Peacefield

I think the only books that I actively avoid are the romances that have the half-naked men and women on the cover, like the Harlequin romance series. Mainly because they all seem like they would be the same thing over and over, and pretty boring to boot. I read 2 of Dan Brown's books before all the attention, but that's only because I love reading about art, no matter what context. I do know that I enjoyed Angels & Demons much more, but I found both of them very interesting. Someday I'll read Harry Potter, LOTR and the Twilight series. I don't want to rule them out though because they sound like something I might enjoy, despite all the hype.

My collection is not as varied as I would like, but I'm slowly but surely working on it. I have quite a bit of historical mysteries, a couple poetry, many genealogy reference books, travel, and the rest consists of specific artist/architect biographies like Waterhouse, Wyatt, Eames, Wright and Saarinen.

I haven't seen Depp's movie 'Cry Baby' mentioned, but that's probably a good thing! I remember it came out soon after Edward Scissorhands and I absolutely hated it, lol. Although its John Waters, so what can you say?!

Ah, Benicio! I love him . I would watch him in 'Traffic' every day if I could, lol. There is a movie he was in with Alicia Silverstone called 'Excess Baggage' (very cheesy film, not one of my faves). Have you seen that one Ruth? His character was so cute!

Scottish, did you see Spacey in 'Swimming with Sharks?' It's one of my all time favorites! Well, that and 'The Usual Suspects.' Oh! And 'Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil!' Loved those I could keep going, LOL.

I have the lone season for Studio 60 on DVD. It's hard to explain, but it just makes me feel good to watch it. It has the great Sorkin writing, and for all I care I could watch Bradley Whitford stand still for hours upon end and I would still think he was dreamy, lol. I also liked seeing Matthew Perry in a character other than Chandler. He was in about 3 or 4 WW episodes as well, playing a lawyer (in one of my fave episodes btw, Evidence of Things Not Seen). I've not watched Sports Night either, but it has been recommended to me by many a WW fan. I think I'll need to rent them soon. Also, wasn't Will Bailey from TWW in it? I have the same feelings about Charlie Wilson's War, Tambo. Loved parts of it and especially loved Philip Seymour Hoffman's character, but didn't think the film as a whole was anything special. Did any of you see 'The American President?' It seems like I heard that Sorkin modeled TWW after it. Martin Sheen plays the Chief of Staff B) Excellent film!

Completely agree, Tambo! Although I must say seasons 1-4 get more of a workout since the last 2 weren't as special for me. I still watch all the bonus features and commentaries from every season though. What a great cast!

I used to have a larger collection of DVDs, but thanks to my lovely downstairs neighbor in my old apt building everything was lost in a fire that was set by his cigarette Anyway, as far as collections/series go, I have: The West Wing (complete 7 seasons) Psych (season 1) Freaks & Geeks (only 1 season for this great show) Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (ditto) Laguna Beach (Season 1 & 2) I would still love to get the Gilmore Girls complete set, but will have to live with seeing them via Tivo every day. Also, I'm jealous of any of you who said you have Law & Order: CI. I looovvvveee Vincent D'Onofrio.

One of my most favorite historical fiction works is Matthew Pearl's 'The Dante Club.' I had the opportunity to visit Longfellow's home and many of the locations in Cambridge that were mentioned in this book. It was so wonderful to be able to see what I had read about. Even without that added experience though, I loved Matthew Pearl's writing and I would highly recommend this one. Publisher's Synopsis: In 1865 Boston, the literary geniuses of the Dante Club

I'm in the US, so unfortunately I don't know any of the stations you all are speaking of! Oh, but I have listed to Virgin radio online with the guy saying over and over 'The Music we all Love,' and giving soccer (football?) scores, lol. The majority of radio I listen to is political talk radio. If I'm not too busy at work I listen during the day, otherwise I listen for a couple of hours after I get home while I'm making dinner, etc. If I listen to music it's on my iPod or a CD. For some reason I'm not a fan of most of the music stations we have here in town. I would love to get satellite radio though!

I love re-reading favorite books of mine. I get to experience all over again the reason why I loved them, so who wants to pass up that opportunity?! I've re-read Maeve Binchy's 'Circle of Friends' several times, along with Dumas' 'Count of Monte Cristo,' King's 'The Shining' and the 7 books in the art mystery series by Iain Pears. I also re-read Matthew Pearl's 'The Dante Club' on my trip to New England a few years ago. It was great to read a book while vacationing in the same place it was set.

I recently switched out everything on my iPod to just what I'm in the mood for lately. It holds a ton, but I hate having to skip through songs I don't feel like listening to especially if I'm in my car or at work. Anyway, here we go: - Lots of Red Hot Chili Peppers (my fave), mainly stuff from the recent SA album, with a frew from the Live at Hyde Park cd - Soundgarden, all tracks from Superunknown - Chet Baker, all tracks from Chet Baker Sings - Adele, Cold Shoulder, Make You Feel my Love, Right as Rain - Elvis Costello, Alison (live) - James Taylor, Handyman - Hall & Oates, Sara Smiles - Feist, 1234 - The Band, the Weight - Ella Fitzgerald, Too Darn Hot, Skylark - Down with Love Soundtrack - Led Zeppelin, Thank You - Chris Cornell, Billy Jean, When I'm Down, Fluttergirl - Singles Soundtrack - Temple of the Dog, All Night Thing, Say Hello 2 Heaven - Vince Guaraldi, Peppermint Patty's Theme - Dave Brubeck, Strange Meadowlark - Ray LaMontagne, Trouble - The Black Keys, Your Touch - John Frusciante, Time Goes Back

Welcome, welcome Sara! Glad to have you

That's okay, Kylie, I do the same every once in awhile! Sometimes I'm just not in the mood for them. He is wonderful though. I think my favorite routine of his is in Singin' in the Rain, when he does a scene with Donald O'Connor and they sing 'Moses Supposes.' I LOVE the dance they do!

