I was working on this post when I got distracted by a Facebook invitation from someone with whom I went to summer camp, which then triggered a long nostalgic wallow. Camp Sunningdale, I loved you well.

In among the pines
There is a camp we all adore
One that we have loved
And we will love forevermore...

And so on. Sigh.

But I digress.

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The quote below, from the Publisher's Marketplace newsletter, made me laugh.

NY Magazine's Boris Kachka on authors at the breakfasts and lunches: "Funniest guy we saw? John 'I'm a PC' Hodgman, who at a forum at 8 a.m. Sunday managed to blow every other humorist out of the water. 'I still have a fondness for books,' said the onetime literary agent. 'Many a time I will be antiquing, and I'll say, 'What's that old-timey curio over there? What is that, a candlestick telephone, one of those old pull-chain toilets? Oh no, it's a book. I used to help make those things! I will buy it and use it to decorate my chain of casual family-dining restaurants.'"

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Coupla funnies for you here and here. I can relate to them both.

***

So I got this gizmo the other day, a Clarisonic. It was invented by the guy who invented the Sonicare toothbrush and it’s essentially the same thing, but for the face.

I love my Clarisonic. Love it. Love. It. My face has never been so clean. Did you know the average woman spends 15 second washing her face? This thing takes a minute. It’s waterproof and rechargeable and I use it with my plain old Cetaphil.

I feel like a kid whose parents gets her to brush her teeth by buying a Little Mermaid toothbrush. My new toy is more fun than washing the old fashioned way and although I always have washed my face every night, I do it more better now.

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Bad PR du jour

Got an email today.

The subject line: Even MORE exciting NEWS for you!

The message: You are going to be WOWed to put this in your news publication!

The news: I have no idea. It’s in an attachment that I’m not going to open. Much as we could all use a little WOWing, I don’t open unsolicited attachments to keep my computer safe and also as a matter of principal. Everyone should know better. I don’t reward stupidity.

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I just finished reading my friend Karen Harrington's book, Janeology. Karen is a wonderful writer and this book, tracing the lineage of a mother who murders one of her children, raises compelling questions about nature vs. nurture. Was her act inevitable?

Check out Karen's blog. Wish I'd entered her 10-word story contest, but I was too busy writing haiku comments on Jenna's blog. It's a wonder I have time to spend a whole minute washing my face...

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I posted a new DVD review on Suit up and Show Up. Show it some love, give it a click. I haven't been doing new DVDs recently because I am giving it all to Tamilee. Hurts so good.

***

I've had an exceedingly social couple of weeks. I look forward to holing up at home with my sewing this weekend. Except for a couple of parties tomorrow night. Would somebody please suggest some cocktail chatter for me? I'm plum out...

Labels: books, cartoons, exercise, public relations

Here’s a WSJ interview with Jennifer Weiner about her book Certain Girls, in which she addresses Jane Smiley’s review, which I linked to earlier this week.

Weiner says, in part: “What shocked me was that she said I have to stop writing about nice Jewish characters. [In her review, Ms. Smiley wrote that Ms. Weiner "seems boxed in by her chosen genre" and should "address larger questions than the psychological ups and downs of her nice Jewish characters."]

I couldn't believe that made it past the copy desk. The idea you can tell a writer of a specific religion to stop writing about that religion is presumptuous. When an older writer tries to tell a younger writer through a review what kind of career she should be pursuing, it tends to speak to the reviewer's anxieties rather than the book itself…”

I didn’t interpret Smiley’s review as dissing anyone’s religion as much as suggesting Weiner look farther afield for her characters. Big difference. On the other hand, Smiley has written about horses and academia, which is the stuff of her life, so she should talk.

Speaking of chick stuff, Mary and I rented Private Benjamin last night and I am pleased and relieved to report that it held up. Sure, the fashions are 1980s as is some of the humor, but it’s still clever and thoughtful and fun. The cast includes Goldie Hawn, a few minutes of Albert Brooks, Eileen Brennan, Mary Kay Place, Armand Assante, Sam Wanamaker, Harry Dean Stanton…not too shabby. I love it.

