Downton, things will be great when we're Downton...

A writer at Newsweek is ALL TICKED OFF that Americans DARE to enjoy "Downton Abbey." Dude, do you even KNOW what's on other channels? Would you prefer we melt our brains with more Kardashian shows?

Staff of life

Rare snow day here in Seattle, so I finally got out my Sassafras clay bread pan (I have the baguette-shaped one) and am baking some bread. Using the New York Times' no-knead recipe, with some extras added.

Nagging Disney mysteries

YES! I always wondered about little Chip the teacup...I mean, Mrs. Potts seems kind of old to be his mom and all, and does he have a dad or--?

The bit about Ariel having to turn cannibal and eat her former subjects if she becomes a queen on land is both funny and horrifying.

Every single one of us, the "Devil Inside"

This is a hilarious tag-team review of "The Devil Inside," which critics and audiences seem to roundly agree is horrible, yet it only cost $1 million to make, and will likely beat pricey "Mission: Impossible" at this weekend's box office.
Here's a spoiler for the movie's stupid non-ending.

Also, it looks like the L.A. premiere had a special guest in the audience...

Dumb names for nail polish

UPDATED LINK! I really want this blog to start updating again.

My favorite nail polish currently is OPI Hearts and Tarts, a lovely light pink that works for French manicures or simple fresh coverage.

But that doesn't mean I don't secretly long to have a fulltime job making up random names for nail polish or paint colors.

Here's a great quote, from an entry about a polish color named "Cool As."

"Cool As? Cool As What? I don't know if I can handle the suspense! A refreshing mountain spring? The von Trapp child Maria forgot about and left in the Alps? That gum I keep seeing commercials for where everything suddenly becomes an ice cavern and for some reason you can then talk to women with ease? Damn it, Jim, I'm a doctor, not a thermometer!"
I also like this comment, on a color called "Princesses Rule!": "I'm pretty sure that, by definition, they don't."

Losing a brother

Tim Brown is a sportswriter, but this article has nothing to do with sports. It's about the real headlines in people's lives. He lost a brother just before Christmas in a car accident, and he's trying to come to grips with his new normal. Worth a read.

New 'Wuthering Heights' movie on the way

The trailer is awful--all silent and moody--but the interesting thing is Heathcliff is played by a black actor.

What we wanted for Christmas in 1975

What we wanted for Christmas in 1975.

Although I don't think anyone really wanted Toughskins, that trio of plaids is hilarious.

The craze for ventriloquist dolls seemed to have died out completely. BUT LOOK! Hugo, Man of a Thousand Faces, perhaps the most popular toy in our entire book.

And really, the rest is pure awesome. CB radios! Creepy headphones that look like giant ears! Evel Knievel Stunt Kit! An Easy Bake Oven that is a Pizza Hut Pizza Oven! Guns! Corduroy!

Did you have any of these treasures?

And remember, if you're on Facebook, like us there for even more retro fun.

The Lives They Lived

I would read a million of these everyday people remembrances if the NY Times (or anyone) would write them. (Of course they have obituaries, but these put them in regular feature-story form.)

I'm just so much more interested in what everyday people did in their lives for the most part than the uber-rich and famous. The WW II artilleryman who survived by doing the unsafe thing, the mother whose children had to decide what to do with a six-foot modeling portrait of her in a bridal gown, the man who fought back against the violent all-night pubs of his town. Fascinating.

When writers collide

For a while, I was all but obsessed with Melanie Thernstrom's "The Dead Girl," the book she wrote about the murder of her high school best friend, Bibi Lee.

She also wrote "Halfway Heaven," about a murder at Harvard where a student from Africa murdered her roommate, from Vietnam, because she felt her moving away from her and desperately wanted a friend.

But I was floored to come across Thernstrom's name in this Beth Karas story, about plaigiarist Steven Glass, and to find her not only defending him, but having chosen him as godfather to her children. Reading it does give you a picture of Glass that you certainly don't get from the Hayden Christiansen portrayal in "Shattered Glass." His parents sound cold and horrible, though they do not speak to defend themselves in the article, so who knows?