April 2011
3 posts
3 tags
Lighted phone in a dark theater
Last night I attended a taping of MPR’s show Wits with featured guest Chuck Klosterman. My friend and I got tickets based on our appreciation of Klosteman’s books, and my friend’s love of Craig Finn. Little did I know when we arrived that we were being encouraged to live-tweet the event.
Apparently I’m just a sucker for social media (although I already knew that) because...
A cooking lesson
I made this recipe tonight. Halfway into it I discovered the can of brown lentils I thought I had in the cupboard had mysteriously disappeared. I’m sure I used it at some point or it’s really hidden under all the dried fruit I have next to my canned goods for some reason.
Alas, all I had was dry red lentils, so I cooked some up and substituted them. Error! So mushy! Everything still...
March 2011
5 posts
2 tags
$pa Ca$h
I’ve come to think there’s no greater gift than spa gift certificates. I woke up one morning and, to my surprise, my email inbox contained $100 myLT Buck$. While the name might look like something designed by whoever named Ke$ha (and for what? Why? And why are her songs so damn catchy?) I quickly found out these myLT Buck$ are worth REAL MONEY at the spa. It was like someone giving me...
3 tags
There's something about an original
The Real Housewives of the OC is back. And better than ever, I would say. The reality show that began the Bravo chain kicked off various imitations for a reason. While I’m a big fan of New York, New Jersey, and the most recent Beverly Hills there’s something about the OC that makes me…sentimental?
Perhaps that’s a sad statement, but as someone whose early college years...
3 tags
I am not the Biggest Loser
I’ve been a (quiet) fan of the Biggest Loser for a long time. Maybe I like to live vicariously through these people losing weight, or maybe it’s just my love for trainer Jillian screaming at people that keeps me coming back. I once had a Tuesday night class and I seriously considered not taking a class I needed for my Master’s degree because of the show (but I made the right...
My sister has always had a knack for knowing just the right thing to say to get me going. I’ll never forget the time I was about to embark on a trans-Atlantic flight to Germany with a group of strangers who were also highly judgmental high schoolers when she commented “oh, so you decided not to do your hair today?” For a 15-year-old girl, this kind of comment is devastating. I...
February 2011
6 posts
3 tags
It's okay to be jealous of my social life
For my whipping Friday night I am catching up on Jersey Shore. This show needs to see the end of the Sammi/Ronnie disaster relationship in order for the show to survive.
That said, the cast going to Italy is the kiss of death for the show. And MTV and I are in a fight right now. Too highbrow for L.C.? Makes no damn sense.
3 tags
Bedtime musings
This week has turned into something unexpected. I’m finding myself loving the research I’ve crammed into the last few days and I’ve gained unexpected clarity as a result. No matter what happens I think the past few days have been for the best.
And on that somewhat ambiguous note I will add that despite my deep-seated Lady Gaga love I don’t think I can consider myself a fan...
Time to rev up the blogging machine again. I’ve been letting this get away from me for too long. Pop culture, watch out. I’m back on to you.
August 2009
1 post
May 2009
3 posts
Okay, this might be the end. Spencer Pratt has a rap album and it’s not even interesting.
I knew it all along →
Dear God. A mere 5 seconds of internet research has shown me that Brody Jenner’s stupid girlfriend is the 2008 Playmate of the Year. God, she is just a winner. She looks like she’s been using Botox in her early 20s. Fantastic.
April 2009
12 posts
Maybe the best thing I’ve ever heard on TV:
“Why is Sarah Palin with a HUGE bear?”
-Entertainment Tonight, 4/29/09
(Disclaimer: I’ve been sick for three days with minimal human contact. I may be easily entertained at this point.)
Today I have to stomach flu and I ate one plain baked potato, two bananas, and five Twizzlers. I hope I feel better soon.
Are you kidding me? →
Although this makes for an interesting short discussion about ethics for news writing.
It is the end of the semester. Somehow I find myself behind and in the midst of everything I have to plan a May term class. Thus, I am a bad blogger. I will be back.
By the way, in case you didn’t notice, it’s stream of consciousness Hills night. Better than no blogs, right?
This is like classic season one Hills action where shit is really going down and the cameras can’t even keep up. Thank God for an awesome last season.
And yes, I’m going to call it classic Hills. I am allowed to term it that because I have devoted enough time to this show to be the resident expert.
So now Spencer is just a flat-out liar. I believe this Speidi fighting is real because Heidi isn’t a good enough actress to get through this without real emotion.
Also, it’s probably best for Stephanie not to repeat the word “awesome” several times in the first few minutes of a job interview. God, I could do this job in a heartbeat.
