Things I'm Enjoying: A List (Of Sorts)

Finding books via the blogosphere: The other day I followed this link that led me to a very interesting post on what is considered "mind-blowing" in sci fi and who "gets" to blow our minds. But more importantly, the comment section became a list of mind-blowing sci fi by women. I now have an even longer to-read list than when the summer started. It also provides a link to another post on mind-blowing sci fi by people of color. You may notice that my blogroll now includes a section on Reading Blogs--where you'll find the aforementioned blog prominently listed. The other blog that is listed under this new category is Leaning Towards The Sun. Check out this post on The Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers and the subsequent link to Beacon's Black Women Writers' Series.

Finding my loved ones writing blogs: Even more mind-blowing then the post on Leaning Towards The Sun, was my eventual realization that the blog is authored by someone very near and dear to my heart--DeeDee. She has just started this amazing blog on books and container gardening so hop on over and give her some bloggy love.

Update: Just as I finished posting b came home and told me a friend of ours has just started a blog. So send some more bloggy love over to Anna.

Netflix: Ok so I know I am sooooo late to the Netflix game but no one ever told me that you have instant access to movies and shows. I thought it consisted only of mailing and receiving DVDs. b and I started a trial subscription and liked it so much we were able to drop cable altogether (and increase our bandwidth and are still paying less each month). We prefer watching shows and movies on our laptops and have primarily been relying on hulu and iTunes but this has definitely put us over the edge. Last night I watched Deliver Us From Evil. A great documentary but very painful.

My colleagues: We've all been back in the office this week preparing for classes and hanging out. They are a great group and I enjoy spending time with them. I know once classes actually start we'll be on different schedules and crazed so the group dynamic will not be as merry.

Stealing time to snuggle b in the morning: Waking up late and slow and stealing some extra snuggles is the best way to start the day. Unfortunately I know this too will be ending soon as faculty meetings and other work-related responsibilities descend.

RBOC: Home Alone Edition

• I dropped b off at the airport yesterday. He's in Seattle for business purposes.
• I dropped Angel off at the airport this morning. He's going to see his dad for Father's Day.
• I am officially alone for a few days.
• Angel comes back Tuesday night and Wed afternoon I leave to meet b in Seattle, to begin our Great Pacific Northwest Vacation [GPNV].
• Last night, while Angel was working, I watched Little Miss Sunshine. I like to rent movies and TV shows when b is gone. For some reason he had no interest in ever seeing the movie but I rather enjoyed it. Angel came home early and watched the last 15 minutes with me.
• After the movie, Angel and I had a 'sharing' about his relationship with his father. He has been conflicted about that relationship since he was about 13 and we have had these talks every time he gets ready for a visit. I feel bad that he has such difficultly reconciling his feelings and I'm not sure the talks help all that much (considering they've been going on for over 6 years) but they seem necessary for him.
• I'm thinking of renting Crumb tonight. It looks delightfully icky. Or perhaps the original Taking of Pelham 1 2 3. I haven't seen the new one yet and haven't seen the old one since I was a kid living UpNorth. I find I really enjoy watching tv shows and movies that depict the city the way I remember it and not the way it is now.
• Of course I'm currently behind on The Unusuals and I'm slowly working my way through the first season of Brothers and Sisters, so I have plenty of options.
• Yesterday I went back to the used bookstore to use up some of my credit. I found Tepper's The Gate to Women's Country (on my summer list) but also picked up LeGuin's Orsinian Tales, Yolen's Dragon's Blood, and L'Engle's A Wrinkle in Time.
• I don't have a lot of memories from my childhood (repression - it's a good thing) but can recreate most of it when perusing children's literature. I really wanted to find Nesbitt's Five Children and It but no such luck.
• I also spent a great deal of yesterday researching alternate itineraries for our GPNV. We'll be doing a road trip down the coast with lots of camping and then some city/hotel life on the way back.
• I enjoy the planning but don't like being trapped in a plan--thus the numerous alternative itineraries.
• We may not use any of them.
• Its warm here in SouthLite but without the menfolk I can turn the AC off and enjoy open windows.

Watching The BoobTube

As seen at Sleeping in the Forest, its another meme but this one got me thinking about television viewing so I added a post at the end. Here are the instructions:

1. Bold the shows you watch/used to watch.
2. Italicize the shows you’ve seen at least one episode of.
3. Bold and italicize the shows you own* on DVD.
4. Post your answers.

50. Quantum Leap

49. Prison Break

48. Veronica Mars

47. Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

46. Sex & The City

45. Farscape

44. Cracker

43. Star Trek

42. Only Fools and Horses

41. Band of Brothers

40. Life on Mars

39. Monty Python

38. Curb Your Enthusiasm

37. Star Trek: The Next Generation

36. Father Ted

35. Alias

34. Frasier

33. CSI Las Vegas

32. Babylon 5

31. Deadwood

30. Dexter

29. ER

28. Fawlty Towers

27. Six Feet Under

26. Red Dwarf

25. Futurama (w/ Angel)

24. Twin Peaks (saw one show for the first time a few months ago)

23. The Office

22. The Shield

21. Angel

20. Blackadder

19. Scrubs (with Angel)

18. Arrested Development

17. South Park (with Angel)

16. Dr Who

15. Heroes

14. Firefly

13. Battlestar Galactica

12. Family Guy (Yeah, Angel forced this one)

11. Seinfeld

10. Spaced

09. The X-Files

08. The Wire

07. Friends

06. 24

05. Lost

04. The West Wing

03. The Sopranos

02. Buffy the Vampire Slayer

01. The Simpsons (mostly with Angel)

Growing up we had a small black and white TV with the classic wire hanger antenna and pliers to change the channel. My mother had left my father, taken the four of us and went to graduate school. We were living on her teaching assistant stipend and loans.

My mother also has always hated TV. My sisters and I would gather around "the boob tube" (as my mother called it) to watch such classics as Mary Tyler Moore, Rhoda, and All In the Family (ok, we also watched Eight is Enough and Fantasy Island). Periodically my mother would emerge from her room, stand behind us, and start a critical analysis of whatever show we were watching. It did not add to my viewing pleasure.

I write all this as an explanation of why I think I've never been all that into TV (although my son and both my husbands feel quite differently). There are shows I definitely love (West Wing was probably the best written show ever) but I'm a reader and will almost always choose a book over a TV show. Even so, over the years I have managed to watch and follow a great many shows--with few of them represented on this list. What about M.A.S.H.? Where's Cheers? or NYPD Blue? How about Homicide: Life on the Streets? Let's not forget Good Times, Maude or Sanford & Son. Honestly I haven't heard of about a third of the shows on this list and it is making me feel very old.

Bonus

I teach Thursday nights and don't get home until around 9:30. This means I don't get to watch my guilty pleasure--Grey's Anatomy. Angel has always hated that I watch this particular show and used to make it a point to come into the living room while it was on to berate it--a huge downer. I discovered that downloading it from iTunes and watching it from my laptop was much more enjoyable. So a few weeks ago I bought the season pass. Now I get my guilty pleasure on Friday nights.

Somehow I managed to skip last week (probably had something to do with Angel being home) so when I downloaded this week's episode I got two new ones. Major score! Just finished watching them back to back and I'm feeling just fine.