Random stuff

[mojosmom]

You know the Bible 100%!

 

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Of course, with questions like the following, it wasn't all that difficult:
41. What did Jesus and His disciples feed the crowd of 5000?
pizza
bread and fish
Chinese take-out
manna



A normally safe Republican Congressional seat, formerly held by ex-Speaker of the House Denny Hastert, has gone to a Democrat, at least until November, when there will be a re-do between The Milkman (dairy magnate Jim Oberweis) and The Physicist (winner, and novice pol Bill Foster). Foster won by 53-47%, in what was a pretty nasty mud-slinger on both sides. (The Republicans didn't help themselves with a mud-slinging primary. Which may be something from which Clinton and Obama need to take a lesson.) This was JO's fourth try at buying himself an office. Of course, Foster was no slouch in the Millionaire Money Toss, either. The most amusing part of the whole thing was Oberweis trying to position himself as the "change" candidate, and claiming that a vote for Foster was a vote for "business as usual". Dang, but Illinois politics can be fun.



I think I'm going back to Weight Watchers. I have to do something! Getting ready to go out last night, I took from my closet a skirt that I hadn't worn in quite a while, and I could barely zip it up. This is not good. First thing: stop going out to lunch, especially to buffet restaurants! Second thing: cut out wine drinking (a waste of calories). Third thing: do better at meal planning. No more of this "It's late so I'll just throw a pizza in the oven" stuff. Summer's coming, girl, time to get skinny!



Wednesday

Another Horton Foote play at the Goodman, A Trip to Bountiful. Very well done, with Lois Smith as Carrie Watts and Hallie Foote as Jessie Mae. Dinner beforehand at Trattoria Ten. I had the risotto with spinach and Waygu beef, which was also excellent.

Got home in time to watch the finale of Project Runway, which is my guilty pleasure and does not, perhaps, actually belong under the heading "Cultural matters", except for the fact that Tim Gunn is so erudite. I found the outcome to be very annoying. Bring back Fern Mallis!

Friday

A literary evening at Casa Italiana. There was a reading of some poems by Camillo Sbarbaro, first in Italian and then in English, a couple of short stories by Dino Buzzati read in translation, and then Robert Rodi recited, from memory, Canto V of Dante's Inferno (in Italian) followed by an epilogue to it that he wrote - in terza rima! in Italian! Go, Robert! (He also did so with a cast on his foot, having broken it in a fall on the ice. His partner said that he came out of the anesthetic rambling in Italian.)

Saturday

Carousel at the Court Theatre. Well, no. The production was excellent; I like Court's minimalist productions of musicals. The actress who played Carrie Pipperidge was particularly fine. But I really, really hate this play. How stupid is Julie? From the very beginning, you just want to yell, "Run, girl, run!" Of course, many plays (and operas) are like that, sometimes there's no story unless someone acts like an idiot, but what really irks me about this one is that it not only excuses domestic violence, it glorifies it. "Mama, he hit me and it felt like a kiss. Is that possible?" "Yes, dear. Sometimes, someone can hit you and it doesn't hurt at all." Give me a damn break.

Comments

[spedbug.livejournal.com]

Re "wine = wasted calories": Bite your tongue! Wine is a necessity, not only for the body's well being (it's good for the blood!), but for our emotional health as well. Yesterday, while trekking from 71st St. to Bloomingdale's, all the while being drenched by the monsoon that hit NYC, MrBug and I stopped in a little restaurant called "Lumi" and had a glass of Chianti at the bar. It was just the thing to brace us for the rest of the trip and make the sodden bottoms of our jeans seem inconsequential.

Re "How stupid is Julie?" So stupid that I want to rough her up a little. And you hit the nail right on the head with that last bit. I want to howl when the daughter runs into the house and delivers that vomit-inducing line. Regardless of whether they deserve it, some people beg for abuse.

Gah!

