10 Things

In no particular order...

1. Last month for Mother's Day, I bought my mom the novel Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Buying books for her is always tricky, and I know that through the years there have been several she has not read. But she loved Rebecca, devouring it whole. Vindication! (Also, it's a really good book, so you should read it already.)

 2. Lemonade Iced Tea. Sometimes called an Arnold Palmer. It's delicious and refreshing and perfect for summer. I like to use the Lipton cold brew tea bags with a can of lemonade concentrate. It's the perfect alchemy of iced tea and lemonade. Sometimes, when I'm feeling naughty, I like to add a little bourbon.

3. Speaking of whiskey. My favorite moment of the Parks & Rec finale was when Ben Wyatt (Adam Scott) drinks Lagavulin neat after Ron tells him that clear alcohols are for rich women on diets. His reaction is comedy gold.


This is pretty much what happens when I drink whiskey neat.

4. Speaking of Ben Wyatt: socks! At GQ's behest I purchased some colorful socks for summer from the French company Archiduchesse. I bought several pairs in a rainbow of colors! I can't wait for them to arrive in one to two weeks. Yes, I get excited about socks.

5. But back to alcohol. Now that it's summer, I have broken out the Campari, the bitter Italian herbal liqueur. It's used in two of my favorite summer drinks: the Negroni and the Americano. Refreshing. The last time I was at the liquor store, I finally broke down and bought St-Germain, which I've wanted forever, a wildly expensive herbaceous liqueur made (in France!) from elderflowers. It's sweet and slightly bitter and tastes like heaven. I'm in love. At Elise's we used it to make Kir Blancs. It's 1/2 part St-Germain topped with a dry Sauvignon  Blanc. (My favorite Sauv Blanc comes from the Marlborough region of New Zealand.)

 My precious. {image source} 

6. At Elise's we had a movie moments night, and Bryce showed the love scene from Cruel Intentions. Oh, Reese and Ryan, you were so impossibly young. The song that plays is "Colorblind" by Counting Crows. I am now obsessed with Natalie Walker's cover:
(In other music news, I am sadly underwhelmed by Regina Spektor's latest album.)

7. I hardly ever play video games, but my all-time favorite game is The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for the N64. So a few weeks ago, I played it again for like the 5th or 6th time. Trying (mostly unsuccessfully) to avoid using a guide; damn you Water Temple. Now I'm playing Majora's Mask, the dark and strange sequel, for like the 3rd time although I've never beaten this game. I am determined to beat it this time, walkthrough in hand.

 8. The Perks of Being a Wallflower Trailer:
You can now find my frequently cheering: Be aggressive! Passive aggressive!

9. A Crash Course in Film
As a lover of film and lists, the other day I was looking at AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies list (from 1998) and Sight & Sound magazine's Top 10 list (redone every 10 years. the last is from 2002, so a new list should be coming out sometime this year). Curiously enough Singin' in the Rain comes in 10th on both lists and Citizen Kane places 1st on both. The only other film on both lists is The Godfather (I & II). Naturally enough, the American Film Institute focuses solely on American films, while the British Sight & Sound takes a more international perspective. I have combined both lists, added them all to my queue, and will be watching 18 films in descending order starting with Singin' in the Rain (celebrating its 60th anniversary this year) and ending with Citizen Kane.

 10. Summer Reading List Update
I breathlessly read Leaving the Saints, a memoir by Martha Beck who claims she was molested by her father, a famous Mormon apologist. Obviously the book was controversial and the factuality of memoirs can always be challenged (though not disproven in this case), but it was a fascinating read. I finished The Night Circus which was an engaging, if not entirely satisfying, dark fairytale about two dueling, lovestruck illusionists. I finished friend Valerie Mechling's novel The Tale of Telsharu, a martial arts fantasy set in a fictional Asian empire. Very interesting and rather good. It reminded me in some ways of Guy Gavriel Kay's excellent historical fantasy Under Heaven. I am just starting friend Elise's manuscript Albus Unus, an informal treatise (oxymoron) on mythology focusing on the Snow White story. (By the by I saw Snow White & The Huntsman, which was quite good visually, but quite bad otherwise.) I also have In One Person and A Gay and Melancholy Sound in my hot little hands, so I'll be starting those soon.

 And now I must go and make Key Lime pie and homemade chocolate ice cream for Father's Day.