I just bought my first book off of Apple's ibooks. It's called Zombies, Vampires and Philosophy and like another pop culture tie-in (The Simpsons and Philosophy: The D'oh of Homer) is surprisingly deep and provocative...more on this soon!!

For weeks after we bought it with our allowance, my sister and I played the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack almost every Saturday night, dancing our heads off and misunderstanding lyrics to songs we were probably too young to be listening to in the first place. (We were seven and eight, respectively.)

So many years later, I still listen and dance to this awesome album, but I notice that it's not as light-hearted and "Oh God, not disco!" (an attitude I had about the album all through the 80s) as I remember.

The tracks are more intensely driven than they seemed when I was a little girl and some sound as if they have been brushed by a little bit of panic. On "You Should Be Dancing" (Bee Gees, for anyone who may have forgotten) there's a fierce guitar you don't often find in disco.  The song reminds me of  Flashdance's "Maniac," which came out a few years later, in that you're not dancing because you want to dance, you're dancing because you have to dance.

On "Night on Disco Mountain" there's a mania that's downright scary. It sounds like someone's life is about to end...which may be why this song is played during a scene in which Tony and his reckless friends are playing around high up on the Brooklyn bridge.

Even "Disco Inferno" (so amazing for a really great work-out number!!) is fierce and commanding. Lighter fare (such as "Boogie Shoes" by K.C. and The Sunshine Band and the somewhat geeky, but totally lovable "Open Sesame" by Kool and the Gang) is definitely as I remember it, but Yvonne Elliman's "If I Can't Have You" somehow sounds sadder than ever!

If I could put a big red X across this picture I would...I have been taking these for almost a week and while I'll admit that they DO curb my appetite, they also instill in me the kind of anxiety you normally only find with extreme paranoia.

Since I've been taking Super Green Tea Diet pills I have been uneasy, restless, almost feeling the need to look over my shoulder at all times!

 It's hard to find something that makes you want to eat less, but I also believe that your heart rate should remain normal whenever possible and that it's very hard to concentrate at work (or anywhere else!) when your mind is jumping up and down like someone who's had eight cups of coffee.

If you're looking for an appetite suppressant, you may want to look elsewhere. In fact, I hope you do!!

In my quest to find the best, most safe, appetite suppressant I've found the best thing (so far) to be black coffee. It gives me energy and makes me less hungry without making me as jittery as the green tea pills do. This, of course, only applies if you keep your intake to a reasonable moderation.

Also, I have found by reducing my tv-watching by a great deal and eating a meal while reading a book or newspaper I don't eat as much.

oh my gosh!!! just found a very interesting article on dreams from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal (dated February 28, 1889):

A Statistical Study of Sleep and Dreams

it's not nearly as stuffy or dry as you would think (okay, it is just a tad stuffy, but it has some fascinating information)

My favorite sentence: "The liveliness of the emotional nature, a prominent feature of women and youth, thus seems to be marked out as the causative agent in the production of dreams."

...the things women do to each other...


Last night while I was watching Titus (it took me a long time to get into it and figure out what was going on, but once i got the rhythm i couldn't help but be enthralled) I had to wonder how on earth Julie Taymor could be so violent in her direction of the film version of the play...even though the play itself is violent, as Shakespeare intended.

One of the most gruesome scenes takes place when Empress Tamora (played so deliciously by Jessica Lange) orders her two sons (whose resemblance to 80s music sensations the Nelson Twins is almost eerie) to attack and rape the daughter of her arch enemy, Titus.

While it's true Tamora doesn't stick around for the whole thing, she certainly knows what Lavina's fate is going to be and Lange plays the unflinching bitch oh so well.

The thing is that even though this kind of woman on woman barbarism doesn't (thankfully!) happen often in real life, women can be so vindictive and nasty to each other in other ways. Whether it's engaging in office gossip or "stealing" boyfriends or pushing each other aside to move up the corporate ladder, it's pretty scary.

Men aren't this way with each other...I just don't get it!!!