Julia London's Blog, page 66
July 16, 2011
Material Girl
The Lear Sister Trilogy is about three sisters who must come to grips with their relationship with their dying father, their mother, and each other. It's bad enough that their powerful, king-like father has cancer, but at the same time, he forces them each to embark on a journey of self-discovery that leads to some very different, and very sexy places.
Robin (Material Girl) is the oldest. She can remember when her now wealthy family lived in near poverty. She has always looked up to her father, has even followed in her father's footsteps, seeking his approval and attention by joining his company and taking vice-presidency of his parent company by the age of 30. Robin has certainly bought into Aaron's business philosophy—take no prisoners—and is single-minded and driven when it comes to her career. But when her father informs her he has cancer and she is not ready to succeed him, he throws her into some on the job training that puts her in the path of a man unlike any she has ever known before.
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July 15, 2011
Rite of Passage
So, I took the 9yo to see a doublefeature of HP7 part 1 and part 2 starting at 8:45pm Thursday night, with part 2 starting at exactly 12:01.
And, yeah, it was cool. She was excited to see the many Hermione's and Lunas. A few Harry's. A few Freds and George's, and even a few Dobbies. There was also a girl in blue with glowing glasses, but I think she supposed to be at Rocky Horror….
She (my kiddo) also managed to stay up the entire time — I was a little worried, despite her excitement levels, but she managed it no problem.
what I thought was strange was that there was a line outside the theater. When we got there at 7:40, there were 4 people in it, camped out and waiting until midnight. So I have to wonder: why didn't they just go to the double feature (It may have been sold out; I'm not sure).
But looking at them there also made me think about how that isn't done as much anymore, and in a way that's a shame. too many theaters? too quick to release on DVD? I don't know. But I remember standing in a line at the Americana theater before The Empire Strikes Back for an insane amount of time. That was part of the fun–hanging with other fans, quoting lines from the movie. And I could tell from the crowd at Harry Potter that that type of fun hasn't dissipated. They were rowdy and having a ball until the lights dimmed and then (thankfully allaying my fears) all fell silent as we all watched the end of a movie era.
So I guess I'm feeling nostaligic. For no more HP movies. For fewer movies that collect lines around the theaters. For the Americana, which is now a really great branch library in Austin.
Have you seen Harry Potter 7-2? What did you think? (No spoilers!) Have you ever stood in line for a movie or a concert? Share!
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Friday: Back to Fashion
Fashion Week in Paris! Great looks for all of the men in your life. Or… not.
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Ah, graduated stripes. To add the appearance of height, and width at the hips. Every man's dream.
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What if God was one of us? He might be wearing this. And you thought it was Diane Keaton. Surprise!
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Won't you take me to Funky Town? You don't expect him to find it on his own with the blinders on, do you?
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Easy, breezy, beautiful. The man skirt!
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Swimwear that flatters every man. Oh yes, please!
Do you like men dressed up, dressed down, or it depends on the man? Could you honestly be seen with a man in a man skirt (I'm not talking kilts)? Man skirt, the time has come?
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July 14, 2011
It's Baaaaacccckkkkk!
[image error]Okay, so in the 80's must see TV for me included shows like Falcon Crest and Dynasty. But the one that I absolutely never missed was Dallas. Maybe it was the Texan in me. Or maybe I was caught up in the movement toward all things glitzy and amped with shoulder pads. Or maybe I was just pining for I Dream of Jeannie, and Larry Hagman, in any role, was still Major Nelson to me.
But whatever the reason, I loved the show. I loved Sue-Ellen (speaking of shoulder pads) and wept for the way JR treated her and the solace she took in the bottle. I loved Bobby and prayed that he and Pamela would find happiness and make a baby. I cheered Miss Ellie and her no nonsense approach to those boys. And cried when Jock died—not so much because I cared about him but because Miss Ellie did.
I wondered along with the rest of the world who'd shot JR. Although I'll admit I had a feeling about Kristin from the get go. (What ever happened to her anyway? The actress, I mean). I lived
through the awful year when the series was pretty much DOA and cheered—and I mean seriously woohoo'd–when it turned out to have been a bad dream. Gotta love the writers!
And I mourned when I learned that Southfork and its dysfunctional occupants were leaving the airwaves for good. Since then, life has moved on. I've given up both glitz and shoulder pads (although I'm still mourning the latter). I've learned that TV doesn't have to be sudsy to be good. But the memory of the Ewings lives on. And so you can just imagine how delighted I was to hear that it's coming back.
