return to stars hollow

Gilmore Girls make me happy.

marki recommends

Three blu rays/dvd you should be renting now:

St. Vincent (Yup I got all teary-eyed)

The Book of Life (See, Donald Trump, not all Mexicans are rapists.  They make really good movies too.)

Kingsman (Probably most fun movie I've seen this year.  Matthew Vaughn made Stardust, Kick-Ass, X-Men First Class and this.  He pretty much rocks.)

three lessons

Hello people - Don't call it a comeback.

It's more of "oh damn, has it been that long?"

Lotsa happened in the world since March.  Donald Trump called all Mexicans rapists.  Doctor Clifford Huxtable is a real rapist (except in Whoopi Goldberg's eyes).  Bruce Jenner became Jessica Lange, American Horror Story- and not Tootsie-version.  Celine and Jesse walked all over Greece and couldn't find an open bank.  According to the Supreme Court, the gays getting married is a-ok now.   A white guy went into a church and killed nine African Americans in South Carolina, and the lesson we all learned from this tragedy is that...the Confederate flag is not a-ok and we need to take Dukes of Hazzard off the air.  People really like dinosaurs and Chris Pratt.  Taylor Swift went all Norma Rae on Apple, and Apple proved to be deathly scared of Swifties and said "Hey girl, no bad blood here."  Amazon Prime Day, the second coming of Black Friday, came and left with this hilarious tweet:  "When I die I want whoever's responsible for #AmazonPrimeDay to lower me into my grave so they can let me down one last time."  We finally saw a picture of Pluto, and honestly, it looks just like any other non-planet out there to me.

There we are all caught up now.

We are now at the half way mark of the year.  I still have not figured out the leaks in my house.  Since it hasn't rained, I guess I feel less urgent about it.  It's putting off the inevitable.  But honestly, I don't even know how to address it.  Nobody I've brought in has any real idea on what to do.  So do nothing is what I did.  Sigh.  And don't even get me started on my new doors and paint job, except that I would say I have never hated water and bubbles more.

My current obsession is saving money for the future.  Recently I realized that I have not been contributing enough for my retirement, and that I won't be a billionaire by the time I turn 56 (my target retirement age at which point I would just not even bother showering or leaving the house).  Now I am trying really hard to be a miser to catch up.  It's either that or invest in the lottery and "limited edition" action figures and comic books.  But I learned that my Legolas dolls, even unopened and in mint condition, are just not appreciating like I thought they would.  Maybe it's Peter Jackson's fault, for not leaving good enough alone and making The Hobbit movies.  So plan B it is - save and invest.

That's my second lesson to all you young-uns out there (reminder of first one:  Confederate flag no good).  Invest in your future NOW.  The effect of compounding is pretty amazing.  You put your money in something that yields an average annual growth of between 7-8%, and in ten years that money will double.  And if you get into the habit of putting in money regularly on top of that, you too can have a boat and be surrounded by beautiful (in a cheap, empty way), scantily-clad women (or men) by the time you become old and irrelevant like Madonna.  See, the final lesson here is that if you are old and irelevant but rich, it actually doesn't suck.

carrying on

I am enjoying these at the moment:

Budapest is a thing now, with the beautiful and surprisingly touching The Grand Budapest Hotel and now this catchy as hell hit song from up-and-comer George Ezra.


Witness what a pro does when she falls. She's gonna carry on.


OMG. Blur has a new album coming out in April. It was started in Hong Kong during a tour stop.


Sufjan Stevens has a new cd called Carrie & Lowell coming out. It's about his deceased mother and his stepfather. It's preceded by the beautiful first single No Shade In The Shadow Of The Cross.


And because you can never have too much Madonna, says I - here she is doing Ghosttown, the 2nd single from Rebel Heart, which is coming out this Tuesday.

iconic

Of the nine Rebel Heart tracks released so far, here is my ranking:

1.  Devil Pray
2.  Joan Of Arc
3.  Ghosttown
4.  Living For Love
5.  Hold Tight
6.  Iconic
7.  Unapologetic Bitch
8.  Bitch I'm Madonna
9.  Illuminati

Actually Illuminati is the only track I don't care for.  All others rank from brilliant/awesome to good.  And there are 10 more tracks to come on March 9 (and maybe even a few more bonus tracks).

