When Did We Become THAT Demographic?

Do you ever watch TV shows and pay attention to the commercials that are being shown? You can - typically - find out what demographic the show is aimed at by doing this. 

Based on the shows we watch - and the times of day - we see a lot of fast food ads. We also see a lot of ads aimed at "Gen-X" watchers, whenever we watch pretty much any show on BBC America or SyFy. 

Lately, though, while watching "The Mysteries of Laura," we've found that we've apparently become... well... an older demographic. 

The ads are for things like insurance and "assisted technology" companies. I have to admit that this has me a little confused. After all, "Mysteries" is pretty young when you look at the characters and the language. 

I've tried to make myself feel better by telling myself that we're not getting older, it's just that people of an older demographic are now watching "younger" shows. 

But after just so many sit-down shower ads and ads for pretty much anything that can happen in a man's private areas as he gets older... well... I guess I should just be glad that the Early Bird Specials get me home before my shows are on. 

A Retro Weekend

I've been spending a certain amount of time streaming Netflix, lately. But I'm not watching anything recent. Everything I'm watching is actually from a while ago.

Having just wrapped up season 3 of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," today I watched the first two episodes of "The Gilmore Girls" as well as the first ten minutes of the pilot episode of "Ally McBeal."

I'm not sure why I've been doing this, but I am enjoying it. There's an aspect of it that is kind of like meeting up with old friends and telling old stories as a group. You all know the stories, but you all tell them slightly differently, so it's good to hear someone else's version.

Except, with these, you can turn them off after 10 minutes and no one gets mad.

Movie-ish Monday - "Clipped"

Christopher and I have been having problems finding new shows to watch. So we pretty much watch the same shows until they die - and some of those we continue watching for a while through repeats and syndication. 

But occasionally we'll decide to try something new. Usually, this seems to result in the show being cancelled just as it gets good (like last season's "Forever"). But this summer, as "Melissa & Joey" and "Hot in Cleveland" (and "Phineas and Ferb") were wrapping up, we figured we really needed to try to find a new half-hour comedy to watch. We decided to try "Clipped."

It's an ensemble comedy set in a barber shop in Boston. There are the high school sweethearts - now in their twenties - who have an on-again/off-again thing they don't admit to. There's the owner, who mainly just walks around kvetching all day. There's the owner's best friend and comic straightman. There's a caustic young black woman who cuts hair right next to an overweight gay white guy (who used to own the shop). And in the middle of it all (figuratively and literally) is a very Catholic young woman who is the receptionist. 

Sounds pretty lame, doesn't it? 

And the first episode was. But the creators also created "Will & Grace" so we decided to give it a chance and watched the second episode. It was... better. And tonight - after 5 or 6 episodes - we found ourselves laughing out loud at some of the jokes. 

It's on TBS, which probably helps them get away with some of the jokes and the topics, but it's not exactly R-rated, it's almost entirely G, with just a little PG-13 thrown in. 

If you try watching it and the first episode you see doesn't do it for you, give it a week and try the next one. Much like the hair they pretend to cut, I suspect it will grow on you over time. 

Movie-ish Monday - "Girl Meets World"

I fully admit it, and I am not ashamed to do so: I watch "Girl Meets World" on the Disney Channel.

If you've never heard of it... well... I'm not overly surprised. It's a spin-off (16 or so years after the fact) of "Boy Meets World," which was all about watching this awkward kid go through junior high and high school (and college), surviving by his own wits - but also great support from family and friends. It was never about fitting in with the crowd. It was always about creating your own space and letting people crowd in around you.

I liked that. And so I thought I'd try out the new series when it premiered last year.

It was okay. The "boy" from the original series is now the dad. And his girlfriend (they got married in the final season) is now the mom. And they are raising two kids of their own. Pretty basic. I watched a few episodes and then kind of forgot about it.

Then, while travelling back and forth across the Atlantic last spring, I watched a few episodes of it during that point in the flight when I couldn't sleep but also couldn't focus long enough to watch a movie. And I got hooked.

So I've been watching it and using the TiVo to try to get caught up on it. And I'm becoming more and more impressed by it.

"Girl Meets World" is quirky and silly, and fluffy and tear-jerky, but it's also about being yourself and finding the friends who will let you do that - even when you disagree with each other.

