Finally, a reason to watch the Superbowl

Bruce Springsteen is performing!

The Office quote of the week --9/25

Yeah! New episodes!! (don't read on if you haven't seen it yet)

The quote of the week actually goes to my sister, Jill, and here's why:
She texted me after the show and told me that her work is doing a biggest loser contest, like the Dunder Mifflin employees. I responded, "But not everyone on one scale, right?" I figured since she does not work in a place that has a warehouse in the basement, that couldn't possibly be happening. She replied, "yes, a pig scale. I can't make these things up." So, congratulations, Jill. You have the quote of the week, and someday, I hope you get your own sitcom! You clearly have lots of material to draw from.

The runner up comes from Pam. After Jim asks her what she was doing, she responded, "Lunch with a girl from my hall, ceramics class, then dinner by myself. I'm gonna watch HGTV, then maybe go to Bungalow 8 with John Mayer." This is the second time they have given a shout-out to my boyfriend! The first time being when they sang "Your Body is a Wonderland" for karaoke night. I tried to find the clip to add here, but since I couldn't find it, I'm using this one instead because Olivia Newton-John is a close second to John Mayer. (I think this is from next week's show.)

Emmy Awards

This was the highlight of the night.




Plus "Mad Men" and "30 Rock" both won! and of course, Tina Fey for acting and writing. yeah!!

Rhode Island

On Saturday, I drove up to Providence RI with friends Kathy and Lynn. On the way, we stopped in CT for lunch and this particular rest stop had a large dessert/pastry/baked goods display with... Whoopie Pies!! My response to that was to say, "Whoopie! I'm back in New England!" After hearing me praise the whoopie pie after my last trip to New England, Kathy and Lynn thought they would partake.


Once we got to RI, we started seeing vegetable stands off the side of the road and we decided to stop and get some fresh fruits and vegetables (macouns are in season, people!). We had our eye out for more, but then we saw this sign:

Lynn almost got into an accident when I yelled "Pull over!" but she did it anyway. I jumped out of the car and found a small table off the side of the road, with a cooler underneath containing whoopie pies, and this high-tech method of obtaining the payments.


They had pumpkin and original chocolate (pictured here), and I wanted one of each, but only had a few ones and a $20, and did not think the tackle box was going to make change for me. So I just got the pumpkin. When Kathy and Lynn heard that they had pumpkin flavor, they decided they, too, needed a second whoopie pie.


After that, we drove up to Newport and drove past the mansions but since we didn't have time to go into them, started making plans to return someday soon. Then we drove back to Providence for the FireWater art installation.

Here we are in Newport

Basking in the light of the fire in Providence

Forever Strong

Last week, I came home from work and Leolani asked me if I wanted to go to a free movie on Thursday. My answer to that is always "Yes" and sometimes I get more information, sometimes I don't. In this case, the only other information that I got was that another friend, Jodi, got free passes for some movie that may or may not have a religious theme, but was definitely directed or produced or both by someone related to her in some way. I may have had more precise information, but didn't pay enough attention because, you know, I love movies. And it was free.

So, on Thursday I got an email from Leolani with the information about where the movie was playing. Later, she emailed me that she was going to get dolled up because the stars of the movie were going to be there... and one of the stars was the cute guy from Gossip Girl. Still, I didn't think too much about it, but when I got there and saw that people were kind of dressed up and I was dressed like a social worker, I started to feel a little embarrassed. Then we went inside and I saw that the theater was just a small screening room and there was not quite a red carpet, but there were photographers there. We took a picture there, but I'm not posting it because I looked terrible. But I will post Jodi in a Paris Hilton pose (she's much cuter than Paris Hilton, don't you think?)






Here's the trailer:




Yes, we did see the stars... we saw the Gossip Girl guy (Penn Badgley), and Gary Cole, who will forever be the obnoxious boss in Office Space. We did not see Sean Astin, who will forever be Rudy! The movie was good, but the best part was free Diet Cokes and free buckets of popcorn with bowls of M&M's that you could scoop into your popcorn.

Addendum

So, I watched the Encore of Fringe last night. Apparently, either I can't read or EW was wrong on the start date because it did actually premiere last week. I liked it, didn't love it, but it has potential and was good enough to add to my DVR list. I'm not so sure about Pacey, but loved the other main character. She has the potential to be as good as Jennifer Garner was on "Alias" but I'm not sure that the show has the potential to be as good as "Alias."

