Woefully behind on the February Memage...so catching up

16. National TimTam Day is today. This day is all about celebrating one of Australia’s most loved snacks, the TimTam biscuit, which first hit the shelves in 1964. Have you ever had a TimTam?

I had to look it up. Because I visited Australia in December 1990, and I know I probably had it. ( Read more... )

I did have Tim Tams. I also think I had them when I first moved to NYC (because NYC has just about everything imported). I wasn't diagnosed with Ceiliac disease/Gluten Intolerance until sometime around 2005. (I keep trying to prove it wrong - but no, they found it in my genes as well - I have the chromosome for it.)

17. What are you wearing on your feet today?

Fluffy socks. It's cold and a fluffy sock day.

18. Enzo Ferrari was born on this day in 1898. Have you ever driven or ridden in a Ferrari sports car?

No.

19. What is your favourite flavour of chocolate (for example, with mint, salted caramel, with nuts or something else?). Is there a chocolate flavour combination you dislike?

Currently found of 70% Dark Chocolate infused with Raspberries. For awhile it was Orange infused.

It varies. And uhm, no, there isn't a flavor of chocolate I dislike. It doesn't appear to exist at the moment or I've not discovered it. I even like white chocolate.

20. Have you a good sense of direction, or do you rely on maps/online navigation? When was the last time you got lost?

Horrible sense of direction. I rely on maps or online navigation. ( Read more... )

21. Are you worried about climate change? Have there been noticeable changes to the weather where you live over recent years?

Yes, yes and yes. I think a lot of folks are in denial.( Read more... )

I've seen it in action. The snow caps are melting. The glaciers are melting. NY has milder winters and hotter summers. We used to get a lot of snow in the winter, we barely get any at all now. The summer rarely got to 100 degrees, now it regularly does - and I require A/C in the summer, when I first moved here in the 1990s, I lived without for a bit, and was fine.


22. It’s International Sword Swallower Day! Have you ever seen someone swallow a sword?

Yes. Albeit not recently. I've been to various Renaissance Fairs (it's a thing at those), and the Circus. But it was in the 20th Century, when I was a kid. Also on television and film.


23. What was your favourite toy when you were growing up?

The British spelling of favorite is annoying the American English Spellcheck - it keeps underlining it in red as misspelled. When I was getting my novel published - the line editor found all the British spellings in it and circled them. I kept spelling various words the way the Brits online were spelling them and various British and European authors had and hadn't realized I kind of picked up on it. Now? The American English spell-check underlines the word.

Anyhow, my favorite toy was a Barbie doll - or it's the only toy I remember. I tended to love books the most, even before I could read them.
( Read more... )

Saturday is laid back and lazy with sunshine

Watching the filmed musical production of The Waitress staring Sara Bareilles, which she wrote and starred in. This is the musical adaptation of the film "The Waitress" starring Keri Russell and Nathan Fillion. It's on HBO.

I remember thinking when I discovered Bareilles was adapting the film to a musical - that this really doesn't work well as a musical. (And I was right, it doesn't.)

The songs don't work, and are more grating than anything else (and I love musicals - this would turn me off of them). It's trying for a kind of opera with dialogue, but it doesn't quite play. And they don't do dance numbers - because of course you can't due to the subject matter (it deals with domestic violence).

Also outside of Betsy, most of the singing and songs fall flat. Watching someone make pies on stage - isn't that entertaining. And the action is between the Diner and the Gynecologist Office. Her romance? With her Gynecologist - while she's pregnant with the abusive husband's baby. See? It has problematic subject matter for a musical.

In short, it's not very good. I'm glad I didn't pay anything to see it. This is why I haven't seen a musical in ages, most of them are like this? They have a bad score and don't quite work. Also they cost between $250-800 to see. And just no.

I gave up finally. It's kind of offensive in spots, and the songs don't work.

***

I'm in a television slump. I tried Severance, and it still kind of bores me? I can't seem to get past episode 3. Also tried Emily in Paris - same. Ginny and Frannie? Same. These are all popular series, but they aren't working for me. I think my difficulty with Severance - is I kind of figured it out and can see where it is going - because I read a lot of science-fiction horror and have seen a lot? It's not a new trope. It may work better if you haven't? Also I don't like any of the characters, and the actors don't do anything for me. "Severance" is a work place satire - it's a kind of sci-fi horror comedy? Satire either works for me or it doesn't, and workplace satires have never worked for me. I've tried a lot of them, they are all the same - and none of them work for me: Office Space, Good Place (it worked when it wasn't a work place satire), The Office, Parks and Recreation, and now this. They are all about bored people wearing suits in a cubicle environment, not caring about anything but how they can annoy each other. Basically how television writers envision the work place based on the temp jobs they've had.

I think I may go back to Hacks, Poker Face, Buffy, and Ted Lasso. Also Black Doves, and Tracker.

**

The day was somewhat productive, I walked, I peddled, I talked to mother, I cleaned, I took out the trash, I striped the bed and made it up clean, I lay in bed - but didn't sleep in, and I read a bit.