Shock Value...

I'm enjoying Shock Value so far, but I wish it were longer and more inclusive of other directors in horror besides the ones that come immediately to mind.

Horror which relies exclusively on excessive gore and unrelenting punishment a la Saw style (sometimes referred to as "torture porn") has kind of made me cynical about a lot of horror, but I did recently (kind of) enjoy Insidious, a film that seems to remember true scares work better with a "less is more" mentality.

The visuals (especially one of a ghost child skipping through a living room to the sounds of an old record) got under my skin and after the movie was over I found myself turning on all the lights on, something I almost never do when I've finished something scary.

Get Well Soon (the way it's meant to be said)

Last year I was floored when I first heard Rumer sing on the single "Slow." She sounded so much like Karen Carpenter it kind of scared me, mostly because you don't hear too many vocalists who resemble the late singer's voice so well.

And it also made me feel sad because I'm pretty sure if Karen Carpenter were still alive today she would still be singing and sounding as marvelous as ever. She loved music so much I don't think you'd be able to tear her away from it!

But moving on...I was floored again tonight for the same reason when someone tweeted about the album Get Well by Sarabeth Tucek and I just had to have a listen. 

Her resemblance to Karen (mentioned in the tweet) is also uncanny, but putting aside that for the moment, I'll say this: Get Well Soon is an amazing, amazing recording and certainly worth its own merit no matter whom Tucek sounds like!

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An Old Photo of Your New Lover

My Amazon widget page is missing! I can't access the pictures to post alongside what I'm writing about. I'm sure I can fix the problem, but for right now I'll upload my entry and then add the picture later for The One A.M. Radio's "An Old Photo of Your New Lover." If anyone knows why the widgets aren't working, feel free to let me know:)!

The song is really rather clever and spot on. The first time it goes through the chorus it leads up with a little story about a man finding an old picture of his new girlfriend and feeling left out of her life, even though he hadn't met her at that point.

The second time the chorus approaches it twists the title around with "A New Photo of An Old Lover." Now the song is about the man discovering to "his chagrin" (online? we never know for sure) how his former flame is doing by finding a new picture of her.

Both times the verses are followed with: "There's a world without you" and that part is so profound...so profound, maybe even layered with more than one meaning.

The first world is one I can't truly relate to, but the second is a different story and all too familiar because of a little thing called Facebook: that weird and instant flicker in your heart when you see someone who used to mean so much to you, as they are today, not when you last saw them.

The "world without you" part? I can't figure out which scenario is more painful, even as both are true: there is a "world without you," certainly before and certainly after.

And rationally I think most of us know this when we're in relationships or when they've ended. But knowing that doesn't take the sting away.

As for the "chagrin" part? Don't even get me started!:) Because that's true, too.

(photo from TV Guide)

I'm so excited about the new FX show American Horror Story with Jessica Lange I can barely type this :) It begins on October 5th...here's more about it:

http://www.broadway.com/buzz/157571/check-out-glee-creator-ryan-murphys-american-horror-story-starring-denis-ohare-and-jessica-lange/

New York magazine puts it on their "and we're also anticipating..." list for the new fall tv season because American Horror Story stars  "Jessica Godd*mn Lange. And it's on FX, a network willing to take real risks."


I guess it's silly to put the asterik in the curse word...probably a leftover habit of mine from that word always always being a BIG no-no in my house when I was growing up. Basically the use of that word (I'm assuming) is the magazine's way of saying just how awesome Jessica Lange is,  just how legendary!:)

There was a time when I would do almost anything for good food. In my 20s (pretty much through all of them) I could eat whatever I wanted without suffering any consequences except intense but surprisingly short periods of guilt and shame.

Some nights I would go to the store for that week's worth of groceries and come home with a pint of ice cream and a cherry pie, both of which I'd eat in one night.

It was only a few years into my 30s when I realized this wouldn't do anymore. I'd just look at something and gain weight. Eating whatever you want whenever you want can only go so far before fate or karma or whatever you want to call it comes calling to collect its dues. I cleaned up my act and started eating better and more sensibly.

A large part of my success with this came from two things: scented candles and glossy food magazines. I bought so many scented candles that smelled like cinnamon buns I thought I worked in a bakery and the amount of vicarious thrills I got from pouring through issues of Bon Appetit and Cooking Light (not to mention Cheap Eats specials for Baltimore and Washingtonian) was far more titillating than it should have been.

I used to laugh at aromatherapy, but there really is something to smell and the fact that a whiff of something can make you feel like you actually ate it. I can't really explain why looking at pictures helped so much except that maybe the physicality of looking at something can be almost as good as actually doing it.

Music also played a big role. My love for music grew and grew to the point where I'd rather spend any extra money I made on new cds or iTunes songs and because I liked (like) music so much, I suddenly found exercising more exciting than any food item I craved.

I'm not saying I don't have days where it's all I can do not to eat an entire Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey in one sitting or that I'm a skinny Minnie who doesn't have to worry about weight gain anymore...I'm just saying that my love for junk food only became cheap and sordid to me when I realized how many more uplifting things there are in life, one of the most important of them being music, a presence that is almost as strong as love as far as I'm concerned.

And one more thing: the tv. Turn it off when you're eating and you'll notice how much better everything tastes and how much slower you eat it. When I stopped associating food with the television I really started cutting back. I can't stress that enough!:)