Monday, June 23, 2008

Lifetime Movies

I know that this borders on an obsession, however, I feel as if there are some interesting feminist gems to be mined from LMN. Last night, for example, I watched, with my beautiful stepdaughter an older lifetime movie--The Eyes of a Stalker. This older film, I thought it was definitely from the 80s, but actually it was made in 1995 has a very classic, more formulaic structure than many lifetime movies. In this film, a young college girl is being stalked by a professor, albeit a pseudo professor, who is described as a "wily legal consultant" whatever that is. He hangs around the courthouse and campus offering people advice on how to use the small claims courts--(Everyone keeps saying, 'Hey Dr. Prime--I took your small claims class a couple of semesters ago!' What?!) At the beginning of the movie, the viewer is told that two years prior the heroine's father died, leaving her and her mother (who is a judge) to cope with life together.

So far, look at the elements: 1) The heroine (Beth) begins the movie as a ninny basically, but by the end of the film, thanks to the supportive relationship she has with her mother, Martha, who is formidable and the struggles she goes through, she becomes empowered and determines to make the stalker stop ruining her life.

2) The men in the film--her father, by all accounts a real prince, is dead. Her love interest is a jerk for a lot of the film and is always acting like Beth has brought the stalker upon herself. Stephen the Stalker is a "smooth" weirdo who is, in my opinion, very well cast. The only other male character is an old wizened PI who Beth's straightlaced mother initially resists but eventually comes to trust. Essentially, none of the men in this movie can be trusted, except for the most seemingly untrustworthy one--the PI.

3) May I venture to call this a Lifetime network Bildungsroman? The trajectory of the plot--young kid who learns some valuable lessons and becomes a woman certainly seems to qualify.

One interesting moment is when Martha tells Beth that she can't believe she is hanging around with the PI, and Beth says that he is "nice". Martha tells her that this is her problem--she is too nice for her own good. The interesting point about this encounter is that both women learn from each other--Martha learns eventually to overcome her prejudices and stereotypes, and Beth learns that she needs to toughen up a little.

To me this is exactly the kind of film that one expects Lifetime to make. It is much harder for me to categorize some of their other movies. I mean, why are women so interested in really sick crimes, and the aftermath of such crimes? (Eg Amber's Story)I guess there is something about what women relate to and the unimaginable but it is less obvious why these movies belong on a television station dedicated to women. Same with the movies where a women is the mayhem-maker, (eg the Trophy Wife's Secret). What fuels these kinds of fascinations? It seems to me that Lifetime producers thought that they would be making more movies like Eye of the Stalker and fewer movies like the Trophy Wife's Secret or that crazy one I reviewed previously about the cheerleader turned porn star. Man as enemy seems more like what you would expect all Lifetime movies to have as a common theme, but surprisingly, lots of times this is just not the case.

Tuesday, March 4, 2008

Dinner last Night

Okay, actually this is dinner last week but it was really good.

BAVARIAN SAUERKRAUT AND SAUSAGE DINNER

Ingredients
4 cups uncooked medium egg noodles (about 8 ounces)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup sliced onion
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
2 cups sliced peeled Granny Smith apple (about 3/4 pound)
1 1/2 cups refrigerated sauerkraut, drained
1 (12-ounce) package chicken apple sausage (such as Gerhard's), cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup sherry


Preparation
Cook noodles according to package directions, omitting salt and fat; drain and set the noodles aside.
While the noodles are cooking, heat the olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion and caraway seeds, and cook 4 minutes or until lightly browned, stirring constantly. Add apple, sauerkraut, and sausage, and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the chicken broth and sherry, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium, and cook 5 minutes. Serve over the noodles.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups noodles and 1 cup sausage-apple mixture)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 445(29% from fat); FAT 14.5g (sat 3.4g,mono 6.9g,poly 3.3g); PROTEIN 20.1g; CHOLESTEROL 114mg; CALCIUM 31mg; SODIUM 1118mg; FIBER 9g; IRON 4.8mg; CARBOHYDRATE 59.9g



Cooking Light, DECEMBER 1999


It was so good however, that Clancy and I ate it all, it is supposed to serve at least four..or two in our house.

Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Dinner Last Night

I am sick of eating horrible food. For the past several months, I have been dieting wildly, trying to lose the last ten stubborn pounds of baby weight. Somehow this meant that I should only eat 800 calories a day of Lean Cuisines and soup...And then I would break my diet and pig out. I plead with Clancy not to cook, because I knew that I would eat too much because it is always so good. So I finally gave up. I have lost in the end probably 5-6 pounds. Not too many to go.

I have been cooking all week, which has not just benefited me but P. and even M. as well. And, I have been able to cook delicious things really fast, which is a requirement for me since I work all day. It is amazing what you can do in 20 minutes, and a simple home cooked meal makes everyone in my house happy.

Here is what we had last night:

PORK CHOPS WITH A GINGER CHERRY GLAZE

Use any variety of fruit preserves if you don't have cherry on hand. Serve with egg noodles tossed with chopped fresh parsley.

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
4 (4-ounce) center-cut boneless pork chops, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup cherry preserves
2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
1 teaspoon bottled ground fresh ginger (such as Spice World)
1 teaspoon seasoned rice vinegar


Preparation
Heat oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper; add to pan. Cook 4 minutes on each side; remove pork from pan.
Combine preserves and remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Add preserves mixture to pan; reduce heat, and cook 2 minutes or until slightly thickened, stirring constantly. Return pork to pan; cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated.

Yield
4 servings (serving size: 1 pork chop and 2 tablespoons sauce)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 275(26% from fat); FAT 7.8g (sat 2.6g,mono 3.4g,poly 1g); PROTEIN 23.5g; CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 19mg; SODIUM 453mg; FIBER 0.1g; IRON 1mg; CARBOHYDRATE 26.8g



David Bonom , Cooking Light, MAY 2006

I cooked up some couscous instead of egg noodles (although I do passionately love egg noodles) and made a simple green salad and it was done. For the salad dressing, I added a splash of the delicious chimichurri my brother and his fiancee brought back to us from Argentina and the salad was totally transformed from something ordinary into something extraordinary.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

My Etsy Purchases


M. & P.'s Room Redecoration

We recently painted M. and P.'s room pink and hung a pretty little chandelier. Now, I have to figure out if I should take the time to wallpaper the back of their closet door. (It will look cute, but our landlord won't like it, which leads to the point that we rent, and do not own our apartment...which makes me feel so torn about wallpapering my own closet, for the same reasons.)

And I have this horrible storage problem on my hands. Why do small children have so much stuff? And, because of my horrible internet shopping hesitations, I can't find a good solution. So, for the moment all of their stuff is living in Z.'s room. Why is it that I can't make internet purchases?

On the other hand, I made my first purchases from Etsy, so wish me luck! Etsy has all kinds of wonderful handmade things. I ordered some lovely art and a pair of unicorn bookends.

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

Fun in Austin

Clancy and I had a long weekend in Austin, and I had a great time. I reconnected with my good friend Ted, who had Clancy and I over for a delicious dinner at his and his boyfriend Joel's amazing house, went antique shopping all over town and drank too much several nights in a row. Plus I fit in a trip to Neiman Marcus Last Call where I bought some new adorable True Religion jeans that are already falling apart.
I purchased a lovely danish mid century candleabra, I will post pictures later.

I really missed my babies, though. P. split her lip open yesterday. We were shopping later, and I looked at her, and she looked so sweet and sad. She was cradling a baby doll, and her fingernails were all caked with dirt, and then she had a river of snot falling down her nose, and a gigantic fat lip. I don't know if she will ever look like such a toddler again.

Back to Austin, I think if you visit, you ought to eat as much Tex Mex as possible. I ate twice at my favorite taqueria Chango's where they make the flour tortillas right before your eyes and douse the burrito with lots of delicious homemade salsa. And I had margaritas at Guero's where they make the best margarita in the world. I don't know exactly how they do it, but the lime juice is somehow not too tart and the tequila is not overpowering, and the cocktail has no real sweetness.