And - even cooler - they've been bringing in characters from the original series. Of course, we expected the immediate family to show up, and even some of the original "best friends" types, but we've been seeing all sorts of people, and they've been adding really great depth to the show.

I have no idea how long it will be on the air. Typically, when I blog about a TV show it goes away pretty quickly. But I hope this one sticks around. I think they've got some great potential places to go in the world.

I'm Not Overly Superstitious, But...

I was going to talk more about the renovations tonight, but there has actually been some forward motion, and I really don't want to jinx it.

So instead I'll just mention the sad news that the "Last Day of Summer" is coming up this Friday on Phineas and Ferb.

On the plus side, that means that this week is a massive marathon of all of the show's episodes. But it's going to be very strange to have no new episodes in the future.

With that in mind, I'm going to watch another episode and then head for bed.

And dream of a finished bathroom.

Bad Quote Quotient - Part 4 of 5

If you've seen Parts 1 through 3, you know that these have all had a bit of a theme. Today we look at some of the relationship- and life-based quotes.

• Never divorce and if you are not married yet, pray God to give you a wise wife

• No matter the situation you are in, never worry and you will find the way out, at the end the angels and people in your neighborhood will celebrate you. 

And, of course, being a child of the 70s (or 80s, depending on how you look at it), while the first one made me kind of cringe/shrug, the second one made me go to a much happier place.

Join me there, won't you? (Then tune in on Wednesday for my favorite BQQs from this round.)

Singing Good-bye to "Glee"

So... Tonight the series finale of the TV show "Glee" aired. Parts of it were amazing. Parts of it were fine. But overall it was in keeping with the show's mythos, which made me happy.

I'm kind of a stickler for that kind of thing. I get really annoyed when shows kind of break from their usual way of doing things to get in that one last great show - or that one "very special episode." I kind of felt like "Glee" spent much of last season doing that. They had lost one of their main characters due to the actor's death, and the show kind of felt like it didn't know what to do.

But the final season has felt like what it was "supposed to" feel like. And the finale - two episodes back to back, actually - gave me the same warm fuzzies that I got in the first couple of seasons. They flashed back. They flashed forward. But - through it all - they flashed smiles and sang some good songs.

For a few weeks, there's been this whole "hashtag campaign" asking people to post "what Glee meant to me" and I thought it was all kind of silly. A "Hallmark holiday" for a TV show, of all things. But as I watched it, tonight, and thought about how people I know have really reacted to the show in incredibly emotional ways (for better or worse), and I realized that I'm going to miss some of the characters.

This was the first show I've watched where we got to see gay and lesbian characters experience crushes and fall in love - and get their hearts broken and get married - without immediately jumping into bed. But - unlike a show like "Will & Grace" these characters did, eventually, have sex (I'm pretty sure Will never had sex in the entire run of "Will & Grace"). And the gay and lesbian characters came in different shapes and sizes, too (this season one was even a star football player - who fell for an artsy hipster), which made it even better. In some strange way, I got to think about what it would have been like to have a gay high school relationship. That was cool. 

And there has been a lot of hope (for lack of a better word) on TV while "Glee" has been on. Underdogs getting the chance to shine. Emotions being worked out in song. All the stuff that makes me a very happy TV watcher.

I know that in the realm of 24-hour cable stations the show will never truly go away, and if I wanted I could own the entire box set of all of the seasons in a couple of months, but I have to admit that I'm going to miss watching it every week. So tonight I'll watch a few of the production numbers one last time to let them sink in before saying goodbye.

So Far, No Shoes - No News

Two quick updates:

1) I've narrowed down my shoe search from three pairs to just one. Still not sure that I'm keeping this pair, but I do know the other two just aren't quite right. Just a little too tight in the arch on one, and a tad too tight in the "cap" in the others. I'm going to give it one or two more try-ons before I decide whether all three are going back.

2) I've once again checked my go-to website for shows that have been cancelled or renewed*, and even though I posted about three favorite shows on Tuesday, none of them have been cancelled. Yet.

So far, so good.

*www.IsMyShowCancelled.com (It makes me very happy that they use two l's in that, instead of just one.)

