Reading

A book meme

1. Grab the nearest book
2. Open the book to page 123
3. Find the fifth sentence
4. Post the text of the next 3 sentences on your blog along with these instructions

This was a dry land. Just a short distance to the west lay the Kalahari, a hinterland of ochre that stretched off, for unimaginable miles, to the singing emptiness of the Namib. If she turned her tiny white van off one of the tracks that struck off from the mail road, she could drive for perhaps thirty or forty miles before her wheels would began to sink in the sand and spin hopelessly.
from “The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” by Rockfordander McCall Smith

That worked out nicely; the first two sentences were one of my favorite segments in the book.

. . . . . the end . . . . .

Screen time

I like this guy

If his show wasn’t on so late at night, I might tune in. Craig Ferguson’s monologue from President’s Day is a bit long, but it’s so honest and painful and powerful.

Screen time

And the winners are …

Rather than cancel our Oscars party this year, Rockford decided to make it an exclusive, formal affair. We dressed up, hit the red carpet and ate fancy appetizers pizza and mozzarella sticks for dinner. I think Ellen Degeneres did a great job hosting, and the producers succeeded in making the show more entertaining this year. Way to go, team.

Gorgeous: Kate Winslet, Hellen Mirren, Reese Witherspoon, Beyonce’s hair.

Not my style: Gwenyth Paltrow, Penelope Cruz, Kirsten Dunst, Nicole Kidman.

Loved: Forest Whitaker’s speech; Abigail Breslin’s Curious George doll; the crowd reaction when Martin Scorcese won; “The Departed”; so many gratuitous Leo shots*; saying, “Hey isn’t that the girl from ‘The Office’ with Quincy Jones?” and then looking her up on imdb.com and finding that she’s his daughter; the Jack Black/Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly song.

Oscar pool: And the winners are … Amy and our very own Rockford. They both missed Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor, which gave me nothing to use as a tie-breaker. Because Rockford gets the everyday prize of living with me, though,** Amy gets the Fabulous Something. Yay, Amy!

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*There was a time when I didn’t get the DiCaprio thing. Now I get it.
**Ha!