Stuff I like by Benita

"Do you think things would’ve turned out different for the original if it had come out a few years..."

Thu, 23 May 2013 21:50:55 -0400

“

Do you think things would’ve turned out different for the original if it had come out a few years later than it did?

A. Not a doubt in my mind. A lot of people mistake me for being angry about the show being canceled. It wasn’t anger; it was frustration. I had been saying that people don’t watch television the same way and the networks — not just Fox — had not caught up yet to monitor what the audience was, and who was watching and how they were watching.

Q. So you had a sense that the audience was larger than the ratings suggested?

A. I said, “Look, there’s no way just 422,000 are watching this show. Because if there are, I’ve met them all twice and they were wearing disguises.” Doing stand-up and other work, I travel extensively across the country and I meet lots of different people from different walks of life. The studio guys just weren’t seeing or hearing or experiencing what I and other people were experiencing. It was just frustrating. Obviously DVD sales vindicate that.

”

- David Cross on the Return of ‘Arrested Development’ - NYTimes.com

So everyone cool is going to be watching TV at 3:01 a.m. Sunday, right?

luckypeach: The last in our lil’ series of award-nominated...

Wed, 08 May 2013 18:18:24 -0400

luckypeach:

The last in our lil’ series of award-nominated stuff from LP: The Secret Lives of Chefs by Lisa Hanawalt! This comic also appears in her upcoming book MY DIRTY DUMB EYES, published by Drawn & Quarterly.

The Christina Tosi one is my favorite!

Vegetarian “pot pie”: Essentially veggie stew with...

Wed, 08 May 2013 15:39:42 -0400

Vegetarian “pot pie”: Essentially veggie stew with feta scallion biscuits baked right on top. Genius! Recipe from annies-eats.com.

"She knew Amanda didn’t run away on April 21, 2003. No teenager would leave $100 on her..."

Tue, 07 May 2013 18:45:04 -0400

“She knew Amanda didn’t run away on April 21, 2003. No teenager would leave $100 on her dresser. No teenager would leave without taking her phone charger. No teenager would leave the day before her 17th birthday party. No teenager would run away wearing a Burger King uniform.”

- Amanda Berry’s mom would be proud of her: Regina Brett | cleveland.com

This story is so good. I can’t stop reading stories about the missing girls today. It’s fascinating and so sad. The Cleveland Plain Dealer has some great reads today.

I normally eschew one-use kitchen appliances/gadgets, but when I...

Sun, 05 May 2013 10:53:59 -0400

I normally eschew one-use kitchen appliances/gadgets, but when I saw this mini doughnut maker on clearance for $8, I figured why not. Test run: chocolate espresso doughnuts that only took 10 to make because they bake in about two minutes in this thing.

Super rich #homemade fudge #brownies with peanut butter frosting...

Mon, 08 Apr 2013 17:33:31 -0400

Super rich #homemade fudge #brownies with peanut butter frosting and sea salt. Like a peanut butter cup, but better! #baking #mykitchen

Perfect day to get my #garden beds ready for spring #planting....

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 18:31:05 -0400

Perfect day to get my #garden beds ready for spring #planting. My hyacinths and daffodils are beginning to pop up. If only #spring weather would catch up. #flowers

So why do I want this? #mailbox #apps #hype

Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:59:01 -0400

So why do I want this? #mailbox #apps #hype

Clorox wipes, red Sharpie and The Amazing Race - all essential...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 21:11:00 -0400

Clorox wipes, red Sharpie and The Amazing Race - all essential to surviving a #Sunday night at #work. (There is a burrito on the left side of my desk, also crucial.)

Poor little guy has also developed a bad cold and refuses to do...

Sun, 31 Mar 2013 10:02:40 -0400

Poor little guy has also developed a bad cold and refuses to do anything but sleep by my side. I will have to force-feed him via syringe if he doesn’t start eating today.

Man on lawnmower charged with drunken driving in Bloomfield Twp. | The Detroit News

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:31:00 -0400

Man on lawnmower charged with drunken driving in Bloomfield Twp. | The Detroit News:

At least he wasn’t driving on the road?

Bloomfield Township — Pull it over, blade runner.

Authorities have arraigned a 47-year-old township man with felony drunken driving after police stopped him while he was cruising on a riding lawn mower.

Authorities say Roy Walton was allegedly intoxicated while riding his mower on a sidewalk in front of a Rite Aid on March 22.

The arresting officers were on routine patrol when they noticed the mower parked outside of the store, located at Woodward Avenue and Square Lake Road, at about 9:50 p.m.

Police waited and watched as Walton left the store, powered up the mower and rolled away.