Laura, Cristela, and Tiffani

I think that, by now, you know that I enjoy fairly diverse television shows. I'm a Downton Abbey fan, an Amazing Race devotee, and a Glee watcher (though I refuse to say I'm a "gleek"). And then there are the mysteries like Castle, Elementary, and Sherlock.

And this year I've happily added The Mysteries of Laura, Cristela, and Dinner at Tiffani's to my list of random shows - three very different shows with one common theme: I would be more than happy to hang out with the title character in each.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find good photos of the guy she's dating, but Josh Lucas (on the right) is her ex.

The Mysteries of Laura is a detective show starring Debra Messing (you know, Grace from Will & Grace), and it allows her to be funny, smart, sexy, flirty, and hit all of these amazing notes that just make me happy to watch it. The supporting cast is incredible (and rather attractive - Laura has very eclectic, and very good, taste in men), and so I find myself really enjoying it. I have to admit that it's also nice to be watching a show that has a strong - yet not perfect - woman (who is actually in my age bracket) as its central character.

No, it's not a great photo, but I wanted to find one with Carlos Ponce in it. 

Cristela... well... I'll fully admit that one of the reasons I first watched it was because Carlos Ponce - whom I first heard of a number of years ago because he was a hot Latin singer (he's Puerto Rican, and was a Latin soap actor, but also a pop singer) - was going to be on it. But the show, which was created by its star Cristela Alonzo, is really good, so we've kept watching it. It's a "family comedy" with the main character living with her sister's family (and their mother), while trying to make it as an intern in a law firm. Sure, race is an issue in the show - after all, she's not white and it's set in Texas - but it's mainly about life and family. And Carlos... he's still very easy to look at.

The first "episode" was actually kind of a one-off pilot, but it's an actual series, now.

Dinner at Tiffani's is, technically, a cooking show. Or maybe an "entertaining" show. It's headed by Tiffani Thiessen (you know who she is... she was Kelly from Saved by the Bell, or "the suit's wife" on White Collar). Watching her as she works her way through putting together a dinner party with friends (mostly showbiz friends, so you get to see some great cameos) makes me want to have people over for dinner. She seems incredibly comfortable in front of the camera, and so although I may or may not ever make any of her recipes, I'll definitely keep watching.

Here's the catch, though: Each time I say that I really like a show, it goes away. Earlier this year, Christopher and I were out with some friends talking about the new show The McCarthys, and the next week we found out it had been cancelled. So now that I'm putting these comments out in the world I'm a little worried about what might happen. I guess the best I can suggest is that if you're not watching them already you should check them out soon - you never know how long they'll be around.

Pop Culture Sacrilege

I was apparently one of about a hundred people in the United States who have TVs but who didn't watch the Saturday Night Live reunion show last night.

To be honest, I kind of forgot about it until I saw something about it on social media at about the time that the red carpet show was starting.

But even then I only had a fleeting moment of "gee, I wonder how that will be?" before going on with the rest of my evening.

The funny thing is that I probably would have enjoyed it. I like pop culture. I'm good at trivia. And I enjoy a lot of the wit that SNL has used over the past 40 years.

But I just didn't care enough to turn on the TV and watch the show for 4 hours.

So I didn't.

And although social media continues to be filled with references to the show, I seem to have survived.

Obviously, Dragons are Real

I was flipping through the listings to try to find something to watch this evening, and found a movie with a description including both "scientists" and "dragons."

I was going to just keep scrolling, but then I realized what might be the best thing I've seen in a while: It was listed as "Docudrama, Fantasy."

Wait. What?

Okay. I get the "Fantasy" part of a movie about dragons.

I get the "Drama" part of a movie about dragons OR a movie about scientists.

I even get the "Docu-" part of a movie about scientists.

But isn't a "Docudrama" supposed to be part drama and part, ya know, documentary?

Assuming, obviously, that the descriptions are accurate, that means that somewhere along the line a scientific documentary about dragons should exist.

Cool.

Anticipation... Not Always Worth It

Who else remembers the old ketchup commercials that used the Carly Simon song "Anticipation" as their "slogan"?

We're supposed to be made to believe that waiting makes things better - and (more specifically) that the ketchup was worth the wait.

