Reading

Maybe I will just post something every 10 months.

It's only been 10 months!

Didn't want to go an entire year without posting on this blog. I guess I'm not ready to give up!

I struggle between wanting to write general-interest stuff and wanting to write personal stuff about me and my family. Maybe someday I'll figure it out.

Peanut butter sandwich made with jam

How do you feel about the PB&J spreader? Unclutterer regularly makes fun of "unitaskers" and some of the commenters on this one got a little fired up. Apparently there is room in the market for a PB&J spreader, even one that looks like a pregnancy test.
Due to popular demand, I am here to share with you my PB&J technique so that you no longer need either cross-contaminate jars nor use two knives: spread the jam on slice #1, wipe the knife clean on slice #2, then spread the peanut butter on slice #2. Also, I lied about the popular demand part.

No news is good news?

The top story on the front page of the Los Angeles Times both yesterday and today:

The Lakers' most recent loss against the Celtics, and Kobe walking off the floor during the last 3 seconds of the fourth quarter.

"This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper," and all of that.

I do feel a small amount of personal sorrow for the pathetic (probable) ending to the series, but I am just curious; isn't there anything else going on in the world?

Read all about it

You may know about my involvement with ELIZA magazine. This fledgling fashion magazine has just made it through its first year: not bad, considering the fact that most new magazines don't. Its namesake is Eliza Doolittle--you know, that classy dame from My Fair Lady who is also, completely coincidentally, up on the header of my personal blog. I promise the name isn't why I joined the ELIZA staff...well, maybe it piqued my interest. I first found out about it on blogs like Tales from the Crib, Musings and Misadventures, Armelle Jewelry, and Your Heart Out.

Currently ELIZA is offering a free subscription for a year (four quarterly issues) to any blogger who does the following:

1) Write a post about what you love about ELIZA.
2) Include a link to the magazine's Web site (elizamagazine.com).
3) Send the post URL, along with the name and address where you'd like to receive your free subscription, to info@elizamagazine.com.

You don't need to have lots of readers, but it does need to be a public blog.

If you're unfamiliar with ELIZA but would like to participate, here are some suggestions to become more familiar:

To see a full list of stores that carry ELIZA (mainly bookstores and newsstands--available in most states), click here. To check out the Web content, you might want to start with the blog, or with this list of featured articles from past issues. I have used the site's Resources page several times when looking for clothes online. If you're into MySpace you can check out its profile there--it also has a group on Facebook. For even more info, you can also try an Internet search for "Summer Bellessa" (the EIC) or "Eliza magazine."

An answer to a question I get asked a lot: The editor-in-chief of ELIZA (tagline: "Modest. Modern.") is LDS, and most of the staff and advertisers are members of one religion or another, but it is not marketed toward or written for members of the LDS Church or members of any church. It's for women, professional or not, all with an interest in fashion, with a small portion in the past two issues aimed at moms (e.g., kids' fashion layouts and ads; a few articles relating to motherhood).

The magazine itself is very pretty. I have seen the layouts, articles, and editing in the actual magazine become noticeably better with each issue. It's really fun to read!

Anyway--there you have it. Participate if you'd like to!

Remember?

Remember when I used to post on this blog?

It happened a few times.

I was telling my husband last night that I've been feeling somewhat of a blogger's block lately. When I made my personal blog private and started this blog on the side, I thought I would have plenty to say on both. Turns out, I don't. It's hard enough sometimes to think of stuff to post on the O.G. blog. But I'm going to try to get better at it.

I'll buy you a diamond ring, my friend, if it makes you feel all right.

Yesterday I read about Heather Mills's $48.7 million winnings from her divorce battle with Paul McCartney, representing herself in court since the lawyer she fired couldn't quite get her the amount she wanted. That's about $34,000 per day of their 4-year marriage, if you wondered. Coincidentally (or was it . . . ), later that afternoon in the car, "When I'm 64" came on. I'm not the first person to point out Paul most likely didn't have a messy and public divorce in mind when he wrote that song. He seemed to be focusing more on Vera, Chuck and Dave bouncing on their grandmother's knee. Maybe I'm totally off and he was going for irony all along, but I doubt it. It probably isn't much consolation to either Heather or Paul that they could easily rent separate summer cottages in the Isle of Wight. Okay, maybe to Heather.

I know, I'm such a gossip. I wonder if it would have been as public if it weren't the British press involved. I ain't sayin' she a gold-digger, and for all I know, Paul is a big, big jerk. I guess only they know what went on between them. But I feel bad for the guy. Well for both of them. I mean if I were divorcing a gazillionaire and planned to raise his child I would want a decent paycheck from him. Most of all I feel bad for their daughter. And for Paul and Linda's kids and grandkids. What a life, right? You would think money could at least buy one of them happiness. At any rate it is making me sad.

Only happy endings, that's the recipe

Depending on whether you're an "old-school" reader of Wave Hello Again you may or may not know about my single radio-contest-winning experience, wherein I won free movie tickets for the year of 2005 by predicting 2004 Oscar winners correctly. It's something I like to brag about from time to time, as well as use as the reason that since 2005, my husband and I just have not seen that many movies: we suffered from movie burnout. Still kind of do, really. Who wouldn't after the long-lasting ill effects of Monster-in-Law? All we could talk about during movies like that was the fact that everyone around us had actually paid to be there. Not to mention the amount they had spent on crap movie food. (We knew it was awful because we also got free concessions.)

This year, I must admit I had hardly seen any of the nominees. I did see Juno (nom. Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actress), The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (nom. Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing), August Rush (nom. Best Original Song), Enchanted (3x! nom. Best Original Song), and The Bourne Ultimatum (nom. Best Editing, Best Sound Editing). Nothing for Waitress, surprisingly enough; seemed to me like perfect Oscar fodder.

Random thought, I wonder if Ellen Page put "Disappointment" by the Cranberries on repeat and cried in her room after the Oscars. It's what I did after I lost the election for student council secretary in seventh grade.

I freely admit that I didn't really like any of these except for Diving Bell (and, okay, I did like "The Happy Working Song" in Enchanted). In fact I was going to make a joke about how I didn't see many Oscar-type movies this year "except maybe August Rush," then lo and behold it got something other than my jeers. Not that you should take my "film" advice that seriously--Joe vs. the Volcano, for example, is one of my favorite movies, and I may have been heard to call Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed "one of the best of 2004."

I was thinking that 2007 was an "eh" year for movies (and I didn't even see Stomp the Yard) but upon reflection, it wasn't so bad. Actually there are lots of movies I didn't see (many of them Oscar winners) that got huge raves. My inability to handle much gore, sex, or swearing kind of makes me shy away from lots of them.

So, moving on. 2008! Indiana Jones! The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull! (from the Post: "The project has been talked about for years, but [George] Lucas's insistence on building the script around the titular objects--models of human skulls cut from quartz--kept his teammates at bay. Guess he wore 'em down, because here we are, in 1957, the bad guys are the Cold War Russkies, and the hero is a reality-based 64 years old. Not exactly what you'd call catering to the youth market. But they'll show up anyway on May 22.")

Oh, and Be Kind Rewind, anyone? I was in disbelief when I first heard the premise (and the fact that Mos Def is second-billed) but now I am looking forward to seeing it. Maybe I will even pay to watch it in a theater.

Here are a few lists if you are interested in the 2008 movie season.

55 Must-See Movies of 2008
Why 2008 Will Be an Awesome Year for Movies
10 Most-Anticipated Movies of 2008

I guess I'm not as movie-jaded as I thought. I am already mentally booking babysitters for some of these release dates.