While the Grammy's performance might not really be one of her most iconic performances, it's an exciting time to be a Madonna fan, with so much new music to enjoy.  At the same time, being a Madonna fan is exhausting.  She is just so divisive.  She always has been.  For thirty years now, she's been written off as talentless and slutty.  Now, you add in the ageism, and it's infuriating.  People want a woman in her fifties to behave a certain way, and when she doesn't, she is considered desperate.  What the general masses fail to get is, she's not being desperate; she is being Madonna.  She is not your average person.  If she were, you wouldn't be talking about her now.  She would have disappeared many moons back.  Or maybe she wouldn't have even appeared to begin with.  Her DNA is just not that of your average human.  She has a voracious appetite to push the envelop and to challenge the status quo.  She doesn't believe in conventions.  You might not like anything she does while she is doing it, but all the while you are hating, she is changing our culture.  So I look back and am exceedingly proud that I chose the right one to follow from the beginning.  I mean, geez, what if back in the day, I had joined the Cyndi Lauper camp instead.  Cyndi Lauper is talented as heck, but come on, my musical idol does not go on Celebrity Apprentice - ok?  And if she did, she would win the whole thing and shut Donald Trump down.

Anyways, back to Rebel Heart, I have no idea how this album would go down in her discography.  But this era is just starting to get good.

duck boat randomness

Rosie O'Donnell is leaving The View, after she split from her wife.  I love Rosie.  She should be on her own show instead of having to put up with Whoopi, who acts like a real ass to Rosie on the show.  The Rosie O'Donnell show from the 90's was something so joyful to watch everyday...So Madonna got upstaged by MIA's middle finger, and Katy Perry is getting upstaged by the Left Shark.  If I were to perform at the Super Bowl, I would do away with any backup dancers or supporting acts.  It will be all eyes, and media attention, on me and me alone, thank you...Madonna's matador-themed Living For Love video is out now.  I like the video more than Give Me All Your Luvin' and maybe about as much as Girls Gone Wild, but the song itself totally slays.  I hope it becomes a hit.  Ah, how I miss back in the days when nobody could touch Madonna on the charts.  I am so excited for her Grammy's performance tonight...No call or email from GY still, so I guess all that was for nothing.  Unless there's some secret message I was supposed to have gotten from it.  I just want to say to God that I ain't no Sherlock.  If you got something to say to me, you gotta spell it out.  These cryptic clues and signs are not going to do it for someone as dense as myself.  I need it in skywriting or something along that line...It's raining again, and that means leaks again.  I am so worried...I am still enjoying the afterglow of the Patriots win. I just love how the haters are mad now.  Yeah, suck it, Trent Dilfer, Chris Collinsworth, Troy Aikman, and all the ex-quarterbacks who were so ready to jump on Tom Brady's back.  And Julian Edelman is my new hero.  He was instrumental in the Pats' win.  He went to Disneyland with Malcolm Butler.  And he owned the Pats' victory parade atop the duck boat...I am doing pretty good with controlling my online shopping.  So far this year I've only bought some Kind granola bars for cheap, a jigsaw puzzle for my mom to keep her from watching tv all day long (like mother, like son), The Grand Budapest Hotel blu ray for $6, and some Command picture hanging strips.  That's not bad for me.  Of course, the few dollars I am saving from controlling my shopping are all going to be offset by the cost of expensive house repairs eventually.  So like everything else in my life, I feel as if nothing's gained from all the efforts.  But whatevs...The lady at my orthotics place is so awesome that she is willing to take a Sunday appointment on her day off to help me get my orthotics faster.  So while I bitch about my contractors' shoddy workmanship and customer service, I have to express my gratitude to Paula for going out of her way to help me...Whitney Houston's daughter Bobbi Kristina Brown was found unconscious in her bath last weekend and has been in a medically-induced coma since.  Reports coming out do not sound good at all.  It's eerily reminiscent of how her mother died three years ago.  So sad.  The better story would be that celebrity child grows up and makes good, instead of another typical drug addict parent begets drug addict children tragedy...

super monday

Woohoo!  The Pats did it.  They narrowly escaped tbe Seahawks and won their fourth Super Bowl by 28-24.  Brady won his third MVP.  Edelman was brilliant and caught everything thrown his way.  And the defense saved the day at the very last minute, with a miraculous interception by rookie Macolm Butler. I kinda loved that the three people who are most responsible for the Pats' win were a 6th round draft pick (Brady), a 7th round draft pick (Edelman), and an undrafted rookie (Butler).  Each of those people worked really hard and made the most of the opportunity they got. This victory was also extra sweet because everyone maybe other than Boston and I were rooting against the Pats. Now all the haters can stick their deflated footballs up their you-know-where.

My painter came back today and did the touch-ups finally.  I am really hoping this is the last time I have to call him back.  Granted, the leaks are still there, and we still haven't figured them out.  But for now at least, my house actually doesn't look like shit.

I just also found out today that my insurance company is going to cover this item that I need.  Last year they refused to authorize it, and I would have had to pay about $5000 out of pocket.  But I decided to wait, and then in late December, I decided to give it another go and try the request again, with more medical support.  Well, it looks like they are going to say yes this time.  That is such a relief.  I honestly don't have $5000 to shell out at this point, so I likely would have done without.

So yeah, this is a good Monday.  I seriously needed a good Monday.  Now that I've had a taste of good news, please, sir, may I have some more?