Just a really pleasant song. 
Category Archives: sheer joy
Her Morning Elegance
Good Eats!
I fell in love with Jaques Pepin when he said, quite without irony, that it was alright to use canned beans in certain recipes — and then proceeded to open a tin and do just that. Great chef, more concerned with showing people how to make good, simple food, than with all the intricacies of soaking overnight and growing your own. I thought it was pretty fabulous.
…well, this evening I finally saw something to top even that. Anthony Bourdain, cracking and devouring a small mountain of shellfish, using nothing but his hands.
Now, this comes with a story. Many years ago I had a French boyfriend, and said boyfriend and I sat down to a seafood dinner with Mint. You should know that I love fresh shellfish with a passion unrivaled by any other foodstuff. After watching me hand-crack and devour my own small mountain of shellfish, my boyfriend turned to Mint, saying, “If you want to know how a woman is in bed, watch her eat.”
All the day, and all of the night… Pirate Radio!
“When a movie is called ’searingly honest,’ it’s almost invariably grim and demonstrates how bad things can get. Richard Curtis (the director) likes to try to make a searingly honest movie that tells you how good things can be.” LA Times interview with Bill Nighy
Pirate Radio isn’t really a film about music, though the soundtrack is exquisitely chosen and ever present; it’s a film about people who love music… It’s about how perfect life can be when you let it take you where it will, and it’s replete with that joyous creative harmony, that amazing synergy of people coming together for a common cause. It’s really a lovely film.
Go see it! I promise, you will love it.
Seen at my house…
Hunter loves to cuddle with his little lamby. <3 <3 <3
…and yes, he’s pink. It’s Kool-Aid.
The LA Day of the Dead
The LA Day of the Dead at Hollywood Forever was Saturday. It’s always a magical night, harmonious and happy and just really peaceful. The Fairbanks crypt was all lit up, and so lots of folks were coming up to just hang with Pete and Jayar, aka Doug Sr. and Doug Jr. Nobody really knows who they were, one fellow guessed “captain of industry” but that’s alright. It’s a comfortable place to sit, along the ledge of the crypt, with a wonderful view of the reflecting pool and the rest of the cemetery, and there’s a quiet little marble bench behind. I actually got a little misty-eyed as we were leaving, I imagine they must’ve been so happy.
(The photo is actually NOT the Fairbanks crypt, but is from CreepyLA’s flickr set.)
…and because I am a self-aggrandizing twerp, here’s a link to the LA Times article on the Day of the Dead that I was interviewed for a few years ago.
Oh, give us joy!
“Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world’s attention and given its people hope for a better future.” The Nobel Committee
In times like these, hope is so very important, and in such short supply. There are times when hope is all you have. It is impossible to quantify, often fickle and far too fleeting, but its power to change the world is not to be underestimated.
Blue M&Ms Can Prevent Paralysis
…alright, not quite, but the dye in blue M&Ms is very similar to Brilliant Blue G, which CAN prevent paralysis when injected immediately after a spinal injury.
It seems to have very few side effects, though the mice do turn blue (which is awfully cute in mice, though I imagine it would be a little traumatic for humans), and so even if it’s hit-or-miss, even if it only works in say, 3% of patients (and it shows potential to be much more effective than that), it will be worth trying for everyone, because currently after a spinal injury one is basically made comfortable and told to wait and see what happens — and here’s the thing, when you’re dealing with paralysis, even a very small improvement is a major accomplishment. Just one little change can improve someone’s quality of life exponentially. Things like this matter.
It’s not a cure, but it’s an amazing step forward. I really wish Christopher Reeve was around to see this, he would be so very, very happy. Kick the Reeve Foundation a little cash next time you’re feeling a karmic debt, or why not buy one of their Superman dogtags right now, just for the hell of it? I promise your money will go to good use.
