Below are the 13 most recent journal entries recorded in modernmorty's LiveJournal:

Saturday, November 19th, 2005
10:59 pm	iTunes Meme vsprtn 's meme using iTunes as Magic 8 Ball!  I'm all over it!  So here goes... Question:  What do you think of me, iTunes? Tea for Two--Jane Monheit Well, she sings the verse so literally upon asking the questions, my speakers blared "I'm discontented..."  Maybe there are too many showtunes, and iTunes would like a wider variety... Or maybe it means iTunes would like to sit and chat over a luxorious cup of Cream of Mushroom Soup... Question:  Will I have a happy life? I Say a Little Prayer for You--Nnenna Freelon This is not going so well.... Question:  What do my friends really think of me? Two Hours Here--3hree Okay, I really SHOULD spend more time with my friends and less time obsessing over and cooking Rachael Ray.  Maybe I should cook Rachael Ray for my FRIENDS...Concept! Question:  Do people secretly lust after me? Never Finish Before You Are Finished--3hree I don't know how to interpret this...Anyone?? Although it is a song about not giving up, so maybe the answer is Yes and I just don't believe it, yet... Question:  What should I do with my life? S.O.S.--Mamma Mia (Original London Cast) Wow! Question:  Why must life be so full of pain? Four Black Dragons--(Original Broadway Cast) I get it, we're in pain because we forced Japan to trade with us... Question:  How can I maximize my pleasure during sex? What More Can I Say?--Tami Tappan Damiano Speak to my partner!  Ah, yes, communication...  What turns YOU on?, etc, etc, etc. Question:  Will I ever have children? I'll Be Home for Christmas--Mixed Company Yes, but only on the holidays... Question:  Will I ever die? Wouldn't It Be Fun?--Cole Porter's Aladdin To be immortal?  Only if my friends were too.  And what's this about answering my questions with more questions, iTunes? Question:  Can you give me some advice? Speak Low--Dolores Gray And carry a big stick?  Okay, I got it.  Talk less.  A true life lesson, straight from the speakers of iTunes. Question:  What do you think happiness is? Knight in Shining Armor--Sisterella (Original Cast) I couldn't agree more Question:  What's my favorite fetish? I Want to Go Home--Big (Original Cast) True, most fetishes scare me. Question:  Am I a complete freak? The Shortest Day of the Year--The Boys from Syracuse (Revival Cast) ??? Question:  Will I ever find a boyfriend? Big Spender--Shirley Bassey Yes, but I'll have to tip him... Question:  What state of mind am I in right now? If I Only Had a Brain--Michael Feinstein Too true, too true...   Thanks  vsprtn !  I think I'll go take some pills now............. Current Mood: curious (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 15th, 2005
10:08 pm	LOVE who you love Life lesson six hundred and forty-two:   Cherish those close to you.  Don't ever assume they know how much you mean to them.  Take time with your friends and your family.  You truly don't know when they won't be there anymore.  Be grateful for every moment and every thing you have.   Had dinner with Nellie's son tonight.  He misses her so.  We all have it so good, and we need to remember that (even when it's bad). Current Mood: grateful (Comment on this)
Friday, November 11th, 2005
11:50 pm	I'm in love again...For the 23rd time! Okay, okay... So I was wrong...  Claws out ready for a vicious kill.  I could smell it.  This was going to be a disaster.  I was going to hate this show...   WRONG!!!! Sometimes it's REALLY good to be wrong.  This is one of them... Get your tickets, kids!  I had such a good time, I can't tell you the last time I giggled in a theatre like I did tonight!  Casey Nicholaw's direction and choreography are stylishly funny and constantly witty.  I want to tell you EVERYTHING about it.  But it would spoil all the fun you'll have once you buy tickets.  Still I'm dying to tell you how much I loved Sutton Foster's first number "Show Off" and it's fabulous parade of Gregg Barnes costumes.  It's silly, fluffy, and above all fun!  Go, GO, GO!.  For God sakes, get your tickets people!  Bob Martin is hysterical as The Man in Chair, Beth Leavel is spot-on as the title character.  Danny Burstein, seems to be channeling Caesar Romeo, as Aldolpho, the Latin lothario  It's so much FUN!  Have I mentioned that it's fun?  And Sutton Foster!  If you missed the ticket link above, here it is again (ticket link).  Treat yourself to a deliciously delirious evening at the theatre.  You won't be sorry.    Current Mood: bouncy (Comment on this)
