lots of tv Speaking of 'The Bachelor', NBC's 'Average Joe' is my latest reality television fetish. In case you haven't been with the times, 'Average Joe' is the [whoa a really hot older pilot just smiled at me. i'm writing in an airport.] answer to all those reality shows where the men are all really impossibly hot (or at least sort of good looking in a conventional cheesy way) and all have jobs in Investment Banking or Management Consulting or Being The Heir To The Firestone Fortune. So yes, a crop of "average joes" vie for the attention of one Melana Scantlin, who has also been on at least one other reality tv show. It's a funny group, which must be at least 50% scripted because there's the attractive jerk who smashes an egg on some poor guy's head in the first show, the geek who always ends up being 'just friends', and the moron who tries to trash talk everyone who's a threat. Oh and the 21-year-old professor of artificial intelligence who speaks like a 50-year-old professor giving a lecture, who approached Melana with the best line of the year: "So.. do you like broccoli?" Over the fast few weeks, Melana has trimmed the field down by going on group dates, blahblahblah if you've seen one show you've seen them all. The guys have made me laugh, both at their jokes and their sheer incompetence. Two weeks ago, when NBC promised a SHOCKING TWIST, it turned out to be a rather expected twist of bringing in three (supposedly) hot models to compete with the three Joes left: a Joe Millionaire look-alike, a guy so hot even Melana thought he was gay (leading to another priceless moment where Melana asked the poor guy if he was gay or bi), and a scary-looking latin lover type. All of whom have occupations like Waiter or Model. Last week Melana dropped Mr. Latin Lover, who was a bit creepy on the first date when he said he waited for his soon-to-be-ex girlfriend to come home by camping out on her front step for six hours. She also dropped the rather pathetic John who awkwardly performed his opera arias and proclaimed his true love for her. But next week -- oh I can't wait for next week!! It's not so much a SHOCKING TWIST as it is a moment of absolutely stunning hilarity. I could not stop laughing at the preview. Apparently they are bringing on Melana's cousin who is a rather unattractive overweight woman to help her weed out her suitors. But this cousin is actually a pretty girl in a fat suit and a fake face! So get this -- she gets to RIP OFF HER FACE at some point in the episode, a la Mission Impossible. Reality TV is amazing in its sheer unreality. .... I got really excited last week during the finale of Fox's 'The Next Joe Millionaire' because for a moment I thought the girl he picked was going to reject him because he wasn't actually a Millionaire! Alas, she showed up at his ranch in Texas and proclaimed his undying love, while Fox continued to subtitle her excellent english. Another television favorite in my household is Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Last week's Toupee Incident wasn't as good as some of the others, but the one with the Long-Haired Hippie Who Is A Taxidermist was amazing. They showed it on NBC last week, shame on you if you missed it. Last but not least on my television viewing schedule is The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It's so good I don't even have any comments to make about it.

saw wonderful town this weekend and it was about as fun and frothy as i hoped it would be. there were some weak spots in the book, but i have only unabashed raves for its star donna murphy who was completely magnetic and who has shot way up on my list of idols. she was intense and dramatic and completely captivating in sondheim's passion, and is no less captivating in her wonderfully comic role in wonderful town. she has a distinctive voice, with a beautifully dark, resonant low range and yet she can toss off surprisingly brilliant high notes, and her physical comedy and comedic timing are accompanied by a natural charisma that has you enjoying every moment she's onstage. here's hoping she wins her third tony for this show -- she deserves it! I HEART DONNA!! hahahaha ... some links: - official site - broadway.com: some excerpts from reviews, most of which are raves - new york times review ("Ms. Murphy is giving one of the most dazzlingly accomplished comic performances that you're ever likely to see in a musical.") - AP review - USA today review

one of the perks of going out w/ someone (among others ... heh heh heh) is that it motivates me to go out and do and see things more. in two weeks andy and i went to three concerts. the first was for some of his student composers, and it was entertaining. the second was a solo recital by a violinist for her doctorate in performance. although familiar with them, i'd never seen bach's ciaconna and paganini's 24th caprice live, and they are definitely show-stoppers. hearing them back to back was pretty amazing. also, last sunday we saw mit's gamelan, a group i've been meaning to check out b/c i know people in it. it was a bit loud and just a tad long, but overall it was quite good. need to borrow some balinese cds from andy ... in web news, i have to say that i'm really impressed w/ amazon's holiday ad campaign. their holiday a-list highlights a particular person (author, musician, actor, etc.). they've had worthwhile people like jack black, k.d. lang, and michael stipe as well as worthless people like "the bachelor", but overall i think it's a very clever scheme.

Congratulations, Massachusetts Supreme Court, for demonstrating common sense! I'm off to get my wisdom teeth whacked out of my head on Thursday.

lately i've been getting some really weird fortunes ...

here's a picture by matisse that i'd never seen that i liked.

