Gone Before Its Time

A few weeks ago I watched the entire series of  My So Called Life (God does love us and showed us by streaming Netflix through my Wii).  All 19 episodes.  How, the hell, did this show get cancelled and crap TV goes on forever (didn't Jersey Shore just film in Italy or some such nonsense?)???  Got me thinking that there are quite a few shows that were laid to rest long before they should have been.

1. MY SO-CALLED LIFE The above-mentioned drama that told it like it was.  In the 90's, with lots of flannel.  When the show was on I thought it was cool but watching it as an adult , it made me ache with nostalgia.  Oh my gosh, I loved me some grunge boys.  And overalls, YES!  They were so comfy and forgiving!  And Doc Martens.  But aside from the fashion of the show, Angela was every girl.  Every girl has felt that alienated in high school.  We've all felt the longing for the guy that is just so wrong for us.  Or the betrayal of the friend who stole that guy.  The absolute weariness of how uncool our parents were.  The disdain for the dorky guy that adores you.  19 episodes was not enough!  Please bring this back with all the original characters, especially Jordan Catalano, who's like,  a big time rock star now.  
2. BETTER OFF TED had such sharp wit and biting insults slung so rapidly that I can only guess it got cancelled because it was too smart.  From Portia de Rossi's aggressive boss lady to Ted himself, the cast was spot on crazy.  They had a whole episode where the motion sensors work off skin reflection so do not register for people with darker skin tones.  Hilarious when this leads to them having to hire white shadows for the black workers and then black shadows so they aren't considered discriminatory.  Genius infinite loop.  But some of the best parts were when you'd think it was going to commercial and it would be an ad for the TV company:   RIP Better Off Ted, you deserved more than two seasons!
3. PUSHING DAISIES I'm going to guess that the some of the same writers were involved in these two shows.  The concept for Pushing Daisies was so fantastical, the characters so quirky and caricature-like, the sets and costumes so Broadway-esque and with Kristin Chenoweth as a main character you can bet there were musical numbers (They Might Be Giants? for the love of God, it was PERFECT!)  I adored this show, couldn't wait for it to come on.  I was devastated when it got cancelled but I understand that it wasn't mainstream.  But that was why it was so good!  And I miss Lee Pace's hang dog face.
4. ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT What can be said about a TV show that had a daughter named Maeby?  Or the VERY best-named lawyer, EVER:  Bob Loblaw!  A show that  made you fall in love the most dysfunctional family possible.  That brought us Jason Bateman (sigh) and Michael Cera and Will Arnett.  A show with the Fonz and narrated by Richie Cunningham.  Only that this show should still have remained on the air forever!  Not snuffed out after three seasons! There is talk of a movie and if Sex and the City can do it (twice) I'm hopeful these guys can get it together  (I also just realized that Portia de Rossi is in this too and quite brilliant, go Ellen!)
5. FLASH FORWARD Ok, this show didn't have sharp, witty dialogue.  In fact, it often bordered on cheesy and formulaic.  And the characters were not all that memorable or likable and a lot of them were left-overs from Lost so I got a little confused.  But what the show had going for it was a wickedly cool story that got more complicated the more it tried to provide answers (quantum entanglement anyone?).  I think JJ Abrams was involved or it felt like he was.  We'll never know if the whole world blacks out for another 137 seconds but it was entertaining while it lasted.  And Joseph Fiennes was in it.

Tweeps' honorable mentions:  Freaks and Geeks, Firefly, Life on Mars, Ugly Betty...

TV Time

Hi Delicious-

****Spoilers*****Spoilers*****Spoilers***

Now that I've gotten my literature blog in, time for some low(er) brow entertainment...
So I finally got to watch SYTYCD on the same night that it aired, woo hoo!  I think it was, again, a pretty bland night.  Ellenore is, for me, the undoubted  favorite!  Yes, Jakob is perfection and all that but she has that and then something more going on. She's quirky and unpredictable and joyous! While I still think a boy's taking this year's title (Legacy, Russell, Jakob) she better be in the final.  And Sonya's my new favorite choreographer...her little gems have been the most memorable of the season.  We have gotten into the habit of only listening to the first judge's inane comments and then fast forwarding on to the next performance.  Since they always seem to agree, this is much better and cuts down on my annoyance!!!  The hard part this week is wondering who will be in trouble...unfortunately I think Ryan and whoever he was dancing with (my point) could be in the bottom.  Everyone's good...who's the least likely to make people pick up the phone?  Ashleigh...that last routine with Legacy was terrible...boo to Dave Scott.  And Nathan may have the looks young girls will dig, he also looks like a deer caught in the headlights and that this whole competition is just a little over his head.  We'll see...

