What's your "go-to" movie? The one you watch when you need to just get away from it all?
Submitted by uncagedbird.
It's not a movie, but I watch it on DVD, so I'm still counting it.
I have watched Gilmore Girls seasons 1 through 7 more times than I can count. My friend Emma and I watched our DVDs regularly during college, and always watched the new episodes together whenever we could. Watching Gilmore Girls now has not lost any of the fun (the episodes get better and better the more you know them) and it's now also extremely comforting.
When I moved to New York, whenever I got homesick I would watch a few episodes, and I always felt better. When it comes to getting away from it all, there's no better fictional place than Stars Hallow.
In terms of actual movies, I have several that get a lot of use because they are entertaining, familiar, and comforting. The ones that come to mind are: The Sure Thing, Pride and Prejudice, A Prairie Home Companion, and Breakfast at Tiffany's.
My favorite cupcake bakery in New York is Magnolia Bakery. They are little cups of heaven. I used to think my favorite kind was vanilla with chocolate frosting (the same as my favorite kind of cake, in general) but after trying the Vanilla/Vanilla ones I've decided those are my favorites. I also loved the chocolate cake with vanilla frosting.
A few weeks ago, I decided to try baking them myself. You can find the recipes in their second cookbook, More from Magnolia. You can also find the recipes posted online. I found the cake recipe here, and the chocolate frosting recipe here.
My frosting did not turn out as fluffy as it should have, which I'm sure is because I don't have an electric mixer and had to beat by hand. But it still tasted great, so no harm done.
The cupcakes turned out extremely well; I'll definitely continue to use this recipe. The cake had an excellent flavor, much better than any boxed mix. I think next time I'll make the vanilla frosting. (The vanilla frosting recipe is also available on the links above.)
One tip I have for any cupcake baker: try tinfoil cupcake papers. The lovely thing about them is that you don't need to use cupcake trays to make them, you can just set them on a regular cookie sheet. This cuts down the total baking time a lot for me, because you can prepare the next batch while the current batch is in the oven. Also, because the sides of the cupcake aren't touching the metal pan, the don't get browned on the sides, they stay light. Therefore, the sides of the cupcake taste just like the middle, which is very nice.
Here are some more pictures from my baking evening:
Aside from being funny, sweet, tender, charming, and full of love, it confirmed my suspicion that Ryan Gosling is my favorite actor.
Back in January, I found this quote from Ryan Gosling, about the reading the script:
"I cried at the end, when I read it. I just thought it was so romantic - the idea that you don't need to be loved in return in order to love something or someone. Love can come from you. It doesn't have to be reciprocal. People love their cars. People love all kinds of things, and they really love them. And we don't really value that kind of love because it's not a real, reciprocal kind of love, but it's real love to them."
Happy 51st Birthday to my wonderful mother, Ruth!
Here are 5 reasons why my mom is awesome:
1. She's a librarian. The most awesome career there is.
2. She got her Masters in Library Science in her 40s, while working 40 hours a week and taking good care of her family (including my little brother, who was 3 to 5 years old during that time).
3. She has a Vox blog too, and writes great posts.
4. She always knows what to say to make you feel better.
5. She is the best mom in the world, and I wouldn't be who I am or where I am in life without her.
I wasn't planning on buying anything, but Symposia bookstore had a booth and all fiction was $3. I found four books, and one of them was The Natural History of the Senses by Diane Ackerman. I've heard wonderful things about this book. My Mom loves it and recommends it highly.
