woman was incredibly rude to Doc C and frankly I hope her team loses at the Super Bowl today.  There!  I said it!  I'm sorry Colts, but at least one of your fans is a very poor ambassador for your team, so I shall be rooting for the Saints.  In a vague "I don't actually care" way.

CLT - Finally we landed in Charlotte, I hope no-one wanted a coffee because Charlotte airport, supposedly a travel hub, had not a single concession stand open.  Fortunately we only had carry-on bags, so we could just sprint off the plane to our car and away.  I was wrong when I said we'd get home at 11, it ended up taking a little bit longer than that because we actually landed at 11pm so there was no way we were getting home before 1am.

Haircut Research Day.

I need a haircut.  Fortunately my hairdresser can see me tomorrow afternoon, so now all I need is to find a style.  Last time I googled for "choppy bob", "pixie cut" and "razor cut"; then download the pictures to my iPod to show my hairdresser.

The problem with that technique is there is no way of knowing what the model's hair is like, and what will work on thick hair won't on fine hair; so this time I've taken a different research tack.  Having observed Michelle Williams over the course of her acting career, I have noticed that her hair behaves in a very similar way to mine, so I did an image search for her and came up with a gallery of images.

I really like the choppy bob on the bottom row, and those are all from the same photo shoot.  The top row is Miss Williams with slightly longer hair, which I think is how that photo shoot hair grew out.  And I would love to look like that!  Well, not the top far right picture if I'm completely honest, but that is the photo that really convinces me that Michelle and I have similar issues with our mops.

Of course then all I'll need is a stylist, make-up artist and lighting tech to follow me around everywhere, and I could look just like that.  That's an entirely reasonable expectation for a haircut, right?

Unfortunately Named Film.

Note to Film Makers: When naming a film, I would avoid having it be too close to a popular turn of phrase with a negative connotation.

I'm looking at you in particular Brandon Camp, writer/director of "Love Happens".  Because, frankly, "Love Happens" is a terrible title.  Does Jennifer Anniston's film career really need to have the inevitably titled reviews this will generate?  Poor woman, it won't make any difference if she's any good in the film or not.

Can Team Aniston, if there still is one, please get her an assitant who will at least read the titles, if not the scripts themselves?

Agatha: Novel (1978), Film (1979).

When I was 9 I suddenly developed a taste for Agatha Christie novels.  I'm fairly certain the first one I owned was "At Bertram's Hotel", but I don't remember if I got that before or after seeing the BBC adaptations of the Miss Marple stories.  I could still hum you that theme tune, and for me Joan Hickson is the definitive Marple.

I must have been about 12 when the film "Agatha" (1979) was shown on TV, but I was thrilled to be allowed to stay up and watch it with my parents because I was fascinated by Agatha Christie's 11 day disappearance in 1926, which she never really gave a proper explanation for.  Dad teased me that there was bound to be a sex scene in the film because it starred Vanessa Redgrave and Dustin Hoffman, and, as I was a very pure minded 12 year old, the mere suggestion was completely outrageous to me!  I don't actually remember much about the film now, except for the main plot twist, and it being the main reason I developed a distaste for Timothy Dalton that I've never quite got over.  He's probably very nice in real life, but as Archie Christie he was a cad and a bounder so I could never buy into him being a romantic lead after this.

Last week I spotted the book that the film was based on.  It was published two years after Agatha's death, so she didn't have a chance to respond to the solution posed by Kathleen Tynan.  I'm only on chapter three, so she's only just vanished mysteriously and there isn't any indication of where she might have gone.

The art work on this is particularly 70's film tie-in, isn't it?  Hideous, yet intriguing.  Those are great portraits of Redgrave and Hoffman, but it's a weirdly composed image and I have no idea why they are peering off in different directions through wet glass.  I'm pretty sure that doesn't end up being a plot point, but I could be wrong there.

The One Definite Thing in Life.

I cannot believe that Michael Jackson has died, I simply did not see that one coming quite yet.  Farrah Fawcett too, but that was slightly more to be expected because she had been suffering from cancer.

Perhaps the reason it seems so very odd is that both of them have been slightly less in the public eye in recent years, so when I picture them mentally I'm probably thinking of them in their twenties when they were really at the height of their fame.  Fame is a very odd thing.

If You Hold This Post Up To A Mirror, It Makes NO Sense.

I was reading a Mental Floss post about today being the forty second anniversary of the release of Sgt. Pepper, and they had a link to a website detailing all of the clues that are supposed to indicate that Paul died in a car crash in 1966 and was replaced by a lookalike who was also, damn luckily, a soundalike. Rather impressive!  All the more so when when you read the list of 376 clues, and some of those clues actually pre-date the accident.  Were the Beatles clairvoyant, or is there a more... sinister... interpretation... that can be applied?

Actually the "Officially Pronounced Dead?" website, despite being pretty thorough in it's "Paul Is Dead" clue hunting, is maintained by a sensible man; who clearly states in the FAQ that he doesn't believe the conspiracy theory himself, but still enjoys cataloguing all the clues anyway.  It's fun!

