nycdilettante

Scanner Rage

Dad gave me his old scanner to use so that I could put some of my hard copy photos into digital format.  I decided I would hook the scanner up to my old Dell and scan away.

I spent a good amount of time downloading the install info off the web for the scanner tonight...and got all of that installed.  The scanner is hooked up and troubleshooting says NO ISSUES YOUR SCANNER IS CONNECTED.  But when I go to scan something...the system says...WE CANNOT LOCATE THE SCANNER.  When my device control clearly says THE SCANNER IS CONNECTED.

This is very frustrating...so I am giving up.  I'll see if I can get it to work with super MacBook...but I'm not putting much effort into this.  

Shannon...my picture download project for you is looking like a bust...

I'm glad this week is almost done

- my spare closet collapsed on Saturday night and so my front room is over running with stuff

- my cable box has gone on the fritz

- I'm a week closer to my next trip to Minnesota to hang out with a college friend

- I'm tired of being at work...when do I get to retire?  Do I GET to retire?

- It's payday tomorrow (what I like to call "money exchange day"

- I get to sleep later 

- The farmer's market is Saturday and if I miss the one in Ashburn or Leesburg...there is one in Sterling on Sunday

- Mom, Dad and my sister are coming to visit (and help me put up a new closet "system")

The Inspector

I haven't had a kitten in a long time.  When I saw the photos of Inspector Clouseau...I just fell in love with him.  He is quite a funny fellow and very floppy...kittens are very floppy apparently.

Mickey and Tootsie are getting used to having him around.  Tootsie is a lot more playful with him and follows him around when he is playing.  Mickey ignores him for the most part until Clouseau is wrestling with him and won't let him alone.  As long as he's sweet and giving him a bath...Mickey is fine.  That doesn't last very long and then Mickey hisses and throws him off.  Naturally Clouseau LOVES Mickey.  

What amazes me...is that he doesn't have any fear of Tootsie or Mickey.  He put his head into Mickey's food bowl from day one.  No fear.  Hysterical.

Strange days

It has been raining a lot here....and I think it must be getting to people.  Tonight on my way home...I saw a man washing his rims in the rain and I saw 2 people riding a paddle boat on the lake.

If I saw someone building an ark...I wouldn't be surprised.

I love a good comedy

I watch a lot of television and my favorite shows are sitcoms.  To me reality gives me enough drama...so when I look at TV I want to laugh.  There are not a whole lot of sitcoms on national TV...just 30 ROCK, HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER, THE BIG BANG THEORY, THE NEW ADVENTURES OF OLD CHRISTINE, BETTER OFF TED...which when I list them sounds like a lot...but it's just not so.

Some nights I find myself watching reruns of WILL AND GRACE or  WHAT I LIKE ABOUT YOU...but what really provides me with laughs are the sitcoms on Nick and the Disney channel.

That's So Raven was one of my favorites.  I really liked Raven-Symoné...who was the center of the show.

What I find most interesting is how many sitcoms on Nick and Disney go back to the classic comedy couple of Lucy and Ethel.  But instead of the coupling of Lucy and Rickey and Ethel and Fred...we have 2 strong female best friends with a male friend.

In THAT'S SO RAVEN we have Raven, her best friend Chelsea and Eddie.  Near the end of the series, the potential of a romantic relationship was hinted at between Eddie and Raven...but for the majority of the series it was the wacky adventures of Raven, a girl who had psychic powers.  Like Lucy...she also ended up not only in bizarre situations, but also dressed up as other characters.  She had several catch phrases...like OH SNAP!  Also important is that her family and her friends Chelsea and Eddie are the only ones that know about her powers.  Most of the bizarre situations are a result of trying to keep her powers secret.

THAT'S SO RAVEN was very successful for Disney and lead to HANNAH MONTANA...which was fashioned similarly.  

We have Miley...who by day is a regular student and in her off hours is the famous Hannah Montana.  Her two best friends are Lily and Oliver...who also are the only people other than her family that know her secret.  They also end up in odd situations and Miley ends up in strange costumes.  Her singing is also worked into the show.  Over the seasons...the acting has improved and the show has had many big name stars come in and do cameos...Dolly Parton, Vicki Lawrence, The Rock.

Over on Nickelodeon we have iCARLY and TRUE JACKSON, VP.  Miranda Cosgrove was on the popular Nick show Drake and Josh as their evil little sister who always got the best of them.  Her abilities shone in that show and so a show was created just to showcase her.  

Carly is a high school student who runs a web show with her friend Freddie (who has a HUGE crush on Carly that she doesn't share) and Sam (a delinquent who bullies everyone but Carly...and she hates Freddie and is always fighting with him).  Carly lives with her brother Spencer, who is played by another Drake and Josh alum, Jerry Trainor.  No mention is made of her mother...but her Dad is in the Air Force and stationed elsewhere.

