Sarah Palin Looks Very Familiar

The news today seems full of stuff about Alaska's governor Sarah Palin. And she looks incredibly familiar. I know why: because she looks like a serious, book-ish version of Law and Order SVU's Mariska Hargitay! Here are pics:

Five Books On The Go...

Is it possible to be reading five books at a time? My list says so, and someone recently asked me this. So, let me clarify -

1. "Lord Emsworth..." is a book of short stories that I borrowed from the library, but had to return before I finished it. I have been meaning for months to get it out again and finish it, but got caught up with other books.

2. "The Thin Man" was a book that I used to leave in my car to read when I had to wait in the car for some reason (apparently it happened long enough for me to read a quarter of the book), but left it in my car which my sister has been using for several months. I'll get it back from her when I see her next and finish it.

3. "Poirot Investigates" is the book in my headboard cupboard. It is a book of short detective stories and is ideal for bedtime reading because it is full of short stories that don't compel me to read on indefinitely and lose sleep. I still have about a half of the book to go.

4. "Clarissa" is my ambitious reading project for the year that was placed on temporary hold because I was studying for my Ph.D. qualifiers and was forced to read psychology journals instead of mid-eighteenth century literature. This book will shortly be resumed.

5. "The Miracle at Speedy Motors" is a book I recently borrowed from the library. This is the latest installment in Alexander McCall Smith's "No. 1 Ladies..." series, and is in huge demand. I was on the request line of this book for several months and probably will go back on a long line if I have to return it before I am finished with it. So, this book takes precedence over all others at the moment. I am done with nearly half of this delightful book, and fully expect to be done with it in a few days time.

So there it is... the reason I am reported as reading five books at one time on this blog. :-)

Is This A Zucchini?

I was shopping for groceries at Wal-Mart last night. I bought some regular old vegetables - amongst them two nice eggplants (brinjals). As I was checking my groceries out, the lady at the counter fumbled with the code sheet trying to find the code for the eggplants - she seemed quite confused and after about a minute looked up and asked me: "Is this a zucchini?" I was so taken aback that someone did not know what an eggplant was that I was dumbstruck for a few seconds. Regaining my composure a few seconds later, I told her that it was an eggplant, but the horror of it stayed with me for quite some time. If a lady over forty did not know what an eggplant was (and clearly she also did not know what a zucchini was), then what kind of food was she eating? And what food was she feeding her kids? It's quite horrible to think about!

Even They Are Scared

I watch CNN a few times every day. Most of the news one hears these days is scary – reports of sieges, war, terrorism, an economic depression, political controversy, the energy crisis, global warming, fundamental religious groups, drugs, crime, violence… an endless list of unsavory and scary stuff. Every once in a while, when there is a lack of generally scary news, they’ll show us the exploits of a cat who sensed the carbon-monoxide in the basement and raised the alarm or of a funny cockatoo, but on the whole the reports coming into the newsroom are not what we want to hear. Even the music on CNN mirrors this. As CNN cuts back to the newsroom from the adverts, they play a very scary soundtrack – it’s the kind of music one hears on apocalypse movies when the human race is on the brink of extinction, or the kind that plays when Frodo and his gang are fighting the forces of evil in order to save Middle Earth. The music has always seemed very very scary and also very very familiar. I found myself wondering what it reminded me of. And this morning it struck me! It’s almost identical to the music played in the “Saw” movies when they recap Jigsaw’s bizarre and sadistic schemes that lead up to the usually horrifying and gory climax. Now, when CNN executives approved of playing such music to represent themselves, maybe even they (and perhaps especially they) were scared that most of the news that accompanies the music would also be scary! I wonder how long ago it was that scary and sad news was the exception rather than the rule.

No One Said It Would Be Easy

When I first decided to switch fields to psychology and get a Ph.D., I thought, "How hard can it really be?" Well, now I am finding out! I know now why it is such an achievement to get a Ph.D. I'm facing my Ph.D. qualifiers - an 8 hr exam this Friday. It's horribly unstructured - you show up and they could ask you anything - LITERALLY ANYTHING from the field of psychology. I'm studying as hard as I can, but with all my laziness and procrastination from earlier this summer, I think it might take a miracle for me to pass.

And after that I'll still have Oral Prelims, Internships applications and my Dissertation research and defense. GRRRRR. All of you who don't have to do all this - pity me, and spare me a prayer! All blog posts are on hold until after I finish the beastly exam!

Love Unspoken. Finally!! Finally!!!

I am excited beyond belief! For a long time after starting my blog, I looked for a video of Jeremy Brett singing love-unspoken instead of just audio, but I could not find it anywhere - I found photo compilation tributes set to the song, but did not find an actual video. Well, thanks to YouTube recommendations, I finally without even trying found it! The video is of an old TV program with Twiggy and Jeremy Brett. It's not all "Love Unspoken", which is only from 3:30 - 6:00, but you do get to listen to some other sterling performances by the two.

Isn't he lovely????? I LOVEEEEE him. Too bad he's dead, or else I'd send him some fan mail at the very least! Enjoy!





P.S. It looks like sometimes the video embed does not work. Try this link instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrMBdQm9P10