After stopping Walton, police determined he was intoxicated, arrested him and impounded the mower. According to police, Walton was charged with a felony because of prior drunken driving convictions.

Walton was released on a $25,000 personal bond.

The case is under review by the Oakland County Prosecutor’s Office.

18-pound fluff ball has barely left my lap since I brought him...

Fri, 29 Mar 2013 10:46:28 -0400

18-pound fluff ball has barely left my lap since I brought him home from kitty ICU. He’s never ever been a lap cat. #poorkitty #sickcat

Two hours until game time. My nails are ready.

Thu, 21 Mar 2013 10:01:15 -0400

Two hours until game time. My nails are ready.

Ready to get started on my March For The Makers box! #crafts...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 11:53:01 -0400

Ready to get started on my March For The Makers box! #crafts #jewelry #forthemakers

So when they tell you steam from your shower will take the...

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 13:14:46 -0400

So when they tell you steam from your shower will take the wrinkles out of a shirt? LIES. Maybe these people are taking hour-long showers in scalding water.

Homemade waffle with whipped cream for dinner at 11 p.m. Bad...

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 23:12:22 -0500

Homemade waffle with whipped cream for dinner at 11 p.m. Bad idea? Yes, but it’s Friday.

So unbelievably good: homemade pretzel bites with homemade...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 13:51:16 -0500

So unbelievably good: homemade pretzel bites with homemade cheese dip.

You Are Boring

Thu, 28 Feb 2013 21:18:00 -0500

yourmonkeycalled:

Everything was going great until you showed up. You see me across the crowded room, make your way over, and start talking at me. And you don’t stop.

You are a Democrat, an outspoken atheist, and a foodie. You like to say “Science!” in a weird, self-congratulatory way. You wear jeans during the day, and fancy jeans at night. You listen to music featuring wispy lady vocals and electronic bloop-bloops.

You really like coffee, except for Starbucks, which is the worst. No wait—Coke is the worst! Unless it’s Mexican Coke, in which case it’s the best.

Pixar. Kitty cats. Uniqlo. Bourbon. Steel-cut oats. Comic books. Obama. Fancy burgers.

You listen to the same five podcasts and read the same seven blogs as all your pals. You stay up late on Twitter making hashtagged jokes about the event that everyone has decided will be the event about which everyone jokes today. You love to send withering @ messages to people like Rush Limbaugh—of course, those notes are not meant for their ostensible recipients, but for your friends, who will chuckle and retweet your savage wit.

You are boring. So, so boring.

Don’t take it too hard. We’re all boring. At best, we’re recovering bores. Each day offers a hundred ways for us to bore the crap out of the folks with whom we live, work, and drink. And on the internet, you’re able to bore thousands of people at once.¹

A few years ago, I had a job that involved listening to a ton of podcasts. It’s possible that I’ve heard more podcasts than anyone else—I listened to at least a little bit of tens of thousands of shows. Of course, the vast majority were so bad I’d often wish microphones could be sold only to licensed users. But I did learn how to tell very quickly whether someone was interesting or not.

The people who were interesting told good stories. They were also inquisitive: willing to work to expand their social and intellectual range. Most important, interesting people were also the best listeners. They knew when to ask questions. This was the set of people whose shows I would subscribe to, whose writing I would seek out, and whose friendship I would crave. In other words, those people were the opposite of boring.

Here are the three things they taught me.

Read More

I think the point is that people themselves are not all boring, it’s that they all gravitate toward people with the same interests and get caught up in conveying these interests to each other. Yeah, I get it, we are all obsessed with Breaking Bad and Parks and Recreation and discovering new uses for kale and whatever indie band is of the moment, but we don’t have to limit discussions to these things everyone is already aware of. Embrace the different interests and unique qualities in your friends and don’t dismiss others for not sharing interests. Differences of opinion and taste often lead to interesting conversations and friendly arguments detailing the merits of each side.

I love what he said about conveying the moment versus the food.

"For the next five years, Sweet Valley became my other, hidden life—at night, on weekends. Over..."

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 20:54:04 -0500

“For the next five years, Sweet Valley became my other, hidden life—at night, on weekends. Over vacations. The whole time I was getting my PhD, I wrote more or less every other book in the series, alternating with another “principle” writer whom I never met. It was like I’d somehow become twins during that five year stretch.”

- The Ghost Writes Back by Amy Boesky | Kenyon Review Online

Sweet Valley High ghostwriter discusses her time with the series! This is fascinating. I remember when I discovered (before Wikipedia et al made it easy to discover such things) most of my beloved series were not actually written by the authors who graced the covers; I was devastated.

Graffiti boyfriend in Reykjavik.

Tue, 26 Feb 2013 19:48:14 -0500

Graffiti boyfriend in Reykjavik.