However, if you prefer your crazy hot and fresh, check out the PID links page!  There you can find people who really are convinced that Faux Paul, or "Faul" as he is often known by PID conspiracy theorists, has been perpetrating a massive scam for over forty years now.  In fact some speculate that the same person was doubling for both Paul McCartney and Vivian Stanshall.  I heart that theory a lot, I think that one might be my very favourite mainly because how could that possibly have worked logistically?  Hmmm?

Anyway, I know none of this will be news to you, but it kept me hugely entertained through out my lunch hour and made me want to listen to more thing backwards whilst exhaustively examining cover art for those tricksy hidden messages. What I want to know is why there don't appear to have been any easter egg clues hidden on DVD releases, surely that's a missed opportunity right there!

The sTori of Tori.

Ooh!  This morning I finished reading  "sTori Telling" by Tori Spelling and I now may, or may not, want to read her second book "Mommywood".  Don't judge me!  I know it seems really shallow to find celeb autobiographies fascinating, but her life has just been so bizarrely different to mine and it's always interesting to read which anecdotes a fellow human tells in an attempt to explain themselves.  I think because it was like reading the archives of her blog, and I realised that I would subscribe to that RSS feed in a heart beat. 

Wait, let me google "Tori Spelling, blog".............

I can't believe she doesn't have a proper blog! She's only got a myspace page, damn it.  I hate myspace. grumble...grumble...grumble...

Wait!  She Twitters!  I knew that Twitter would appeal to such a compulsive texter! I am all over it!  Those up to the second Tori and Dean updates are mine!

I SAID DON'T JUDGE ME, DAMN IT!

Celeb Reality TV Melt-Down Sunday.

It's Sunday.  Nothing much is going on today.  Doc C is doing a massive pile of laundry, and I am watching reality television.

I am particularly fascinated by VH1's reality programming, because it seems to be conducting an anthropological investigation into the effects of fame.  Today they had three celebrity car crashes one after the other, "Rock of Love", "Confessions of a Teen Heart Throb" and finally "Celebrity Rehab: Sober House".  Why on earth would anyone sign up to be on any of these shows? 

I suppose I can understand why Bret Michaels would be happy to do "Rock of Love", this is, after all, his third season of having desperate, silicon enhanced, women physically throw themselves at him and generally behave as though he is wildly attractive; what I really don't get is why the women are applying to be treated like groupies (It took me a long time to work out a vaguely polite way of phrasing that).  This is the third season!  Clearly this is not working!  Get a clue ladies!

"Confessions of a Teen Idol" focuses on seven former heart-throb actors, whose careers have nose-dived since they lost their pretty boy looks and who are now desperately trying to get that fame back.  Oh. My. God.  It is so tragic, and yet I could not look away.  Plus it's presented by Scott Baio, which I am confused by because it necessarily positions him as being a fallen teen idol himself, but yet he is not part of any of the attempts to regain the fame.  Most odd.

Finally "Celebrity Rehab: Sober House" is plumbing brand new depths of depressing mainly because I didn't actually know who most of the "celebs" were, apart from Rodney King, and because it is just so tragic to see how these people have thrown away so much because of their addictions.  In fact, I don't think I'll be watching anymore of that one, it's just not fun to watch.

So that's what I've done today.  I've watched trashy TV, and on commercial breaks I ran out to report the latest awful thing I've found to Doc, who watched about five seconds of "Rock of Love" before declaring he wanted nothing else to do with it.

Sick Day.

John Mortimer died yesterday.  I know he was 85 but it's still very very sad.

That was pretty much the first news story I read today, and to really cap it off I'm at home in bed with lurgey today.  I am not sure what it is, because it's just an odd mish mash of symptoms; my head has been aching for over for 12 hours now, I've had waves of nausea yesterday and this morning, plus my throat feels really scratchy.  All in all I just feel awful.

I probably would have gone to work anyway.  In fact I had got up on time, fed the cats, showered and had made my marmite sandwiches for my packed lunch, when Doc C told me I looked ill and should stay in bed today.

Ok then. 

Good thing I'd already filled out the time sheets and accompanying paperwork for this month's payroll, but I called a very kind colleague to make sure they were sent out today, trying to describe to him which pile of paper they might be on on my desk was a nightmare.  He found them eventually though.

Now I can relax and concentrate on wondering why my left nostril is getting in on the act by being stuffed up, while my right nostril is behaving itself beautifully.  I particularly hate when my nose isn't working in stereo.

Be Seeing You.

I was very sad to hear that Patrick McGoohan died yesterday.

Today I wore my Number 2 badge, which was purchased from the Portmeirion gift shop when we visited The Village a couple of years ago.  Why didn't I buy a Number 6 badge?  Well, it's always more fun being evil isn't it? And besides they had sold out of 6s.

New Dr Who Announced! I'm Trying to Keep Upbeat! By The Simple Deployment of Exclamation Points!

The new Doctor Who has been announced!  And I have never heard of him! He's called Matt Smith, which means he's listed as Matt Smith (XI) on IMDB!  He's already been in three TV dramas with Billie Piper, so maybe some of the Who-ness rubbed off on him!

