I found this interesting tidbit on
Apartment Therapy about making your own pet bed. I know several dedicated pet owners and thought they might think it was a little cute, maybe a little funny. So I emailed them the link.
Now go
look at the picture that's linked and come back.
Are you back? Good. My friend, Pudding, shot back a quick reply:
One of the people commenting on the idea/photo referred to the cat in this post as a “sexy kitty.” Really? I don’t know what that means. I mean, I guess the cat’s attractive...
Labels: 2008, pudding, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, February 27, 2008 at Wednesday, February 27, 2008 | | 
Last week I went to happy hour - I hadn't been in 2008 so I figured it would be nice to do a little after-work socializing.
About half a beer into the evening, things got interesting. Yes, you read that right. Half a beer. We're older now and don't drink as much.
Anyway, we were chatting about stuff when a friend introduced me to someone new and mentioned that I have a podcast about TV. The new person perked up a lot and started peppering me with questions.
Then she politely said something along the lines of, "All this on top of everything else." My friend looked at her quizzically and the new person shared that she admired my hair. It's big, red and shiny.
This revelation sparked a surreal discussion about my hair with several participants which then segued into a discussion of my eyelashes. Apparently they are also admired by the short-eye lashed people.
Before things got weirder talk turned back to work and kids and LOST. I wasn't sure whether to be flattered or self-conscious.
Anyway, I guess the morale of story is you never know what might happen when half-beers are flying and the
Big Red Podcast lives up to its name.
Labels: 2008, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Tuesday, February 26, 2008 at Tuesday, February 26, 2008 | |
This week is a real humdinger. Derek, Deeps and I discuss the Pterodactyl theory on
Torchwood, how happy hour can make
LOST a little tougher to follow, how car porn isn't enough to carry a show with a wooden lead in
Knight Rider, bad science on
Sarah Connor Chronicles and finally how to do genre better with
Supernatural.
Plus Derek stuns the group by reading a book(!) called A
nasi Boys by Neil Gaiman and we review
Be Kind, Rewind. Then we totally ignore the Oscars. Weird, huh?
And I beg for votes on
Podcast Alley.
Listen to this week's episode.Subscribe to the podcast with
iTunes or your favorite
podcatcher. Don't forget to leave us some iTunes feedback.
Subscribe to Big Red Podcast by Email
Labels: 2008, podcast, television
By: Alyssa | Sunday, February 24, 2008 at Sunday, February 24, 2008 | |
I think life is filled with little moments - encounters - where you discover you have an opinion about something you'd never really considered before.
For example, when looking for a house we had a checklist of stuff we wanted: three bedrooms, off-street parking, at least two bathrooms. It was a relatively simple list but then we were also applying new criteria based on gathering new information - seeing houses.
Prior to house hunting I didn't have any real thoughts about kitchen sinks. But after going though a few houses we determined we liked undermount sinks where you could wipe down a counter directly into the sink without going over a lip.
Apparently, members of the household have opinions about things that are even more mundane than sinks. This came up last night.
Deeps announced he wasn't interested in leftovers - delicious! - but wanted to make himself a sandwich. His sandwich skills are limited, so I expected he go with an ol' fashioned PB&J.
Me: Be careful with the peanut butter.
Deeps: Why?
Me: It isn't as dense as the stuff we've had in the past.
Deeps: Okay.
Me: It spreads more easily.
Moments later.
Deeps: I don't like this new peanut butter.
Me: Why not?
Deeps: It's too gooey.
Me: I guess I won't buy it again.
Sure - you thought you had sorted through all the opinions you have about peanut butter: delicious/not delicious or creamy/crunchy. But now there's a new dimension to consider: gooey/not gooey.
Oh modern life.
Labels: 2008, marriage, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Thursday, February 21, 2008 at Thursday, February 21, 2008 | |
Yesterday Derek, Deeps and I were talking about hot television options for the week and who might watch what.
For
the podcast, I thought we should watch the network premiere of Dexter on CBS. Derek was in favor of the two hour Knight Rider movie. Deeps wanted to watch Breaking Bad.
I conceded we should watch all three - but had a small conflict since our DVR tuner is capable of recording two shows at once if we watched a third.
Deeps: You should watch Knight Rider from 9 to 11. Then we can record Dexter and Breaking Bad.
Me: That's a good idea, but I never make it to 11.
Derek: Why not?
Me: Because I get up at 6.
Derek: In the morning?
Me: Yes.
Derek looked stunned.
For those who wonder - we figured it out. Breaking Bad has "encore" presentations all through the night and the rest of the week.
