April 29, 2008

• *10ThingsApril*

  10 Things I Truly Enjoyed in April!

  
  

  10).  PANTONE PLATES FROM FISHS EDDY.  Bridezillas with their hundred-dollar fancy China place settings...not my thing.  I'm always on the lookout for must-have diningware that's afforable (I tend to break plates/bowls/cups easily).  I fell in love with these snazzy new plates at the FISHS EDDY store on Broadway & 19th.  Their Pantone collection features 4 Pantone colors:  Burnt Ochre, Dusk Blue, Lettuce Green, Sahara Sun.   I picked up 2 of each, and they've made the impossible happen...making dinnertime an even happier occasion than before.
  

  
  

  
  9). LATEST 'SEX & THE CITY' TRAILER.  First, watch it in High-Def, then let's discuss.  Here's what we know:  The movie seems to starts with Carrie and John James Preston(Mr. Big!)'s wedding.  Carrie gets a phone call that changes everything (Big's not divorced?  pre-nup?  sterile?  Natasha??).  She calls off the wedding, changes her hair color, and starts dating Jennifer Hudson.  What else?  Char is preg.  Sam is horny.  Steve cheated on Miranda.  The song playing is India Arie's "Heart of the Matter" which I just love.  The movie spans at least 6 months (via Charlotte's belly size), if not years.  I'm salivating at the thought of owning this DVD a year from now.  Oh, and May 30th.

  
  

  
  8).  YELLOW BUSHES.  April's surest sign of spring is the annual blooming of these gorgeous omnipresent yellow bushes.  Preliminary google research tells me they may be called Scotch Broom, Golden Rod, or Cytisus.  I don't care what the proper name is...I just call it happy yellow goodness.  These yellow bushes are a true delight to see on front lawns and roadsides for the 2 or 3 weeks they're yellow.  Then they morph back to ugly invisible green bushes for 50 more weeks.
  
  

  
  

  
  7).  USHER "Love In This Club" & ALICIA KEYS "The Thing About Love". 
  It's hard to hate someone as overrated as Usher (and that nose), especially when he delivers such inescapable club hits as the infectious "Love In This Club."  The song's video also features an Usher dance number that deserves a fight-to-the-death dance-off with Justin Timberlake.  Unlike JT, Usher knows when to take a break between albums and let us get over being sick of him.  On the flip side, Alicia Keys delivers yet another heart-stoppingly soulful tune off her album which has already struck aural KOs with "No One" to "Like You'll Never See Me Again."  I first heard "The Thing About Love" played over a heavy scene on "Medium" and it was pitch-perfect for tv emotion.  Her songs must be a church funeral favorite. 

  
  

  
  6).  ATROCIOUS ESL.
  My mom buys these weird shampoos and body washes from Flushing, and the labels are absolutely laughable in grammar, spelling, and common sense.  This latest one reads:  France Hippocampus Perfume Sodyskap.  WTFob?!  Here's my fobrensic grammarnalysis:
  

  
  

  FRANCE = meant to be Fragrance.  The copy editor just got lazy.

  
  

  HIPPOCAMPUS = who the fuck knows.  Michael tells me Hippocampus is part of the human brain.  Great...human brain in soap.

  
  

  PERFUME = shocker!  They got one right.  I was expecting Ferpume.

  
  

  SODYSKAP = KAKA!!  I believe they were going for Bodysoap and just hit the wrong keys on the Brother P-Touch labelmaker.  That, plus a whole team of mainland chinese marketing genuises are just not smarter than a 2nd grade ESL student.  Tell me again why they're an economic superpower?  Seems like just a bunch of clueless sodyskaps to me. 
   
  
  5).  SIMPLE SPLENDID MEALS AT HOME. 
  I've been eating out a lot this month, and at the end of the day, I'm just broke and just craving something I can easily whip up at home.  One go-to dish for me is Shrimp Scampi with lemon butter rice (all you need is fresh chopped garlic, fresh squeezed lemons, and a stick of buttah).  I upped the gourmet ante by roasting red peppers, then stuffing them with lemony-buttery rice & shrimp.  It's a beautifully simple and scumptious dish that won't cost $25 a person or leave you with that 'I should've skipped the appetizers/soup/salad/dessert' vomittous regret.
   

  
  

  
  4).  REAL HOUSEWIVES OF NYC.  Bravo just concluded their trashtastic Real Housewives of NYC season, and I'm already going thru severe withdrawal.  The ladies of the OC and Wisteria Lane were never this good!  These housewives evolved from desperate(to be on tv) in Episode 1 to becoming the reigning socialista queens on reality tv by Episode 7.  LuAnn's pretentious countess poise,  Jill's fierce and relatable yenta-ism, Ramona's Alex/Simon-killing bipolar ferocity, and Bethenny's killer one-liners.  With vivid personas and a self-aware witty humor about them, these leading ladies got better with each episode, each catty gettogether, and each backstab to the camera.  And it all culminated brilliantly with a Reunion episode that truly kakakilled!   
  

  
  

  
  3).  MY GAYS.  My numerous attempts over the years to create a group of "My Girls" went over as well as a felony stalker charge.  Other attempts have resulted in social suicides of gals with whom I no longer wanted to K.I.T.  Then it Dawned on me that I wasn't meant to possess a group of sassy cohesive girls  (justLinda).  That's because I already have MY GAYS.  My NJ gays to be exact.  Bennifer & P.diddy, Keith, Gary & Aaron....our core group of reliable good friends for reliable good meals, great parties, and gay ole times.  Our Jersey proximity helps, as does our shared interest in food/alcohol/men.  We are family.
    
  (last friday, out at Chelsea gay bar G on 19th St, enjoying G's frozen cosmos & appletinis)

  
  

  
  (last Saturday, birthday dinner for Keith at Johnny Carino's in Clifton, NJ)

  
  

  
  2).  HULU.COM
  The worst thing to happen to work productivity since my xanga,  Hulu.com is the revolutionary new site spawned by NBC & FOX where you can watch their new and old shows, completely for FREE.  My second DVR at home is almost unnecessary now because I watch all my shows here:  The Office, 30 Rock, My Name Is Earl, Top Chef, The Simpsons.  Plus, I watch some cancelled shows I used to enjoy like Kitchen Confidential and The Loop.  Hulu doesn't have full eps of every NBC and Fox show, and I haven't figured out their airing selection strategy yet.  But they also have various shows from Bravo, Sci-Fi, and even full-length movies (Moonstruck, The Usual Suspects).  Who am I to look s a tv gifthorse in the mouth?  So now, between ABC.com, CBS.com, and Hulu.com, I expect never to shell out $1.99 for an episode of anything to iTunes ever again.

  
  

  
  1).  E=MC2
  For those not in the know, Emanicaption=MariahCareySquared.  For those in the know, Mariah=LeonaLewisWHO!?  Mariah's new album dropped 2 weeks ago and I haven't been able to drop it from my ipod playlist.  I am addicted to it!  E=MC2 is easier to listen to from beginning to end than Emancipation of Mimi was.  Each song can easily be a radio hit, whether it's an R&B collaboration ("Side Effects"), a sure-fire #1 ballad ("Bye Bye"), a reggae jam ("Cruise Control"), or a disco treat ("I'll Be Loving You Long Time").  With "Touch My Body", MC reached 18 career #1 hits beating Elvis' record.  E=MC2 will go down in history as the album that gave Mariah over 20 #1's as she conquers the Beatles' record.  And the song to do it will my absolute favorite, "I Stay In Love".
  

  
  

  • 1:26 pm
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