And more interestingly for someone who grew up in Norfolk, he studied at the UEA!  So there is the vague possibility I might celeb spot him in Norwich when visiting my Mum!

I'll really miss David Tennant though.  sigh. 
He'd better have some damn good projects lined up to make up for this

How Bettie Page Saved Christmas NaBloPoMo.

Bettie Page saved me from skipping a day of NaBloPoMo posting because I was so sad to read that she had died that I posted first thing in the morning, which is unusual for me.  I meant to post after work as well, but we were going for drinks at a friends house, and I was so tired (is it just me or has this been a really long week?) that before we left I opted to take a nap.  Doc said he'd wake me in 10 minutes, but acually I got in 25 minutes of Zzzz Zzzz Zzzz before he came to get me.  It was a lovely nap.  

In case you have ever wondered about my position on napping I can tell you that I am in favour of them, and I particularly like to curl up fully clothed on top of of the bed covers with an extra pillow and a light cotton throw for maximum napping efficiency.

I read a very interesting article about napping here.  I have since taken the advice to heart and will nap on the sofa in Doc's office at lunch time occaisionally.  It's not ideal, because it's a two person sofa, and I really am more of a three-to-four person length woman so there is some small difficulty in getting optimum comfort.

Anyway, so after my nap I just had time to get changed, put on some lip stain (Benetint: Making me look less washed out since 2006) and rush out of the door.  It was a great to be out on a Friday night and we were introduced to some really nice people, who I believe I will be facebook friending later today.  It was so much fun, but by the time we got home it was almost one.  So if I hadn't posted that morning, this experiment in blogging keepie uppie would have ended in failure.

And that is how Bettie Page saved Christmas NaBloPoMo.

Goodbye Bettie.

I knew this week was not a good one.  Bettie Page died last night.

It must be true because it's reported on the BBC news website.

At Long Last Fabulosity is Mine!

Last night Doc C was unwell, and this morning I have to be at work early for much overdue budget training.  And it's Tuesday.  sigh.

With these less than glamorous aspects of daily life to book end it, it is particularly sweet to have garnered extra bonus fabulosity points for identifying Planet Fabulon's latest Mysterion correctly!  Thank you Thombeau, and thank you Goldie!

iPod Wallpaper - Portrait of Churchill.

One of the many joys of the iPod is choosing what wallpaper to have.  I've only had it a week, but I have changed the wallpaper every day, sometimes twice if I feel like it.  I was directed by the ever stylish Swiss Miss to Poolga which is a website full of free iPod wallpapers by a collective of designers, where I downloaded about a dozen images that I liked.

Then my friend Jonny suggested I look up Peruvian Figural Sculpture on the Boston Museum of Fine Arts website, which I did.  Then I poked around their website for a bit, which is where I found this particularly fine portrait of Winston Churchill looking as though he is about to say something very rude to the damn fool photographer.

Churchill was my iPod wallpaper on Friday, and I think I might just put him back up for a bit.  It's odd, but the longer I live in America the more I want to embellish my immediate surroundings with little bits of Britishness.  And you cannot get more British than Churchill really, and if you tried you'd probably do yourself a mischief so let's just all relax and simply admire Churchill's technique here.

Actually, now I think of it, my friend Sarah used to have a great photo of Trevor Howard over her desk.  It was a carefully posed portrait shot, but apparently no one had noticed that his v-neck jumper had a tiny moth hole in it.  That would make a particularly pleasing iPod wallpaper, I must see if I can track it down somewhere on line.  Right now.

If Your Present Arrives, It's Your Birthday. (I'm on Birthday Number Four I think)

My main birthday present from my lovely and thoughtful Mum arrived today; it's an alarm clock that wakes you up to the sound bird song, followed by Steven Fry's voice speaking a number of different greetings.  Actually I've long maintained that my Mother is waging a diabolical campaign aimed at stopping me sleeping, so this really is the perfect gift from her!

I knew i wanted one the minute I read about them, mainly because I am absolutely convinced it will make waking up that little bit more pleasant.  I hate all the ring tones on my mobile phone, and those were also my alarm options for a year now.  I suspect it's not good to wake up to a noise that sets your teeth on edge, it sets entirely the wrong tone for the day.

By way of a very welcome contrast, it will be so lovely to start the day off with some witty Britishness.  Frankly I'm almost looking forward to being woken up tomorrow!

Funny? Ha Ha?

Tonight Barack Obama will be the guest, via video link, on "The Daily Show With Jon Stewart" at 11 (central).

I was trying to think of a British equivalent, but it appears that currently the only intersection between British comedy and politics is when the Prime Minister comments on "inappropriate  and unacceptable behaviour" by comedians who actually think prank phone calls to a 78 year old man are funny.

sigh.

And even worse the matted hair buffoon is starting to break America. So I have to keep explaining that yes he's popular, but no he's not what I would call the cream of current British comedy.

The Wire?

Following on from my excitement over actors from "The Wire"  visiting campus yesterday, I have been asking people on campus if they had known about it.  No one had heard about it before hand, and actually almost no one I spoke to had even heard of "The Wire" itself.  I spent a large portion of my day explaining it's utter genius to anyone who would stay still long enough to listen.

