Sunday

Oct. 1st, 2012 12:58 pm
ceebeegee: (X Files)
My soccer team, Dolphman, had a bye this week so the ladies of Dolphman organized a girls' night out.  We met at Tortilla Flats in the West Village (stop smirking, Paula :) and started off with a pitcher of Sangria (them) and margaritas (me).  Our waiter was adorable--at some point we were talking about pop culture and he said he'd just started watching The X Files.  I said Oh, I envy you--one of the best shows ever.  I told him that seasons 3-6 were the best but all the seasons through 8, are terrific.  And I told him especially look out for the beginning-of-season-2 arc Duane Barry/Ascension and culminating with One Breath, which is one of the finest hours ever crafted for TV.  That cinematography!

1Breath



Amazing episode.  Our waiter was gay, though (I surmise--we didn't actually discuss it but my 'dar was pinged) so sadly I could not score a round of shots for my table by making out with the waiter, as happened at Paula's bachelorette festivities.

However Tortilla Flats does trivia in Sunday evenings--this was awesome!  One of our teammates, AWalks (Ashley), and I SMOKED the competition, blowing everyone away.  We earned four shots each for the table, and Haruko and Alyssa also won one each.  So every person at the entire table (there were five of us) had two free shots!  I was so, so proud--I felt like a hunter-gatherer who had provided for my family!  So much fun.  I told them the story of Paula's bachelorette festivities, which they found hilarious.  After we left there we went to a place on Greenwich Avenue, a kind of dive-y place.  We hung out there for a bit--at one point I was chatting up an English couple who were really, really sweet.  We talked a LOT about English history and culture--they were very touched when I told them that visiting London felt like coming home.  There was a sketchy, grabby older guy, drunk as a lord, who kept squeezing past us (we were seated on stools in a corner--naturally I was the one sticking out) until finally I elbowed him, hard.  Then he kept trying to pull up a stool to chat with us and I kind of ran interference--cockblocking for good.  A guy at the bar noticed what was going on (at one point the bartender was trying to call off Sketchy Older Guy) and bought us a round of drinks, apologizing to us.

In other news, while we were at Tortilla Flats I received a call from our Brad who told me this somewhat convoluted story about how his manager brought down the boom--either the show or your job.  And of course he can't give up his paycheck.  He said that he'd cleared the schedule with him and the guy was fine, or maybe it was another manager--I don't know.  I know managers can be jerks but the whole thing sounds shady.  On the phone I handled it pretty well and was understanding but now the more I think about it, the more annoyed I get.  He auditioned drunk, he's already missed a whole week of rehearsal (he was out of town last week), I worked my ass off Saturday incorporating him into the blocking that he missed, and now we're less than two weeks before we perform at the cemetery and he pulls this?  Say it with me--ASSHOLE.  I called Dave immediately last night but he didn't get the VMs--he emailed me this morning and I was like--uh, did you get my VMs?  THAT was a wakeup call for Monday!
ceebeegee: (Mad Men)
Mad Men--great as always.  I LOVE how dark this season has been!  Spoilers )
Last night's episode took place in late October of 1966 and I'm ticking off the historical markers to come in my head--less than a year until the Summer of Love, less than 2 years until the RFK and King assassinations, less than 3 until Woodstock and the Manson murders.  Just 2 years for the heyday and fall of the counterculture.

I have to say, I'm really getting sick of the constant criticism of every actress who isn't Peggy/Elizabeth Moss or Joan/Christina Hendricks.  Jessica Pare is doing a fine job as Megan and although I'm not terribly interested in her character, I certainly not going to whine and moan about how MW & Co. are "hitting us over the head with how wonderful Megan is" and how she's a "Mary Sue." (God, I'm over that term.  A Mary Sue is a specific *thing,* not just any female character who isn't a bitch.  You can't win.  The vitriol that Megan's character gets is part of what I call the Ginny Weasely syndrome, when the Hero's GF/wife is introduced at a later time, and the fans are jealous.  Ginny REALLY couldn't win--she was trashed for being both a Mary Sue AND a bitch.)  The posters on TWoP are so efffing obnoxious sometimes, and the scrutiny given to *any* female character except the designated Awesome One(s) is so inherently misogynistic.  You saw this on The X Files as well--Scully was the Designated Awesome One and poor Annabeth Gish as Reyes could never ever measure up.  January Jones/Betty got this kind of hatred as well, and Alexis Bledel as Beth last night also got routinely trashed.  All of them are terrific. So-called fans need to hold female characetrs to the same level of scrutiny as the male characters--no more, no less.  If Don and fucking PETE get love, so should the ladies.
 