Clancy and I also went to Zoot, where we had our first date, but I was so drunk that I can't properly review it, however I was not all that impressed with the food. I faintly remember some only half good rabbit sausage. It tasted kind of like they were competent sausage makers but you could tell that they did not make sausage for a living.

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

The Many Fears of M.

M. is a fearful child, I guess terrified is the more appropriate word. Clancy and I had to throw away the book Mommy Doesn't Know My Name, because on one page, Hannah, the heroine, appears to be a chickadee. M. is quite terrified of chickens because, she insists, of their pointy beaks. Sometimes when I read to her, I will look at her, and she will be covering her face with her little hands. The book The Monster at the End of the Book really just about sent her over the deep end. (Straight to the garbage).

She is also terrified of skeletons and skulls, so the current trend of skull decorated clothing has presented numerous problems. Once she even told me that she was scared of the food at the grocery store. I think only Clancy and I could have produced such a fearful little thing. I have always been extremely scared of all kinds of things, when I was young I bordered on total OCD, I thought that my fears wouldn't materialize SO LONG AS I took five steps to get to my bed, had five pillows in my bed, kept my silverware pointing towards myself at all meals, and spelled words out in my head in complicated patterns all related to the number five. I am better now, perhaps due to the extremely large dose of Zoloft that I take every day.

And Clancy is no better, he has fears related to supernatural phenomenon, while my fears are more along the lines of scary thoughts about murderers. And the two of us have very regular, unreasonable anxiety related to fears about our careers and lives.

The worst part about all of this is that when I was a little girl, I can remember admiring my parents and thinking about how fearless they seemed. They weren't afraid that my dolls were going to watch me and kill me when I fell asleep. I couldn't wait to grow up so that my fears would dissolve like theirs seemed to have. But now that I have grown up, unfortunately I am just as scared of aliens (my one predominant supernatural type fear) as I was when I was a little girl.

Poor M. I really wish that she hadn't inherited this unfortunate quality from us.

Monday, February 4, 2008

Jack the Wolf by Yvonne Jagtenberg


This book is a good read for someone who is just about to, or has just started preschool. Jack, the main character is very shy and scared when he arrives on the first day at his new school, particularly because everybody else already knows each other and has the hang of things. But, then Jack gets to pretend he is a wolf, and all of the children are scared of Jack. Jack is thrilled by this turn of events, and wants another turn at playing the wolf.

I think that this book speaks to a very human feeling. When you are hurt by someone, you want them to know what it feels like, and so you try to hurt them back. I think it is particularly a feeling that small children can relate to--see previous post. When M. grabs something from P., P.'s instinct is to bite, unfortunately for M. And it is more than mere self defense, P. wants to make M. in the same way that M. angered her.

Or when Clancy and I fight, so many of our remarks, once we are in the heat of the argument are just intended to cause reciprocal pain.

Jack feels the same way when he puts the wolf mask on. He is finally able to reciprocate the intimidation that he felt from the other children. I like how the author doesn't make any moral judgments about the pleasure Jack takes in scaring the other children. It is successful because children can relate to it. M. makes me read this one every night.

M & P

Little M. and P. have been fighting like cats and dogs all weekend. M. gave P. a totally unprovoked bite, and ceaseless scratching and screaming has plagued my house.

And another Monday morning. Two tiny girls screaming in my ears when I was trying to leave the house this morning. It was totally brutal.

Thursday, January 31, 2008



Margaret at the Barack Obama KC Townhall.

Online shopping

Why can't I ever buy much when I shop online? Although I am sure that Clancy would disagree with me, if he had any idea of the volume of furniture, children's clothes, expensive women's shoes and handbags and other products that I look at, without actually purchasing much, he would be impressed.

I think maybe it is because you have to go through so much effort to check out. I have suffered many online purchase regrets, too, but I don't think that this is the reason. For example, the beautiful looking purple plastic silverware I bought from Moss that is no stronger than the disposable spoons I use every day to eat my oatmeal with. Or the imposter Higgins glass ashtray I purchased on EBay.

