Petted it: Chippy

"Chippy"
RIP
?-2007

Chippy was my inlaws chipmunk. They fed him peanuts and sometimes he would visit them on their deck. We sent him a brick of chippy treats for Christmas only to learn that he is dead....
Oh, Chippy, we hardly knew you!

Read it: Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl

This is Marisha Pessl's first novel (she is an Asheville, NC native by the way). I liked it but it is not for everyone. It is the life story of Blue Van Meer told in the form of a research paper complete with the occasional illustration and parenthetical documentation. At first it is really clever after a while it is annoying and tedious. Skimming is a good idea in the middle of the book. The ending was good enough to suffer through the middle. I think if you liked House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski then you may enjoy this book. It is a cross between it and Secret History by Donna Tartt sprinkled with McSweeneys. The main plot of the book revolves around a cliquey, elitist group of friends and their mysterious leader/ prep school teacher. Blue collects clues to unravel the teacher's identity and discovering a lot about herself at the same time.
Also, the book has a really cool website: http://www.calamityphysics.com/main.htm

Watched it: Juno

We saw Juno with Scott and Salley Friday night. We were all super excited to see it and super let down. A lot of hype with this movie.

What we did not like:
*the funny stuff is pretty much what you see in the trailers
*the competitive "I am cooler than you" band name dropping (Jerry insists it is "the Stooges", not "Iggy and the Stooges", I concur)
*one of the names she dropped that she thought made her cool was Patti Smith...this could never make someone cool, it could only make them a total loser
*the guy behind us who thought even the most mildly amusing thing to be absolutely hilarious as he howled with laughter

What we did like:
*supporting characters were spot on, clever, but not overly so and very likable
*hamburger phone
*dissed Sonic Youth
*Michael Cera;he can only play one character, we like it, so that is ok
*wears the dorkiest track clothes for most the movie
*there is a plot that is never allude to in the movie that was really interesting and well resolved

Should you see it? Rent it, but save your moolah for another flick currently in theaters.

Watched it: Masterpiece Theater

I AM SO FREAKING EXCITED!!!!
PBS's Masterpiece Theater is showing Jane Eyre Dec 30 and Jan 6
Then....
They are showing all 6 Jane Austen novels beginning in 2008!!! They call it Sundays with Jane
Holy Cow!
I am so excited...too excited really....

Read it: NOT!

Sometimes I pick up books and do not finish them...they deserve acknowledgment. You may think "gee, if she didn't like it, it must be good"
It doesn't mean the book was bad, just not for me
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy: Just could not do it. I read quite a bit. McCarthy is a very skilled author and I can appreciate that...sometimes, I just did not know what was going on and that is no fun. One thing he did that I thought was effective, was using short sentences. The sentences were sometimes not even nouns and verbs. I think this made for a very intense novel. I did see the movie though:)
[a funny story about the movie...Jerry and I were in a shop for people with more money than taste and the shop owner was talking really loud in a really Southern accent about "We jes' saaaw this movie las' niiight, it wuz weird, it wuz called "Too Much Country for Too Tough Men", needless to say we make up our own unique title every time]
Then We Came to the End by Joshua Ferris: This was a NYT Book Review notable book of 2007. It is about corporate life. I've been there, so I thought this would be entertaining. The problem I had with it was that it was written entirely in first person plural. Yep, everything was "We...". I get it---corporate culture , lack of identity, getting on my last nerve...also, I read that the book was more like loosely tied together stories. I really like a plot that goes from one end of the book to the other. So, probably not bad but I'd rather just watch Office Space. [when I had my old job I would not let Jerry watch this movie if I was home when it was re-running on Comedy Central, I was like "please, I have to go there tomorrow"] We did not like this book, we were not amused. Then we returned it to the library.

Watched it: No Country for Old Men and Before the Devil Knows You're Dead

We decided to trade holiday cheer for violence and bloodshed in our holiday movie selections!
No Country for Old Men was a dark and bloody Coen brothers film starring Javier Bardem, Tommy Lee Jones and Josh Brolin. It was pretty good; the ending just ends, so don't zone out since there is no rewind button. There was lots of witty (in a dark, unassuming way) conversation taken pretty much directly from the book of the same title by Cormac McCarthy. Woody Harrelson was in it for a bit too, I forgot so it was a nice surprise.

