Magazine Hoarder? No More.

I have a real thing for magazines. How much of a thing? Well, here is a sample of just a few that I could find in two minutes:

P.S. Most of these were the ones within arms reach of my desk. I didn't even need to stand up to get at them! Sad, non?

Up until about three months ago I had stacks and stacks of every magazine I have ever bought or subscribed to, squirreled away in various dark corners of my house. Martha's Stewart Livings from as far back as 1998, three years worth of Country Living, old Rolling Stone's from way back in the day(not Keith, though...Charlie Watts) I guess my thinking was that one day I was going to need to look through these for inspiration! ONE DAY! Hell, you never know when you are going to need to decoupage a side table.

And then the Tyrant threatened to start throwing them away willy nilly if I didn't start refining my collection (All except for The New Yorkers, of course, because those are his bathroom reads). So I kept all the copies of magazines that have gone out of business (Cottage Living, Martha Stewart Baby, Hoarders Weekly) and then got rid of everything else. Ahem. IT WAS BRUTAL. You have no idea. It felt like I was cutting off a limb, I can't explain why. One day I'm really going to need to reference this specific Martha Stewart Living, AND WHAT WILL I DO THEN?

And then what should I get in the my child's backpack. A magazine subscription fundraising catalogue. AHHHHHH!! Thanks universe.

Recipe for a Perfect Day

The following is the recipe for a perfect weekend afternoon.

Arcade Fire Encore // Randall's Island
Originally uploaded by ryan muir

What you'll need:

The new Arcade Fire album

1 glass of wine

A good book.

Rinse.

Repeat.

Enjoy your long weekend.

I Know What you Did This Summer

People....

Summer is leaving....

Was it something that I said?

In Their Shoes

Hurricane Katrina - Shoes
Originally uploaded by Mary-Jane Maybury

This week marks the 5th year anniversary of the devastating hurricane - Katrina - that rocked the Gulf coast. I remember, like yesterday, how I watched on TV as the elements so utterly ravaged the city of New Orleans and was speechless and angered when I saw how callously the Bush Administration was in its response to the aftermath. If anything, the hurricane peeled back the layers of how truly uncaring those bunch of morons really were. Nice work, Mother Nature!

While, it's tough to leave aside all of the horror and outrage that Katrina wrought, it is even tougher to realize that a mere 5 years later with an entirely new administration (Obama) and an entirely new natural disaster (BP oil spill), we are straddled with a similar response: utter indifference.

Which is why I was almost flooded with relief when I picked up the latest issue of Esquire at the library and read a piece about the oil spill that put its cost into perspective. Written by Tom Junod, the piece recounts the night that Deepwater Horizon - the rig that started it all - exploded claiming the lives of 11 men ranging in age from 22 to 56. It has been a long time since I read an article that so poignantly made an attempt to connect readers in a tangibly human way to an event that due mostly to media saturation and confusion, leaves the average brian reeling. Junod shapes the lives of these 11 men into a touching eulogy and manages to do what the 24-hour news cycle has somehow managed to evade: make sense all the images of gushing wells and oil-drenched birds that have pounded us into senseless submission.

Eleven men with stories died on that day and it will be impossible for me now not to see the story of this disaster a little bit through their eyes.

Rememba! Rememba!

Hey People-

I'm back from vacation happy, rested and looking to get my creative jones on. Let's hope that that particular impulse can overcoming my other overwhelming desire of dropping everything in my life and watching all the movies they made passive reference to in the Entertainment Weekly magazines I read on the dock.

To that end, yesterday we went to see the film of Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Awesome. Beyond awesome. Get your ass to the theatre and see this film. It is funny, sweet and so highly entertaining that I am scheming to get my ass in that theatre seat again. Plus, my sister worked on it and there is nothing more satisfying than seeing your siblings name roll by on the same screen on which on you just watch Micheal Cera (he off the Gumby voice and even gumbier body) kick the asses of half of US Weekly's Hot Under 25 list. Sweet.

I did have a hilarious conversation with my daughters at the theater. Here's how it went.

Enter scene. Concession stand of the Whitby 24 theatre complex. The song Fame! comes on and it is blasting overhead like a drill sargent in an Oliver Stone film. Myself and the old gent in the line beside me (age approximately 75) are trying not to get down.

FAME! I’M GONNA LIVE FOREVER! BABY REMEMBER MY NAAAAAME. (Remember! Remember!)

Xenia: Who sings this?

Me: Pausing dramatically. You know, I have no idea.

Bryan: But Mom! She only asked you to do that one thing.

Here's another little something that made me chuckle.

Nice, huh? This is funnier to those who have no children, I suspect.

Why, Michael? Why?!

"This Is The Worst" Face
Originally uploaded by Woodmania

Dear Steve Carrell-

Why are you leaving The Office? Why?!!!!

Just reading this news make me want to put on my "The is the Worst" Face. (P.S. Thanks Greg Z. for ruining my day. Wah!) They might as well close the Scranton branch 'cause my ass will not be sitting on the couch Thursday nights.

Who am I fooling? Of course it will. There's still some 30 Rock to be rocked.

Off on vacay people. Will probably not be posting for a 2 weeks. Think of me dockside, with book. It's gonna take me this long to get over the Steve Carrell thing, so......

The Weekly Salad-Celebrity Edition....Kinda

Malditos bastardos Brad Pitt
Originally uploaded by nacho.fotos

I just finished reading an interesting book that Entertainment Weekly recommended (yah, I read Entertainment Weekly! What of it?) called The Imperfectionists. It was a nice read - not too spectacular or filled with incident, actually - that put me in mind of the movie, Babel, for some reason. For those of you who actually saw and remember the film, Babel was a series of disjointed stories set in several countries around the world that managed to come together in pretty whole near the end. But not before you almost lost the will to live. It left me lukewarm, as I remember. And was half an hour too long. And what is it these days with non-linear storytelling, BTW? Is it just a new way to invigorate film and books? I get the feeling that the creative class have been too unduly influenced by Mrs. Dalloway, as a whole. But I digress.....

A few minutes after I finished the book, I opened the paper only to discover that young Brad Pitt had optioned the rights to the book and would be producing the movie. And that he had also produced the film, Babel (I had no idea!) Hmmm, I thought to myself with a self-congratulatory smile on my fae. Mine instincts were true after all, then, concerning this book! Crazy coincidence? I think not. Oh, and good luck with keeping the people awake in the theatre, Benjamin Button.

All this as a an awkward anecdote to introduce this week's WEEKLY SALAD feature. What salad has to do with Brad Pitt and Babel, I will never know. This salad, however, does features my favorite star: avocado.

Halve an avocado and scoop out some but not all of the flesh. Roughly chop the flesh with black beans, a spoonful of green salsa, cilantro, chopped tomatoes (seeded, of course) and lime juice. Serve in the shells. Enjoy!