Well, as much as I would love to say that waiting does make all things better, I have to admit that a number of things simply end up with the pent-up expectations not matching up with the reality.

Sadly, in these days of TiVo, we seem to be running into that more than you'd think.

You see, Christopher and I try to keep up on our shows as we go, but when we get a new show it sometimes takes us a few weeks to get started (this is, in part, by choice, since it gives us the chance to do small binges of shows, instead of having to watch one at a time).

Usually, this is a good thing. It's how we introduced ourselves to "American Horror Story" last season, and that turned out really well.

Tonight, however, we finally started watching the TV series version of "The Transporter." We had multiple episodes all stored up, and we started to watch it, tonight.

In theory, it's just like the movie - hot guy, hot car, danger around every turn when he just wants to have a nice day. But it just doesn't seem to work, you know? The stunts are still cool, the cars are exciting, and the hot guy does take off his shirt pretty often, but somewhere it just misses its mark for us.

We watched the first episode, and decided to try another, just to see. And, well, I've been checking Facebook and doing some web searches all through the second episode.

Among other things, the show was obviously made outside of the States, so there's nudity (constantly blurred) and swearing (constantly "muted" - giving us gaps in the middle of sentences), and it just ends up falling a bit flat.

Is it something that I'd be happy to continue to watch in the background? Sure. But is it going to be "appointment television"? Sadly, no. In fact, it's also no longer going to be stacking up on our TiVo.

Fragrance Fantasies

We don't watch a lot of commercials.

I mean... most of what we watch is actually recorded, so we fast forward through the commercials and only see them as they fly by. We only really watch full commercials if we're watching something "on demand" and the fast forward isn't an option.

Even so, this year we've noticed a resurgence of men's cologne commercials. Lots of very artistically filmed 30-second spots, most with swimming or horseback riding. 

And most with half-naked men smoldering as they look at the camera, or perhaps quickly romancing a willowy young woman. (Okay. Not gonna lie. Seeing the half-naked, tan, toned guys enjoying exotic locales in the middle of December is not necessarily a bad way to spend 30 seconds...)

We're not really a cologne-wearing couple. But if there were any way that spritzing myself with one of those would suddenly give me a body like one of the guys in the commercial, I might consider it. 

I guess that's all part of the joy of this time of year - the wishes for things that we'll never have. 

The True Holiday Dilemma

Every year about this time people start to talk about what you're supposed to say to each other - whether it's to be "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Hanukkah" or "Festive Solstice" or some other greeting.

That's not what this post is about.

Every year people also try to figure out how to ship gifts in time for the holidays, how to manage their weight during the parties, and how to not get sent to jail for murdering their relatives.

That's not what this post is about, either.

This post is about a dilemma which I've never actually faced until tonight, as I sat down in front of the TV and realized - to my dismay - that both Rudolph, the Red-nosed Reindeer and Santa Claus is Comin' to Town were going to be on tonight.

At the same time.

Opposite each other.

Forcing me to choose.

Sure. I could have done one of my standard tricks and flipped back and forth between the two, but it's hard enough to get really engrossed in stop-motion animation when you're watching it from start to finish. Having to jump back and forth between stories just takes all the magic out of it.

Rudolph jumped to the front of the line pretty quickly, for sentimental reasons, since this was apparently the 50th anniversary showing of it.

But Santa Claus has always been a favorite of mine because I really like the songs.

Yes, Rudolph has Burl Ives, and Hermey, and the Misfit Toys, but as much as I like the song "Silver and Gold," I'm not all that psyched by the rest of the soundtrack.

So I chose Santa Claus, with Fred Astaire, Topper the penguin, Burgermeister Meisterburger, the Kringles, and the Winter Warlock. Mainly, I have to admit, because it has "One Foot in Front of the Other," which I'm sure I'll be humming all night.

Even though I did find a solution to my dilemma, I still can't really believe that the networks made us choose tonight. Just for that, I'm offering you my two favorite songs from the two shows, here. Enjoy.

Friday Fairydust

Did you see "Peter Pan: Live!" this week on NBC? 

I watched most of it (I was doing some things at the same time that it was on, so I missed some bits), and I have to admit that I really enjoyed it. 