Thursday, November 10th, 2005
10:53 pm	Substitutiary Locomotion Finally, after checking my mailbox at a near obsessive rate for the last two weeks, I arrived home to find this CD waiting... All I can say is Treguna Mekoides Trecorum Satis Dee Current Mood: beautifully briny (Comment on this)
Wednesday, November 9th, 2005
10:30 pm	OVER IT I'm   I'm over LOST.  Next week we get to see the other survivors story.  Oooo goody!  I DON'T WANT TO HEAR THE OTHER SURVIVORS STORY, I WANT ANSWERS AND I WANT THEM NOW.  Come on, J. J. Abrams, I've stuck with you and this show for more than a year!  I WANT ANSWERS!  Answers about the damn numbers.  Answers about the Others!  Answers!  Answers!  Answers!  Or my viewership is going to parallel the title of your show. Current Mood: infuriated (Comment on this)
9:49 pm	All the cool kids are doing it... Current Mood: content (Comment on this)
Tuesday, November 8th, 2005
9:42 pm	How many showtune queens does it take... Okay, speaking of food... What big fag walked into his firm's pitch meeting for Pillsbury with his OBC album of "It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's Superman,"  and squealed to his co-workers, "Oh my god you guys, I've got this fabulous song that Linda Lavin sang almost forty years ago that we can use for the doughboy's new tv commercial!!!!!!" Current Mood: chipper (Comment on this)
9:35 pm	Hooray, Hooray, Hoorah Look what I found... Big Smile! I'm reasonably sure that on Saturday at WeightWatchers, I'm not going to be happy...  I could always go to the gym and burn off the calories before bed... Who am I kidding, bring on the chips!!!   Current Mood: sated (Comment on this)
9:20 pm	Irony Feel fat. Want chips. Am going to kitchen to get chips.   Current Mood: hungry/bloated (Comment on this)
Sunday, November 6th, 2005
6:59 pm	Can't Hardly Wait So the LA Times has the Holiday movie preview. Here's what I'm most excited about... ONLY 33 DAYS...   All I gotta say to Heath Ledger is "Ride 'em cowboy". God love Ang Lee, his movies are always so deeply textured and wonderful, from "The Wedding Banquet" to "The Ice Storm," but this one looks so hot. For those few of you that are not into on-screen homosexuality featuring Jake Gyllenhaal (is there ANYONE who isn't?), there's also a few more holiday movies of interest... Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (November 18, this time the trio is feeling the first rush of hormones!) The Chronicles of Narnia (December 9, but I'll see Brokeback Mountain first) Memoirs of a Geisha (December 9, fabulous Colleen Atwood costumes, still Brokeback is first) King Kong (December 14, think of what Peter Jackson did for the sexy factor of hobbits) The Producers (December 16, alright it's basically a camera on stage at the St. James Theatre, but still, it's fun...) The Family Stone (December 16, who doesn't love Diane Keaton) Speaking of movies...I'm currently debating whether I should rise from my exercise ball cum desk chair and go see Chicken Little in 3D.  I must admit I'm a little wary as Disney movies (especially animated, computer or otherwise) have uber-sucked lately.  Putting money making over storytelling will do that to you everytime... Current Mood: impatient (2 Comments |Comment on this)
1:17 pm	One of the funniest people I know, if not THE Reading vsprtn 's live journal makes me feel unworthy of having internet access and a keyboard.  Current Mood: annoyed in a good way (Comment on this)
12:42 pm	Easy Like Sunday Morning Here I sit internet shopping for Thanksgiving pie.  I love doing something slightly unusual for the holidays.  The last couple of years it's involved internet shopping for a portion of the meal.  Last year we got a turducken.  Truly delicious!  I highly recommend their jalapeno cornbread stuffing for those of you who like it hot (well nice and spicy, anyway).  This year, Rachael Ray (yes, her again) via her magazine has pitched a sour cream apple pie that looks simply stunning.  I ask you...     Wouldn't you order it too?  Look at those layers and layers of apple, sliced paper thin on a mandolin, separated only by a delightfully creamy custardy sour cream concoction.  And best, its made by folks in New York City, one of the best places in the world (well, my world)... Speaking of New York, I think I'm going (finally after an almost three year hiatus) just before Christmas.  I'll get to see Chitty Chitty Bang Bang finally before it closes on New Year's Eve.  I know, I know... I already am trying to keep my desire to see this show on the DL, it's kinda like saying "I'm dying to see CATS."  