I know blurbs can overrate things, but this one made me decide to read the book immediately:
An aphrodisiac for the sense receptors. Read a chapter, then step outside and voila: The sky is a deeper blue, the birds sing a sweeter song. How could the world seem otherwise, after feasting on voluptuous prose like this? -Chicago Tribune
Books Purchased*:
A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
Maps and Legends by Michael Chabon
So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction edited by Lex Williford and Michael Martone
The View from Saturday by E. L. Konigsburg
A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck
A Year Down Yonder by Richard Peck
The McSweeney's Joke Book of Book Jokes
I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
The Solitary Vice Against Reading by Mikita Brottman
Not Quite What I Was Planning edited by Smith Magazine
Patience and Fortitude by Nicholas A. Basbanes
The Habit of Being: Letters of Flannery O'Connor edited by Sally Fitzgerald
The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
Nine Horses by Billy Collins
Conversations with Kurt Vonnegut edited by William Rodney Allen
The Best American Short Stories 1998 edited by Garrison Keillor
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan
The Art of Drowning by Billy Collins
Stories by T. C. Boyle
Disgrace by J. M. Coetzee
Random Family by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc*There is very little excuse for this beast of a pile. Well, maybe there is. I had a lot of visitors in April, who wanted to go to Strand (who could blame them? I do too). So I went to Strand a lot more than normal, as well as dozens of other bookstores. I got excellent deals on most of the books in the stack, but I still need to go much easier in May. Here's hoping.
Books Read:
So Many Books, So Little Time by Sara Nelson
I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley
The Gathering by Anne Enright
Simply Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs
Patiently Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Including Alice by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
I am America (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert
Alice on Her Way by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
Well, despite the fact that I had company visiting 3 out of the 4 weekends in April, I still managed to read a lot. Absolutely nothing else got done this month.
So Many Books, So Little Time is a book that many members of Rory's Book Club have read and enjoyed. I'm not sure why it took me so long to read it, because I love books about reading. I found a hardcover at Strand for $6, and once I had it I wanted to read it immediately. It was a good book to read while my family was visiting; it was nice and light and did not require too much concentration. If you like reading about reading as well, it's very likely that you'll also enjoy this one. I related to Sara's thoughts about what reading can do for you, and wrote down many titles that I want to read too. (See Heartburn below.)
I Was Told There'd Be Cake by Sloane Crosley has been on the receiving end of an incredible amount of buzz lately. This was a book I picked up because of the wonderful title and cover. Flipping through it and reading the first few pages confirmed that it needed to be purchased, taken to my home, and read immediately.
A few links: Sloane's website is pretty great, and includes dioramas. Amazon's book blog has a Q&A with Sloane. (I Was Told There'd Be Cake does not appear in either of my photos this month because it was so good I lent it to my friend right away.)
I read The Gathering for the first meeting of a book club I joined. We had a very spirited discussion about it. I enjoyed Anne Enright's writing, and way the book was structured was impressive and unique. The the plot is about a family that comes together for a funeral, but to me the book is about memory. The reader is inside the narrator's memory, and she can't quite remember if certain things actually happened, or the exact way that they happened. In other words, exactly like real memory. Also, the memories are not in order, much the way certain memories might come randomly back to you in an emotional situation like a funeral. I enjoyed the writing and the structure more than I enjoyed the actual novel, all together.
I decided I wanted to re-read the Alice books, my favorite series when I was younger. Phyllis Reynolds Naylor is still writing the Alice series too, so there are new ones I haven't read yet. I started randomly in the middle, with Simply Alice. I then read Patiently Alice, Including Alice, and Alice on Her Way. You'll see more Alice books on the list next month.
I previously posted about A Wolf at the Table by Augusten Burroughs and The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart, so I won't go on about them more here.
I read about Heartburn in So Many Book, So Little Time. I've never read any Nora Ephron, and this one sounded amusing. Sara Nelson said she and her friends read it over and over again when it came out in the 80s. It was interesting to read a book for women that was written before the rise of chick lit. And it's so much better than chick lit too. It's hard to find books like this now because the few good ones that come out probably get slapped with pink covers and a single cover illustration that looks exactly like every other cover of all the hundreds of crappy books. In fact, the latest edition of Heartburn is pink with this very type of illustration on it. I'm glad I found a first edition that has the original artwork. (Here are links to images of the first edition, and the current edition.)