Also watched Scrubs...yes, it's back after the "Series Finale" last year.  Weird.  But they kinda twisted it to explain that departure.  And now they're all back teaching together.  I will sorely miss the janitor but they left that in such a way that you know he's going to pop up at a random, inopportune creepy moment.  Zach Braff can do no wrong for me and I'll pretty much love whatever he does and as long as Dr. Cox keeps bringing those crazy rants, I'm in.

P.S. I picked 3 of the bottom four in SYTYCD...hope next week gets better

Faux Fur, Talkative Judges & Covered Toes!

Hi Delicious-

This week has flown by, can't believe it's already Friday!!!  Here are some of my random thoughts from this week:

FAUX FUR
I was fortunate enough to hook up with the Welcome House in Covington, KY, a homeless shelter for women and children and start volunteering for them recently.  Of course when they found out about my background in events they wanted me to help them with their Ladies Night Out Faux Fur Fashion Show and Fundraiser!  So I made up some baskets and worked the registration table (God help me!) and then got to go be an actual guest which was an awesome change.  My friend D came out and we shopped the wonderful showroom of fabulously, luxuriant furs that looked very, very real.  We bid on a Chinese raffle and everyone was in love with a faux fur throw that seemed to be the hottest prize.  I never win raffles, like NEVER but I put my two tickets in anyway.  After the obligatory wine and cheese and the fun raffle show using ladies from the audience as models, it was raffle time.  Of course, I didn't get any of the other prizes but I WON THE THROW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I got to pick out which print I wanted (coyote, and yes, I feel wrong even writing that!) and it's like 60x72 inches and it's being delivered next week and it's valued at $299!!!!!!!!!  That may be the most valuable thing I've won like that!!!  FUN, FUN, FUN!  Now I feel indebted to this charity forever!  So I've got to give a mad shout out to Donna Salyer's Fabulous Furs:

NEW RUNNING SOCKS
Thanks to @rhondapsd, I have those running socks that have a "sleeve" for each toe...kind of like a glove for your feet.  Once you get used ot the weirdness of putting them on, they're actually really comfortable.  I only wore them for two short runs so I have noticed much of a difference but I'm sure I will when I'm out there doing the 100th Annual Cincinnati Turkey Trot (6th oldest race in the nation, pretty impressive) (and, I'm guessing, COLD!)!

TV (SPOILER ALERT)
I know this is going to shock everyone, so just sit right down.  I am a little bit over SYTYCD!  The performance show was TWO HOURS people, not necessary!  If you only let one judge answer for everyone since they all agree anyway, we could keep this show under an hour and see more of what I watch it for...GOOD DANCERS!  And I have to say that the choreo isn't really blowing me away this year.  I know everyone loves some Travis Wall but he's got to give us something new, how many times can we be moved by the same routine??? (Altho Ryan and Ellenore were wonderful in it and I wouldn't mind if there was a scandal that he left the other less likable chick for her...THAT show would be worth two hours!)  The only other routine worthy of mentioning for me was the birdcage one...finally, Tyce is back...but then she went home.  wah, wah!


DWTS was pretty good but Donny Osmond in the finals?  Oh goodness!  I would have preferred Joanna's spiciness!  I'm just in it to see Mya win like I predicted!!!


FLASH FORWARD continues to confuse and creep me out...there's an endless amount of twisting and turning going on...but I'm kind of feeling like maybe the plot isn't moving forward so much as laterally.  I'll stick with it to see where it goes.


I still have many, many hours of stuff on the DVR...have to watch PROJECT RUNWAY finale (even though I saw a spoiler tweet about who didn't win!)...and we're like a month behind on GREY'S ANATOMY (I still don't know why Izzy left) and THE OFFICE & V...we'll never catch up!!!

Finally, SYTYCD recap...

Hi Delicious-

So we have FINALLY caught up and as my public (aka Mattie) has requested here are my thoughts on this week's SYTYCD, the last week that the judges have all the control.  (ok and I am SO over this Paula Abdul thing...don't WANT her on there anyway and clearly she doesn't want to be there..let it go @dizzyfeet!)