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead was directed by the octogenarian Sidney Lumet. I
hope to be as together as him at that age! It was very well directed. Two brothers decide to rip off their parent's jewelry store for some cash and of course it does not go as planned. The film replays scenes for the days surrounding the robbery from different perspectives. There was some choppy mtv editing I could have done without. It was very intense to say the least.



Highly recommend both. I think NCOM is best on the big screen due to the scenery. I think of the 2 I actually like a little BDKYD better.

Celebrated it: Merry Christmas

We are having a pretty quiet day here at the Pemberton-Whitfield hacienda. This year instead of buying each other the same ole thing we invested in a photo. This pic was taken by Danny Burke. It was taken along side Lake Superior on the way up to the Porcupine Mountains. We like how you can see the sunset reflected in the trees.

We will have it framed soon (know any good framers??) and hang it on the wall facing our bed, so we can see it first thing in the morning!

Read it: Bitter Sweets by Roopa Farooki

I read this (amazon, wcpl) last weekend. It was a quick read. It was very soap opera-y with lots of delicate twists, turns and difficult to believe coincidences in the plot. The writer was a little clumsy and haphazard. For example, there is lots of emphasis put on names, naming things etc. The characters spend a lot of time discussing names...who knows why really. All of these instances were overly obvious and then totally forgotten in the end. The main plot revolves around lying, necessary lying and frivolous lying etc.

I know this review sounds...negative...but I still enjoyed to book. It was not too demanding, entertaining and a bit on the fluffy side. A more serious version of Indian chick-lit? a poorly written Brick Road? By the time you start to wonder if you like it is over.

So you need something like reading an Indian tv melodrama...and sometimes you do... this is the book for you!
P.S. the author's name is fun to say
Roopa Farooki
Roopa Farooki
Roopa Farooki

Polled it: Chocolate or Cheese???

If you could live with one forever, but not the other, which would it be?

I love cheese and choose it to be my forever friend!	2 (66%)
Chocolate is there for me!	1 (33%)
I can't decide, I would have to end it all!	0 (0%)
I am a freak who does not like anything that tastes good.	0 (0%)

Votes : 3

Okay, cheese wins...duh!
Cheese is more versatile and it was decided by Flea and I that even the basest of cheeses have a place. You can make a grilled cheese sandwich with cheese that is both fancy and shmancy OR you can use american cheese slices. Cheez whiz, I 'll eat it, triple cream Brie from France, bring it on!
Cheese, cheese, cheese!



(scroll down to see the results from the Kissa vs Mr Biscuits poll)

Baked it: holiday cookies

Finally I get to do holiday baking!!! This year I focused on 3 types of cookies. The first was a shortbread with 3 different add ins (one was cranberry and orange, one chocolate chips, one peanut-butter chips--and one plain). This recipe was super easy, especially because of the handy dandy kitchen aid mixer. I will probably not do the peanut butter chips next year, it was blah. The others were really good. I made the dough last weekend. I could have made it up to 3 months ago and kept it in the freezer. (if I ever do make cookie dough that far ahead, punch me).

The second was butterscotch bark. Graham crackers drowned in a butter and brown sugar mixture, baked until "bubbly" and covered in toasted coconut, pecans, chocolate chips, peanutbutter chips and sometimes dried cherries (on the ones without peanut butter chips). [the pic for this really did not look innerrestin']

The last cookies were gingerbread men, women, hearts and stars. I decorated these with royal icing (some appropriately, some inappropriately---got to blow off holiday stress somehow). The royal icing was a first. It was easy. I made it with meringue powder since the egg white kind is not good for certain people...cookies are supposed to be nice, not deadly! The first batch....kinda burnt (so if you think..."gee my cookie tastes kind of burnt", it probably is, what do you expect, it is a free cookie). The second batch turned out much better.If any one has a spicier gingerbread cookie recipe out there I am interested.
If you are wondering "where are my damn cookies?" I gave to people I happened to know I would see. If you want cookies next year, then you should say "hey, I am coming over to pick up my damn cookies" around mid-December next year. If you don't want cookies then steer clear of me for the next holiday season!