I fully admit that I have a higher "suspension of disbelief" ability than a lot of people I know, though. 

So I was able to sit back and try to enjoy it for what it was - a stage play on TV. And, to me, that was all it needed to be. 

I really enjoyed it. I liked most of the cast (Christopher Walken as Hook? Who thought he was a good casting choice?), and I loved the sets. 

And the flying... I really loved the flying. 

But my favorite scene, I think, was the very end. Perhaps it was because of how sad/happy it is, or perhaps it was because Minnie Driver carried it off so well as Wendy all grown up. Either way, it really tugged at all the right emotional spots for me. 

If you get the chance to see it - or, better yet, if you can find a live production of it somewhere nearby - I highly recommend it. 

There's nothing like a bit of live theater to get you in a festive mood, after all!

Expectation Management - Freak Show

Christopher and I have been watching American Horror Story: Freak Show on FX. We also watched last season (Coven), but we didn't see either of the first two seasons. But, with the experience we have already had, we kind of knew - on some level - what to expect.

We were expecting something odd, and we knew there would be a whole bunch of character studies helped along by a fairly strange overall set-up. And - given the nature of this season's conceit, we knew that the characters would be an interesting bunch.

Yes, there've been some seriously freaky characters and situations, but for the most part the show is simply a drama. Okay - maybe more of a heightened-emotion drama than most, but still a drama.

It dawned on me a couple of episodes ago, though, that the opening sequence of the show is really really freaky. It's creepy. It's macabre. It's probably the most bizarre part of any episode, if you come right down to it.

I kind of wonder what the show would be like without it. If the episodes simply showed the story, without the credits, would it still be as creepy? Or do the opening credits simply set viewers up for something seriously freaky - so that's how it appears?

Not that I expect to find an actual answer to that any time soon, but it makes me wonder how much of the show's emotional impact is truly only held in the credits.

Is It Over, Yet? (part two)

I may have to stop watching TV for the next week. Not that that's necessarily a bad thing. It's just that I can't deal with the political ads any more. It's getting to the point where even the candidates I like are annoying me so much that I don't want to vote for them.

Maybe that's the whole plot - to annoy enough of the voting public that they simply don't go to the polls and hope that those who do go vote in your favor. You know... that seems almost stupid enough that a lot of politicians might try it.

All I know is that - and I know Christopher will be shaking his head as he reads this - I am so glad that we have a DVR and are able to skip watching most of our favorite shows live. After all, this way we can skip 90% of the commercials. (We could skip 100% if we were better with the remote, but no matter what we always seem to end up with one or two commercials that we give up and watch after bouncing back and forth around it.)

At this point, the main thing I know for sure is that I will be voting next Tuesday. And, yes, I have some people already in mind, but there is still room for them to totally annoy the crap out of me in the next week and lose my vote.

8/28 Cooking Challenge - Creamy Cheese and Basil Crostini

On my list of things to do while Christopher was gone I put doing a bunch of 8/28 Cooking Challenge items, because I figured I could just take my time, make the food, and not worry about forcing him to try something he might not like. (Not sure what an "8/28 Cooking Challenge" is? Check out the original post where I discussed them, here.)

I pulled three cookbooks off the shelf and was all excited to find that one of the recipes fell squarely into something I wanted to make for Book Club. Another was... well... a tad boring, but I bought all of the ingredients for it, anyway, since that's the whole point. The third seemed kind of basic, but I figured I have always enjoyed the author's recipes, so what the heck, I'd try it. 

I pulled all of these cookbooks out about 2 weeks ago. The cookies did get made for Book Club (and photographed for a blog post), but haven't made it in here, yet. The second... well... it was for a salad. And after I bought the ingredients I got a little distracted, to the point that - as fresh ingredients do - some of them went a bit off. But the third thing I made last night, and this is about that. 

"Creamy Cheese and Basil Crostini" come from Melissa d'Arabian's Ten Dollar Dinners. 

Honestly, those are all the ingredients you need. The background orchid is totally optional. 

I know that I usually include a photo of the actual recipe - or a link to a website - but the paper in the cookbook is a heavyweight gloss, so it just reflects instead of photographing. And the recipe isn't actually on the Food Network site. I've included it, below, but you'll have to trust me on the recipe as we go along. 

