another sailor suit sighting

on Tammy Faye

Does anyone else miss Million Dollar Listing?

That was really the golden age of television.

STOP THE PRESSES

Everyone has to name their favorite MJ song on the internet these days. It's a rule! If you are on the internet right now, you should be telling someone somewhere what your favorite Michael Jackson song is. Preferably on Facebook, via a quiz or app!

Every time I mention the Free Willy theme song, people don't know what I'm talking about. "Will You Be There", anyone?! I think they assume I am saying it as a joke, because even if you were MJ you wouldn't put your heart and soul into a track for Free Willy, right? WRONG, EVERYONE! He mentions the River Jordan - of course it's amazing. (Well, it was originally on his album Dangerous, but I knew it from Free Willy.) It's the best song!* I paid 99 cents for it on iTunes ages ago and I've never looked back!

I could, of course, count on Jenny to immediately cite that song when we caught up on internet rumors about his death yesterday. But what's wrong with the rest of you?

I can't embed the official video with inspiring scenes from the film, but here's a live performance with phenomenal dancers and choir and the manic Eurofans in mock turtlenecks. WATCH IT PLEASE!

Yeah, that's right, an angel flies in at the end and embraces him in her wings.

My second favorite is "Dirty Diana".


*that MJ probably stole from this Italian song.

example of wedding etiquette

How do we word our invitations if both of my parents are doctors?

The most proper way would be for them to read, “Doctor and Mrs. Stephen Andrew Sampson” but may read two other ways, “Doctors Sampson” or “Doctor Mary Jane Sampson and Doctor Stephen Andrew Sampson” instead.

You guys, which General Public song is my favorite General Public song?


When I listen to "Never You Done That" I'm like, "Oh, that's definitely my favorite," and then I hear the opening to "Tenderness" and I think, "No, that's it." I've been debating this for at least 48 hours with myself.

There's the bass line, heavy breathing, and hand claps in one, and then whistling, jaunty piano, and more hand claps in the other...

Well, if I had to chose, "Tenderness".

and that's why I love you

Oh, while I'm here, let me just tell you how GOOD this book I'm on is. True Colors by Anthony Haden-Guest (Christopher Guest's socialite half-brother). Subtitle: The Real Life of the Art World. It's super gossipy but only because it's about contemporary artists, and they are crazy and egotistical and they want to be provocative so people will talk about their shtick decades later. Here's an archive photo of Julian Schnabel to set the mood. I just got through the Jeff Koons section.

I was on a serious Evelyn Waugh kick but I kind of dried out my stash for the moment and had to move to some non-fic, and I'm not disappointed at all by this selection.

Now, piling up in front of me, I have Vile Bodies by Waugh ("The Bright Young Things of 1920s Mayfair, with their paradoxical mix of innocence and sophistication, exercise their inventive minds and vile bodies in every kind of capricious escapade, whether it is promiscuity, dancing, cocktail parties or sports cars") and the film adaptation of A Handful of Dust, starring (are you ready?) Kristin Scott Thomas, Angelica Huston, and Judi Dench. Can you stand it? That novel was really brilliant. I just can't believe how good Waugh is sometimes. I only vaguely knew what the book was about, so when Tony takes his trip (don't want to spoil anything - read it!) I was entirely unprepared for the dark turn the book would take. It had been all clever social satire until then. It took me a while to finish the last part just because I knew nothing but bad things could happen after Tony's trip (due to the literary device known as foreshadowing!). While the edition I have has a lovely cover, check out this one, ahhhhhh!

Also necessary Waugh: Scoop, Decline and Fall, The Loved One. I'm putting the WWII trilogy off till last because of my aversion to war novels (sorry, Hemingway). Oooh, just opened my latest Netflix and I have the film adaptation of The Loved One. There's also a film version of Decline and Fall called Decline and Fall of a Bird Watcher. They moved the setting from between the wars to the sixties.

JEEZ, I did not realize I had not posted in so long!!! Well, the good news is it's only June 2 and I've already discovered the t-shirt I'll be wearing all summer. Not only that, but I've purchased it in three colors (shades) for extra versatility. Last summer it was a gray v-neck but I can't bear to see another photo of me in that shirt no matter how I try to accessorize it to look interesting. So now I have a new shirt for 2009.

The other thing is that on impulse I purchased a yoga mat. Not sure what I'm going to do with it - take naps on it?? But the color is "green tea" and I've downloaded some yoga podcasts. I hope I don't do it the wrong way and ruin my spine.

Also, it's the year 2009 and either my Firefox, my computer, or my Blogger spellcheck still underlines the words "podcast" and "Obama" in dotted red. GET WITH THE PROGE.

good communication

CB photographed these adorable notes, written by their 8-year-old brother for the information of his parents:

amazing moments in clowns

Matt has a blog! And it is even better than his fake blog, which I made so I could publish the personal emails he sent but then forgot to keep updating. What a relief that I don't have to keep not doing that.