Read it: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

Yeah, I am still on my classics reading jag. I l-o-v-e-d Jane Eyre. I found it to be very readable for a classic, moreso than Pride and Prejudice and just as entertaining. I think the dialogue wasn't as clever as it was in P&P but that is ok. Jane Eyre is a compelling character and Charlotte Bronte is an excellent story teller. I think I remember reading Wuthering Heights back in high school or college, I will probably read it again soon. If you are thinking about reading The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde, I really think I would consider reading Jane Eyre first or at least a really good synopsis (sorry Karen!)
Next I am going to read a couple of contemporary novels and then onto The House of Seven Gables by Nathanial Hawthorne.

Petted it: Poll-who is cuter under the tree?

Kissa?


or


Mr Biscuits?


The final score:

Kissa	4 66%)
Mr Biscuits	2 (33%)

Votes so far: 6
Jerry voted twice for Kissa (shame on you!)
People who voted for Mr B were apparently only voting for the underdog...er....undercat...whatever.
He drinks the tree water. Not so cute now!

Ate it: Azitra

Thanks to Jade and Nigel, Jerry and I enjoyed a delicious meal at Azitra, an upscale Indian retaurant in Raleigh. We had a great time going the whole 9 yards with drinks and appetizers etc. I had a Snakecharmer which was basically a ginger margarita. For dinner Jerry had the Lamb Rogan Josh and I had the Chicken Tikki Masala. The chicken was awesome, it was very tender and the sauce was really good (I wish it was a soup). We also had the peshwari nan which is like the usual nan but with cherries and coconut. It was great in combination with the chicken.
The ambiance was also really nice complete with sitar player (he even played a few Christmas songs, every one of which Jerry thought was Feliz Navidad). I worked all day and was too tired to change into something more appropriate. Luckily it was dimly lit!
*Also while we were there a guy walked in who was dressed as a wizard, Jerry said it was Dumbledore. Who knows...I was hoping there was some sort of Harry Potter meet up going on...but no one else, just the lone wizard.

Watched it: The Astronaut's Wife

We watched this 1999 flick the other night. It was pretty good. It is like a sci-fi Rosemary's Baby. Both Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron are really pretty, almost disturbingly so. In fact, sometimes I feel like they have the same haircut. So if you see it on tv watch it. It is enjoyable. I thought it was going to be a drama or romantic comedy but it is really suspenseful.

Decorated it: Christmas 2007

We bought our tree today. We get it the same place every year (like Karen and Chris and Jill before she moved to D-town), the Citgo by the fairgrounds. I like their trees because they have a decent selection of small trees. We keep our tree on a table top because it is less stressful with 2 dogs and 2 cats. The tree is perfect. It was 20 bucks, just the right size and in really good shape.


This is our first Christmas in our new house and the first Christmas in a while that I have not been in school! I will definately enjoy decorating and look forward to doing more Christmas baking this year.

Putting the tree up was very unstressful. Everything worked and we did not have to make any adjustments to the tree....a Christmas miracle!

Read it: Look Me in the Eye by John Elder Robison

Look Me in the Eye (amazon, WCPL) is a memoir written by John Elder Robison, the brother of Augusten Burroughs ( a famous memoirist in his own right, Running with Scissors, Dry, Sellevision). John grows up in a truly dysfunctional family and finds out at age 40 that he has lived his whole life with Aspergers Syndrome. John describes in a very forthright manner the challenges he encounters growing up. He faces many obstacles trying to socialize with others without really knowing how. He also is very skilled mechanically and carves quite a niche for himself by creating special effects for concert tours in the 70's.
As a writer, Robison not very frilly, but that is understandable given his Aspergian nature. Sometimes he tells a little too much detail just to relate an amusing or interesting anecdote. Overall, his story is a fascinating glimpse into the world of Aspergers.
* My co-worker, Gerald, told me John Elder Robison was interviewed on the Diane Rehm Show. He said it was very enlightening. I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet, but hope to soon.