I thought about listing them in order of performance but decided to keep ranking my faves:

KATHRYN & LEGACY
My second couple moved up a notch this week based on the choreography they got.  They danced a Stacey Tookie (sp?) contemporary number in which he was fear.  It was very remniscent of Mia's Addiction but I was very impressed by just how good Legacy was and she came alive for me.  Last week I said she was the second luckiest girl on the show but I have to say that watching this number it's obvious that he was pretty lucky too and this is a great partnership.  I love how she conquers her fear at the end---sublime.

RYAN & ELLENORE
This was one couple that danced a great number extraordinarily and under dire circumstances.  I love both of them seperately and even more together.  But getting your heel caught in your dress and dancing as if you don't?  That's a champ!  And scary.  And even thought they don't run these live, that's good TV. 

PAULINE & PETER
this discarded couple whose partners both left last week got the good fortune to get Wade Robson.  I have to say I think I liked this number more than either of them, Wade's just so cool and this concept was bigger than both of them.  The costumes and the set and music, just so cool (I know I said that already, but it was).  I also think that Peter's a weird looking dude and this routine fit him while it didn't do very much for Pauline with me.

KAREN & KEVIN
Finally, NappyTabs is back!  LOVE this routine and that Hot Tamale Karen.  This time it's the guy who's lucky but he is going to keep getting completely outshone by her cuz he couldn't even do better than her in his own style. 

MOLLEE & NATHAN
I think every Bollywood routine will be forever compared to the first one by Joshua & Katee and while this one maybe wasn't quite there, it was really good!  They did such a good job with it and for the first time she didn't annoy me.  Very cool choreo and these two aren't going anywhere.

JAKOB & ASHLEIGH
(yes I intentionally put him first)  Ashleigh didn't annoy me this week as much either.  They danced a Viennese Waltz as a couple's first wedding dance.  If my husband is more elegant and fancier than me like Jakob was, I'd be sad but as a dance it was good and right at the middle of the pack for me.

The rest went downhill from there.  VICTOR & BIANCA butchered a Tyce Diorio number, NOELLE never got up to RUSSELL's level in their tennis hip hop match and CHANNING made her samba with PHILLIP look ridiculously hard.  Everyone's solo sucked to me and I think Phillip got the short end of the stick by being in the bottom 4.

Let's hope everyone likes my faves as much as me when the voting starts next week!

PS Also, to find all the great songs like Apparat's Arcadia from Ryan & Ellenore's cool first dance and Move Shake Drop from this week's hip hop, check out @SYTYCDmusic on twitter :)

the non-Dancing/Singing shows on TV...

Hi Delicious-

Nope, still haven't watched the end of SYTYCD...one of the cons of living with a working musician...he came in at 5 am and who knows when his day will start.  BUT I love that he loves SYTYCD so I'll wait.  And fill my blog with all the other shows I AM caught up on:

MODERN FAMILY
If I haven't yet mentioned this show, I should have.  If Glee is the best comedy/musical, Modern Family is the best sitcom to come along since The Office!  It is exactly like The Office in the fact that you are plopped down into the middle of these characters seemingly normal lives and you instantly know who they are and are fascinated by them.  They are such well-developed characters with their dialogue and their interactions with each other I feel, already, like I've been watching this show for years.  Also, like The Office there is an apparent camera crew following them around that they sit and talk to every now and then.  Why?  It's never explained and who cares???  I never would have thought that Ed O'Neil could be anyone other than Al Bundy but he seamlessly is and his one-liners as the patriarch of this non-traditional (but probably more the norm than anything else these days) family sets the tone for everyone else.  Last week the first five minutes before the credits were so funny we laughed so hard we had to keep rewinding cuz we kept missing more jokes!  Watch it if for nothing else other than Cameron and Mitchell, the gay couple who have just adopted a Korean baby girl's, banter.  (Cameron: "I'm sort of like Costco. I'm big, I'm not fancy and I dare you to not like me.") I dare you not to want to be part of their family!

