Ellen's blog

Vox Hunt: Love the Song, Hate the Genre

Audio: Share a favorite song or album from your least favorite genre.
Submitted by emily sears.

04 What Is This Feeling_

I.

Do.
Not.
Like.
Musicals.

In February Andy scored some excellent last-minute seats to Wicked, when his friend's wife couldn't go due to being deathly ill.  Since I don't like musicals, he took Alex.  Man, was she thrilled!

Last week Alex decided to redeem a gift card on the Wicked Soundtrack and I've actually been listening to it in my car in secret.  "Mom, have you seen my Wicked Soundtrack?" she asked the other day, and I almost lied and said "yeah, you left it in my car."

Nah, I STOLE that mofo.

My objection to musicals was always the music.  I was always the Husker Du type, so songs from rollicking musicals made my skin crawl.  Yet, I find myself singing along loudly to Wicked, getting a feeling of exhilaration, goosebumps.

So, here's a song from Wicked that sums up my feelings on musical theater.

QotD: Pants on Fire

Tell us two truths and a lie about yourself.

Never, ever lie
Otherwise I have to puke
Move aside, asshole

Waitress

Waitress

I can't wait to see Waitress.  It was made by Adrienne Shelley, an actress I loved in the older Hal Hartley films.  I was sad to find out she was killed by some asshole in her New York home last fall.  Forty years old, husband and little girl left to deal with the grief, lots of bereft fans.

AdrienneShelly

Her husband started the Adrienne Shelley Foundation, to raise money for emerging women filmmakers, directors and actresses.

Miriam is teh coolness

EMo and Mimi

I haven't gone to a Yelp party since last August - I just haven't been interested enough to drop everything to spend a couple hours with a huge crowd while paying a fortune for babysitting.  Then I found out Miriam was flying to Chi-town for our little gathering at Zapatista in the South Loop.  Woo!  I'm there.

OMG, she's fantastic.  As she told me about her adventures moving to DC, getting engaged, starting a new job, I felt very much like I was catching up with an old friend.  And the famous boots looked awesome!

I look forward to her company tomorrow.  We're gonna grab some food before I drop her off at the airport.  Yay!

Meet the Robinsons

Meet The Robinsons Super Bowl TV Spot

Thoroughly disgusted about all kinds of crap, it being the last day of Alex's spring break, and boys being out of the house, we gals decided to take in a movie.

I loved "Meet the Robinsons."  I recommend seeing it in 3-D, as we did - it was gorgeous!  They also threw in an old Daffy Duck cartoon, remastered in 3-D.  Alex didn't like having things jumping out at her in the beginning (one of the previews was for the even spookier, 3-D version of "Nightmare Before Christmas" - although Alex loves Tim Burton) so I taught her the closing one eye trick.

Disney is attempting to take on Pixar.  They didn't quite make it, but they're getting better.  The story was inspiring, and the film had some good fly-through scenes.  But unlike the Pixar films, I saw the ending a mile away.  Still, check it out.

Another bonus, Rufus Wainwright wrote a song for the movie - "Another Believer," which can be heard on Rufus' Myspace page for the time being.

Vox Hunt: An Interesting Life

Book: Show us a great biography or memoir.

I'll go with this one, since it was written by a college friend and fellow Chicagoan (SHE still lives there anyway), but it's also funny.  And I find it interesting since I work in healthcare.

All in My Head: An Epic Quest to Cure an Unrelenting, Totally Unreasonable, And Only Slightly Enligh

Paula Kamen

Mii & Andy

Can I get an AMEN?

Vojo: now an energy MINT

I'm not sure if my good buddy, Vojo, is behind these weird mints I found in the checkout lane yesterday.  They're ENERGY mints.  Sugar free, with guarana seed extract (that's 22% caffeine, bitches) and vitamin B-12.  And they come in a handsome case with a mirror inside - all for just $2.99.  Like I say, I don't think he's involved, but I do wonder.

I'm not sure how you pronounce the product name.  When you meet the real Vojo, the guy, you'd have a problem because you'd probably love him instantly, but have to ask how his name was spelled before sending written invites to sit-down dinners.  It's prounced "Voy-yo."  Vojo says it's prounced "Voy-o," but I disagree - you need that extra "y" to get it right.  I recently nuked my Myspace account, but I listed him as one of my favorites in the music section - I'm just sorry I got so many requests I couldn't fulfill from the older gentlemen of Myspace that I felt moved to concentrate my efforts elsewhere.

I don't need any guarana seeds to get any kind of real Vojo energy - the one I know is energy on wheels.  When I need a creative energy boost, he's the one.  All it takes is a phonecall and I'm revitalized.

Ellenboxes

I am beginning to wonder about these products sporting my name and the unusual names of my close friends.  I think we all remember the swedish Ellen tampons - I'm still hoping to score an unused box of them.  As Andy pointed out, better to be a tampon than, say, a douchebag.

Since I wondered, I did some Intarnet searching.  I found the seal for Queen Kristina of Sweden - it's a nice one.  From 1651, held by the Sköldebrev Oxenstierna Riddarhuset...whew:

Vox Hunt: It's Like You're There

Audio: Share your favorite track from a live album.
Submitted by -Lisa.

It's not my favorite track from all live albums, but my itunes library is pathetically small.  But I like this one quite well.

02 1952 Vincent Black Lightning

Richard Thompson

QotD: This Time Last Year

Get your Hostas here

What were you doing one year ago today?
Submitted by CassandraMorgan.

On Sunday, March 19, 2006, Andy and I had just put in a bid on a new house the day prior, and it was accepted.  The sellers were out of town so they flew in to sign the paperwork.  Like many home purchases, we made the sale contingent upon our house sale closing.  We had a seemingly solid buyer, so we weren't worried.  We arranged to have the place inspected.

About ten minutes after the ink dried, ANOTHER buyer came in.  They wanted the place badly enough that they offered a high amount (we were told the sellers didn't even counter their offer) with no contingencies at all.  That meant we had to waive our house closing contingency to stay in the game.

Andy was out of town, in Colorado for his annual skiing trip.  I was at my parents' house, stressing over what I would do if the dominoes started to fall.  It was the day prior to inspection, and I almost hoped they would find a big old structural problem to make the disappointment easier to bear.

Shit, I don't want to think about it any more.

But...it all worked out and we got the place, plus more varieties of hosta than you could shake a stick at.  Nyah nyah to the other buyers who tried to steal my house, and the asswipe sellers who put us through hell!