Warm!

 

 

Singing the Praises of Les Miz (or Les Mis, your preference)!

Let me say first, don't read any reviews. Down with snark-ism, snarky critics, you know who you are!! No one is a bigger fan of the musical than I am, well, maybe there are more demonstrative fans, and good for them, I admire their web presence, blogs, tumblrs etc. and read them when I can. Les Miserables brings it to vibrant, heart-breaking, wonderfully cast life and I thought Russell Crowe did an incredible job as Javert, bringing a poignancy to the role as well as all that nasty baggage. Hugh Jackman was an attractive, stalwart Valjean and just brilliant and Ann Hathaway will have you scavenging in your purse for tissues (note, put them in your pocket before you see it, for easy access!) she is so moving as Fantine. The whole cast is amazing, and I especially loved Samantha Barks's Eponine (I love Eponine in general as she gets such a raw deal), and she owned her performance!

 It's a really, really good movie. Don't think twice about going to see it on the big screen!

Best Show You're Probably Not Watching

When I started working at the Rochester Library you get to know your co-workers through what they like or don't like in the way of books, music, films and TV. The women that I work with during my 20 hours there range in age from their early 20's to their mid-30's and are pretty knowledgeable about pop-culture, a lot of which I am pretty knowledgeable about, too, so when they all, independently, told me how much they loved a show on USA called "Psych" I had to check it out It turned out to be one of the most engaging, charming and funny shows I've seen and John, who is king of the "this is shite" school of criticism, also loves it, which says a LOT (also Nico told me SHE loves it, so, you know, it goes without saying I would, too!).  The cast has wonderful chemistry and there is not one character I've gotten sick of or story line I hate after watching all of the first 6 seasons. Every episode has been a delight and just fun to watch. It has almost as many references and asides as "The Gilmore Girls", which is always a plus. Psych revolves around Shawn Spencer (James Roday), fake psychic detective but aces in the Sherlock Holmes school of deducting  how a crime is committed through his powers of observation noticing details and clues the police don't always spot. He is assisted by his best friend Burton Guster (or Gus) (Dule Hill ), a medical supplies salesman (with secret tap-dancing abilities)  who also drives a company car called the Blueberry the team use to get to crime scenes. The show often begins with flashbacks of Shawn and his father when Shawn was a kid and his father, a Santa Barbara detective was raising him and getting him to figure things out like a detective would, then switches to present day. Corbin Berensen is the dad and he is wonderful as well, as are the cops who Shawn and Gus often show up to help,  Timothy Omundson as Head Detective Carlton Lassiter (or Lassie!) , Maggie Lawson as Detective as Juliet O'Hara  and Kirsten Nelson as Police Chief  Karen Vick.  The show was created by Steve Franks who also wrote the wonderfully catchy theme song.
 
Season 7 will begin Wednesday, February 27th at 10:00 p.m. (AAAArgh! Worst time slot ever as I already have to debate whether to watch "Nashville" or "American Horror Story" then!!!)! Anyway, check out the first 6 seasons at your library or watch them on netflix. You won't be sorry!
(Great video of Shawn's nicknames for Gus! )

(This video was taken from IzzieBlue7's channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/IzzieBlue7)

Christmas Comes to Willow Creek

Nothing like a great Christmas trucker road movie starring the great team of  John Schneider and Tom Wopat to ring in the  holidays!

Have a Clucking Good Holiday!

I've always loved to draw chickens. They have personality and are just amusing in general. The cartoon below was my number one all time best seller as a t-shirt at craft shows, for years! What does that say about the women of America (or the North East, anyway) in the early 90's? Not only that, but it has been published numerous times and licensed as a card and in a calendar:

That brings us to this year's card. Everyone around here seems to have gotten chickens in the last couple of years, so that inspired me. I always draw my cards in a tiny graphic novel format folded into 4. This is the way the art looks in a sort of strip format. Hope you enjoy it! Have a Happy, Merry Holiday of your choice!

e-ddicted to My e-book!

Gad! I last posted at Thanksgiving and now it's all those other holidays! Well, I have been busy. Here is a brand new Cafepress design for the e-book lover...and yes, I am one of them!

 Who would have ever thought it? I live in a house packed from top to bottom with books!!! I have great collections of Edward Gorey and Cornell Woolrich and all of Roz Warren's Women's Glibber titles and art books and fiction, fiction, fiction! There is NO more room on the extensive shelves... so, last year, I was thinking about when I travel and take a bag full of books, that they were awfully heavy, so, I decided to get a Kindle (after much research) and thought I'd only use it for travel. How very wrong that idea was! It is now filled with 164 titles, at the moment, anyway, and I love it, love it, love it!!!! Hence the new design.
And here's a link to it on Cafepress if it turns out to be something you just can't live without... it is on a multitude of items from tees to trinkets.