your psa for the week

You know what's awesome? Leverage. I'm at a loss as to what I like best about it: nommable Timothy Hutton, delectable Gina Bellman, the overall awesomeness of the ensemble cast, or the fact that apparently Kari Matchett is going to turn up somewhere, playing Hutton's character's ex-wife. Matchett played a variety of roles in the A&E adaptations of Nero Wolfe mysteries, including Lily Rowan, the non-exclusive and incomparable girlfriend of Archie Goodwin; Goodwin was played brilliantly by Hutton. Matchett was fantastic in all her roles, and had strong romantic and comedic chemistry with Hutton in many of her roles, particularly as Lily. If I could, I would pay for lots of movie tickets to see Hutton and Matchett paired up in romantic comedies, so just the idea of Matchett playing Nathan Ford's ex-wife makes me foam at the mouth in a good way.

Hutton is too scruffy as Ford; I liked his smartly-groomed Archie Goodwin look better. That is my only complaint so far. Oh, and also that in Netflix's Watch Instantly set-up for Leverage, it seems to be skipping around in the episodes--either it's out of chronological order or several episodes are just not available at all; I don't know which. But that's not the show's fault, it's Netflix's, so I won't hold it against them.

I think I make too many I statements

It's as if Robin Abrahams can read my mind:

"I use a huge number of first-person pronouns in my work–a measure sometimes used as a dependent variable to determine a writer’s level of narcissism! But it doesn’t stem from that at all. I mean, of course I’m in love with my own words, that’s why I’m a writer. But my compulsion to keep qualifying them as my words comes less from hubris than humility. This is my opinion of what your mother-in-law said at the last family picnic. Not God’s. Not Jane Austen’s. Not Oprah’s. Just mine, influenced by my own unique experiences and education. Don’t take it for more than that."

I've really liked Abrahams ever since I first read one of her Miss Conduct columns in the Boston Globe Sunday Magazine--her approach to etiquette is from the school I adore, which is the etiquette-should-be-about-making-people-comfortable school, as opposed to the school that say that There Is A Right Way To Do Things, and god help you if you address an envelope using the improper form of address, you peasant. She's an interesting and personable writer, and always comes across as thoughtful and sympathetic to how people feel and act in a way that I think comes from being really interested in how people feel and act, not just in in judging them for it. It hews very close to my worldview (I was thiiiiiiiis close to majoring in sociology), thus validating me. Yay!

Also? She looks like a female Spock, and she knows it.

baaa baaa meme sheep, have you any wool?

Meme swiped from retsuko. Instructions: Open up your iTunes (or WinAmp, or whatever, though iTunes is easiest for this I think) and fill out this survey, no matter how embarrassing the responses might be.


How many songs total: 5,527.
How many hours or days of music: 47.8 days.

Most recently played: "Sisters of Mercy," Leonard Cohen.

Most played: "Combinations," Eisley (49 times, wow. Apparently, I REALLY like that song).

Most recently added: "Wild Mountain Thyme" as recorded by HeartSounds.


Sort by song title:

First Song: "Aaj Ki Raat," from the Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack.
Last Song: "1985," Bowling for Soup.


Sort by time:

Shortest Song: the "Mmm, beer," soundclip from The Simpsons (2 seconds). Shortest actual piece of music: the horn intro to Modest Mouse's Good News for People Who Love Bad News (10 seconds).
Longest Song: "Scheherazade Op. 35," by Rimsky-Korsakov (46 minutes and 7 seconds).


Sort by album:

First album: Abbey Road (first song listed by album) or Apple Howling (first full album).
Last album: 1776 (last listed and last full).


First song that comes up on Shuffle: "Lovers In A Dangerous Time," Barenaked Ladies.

Search the following and state how many songs come up:
Death - 16.
Life - 65.
Love - 236.
Hate - 28, including of course the whole Delgados album by that name. Great album. I recommend it, especially if you're feeling misanthropic.
You - 426.
Sex - 7.