Ran and picked up some veggie rolls on my lunch break. Wasn't in the mood for regular sushi...

I love musicals, both film and theatre. My most favorite experience was seeing Elaine Paige in Sunset Blvd in London over 10 years ago. I've also seen and loved (some multiple times) Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Beauty and the Beast, Sound of Music, Secret Garden, Into the Woods, Rent, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Showboat, Les Miserables and Cats. As far as movies go, my favorites are: Seven Brides for Seven Brothers High Society Holiday Inn American in Paris Singin' in the Rain There's No Business Like Show Business Mother Wore Tights Guys and Dolls White Christmas South Pacific Showboat On the Town Oh my, I think I could name many more! Pretty much name anything starring Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Grable, Bing Crosby, Fred Astaire, Donald O'Connor, Mitzi Gaynor, Ann Miller and I'm there. Plus many more I'm forgetting...

Hmm, this is a hard one for me, but I will try to prevail! Sometimes I like the way a book is written, but I hate the characters. Sometimes I love the dialogue between characters but hate the plot! Also, even if a don't like a book as I'm reading it, I still try to finish it, thinking that even if I end up absolutely loving the last chapter then that would have made the whole agonizing experience worth it, LOL. Here's what I came up with: Atlas Shrugged - Ayn Rand This is one I could not get through, and actually physically had the throw the book against the wall. I was surprised at my reaction, since I loved Fountainhead, but the interaction between the main female and male characters annoyed me to no end. The Little Friend - Donna Tartt I loved Donna Tartt's first book The Secret History, so the fact that I had built up my excitment for this her 2nd book in the 10 year span in between made it so disappointing when I didn't like it. I love Donna's style of writing, and the way she describes her characters, but the ending was horrible! Never have I had so many unanswered questions. The Third Secret - Steve Berry I read this one for book club and it sounds silly to say, but the 'Secret' was lame! Very disappointing, lol. Odd Thomas - Dean Koontz Another book club choice, and it appears that Koontz has built upon his 'Odd' theme, so they must be popular, but I just thought it was so-so. Burning Bright - Tracy Chevalier It hurts me to have to write this, because while I love Tracy Chevalier and everything she's done up to this point, I just thought this one had a nothing plot. Maybe I just don't think that William Blake was that interesting of a historical figure, but it was really just a 'day in the life' kind of story. Nothing climactic really happened and I was just sad that I couldn't fall in love with this one like I have with some of her others.

Have you read Vreeland's other books, Grammyva? That was what I loved about them; the details of the artist's technique. Artemisia Gentileschi in Passion and Artemisia and Vermeer in Girl in Hyacinth Blue. Wonderful stuff!!

No TJ's where you are moving to Echo? We just have 2 here in MN but they are really catching on and I think they have plans to build more. I LOVE their peanut butter pretzels and orange chicken, mmmm. I also get gluten-free bread there which is great - I think it's called Ezekial bread.

Great Loopy, I hope it crosses your path and you like it! I could read that series over and over Thank you for all the warm welcomes, everyone. I'm liking it very much here and appreciate the hi's and hello's. PS: Renniemist, are you liking the Girl w/the Pearl Earring? I loved it.

Time to tighten the belt so I'm letting most of my subscriptions run out. I usually get Dwell, Architectural Digest, Entertainment Weekly, Ancestry and Bookmarks. I'm going to keep Entertainment Weekly since it's so cheap, otherwise see ya!

Wonderful thread! My favorite that I can think of at this moment are: Thursday Next from the Thursday Next mystery series by Jasper Fforde Aleinor De La Chapelle from The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier Jonathan Argyle from the Art History mysery series by Iain Pears Bernadette Hogan from Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy HW Longfellow from The Dante Club by Matthew Pearl Edmund Dantes from The Count of Monte Cristo Julian Kestrel from the Julian Kestrel mystery series by Kate Ross

Too numerous to mention all, but here are some favorites: Buffalo 66 Bottle Rocket Gross Pointe Blank Jaws Smoke Signals The Big Lebowski Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind Being John Malkovich Stranger Than Fiction Magnolia Ordinary People Close Encounters of the Third Kind Rear Window

I think if I could live on hummus with dippable things like carrots/crackers I would, lol. I found an excellent recipe for hummus online and now that I can make my own I'm a maniac about it, lol. I also just made a roasted eggplant/red pepper spread recipe I saw on the Barefoot Contessa show and it turned out really well. Other than that I'll have popcorn or any snacky things I can find at Trader Joe's, which is a really good grocery store chain out of California and is really reasonably priced. I'm also a coffee junky, but that's not really a snack I suppose, lol. -Marcia

I loved, LOVED The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier. I learned so much about tapestry making and I had a really hard time putting it down after finishing it. I wanted to start it again immediately, lol. Each chapter is written from a different character's point of view, and I don't know, I just found it fascinating. She went in to so much detail about what the artists use to dye the wool, how they work with it on the loom, and even how hard it was to translate a drawing on paper into some huge tapestry design. -Marcia