In the progression, Raven had a complete family until the actress that played her mother left the show.  On HANNAH MONTANA, her mother has passed away...and played in flashbacks by Brooke Shields.  On icarly we also have a wacky brother and absent parents.  Each show has the 3 Musketeers...two best girl friends and one male friend.

My new favorite show also works on that same premise.  We have True Jackson who is discovered selling sandwiches in the lobby of MAD STYLE.  Because of True's modifications to her clothes, she is hired by the head of MAD STYLE as the Vice President of their youth line.  With her comes her friends Lulu and Ryan.  Lulu becomes her assistant and Ryan is her skateboarding friend who breaks everything.  True has a family that she discusses but is never seen on-screen.  In this show she is mentored in how to live life by her boss Max and her nemesis is Amanda the VP of Women's Wear.  Part of the premise is that Amanda, the adult learns more about life from True, the child.

Disney also has two other shows, THE WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE and SUNNY WITH A CHANCE.  THE WIZARDS OF WAVERLY PLACE is about a family of wizards...which is building on the popularity of Harry Potter.  The main character is the middle daughter, Alex Russo and her brother Justin, who is the over-achiever of the family.  The youngest brother Max is the dim bulb, who is never sure what's going on.  The premise is that in a wizarding family, only 1 wizard can keep their powers into adulthood and so Alex, Justin and Max have weekly wizarding lessons with their father to learn new things.  These new spells always lead the kids into trouble.  Alex has a best friend Harper who is distinctly odd and provides the Ethel to Alex's Lucy.  

SUNNY WITH A CHANCE is a new starring vehicle for Demi Lovato.  She plays Sunny, a fan of a comedy show SO RANDOM...which is a comedy sketch show on a network.  What I think is interesting is that SO RANDOM reminds me of a comedy sketch show on Nick called ALL THAT which launched the careers of Amanda Bynes, as well as Kenan and Kel.  The premise is that Sunny is the outsider, who has to fit into an ensemble cast made up of Tawni (the cute, funny star of SO RANDOM), Zora (the offbeat youngest member of the cast) and then Nico and Grady (who are basically the goofy male comedy team like Kenan and Kel).  They share a sound stage with the cast of MACKENZIE FALLS, which is a teen drama along the lines of GOSSIP GIRL or 90210.  The heartthrob on that series Chad Dylan Cooper is one of Sunny's crushes...who turns out in real life to be a huge jerk.  The rivalry between the cast of MACKENZIE FALLS and SO RANDOM is the main conflict.  As well as the developing relationship between Sunny and Chad Dylan Cooper...which you know is going to happen.

It will be interesting to see the career of these kids.  Amanda Bynes has done several movies.  Kenan is now a regular cast member on SNL.  Hilary Duff has recorded albums and has been insulted by Faye Dunaway as unable to fill her shoes in a new BONNIE AND CLYDE film.  Miley Cyrus will have a career in country music.  Raven has an amazing voice and has been trying to launch a career in music.  

These other kids in these new shows all have back up careers.  The girls always try their hand at singing...the boys always try movies.  Some of them do very well...we can watch Zac Efron to see where he ends up.  Remember Johnny Depp...he did 21 JUMP STREET and then challenged himself as an actor and a human being and is not a very accomplished actor.  Same is true of Sean Penn...who started out as Spicoli.

Disney decided that the Jonas Brothers could go from "dreamy singers" to the star of their own show.  In this show the boys live in a firehouse with their parents.  They have a female family friend who is their "wacky" best friend.  The premise here is that wacky adventures ensue because they are rock stars at a regular school and they have to try and have a "normal" life within the chaos of being a hot rock stars.  It's sort of a spin on the old MONKEES show.  Except the boys aren't great actors.  And the songs in the show are trite...like I FELL IN LOVE WITH THE PIZZA GIRL.  That song makes Hannah Montana's hits look like the work of a genius.

Sometimes Disney hits it out of the park...and sometimes you can tell...it's all about the money.

Disney needs to stop

I know that Disney is hyping the new sitcom called JONAS to try and make it as huge a hit as Hannah Montana.  The thing is...the clips I've watched seem SO UNCOMFORTABLE and badly acted...I just can't imagine it will take off.

Today they had a commercial that showed some of the new original songs...one of which is called PIZZA GIRL and has the line..."I fell in love with the Pizza Girl..."

I don't know Disney...it's pretty lame.  I think Hannah Montana and The Naked Brothers Band have already done it better.

I sure hope that in 6 months I'm not watching this show...I used to hate Hannah Montana...and now I watch it all the time.

Yes....yes you SHOULD pity me...

Happy Birthday TJ!

I won't lie about it.  My favorite historical personage is Thomas Jefferson.

And today is his birthday.  His 266th to be exact about it.