Last night I went to a baseball game. I got to about one baseball game every four years and that’s just fine with me. Sitting and chatting to the people I came with is much more interesting, and could also be done in a bar.
However, I am always interested in the crowd mentality at these things. Wanting to be part of a group, everyone jumps on the team bandwagon. It makes it an experience,...
Here’s a question about the Real World San Francisco. Why do they keep interviewing them in the middle of fields in reclining chairs, on tree stumps, etc.? I don’t remember this at all, although this originally aired when my mother still banned me from watching MTV. It’s so odd.
Interesting →
This season of the Real World has been one of the better ones in memory. What has made it real is people with many dimensions who have been able to exist on camera. I stumbled across this interview with Ryan, who managed to not be that small-town caricature MTV may have set him up to be.
I was recently given the following advice from my grad adviser:
“I am reminded of the first time I went skiing. This yahoo was showing me how to snowplow and such. I was falling and struggling. My cousin Greg came up and said, ‘Mark, just ski.’ I ski’d on down the hill and never had another problem with it. Just write, Melissa. Don’t worry about the other...
March 2009
41 posts
The Hills: Lauren Looks Back may be the greatest time waster in history.
So I might not have gotten my reading done tonight, but I DID do some excellent internet research on Kristin Cavallari while watching The Hills movie for the third time. Why? WHY am I so drawn in by this crap?
I am currently watching the Girls Next Door because Rock of Love is a repeat. My life is awesome. Anyway, Kendra just referred to herself as a role model. ROLE MODEL? REALLY, KENDRA?
I wish I lived in a fantasy world.
Great →
Something else I’m sure I’ll end up watching.
Re: Frozen tundra
I both live and love on the frozen tundra.
I demand an explanation as to why I see SNOW swirling around outside the coffee shop right now.
Oh, wait, right, I love on the frozen tundra. How quickly I forget…
Seriously behind
What’s that? I have a Tumblr and it’s crying because I’ve abandoned it for so long? I’m sorry, Tumblr. Please don’t take it personally. First, I spent a week in AZ doing fuck all and ignoring every single piece of work I have to do. It was amazing, but I’m paying for it now. Not really a shock, but I really wish I hadn’t left quite so many things...
Yeah, so my blogging hasn’t exactly been fantastic this week. Spring break, eh? Time for a total break from real life. I haven’t even taken any pictures. Mostly I’ve just reveled in the warm weather an done craaaaazy things like wear sandals and tank tops.
It's only the rest of my life
After two months of thinking about it, debating my options, swinging back and forth on the issue, and measuring whether I could handle endless winter any longer I recently decided to accept my offer and attend the University of Minnesota for my Ph.D. I am now really excited about the decision and feel as though it was the right one to make.
Although I had envisioned myself getting out of town and...
I did not blog last night because at about 9:30 p.m. I discovered I’d booked myself to go to Austin during the graduate student conference I am co-organizing in Minnesota. Yeah, how I could screw that up, I’m not sure. I’m the one that picked the date the for the damn conference. Pretty sure that’s a manifestation of the stress I’ve been feeling over school choice for...
Just one more comment about the weather. At a certain point today, it was definitely raining, hailing, sleeting, and snowing simultaneously. It was terrible. Now the roads are an ice rink.
People were not meant to inhabit this climate.
Ah, parking enforcement. Everyone’s favorite branch of the police. Today was I am sitting at Starbucks on campus, watching the sleet, snow, rain, hail and other assorted kinds of weather happen, there were two cars parked illegally along the yellow-lined curb near Starbucks and TCF. The parking enforcement cops pulled up and walked toward the two cars to give them tickets. In the next few...
Very important
I feel as though I need to make some important specifications about my interest in reality television. I have recently come to the conclusion, after much thought that could have been used to do productive things, that I am more interested in reality television programming that takes place on cable channels as opposed to the networks.
Take, for example, The Bachelor and Rock of Love Bus. While...
The power of the interwebs
I need to be careful about who I’m clicking on from the Facebook chat menu. Sending the message “blizzards are on sale!” to someone who I haven’t talked to in two years and barely knew to begin with isn’t the worst that could happen, but I’m going to consider it a warning.
Thoughts on Minnesota
When I walk into a room during the 10 p.m. news and hear “lots of snow, wind, and cold weather in our forecast” my soul quakes. This is the kind of behavior driving me from this state, Minnesota. Can you not just accept that it should be spring?
“Stop eating people’s old French fries, pigeon. Have some self respect! Don’t you...”
– - Tracy Jordan
30 Rock
(via thegravity)