I did discover that actually there are seven cast members touring all over North Carolina at the moment, Chad Coleman (Dennis "Cutty" Wise), Deidre Lovejoy (Rhonda Pearlman), Jamie Hector (Marlo Stanfield), Clarke Peters (Detective Lester Freamon), Sonja Sohn (Detective Shakima "Kima" Greggs), Seth Gilliam (Sergeant Ellis Carver), and Gbenga Akinnagbe (Chris Partlow) have been attending rallies, visiting campuses and generally promoting Obama's campaign.

How fantastic is that?

Why Living in a Swing State is Great for Celeb Spotting!

This evening my department had an event for the students, so I stayed late and then headed over to the library to catch a film in the queer film series "Saving Face" (which is not the point of this post, so I'll just say here it was a really terrific romantic comedy and I enjoyed it very much.  It's out on DVD, so rent it now!).

It was snowing a bit, so I cut through the Student Union and as I was rushing along the corridor I saw a man walking the other way who looked exactly like Carver from "The Wire".

Which was because it was Seth Gilliam who played Carver in "The Wire".

Oh.  My.  God.

I actually stopped dead in my tracks and blurted out "I love your work!".  Bless his heart, Mr Gilliam stopped to shake my hand and talk to me, he was a very nice man!  When I asked what the hell he was doing in North Carolina he explained that he was here campaigning for Barack Obama; and that Gbenga Akinnagbe and Sonja Sohn who played Chris and Kima where here too.

And they were!  In a meeting room next to the bookshop!  I called Doc C and as soon as he answered I said "Carver,Chris&KimaFromTheWireAreInTheStudentUnion!!!"  "What?" "Carver, Chris & Kima from "The Wire" are in the student union!  Get over here NOW!"

Both Ms Sohn and Mr Akinnagbe were talking to students, and I didn't want to interrupt (after all they were there to talk to prospective voters, and I'm not a citizen so I can't vote), so I ran off to the screening, so I could tell Kim and Jill (they organised the film series) who are also big Wire fans.  It was one of the most surreal and most exciting celebrity spots ever!  It almost tops that time I saw David Beckham topless at Broadcasting House, but I wasn't wearing my glasses, so he was blurry! 

If only Doc C had been there too it would have been perfect, because he would have thought to say what a travesty it was the "The Wire" never won an Emmy.  Unfortunately by the time Doc got to the Student Union they had already left, so he is very jealous of me.  He says he's not letting me go anywhere with out him now, after all it's not just that I spotted three celebs in one go, but they were stars of one of the greatest television series of all time.  Which you can't argue with really.

Breakfast with Champions.

It's Fall Break, so the faculty and students had yesterday and today off, unfortunately office staff aren't so lucky.  So Doc C dropped me off at work this morning and went to get something to eat at our favourite breakfast place.

Whilst he was there an enormous pink SUV pulled up and two guys got out, and came to get breakfast too.  As it happened they sat at the table next to Doc, so as the two of them were chatting to each other Doc realised that one was a former professional surfer, and the other was probably a writer for a magazine.  He was tipped off by their discussing surfing with Tom Cruise.

When he told me about it, I asked him to describe the surfer and all I got was "He was huge!  He was just this really muscly guy, so I didn't laugh at the car!", so I tried another tack "Was he bald?" and The Doc said yes he was.

As it happens I can only name one former professional surfer and that is Kelly Slater; which was why I asked if the guy was bald, so I found a picture of him on-line to show Doc.  And Doc was pretty sure that was the same guy he'd been sat next to at breakfast this morning.  He thinks.  Maybe.

No clue what a surfer is doing 3000 feet up a mountain though.

Monday. Ugh.

Today was fairly awful, for boring work related reasons for me, but I found that pretty much everyone else was having a bad day too.  It seems to me that ever since I heard that Paul Newman had died, everything has just been wrong.  For example Jason e-mailed to say that he had got home ok, but his suitcase hadn't.  Again.  What is it with Delta, and the inability to fully co-ordinate a change of flight?  I haven't heard the suitcase's full itinerary yet, but I expect you will be seeing Jason's first book "Places My Suitcase Has Been Without Me" in airport bookshops in time to catch the summer tourism trade next year.

However today I did discover what could well be the perfect alarm clock; I currently use the alarm feature on my phone, but it literally scared me awake last week (I sat bolt upright and whimpered according to Doc C.  I dispute the whimpering) and I hate it.  I've been thinking that I really needed to buy a good alarm clock as an alternative, and whilst looking for one I stumbled across the website to the Voco.  It has a voice chip in it loaded with 150 different phrases read by Stephen Fry in Jeeves mode, and that sounds to me to be the most delightful way to be awakened.  If you don't want to buy the clock itself, you can also just download the phrases and a bit of software and it will play through your iPod instead.  There are different versions for Sir and Madam, as well as a Horoscope and Bible version (Stephen Fry doesn't do the Bible one though, which I was quite glad about actually).

 

I Used To Be A Doctor For Pretend.