Yup, TNT is bringing Dallas back to our television sets. The Ewings are coming home. While, JR, Bobby and Sue Ellen are still at Southfork, the new show is going to center around John Ross and Christopher (JR and Bobby's sons respectively). And I'm betting they don't see eye to eye. There's a new love triangle involving both of them, even though Christopher is engaged to someone else. Apparently nothing much has changed at Southfork.
[image error]But I for one will be in the front row next summer when it premieres—and who knows I might even be wearing shoulder pads or maybe a cowboy hat.
How about you? Were you a Southfork fan? Do you remember Gary, the third Ewing brother? Or Lucy his daughter? Do you remember Cliff Barnes and April Stevens? Or did you avoid Dallas like the plague? Spill.
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July 13, 2011
Hacked Off
Recently I have become very peeved at technology, actually, not so recently. It's been a slow, simmering burn, directly correlated to the amount of time I have to spend dealing with credit card accounts, userids, and passwords.
To be fair to the credit card companies, they have always been banking-johnny-on-the-spot when our accounts were compromised. But over the years, I've moved more and more payments from ye-old-paper-checks to those new-fangled-easy-squeezy-set-it-and-forget-it credit cards. I loved the convenience. The knowledge that I would never have to remember to mail a bill again.
Kathleen, in earlier, happier times
Until that first dark, dismal day when Citibank Fraud Service Called.
Do you know how long it took me to just figure out how many accounts were set to autopay on the credit card? Remembering userids, passwords, mothers maiden names (and sometimes the answer WASN'T my mother's maiden name, which I have no idea how THAT happened). Remembering 'code words'. Code words? I created a code word?
A few years ago, we moved to another credit card that offered more cash back than Citi. I thought I was being a smart consumer. All was really cool, we were banking the bucks until the Hubster went to Maryland on a business trip and I stayed home in New York. Apparently, because we were charging merchandise in two separate states, it was a sign of fraud, and they cut the card altogether. Which was fine, except that my business card had been compromised and I was waiting on the new card, so I was left credit-less at Steve's Prime Meats. I asked if they would take a check, and they only glared as if I were a sub-worthy vegan.
Embarassed and knowing that I could never shop at Steve's Prime Meats again, I crept outside, called the financial company, and they said, we'll take care of it. Back inside, I meekly asked Steve to try again and voila, this time it worked.
Happier and feeling in a better place in the universe, we went on to the drug store. I bought some calmine lotion, and some painkillers, and whipped out my credit card.
DENIED.
That was it. I was tired. I was beaten. I had no more energy to fight the good fight. I left my calmine lotion on the counter and drove home, prepared to never charge anything again.
Later the next week, my business card arrived again. The main credit card seemed to have figured out the O'Reilly usage patterns, and I was off.
Then this week I have read that the military databases have been hacked. That UK journalist have been hacking murder victims emails. That an old site that I haven't used in ten years had been hacked, exposing my email and password.
Nigerian Prince
What is this Internets that is as secure as a chocolate piggy bank? Why can't they have TWO Internets? One that is for bad people, who remain anonymous and persuade twelve-year-old girls that their name is Justin Beiber, or a Nigerian prince who wants to PROVIDE THE BIZNESS OPPTINITY OF A LIFETIME? Why can't there be a nice secure place, where I login with my thumb or my eyeball and everyone knows that I am Kathleen O'Reilly, and I can email Citibank, who also has to provide their thumb or eyeball for verification? This is my dream Internets. A magical place where I have no userid or passwords or code words or secret security phases. A place where everyone knows your name.
So, anyone else gotten hacked recently? Anyone else ready to swear off technology? Do you still use checks? Do you hate it?
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July 12, 2011
Geography Lessons
I was listening to some talk show the other day, with a host from the northeast, and they said something about Texas being in the south. This is the not the first time I have heard this–a lot of people from back east lump Texas in with the south. I think Texas is in the west. I mean, think about it: cowboys, covered wagons, Indians. The Chisolm Trail which is less than a mile from my house. That is not the south, that is the frontier.
But to be fair, I tend to think of a whole cluster of states up above us as the "I" states. It seems like a bunch of them start with I. Illionois, Iowa , Indiana, and Ohio. Okay, Ohio doesn't start with an I, but it has a prominent I in it. And if you were to ask me to place those states on a map, I don't know if I could do it. I know Michigan is shaped like a mitten, and Wisconsin is shaped like a block of cheese, but until I loaded this map, I thought Michigan was where Wisconsin is and vice versa. I don't know anything about those states, like if they have rivers or even touch. 