I'm staying with my friend Tracy, Broadway star, and seeing her show finally, after promising to get back to see it for almost a year.  She laughed when I brought up that I wanted to see Chitty.   I told her it's okay cause I'll be more embarrassed when the damn car flies, cuz I'll be crying like a baby.  She said I'll be crying more when I see Sweeney Todd, because it will scare the #$&! (begins with f) out of me.  Chris told me about this production when he saw it in London and said it was truly stunning.  I've been captivated by the concept and the artwork, ever since they first got on my radar.   I love the reflection of the eyes in the razor.  Sinister and creepy, no?                         Current Mood: bored (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Saturday, November 5th, 2005
10:43 pm	The Subject was Roses Wow! My first live journal entry. This is a momentous occasion. One small step for man, one giant step for a showtune queen (princess actually, my mom's not dead) with reasonable typing skills. For many a moon, I have been in awe of vsprtn and her skill as a live journal participant. As I have no idea how to insert her screenname as a link, it is CLEAR I have a ways to go in learning the ropes. Cooked Rachael Ray Philly Cheesesteaks tonight, god love Rachael Ray, what would I do without her? I own all of her major cookbooks published since 2001, and just picked up her magazine on Thursday night (let's hear it for Barnes and Noble on Colorado in Pasadena for having a well-stocked magazine selection), all I need to complete my obsession is her Furi Santoku knife! Not that I'm an obsessive person or anything...oh no, never, not me, uh-uh. Had my grandmother over, there's always a weird energy in my house when that happens. My dad's mom, and my mom resents her for the perceived psychological damage she may or may not have done to my father during his youth. Mom did end up being on her best behaviour (I love the UK spellings!), and have to say she's a pretty fabulous sous-chef. We tend to cook well together, although we argue as much as we cook. You know, how much to salt, when meat is done etc. We did manage to get my dad to help (he split the hoagie rolls and place the provolone cheese inside them), which is no small feat. Pat did the dishes, always nice, especially since he spent the day cleaning. I would have wanted no part of the dishes after cleaning all day, I barely want part of the dishes after cooking. Rule for future as yet unknown family, if I cook, YOU clean! Anyway once again, Rachael Ray comes through! The cheesesteak was amazing (it should have been, it cost an arm and a leg, I went to a real honest to god butcher, more on that in a bit). Her Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad wasn't bad either, and truly tastes like pizza in a really GOOD way. So there's this chick that cooked her way through Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking," blogged her comments, and got a book deal out of it. Think I can do the same thing with Ms. Ray's books? :-) I'm six recipes into "30 Minute Meals 2" as I only get to cook about one a week, and I'd truly go broke if I tried to do more. Which bring us to THE MOST EXPENSIVE PHILLY CHEESESTEAK SANDWICHES KNOW TO MAN... Alright, so between Stuffed Peppers and Supreme Pizza Pasta Salad I was already out a little over fifty bucks, before I got to the butcher store to buy the meat, my very last item. I consulted my friendly neighborhood yellow pages to find a butcher (I know I could've used my local supermarket, but I occasionally get the feeling that the 12 year old behind the counter isn't going to do exactly what I need). So I located one just blocks from my house and hit it up on the return trip from Trader Joe's, Farm Boys, Wild Oats, Ralphs, and Bristol Farms. Yeah, all for one dinner... oh well, I digress, imagine... So I park Chitty and walk into 1968, I mean the butcher shop. It was like being in a time warp. The faux wood paneling, the smell that can only be from an age where the butchers smoked cancer stick after cancer stick while slicing meat and accosting customers with a cloud of death. Part of me really wants to flee and go to the bright shiny new grocery store where a reasonable facsimile of my desired cut of meat awaits. But I stick it out, realizing that this is the end of an era that I'm standing in the middle of. The prices scream that out. I could get it cheaper even at Bristol Farms, but it's because of supermarkets etc that