A Few of My Favorite Things

Last night I finally saw Tori Amos live in concert, and it is definitely one of the highlights of my existence so far on this blue marble. It was a perfect birthday present to myself. I'm not a regular concert-goer, but this definitely kicked ass over all other concerts I've attended. The energy in the audience was electric, and Tori is known for her live performances--and she didn't disappoint. I'm not a huge fan of her latest album Abnormally Attracted to Sin--such a great name though--but the selections she performed from this record benefited wonderfully from a live performance. She also played a lot of material from albums past, especially Under the Pink, for which I'm grateful. "Cooling" may have been my favorite song of the night. It's so beautiful, and I think she was referencing the incident on Temple Square with these lyrics: "and is your place in heaven / worth giving up these kisses / these, yes, these kisses." And judging from the reaction of the crowd, I think I'm right--and there were a helluva lot of gay men there; it was certainly fun to people watch. So I'm now able to cross this off my bucket list, though I definitely hope to catch her live again. AMAZING!

I've recently started watching two television shows on DVD. Let's start with Brothers & Sisters which I believe is on ABC. It's a family drama about a group of adult siblings and with Sally Field as the matriarch. The rest of the cast includes Calista Flockhart as the conservative TV pundit from a liberal family, Rachel Griffiths (one of my favorites from Six Feet Under) who is in the family business, Matthew Rhys as the the gay brother, Ron Rifkin (from Alias) as their uncle, and Rob Lowe eventually joins the cast. However, I haven't made it that far yet, but it's something to look forward to. Anyway, the acting as you should be able to tell is fabulous, and the writing is superb. And what is richer than family drama for material? It did throw me off at first with all these actors from other series--Rachel Griffiths, Ron Rifkin, and Matthew Settle (from Gossip Girl), but I got over that quickly enough, and now I am riveted. I also think this is the phase I'm entering in my life. My brother's still in grade school, but one of my sisters is married and the other is starting college, so we're entering the adult world which changes the sibling dynamics.

The next show is True Blood, the vampire series from HBO starring Anna Pacquin who's all grown up. The series does feature a lot of sex and a lot of Ryan Kwanten naked--but as he's super gorgeous, I'm not complaining. Maybe it's just that it's set in Louisiana but it reminds me more of Interview With a Vampire than Twilight--oh and the fact that it's really good (sorry, Val). In fact the opening sequence posted here really evokes the bayou country for me--even though I've never been to Louisiana--and reminds me not only of Interview but also of The Skeleton Key.

Anyway, Pacquin plays Sookie, a telepathic waitress--which isn't nearly as terrible as it sounds--and she falls for a vampire (Stephen Moyer). The vampires have recently come out of the coffin, so to speak, after the development of True Blood, a synthetic beverage that satisfies all of their nutritional needs--though that isn't to say some vampires don't still prefer the taste of human blood--and they're pushing for a vampire rights ammendment. One of my favorite characters is Sookie's best friend, Tara, a black girl with a big attitude. "Isn't that funny a black girl being named after a plantation? No, I don't think it's funny at all. In fact it really pisses me off that my momma was either stupid or just plain mean." Anyway, I've only seen the first two episodes, but my Netflix que-u-e for the next little while is full of True Blood and Brothers & Sisters.

The last thing I want to adulate is the Pimm's Cup--British cocktail extraordinaire. Pimm's No. 1 Cup is, well no one's really sure what it is, but it's like a gin-based vermouth that tastes a little like vanilla, spice, and citrus fruit. Anyway, in the summer the English combine this with lemonade and cucumber slices to make the sublime Pimm's Cup--perfect for picnics and aperitifs. Now in England, lemonade is a carbonated soda water with lemon juice and is either unsweetened or lightly sweetened. So I had to go to a specialty British shop to buy Schweppes Bitter Lemon which was bloody expensive--I don't know why Schweppes doesn't market this in the U.S. Anyway, I may have better luck with San Pellegrino's Limonata product. Still, it's a fabulous concoction and I look forward to enjoying many more summer days with a Pimm's Cup in hand.

Finally, getting Fridays off is another one of my favorite things. Yay for holiday weekends--even silly Utah ones! And then finally I wanted to link to this list about how to meet and woo nerdy girls. I heard about it on TBTL and it's awesome.