krazy kat's korner

mandysbitch asked me the following, and I apologise for the suckiness of the answers in advance.


1. What was your favourite story as a child?

Assuming novels count, The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye.

Along with Wit, Charm, Health, and Courage, Princess Amy of Phantasmorania receives a special fairy christening gift: Ordinariness. Unlike her six beautiful sisters, she has brown hair and freckles, and would rather have adventures than play the harp, embroider tapestries . . . or become a Queen. When her royal parents try to marry her off, Amy runs away and, because she's so ordinary, easily becomes the fourteenth assistant kitchen maid at a neighboring palace. And there . . . much to everyone's surprise . . . she meets a prince just as ordinary (and special) as she is.

I still have my copy, and when Lara's old enough, I will buy it for her.


2. Is there a character on a television show you like (or don't like) that you think resembles you, or has similar traits?

Ummmm...maybe you should ask my sister that one.

As much as I wish I was as cool as CJ or Miss Parker...I can see traces of Paris, Rory in the early years, Monica (Friends - which really scares me), Willow...I'm really not sure. My brain's not functioning.

Though I think my family would agree that I most resemble Lucy from Peanuts.


3. Do you have bizarre food cravings? Or just normal ones (like chocolate)? what are they?

I'm not a bizarre food eater. Chocolate definitely. Though I think most my cravings tend towards the savoury - savoury biscuits, burger rings, toobs. Also cheese.


4. What are your three best qualities?

Loyal, responsible, trustworthy. I sound like a golden retriever.


5. If you were to write a fan letter right now, who would it be to and what would it say (summarise)?

Since I saw him on Saturday and was so blown away - Anthony Stewart Head.

You are the most amazingly down to earth, laid back, lovely, normal "celebrity" I've ever met in my con-going years. Maybe it's because you're British. And even though you are only 8 years younger than my father (and 2.5 times that older than me), my crush on you has grown exponentially. And thank you for singing Anthem, I'm taking that one as a personal shout out.



If you'd like some questions as sucky as my answers:
1. Leave me a comment saying, "Interview me."
2. I will respond by asking you five personal questions so I can get to know you better. If I already know you well, expect the questions may be a little more intimate!
3. You will update your lj with the answers to the questions.
4. You will include this explanation and an offer to interview someone else in the post.
5. When others comment asking to be interviewed, you will ask them five questions.

Note: don't ask questions during US holidays...

Reasking: recommendation for what Vienna Teng cd to buy first (I have Warm Strangers mp3ified)?

*

I only just survived work. When I got up this morning I was so tired I felt like crying. And had to get up and walk around a few times at work to keep myself awake.

But another fortnight/pay period I've done my full hours. That's a month, four weeks in a row, of doing my full hours. I am superwoman :)

Thursday was funny. I don't normally work it, and I walked in around my old side and K looked at me strangely and said, "What are you doing here?" :)

*

I am just a tad excited about finding Barry Jones' autobiography. And annoyed I didn't know till I just saw it in the ABC cattledog. Costs a pretty penny though. A few years back I considered writing to Barry Jones and asking him to write his autobiography...or if he didn't want to do it, let me! Yes, I was younger and stupider...but I so wanted to hear his story.

And everybody reading this either has no idea who I'm talking about or can't stand him.

*

And I think my dvd player just exploded. There were these popping sounds coming from the direction of the tv/dvd/vcrs, I looked and couldn't find anything. More popping sounds. The tv turned on okay, the vcrs played okay, the dvd player turned on okay...but it smells. I've unplugged everything until dad can look at them in the morning. Damn dvd player, it's only just over a year old and has barely been used. I had to buy it to replace the previous one in which the power supply carked it. I only paid $60 for it, but still.

They had an article about Jodi Picoult in the Herald. Anyone read her books/recommend her?

Anyone read/recommend Jane Fonda's autobiography?

Watching Frasier tonight, one of which was an earlier repeat. Ros was supposed to be reading The Great Gatsby for bookclub. I mentioned that I read it at the end of year 11 for English. We had a choice between it or Wuthering Heights. I'd read about a chapter or so of Wuthering Heights but hated it, so read Gatsby instead.

Guess what the next book Ros had to read was...

The West Wing: The American Presidency As Television Drama edited by Peter C. Rollins and John E. O'Connor

A mixed bag. I'm probably just dumb, but I found some of the essays too academic in style and requiring background knowledge I don't possess.

And I was going to strangle the next writer who felt the need to tell me the show was unrealistic and real West Wing staff spend most of their time on the phone or doing boring paperwork. Well, duh! It's a television series, which is always hyper-realistic (and I'm probably using the completely wrong term), and that's the same for police/hospital/law/etc tv series. Do you think viewers are going to watch an hour of paperwork and phone calls? I read a quote in the Police News the other day which said that policing was 2 hours of boredom, followed by a couple of minutes of sheer terror, followed by 6 hours of paperwork.

Memo to John Podhoretz: your argument may (though I doubt it) carry more weight if you didn't have several factual mistakes regarding the plot of the pilot episode.

