— I am almost done with Gulliver’s Travels
— Just finished The Taming of the Shrew (Folger Shakespeare Library)
— This is boring to anyone except me. I am absolutely THRILLED. I started ordering products from Melaleuca – basically because it’s convenient, and cheap, and it comes to my door, and it’s all part of my ongoing plan to outsource as much as possible. I checked them out on the advice of Flynn- and I was intrigued. My first delivery arrived last week. I got soap, and vitamins, and crap like that … but the laundry detergent!! I have no brand loyalty with laundry detergent (which is odd – most people seem to have some sort of loyalty). I have not. Until now. I love the smell of this detergent so much that I feel almost addicted to it. It is a heavenly scent – I mean, laundry-ish and everything, but without a harsh industrial smell, and not too soapy. It just smells fresh and yummy. I am now ALL ABOUT MELALEUCA LAUNDRY DETERGENT. I took my first load out and then stood there for a while with my nose buried in my clean towels. I felt like a little kid in grade school (back in the day, I mean, back my MY day) – being handed a “ditto” and immediately shoving it up to my nose to take a nice deep long smell. (On a side note, Yankee Candle shoudl come out with THAT as a scent. “DITTO”. Mmmmm.) Anyway. I adore my laundry detergent from Melaleuca and I ain’t never goin’ back. I have discovered brand loyalty at this late late stage in the game. I’ll go to the mat for Melaleuca.
— Allison and I had a rapturous afternoon together yesterday:
1. Talking about the black dahlia murder case
2. Talking about the rugby team who survived the plane crash in the Andes
3. Watching a show about Andrew Luster, the Max Factor heir who was a serial rapist – sick sick man. We were in heaven. At one point I said, after hearing about yet another girl he drugged and raped, “I have never had so much fun in my life.” We were voracious. We had to keep pausing it to talk about it.
4. Talking about Marie Antoinette
5. Allison divulged how much she loved the book Our Mutual Friend – I’ve never read it, and she talked about it in such a way that made me want to pick it up right away
6. We watched the season premiere of The Extras – and Orlando Bloom!!! SO FUNNY! I have newfound respect for him. He TOTALLY made fun of his own persona – it was hysterical! In the episode, he was completely convinced that he was WAY better looking than Johnny Depp, and he was kind of fixated on it. If a woman preferred Johnny Depp to him – he even got angry about it. Like: No. Objectively, I am MUCH more better looking than Depp. He kept talking about Johnny Depp. He was so funny. Go, Orlando!! Love that show.
— Went over to Siobhan’s bar last night – hoping to get a chance to hang out with her – but the place was PACKED. I said “Hi!” to Siobhan, and then 45 minutes later, said, “Bye!” That was all she had time for. Poor woman. But it was okay because there were a couple of other of Siobhan’s friends hanging out – and so we all got a table, and had a good time. Oh and apparently – the cute dude who played the brother in Bring It On was there. I didn’t see him, though, it was too crowded.
— Cool misty weather. Is it January?
— Met up today with Jen to hear about her trip to Hawaii. The quote of the afternoon came from Jen:
“And then … I found myself face to face with a wild boar.”
I mean, really, what more is there to say.
Weird…six weeks ago I had never heard of Melaleuca, and now nearly everyone we know seems to be using their stuff. We’re partial to the shampoo and the multi-surface all purpose cleaner…the bar soap also smells good, but it dries out my skin.
I guess we’re just Melaleuca geeks…
Oh, yes, you should read Our Mutual Friend. It’s so good! It’s my favorite Dickens, and more than that, my particular copy is one of my favorite books–just the size, weight, cover and all make it a joy to hold in my hand, without even opening it at all. The adaptation that was on Masterpiece Theatre was great, too.
I read Gulliver’s Travels in high school British Literature class. I’ve been meaning to read it again for the last 10 years or so. Some of the satire sailed over my 17yr old head at the time. Some of it would probably still sail over my head but I think I’d enjoy it more now than I did then and I REALLY enjoyed it a lot then.
The cute brother guy is named Jesse Bradford. I love Bring It On. No shame. It’s too entertaining. Oh, and Bradford is the cutest in the brushing teeth scene.
Cool misty weather. Is it January?
(Looks up from digging out driveway from 6″ of snow).
Oh, yes. It’s January.
Re the detergent: I’m so not a household products geek – but I’m working for a company that’s ALL about soap, cleaning, sanitation EVERYTHING for everything from hospitals to restaurants to food processing plants the British Navy. And you can get ALL the stuff – from medical hand sanitizer to dish soap to laundry detergent to is at the company store at about 1/4 what you pay for retail…
…and I’m starting to ENJOY cleaning products, as in becoming a connoiseur.
