Anybody who has known me for a while knows that I pay close attention to soundtracks and own many in my musical collection. The other day I rewatched a fantastic and underviewed movie with Diane Lane, Viggo Mortensen (When I saw him in The Lord of the Rings I freaked out saying, “Oh my God, it’s “The Blouse Man!!!’”, and Anna Paquin called “A Walk on the Moon”. It’s a bit of a chick flick but really good. The reason I’m bringing it up here is because it has a fabulous soundtrack which gives the movie lots of extra points in my book. The problem is, the soundtrack is currently out of production for some reason, so you have to purchase each song separately. Bummer.
Here’s some of the highlights though:
I’ve had this one stuck in my head for weeks now - “White Bird” by It’s A Beautiful Day
“Cactus Tree” by Joni Mitchell
“Follow” by Richie Havens This song feels like a prayer to me. I would really like to learn this on guitar. It speaks to me. Lovely lyrics.
“Today” by Jefferson Airplane
“Summertime” by Big Brother and the Holding Company (and Janis Joplin of course)
Here’s the list of the rest:
“Sunlight” by The Youngbloods
“Town Without Pity” by Mandy Barnett
“Wishin’ and Hopin’” by Dusty Springfield
“Sally Go Round the Roses” by Damnations TX
“Crystal Blue Persuasion” by Morcheeba (I prefer the original but it’s ok for a cover)
“Embryonic Journey” by Jefferson Airplane
“Ripple” by Grateful Dead
“Helplessly Hoping” by Taxiride
“No Matter What You Do” by Mojave 3
“Who Knows Where the Time Goes” by Judy Collins
“Crimson and Clover” by Elijah Blue Allman/Cher (Prefer the original again, but it’s ok I Guess)
Here’s a trailer for the movie if you were curious:
I just spent the last 20 minutes spraying in a pint or so of live beneficial nematodes from Ladies in Red company located out of Redmond, Oregon. This is the first time I’ve done it but they come highly recommended for pest control in the lawn and garden. For you non-gardening friends, it’s also great for controlling fleas and chiggers and fire ants so you might be interested in treating your lawn to help control fleas on your animals. I’ll let you know what I think.
Here’s where I got them and what they have to say about it:
I heard the music and came running to the tv as my kids watched Sesame Street. They called the episode “True Mud” and the characters looked like Suki and Bill, a Grouch. I appreciated the inside joke. Thought I’d share it with my friends and family who don’t have kids and might not be aware of the spoof’s existence.Sesame Street\'s Spoof on True Blood called \"True Mud\"
Oh yeah. That’s right. I got myself a 2001 Toyota Sienna XLE at around 100,000 miles. It’s fully loaded with a tape deck, a 6 disk changer, a slow ass sun-roof, leather seats in great condition, temperamental automatic doors and snake like seatbelts, rear shocks that need replacing, and a few dings here and there in the body, but otherwise it’s SWWEEEEEEET!!! And I love it! It has really simplified my life as a stay-at-home carpool driving mom with a dog. I’ve never had a problem with the image of it. Hey that’s where I am in my life and it really suits my lifestyle and needs. We do seriously wish it were more fuel efficient. But that’s going to have to be the next car.
Don’t get me wrong. I was rather fond of my Volkswagen Jetta. Kham and I bought it back in July ’99 with only 27,000 mi. on it. It served us well with almost zero issues in its 11 years and 115,000 miles. It also kept me and my family safe on several occasions:
A deer literally ran into it and smashed the the passenger mirror (driving late at night in Nevada)
A huge pick-up backed into me in an Orange County parking structure the day after purchase (I was so low, he literally could not see me, even after I was screaming at him and laying on my horn)
A car full of drunk illegal aliens caused a 6 car smash-up, of which we were one, just over a rise coming back from Vegas to San Bernardino late one night. I know they were drunk because I helped with the emergency first aid and you could smell the liquor 5 cars away. I strongly suspect the illegal part because when they heard us say “La Policia” they freaked out, jumped the freeway divider and ran across the opposite side of the freeway nearly causing several more fatalities, to disappear into the dessert.
I was rear-ended by a most likely stoned old lady while stopped for a passenger at a crosswalk here in Corvallis. That happened in April. I had a necksprain, whiplash, and concussion. Kellen, who was in the car with me, was fine. He got a sticker from the firemen so he was stoked. My head knocked the headrest so hard that I was totally discombobulated and forgot Kellen was even with me for several minutes. I couldn’t see him in my rear view mirror and he was so quiet back there that I freaked out and started crying. I couldn’t turn my neck to check on him. Well this is the accident that prompted our getting a new car as the trunk was pushed in and the main frame was twisted. Of course, she gave me false, expired info. and was uninsured.