FLASH FORWARD
I am a HUGE JJ Abrams fan which started with the nearly perfect (never happens) movie remake of Star Trek last year.  It was just so good that J and I went back and watched 4 seasons of Lost in about 2 months---no small feat!  And now we've started Fringe just because his name was on that too (and my long lost Pacey has come back!).  So while we wait for Lost to come back for its supposed final season (and hopefully all the explanations, that better not suck!) we were excited to get into Flash Forward.  So far it hasn't disappointed!  This concept I think might be the biggest he's tried yet and it alone makes it a brilliant attempt:  everyone on the planet blacks out for 2 minutes and 17 seconds and sees a vision of what they're doing six months in the future.  The implications are endless---your vision doesn't match your signifcant other's, you have a vision that you now have to fill in the explanation for, you're killing someone or probably most disturbing, you don't have a vision at all.  How do you handle what you saw?  Can you change it or is it now predestined?  It's also interesting to think how the world would handle an experience that knows no divide, something every single person has in common. 
I have to say the dialogue can get a bit cheesy and the characters are not so much developed as they are defined by what they saw but the plot keeps it moving along, much like I felt with the beginnings of Lost.  I had no sympathy or attraction with 42 people stranded on a desert island for half of the first season.  Probably because most of these people are seriously flawed or just a little bit annoying but you have to know what happens to them and more than that, what the possible explanation can be.  You also have to be a little creeped out everytime they show the shadowy figure of the one guy who was awake and walking around a football stadium while the rest of the entire world was passed out.  I'm sure that Joseph Fiennes and his harshly affected American accent are taking us somewhere and I'll stick around to find out. 

V
I vaguely remember the original of this series and loving it.  It's another one J and I can sit and watch together and like Flash Forward it borrows people from Lost (Juliet is now an FBI agent) so you kind of instantly feel compelled.  It also hinges on a great concept:  Visitors fly into all the major cities on Earth and proclaim us as their friends and would like to swap some of our necessities for their knowledge.  I think they did a good job updating the series and mking the most of the advances we've made in CGI and technology.  Plus they added Morris Chestnut and there's nothing wrong with that :)  It will be interesting to see if this has staying power or if, once the revelations have been made the intrigue wears off.  Someone over at ABC is doing something right though cuz all three of these shows live there!

Gleeful Wednesdays

Hi Delicious-

After a little bit of an unforeseen break, I'm back!  Unfortunately I can't write about SYTYCD yet since J and I only had time to watch the first 8 couples perform before he had to go to his gig...so tomorrow on that one.

I can't believe that I haven't yet even touched on my frenzies of delight over Glee!  It's been a long time since I've gotten so giddy over a new show!  Maybe the last time was Pushing Daisies but I think Glee is even better.  The show is not serious about itself and doesn't want you to be either.  It's campy good fun that takes every stereotype of a high school student and exaggerates it a little bit more.  Then throws in some amazing singing of songs you love in routines that make you laugh as much as they make you want to join them (a football team warming up to Single Ladies=brilliant). It has characters that you hate but can't help loving (who doesn't want to spar just a little with Sue Sylvester?) and characters you love but kinda have to wonder about (why exactly is Will so blind to his evil wife?) and gives them the kind of dialogue that you quote the next day ("Are you questioning my badassness?  Have you seen my guns?"  In fact there are so many to chose from, I could blog about nothing but that and it seems that the blogosphere already has!) 

But the essence of what I love about Glee is that it never really is the same show twice, it always has heart and it is always fun!  One week it's a little telenovela with the wife going after Quinn for her baby and the next it's running a gay coming out storyline.  One week it's the showdown between Sue and Will and the next it's the kids hyped up on cold medicine. 

My only two wishes are that it doesn't go the way of cult-ish, ridiculously good shows I've loved and lost too soon:  the aforementioned Pushing Daisies and the I-still-miss Arrested Development.  Given that the folks at Fox have found a cash cow with all the marketing and iTunes this show generates, I hope this one is around for the long haul.  My other wish is that a new episode was on this week!!!  But since I've saved every epidsode, I guess I'll just have to go watch the unexpected fun mash up of Halo/Walking on Sunshine again.

SYTYCDance, Dance, Dance, dance...

Hi Delicious-

I was questioning whether SYTYCD would get old if they put it on for two seasons back to back without the usual winter break.  I still love Kupono, Jeanine, Jason and the rest of Season 5 so I thought it might be hard to embrace new dancers.  The stupid auditions and Vegas week didn't really help that feeling.  But the producers brilliantly decided to level the playing field this season and introduce us to everyone in a special that showcased all of the dancers in their own style with some stellar choreographers and routines.  Great idea and wonderful show!  It totally got me psyched and ready for the competition to start.  Which it DID last night, making me remember why I wish this show was on 24 hours a day like a new MTV---SYTYCDTV!  With the drama out of the way of Billy Bell leaving *tear* and some poor doe-eyed guy being brought in last minute to replace him and Noelle injuring herself, they jumped right in! 