Read it: The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde

The Eyre Affair (amazon, WCPL)was the best thing I have read in a while. Fforde creates and alternate world in which a special operations team fights and investigates crime involving literature. It was a great and witty adventure as Thursday Next tries to put an end to Hades Acheron. There is time travel, there is shape shifting, there are people naming themselves John Milton because they love the poet so much and don't forget the dodo named Pickwick *plock plock*

The WSJ review describes it best and most accurately :
"Filled with clever wordplay, literary allusion and bibliowit...combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but its quirky charm is all its own."

If you think this sounds too high falutin or snooty, it is not!

The best thing about this book is that it is the first in a series. There are 3 more novels centered around Thursday Next and her work in SO-27!

Made it: Collaging with Kate Klutz and Janet and Toffy

(I was going to spell collaging with a K but...that is just wrong) Today I finally had a chance to collage at Kate's house. Kate works at the State Library and rescues things that are destined for the landfill. As a result, she has lots of neat things useful for collaging. I fell in love with her super sharp paper scissors and various paper punches.

She also has lots of stamps from her dad's collection. Not only does she have postage for life she also has stamps letting us know that "Retarded children can be helped" (probably from the 70's? when people still used that word and that helping retarded children was news) and stamps commemorating the Pap test and its founder Dr Pap...something Greek...or Czech...or Polynesian....

(click on stamp for larger view)








Kate also has a swell dog, Toffy and a nice friend from Durham, Janet. Janet works at DesignBox in Raleigh and will probably move to Raleigh soon.

Petted it: Junior's sore neck

Junior and Addie were playing Thanksgiving Day night and Junior started yelping over and over. We ran in, Jerry held onto Addie because she was freaking out. Junior is ok. He just messed up his neck somehow. I decided to go ahead and take him to the vet this am since I thought it may be something that could get worse. He can walk fine, he just has pain when getting up from laying down and when stretching. I was hoping they would give him a neck brace, that would be so cute! He has to take a muscle relaxant and pain meds for a week or so. Hopefully he will be better by then!

Made it: Cute purse

This was my first attempt at sewing something more than a seam or a square. It ended up looking pretty good. I learned a lot and thinks I can make one with fewer little mistakes.
I got the pattern from a book called Bend the Rules Sewing (amazon, WCPL catalog). I was pretty confused for a while but after reading the simple pattern 4 million times, I was able to sewing it in an afternoon. The freakiest thing is turning the purse so that the outside is pretty and the inside can be stuffed inside the outside. I messed up a tiny bit on it, but trying to figure out how to correct it would cause an aneurysm. As a reward for actually finishing a project I am going to buy some real sewing/fabric scissors and some sort of sewing box (probably a tool box).
The fabric was from a vintage dress I wish I had worn more. I am going to make another purse out of some curtains with a bird pattern. I would definately recommend this book for easy and cute first sewing projects.

Watched it: Pieces of April

I rented this via amazon.com. You can rent movies and have them download them to your laptop. Movie prices are similar to Blockbuster etc and the selection is pretty good. Thiswas perfect since I was "couching it" with some sort of stomach bug.
Anyway, this movie was cute. I did not realize it was a Thanksgiving movie. I love Thanksgiving dysfunctional family movies. The other one that comes to mind is "Home for the Holidays" with Holly Hunter and a pre-rehab Robert Downey Jr.
This was starring Katie Holmes before she was brain-washed by Scientology goons and no, she does not "get naked". It was very low budget and filmed in a few weeks. It was heart warming as April tries to get her turkey cooked and gets to know her neighbors and their functioning ovens. April's family finally gets over their past and so does she. They have a great dinner and make a memory, complete with bow on top.

Read it: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I have read a lot of new fiction lately so I decided to dust off a classic. Actually the book was brand new since the library system I worked for replenished its classics collection. I only wish I'd returned it in the pristine condition, but books are for readin' and sometimes that's not pretty!
I really like the novel even though I had to muddle through at times. I was used to the quick pace of contemporary literature so it was nice to be forced to slow down. I hope to see the BBC mini-series soon. I have not seen a cinematic representation of this book before, which was nice because I really did not know how it ended until the end. I usually prefer books with a not so tidy ending but every once and a while I cheer for the protagonist and want a happy ending with a bow on top. I am glad their pursuit of love was requited!
The next classic I will pick up is Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.