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Presidential Candidates Favorite Reads

Hillary Clinton: Little Women, The Poisonwood Bible

Barack Obama: Song of Solomon, Moby Dick

John Edwards: The Trial of Socrates

Mitt Romney: BATTLEFIELD EARTH ??? What is this guy thinking?

John McCain: For Whom the Bell Tolls

Monday, January 28, 2008

Monday Morning

I hate Monday mornings. I know alot of people do, but I just miss the girls so much on Mondays. This morning was really awful I was sitting on the couch, because Margaret asked me to sit for a few minutes, and as soon as I sat down, they were both in my lap. And, then I tried to get up a few minutes later, and I got one off but then when I reached to release myself from the death grip of the other, Portia climbed right back in my lap. I was imprisoned by my children. Literally. Imprisoned by wiggly little girls who refuse to let me stand up. Boo. It was awful to extract myself and head out.

Thursday, January 3, 2008

Outsider Art, Kind of



Glitter Monkey, by Travis Strange

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Lifetime Movie Review


So, over the break, I somehow managed to fit in a Lifetime movie marathon. Below I describe my favorites.

CASUALTIES OF LOVE: THE LONG ISLAND LOLITA STORY

This film is truly a LM classic, starring Alyssa Milano as Amy Fisher. The sheer amount of acid wash makes it entirely worth watching. I was totally wishing I had Joey B.'s denim jacket and poor Mary Jo's mile high white acid wash jeans. The acting is classically bad, and there really is no plucky heroine, which breaks the classic LM formula, as previously described. But, the story was so sensational that Lifetime could not help itself from making this movie.

It is kind of funny, I think that the director tried to be as neutral as possible, because at different points in the movie, you feel sorry for all of the different characters. First, of course, you feel sorry for Mary Jo Buttafuoco, but then she starts to get all righteous and her desire for vengeance is more important to her than the maintenance of the family business, and I started to feel like, wait a minute here Mary Jo, the family business is important. And we all know Amy is going to go to prison, it is just a question of how long.

You also feel sorry for Amy (momentarily I might add) because she is so young and stupid, and she gets herpes. Which is just sad. But, her prostitution and ridiculous ideas soon turn you against her.

And Joey, you feel sorry for him, because he made a mistake and boy does he end up paying for it. The director leaves the whole relationship between Joey and Amy very vague, so the audience is never quite sure what happened between the two of them, although you suspect that Amy is not lying when she is talking to her high school cheerleader chum about all of the places that they had "encounters".

But his refusal, time and time again to admit that he had an affair is frustrating and tedious.

I tried to watch the Nora Roberts' adaptations, but I just couldn't stomach it. Even with Heather Locklear, a semi bona fide actress. (I still miss the Melrose years.) Lifetime does better, I think to make movies that are either based on true incidents, or movies that are created solely with the Lifetime viewer in mind.

For some reason, the older that the LM is, the more I like it. I think it is because they date themselves so badly the older ones are more amusing. Plus, then you can tell yourself that you are watching it in a truly ironical fashion, and although you are sucked in, it is because you are so amused.

SHATTERED INNOCENCE


This film is another classic, and I just checked and it is playing again on 1/13. This is the true story about an all American cheerleader turned "actress" (I mean drug addicted porn star). You watch the demise of Shauna Grant as she spirals deeper and deeper into the world of cocaine and porn films.

This movie is based on a true story, which you can tell by weird details like when Shauna shows her nude pictures around to her kid sisters on a visit home. No writer would come up with that, I don't think.

Thank You Whoorl

I now have hair model hair, thanks to the continuing advice of Whoorl. She makes very good recommendations for hair styles and products.

I just purchased some Frederic Fekkai glossing mist on her recommendation. I think she actually uses the glossing cream, however the mist is really good and makes my hair nice and shiny. And she gave some smart directions about how to use a flat iron, which I also found to be enormously helpful.