Category Archives: Entertainment

What keeps me entertained? Sensory inputs such as movies, TV, music, books; generally, sitting on my ass staring passively at some sort of screen. But there are other things too, like hobbies such as dance, sewing and photography.

Intimidation

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies by

Back in February, my Mom gave me a shiny brand new sewing machine. Unfortunately, the last time I even touched one of these crazy contraptions was back in my eighth grade home-ec class. I vaguely remember sewing some sort of shirt, but when I received my gift, I couldn’t have recalled how to even turn the thing on. I took out the book that accompanied the machine and started to read. I found all the parts that were labeled on the sewing machine diagram, but was still pretty clueless – feed dogs? Throat plate? Tension indicator???? The more I read about it, the more my mind began to swim. I referenced a couple of books I bought – Sewing 101 and Sewing for Dummies. Since I’m at the remedial level, neither of these books helped.

You know how when people are afraid to speak in front of an audience, they tell you to imagine your audience naked? Well, I tried the same approach with my sewing machine. I decided that the best way to take away the serious, dangerous, needle-stabbing demeanor of my machine would be to slap a few stickers on it. So I did – and I can tell you that there’s nothing like a small image of Raggedy Ann with an axe stuck in her to lighten the mood. Looks like I’ll be on my way to sewing for Project Runway in no time!

I am a domestic goddess…

Posted in Entertainment, Hobbies, Humor by

Yes, Roseanne would be so proud. Clearly I still need to iron this little treasure, and pop it into a nice little frame to sit on my desk. It’s my first domestic project in a while – I don’t know what’s wrong with me! Last week I even listed a sewing machine on my Amazon wishlist (see link to the right!!!). And this weekend I baked banana bread and jambalaya. This may not be a big deal to most of you, but when you’re the type of person whose cooking skills mostly include being able to preheat a toaster oven to 450 F and open the box that contains your frozen pizza, cooking jambalaya is a bit of a stretch. But I’m not dead yet from food poisoning, so I guess it came out ok.

Random Acts of Kindness…or…Internet Stalking?

Posted in Entertainment, Friends and Family, Me Me Me!, Music and Dance by

So something kind of odd happened to me last weekend. I came home to find an Amazon.com package sitting on my doorstep, which I thought was strange considering that I hadn’t ordered anything in a while, yet the package was addressed to me. And when I opened it, there were six CD’s in it that I had on my Amazon music wishlist. Apparently, the CD’s were a gift order from someone in Florida who appreciated a review I wrote for Amazon, and the CD’s were a “thanks for participating” gesture. In fact, the note on the packing list read “Hi Marci. You don’t know me, but I appreciate your reviews on amazon.com. This is just a “thank you” gift for your participation – Jim”. Kind of weird, huh? I mean, I only wrote one review, for a product that cost about $40. And the CD’s he sent totaled about $65, not including shipping. But, he picked out some good CD’s from my wishlist – a couple of Prince’s earlier albums that I didn’t have, the latest Black Eyed Peas, K.T. Tunstall, and the soundtracks to 50 First Dates and Napoleon Dynamite. Sweet! I’ve popped a little thank-you note in the mail for the CD’s, but am still a little perplexed.

So what gives? Is this a genuinely nice person who randomly does cool things to brighten complete strangers’ days? If so, that’s awesome. I aspire to be similar in nature. Or is this an Internet stalker who was attracted to my exquisite taste in movies and music, as defined by my Amazon wishlists? I’m not difficult to locate, on the Internet or otherwise. He could be reading this RIGHT NOW. Anyone have some insight? Anyone? Anyone???

P.S. – If you’d like to see for yourself how exquisite my taste in movies and music actually is, there’s a link to my Amazon wishlists to the right. And speaking of easy to find on the Internet, I just opened a MySpace account, also linked at right (yes, I finally caved under peer-pressure!).

Hakuna matada, man…hakuna matada.

Posted in Entertainment, Friends and Family, Me Me Me!, Music and Dance by

Yesterday I went to see the Lion King with Bre and her family for her birthday. It was such an amazing show – it was performed live in downtown San Diego in the huge “broadway” theatre, which I had never been to before. The costumes and sets were absolutely incredible – they had antelopes, elephants, a rhino, zebra, and giraffes which were operated by people walking on all-fours using stilts! The costumes were a combination of makeup, clothing, and puppetry – the people actually had the body shapes of the animals, after they were all made up. We had seats in the very back, about as high up as you could possibly go, but it didn’t really matter because it was such a good show (although I wish I could’ve seen the detail on the costumes a bit better). It has been a while since I’ve done something cultural like that, and I’m so glad Bre invited me to go with her – we got all fancied up, and I liked seeing all the little kids there in their cute little outfits, too. Bre’s mom treated us to drinks (try carrying two full glasses up to the third floor balcony amidst screaming kids and women waiting in line for the restroom without spilling…) and dinner afterwards at the Olive Garden. I had my standard sausage and peppers with penne pasta – yum!

Thought you’d like the update – oh – and I finished my Christmas shopping for the year, too! But don’t get too excited – I’m rather poor this go-round, so I didn’t have very many presents to buy 😦

Back to work…

Maxfield Parrish – Master of Make-Believe

Posted in Art, Day Trips, Entertainment, Travel by

Last Sunday, Mom and I went to Balboa Park where we caught the last day of the Maxfield Parrish exhibit. Parrish was an artist who lived in the early half of the 20th century, and is one of my all-time favorite artists. We were able to see many of his very famous works, including “Daybreak” and “The Lute Players”. His use of color and light is amazing, and it takes me to a wonderful world of magic, beauty, and serenity. One of the reasons I have such a fondness for Parrish’s work is because as a child, Nik used to tell my brother and me stories he made up from the Parrish prints he had in our home. They were wonderful stories, true to classic Nik form – I wish he had written them down for me to remember now! Below is “Daybreak”, and a re-enactment done by Mom and I in Balboa Park outside of the Museum of Art.