Dear Glee

Oh, how I missed you.

Watching, Reading, Playing

I've been meaning to do this type of blog for some time....

Despite being a librarian, I don't read much. Not that I don't like to, I do. But I am one of those people who will start a book and then not stop reading until it's finished. Even if that means staying up all night.

Reading

The last book I read was The Help. I loved it. I suggest you read it right now. I bought a copy of Franny and Zoey after JD Salinger died. I started it, but never got anywhere with it. I read it in college and loved it. I don't know if I will feel the same way now.

Watching, TV

Project Runway. I am digging this season of PR. The last two were shitty--the last one on Bravo you could tell they didn't give a shit. The first season on Lifetime the producers didn't seem to know what to do with it. But this season the show seems back on track. It's more about the process, the talent, and the fashion. And while I love some bullshitty drama, I liked that OR could still focus on the fashion. I'm glad they've gotten back to that.

American Idol. People complain about how bad it is this year. That squirrelly little boy needs to go. And Tim Urban makes me want to throw things a the TV. And the robotic girl who sang "Let it Be" annoys the hell out of me. And Siobhan? People rave about her, but I can't stand her. Her screeching. Her version of "The Long and Winding Road" was unbearable. Big Mike? I like Big Mike. Lee is decent, and getting stronger every week. But Crystal Bowersox? I love her and coffeehouse, dreadlocked style.

America's Next Top Model. Like "Project Runway," ANTM seems to have gone back to what made it great: tearing young women down to build them back up to be insecure models. Now that Tyra Banks has come to accept that little girls aren't dreaming of being on "America's Next Top Model" and that she isn't going to change the modeling industry or the world by choosing a "plus-sized" model, by going green, by banning smoking, or by choosing "short" models. I know ANTM is probably everything I should dislike about TV and mass media, but as someone who spent my mid-teens watching "Style with Else Clinch" on CNN and buying the fall Vogue and pouring over it like it was a bible... Well, I like ANTM for what it is. What I don't like is when it tries too hard to be something it isn't and teach me a lesson.

Shear Genius. I don't know why I watch this show. I love hair. I love the Bravo drama, but this show sucks. Yet I watch it. And I hate the woman who won. Not because I disliked her or her canary yellow hair (I liked her hair, actually). I hated the ridiculous bows she put in her hair.

Ugly Betty. I haven't been watching this on schedule. I keep screwing up my DVR so it doesn't record right. Ugly Betty lost it's way after the writer's strike and never recovered. But now that it is one episode away from ending, I want to see it to the end.

Glee. SO HAPPY IT IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK.

Top Chef Masters. It's fine until Top Chef comes back, but I miss Top Chef.

Watching, Movies

9 to 5. I found this listed on On Demand during one particularly dreary Sunday afternoon. I loved it all over again. And I sang the theme song for several days.

The Hangover. I saw this a while ago... But I loved it, so I thought I would mention it.

Hot Tub Time Machine. This was awesome in so many ways I am already planning on buying it when it comes out on DVD. My favorite teen movie reference was John Cusack and the reporter from Spin sitting on the counter, a la Sixteen Candles. Just awesome.

The Blind Side. I will eventually see all the Oscar nominees, but I decided to start with the most feel-good of the bunch. Having some personal ties to this story made me want to see it, too. I liked it, but I understand the criticism. And they left out the fact that Michael Oher took ten-day correspondence classes in order to raise his GPA. I laughed at some things that only a few people would get (I'm looking at you, Frenchie). I thought Sandra Bullock was fine. But I don't know if the performance--or the character or film--were Oscar-worthy.

Playing

Words with Friends. It's an iPhone version of Scrabble and I am completely addicted. I tend to have several games going with several people, but I can only beat one of them. I've had several games with Cindy over at PooBou.com, and let me tell you, she is a master player. She can kick some word game ass.

I Can't See Myself at 30

My t-shirt from R.E.M.'s Green World tour in 1989. I wore it until it fell apart... and then some.

I don't think any band has influenced my life as much as R.E.M. They introduced me to the world of music that was not power pop or hair metal. Throughout my life I have met numerous people because of this band and several of them have become some of my closest friends.

For years it was tradition that I go to R.E.M. concerts with the same three friends. Once we got older and moved on with our lives it became more difficult. But, I have always seen R.E.M. live with one of three people.

This isn't the only band that has gotten me through all of the rough periods of my life, but they got me through some of the most difficult. Some of their songs have been instrumental in my life. Very simply put, I may have started listening to R.E.M. before I turned 20, but they were the soundtrack of my 20s--the ups and the downs.

