my horn can pierce the sky.

fa la la la la, la la ka-ching.

LOST preview, goobers!

have you seen this sneak peek yet?! ahhhhhhh!

two thursday tidbits.

first off, it looks like caylee anthony is really dead. i don't know if you've also been following the case, but this kind of thing is another one of the various things i'm interested in. so, caylee anthony is 3 years old, and has been missing since june. her mom, 22 year old casey anthony, was recently charged with murder, and is being held in the orange county jail. not only did searches for cloroform come up on the mom's computer, but a neighbor told police she had asked to borrow a shovel, and police dogs smelled human decomposition in the trunk of her car. sounds guilty to me...
also, i think i found the perfect job for me: Secretary of Food. no, not because i like to eat. but because i'm really interested in agriculture reform (in addition to energy technology and climate change). so, vote for me. or tell obama to pick me. either one.

sassy chihuahua.

i haven't seen it yet, and hadn't heard much about it, but now i'm really thinking about seeing synecdoche, new york. considering is stars philip seymour hoffman, i'm not sure why i wasn't first in line on opening day for this. additionally, apparently i really like charlie kaufman, who directed this film. i've seen a lot of his movies (being john malkovich, adaptation, eternal sunshine of the spotless mind...), and even though they all really freak me out, they are all pretty wonderful and thoughtful and different.
anyhow, charlie kaufman was the guest last night on the colbert report. i thought the interview was pretty fantastic, and wanted to share:

The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Charlie Kaufman

Colbert at Christmas
Colbert Christmas DVD

Green Screen
Bill O'Reilly Interview

do not attempt to watch this at work.

if you haven't seen it yet, you really really should. . .




note to j.t.: you've been on snl just how many times in the past month?? i'm sure lorne michaels would let you be in the cast if you asked him. just a thought.

trl isn't dead!

...at least not here. just thought i'd share a few things that have been on repeat for me for a while now. enjoy!

- here is ryan adams's answering bell. yea yea, i always said i didn't like him. mostly due to the fact that he puts out a new album about every two weeks, and that seems annoying and pretentious. but answering bell came up on my iTunes recently, and i can't stop listening.

- my new favorite is julian velard. saw a show of him and ari hest recently with L, and we're both obsessed (partially because they are both jewish, mostly because they both rule). two things of julian's are below that you should watch! the first is my new favorite of favorite songs, do it alone. the other one is his new music video of the song jimmy dean & steve mcqueen. enjoy!

the real generation x.

and, he does it again. read tom friedman's new article on the auto industry bailout, and what it should be contingent upon.

psa

i don't often like to tell people what they should do, but this is an important one.

last night, after shabbat dinner guests had left and we were just about asleep, we heard a horrible beeping noise. in the 1+ year that i've lived here, i've only heard the fire alarm go off, and it is in the hallway (i.e. not in the apartment). but this was LOUD. we saw a device in the apartment that was high up on a wall. it was beeping and blinking like crazy. i pulled it off the wall and saw that it was a cardon monoxide detector. i didn't even know it was there, but thank goodness it was. i took the battery out just to stop the noise. we turned off the heat and oven, and opened all the windows.
when i called to the doorman downstairs, he was pretty unreassuring, and just said to open the windows and we'd be fine. but i was concerned, so i called 911 to get the fire department to come out. it was kind of cool to hear the sirens and see the fire truck speeding down columbus and knowing they were coming to our apartment. so, 3 firemen, complete with picks and hats and suits come up to our apartment. after about 30 seconds of walking around the apartment and using a device to detect for more CO in the apartment, they determined that it had all dissipated. but they were very nice and told us we were right to call them. i still slept with my windows wide open though.
here's the cheesy part: carbon monoxide is, as i'm sure you know, odorless and colorless (i.e. you will have no way of detecting it yourself). i won't go into what higher levels of ppm can cause in humans. all you need to know is - get a carbon monoxide detector if you don't have one. if and when you do, be sure to test the device and battery regularly. you'll be glad you did.

tra la la...

tra la la... i have j.k. rowling's new book....