I started reading I Am American (And So Can You!) by Stephen Colbert when it came out back in October 2007. I read most of it, but got distracted and never read the last 50 or so pages. I finished them this month. It's a very funny book, and I highly recommend it to fans of Stephen Colbert. (This book also has a great site.)
As always, my complete Polysyllabic Spree list can be found here.
Perilous Journey is much more action packed than the first book. I guess that's what happens after your enemies know you. You get chased while you're trying to do the chasing. Very intense. I had to read a few pages of a different book before going to bed because I was afraid I would have crazy dreams.
But it's the good kind of intense. It's exciting, and the puzzles and clues keep you on your toes. The four children are learning more about their own gifts. As in the first book, it's amusing to see how each problem is solved with a combination of their extraordinary gifts. Constance is my favorite of the four in this book.
I recommend this duo, for young adult readers and for adults. Definitely start with the first one.
The Mysterious Benedict Society also has a great website.
I'm so delighted that we're actually having a spring this year! Last year it went from 50 degrees to 90 degrees seemingly overnight.
Ryan and I (and basically the entire office) have been heading to the closest park, Madison Square Park, during lunch every day. It's gorgeous. Here are some photos I took on Wednesday:
I was tagged by a couple people for the Eight Random Things meme. I was also tagged forever ago by Slow Learner for a book blog. I will post both of them now. (And apologies to Slow Learner for the delay!)
Eight Random Things
The rules:
- Each player starts with 8 random facts/habits about themselves.
- People who are tagged, write a blog post about their own 8 random things, and post these rules.
- At the end of your post you need to tag 8 people and include their names.
- Don’t forget to leave them a comment on their blog and tell them they’ve been tagged, and to come back and read your blog for the whole story.
My Eight Things:
1. Many people know this (especially the book club girls, and also especially my mom and dad), but for those who don't: I have a little brother who is 7 years old. His name is Benjamin and he is the cutest, smartest kid in the world.
2. When I was a senior in high school I was on a weekend retreat and went tubing down a hill onto a frozen pond. I went down on a tube with a girl named Rose, and we hit a bump about 20 feet from the bottom of the hill. I flew from the tube down to the ice below and landed on my back, smacking my head on the ice. I was taken to the emergency room and came back with 17 staples holding together two large cuts on the back of my head.
3. I am unable to keep up with the media that I wish to consume. I have too many interests, it seems. Despite how much I read/listen/watch, I still have: a million unread google reader items; two large stacks of magazines that need to be read/flipped through; a DVR that's full of Conan Dave, Jon, and Stephen; a long Netflix queue; and an ungodly number of unread books on my shelves.
4. I've recently discovered a love of baking. It's a very fun hobby; I love making everything from scratch. Recently I've found wonderful recipes for brownies, chocolate chip cookies, cream biscuits, and cupcakes and frosting. (A post about the cupcakes will be forthcoming.)
5. Today Ryan and I are going to buy Mario Kart Wii and I'm super excited.
6. I am allergic to lettuce.
7. My favorite holiday is Christmas.
8. My favorite food is mashed potatoes.
- Pick up the nearest book (of at least 123 pages).
- Open the book to page 123.
- Find the fifth sentence.
- Post the next three sentences.
- Tag five people.
The book is Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx by Adrian Nicole LeBlanc.
When he returned to his mother's, after a summer at Rikers, Serena had gone to Robert's, and her welfare benefits had gone with her. Lourdes hadn't paid the rent in months. She was using more than ever and had been spotted hanging out in the abandoned building on Mount Hope.
Barack's plane was delayed in Pittsburgh and he couldn't make it to the show. :(
Jon still interviewed him via satellite, but I wish we could have seen him in person.
It was still very fun though. Seeing Jon Stewart is awesome on its own. And we got free doughnuts, and VIP tickets to Paul Mecurio's show on Saturday.
I have a lot of pictures from this weekend, Emma and I walked all over the city and went to what is probably a world record number of bookstores in a two day period.
I'll update with pictures from our adventures, pictures of cupcakes, overdue memes, and more as soon as I'm not completely pooped, and have two seconds to put together.