Generally speaking I am not a fan of the way that some channels in the US have of putting a commercial break every seven seconds in programs.  Why run the opening credits and go straight into a break?  I do not understand that at all, and the same thing happens at the end.  There will be a break followed by a final snippet of the show and then the closing credits.  It's just weird.

However, I do have a current favourite advertisement which features Dr Horrible himself, Neil Patrick Harris.  I find that I just really like NPH these days, and his line delivery in this amuses me greatly. 

As I'm on a roll with the embedding of YouTube clips at the moment, please enjoy:

Three Dozen Mini Cookies and An Astounding Piece of Information.

This afternoon I was in the local bakery buying cookies for an event for work (I got to use my University credit card for the first time!  I have never had a credit card for work before, it's thrilling!)  On the counter they had displayed a copy of "Walter the Baker" by Eric Carle.  Being a former children's bookseller and, indeed, a former child, I love Eric Carle, so I picked up the book and flipped through it.

On the fly leaf I noticed it had been signed by Eric Carle himself, and the signature was dated 2008.  I mentioned this to the guy serving me, and he said off-handedly "Hmm? Oh yeah.  He's a regular here."

Wait, Eric Carle is a regular in the bakery across the road from my office?

Oh. My. God!

The man who wrote "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" buys slices of focaccia from the same place I do.  "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" has to be one of the most iconic children's picture books of the last forty years, and I remember it very clearly from my own childhood.   This may well be one of the most exciting things I've heard since I moved to North Carolina.

I blurted this astounding news out to Doc C, and then rushed back to the office to tell my colleagues.  No one knew what I was talking about, until I spoke to the department Director and she was just as thrilled as I was.  We may have to get one of the staff to tip us off next time he's in, and, Mum, if you still have my childhood copy of "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", now would be the time to un-earth it!

Strictly: Season Six

The line up for "Strictly Come Dancing" has been announced, and I am so sad that I won't get to see it.  I wish it would come to BBC America, but I'm probably the only person in the US who actually knows who all the contestants are.

It's a pretty strong line up this year I think.  I shall have to keep an eye on the website clips, even though it's just not the same without the judges comments and Bruce's hamming it up.  sigh.

Dr. Horrible: Do Not Say A WORD!

I can't believe I forgot to watch The first installment of "Dr Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" last night, and that I don't have time before work this morning.

Now this is important:  No-one is to tell me ANYTHING about this before I get a chance to watch it.  I want zero spoilers people!  Consider me a spoiler free zone until after the twentieth, when we all will, no doubt, be discussing our favourite parts and singing one of the tunes.

And also: Joss is King!  Long Live Joss!

For those of you lucky people with some time to spare right now, please click on the lovely big button below and it will take you to that magical place: The Whedonverse.

Dressing Up My Little Black Dress.

As promised, here are more photographs of the pink net underskirt.  Doc C offered to model, but I decided he should be the photographer, whilst I modeled and acted as creative director for the shoot.

I've mentioned before that the underskirt is vintage and was bought from Beyond Retro after I saw it on "How to Look Good Naked" presented by Gok Wan.  I love Beyond Retro, and I had seen the underskirts there before I saw the show, but seeing the difference it can make to an outfit convinced me to buy one for myself.

I already had a plain black jersey wrap dress, which I'd bought from H&M.  I'd been looking everywhere for a plain black wrap dress, and, whilst it's not a true wrap dress (the bodice wraps across and is stitched into the skirt, so you get the wrap effect on the top without the split skirt), it is still a very useful dress because I could dress it up easily but it was also a nice sensible length, colour and fabric with some movement in the skirt.  The thing I like about putting the underskirt underneath it is that it changes the shape of the dress, and makes the skirt a lot fuller.  The thing I don't like so much is that the elastic from the underskirt makes my waist look lumpy, so I always put on a wide belt to help with that.  I particularly like wearing a hot pink belt with this particular outfit.

Allow me to demonstrate:

 

You can't really see the underskirt in these static shots so I insisted on doing some spinning around to show some movement!

And of course we had to have one low angle shot too to show off all the ruffles:

Finally! "The Women" (1939)!

I watched the 1939 film classic "The Women" last night, it was on Turner Classic Movie Channel as part of Rosalind Russel Month.  I love that there is a television channel with a Rosalind Russel Month.

I was very excited to watch "The Women" because it is one of those films that I have read a lot about, and kept missing opportunities to see it at the cinema or on TV.  This was made all the more frustrating by the fact it's one of those films that is constantly on the about to be released on DVD list, but somehow never is.  Even with all the anticipation I'd built up over years of not being able to see this film, I thought it was great.  A film that stars Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russel, Paulette Godard and Joan Fontaine could be nothing, but great really.  I loved pretty much everything about it, apart from some of the hats, and it was such a treat to finally watch it.

As I was watching I did think that a re-make with some of the cast from "Sex and the City" would be fun, and I thought that sounded like a genius plan right up until I read on IMDB this morning that a re-make is actually being released this year.  "The Women" (2008) stars Meg Ryan in the Norma Shearer role, which I can just about accept, because possibly Meg Ryan is this generation of Hollywood's best approximation to Norma Shearer. 

However.  