I need help.
mitch – I am so jealous you have snow!! grrrr. I keep wearing my down coat in the hopes that, uhm, the weather will reflect my wardrobe … and then I just end up sweating. It feels so OFF to have it be this warm in January! Where’s my snow???
and hahahahaha about your last line of your comment. hee hee
I feel like I’m becoming a conoisseur as well and i spent a glorious hour this morning poring over the Melaleuca catalogue picking up tub and tile cleaner and the like.
What has happened to me?
Jeff – I had never heard of Melaleuca either! I’m not wacky about their shampoo – because it doesn’t lather up enough, and I’m all about the lather – but the cleaning products are fantastic. And I believe I have mentioned my rapture re: laundry detergent.
Harriet – Okay, that’s final – I will put it on the list. Allison said it’s a real fun murder mystery – I honestly know nothing about it, so I can’t wait.
And I’m kind of in a Dickens phase because of my Tale of 2 Cities re-reading recently.
I finished Gulliver last night. I have now begun Scoop – by Evelyn Waugh (which is laugh out loud funny – I had no idea!!!) – and then I am reading Villette – by Charlotte Bronte (this is all part of my “classics reading challenge” thing I am doing – those are my last 2 books in the challenge.)
Maybe then I’ll pick up Our Mutual Friend.
And isn’t it great when you have a book that you just love – not just for the content of it, but the look and feel of it, the cover, the kind of paper, the typeface – I love that too.
Rob – the only complaint I have about my copy of Gulliver’s Travels is that the notes in the back are just not detailed enough. I’m sure there are other editions that are MUCH better, in terms of explaining the political world at that moment and what Swfit was satirizing. I can get SOME of his in-jokes – but there are many that go way over my head, because they are so topical, so of-the-moment.
The footnotes of my copy are basically linguistic footnotes – vocabulary footnotes, telling the reader what certain words mean, and that’s all well and good – but I want political footnotes too. I want to know WHAT he is satirizing. A lot of the times it is obvious, a lot of the time you can tell exactly what he is angry about (for example, when the Lilliputian Queen’s apartments go up in a blaze – and Gulliver, to “help out”, urinates onto the palace to put out the fire. HA!!!) – but i think there’s a lot more subtlety in what he is criticizing, and my book doesn’t explain a lot of it.
But I love how funny it is.
I love how he is describing his native country to the King of the Flying Island – and he says, “I explained to him that we were ruled by a female man, that we called a Queen.” hahahaha
Also, I can’t believe how many times the word “anus” appears in this book. Methinks Swift was a bit obsessed.
SUCH a fun read!
I finished it this morning.
Erik – Bring It On is one of my favorite movies. I watch it all the time – it just always satisfies. I have no shame.
GOOD! No shame!
And don’t even get me started on my undying love for Blue Crush and Center Stage.
These are all basically the same film, the only difference being:
1. is about cheerleading
2. is about surfing
3. is about ballet
But they are all the same.
I ADORE THEM ALL. NO SHAME.
And The Cutting Edge…
4. Is about ice skating.
Same film.
Love ’em all. Formulaic, predictable, cheesy, but a whole lot of fun.
I remember reading that passage when I was 17, red. How he was so proud of his careful aim. I’m going to have to dig out my copy.
Emily – Yes! Cutting Edge! Same movie. Same satisfying ridiculous experience.
And Step Up…
5. is about hip-hop dancing.
(I looooooooooved Step Up. So freaking much.)
The final big school dance production number is great–though it’s not quite as good as the final big school dance production number in Center Stage, which I’ve only seen once but I remember being amazing. Were motorcycles involved??? I think they were. I’ll have to rent Center Stage soon to verify.
Erik – it is an amazing number but it is comPLETELY unrealistic. Like – she has a costume change – and her makeup has VISIBLY changed – but she’s backstage for, .5 seconds …
It’s also kind of dumb and cheesy. Like if I had busted my ass to get to the Joffrey, I’d be pissed at the low-level of some of the choreography. hahahaha
But no matter: it’s so fun! Our lead girl triumphs after having her spirits CRUSHED by Peter Gallagher, head of the school. She shows ’em all!
Oh – and there’s a movie coming out maybe this weekend called Stomp the yard, I believe – which looks identical to all of these movies we are talking about.
Only this has to do with … uhm … stomping?
It looks great. I’ll have to see it.
Yes, STOMPING. Brilliant. I remember they stomped in one of the frats at my college and occasionally there’d be a group of guys stomping the quad.
And I think the complete unrealism of the final dance number in Center Stage is why it’s so satisfying. The only thing that would have made it better was if, suddenly, there was a dream ballet (a la Singin’ in the Rain).