Jude's Thursday Dish

It was a good week. Got a lot of stuff done, but had a good balance between real life and my pop culture obsession. But my stupid blog makeover drama has put me in a blog hatin' mood (read post below). Still, as Paula (my mom) always says... "on with the show!"

1. Okay, I know this is making the rounds on the Internet and most people have already seen it. But in case you haven't, you MUST! This is a hilarious sketch and Tina Fey is dead on. The rest of the show was...pathetic. Sorry Michael Phelps. You are very hot, but you have ZERO charisma. There have been a lot of non-actors on before who have done much better and can at least deliver a line or a joke. Derek Jeter and John McCain stand out. But Phelps was awful. This sketch was the highlight of the night. SNL was hurting without Tina Fey and now, they're losing Amy Poehler. At least I can catch them both on their superior TV shows (Poehler's isn't coming out until 2009). Here's a part of it...



2 & 3 (since this one's lengthy). I finished "Twilight" last Friday. First, I'm going to do my friend Marcy's way of giving criticism, sandwich the negative between too positives. The positive: I ended up really liking it. Okay, now the negative, which is much more fun! It took me forever to get into it and it's a SERIOUSLY flawed book. I wouldn't be me if I didn't take this opportunity to point out the things that didn't work. We started talking about it at Young Women's - our Pres, Camille, told me that you can't think about it too much and just enjoy it for what it is. Our Secretary, Katie, pointed out some of the problems, but agreed it was enjoyable. I tend to be more in Katie's camp. MILD SPOILER ALERT, but I really think most everyone has read it since I'm WAY behind on the craze. Or, skip forward if you don't like to hear any negative feedback about the book.

My main problem was that I had major issues with the writing style. The author wasn't very original with her descriptions. Please Ms. Meyer, get a thesauraus to come up with different adjectives than cold and clumsy. I get it, Edward's skin is like marble and Bella stumbles around like an oaf. And some of the dialogue was so heavy handed like Bella describing being disappointed that Edward wasn't in school "The desperation that crippled me..." Yeah, she's a teenager, but that would've been ripped apart in my Freshman writing class. I was SO bored until she got to Port Angeles, but I started reading Edward's POV "Midnight Sun" and I wish she could've incorporated both in "Twilight." Much better. Bella drove me crazy, but I did warm up to her. My other issues are probably because I'm 36 and out of touch. Why did the vampires enroll in highschool exactly? Couldn't Bella have been 19 or 20 and starting college up by Forks? Bella's life wasn't so bad, what did she have to be so moody about? Why was she so mean to Charlie? And the question that kept coming back to me... didn't Bella have a period? Wouldn't that be...um, trying to put this delicately... a problem? I know, that's totally random, but I'm trying to be more honest and I did keep thinking that. Clear throat.

Okay, so on to the last positive, Stephenie Meyer is an EXCELLENT storyteller. I got very wrapped up into the world she created, the conflict of the characters and definitely, the romance. What girl, of any age, wouldn't love herself an Edward? I was just as mooney (spelling?) as everybody else. The whole introduction to James and the showdown was great. It totally ended on a high note for me. It was kind of like when you eat a dinner that you're not sure you like while your having it, but afterwards, you can't wait to go back to that restaurant. My memories are more fond than the actually reading experience was, but I'm cool with that. I'm taking it as a good one and look forward to the next books. I'm reading the "Midnight Sun" draft posted on Meyer's website now, then I'll take a break before reading the next in the series.


4. I watched "Then She Found Me" this week Clearplayed. I missed very little, so I'm thinking it's R for the language only. This is the kind of movie that has me written all over it. MILD SPOILER ALERT (don't keep reading if you don't want to know plot details). It's about a grown woman finding her bio mom. She's struggled with infertility and has a miscarriage (not that I have the infertility issue, but the feelings of loss and disappointment are very similar to women like me who have lost pregnancies and I can totally relate). She struggles whether or not she should adopt. Oh, and we have the same birthday. And even more oh... the divine Colin Firth is in it. You'd think I would've loved it. But, it was really --- meh. Helen Hunt should get props for not having any work done and growing older naturally, but she's WAY too skinny. She needs to eat a cheeseburger. She looked so severe and uncomfortable; it was hard to warm up to her. The movie itself was kind of boring and I just didn't feel any real connection to the characters. I was disappointed, because I went in completely thinking I'd love it. But, I know a lot of my friends feel the Colin love too, so it's worth seeing it just for him.


5. Enjoying my fall shows like "Gossip Girl", "America's Next Top Model" and I'm still hanging in there with "90210" (ooooh, Kelly's baby daddy revealed... big surprise!). I think it's going to get the boot, because I'm trying to get "Biggest Loser", "Dancing with the Stars" &/or "Fringe" in the mix. Thank heaven for Tivo, but still, it (and my couch potato ways) has its limits. Yet, these are all 2nd and 3rd tier shows for me right now. The really good stuff starts next week and the casual dating will have to stop. Fortunately, I hate "House", so that was one less premiere to juggle this week. Cannot WAIT for next Thursday!!!!!

That's it for this week!