(btw - for anyone who also went out to get the new book today, were you surprised at how little fanfare there was, in comparison to the other books? i suppose this is outside of the main harry potter canon, but come ON. harry potter fans are crazy (myself 110% included)! not that i ever dressed up and went to get the books at midnight (really, i didn't! i was always at camp. i don't know if jaberwocky has anything for it in the summer), but i had heard that there was going to be some festivities. on my way home from work, i just popped into the B&N on 5th avenue, expecting them to at least tell me they were sold out, or i had to order it but NO. there was an entire shelf of them just sitting there. i was pretty shocked that i was able to just walk out of there with the new book with no hassle... i hope it's good!)

disorganization and other tales of waiting in line.

so, all i wanted to do is have a little cultural outing. what i got was a frustrating, complete lack of organization. ugh.

we wanted to go see a prescreening of milk at the moma, with a q&a with gus van sant. sounds great, right? we thought so. of course, the tickets were just about sold on the first day of ticket sales last week. i went yesterday, for day-of ticket sales. they were going to start selling tickets at 1:00. i got to the museum at about 11:15. there was, of course, already a significant line, but i had a pretty good spot. (what we've also learned from this experience is: new yorkers love to wait in line.) after a while, a little man with a clipboard came around asking how many tickets everyone needed. around 12:30, another man ("Sweater Guy") came out and cut off the line about three people ahead of me saying that everyone behind that spot wouldn't get tickets. what the hell?! we hung around for a bit to see what would happen, but it looks like they had pretty accurately calculated the leftover tickets.

we found out that gus van sant had reserved about half of the seats for his buddies and entourage. good work, man. didn't you want the public to hear you speak? i'm sure your friends think your movie is good, or at least tell you so. we also got to see Pink Lady (short Jewish woman with a firey temper) give hell to Sweater Guy for not having enough tickets. whatever. they told us the standby line would start at 6, and they would give out whatever tickets weren't picked up before the movie at 7.

i got to the moma film office at 5:15. at that time, they wouldn't even tell you where the line was forming. what?! how does that make any sense? Sweater Guy announced to the growing crowd that at 6, he would tell us where the line would begin. ok... sounds like a stampede to me. by the time e got there, we were able to play zones for a few minutes, until Sweater Guy announced where the line would be. again, we got a good place. we stood against the wall in line for an hour, before they decided to tell us there were no available tickets. wow....

in the end, we went to crazy times square and saw slumdog millionaire, which was fan-frikkin-tastic. to entice you, trailer below.

(also - if you want to see any movie screenings at the moma, get there well before what you might consider to be ridiculously early, and expect utter disorganization.)

can you feel the excitement?

...i sure can! it's meryl streep! in all her glory! on the cover of entertainment weekly! go go go and read the cover story on her and why she is awesome. ALSO - see her in Doubt, which comes out in theaters on December 12th. i know i'll be waiting in line. if you're not convinced because of ms. streep, go see it because it also stars the always-amazing philip seymour hoffman. watch the trailer below and be astounded.

le office!

if you watch the office, why haven't you watched the new webisodes yet?! don't worry, they are both embedded below, so please watch and laugh. (and if you don't watch the office, what's wrong with you? i'm mostly kidding but.... do you not love to laugh or something?)

happy belated birthday to me

if you're still pondering what to get me, here is my second birthday present help post. i would very much like this tshirt please!

really good news....

....not.

i'm scared.

in preparation for the big day...

i thought i'd say happy birthday to those who share the best birthday day ever: november 28. we're a pretty cool crew, so get psyched.

first off: margaret tudor, sister of king henry VIII. i wish i could tell you more about her, but her wikipedia page is putting me to sleep. to find out more, please ask my mom, who is an expert in all things regarding old-timey england.

next: william blake. i think i like him best for illustrating john milton's paradise lost.

also: alfonso XII of spain. ruled as the king of spain from 1875 to 1885. he died in november of 1885, just short of his 28th birthday.

fast forward to 1943 when mr. randy newman was born. he's written the scores for some of my favorite movies, including toy story, meet the parents and monsters inc. he was also featured on family guy, where the griffins run into him during an apocolypse in quahog. you really should see the video to get the song's full, ridiculous effect.

then, paul shaffer, master of song on letterman. apparently, letterman maintains that the show was switched from nbc to cbs because paul was fired for "stealing some pens." um, what??

also born on novemeber 28 is ed harris! he has been in some of my most favorite movies, including the truman show, empire falls, and a beautiful mind. he was also in stepmom, but that one is way too sad to talk about.

another movie man with the same birthday is alfonso curon. i like him best for directing harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban. after that, he went downhill with the pretty-much-terrible children of men.

and, last but not least: jon stewart!!! ever heard of him? wow and wow. i sort of feel like i should let him know we have the same birthday. maybe we can have a party next year, or at least a birthday show together. that would be twelve kinds of fantastic. happy birthday everyone!!!