In a Word, Awesome

Last Thursday, my roomie and I went to see David Gray in concert. I had never seen him live before and he is amazing! He played straight for over two hours with no breaks, even his band took a break, but he kept on playing. His voice was perfection and he seemed to truly be having fun on stage. I can't say enough about it. If you are a fan, I think you must see him live.

Lisa Hannigan, Damien Rice's former musical partner, opened for him. She was also great. Her new album, Sea Sew, is lovely (listen to the above interview for more details about this). During the show she also covered Personal Jesus by Depeche Mode which was very fun. I found the below video from an earlier stop on the tour.

Would You Rather...

One of my favorite books growing up was Would You Rather... by John Burningham. The book is filled with ridiculous dilemmas like, "Would you rather... get crushed by a snake, swallowed by a fish, eaten by a crocodile, and sat on by a rhinoceros?" or "Would you rather... your dad did a dance at school or your mom made a fuss in a cafe?" I found the absurdity of the book hilarious (and still do).

If given a "would you rather" situation today I would be least likely to accept a karaoke challenge. I would much rather be swallowed by a fish. I wish I could sing; I love the idea of being able to hold a tune or have rhythm, but I simply have none. Last night, however, I was listening to an old music mix and I found a song that I think I could do in karaoke. It helps that I listened to this song endlessly in middle school. So without further ado, The Lemonheads. Make sure to note the awesome dancing in this video too.

On the Shelf

I don't like to read past the first few sentences of book jackets. I find the summaries frustrating, usually giving away far too much of plot of a book. In a slow book, one hundred pages into a story I wonder why I have bothered reading something that was eloquently summed up in a short paragraph on the back of a book. I like to see characters outlined in the way the author set out to do it, which in most cases is slowly.

I like the idea of a character to be exposed in pieces, like peeling back layers of an onion. Chapter one you meet Joe, chapter three you find out he lives alone, chapter five you find he is widower, chapter seven you discover his addiction, etc. Rather than the dust jacket which is likely to say; "Recently widowed, Joe lives alone, struggling with alcoholism." This is why when I picked up Love is a Four-Letter Word, I didn't really pick up on the theme of the short stories. I didn't read beyond the first few sentences in the jacket synopsis.

I knew the idea of the book was supposed to be love told from the other side. However, I didn't realize that all the first person narratives were going to take one of two veins. Either they would focus on a significant other who turns out to be a complete asshole and hurts the author or the narrator would be the one inflicting the hurt on their lover. I had picked Love is a Four-Letter Word thinking that some stories would be ultimately be redeeming, but this was not the case. In the end the reason I had picked up the book, focusing on the word love is what I walked away not wanting. I would only recommend picking up this book if you want to feel that nothing will ever quite work out.

Autumn Evening

Sometimes I feel myself slipping into a complete and utter funk. I wish I had the ability to sit down and just have a good cry and get over it, but I don't. I apt to wallow until I am able to kick my thoughts of despair.

Last night I felt myself slipping. I thought in order to kick this mood, I would go watch a movie that I knew would make me cry. I thought crying about someone or something else might help put things in perspective. I chose "The Boys Are Back," the story of a sports journalist, Joe, played by Clive Owen, who finds himself being a single parent after his second wife dies of cancer. Joe has spent his life traveling the world covering sporting events arriving home to play with his six-year-old son and deliver "pressies," but has never had to really discipline his son. Joe's teenage son from his first marriage also arrives from overseas wanting to get to know the father he has only know from afar. Joe caves under the pressure of being a single parent to two boys he doesn't really know while dealing with own grief and non supportive in-laws.

Joe creates a "just say yes" philosophy, trying to make up for the loss of his wife and his inadequacies as a father. Ultimately, as you can imagine, this does not work. However, the film goes about showing this in a creative and non-cliched way. Joe seeks to build a family with his boys that will not crumble under the strain of everyday life.

In the end, this movie did not quite create the tears I thought it would. The story focuses on moving on with life rather than grieving. I walked away from the theater satisfied and in a little less of a funk.

Calm

I am a major escapist reader. My nightstand has a whole shelf of books that I pick up when I want to forget about what is happening in my life for a little while. Most of these books I would never really recommend to anyone else, but they all offer a bit of comfort for this sentimental girl. Perhaps sometime I''ll publish the list.

Today, I would like to share a book that I do feel comfortable recommending to anyone. I laughed and cried and in the end I ended up going back and rereading some of the book. Listening is an Act of Love is a series of interviews done for the StoryCorp where people sign up to go into a booth an interview each other about some portion of their life. It can be a momentous event or just a story about their everyday life. What comes out is remarkable, touching and beautiful.

Check it out from your local library today!

Re-review: Corazonas Chips

Last month I reviewed Corazonas Potato Chips. Corazonas was nice enough to send me some additional chips to taste test again. A couple days ago this beautiful package arrived at my office. Yesterday after our run, Eliza help me taste them again.



We tasted three kinds of potato chips: Slightly Salted, Pacific Rim Barbecue, and Italiano 4 Cheese. The first thing I must address is the reason my first review was unfavorable, the oily coating of the mouth after eating the chips last time. This time there was no oily coating of the mouth and thus I enjoyed the chips much more!

The Slighty Salty are a good basic chip and a great choice against other chips because of the less fat. Eliza and I both found the Pacific Rim Barbecue flavor to be a little too strong. I kept feeling like it tasted similar to something I had recently eaten, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. The Italiano 4 Cheese was very interesting because it has blue cheese in it. I didn't love it, but Eliza did because it tasted like real cheese. She ended up taking the bag home with her.

We also tasted three kinds of tortilla chips: Margarita Lime, Original and Baja Bean Dip. One cool feature is that these chips are made with whole oats that you can actually see in the chips. We both heartily enjoyed the original flavor, they reminded us a lot of Wheat Thins and have a little more of a cracker flavor. With the oats the chips are a little more moist that traditional tortilla chips. The Margarita Lime were quite solid, tasting very similar to other Lime and Chili chips we've tried. My favorite was the Baja Bean, Eliza wasn't as big of a fan of it, but I thought they had a great zesty taste.


The bottom line is that I would buy the tortilla chips again, so thanks to Corazonas for having me try them again!

Rave Review: Nike Timing

I got a Nike running watch for Christmas almost two year ago (thanks Mom and Dad). It suddenly stopped working a few months ago. I think the battery may have been dead, but the watch didn't petered out, just went from working fine to nothing showing up on the screen. I looked up in the directions and found a service number to call. It took me a couple calls to reach them, but once I got through during stand central time business hours I got an address to mail it to. I just needed to mail then the watch and note explaining what was going on, no serial numbers or proof of purchase required.

A couple weeks after I mailed it, my watch showed back up running great and the best part is that they didn't charge me anything. I only had to pay to mail it there. So bravo to Nike Timing for great, hassle-free service.

This is what I did last weekend

Over the weekend I went to Washington Wine Country for the first time. After my roommate and I heard it was still going to be warm over there we were set. It was glorious and warm in Yakima and the surrounding areas. We managed to visit five wineries: Bonair (very good), Hyatt (not so good), Two Mountains (pretty solid reds and a very friendly atmosphere), Maison De Pagett (okay), and Paradiso Del Sol (they get the award for most creative tasting).

I think I actually may have enjoyed the fruit event more than the wine. It is prime season for Washington nectarines, pears, melons, plums, and peaches. Please enjoy my photos below.