butcher shops are truly a thing of the past. This man probably struggles to lure customers away from the heavy hitters. Even with the bad lighting, I can see this place is different, in a GOOD way. First of, I tell him what I want and he suggests the MOST EXPENSIVE CUT OF MEAT IN THE STORE. While in my head I'm calculating exactly what 5 sandwiches are going to cost me, I see the sign, that in this day and age I'm COMPLETELY not ready to deal with, CASH OR CHECK ONLY, NO CREDIT OR ATM CARDS. I pull out the small wad of carelessly creased bills in my pocket and realize that there's probably no way I can pay for the meat that is currently being pulled from it's cozy refrigerated home. The butcher must see the dollar signs and panic looming large on my face because in a reasonably thick accent he says, "If you don't have the cash now, you just come back, I want my customers to keep coming back." WOW! Someone just offered to hand me over an expensive cut of meat on the promise that I would pay for it later! Bristol Farms and Wild Oats might be nice and have everything under the sun you could possibly want, but would they offer CREDIT to a customer, I mean true credit on the honor system. I was bowled over. Then this obviously skilled man, takes a knife out, sharpens the blade slightly and then begins to remove all the excess fat with surgical precision. Once the meat's prepped (he's truly taken his time to do this and do it WELL), he puts it through a slicing machine so he can get the almost paper-thin slices I've requested. Then, the final miracle occurs. He deems the last piece to thin to run through the machine, but too think to please me, and he takes and hand slices the last of the meat. AMAZING! All in all, he takes a good six minutes to get everything exactly right (and there's two other customers in the store). I'm still in awe of what we've lost by making everything one-stop shopping. I'd never get that kind of service or product in a chain store. But again it does come at a price (made higher because of the competition from the stores) and I walk out with my philly cheesesteak meat at just under $35 for a little under a pound and a half. I'm still a little panicked that I spent that much money, but he assured me it was going to be more than worth it. More importantly, I now want to impress upon anyone that I can the importance of supporting your local mom and pop service, be it butcher, baker or candlestick maker. We're allowing major corporations to drive these folks out of business, because we as consumers want quick, cheap and easy. Spend a little extra time, effort, and money. I promise it will be worth it in the end. Oh yes. The meat was SUPERB!!! Exactly what was needed for a delicious family dinner on a Saturday night. The phone rang after dinner. A dear friend of mom's passed away after being hospitalized from a fall a couple of days ago. Nellie was pretty terrific. She worked for the same doctor that mom did for years. She was the nurse I liked seeing if I had to go over there when I was a kid. There was a Nurse Rachet (sp?) and Nellie. It was a much better day if Nellie was there to hold hands and give stickers. As my mom said "God Bless You Nellie." You'll be missed. It takes things like that to make us realize how precious our time here is (and no matter how trite that is, it's true). You're forced to remember that a run of the mill Saturday meal is something truly special and important. I'll probably always remember the conversation before the phone call, and remember the fact that we were truly laughing (a rarity in these parts) before it came. DAD: There was an six year old prodigy on Leno this week playing the cello. He was oriental... ME: Don't make me get Anna, he was Asian, Orientals are rugs. DAD: Anyway, he told Leno this joke. MOM: What kind of a joke? ME: Well, it wasn't "There once was a man from Nantucket..." MOM: (sincerely) "There once was a man from Nantucket?" how does that joke go? ME: Not in front of grandma, ma, and actually not in front of you either... PAT: (laughing) "There once was a man from peru, who never could get past line 2." All laughing. Dad takes Grandma home. Then Pat does a limerick about a guy with balls made of brass, that when they clink together they play stormy weather and lightning shoots out of his... Mom doesn't find it amusing until it's demonstrated what his rendition of Stormy Weather would look like. Then we all crack up, I mean REALLY crack up. And the phone rings... Current Mood: languid/contemplative (Comment on this)