More girltalk: A very kind blog reader sent me a link and asked my opinion of this article from The Atlantic, titled Marry Him!--the Case for Mr. Good Enough. It is an interesting argument for women to stop being so picky about their men and "settle" for someone who might be too short or too bald or too something or not something enough. I wasn't sure what to think of it--I had a knee-jerk negative reaction--and hemmed and hawed, but the woman who sent it managed to sum it up in one very neat sentence: I think what she says is to settle, I say is maturity. Yes, yes. Of course. That's exactly what I meant to say.

Deelish for Dallasites: The city elders plan to rename Industrial Boulevard to reflect the glamorous (very distant) future they plan for it. For you outtatowners, Industrial Boulevard is pretty much what it sounds like—a gritty stretch of auto businesses, titty bars, the county jail, bail bondsmen and, as happens to any area that abuts a dry district (that is, areas with no alcohol sales), a whole lot of liquor stores. (Read about it here.)

Among the names being floated:
Big D Boulevard (gak)
Dallas Delta (makes it sound romantic, don’t it?)
Kirk Parkway (presumably after former Mayor Ron Kirk)
Rio Vista (and what a vista the Trinity River offers!)
Stanley Marcus Boulevard (I’d rather see them name the planned Calatrava Bridge for him)
The Promenade (how grand!)

I say call it Beer Run Boulevard.

Speaking of Eileen Brennan, Tom and I watched most of the movie FM the other night. It was mildly entertaining--the hairdos alone gave us something to talk about--but we wondered which came first, FM or WKRP in Cincinatti? Anyone?

Finally, because my workout DVD shelf runneth over, and because reviewing DVDs helps keep me fit, I have decided to launch a second blog dedicated to reviews, called Suit Up and Show Up. I’ve posted a few old reviews and one new one up already and will keep up as best I can. Please check in from time to time if you’re interested, I’ve added it to my blogroll to the right.

Labels: books, dallas, exercise, fitness, fitness dvds, movies, news, writing

Exercise. Sheesh. I love it, hate it, love it, hate it.

While I have remained consistent with my yoga practice (except while in India, oddly), I’ve lost interest in everything else of late. The Dallas Morning News has decided it doesn’t want anymore fitness DVD reviews (it’s all local, local, local these days—see yesterday’s blog) and so that's no longer keeping me active. I used to do several DVDs to find one worth reviewing (and unless a DVD clearly and unmistakably bites early on, I do all of them all the way through). Now my fitness library is great and growing but I have no outlet for reviews. I could review them here, but it’s more fun to get paid. Any volunteers?

Yoga and dog walking have not been enough to keep me in shape so I’m now bullying myself back onto the program—yoga, cardio, strength. I’m not sure why I go off exercise sometimes, considering how much better it makes me feel about myself and everything else. When I’m really off the program, even the mantra “suit up and show up” doesn’t work for me like it usually does. I suit up and sit around.

Partly it’s just scheduling. Fitting in workouts around travel can be difficult. Then, once I’m out of the habit, it takes a kick in the ass to get me back in. My kick in the ass came last night, while lolling on the couch watching Gimme Shelter. (We’re all Stones all the time here these days. And, btw, the movie is even better than I remember.) I was wearing sweats and I still felt fat and flabby. Bleah. I kept rearranging my elastic waistband, looking for the place that didn’t make me feel bad about myself. Hm. Now I know why old guys wear their pants under their armpits. It’s the only place the waistband doesn’t cut right through a fat roll. (TMI? Sorry.)

So I just did 40 minutes of dance aerobics and 10 minutes of core on a fitness ball and boy, I’ve slipped. It happens so fast. A month off the program and my abs were screamin’ through the crunches.

Sometimes I wish I could stop caring and just pork out on Popeye’s and chocolate. But I’m hooked. Knowing how good fit can feel, I just can’t let go. Not permanently, anyway. I'll be sore tomorrow, though.

A reminder for locals: Black and Blue, Tom’s new Rolling Stones tribute band, makes its debut at the AllGood Café in Deep Ellum tonight. It should be fun, so if you’re out and about, please stop by. They’ll go on around 9-9:30—nice and early! They’ll do two sets and Tom says the second set will really rock.

Labels: exercise, fat, fitness, fitness dvds, rolling stones