By far the most interesting and informative was the final essay, The Transformed Presidency - People and Power in the Real West Wing, by Myron A. Levine, which looked at how the role of West Wing staff, presidential advisors, cabinet secretaries etc has changed over various Presidencies.


The Last Temptation by Val McDermid

The third novel in the Tony Hill & Carol Jordan series, and the first that I hadn't seen a televised version of. I very much like McDermid's writing style, and adore Tony and Carol (so close yet even further apart). A disturbing read (and I fear a favourite of Scientologists).

The Mermaids Singing and The Wire in the Blood by Val McDermid.

Familiar stories due to having seen the tv series. But still enjoyed them thoroughly. I very much like McDermid's writing style. And oh the Tony/Carol...just as unresolved and tense as portrayed by Hermione and Robson. Was hearing their voies while reading.


Crime Scene - True Stories from the Life of a Forensic Investigator by Esther McKay.

Esther McKay joined the NSW police as an idealistic 21-year-old and became one of the force's most experienced and respected forensic investigators. Her amazing true crime book takes us inside a police forensic investigation unit - the unit first called to every grisly murder or accident scene. She provides a fascinating insight into the demands and pressures of this work, and reveals the terrible human cost of it in a way that has never been done before.

Not for the squeamish. I was in tears at times, especially in the sections dealing with her breakdown. This book reveals the true cost of dealing with death, the high turnover of investigators leaving before the work killed them, and the police culture of not showing "weakness" that compounded the problems. An antidote to the "glamour" portrayed by the CSI franchise (Esther wrote a good article on CSI here).

Just finished reading:
By Myself and Then Some by Lauren Bacall

I'm a sucker for auto\biographies and the golden years of Hollywood. So I was pretty much predestined to love it.
I greatly admire Lauren Bacall and her attitude to fame and life. Very down-to-earth and I admire her (and Bogie's) attitude to "fame" (she declined to place her feet in the cement at Grauman's Chinese Theatre in 1953, saying to Bogie that it seemed to her standards had been so lowered that anyone with a picture opening could be represented there. She didn't feel she had earned her place--she was never asked again).
And the extra bonus of a supporting cast of so many greats.

***

So so glad Scott is gone from American Idol. He should've been gone the first week, between his bad/snotty attitude (he thought everyone would love him???) and the fact he was off key and note the majority of the time (Paula is tone deaf).
And the vindictive part of me is very happy he made a fool of himself, thinking that the couch was the safe place.

The final 2 should be Bo and Carrie. They (and Nadia) are in a class so far above the others.

One thing that's really made me cringe this season and last season (the only ones we've seen) is the group songs. They are horrific, a mishmash of voices, no harmony. Yet the Australian Idol group songs this past season at least were well done. I wonder what the difference is? People trying to sing solo instead of working on blending with the others (Bo and Carrie seem the best at harmonising)?

***

Watched my Homicide:LOTS - The Movie dvd the other night.
I know not all states have seen it (was on tv here in Sydney last year) and some haven't even seen the last season. So a ( spoiler cut ) There was a 'trailer' on the dvd, which was actually an advertisement for the series. It went for a long time and had so many of the moments and I was getting all choked up. And Gee saying to Kay, "There's no justice. There's just us."

I so want the dvds but they're so damn expensive.

Anyone read Val McDermid's Tony Hill/Carol Jordan novels - The Mermaids Singing, The Wire in the Blood and The Last Temptation?

I've watched the tv series (and the new series starts this week on ABC). At KMart today I bought The Last Temptation (their 15% off sales are the time to pick up books, adding to their usual 35% off, I got 4 paperbacks for $10-11 each ($19-20 rrp)). But I wasn't sure whether I should read the previous two first.

Also got her Killing the Shadows, the 3rd Stephanie Plum novel, and Somali model Waris Dirie's Desert Dawn (have had Desert Flower for ages).

Just finished reading:
A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson.

Should be compulsory high school reading. Just brilliant and interesting, and I so love his writing style and humour. A broad overview of science and the history of science. A good general education, especially in areas like biology and geology which I don't know a lot about.

In 1781 Herschel became the first person in the modern era to discover a planet. He wanted to call it George, after the British monarch, but was overruled. Instead it became Uranus. - Giggled like mad and wondered whether this was related to Bugs Bunny with the Abominable Snowman and "I'll hug him and sqeeze him and call him George."

***

My season 2 Gilmore Girls dvds arrived yesterday (Amazon is remarkably fast at times). The cover is so pretty. And a film by kirk - lol!
Season 3 is apparently released in May. The way it's going season 4 may be released before Nein finishes showing it.

The Wheel of Things : A Biography of Lucy Maud Montgomery by Mollie Gillen

I'm a sucker for biographies. Had a little difficulty getting into it, may be the author's writing style, but it was worth continuing. Particularly interesting were the very human contradictions of Maud.


The Surgeon by Tess Gerritsen

Excellent thriller. Very bloody, both on the medical and murder side. Kept me enthralled, one of the fastest reads for me in a long while. Need to track down The Apprentice before I read The Sinner.


And a different note: Phantom of the Opera in 15 minutes - heheheheh!