I can quote them at random. I will drop R.E.M. references without even thinking about it. When I interviewed at Ye Olde University, Frenchie asked me, a Yankee, if I had ever seen kudzu before. My response, "Well, I am an R.E.M. fan." And she respoded, "Oh, then you know what it looks like." I remember turning to look at her and saying something like, "I'm not sure what worries me more, that you knew what I meant or that I know what you mean."

The cover of Murmur and my only exposure to kudzu until I moved south.

Musically, R.E.M. isn't half the band it used to be. I'm not one of those R.E.M. fans who think that their good work limited to their IRS albums. It is some of their best work, and Chronic Town (their first EP) and Murmur (their first LP) contain some of their best work. They're one of those bands that has always been fighting against the critical success of their first full-length album. But, Document and New Adventures in Hi-Fi, which were on the Warner Bros. label, are two of their strongest albums. Of their "newer" albums, New Adventures is one of my favorites. When New Adventures came out in the mid-90s, I thought it was a great combo of their earlier sound and their "newer" sound. Of course, the "newer" sound was the grungier sound of Monster and is probably considered by some to be their old sound. Automatic for the People, the favorite of many, is good. It's great, even. But it's one of those albums that carries so much emotional baggage for me that I can barely listen to it. It was one of the reasons I rarely listened to it when it came out, and why I can't remember the last time I heard it. It's just too hard.

Technically, R.E.M. is 3/4 of the band they used to be. The departure of Bill Berry, in my opinion, made a huge difference in their sound. Up, the first album post-Berry, is the best of what I consider their third phase (Phase 1: the IRS years; Phase 2: The Warner Years w/Berry; Phase 3: Post-Berry). As an Über Fan, Up was a difficult album to hear, but I grew to like it. And when I listen to it now, it is apparent it is the album of a band struggling to stay together. The albums since Up have been borderline terrible. And the older I got, the older R.E.M. got, the less important they became to me and my life.

But I can't deny how important they have been to me.

Thirty years ago today, Berry, Buck, Mills, and Stipe played together in an old rundown church in Athens, Georgia, and R.E.M. was born. One of my favorite R.E.M. songs has always been "Little America." Like almost every other R.E.M. fan out there, the first line of that song has been running through my head all day:

"I can't see myself at 30."

Happy Birthday, R.E.M. Thank you for some amazing music.

My Green World Tour T-shirt died long ago yet I won't get rid of it. That's devotion.

Stuffed Collards

I found this recipe for Stuffed Collard Greens over at Fat Free Vegan*. It seemed simple enough but I knew it would take some time to make these.

I had some chard I considered using, but I found some fresh collards at the market. So... After stuffing myself with Ethiopian food, running some errands, chatting with one of my favorite people, hitting the gym, and braving Trader Joe's the day before Easter, I decided to take these on.

They did take some time, and I made them in stages since I was doing laundry at the same time, but ohmygod, these were amazing. Spicy and tasty, the collards were not tough like you might think they'd be. The leaves I had were not that big, so I had some rice left over. I ate these with the leftover rice, some asparagus from Trader Joe's and some homemade whole wheat bread from the market.



*Fat Free Vegan is a vegan blogger in Jackson, MS. I've been reading her blog for some time but this is the first thing I've tried of hers. I will be trying more, for sure.

Images From the Last Few Weeks

The Boys.

A rainbow. We were having the normal spring misty rain when I noticed it was cloudy on one side of the building and sunny on the other. I knew that meant there would be a rainbow. I took this with my iPhone so it doesn't capture the brightness of it.

Today was the opening day of the farmers market. What did I find? Vegan baked goods. I was going to eat this right then and there, but even with the help of a friend, I couldn't walk, drink my coffee, carry my vegetables, and eat this all at the same time. And at that moment, the coffee was more important. It got a little dinged up on the way home, but it was damn good.

The two pictures above show a storm moving across the bay. This is something I love to do--watch weather fronts move across the open water. We've been having some crazy weather the last few days. We've been getting wind and rain storms that are more normal for fall than spring. Yesterday we had fairly regular 40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts. The winds picks up like this when a big front moves through and it came through late last night with little fanfare. This morning another big storm moved through while I was at the market. The wind picked up and it felt like the temp dropped ten degrees in about 30 seconds. And then it rained. It didn't mist, it rained. And then the rain congealed, and then it hailed. The pictures above were taken after the hail.