What about Canada? There are a lot provinces in Canada, but who knows where or what they are? Oh sure, we know all the fancy ones, but what about Labrador?
I used to be pretty good at geography, but that knowledge has gone the way of a lot of my other brain cells–out the door. I am pretty good on west coast states, pretty good on east coast states. I know our neighbor states, and I know the south pretty well, only because it is between us and the east coast. But there is that big mass of states above us that have become the I states. For the world, I know where Asia and Europe and Latin America are, but there are so many little nations around Afghanistan, all ending with stan, by the way, that I have no clue. 
How are you on geography? Do you know one area of America better than the other? One area of the world better than others? Do you have a good sense of direction? Do you think Texas is in the west, or the south?
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July 11, 2011
Scary stuff….
I've been on a horror movie kick lately. The other night, Don and I watched The Ring, one of my all time favorites. And although I remember being viscerally creeped out by that movie, what impressed me the most was how smart it felt. This second time, I still really liked it. Liked how all the pieces fit together and liked that it was a clever, scary movie. But this time, I wasn't scared so much as analytical. I was watching it to figure out what it was that made it so effective.
Back when we saw The Ring originally, we also saw The Grudge. I actually don't remember much about the first time I saw that one, other than that it had Sarah Michelle Gellar in it, and that's a plus since I'm such a huge Buffy fan ("Once More With Feeling" — perfect length to watch on your iphone while on an elliptical. Just so you know). But we decided we needed another scary movie, and that's the one we picked.
It scared the crap out of me.
Now, I like to be scared, but for some reason, that movie really got to me. (Of course, we watched The Grudge 2 and found it entirely lacking. Sigh.) Anyone else seen it?
What scares you? Freddy? Damien? The girl in the ring? Or something more "in the news" like The Strangers (the script gave me nightmares, but the movie didn't scare me except in the moment–afterwards, no big!)
Hmmm. Writing this post late at night and thinking scary things. Probably not the best idea.
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July 9, 2011
Weekend Reading: Mine at Midnight
I think Jacquie is still off the grid, or maybe still trying to get a connection via dial-up (I think I remember it taking about that long). In the meantime, we'll talk about her fabulous books. Did you know Jacquie is one of those savvy authors who has put her own backlist online for her readers? She's a very in demand author, so I think that's maybe two novellas. This one, Mine at Midnight, first appeared in an anthology (Stroke of Midnight)– but you can pick it up on its own for the low price of .99. Awesome!
For Cinderella, the fun ended at midnight. But for Merrie Langston, that's just when things start heating up! Merrie is a free-spirited, caterer looking for a bank loan to expand her business. Tom Farrell is her buttoned-down accountant who's trying to get her finances in order–no easy task as she keeps her receipts in Baggies. Sparks fly when these opposites realize they attract!
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July 7, 2011
Farmer Brown, I'm not
I'm blaming it on the intense Texas heat, but this year has not been a banner crop year in the Kenner backyard. Granted, this is only the second year we've tried to grow anything to eat, but last year we had cucumbers coming out of our ears (well, coming out of our garden boxes, anyway). Today, I found one–count 'em, ONE–cuke growing in the trough. All the plants have the little flowers on them, but there are no actual vegetables. It's irritating!!
(Actually, we did get one tomato, which Catherine ate and pronounced "amazing". That same plant has 2 green tomatoes currently on it. And we have gotten one hot banana pepper. No squash. No other tomatoes (not even the Mr. Stripey tomato that C insisted on buying). No cantalope. No bell peppers. No zucchini.)
Alas.
The basil is doing well, though, so we can have pesto (but pine nuts cost more than gasoline–what is up with that????).
Why does all this warrant a blog? Well, hey, I'm a writer. I'm imagining a dystopian future wherein I must grow food for my family to survive.
Frankly, I think we're screwed. (That and the fact that I do not know how to operate a gasoline powered generator, have no clue how to fix a bicycle (or an engine), and can't navigate with either a compass or the stars. I'm completely unprepared for the end of the world, people!)
But at least I have one small cucumber.
How are the rest of your gardens growing? Could you survive if the world cranked to a halt tomorrow? If it did, what would you raid first? REI or Neiman Marcus?
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