When I was in college...UVA still had their debaucherous party Easters. (it ended in 1982)  It was coming to an end...but I was OBSESSED with it.  Since we never could go to Easters...my friends and I decided that we would throw a birthday party for TJ.  We had a keg and put up quotations from TJ.  It was awesome.

Except not many people came.  Until we put on I THINK I LOVE YOU by the Partridge family.  (Isn't that embarrassing to admit...)

People appeared out of NOWHERE.  It was great.  And then it ended.  We ended up driving down to the Northern Neck with some guys we knew...that was also hilarious.

At any rate...I am a HUGE fan of TJ.  But now I'm watching John Adams, the HBO series.  As such, I am gaining a huge appreciation of Adams...as well as the acting of Paul Giamanti and Laura Linney.

I think it's great when you take film/TV and use it to go back in time and illuminate life in an era we've forgotten.  Living in Boston was a dangerous proposition.  I also enjoyed how they made TJ a semi mysterious personage and not the center of attention.  Even though I LOVE TJ...I also don't want to make him a man of perfection.  At UVA they always talk about TJ as if he's "in the other room".  It took many years for Jefferson scholars to admit that Sally Hemmings was his mistress and to look at the lives of slaves at Monticello.  

But I can't deny it...I love Jefferson.  And now...not only will Monticello have a new visitor center...Popular Forest is open!  Jefferson's "other" home.  I really want to go visit...and since I'm going to a wedding near Lynchburg in the summer...maybe I'll go check it out.

So...celebrate TJ's birthday.  Have some Merlot and appreciate architecture and the Declaration of Independence...

TJ is now saying...how can anyone so into me be and not be more eloquent...

Don't read this unless you're okay reading spoilers a/b Slumdog Millionaire

First of all...I do not like to be surprised by violence.  I really expected typical heartwarming fare...wrong, wrong, wrong.

It started with the previews that were really...disturbing.  I think I know everything that happens in the yet to be released...LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT.  And it was icky.  A scene with a man's head in a microwave will NOT LEAVE MY BRAIN CELLS.  So did not need that in my head.

I kept wondering why all these thrillers were previews for this film.  Usually they fit the previews to the film and I guess I was expecting previews for serious films or romances and not horror films or thrillers.

And then...there were rough parts of Slumdog. A torture scene, some blinding, a Hindu/Muslim riot...

I am not saying I didn't enjoy the movie or that it didn't deserve to be movie of the year...but I can see why people think it enforces stereotypical views of India...it focuses on the poverty and the crime.  

And there was one scene where Jamal goes to meet his brother and they are sitting on the edge of an unfinished floor high above Mubai...staring at that made me dizzy...even in a movie theatre I'm terrified of heights.

Very intense movie.  With surprise violence...just be prepared...

Things I saw in Brooklyn this weekend

Willa says...are you sure you want to eat that M&M?

can you see the image of Obama in THIS picture?  (Taken on Court Street walking toward my old store)

Yuppies move to Atlantic Avenue...on the MEWS...

If you look up the definition of mews...you will find that Mews is a "chiefly British term formerly describing a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above, built around a paved yard or court, or along a street, behind large London houses of the 17th and 18th centuries. The word may also refer to the lane, alley or back street onto which such stables open. It is sometimes applied to rows or groups of garages or, more broadly, to a narrow passage or a confined place."

I'm not sure that anyone moving in here would want to live in a stables....

I find cats that don't fight and sit near each other amusing.  My cats sit on separate chairs.  

It was time to leave when I passed by the RICHMOND apartment building on 8th Ave.  Back to VA and work and those angry cats.

Post Inauguration

Well...I survived the Inauguration and the rest of the week afterwards.  It was intense.  I ended up hurting my foot from all my walking and what not.  

I thought I'd be able to get out of the city on Tuesday night no problem...but because the parade was so late and what not...18th Street and 14th Street were closed.  So...I was up on Wednesday at 5:00 AM to drive to work.  I was a bit tired the rest of the week due to the start I had.

I think I've recovered now.  My foot is better.  I went and had my first one-to-one training at the Apple Store.  I learned some new stuff.  

I did notice some annoying stuff.  One...I was accosted by this guy who wanted to sell me some nail buffer thing in the mall and it took me forever to convince him I was not interested.  Also...you know clothes are too tight when the mannequins look fat.  That was true of the mannequins outfitted in the bebe store.

My friend Rachel and I got caught in bad traffic yesterday.  A van went out of control and crossed the highway and hit 2 cars. Of the 7 people who went to the hospital...only 1 is in critical position.  This is amazing because three helicopters landed to take people to the hospital. 

Yesterday Rachel and I went to Baltimore.  We had brunch in Hampden and then went to the American Visionary Museum.  The first time I went I loved the place...but now my thought is that they have lost the thread of what they are doing.  The gift shop used to be amazing...but now it's crazy. It really bummed me out.  I hate it when a place loses it's way.

This week should be less stressful and I should be more rested.  We shall see...