I won't go routine by routine (although I could cuz they all had their own things going on), but here are my faves, in a very particular order.  ---If you haven't watched yet (@caboomer) stop reading cuz you gotta see it!!!---

Right from their auditions it was so clear that both Ryan and Ellenore were STARS and stand outs and completely memorable in very different ways.  Ryan is gorgeous but also amazingly talented and just possesses that ability to command attention.  In the special on Monday night he was dancing with two hot ballroom chicks with next to nothing on and usually you can't take your eyes off those girls but even J said that Ryan was so good, HE was the one you're watching.  *Big Sigh*  And Ellenore's audition was so quirky and humorous and GOOD that it not only had the judges laughing but the viewers remembering her.  So to make possibly the BEST PAIRING that the show's ever had, they put them together---YAY!  And then they had quirky, dark, memorable Sonia choreograph them.  I'll be saving this one and watching it again!  Faves, faves, faves!

I mean, I don't really need to like anyone else on this show cuz I've got my fave guy and girl in one pair BUT...my next favorite dance of the evening was the Dave Scott hip hop...Legacy and Kathryn.  Boy the producers did her a favor cuz she could have been completely forgettable and Legacy already has a decent fan base.  But she kept up with him and owned that routine as much as he did.  It was fun and completely engaging and they danced the hell out of it!  Plus Missy Elliot's On and On is just too much fun. 

Next...Bianca, the tapper and Victor...not sure how this will pan out but their contemporary piece by Travis, was of course, amazing!  Travis can do no wrong with his routines and I really enjoyed Bianca...she totally kept up with Victor and it was pretty moving.

To me, the rest got completely outshone but here are the other pairings:
•Phillip & Channing–Jive (I wanted to like this but kind of, yawn)
•Nathan & Mollee–Disco (it was like two children dancing it well.  I love him, but   she and her perkiness have got to go.  Although they will be voted for cuz they're cute as pie!)
•Brandon & Pauline-Smooth Waltz (hey, they had a day and a half...pretty good for that!)
•Jakob & Ashleigh–Broadway (wow, another girl who should be thankful for her pairing...it's the only way she'll stay cuz she is as annoying as Jakob is talented!!! Reminiscent of the Will/Jessica pairing altho Jessica wasn't as unpalatable as this chick)
•Russell & Noelle-Foxtrot (Russell is amazing & gets points for doing so well with Melanie.  Noelle is annoying & not being on the first show is not helping her at all)
•Karen & Kevin–Cha Cha (first passenger on the hot tamale train!!!)
•Peter & Ariana-Hip Hop (not even NappyTabs could help them out!)

Can't wait till next week!!!

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I've caught up on quite a bit so in no particular order...here's my recap from stuff so far.  If YOU aren't caught up stop reading! 

SHARK TANK
This show gets a mention cuz J thought it sounded cool and turned out it was.  It's mildly entertaining to watch 6 bajillionaires make even more $$$ by investing in other people's great ideas.  The ideas themselves are sometimes cool, sometimes sketchy and sometimes creepy (peeing into a faux golf club?) but the real entertainment comes in watching these guys (and one lady for quota sake) try to outmaneuver each other and outwit people who are less wealthy than they are.  This show is a true testament that the US will never truly give up on capitalism!