And I didn't have the heart to tell him I actually get up around 5:45 - but I round up to six for math purposes
Labels: 2008, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Monday, February 18, 2008 at Monday, February 18, 2008 | |
This week Derek, Deeps and I spend some quality time talking about Breaking Bad, assessing the latest episode of LOST, and analyze the Humphrey Bogart film
In a Lonely Place for the Big Red Film Festival.
And I beg for votes on
Podcast Alley.
Listen to this week's episode.Subscribe to the podcast with
iTunes or your favorite
podcatcher. Don't forget to leave us some iTunes feedback.
Subscribe to Big Red Podcast by Email
Labels: 2008, podcast
By: Alyssa | Sunday, February 17, 2008 at Sunday, February 17, 2008 | |
Deeps and I have a lot of interests - art, film, cooking, hiking, photography, and books to name a few - but we really like television. We like it so much we do a
weekly pop culture podcast primarily about TV. (Are you still not listening? Because that hurts my feelings - I mean feeling.)
Anyway, the Writer's Strike was a little tougher on us than the usual TV viewer. Not only do we watch TV but we talk about it and other people listen to us discuss it. We muddled through and now that the strike is over, we are just a few weeks away from lots of returning television. Of course, that long run to new television was never more apparent than Wednesday night.
We had sent back our Netflix and the new shipment hadn't arrived yet. We stared down a hideous hour of TV featuring stuff like "Reality Narcissist" and "Suitcase or No Suitcase". I opted to explore the wonders of cable TV "on demand" which means you can watch total crap whenever you want.
Oh and the crap I found. I watched an episode of
Fantasy Island from approximately 1978 (if my reading of roman numerals is right).
It was full of stars: Abe Vigoda, Cesar Romero, John Saxon, Don Knotts, Lisa Hartman and Florence Henderson. Two of the three stories covered topics that I were very popular in the 70s -
nuns in crisis and satanists.
It was awful. Deeps actually begged me to stop watching. When I tried to fire up another episode, he suggested we just go to bed early.
I've been incredibly well-rested all week.
Labels: 2008, marriage, television
By: Alyssa | Friday, February 15, 2008 at Friday, February 15, 2008 | |
Look - I'm not a fan of this holiday. It puts undue stress on couples and singles alike. What I do like about it is the huge amounts of chocolate available everywhere.
That
is worth celebrating.
If you're looking for something to help pass the time this February 14th, I'd suggest checking out the
Big Red Podcast - our weekly pop culture discussion.
This week, I'd dare say that a little bit of love is in the air. Oh wait, that wasn't love. It was sarcasm. But that's good too.
Labels: 2008, holidays, podcast
By: Alyssa | Thursday, February 14, 2008 at Thursday, February 14, 2008 | |
Yesterday, a friend and I took a quick trip over to a local novelty card shop to search for Valentine cards for our husbands. My friend was also looking for birthday cards to mail out - because that's how she rolls (direct quote).
I looked at about 50 cards. We all did - a small group of us congregated by the huge display of cards. By the way, handling dozens of cards like that requires some quality hand washing afterwards. It is worse than buying towels.
Anyway, nobody seemed especially impressed with their choices. People eventually picked cards and faded back towards the register.
Me: I hate all these cards.
Friend: Some of them are pretty awful. This one is cute.
Me: It has kittens. Deeps isn't fond of the cat, he's never come around on kittens.
Friend: Ah. What about this one?
Me: Dogs make him nervous. He didn't grow up with pets. So animal humor is out of the question.
Friend: That rules out most of your options.
Me: I know! And what I'm left with are horrible entendres that are so obvious that I would go so far as to call then nontendres. Seriously listen to this "I like a big piece of chocolate because it is hard outside and has a creamy center."
Friend: That's the kind of thing you'd think was hilarious and sexy when you were 12.
Me: I know!
Friend: Your other option is puns. Oh God, these are really bad.
Me: Maybe I can get a sincere card.
Friend: They can be pretty earnest.
Me: Yikes. These are just so horribly sincere they come off as ironic.
Friend: What about a blank card?
Me: They have puppies, kittens or babies on them. And they're kind of creepy.
Friend: I think you're out of options.
Me: I'm walking away empty-handed.
Friend: But I suspect you've gotten a blog post out of it.
Me: Good point.
Labels: 2008, holidays, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, February 13, 2008 at Wednesday, February 13, 2008 | |
This week Deeps and I tackle the toughest question of our marriage - Are you writing Reba fan fiction? Luckily, Derek is around to help us figure out if our heretofore wedded bliss can survive it. Before we have to call Doctor Phil, we are address the latest developments in the WGA strike.
We talk about three new series including the differences between
Cashmere Mafia and
Lipstick Jungle. That third series is called
Welcome to the Captain and the most important fact you should know is that
Raquel Welch is 68! For reals.