I also watched the Encore of Privileged last night on the recommendation of Anne Lise. I liked it and am very pleased to have a new teen-ager show to watch! Since "Gossip Girl" never thrilled me and I am not sure whether I can stomach "90210", I am happy that this one came along. I love the main character, Megan. I was trying to figure out where I know her from throughout the whole episode. After reading her bio, I found that she has been in a million things that I have heard of but never seen (e.g. Reba)... but then I found it! She was on "Party of Five" and "Freaks and Geeks", two of my favorite shows ever! I also liked one of Megan's love interests, who played Zach on the last teen-ager show that I watched, "The OC."

The fall season is under way!

What I really want to write about is...

... the craziness in the political world right now! Seriously, lipstick on a pig? This is making headlines??

Instead, I'm going to do my fall TV preview, which I know you are all dying to read. Last year, I had a very difficult time choosing shows because there were so many to choose from (most did not pan out). This year, I'm very pleased to say that there are few to watch. I am assuming this is because of the writer's strike so few new shows were created during this time (I think this also means that shows that weren't doing so well got a second chance that they may not have otherwise). This makes me happy because I am overwhelmed with work--I don't need to be overwhelmed with something that I'm supposed to enjoy.

So... First of all, I have to say that the best show on TV right now is "Mad Men." They just started their second season on AMC back in July, I believe, and thank goodness because there was nothing on this summer. Not even reruns of "30 Rock" which I would have watched every single week. Just before "Mad Men" season two premiered, they showed a marathon one Sunday afternoon into evening. Leolani and I watched 4 or 5 in a row that day and then I watched two a night until the premiere, which was on a Sunday night. If you are not watching, you can get season one on DVD. It is really good and those people are messed up!!

Okay, new shows:

I'll admit it, I recorded "90210." There! I said it! But then I asked Jill and she said it was terrible and Leolani gave me a look like, "are you kidding?" and then I remembered what a terrible love/hate thing I had with it in the first place that I decided to delete from my DVR and felt satisfied with that choice. Then... Leolani said she liked it and I heard that it was getting good ratings and I do love Jessica Walter, and now what am I supposed to do? Help!



Okay, moving on...
Paging through EW, I get all the way to Tuesday before there is a show for me!

Fringe -- a show by JJ Abrams that is being compared to "X-Files" and "Alias" and "Twilight Zone." I have to give it a shot, although I'm only mildly interested. It says in EW that it's not supposed to start until Sept. 19 but it might have started last night. I turned it on in the middle of a car chase and couldn't keep myself interested long enough to watch the end of the car chase. Now that I have DVR, I can't stand to watch shows in the middle and I can't stand to watch commercials.
The Mentalist --appears slightly interesting, I like the lead actor, but it is likely not going to make it into the rotation.
Gary Unmarried -- could be painful, but I like Jay Mohr. It's on the same time as ANTM and Pushing Daisies, so we'll see.
Life on Mars -- another one I might try out but not really thrilling me.
Kath & Kim -- looks funny and I love Molly Shannon!
Returning shows I'm most excited for...
Friday Night Lights -- I'm so happy they are giving this show a chance! It's only on Direct TV from Oct. - Feb. and I am actually considering changing cable companies just for this show. I have seasons one and two on DVD if anyone wants to catch up before the premiere on network TV in February.
And The Office and 30 Rock of course, so look for the quotes coming up on or around September 25!

Delicious or Disgusting? You decide

My friend, Heidi, whose job it is to think and talk about food all day, found this blog. You would never think that a Registered Dietician could look at this, forward it to me, and talk about making it herself, would you? But she does, and I think it's cool.

A bacon cheeseburger on a donut? It looks really good to me... am I completely crazy?

I can't resist

Waterfalls

on the way to Governor's Island, we also caught a glimpse of the Waterfalls exhibit. In the daylight, mostly you can just see the scaffolding. We'll see how they are in the evening some time. Here they are anyway...

I think that's a dis!

I talked to my nephew on the phone today and asked him how he likes Ohio -- they just moved about 3 weeks ago. He said, "Yes, I like it and I'm not coming back to New York. So you just have to go to the beach by yourself."

We both had a good laugh.

Governor's Island

What I love about living in New York is that I have lived here for 9 years and there are still things I have never done. This weekend I scratched one of those things off the list.

Jason and I took the free ferry over to Governor's Island. This is a little island between Manhattan and Brooklyn that used to be the residence for Coast Guard people, and before that Army people, and before that, it was British Army people before the Revolutionary War. (And, of course, before that, the American Indians.) The homes are all empty now, but are beautiful, old homes that were built in the 1800's and early 1900's. They have been empty since the Coast Guard left in 1996, but some have been restored and are open for touring. You can rent bikes or walk the island to explore. Jason and I decided we were going to just sneak in and live in one of the homes, and kayak to the "main island" every morning for work. Who would know?

We freaked out when we saw this library!

and the detail of this house...

Leave it to New Yorkers to find a little empty space and turn it into an art exhibit!