DWTS
Again, if you don't know...you don't know.  I resisted this show until last season cuz I just couldn't get down with any of the "Stars" they have on there.  But sometimes I just gotta watch people dance!  If you can sit through the painfully awkward (Denise Richards, anyone???) it's actually kind of entertaining.  Although, it's a lot of TV...like 3 hours a week!  Thank God for DVRs and fast forwarding.  First of all, I wish Samantha Harris was not on this show, ever!  I always ff through her awkward banter and this week her hair just took over-ugh, she's my least favorite thing about the show.  This week's dances, however, were so much better than last week and Len actually seemed like he was in a good mood, almost everyone got 8's!  Sometimes it's just all about the dances too and the Paso and Tango are just better than the stupid country two-step on these shows!  Biggest improvement had to be Aaron Carter, who I don't really like but who did a great job and Michael Irvin.  My YAWN DANCES are Melissa Joan Hart (too many names anyway!) and Donny Osmond (who the judges love, unfortunately).  My favorite is Mya who can do no wrong, especially with Dmitri as her partner.  Even Joanna Krupa was entertaining with her stumble and switching partners.  In the end...Natalee went home breaking the streak of Olympiad winners.  It was time...she peaked early and then fell apart!  The results show I only watch for about a total of 15 minutes but the MJ tribute was pretty good and I really like the dancers who did the routine for Norah Jones' first song.  Bruno gets quoted for the byte of the week, the show is "Sublime and ridiculous at the same time."

Heading out to take in a local theatre company's play...something cultural!  I'll be back to blog about it and the rest of the shows tomorrow.

Stuff I Was Able to Catch up On (SPOILER ALERT!)

The other thing about a DVR is I actually have no idea when shows are regularly aired so the timing on these are all over the place but I call 'em when I see 'em:

UGLY BETTY is back for it's fourth season and it's such a guilty pleasure.  I only started watching it last year but I'm so hooked...it has all the right ingredients:  kitsch, New York City, heart, fashion, diabolical divas and fabulousness!  While 2 hours of most shows is a little much, it's nice to see Betty moving on up in the world.

PROJECT RUNWAY for me this season is a big yawn.  Heidi's still there with her tallness and Tim Gunn's still got his deadpan wit and charm but the contestants are boring and so are their designs!  I have to say I'm routing for Ohioan Althea who's from Dayton...besides being a hometown girl she's been the most consistent and one of the freshest.  The designers' portfolios over at Lifetime are actually kinda cool:  http://www.mylifetime.com/on-tv/shows/project-runway/project-runway-designers/althea-harper/portfolio.  And while not exactly right because they landed him in the bottom two, Christopher had my favorite soundbyte, "With a bustier and sparkle panties you can't go wrong." 

Because my cable is on the fritz and digitally tiling my screen at random I got annoyed and put a chick flick in (from my Netflix queue, another one of my favorite inventions of the last few years!) 'Confessions of a Shopaholic'.  I had high hopes. I loved Sophie Kinsella's first two novels and sped through them over a long weekend once.  'The Devil Wears Prada' was probably even better than Lauren Weisberger's fabulous book.  This movie was NOT T'he Devil Wears Prada' as much as it wanted to be.  I probably shouldn't spend too much time dissecting something clearly meant to be so frivolous but I was disappointed.  The best thing about it was Patricia Field's amazing outfits (I miss Sex and the City!) and Isla Fisher's cuteness and the worst thing about it was the slapstick at every turn.  Boo!

I have about 10 more shows from this week on my DVR so there'll be more to come.

Hungry, Active, Literate Couch Potatoes Apply Here!

Hi Delicious-

Sitting down (at the request of @caboomer) to put these random, harried thoughts to the screen I realized I did this by first putting pen to paper.  Old School!  Maybe I'm the last person on the planet that has to see the written (versus typed) word to know it's real.  IThere's something to be said for seeing your words and crossing them out and ripping them up and then putting it up on the screen as the finished product.  So when you think of me doing this blog each week, imagine a pink notebook being filled with all kinds of scribble from a fuschia marker for days before I actually sit at the laptop to present to you.

Also trying to decide WHO would read this blog???  Someone as obsessed with pop culture and all things tv, music and movie related.  But not just any couch potato...no, an ACTIVE couch potato!  Because I'm equally (ok, almost) obsessed with running (altho I'm on a forced hiatus right now), yoga (I just started a 30 day yoga challenge 3 days ago) and healthy eating (@Hungrygirl is my favorite thing right now! plus I've been a vegetarian for the last 15 years) and pretty much just eating in general (last night at 2am I had Fourth Meal!) I also really enjoy travelling (everywhere) and exploring (my new hometown Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky and it's surroundings) I love animals and have 7 of them...I am very sure you'll hear lots about them here!  Lastly, I guess, a LITERATE couch potato.  I am a voracious reader and always have a book (or two) going on (so far this year I've read 43 books) most of them on the English monarchy (random) but I love everything from Stephen King and Nick Hornby to Candice Bushnell and Anne Rice.

Still with me?