Then we discuss House, LOST, the Korean film The Host and my deep affection for
LEGO Star Wars for the Wii. And I announce the next selection in the Big Red Film Festival:
In A Lonely Place.
And I beg for votes on
Podcast Alley.
Listen to this week's episode.Subscribe to the podcast with
iTunes or your favorite
podcatcher. Don't forget to leave us some iTunes feedback.
Subscribe to Big Red Podcast by Email
Labels: 2008, podcast, television
By: Alyssa | Sunday, February 10, 2008 at Sunday, February 10, 2008 | |
As you may know, I commute into Boston every morning. It's a short distance to travel, but takes a while because I'm in the exciting world of public transportation as provided by the MBTA. I ride the local subway and bus, we call it the T.
Now that you have that little bit of information - you should know that a lot of
skeevy things have been happening on the T lately. Apparently a lot of groping, exposing, and other stuff has been happening.
I have been spared any of the recent indignities. Usually I suffer from being dripped on by a soaked umbrella, being blasted with some form of body odor, overly chatty drunks, or I sit next to a chronic sniffler. Nothing more than the usual weirdness we must all endure.
Apparently I've been very lucky. I read on
Universal Hub yesterday - well, you should just go read it and then come back. I'll wait. Go on, it's quick.
Shocking, huh? We're bombarded with mixed messages from the T - if you see something, say something. And then we get some hockey player over the PA telling us he takes the T to work all the time. Then the MBTA employees are like, eh, creepy is part of our charm!
While the story is disturbing, I can't say that I'm especially surprised. Even the part about red heads. Wait. Red Heads! They're targeting my people now?
I need to make sure I'm wearing my stomping shoes.
Labels: 2008, Boston, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Wednesday, February 06, 2008 at Wednesday, February 06, 2008 | |
I have a ground hog who lives under the shed in my backyard. He enjoys eating my hostas and taking one dainty bite from each of my tomatoes.
At least he did when I last saw his round body splayed out in the grass. He was casually napping in the sun in September. I haven't really seen him since then. But I'm sure he's still in the back yard, huddled up for a long winter's slumber.
Deeps did not care what the ground hog - mine or the famous one - said on Saturday. He had his own proclamation - the sun was out, it was a little warmer and he wanted to enjoy the day.
"I am psychologically over winter," he announced. "I will not shovel anymore. I'm finished."
"Look," I replied. "We're barely into February. This is still winter. February in the northern hemisphere is winter. Nobody disputes that."
Deeps grumbled that he was not going to shovel anymore. "We'll power out of the driveway instead. Isn't that what all-wheel-drive is for?"
I think somebody needs a little warm-weather getaway. I can swing that, as long as he doesn't dislodge our transmission before then.
Labels: 2008, marriage, weather
By: Alyssa | Tuesday, February 05, 2008 at Tuesday, February 05, 2008 | |
This week Derek, Deeps and I talk about the second episode of
Torchwood and meeting expectations and we discuss the law of unintended consequences on
Breaking Bad. Then we tackle two new series,
Eli Stone and the very ambitious experiment from HBO called
In Treatment. Then we visit our friends on the island of mysterious mysteries on
LOST.
Plus tons of listener shout-outs! And I beg for votes on
Podcast Alley.
Listen to this week's episode.Subscribe to the podcast with
iTunes or your favorite
podcatcher. Don't forget to leave us some iTunes feedback.
Subscribe to Big Red Podcast by Email
Labels: 2008, podcast
By: Alyssa | Sunday, February 03, 2008 at Sunday, February 03, 2008 | |
Yesterday I spent a bit of time trying to convince a friend that he should start watching LOST. He's kind of, vaguely intrigued but seemed intimidated by the three seasons of content he'd have to make it through before season 4 (however short) would start.
I suggested he check out the "
Everything You Need to Know About Lost" summary of the previous three seasons - conveniently in 8 minutes and 15 seconds. Then I directed him to a Dharma initiative video - I picked
Orientation 1.
I'm not really sure why I was so adamant about him watching - but in light of so little that is interesting being available on TV, it seems like a good way to go. Lunch time discussion is more interesting when everyone knows a bit about the subject matter.
Last week I was trying to explain what the
Match Game is, and frankly... while
Brett Somers was a charming woman and
Charles Nelson Reilly was a bon vivant - it doesn't hold a candle to giant, invisible monster, slightly rumpled hotties and the ever looming dread of
craphole island.
Labels: 2008, television, weird stuff
By: Alyssa | Friday, February 01, 2008 at Friday, February 01, 2008 | |