As much as I may have wanted a different car that could allow me to fit more booster seats in it, there were many positives to our Jetta. First and foremost, it was paid off (which has saved us a bundle). Then we had just put nearly 2 grand in it last August to make it last another five years (fingers crossed). Plus, it was still in pretty good condition, mechanically and aesthetically (okay so the rubber paneling on the exterior was missing and falling off and the paint was eroding in big cloudy blotchy patches). The clincher was that this accident and their assessment of “total loss” happened to occur when our hot water heater died and my hospital bills started coming due for my surgery back in January.
We remember our Jetta and that time in our lives with fondness.
Goodbye Jetta! Thank you for your years of service and hard work!
And hello Swagger Wagon!!! I friggin’ LOVE this commercial:
Although ours is not as fancy as the current ones, it sure does feel luxurious to ride in it. We first took it for a spin when we piled in coming back from Papa’s Pizza with the Robinsons. Yeah, rockin’ the old school Madonna, “Holiday….”
We did a car trip trial run when my sis and bro-in-law and parents came to visit in August and we loaded in for a sight seeing trip over to and up the coast to our ultimate destination of Tillamook Cheesery. Sightseeing hasn’t been much of an option before, as I only had space for myself, one adult, and my two kids. My family are tall people with long legs. We need room. Plus, it was nice to be able to explain the sights to them and slow down when I knew it was coming up.
We truly christened it Labor Day weekend when we went camping at Lake Siskiyou near Mt. Shasta, CA. The drive was a breeze….floating along the highway in our big blue boat. There was so much leg space….and arm rests, and tinted windows on the kids so we didn’t have to jimmy blankets in the window grooves, and climate control for where the kids were, and a better height and tilt to sit so Kham’s clutch leg wouldn’t cramp up, oh, and CRUISE CONTROL!!! YAY!!! It felt positively….decadent. It was like we didn’t know how uncomfortable we were until this. We arrived there too soon. I didn’t get far enough along in my book on cd or on my knitting. We felt like we could’ve gone twice as long at that… And there was so much room! Long fishing poles? NO problem, just pop out the back seats. Poodle with muddy paws after running around the dog park? No problem, stick her in the trunk on an old blanket.
It was hard to find a used one of those with “reasonable” mileage in our price range because people are so darned happy with their performance and reliability that they drive them forever. We hope that is our experience. Ours has some issues but that’s why we were able to get it at a little lower price.
Anyways, to make a long story short: Come visit us. Bring your spouse. We actually have room enough to pick you up at the airport…in our partymobile. The Slater Swagger Wagon. Can you tell that Mommy Likes?!
When each of my kids were born, my mom presented them with lovely, soft, knit blankets. (As you can see in the pictures below, they have been well-used and loved. I just had to throw in some baby pics. They make me smile and chuckle…and sigh.)
Their births were motivation to pick up a hobby that she had set aside since I was in the 4th grade or younger. I remember going to the yarn store in No. Hollywood or Van Nuys and loving to look at all the colors and touch the different textures. I think choosing fabrics, textiles, and notions is my favorite part of my projects.
My kids LOVE theirs, although I wouldn’t call them blankie addicts. But they do come on every long car trip or overnight and Kellen is the one that seems more insistent on its nightly presence. Now they have about 6 or so in various weights, lengths, and colors. There’s the napping size vs. full size…. Bassinet vs. crib…near twin bed length… It’s become a tradition that when friends come over and watch a movie, or stay late while the parents gab in the kitchen, or spend the night that we open up the linen closet and let the guest(s) choose their own for their stay. We call them Tutu blankets because “TuTu” (pronounced “too-too”) is the Hawaiian word for Grandma, my mom grew up in Hawaii, and that’s what my kids call my mom.
The reason I’m bringing this up is because Michelle mentioned that her daughter Sophie could use a blanket for her American Doll (our girls’ new obsession). So, I picked up knitting and made her a mini Tutu blanket for her doll as a birthday present.
I haven’t knit since my mom first taught me. I remember our trip to choose our supplies. Pink plastic circular needles and the yarn was a baby blue boucle. Although it disguised mistakes well, it was very hard to see my stitches. I remember this 8″ length of a Knit-Purl basics scarf. It was my first practice piece project. Those things never came off the needles. I never finished it. It sat in the basket with the needles sticking out FOREVER; eventually put in a ziploc and stowed in the back of some closet or drawer. So that’s the extent of my knitting experience before I decided to take this on.