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

I'm not likely to cut out wine altogether, just limit it. Particularly when I go to an event where the refreshments are wine and caloric munchies!

[spedbug.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's the munchies they offer along with the wine that's evil. MrBug and I politely refused the offer of snack food when the bartender offered, but only because we'd just left a buffet the university had kindly set up for those attending orientation.

I can sympathize with your "can't get the zipper up" experience, by the way. Lately, nothing in my closet that hasn't been worn in the past three months fits. Is there anything quite so depressing than trying on a skirt or dress from a year ago only to find it's unbuttonable?

[greedyreader.livejournal.com]

How about limited wine consumption? (I, too, need to cut out those wasted calories, but can't quite manage it.)

As for Project Runway, I didn't love this season or the finale.

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

How about limited wine consumption?

Yes, I think that is likely the route I'll take. I've already cut out wine at dinner before opera and theatre, but that was more because it makes me fall asleep during the first act!

[shendoah.livejournal.com]

Join the Meal Planning Brigade!! :) I keep my menu on my side bar as does asterapallas and avanta7 I love to see what everyone else is eating!

I have my husband's 20th HS Reunion in July (which means mine is next year). Hence the personal Trainer.

[appleshoelace.livejournal.com]

I saw Carousel in London a few years ago, and I liked it - but I do think it is glamorising women staying with an abusive husband. Like in the song 'What's the use of wond'rin'?' - lines like 'He's your man and you're his woman, there's nothing more to say'. On the one hand, it's such a pretty tune and the woman who played Julie in London had such a spine-tingling voice, so it was lovely to listen to - but then you think about the words and want to interrupt and say 'Well, actually, there is something more to say...!' I think a lot of older musicals are like that though. Nancy singing 'As long as he needs me' for instance. Nancy doesn't defy Bill because she is sick of him beating her - she does it for Oliver. Women seem to be solely vehicles of self-sacrifice in some musicals, and it is all glorified, and it is very irritating.

[inkognitoh.livejournal.com]

"Mama, he hit me and it felt like a kiss. Is that possible?" "Yes, dear. Sometimes, someone can hit you and it doesn't hurt at all." Give me a damn break.

I was in my early 20s when I first saw this musical on the Television and I couldn't believe my ears and eyes. I thought I'd fallen down the rabbit hole and was wanting to scream and shout 'is anybody hearing this BS?' Talk about 'times have changed'.

Good luck on the Weight Watchers front. The most boring news to come out of my recent medical was that I was overweight and ought to be doing something about it... yawn ;)

Re Carousel: I *knew* I'd seen a post about that recently!

[gorydetails.livejournal.com]

I just got a copy of Steve Kluger's new book, My Most Excellent Year and was thumbing through it when I spotted an item about Carousel; apparently, the mother of one of the book's main characters is a theater critic, and she posted this review:

"What's The Use Of Wond'ring?"
A New Carousel at Merrimack

Nice songs to beat your wife to. Attend at your own risk.

***

[I *love* Steve Kluger.]

That said, I also love (most of) Carousel, even though it's hard to cope with the slap-feels-like-a-kiss bit even when putting it in historical and social context. [But I also love Sweeney Todd, in which I have a strong sympathy for a homicidal maniac, so perhaps one's tastes in musical theater or in the behavior of the characters should not be considered any indication of one's own habits and beliefs! That's my story, and I'm sticking to it - especially when I want to watch Carousel, or Seven Brides for Seven Brothers either {grin}.]

Re: Re Carousel: I *knew* I'd seen a post about that recently!

[mojosmom.livejournal.com]

I didn't know Kluger had a knew book out - I must check my library and make use of their new "reserve books online" option! (It's probably a good thing that we're limited to five items at a time.)

You, I think, will appreciate this review of the movie, Carousel: http://projectrungay.blogspot.com/2007/05/musical-mondays-carousel_21.html (And if you are not familiar with Tom & Lorenzo, you ought to be!)