Eva Mendes is in Joan Crawford's role as the bitchy conniving Crystal Alan?  Seriously?  Maybe Eva has hidden depths of bitchiness, but somehow I don't see it.

Even worse they are apparently updating the story to the present day, which makes a nonsense of the entire second half in my mind.  I do not see how this is going to work, because they no longer need to go to Reno for a divorce so I don't see how they are going to corral all those characters together convincingly.

Maybe they have a genius solution for this problem, but let's just say that I am concerned.

Kiss Eau de Parfum: With Scratch and Sniff Stickers!

Dear Jen and Jason,

Do you have a wedding gift list?  If not, you might be getting this:

A lovely His and Hers matching set of Eau de Parfum as endorsed by the glam rock legends Kiss!  Ignore the reduced sticker, I think that was put there in error.

Naturally we felt compelled to Scratch and Sniff, but could detect no smell what so ever, so I am unable to tell you what Kiss and their ladies actually smell like.  Probably for the best.

My New Favourite Reality TV Show

This is very late in the day for me to be posting for the first time, but I was unable to use the computer because Doc C was writing a philosophy paper or two.

Whilst he was busy writing those, I decided to watch cartoons on the TV in our bedroom, and as I was channel surfing looking for an animation fix I happened to stumble across a TV show called "Shear Genius".  This turned out to be exactly the same format as "Project Runway", but with hairdressers.  I wasn't specifically looking for this show, I just happened to switch on in the middle of a challenge in which the stylists were cutting hair whilst blindfolded.  One contestant managed to hack his own hand up quite a bit, whilst all of the models were looking distinctly nervous as they watched what was happening to their crowning glories. 

So, naturally, I stayed to see how that would turn out (the results were, um, interesting), and the presenter of the show turned out to be Jaclyn Smith, one of the original flavour "Charlie's Angels".  Whilst I have no clue why Jaclyn is presenting this, it did seal the deal for me.  I loved "Charlie's Angels".

As if the blindfold challenge wasn't hard enough, that didn't even really count for anything except that it decided the order in which the stylists could choose their models for the elimination.  This was also hilarious because all of the models had cards with pictures of a famous hair cut they wanted to emulate, and the big reveal was that all of the pictures were of cartoon characters.  It was brilliant, you can see photos of the end results here.  My favourite was Charlie's version of Marge Simpson's beehive which involved a cloud of fake blue hair styled around it to get that proper colour and height, but I think the most wearable was Daniel's Wilma Flinstone Do that ended up winning the round.

I can see I'm going to be hooked on this, as there is clearly going to be some fabulousness going on, but also because I really miss living with my favourite hairdresser, so this is very soothing for me.

Plus next week Kate Smith is a guest judge, and I want to see whether she looks as good as Jaclyn.

"Dollhouse" - Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

I was already looking forward to "Dollhouse" which is scheduled to premiere on Fox in January, but now I'm super excited for the following reasons.

1. It's a new series created, and written by Joss Wheedon.  Hello! 
2. It's about a shadowy organisation with ambiguous motivations.  I love shadowy organisations with ambiguous motivations!
3. All of the agents are sans surname, and have totally ridiculous first names based on that police alphabet thingy.  So will we soon be learning to love people called Echo, Victor and November.  Genius!
4. There is some sort of mind control and/or brain washing involved.  Ooh!  Sciencey!
5. It's got Eliza Dushku in it.
6. It's got Olivia Williams in it.
7. It's got Amy Acker in it.

Any single one of those elements would be enough for me to interest me; put them all together and I am practically buying the action figures already.

But that wasn't enough for this show, oh no, it had to pull out the big guns and add the Magic Ingredient that was bound to make this a Must-See-TV event for me.

That's right.

8. It's got a former Australian Soap Star in it!  Yay!

In the role of Sierra is Dichen Lachman who may be more familiar to you as Katya Kinski, the character she played on "Neighbours" for three years.

On paper this series could not be any more perfect.  What's the betting Fox cancels the thing before it even starts?

Trailer after the jump...

Pink Net Underskirt. ***Formerly A Featured Post***

I'm guessing that Channel 4 has just shown a repeat of the episode of "How to Look Good Naked" in which the peerless Gok Wan enthused over a fluffy net underskirt purchased from Beyond Retro.  I base this guess on the fact I had 15 hits within fifteen minutes on variations of that google search from all over the British Isles (and, slightly oddly, Germany). 

If you have come looking for that, I have just taken photos to show the black dress I wear this with. The post includes before-and-after pictures, so you get more of an idea of how the underskirt shapes a dress; you can find that here.  There is also a post about storage of the skirt, and a lot more photos of just the underskirt here.

The original post about me buying the underskirt is here (I think I paid about thirty pounds for it, but I don't remember exactly) and a couple of photos of the the underskirt here, and here. 

I love this underskirt a lot; it's very comfortable, really easy to throw on when you are in a rush to go out and whenever I do wear it my dress gets loads of compliments (even from drag queens, who know a good outfit when they see one!)

Really, what more could you ask for?

Kinetic Phase Two Week Eight: Complete.

This week's grade is a solid B, which is fine because I'm still getting used to the new set up of things.  I got one A+ this week, so I know it is possible...