But I did it. And I feel proud of it. Sure, dropped stitches abound, I accidentally made a ribbing pattern in it repeatedly, mistakenly created my own stitch by Knitting from the wrong angle, and the dog and kids pulled out partial rows which I fed back on my needles twisted the wrong way…but it looks fine. When Herma went to rip out the messed up parts I had to stop her because that would be practically the whole blanket; “It’s just a doll blanket for Christ’s sake! I’m not going for perfection. I’m just trying to get my basic stitches down.”
I decided to attempt this project on our Labor Day camping trip thinking it the perfect opportunity of making the most out of my downtime. So while Kham drove and we listened to a book on cd, I began my project. With my thick, soft, Lion Brand Homespun yarn skein at my feet, and my bamboo circular needs size 10 in hand, I actually had to figure out how to cast on by memory! I stared at my slipknot and played with it repeatedly until I got it. Of course, now that I’ve finished I can’t remember what I did and am consulting mini lessons on YouTube. (God, is that site helpful for tutorials. In doing so, I’ve discovered my new favorite car ride activity to pass the time. I could look out the window and talk and do something constructive simultaneously.) I knit by firelight and headlamp. I let my little niece assist. I will definitely bring some sort of knitting or crocheting project next camping trip.
Here’s the finished product:
I gave Sophie the blanket last night, along with a Patterson family picnic blanket that I cut in half and sewed anticipating summer doll picnics,
as well as a little stretchy bead necklace with the name of her doll spelled out in beads that I threw together as an afterthought. I’m also making a little sleeping bag for her doll but haven’t finished it. Shouldn’t take more than 20 mins. or so to complete. The girls settled on the couch with their Tutu blankets and their dolls lined up with them with their mini version. It was very cute and very gratifying.
Kosette wants one for her doll too. Can’t say I blame her. And now Sophie wants a Tutu blanket of her own. Good thing the weather is turning as I’m more inclined to do inside crafty projects when outdoor stuff isn’t as appealing.
What I love most is that whenever I’ll see Sophie with the blanket, I’ll be reminded of an absolutely wonderful trip with my family. No, scratch that. What I loved most about the experience was when Kosette said proudly to her cousins, “Look! My mom made that whole thing! She can knit!” I don’t get a lot of positive comments from her so it really meant the world to me. Overhearing this from my campchair, I heavily teared up into my coffee cup. It is the sweetest feeling in the world to know that your kids are proud of you.
(Mom, thanks for your advice over the phone. I am very proud of your knitting abilities and hope I can become as good as you one day. Know that I say to MY friends with pride when they ask about them, “Yeah, my mother made it. Isn’t it sumptuous?” Herma, thanks for fixing that especially problematic row for me.)
If you don’t LOVE Astrud Gilberto and Stan Getz in all their Brazillian, Samba, Bossa Nova loveliness then there is something seriously wrong with you.
Not owning an iPod, I was turned onto Pandora radio years ago to explore my musical interests in this genre. It is awesome if you haven’t heard of it. Go check it out for yourself. I’ve created an Astrud Gilberto station and their Brazilian station under Genre-World-Latin-Brazilian is lovely. This kind of music, to me, is the perfect party background music while mingling and chilling.
The epitome of Cool:
Where’s my drink?
Now that I’ve wandered around YouTube for a bit, it occurred to me how much Anna Paquin resembles Astrud. Tell me she’s not her doppelganger?! I see a biopic on the making here:
My “I want to download this from Itunes” list is getting gigantic thanks to exploring Pandora. Unlike Itunes’ genius, you can actually listen to all of the songs. And it’ll play in a lineup as a playlist in your itunes.
Due to technical difficulties with my computer, I haven’t been on for a while. I’ve noticed they’ve added more world music categories. I can’t wait to explore Cuban, Tango, Bollywood, Hawaiian, Indian, and Indian classical.
I’ve always wanted to explore and make myself my own mix of background music when we eat “foreign” food at home. Japanese, Chinese, Indian…. Any suggestions?
Some wonderfully delightful swear words and idioms have colored our speech since becoming acquainted with several different tv series. First Deadwood had us calling each other “cocksucker”/ frequently with a bad Chinese accent. Then Battlestar Galactica elicited a plethora of “frack”s from us, and was paid tribute with its very own Easter egg dyed with that word on it (now, a yearly tradition). Spartacus: Blood and Sand can be thanked for our new curse obsession, “Jupiter’s cock!!” When something is surprising, goes awry, or screwed up, this must be said with great gusto and given hard “c” and “k” sound in order to get it just right. It made me guffaw when I first heard it and just plain makes me giggle.
