smockmomma: February 2008 Archives

back in the day, they used to say you can tell a lot about a person by peeking in their medicine cabinets. apparently the new snoop-space of choice is a person's ipod. iffin you wanna play, the rules are simple: select the random play option on your iPod or iTunes and list the first 10 songs that show up. no cheating!

1. "big poppa" - the notorious b.i.g. [caveat auditor: mature lyrics]
2. "nessun dorma!" - luciano pavarotti
3. "just fine" - mary j blige
4. "absolutely fabulous (rollo remix)" - pet shop boys
5. "lakmé: viens, mallika, ... dôme épais" - dame joan sutherland, jane berbié
6. "anyone else but you" - michael cera & ellen page [juno soundtrack]
7. "no ordinary love" - sade
8. "partita for solo violin no. 3 in e major, bwv 1006: III. gavotte en rondeau" - hilary hahn
9. "only women bleed" - alice cooper
10. "blue spanish sky" - chris isaak

***smock shamelessly lifted the idea from erik over'ta his rants and recipes.

the naughty wife. she can't pick coffee.

but she can swallow a few tape worms to lose those unwanted pounds.

and hey, with a little help from del monte, she can open catsup bottles!

and with a few extra chemicals to quell the morning sickness, she can still cook those early morning meals for you!

and, hey, looky here! those extra "vitamins" help her fly through her chores and keep her looking darn cute in the process!

and why not buy your little lady that extra fancy kitchen gadgetry she's been hinting you get her? maybe if you do ...

she'll let you blow smoke in her face. yeah, buddy.

gabby (5): i can't find my sweater!
smock: that's okay, we have to leave.
gabby: but i have to have my sweater!
smock: no you don't, baby, it's going to be a great day!
gabby: but it's not going to be a great style day.

finished up DUMA KEY in less than ten days. now that wins a gold star cuz i never finish a book that quickly since smockling number two came down the pike.

this is sir stephen's best work since his accident in june of '99 and probably his most mature work, in terms of voice, to date. while i do not have time to review it at length this very minute i just want to say that this is his most heart-touching and gut-wrenching character study since IT. what it lacks in gore it makes up for in outlining and exploring the complex emotions of relationships and love. what? yes, you read that right. even LISEY'S STORY, a love story of sorts [and which i saw more as an homage to his spice tabitha than anything else anyway] did not attempt such complexities. in DUMA, sir stephen grapples with both the pains and joys of love. . .as a spice, as a parent, and as a friend.

king's back and this constant reader couldn't be more thrilled.

this is the video to the theme song for one of my favorite "relationflick" films, closer, entitled the blower's daughter. if you aren't familiar with the movie, i'll just say that it is a very disturbing, underbelly sort of look at what sometimes passes for love and commitment in our jaded society. it stars three of my top ten actors: julia roberts, natalie portman and clive owen. jude law's in the flick, too, offering a terrific portrayal of one pitiable little dude. i think of closer as a who's afraid of virginia woolf? of the '90s. now, while closer is one of my "relationflick" faves, i'm not offering an endorsement of it here. it's rated r for sequences of graphic sexual dialogue, nudity/sexuality and language. in other words, this is one adult film. if you're looking for a beautiful downer, i do highly recommend the original edward albee's who's afraid of virginia woolf? -- my absolute all-time favorite relationflick.

but, back to the video. this rather elusive song which embodies the entire flow of the film (it's probably one of the most appropriate theme song ever chosen) is only downloadable as a live version on itunes, so i hafta "watch it" on youtube to hear it in all of its glory, so to speak. here i've included the version that does not contain clips of the movie. there is another video of the song at youtube.com, the final version, that does contain film clips, just fyi. for the record, i'm not what you would call a damien rice fan, in fact, most of his other songs are just plain weird to me, but this particular song moved me to tears about the first ... oh, let's say ... one hundred times that i listened to it. if it doesn't evoke some emotion in you, i daresay you need to check yourself for a pulse, my friend. by the by, if you are going to listen, please invest the four minutes and forty-eight seconds that this video takes, making sure that you listen to the song until the very last line.

unrequited love? lost love? discovering that your lover is, after all, entirely human? i'm not sure what it means really, but it is totally emo and excruciatingly beautiful. in a word, haunting. enjoy.

how often do you get to put a painting with a marmot in it on a blog? well, at least twice. here's another'un, mamaT. this one is by jean watteau.

and would you believe, here's another cute one. while it's not a painting, it's fun nonetheless. i think it was an advert, but i don't know for sure.

[from the far less holy summa mama and with major apologies to mr. luse for my gross neglect of any form whatsoever. i cannot help it. i'm starving.]

is my lent bent if i drool
at the very thought of you?
greasy.
meaty.
sweety.
treaty.
would this love be less?
taste less fabulous?
if twernt for this day -- i say
heck, yes.
spicy.
dicey.
delicious.
seditious.
plump.
trump.
saucisse?
i would feast.
wurst?
and face first.
salchicha?
yes, i'd eatcha.
salsiccia?
t'would complete moi.
lingüiça?
heck, yeah.
who'll drool like a fool
until tomorrow?
me? oui. and...
not quite one bite
would do...
so.
it must be.
lent.