1. B - Two Combat, a Cardio and a Mind/Body.  I was in a bit of a rush, and the nice thing about setting my own workouts is that I really can taylor them for the available time slot.  The Cardio games tend to be 10 minutes each where was the Combat's are a much more intense 5 to 6 minutes, so this morning's work out was was designed to fit neatly into forty minutes but still give me a nice amount of exercise.
2. A+ - Two Cardio, Two Combat and a Mind/Body.  I had more time this morning so I added more Cardio and now I feel very sweaty.
3. B - Three Combat, One Cardio and a Mind/Body.  Have I mentioned how much more running around there is to do on the bigger TV?  I worked SO hard for that B!
4. B - Two Cardio, a Combat and a Mind/Body.  I foolishly choose two games that made me run around ike crazy, and now I need a nap.

The Measurements for this week are:

• Bust - 38.25 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)
• Bicep - 11.75 Inches (No change from last week)
• Waist - 34.75 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)
• Hips - 41.75 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week) 
• Thigh - 22.00 Inches (Down by 0.25 Inches from last week)

It's nice to see the measurements start dropping again, it's so weird to see the numbers change each week because it feels so gradual.  It's very good that I have the statistics noted down, otherwise I'm not sure I would have believed it myself.

Yesterday morning I was scanning the UK headlines on the Guardian news website (I'm usually a BBC news girl, but I fancied a change of pace) and I noticed a news blog post about Fern Britton's (UK TV Presenter) weight loss; which she has been attributing to eating better and doing more exercise, but it now turns out was primarily due to the fitting of a gastric band.  What this article was actually about was the media backlash against Britton following this revelation, mainly because she's been advocating regular exercise and eating healthily to the point of fronting a major advertising campaign for Ryvita.

Apparently there have been several articles vilifying Britton for lying about how she achieved the weight loss, and thereby deceiving her fans; which oddly mirrors a similar recent US incident involving Star Jones (I think she is also a TV presenter).

By way of contrast, and however much I enjoyed "Sex and the City", one aspect that really frustrated me about the TV series and the film was that through out Carrie has been portrayed as being the possessor of a enviable figure, apparently without putting in any thought or effort to it's maintenance.  Carrie is quite clearly depicted as not having a regular exercise regime (we see all three of the other women jogging or working out, Carrie sometimes joins them but this is clearly not part of her routine); but she is played by Sarah Jessica Parker, a woman who candidly states that she actually works extremely hard to maintain her rock hard abs.  How many fans of the show realise that is the case though?

Reading the article about Fern this morning, I couldn't help but wonder (did you see what I did there?), which fabrication was worse?  Fern's or Carrie's?

At least Fern may have inspired a few people to join a gym, or to have salad for dinner, and isn't that a positive thing when all is said and done?

Bleeding Ears.

One of the things that really bugged us at the old flat was that the girl downstairs would blast music unexpectedly at all hours of the day or night.  She seemed to only own three CD singles, and we could never decipher what songs they were because all we could hear through the floor would be a thumping bass and the highest notes of the vocals.  I know I've mentioned this before, and now we've moved out you would think I could move on but I seem to be suffering from post traumatic stress. 

To get some idea of what it was like I'd suggest that you clamp a stereo speaker to the ceiling of the room directly under your bed.  Make sure that the stereo is turned up as high as it will go, and it needs to make the bed literally shake to be truly effective.  Then set the stereo to play music at random, but preferably very early in the morning or really late at night.  Extra points if you work out an algorithm that ensures that although the music doesn't play every night, but it will always play on nights when it is particularly important that you get a good nights sleep, say the night before a job interview or an international flight.  Now live with that for eight months.

It's actually only today that I've realised that one of the songs was "Bleeding Love" by Leona Lewis.  I rooted for Leona when she was on "X Factor" and I was delighted when she won, but the negative associations that I now have with her career making international hit are very strong.  It now sets off a Pavlovian reaction, which finds me automatically reaching for my ear plugs.

Crusaid's Walk for Life - Sunday 1st June.

Cruisaid's Walk for Life is being held on Sunday June 1st this year, there are full details on the website.

It's a 10k sponsored walk through London raising money for, and awareness about, a great AIDS charity.  I really enjoyed the Walk for Life last year, and if I were in London this year I'd do it again. 

Should you happen to be in London on Sunday 1st June, I'd highly recommend it as a way to productively spend the day.  You can sign up in advance or register on the day, but in advance means you have a bit of time to get some sponsorship money together.  I'll warn you now that your legs may well ache a bit afterward, but it's a good ache really!

This year you can even combine the fun with some celeb spotting, I hear Danni Minogue, Four Poofs and a Piano and Alan Cumming will be there...

Boston: Celeb Spotting and a Word About Mashed Potato.

Whilst in Boston we were walking through Harvard Square, heading towards the bookshop I think, and as we crossed the road I saw two men walking the other way deep in conversation.

I immediately said quietly to the Doc "Those two are actors." and then promptly shushed him so I could leaf through my mental Rolodex of actors' faces.