I just googled it up for the etymology and found a drinking game of it in the urban dictionary:
A drinking game played while watching the Starz TV Series, “Spartacus: Blood and Sand”. Each time the word “cock” is spoken, everybody must drink a shot. As a kicker, when the words, “Jupiter’s Cock”, is spoken, everybody must do a double shot.
Seeing as how there’s a lot of “cock”s mentioned during each episode, I can see why this would work as a drinking game.
I think it was an expression coined by the writers of the show without etymological foundation.
By the way, unlike Deadwood, Battlestar, and Rome, this would not be a show I recommend to many. The first two episodes are atrocious and it’s bloody as hell. Makes True Blood look tame. It’s sort of like a cheesy ass male-fantasy only version of Rome without the anal attention to historical detail with the look and slow-mo battle violent nature of 300 a.d. But I REALLY enjoy looking at the women’s costumes. Man I wish I could sew. I also wished I could look as good and perky in those toga gowns as they do.
Being that the crux of the show is about the Gladiators; the one dubbed “Spartacus” in particular; I suppose I should bother to actually post at least one visual for why both sexes and multiple-sexualities have been attracted to the show. Lots of bodies to view in this show; the dead and the very much alive – sweating, fighting, bleeding, and/or copulating.
As for the men, I guess I’m partial to Doctore myself. I think his beauty has been under-appreciated by the public.
Should I bother to put a preview?
I had not intended to be about Spartacus, merely about the curse from it. But since I’ve already talked so much about the show…I want to warn anybody who may watch it – the first few episodes are dreadful. I can’t control the groans and eye rolling during some of the lines, their poor delivery, and plot predictability. However, that said, it really does get much better. If I had Tevo I would blast through the fight scenes – which in my humble opinion are way too numerous, ridiculously unrealistic and over-dramatized, and tediously drawn out. And yet, I still watch it. There’s something there besides the hot bodies and beautiful[ly garbed] women. They are just working out their look and tone of it still. OH, and Viva Bianca plays the bitchiest twisted bitch with a capital “B” as “Ilithyia”. Yowsers!!!!!!!!! You can see what I mean just by these 2 pictures:
Kham and I watched 500 days of Summer the other day for a light movie fare.
I love Zooey Deschanel, her voice, her quirky personality, and her retro vibe. I cut Kosette some bangs on the 4th of July. Turns out I gave her the same cut as Ms. Deschanel herself, but it was subconcious I swear!
As usual, we would’ve changed the ending. But Kham and I do that a lot, mentally reconstruct endings of films. I enjoyed watching it mainly because I enjoyed watching her and Joseph Gordon-Levitt.
Who DIDN’T like him in 3rd Rock from the Sun?
And I am glad for his professional successes. It’ll be fun to see him fight his way in to the in-crowd of young Hollywood “it” actors. But to me, he’ll always be the polite, little boy in my piano class and Kelli’s drama class lisping, and squeaking (his voice was starting to change), his way through “Wells Fargo Wagon” from Music Man (we have photos and videos somewhere). He was shy when you spoke with him but then would come alive on stage. He so obviously LOVED performing and lacked visible nerves. He stole the “show”. But watching him grow up is making me aware of my aging as well. Yikes. I hope he’s retained some of that sweetness. Here’s them doing a fun little music video for the movie but I think it shows some of his yet-untapped talent:
Kosette and I have enjoyed watching and listening to clips of her singing on YouTube. I’d like to get her album one of these days. She’s part of a duo called “She & Him”. It’s sweet and syrupy and fun. Good summer listening. Here’s Zooey in her own video for She and Him for the same song as above. I love the vintage look of it.
When I was in Jr. High, Twin Peaks came out. Yes, that dates me. I was shocked to hear on NPR that it recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. My Lord has it really been that long?! It was a sensation back then.
The infamous “dirty” book – the murdered girl, Laura Palmer”s diary, circuited my Lutheran school’s classrooms behind textbooks to every student’s delight and teacher’s horror. Many were confiscated but not before our innocent little brains were enlightened. But I didn’t watch the show. (Another thing that didn’t make me popular with my peer group – that, and not liking New Kids on the Block)
Sure, I caught a couple snippets here and there sometimes but it went against my personal policy of never watching a series out of order. I’m anal that way. And plus, it was so avante-gard and twisted and complicated, I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on. I think it also competed with some other show I watched or maybe it was on a weekday. Or maybe I was just to friggin’ square to appreciate something so cool and dark.