I spent the weekend (most of it) in Philadelphia, visiting my brother and his family.  He and his wife have 20 month old twins and they are PRECIOUS.  Little fairy-haired, blue-eyed blonde cherubs, just like Freddie and Flossie Bobbsey.  Absolutely gorgeous.  Philly is a fun city, actually--lots of museums and a huge park.  Erik lives in a good neighborhood within walking distance of some great museums--we wandered around and had lunch at a Mexican place nearby.  Yesterday we went to see the Liberty Bell--so cool and iconic!  Amazing to see that crack.  For the train ride down I bought a copy of the book version of Game of Thrones.  So far it seems to be a very close adaptation.  My favorite chapter is the one when
Spoilers )
and talking to the crow.  Really solid writing there.  I have not been able to watch this week's episode yet, because Lori was in labor (she had her baby!  A boy!) so I'll have to find a way to get it online, although Amazon and iTunes only seem to have last season.

Lots of softball this weekend--FOUR games!  Then I'm hanging out with my soccer team Saturday night--birthday celebration, and we're doing karaoke.
ceebeegee: (X Files)
I saw the movie last night. A friend of mine from work, Katie, and I went to see it together. On the way we ran into Rachel, looking radiant as always, and had a lil' chat. I didn't realize she works so close to me--in fact a lot of us work in Midtown. We should have a big ol' '50s three-martini lunch! Heh heh heh...

Anyway, saw the movie, loved it. Spoilers )



ceebeegee: (Southwest cactus)
For about a month now, maybe longer, I've been eschewing meat--red meat, poultry and pork (though not fish). Basically anything that's raised in this country and is also attached to some sort of major industry. It's not an ethical thing--I do believe God intended us to eat meat, because of our teeth. I know I have health problems if I don't elevate my blood pressure, and doctors have *told* me to eat meat. It's a political/ideological statement.

I've gone through vegetarian phases (well, pescatarian phases--I could never give up fish) several times before, especially in high school and college. My first venture into not eating meat was in high school when one of my friends had gone hunting and brought some deer meat, including a frozen brain, into the cafeteria. Immediately I stopped eating meat for about a year. Did it again in college and the last time was about ten years ago, when I gave it up for two years. The trigger was reading an article about Mad Cow disease, and how some of the practices that led to that phenomenon in GB were also practiced here in the States. One day I could almost hear my body singing--it was throbbing with this "gotta have red meat" energy. I gave up and made myself a hamburger and I felt very good. But in general it's actually not that difficult for me to go without meat. I don't buy that much of it because it goes bad so quickly, and I must be the only American who doesn't like steak (so hard to chew, it's just not pleasurable). This is also why I don't care for ham. Chicken has a funny texture to me, sort of stringy, and absolutely no flavor at all. Generally I only like sausage or ground up meat or softer meats (like duck, mmm!)--this goes back to when I was a kid, I only liked soft foods (was crazy about pasta as a kid).

It always has to do with the animals--I LOVE animals and am very pro-animal rights. I've been hearing about some video that was surreptitiously shot recently inside a meat processing facility--from what I've heard, it's horrifying. I won't go into it, and I have no intention of watching the video. But just hearing about it solidified some ideas that have been in my head since reading Fast Food Nation, about how dreadfully unfair and unethical and just plain cruel the meat-processing industry is in this country. Some of the stories in that book would move you to tears--and I'm not just talking about how the animals are treated, I'm talking about the workers as well. I don't want to feed into that system anymore--I don't want to give those murderous anonymous corporations my money anymore.

Right now I'm floating along not eating any (non-fish) meat. However ideally I'd like to find some "cruelty-free" meat companies, mom-and-pop outfits, if available. I'd rather support some struggling company and help nurture an alternative industry.

Interestingly, last night I watched a Season 2 X Files episode called "Our Town" about a small town that practices cannibalism and also has a chicken processing factory. Food for thought indeed...
ceebeegee: (Default)


I can't wait!!

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