It's always satisfying when I work out who exactly it is that I've just walked passed, and on this occasion it was Judge Phelan from "The Wire" and the FBI-Agent-who-was-on-the-ground in "Snakes on a Plane".  Otherwise known as Peter Gerety and Bobby Cannavale (Those links take you to IMDB, which at the moment has loads of those annoying ads that animatedly sprawl across the page whilst you are trying to read.  I really hate those.)

I have no clue why they were in Boston together.

In totally unrelated news that I kept meaning to mention, we ate our last Boston meal at the S&S.  It's an old-school family-run restaurant, which was originally opened by European immigrants and therefore they know a thing or two about carbs.  For my dinner I had a strong and spicy Bloody Mary; which washed down delicious pan-seared salmon in a white wine and caper sauce, with a great side salad and mashed potato.

Mum, I really have to take you to Boston sometime.  I think the S&S kitchen staff are trained to make the mashed potato from equal parts real butter to potato, with maybe some cream too.  You would definitely approve.

Welcome Bill Clinton

So the sign I posted yesterday had been changed when I walked passed it this morning.  Instead of a non-existent website, it's now a welcome message to Bill Clinton.

He visited our town on the campaign trail for Hillary, and as he was speaking on campus the Doc went to hear him talk.  Doc C started queueing at 2pm, and was allowed into the gym where the talk was being given at 4pm.  It was standing room only, and they had to set up speakers outside for all the people who had queued for two hours only to find there was no space in the hall.

Apparently, when the warm-up lady was trying to get the crowd all excited about Clinton's talk, she yelled "And you know who's going to be the next president?" and with one voice the crowd roared back "OBAMA!". Probably not the response she was hoping for, but at least it's the right party.

I'd chosen not to go to the talk, but on the walk home Doc noticed three matching cars with dark windows slowly rolling along in the rush hour traffic.  He made a joke about the secret service, and then we both looked over to see Bill himself in the back of the next car with an enormous cigar on the go.  I noticed the car behind that was also full of secret service suits, and the one in the front passenger seat was definitely keeping an eye on us over the top of his mirrored shades.  As the only pedestrians we were probably highly suspicious.

It was all very surreal.

Fortunately Bill's route happened to take him right passed this sign, I hope he saw it.

Ladies and Gentlemen: Miss Kylie Minogue!

Tomorrow we are going over to watch TV with Randy and Jasmine.

We will be watching "The Riches", which I am enjoying very much (Eddie Izzard is always a joy, and Minnie Driver is considerably less irritating than I was expecting.), and "Dr Who".  Doc C asked if we'd seen this season, and I said no but that we had missed the Christmas special.

Then Randy mentioned the trailers for the first episode showed scenes set on The Titanic. 

Which means it is in fact the Christmas special. 

Which means the very special guest star is Kylie Minogue OBE!!!

I got very high pitched and excited at this point, obviously, and then I realised that Randy had never heard of Kylie Minogue.  This is inconceivable to me.

I love Kylie.  She works so damned hard, she even beat breast cancer and kept on touring.  You've got to admire that dedication in an entertainer.

As a helpful primer I thought I'd raid YouTube for some special Kylie magic.  I'll put it below the jump, but it includes at least one video from each stage of her pop career (The SAW years, the Indie moment and then the triumphant Pop Princess) and kicks off with a nice little "Neighbours" montage, with some Brit celeb talking heads to fully explain it's impact on mid-80's UK culture.

The Gospel According to The King.

Martha's Revenge - A Discussion of the Dichotomy of a 100% Polyester Blanket with the M.S. Trademark On It.

So after I wrote the last post I was thinking how weird it is that the 100% polyester monstrosity had Martha Stewart's name on it.

I haven't seen any of Martha's TV programmes, but I have read two of her magazines and browsed her website, so certainly I wouldn't position myself as a Martha expert.  However I am convinced there is no way on earth that Martha would have a 100% polyester blanket anywhere near her bedroom.  I just don't see it.  100% cashmere sounds more like it to me.

So if I, a Martha novice, thinks it unlikely this is a product Martha herself would use, or even recommend to a friend, well then why is it out there?  I know how it ended up in our home, but presumably other people have also bought it and I bet a lot of that has to do with the Stewart brand.

Right now I can't think of a British celebrity equivalent of Martha, certainly not one who covers all the bases of cooking, crafting, decorating, entertaining, gardening and general home-making.  In fact I think there maybe a gap in the market, but then I can't imagine any one person in the UK could dictate patrician-esque style in quite the same way, particularly whilst hawking items that have nothing to do with that proscribed style. 

It seems such a dichotomy to me.  Because surely the simplest way most Americans would try to emulate Martha is by buying the products bearing her name at K Mart, and if that product clearly is not of the standard that Martha herself would expect, well then wouldn't that product essentially devalue the whole of the Martha Stewart Living brand somewhat?  Or could it be that I'm reading a teeny bit too much into the fact I really didn't like that damned blanket?

Funnily enough I've just started reading a blog which is detailing the experiences of the blogger as she lives her life entirely based on the dictates of Oprah Winfrey for a year (she's currently 3 months in, as she started at the beginning of 2008).  I may suggest she try the follow up experiment of a year of Martha, because that would be fabulous.