So when I heard it discussed at length on NPR, I wanted to give it another try. My friend Michelle, had the whole first season on dvd so I borrowed it and watched it while I was sick. I figured maybe I’d find it more intriguing now that I’m older, wiser (ahem), and my horizons have been broadened with experience. I love foreign and independent films so I thought I’d like it now.
I was wrong. I’m still too square or not as artsy as I’d hoped. I couldn’t even make it through two entire episodes and found it absolute torture. EXCEPT, the two things I already knew:
ONE: Sherilyn Fenn is sexy as hell in this and could turn the straightest of women! Of course, she was gorgeous and positively exuded sex from her every poor, but she so perfectly portrayed a young woman practically drowning in her own carnal desires….
TWO:
The music is the best thing about the show, in my humble opinion. The soundtrack by Angelo Badalamente is INCREDIBLE!! In fact, I heard the theme song and bought the cd on that alone! That was a lot of babysitting money to fork over back then.
Sidenote: I put “The Nightingale” (my faire nickname) by Julee Cruise on the first mixed tape I ever made for Kham.
Ever had one of those less-than-stellar parental moments when perhaps you’re standing in the kitchen working on dinner, waiting for your spouse to return from work, and muttering to yourself about your kids driving you nuts and just when you’re about to freak out and blow your top and do – you scream at the kids in the other room, “That’s IT!!!! I’ve had it!!!!” only to hear happy cries of “Daddy!!!” (who must’ve just walked in the door but you didn’t hear the door open because you were too busy losing your temper), and the radio goes silent as it switches to a new song, which distracts your brain from its tantrum long enough for you to notice what the new song is and comprehend the lyrics in a whole new way? And then it makes you feel sorry, ashamed, and foolish enough to chuckle at yourself and then go apologize to your kids?
Well, I did. Just yesterday in fact. And this was the song that was the comedic ice breaker:
Lyrics to “Undun” by The Guess Who
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
It was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
She wanted truth but all she got was lies
Came the time to realize
And it was too late
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
Mama, it was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
Too many mountains, and not enough stairs to climb
Too many churches and not enough truth
Too many people and not enough eyes to see
Too many lives to lead and not enough time
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
Doe-doe-doe-doe-doe doe un doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe-doe un doe-doe-doe doe-doe-doe
Doe doe-doe-doe doe doe-doe-doe doe doe
—— flute ——
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
She didn’t know what she was headed for
And when I found what she was headed for
It was too late
She’s come undun
She found a mountain that was far too high
And when she found out she couldn’t fly
Mama, it was too late
It’s too late
She’s gone too far
She’s lost the sun
She’s come undun
No no-no-no-no-no no
Doe doe doe-doe
On the flipside, I handled a very similar moment to this comic strip the other night much better than my aforementioned breakdown. After being awoken in the middle of the night to tend to Kellen’s growing pains (this entails Ibuprofen, Ben Gay type substance massaged into legs and sometimes arms, and nuking a sand/rice hull heating pad in the microwave). I had been enjoying this quiet, private, very sweet, tender moment with my son whereupon many kisses and lovey dovey words were exchanged and had turned to leave when Kellen suddenly cried out with great urgency, “WAIT!!!” Startled, I asked him what was the matter. The reply and subsequent interchange went something like this:
Kellen: I have something important to ask you.
Me: Yeeees? (thinkingto myself: What on earth could it possibly be? That’s so urgent and so important to know right now at 2 am?!!)
Kellen: How do you make pizza?
Me: Giggle, giggle, snort, tear, tee hee… I love you Kellen. I’ll show you tomorrow. You can help me make it for dinner.
Kellen: Ok. Mom, will you get off my blanket? I want to sleep now.
Me: Ok. Giggle. You are too cute, Little Man. Sweet Dreams.
(door closes) Man, I wish Kham was awake so I can tell him that one!!!
Compared to Kosette’s thought-provoking but taxing and loaded questions of late like “Who and why was the earth created? And why does Mother Earth give me headaches? Why did Mother Earth make me so short when you’re so tall? And why would someone want to kill themselves?” it was a relief to get a question I could answer without having to think so hard and answer so carefully. Ah, my children amuse me so much. Think I’ll keep them around a little longer. <Wink>