:(

yowzers. my car insurance came to over $1200 for SIX MONTHS. how do people afford to drive??? winnie, i'm sorry about your dog too. that's so sad! today for lunch we went to tasty curry on 9th between irving and judah. it was good enough, nothing spectacular, although it was better in quality but i assume worse in price than naan n' curry. i liked the rice dish though -- i'd never had indian rice dishes until i came here. have i just always bypassed it on the menus? it was super spicy. i fixed my powerbook today. it'd be crashing everytime i picked it up a certain way, and i was afraid something was seriously wrong with it. luckily after cruising the mac support discussion boards, i discovered it was a rather common problem -- my airport card wasn't pushed in all the way. a lot of trauma has been caused by people like me, who are too afraid of breaking something expensive to give their airport card and nice firm push. she's doing great now.

on the food front ... went to cafe jaffa on gloucester in between boylston and newbury this weekend. it's middle eastern and i go there every once in a while. the falafel is nice and crunchy on the outside which i like. the grape leaves i had were also nice and lemony, although andy's hummus wasn't garlicky enough to our taste. also got these things called bourekas which are bready on the outside and a mashed potato mixture on the inside, which was all right. i go to nicole's on tremont closer to mass ave more often b/c it's close to andy's, but i'd say overall cafe jaffe is better. don't really remember steve's which is also in the back bay even though i've been several times, so i'll have to go back there again before i can comment on that. also recently went to one of the few ethiopian restaurants in boston. it's called red sea and it's on tremont in the south end near metropolis etc. i've been to the other ethiopian place in central square and from what i remember from the other place i liked this place marginally better b/c the bread was less sour. andy and i agree that ethiopian food just isn't that interesting. some of the spices are tasty, but everything has the same texture, sort of pureed and only slightly chewy. finished listening to the postal service album. i def. liked it better than the latest death cab cd and in general i liked the majority of the tracks, but none of them really bowled me over, with the exception maybe of "such great heights" and "brand new colony". p.s. sorry to hear about your dog winnie :(

The Kendall Cafe closed???? I just discovered that place last year! I'm so sad! They have really good food! In other news of things that piss me off, check out the photo accompanying this Crimson article. I am SO pissed that they think it is okay to put up posters like this. I am SO personally offended that in the name of compassion they feel they can make such a statement about my life and my choices. I am glad I am not there, otherwise I would be in danger of physically injuring whoever put up those signs. In less inflammatory news, this week I have embarked on a quest to explore freezing food. I'm tired of my food going bad in the fridge, and I'm tired of eating the same thing all week. For example, all week for lunch I have been eating Pasta with Mushrooms in Pumpkin-Gorgonzola Sauce. It's tasty, but it's starting to become a chore. So last night I made some turkey burritos and wrapped them up for the freezer. I need to buy more freezer bags. And also, since I've recently become obsessed with the notion of trying out the South Beach Diet, eating a ton of pasta every day makes me nervous. There's a great article in Mother Jones on Kucinich. Maybe I'll mail it to you after all my friends finish with the issue. It talks about his political history and what motivates him. Not in an adoring or overly critical way, just in that thoughtful way that I really like about Mother Jones. He sounds really ideal, but also really disconnected. I voted that Dean forgo federal funding, and I promised to send him another $50 to make up for the matching funds. I had my Nader year two years ago -- I'm still a Green at heart, but I've been really inspired by a major candidate who gives a shit about your average, non-special interest American, and I hope it'll become less of a rarity.

kucinich's website has just added a section w/ testimonials of people who have switched from dean to kucinich ... some of the issues they bring up: they were turned off by the lack of grace in dean's comment about (and attempted recovery from) courting those who show the confederate flag, his slickness and the appearance of pandering to voters at the expense of a firm stance, his 100% NRA approval, and his talk about foregoing federal campaign financing, and turned on by kucinich's positions on global trade (i.e. getting out of NAFTA), support of gays and lesbians, stance on iraq, and perceived sincerity. on the local front, the kendall cafe just closed ... this boston globe article has some interesting things to say about why ... sad. Club owners say it's been a brutal year to stay in business. The soft economy, the smoking ban, the fallout from the tragic Warwick club fire, and even the Red Sox's playoff run (which kept more people at home watching the games) have all spelled headaches for club owners. And fewer local musicians have much drawing power -- radio stations now mostly support national rather than local acts, and many record labels have disappeared or merged and don't have the resources to be supportive. ... The closing of the Kendall and the House of Blues (which will become a franchise, family-style barbecue restaurant known as Brother Jimmy's) comes at a time when the high cost of living has also caused fewer young people to stay in the city. There was a 15.8 percent drop in the number of 20- to 30-year-olds in Greater Boston between 1990 and 2000, according to a joint report issued this week by the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce and the Boston Foundation.

i love these quotes: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/TheMatrixRevolutions-1127201/ "The Matrix Revolutions sucks." -- Peter Travers, ROLLING STONE "Reloaded was certainly a lumpy, gaseous treatise of a movie, but viewers of Revolutions may find themselves looking back on it fondly." -- A.O. Scott, NEW YORK TIMES hmm, to go or wait until it's on DVD? that is the question ...

muhahaha. i've busted into another blog. hi winnie. hi fred. thought i would add a little more geographic diversity. i've been in a blogging slump lately but my head is busting with all these things i want to share (matt's close election loss, dean's supporter poll for whether or not to take federal funding, the passage of prop L, gavin vs newsom) more on all of these later. i gotta get some lunch now. mostly because i've been looking at these delicious photos.