The actual recipe for making the Crostini was on the page before this. 

I make a lot of crostini for various events. Basically, it's a nifty way to say "crusty little pieces of bread." They're a great alternative to crackers, and you can put almost anything on them. I've made them where you simply slice the bread and toast them, and then rub them with a raw piece of garlic. I've made them where you drizzle them with olive oil before toasting them. And I've put everything from cheeses to meats to veg on them. 

In this version, you start by mixing equal parts of vegetable oil and olive oil (1 Tbsp each for a full baguette), with a little salt and black pepper. You slice your baguette into thin slices (at an angle gives you more slices, as well as more surface area per slice), then you brush the oil/salt/pepper mixture onto the bread, place it on a baking sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. 

The brush got a tad out of hand. Not gonna lie. The flavor was amazing, though, and the dog loved my shirt afterward. 

I'm a pretty quick study in the kitchen, so while those were in the toaster oven, I moved on to the "creamy cheese" part of the recipe.

Now, you'll remember that this is a cookbook for $10 dinners - for four people - so the ingredients aren't massively expensive. In this case, you're using 3/4 cup of 4% fat Cottage Cheese, which you put into a food processor until it's smooth. (The recipe said that you could add milk if it was too thick because you want it to be "the consistency of whipped cream cheese" - but I have no idea what that consistency is.)

Oh... And I didn't want to dig out our mini food processor, so I went for our hand blender. Check out the amazing before and after shots:

Ugh. Boring cottage cheese. (Kidding. I actually ate some of it off the spatula. It's one of those foods that you forget how good it is when you don't eat it that often. And I have never had the high fat version before. It was yummy.)

We're going to say this was smooth and the consistency of whipped cream cheese. 

The next step weirded me out just a tad. I'm not a big fan of lemon in savory dishes - except for Christopher's A-MA-ZING Lemon Chicken - but I've liked all of the recipes I've made from Ten Dollar Dinners, so I trusted that Ms. d'Arabian would not lead me wrong. So I added a bit of salt, and the zest of 1/4 lemon and stirred it all together.

The yellow stuff is lemon zest, not egg yolk. (I figured I should say that since most of you probably expected me to be baking...)

Okay... So... Crostini come out of the toaster oven looking all toasty (and smelling amazing - the olive oil I used was infused with garlic), and I let them cool a bit as I picked some basil leaves, rolled them up, and sliced them into ribbons. (I think that means I "chiffonaded" them, but that might not be a verb.)

If only we had smell-o-vision for blogs!

Alright. We have nifty toast. We have creamy cheese which... not gonna lie... tastes incredible. (We're talking "eat it with a spoon" incredible. The cottage cheese is completely transformed with that little bit of salt and the lemon zest. I second guess a lot of recipes, but I am so glad I did not second guess this one.) I drizzle a little extra oil on the cheese and top with the basil, and I am good to go.

Now here's the thing: This is not exactly a meal by itself. I mean... It certainly could be, but it's not intended to be. But it is incredibly inexpensive, and if you were to cut the entire baguette (I only did half), you'd probably have about 20 crostini when you were done. That's a lot of food for very little money.

And it was FAST. I realize I'm pretty handy in the kitchen, but I could never do any of those 30-minute meals in 30 minutes or less. But in the time it took to make these, I was able to do a quick re-heat on some leftover pasta with chicken and spinach.

Take a look at the following photos, and tell me which you'd rather have for dinner on a Thursday night:

a) Leftover pasta

b) Leftover pasta with fresh, flavorful, easy Creamy Cheese and Basil Crostini

Yeah. It's a no-brainer. This is one 8/28 Cooking Challenge recipe that I'm incredibly happy to have run across. I suspect it will be showing up at dinners and gatherings in the future.

(Fair disclosure: I have loved every recipe I've made from Ten Dollar Dinners - both the TV show and the cookbook. I watched the show fairly religiously when it was on, and I still follow Melissa d'Arabian on Facebook. If you're looking for a good, basic, easy-to-follow, and budget-friendly cookbook, this is a great way to go. Plus, you could get the full - exact - recipe, instead of my paraphrasing.)

Wednesday Watching - The Mysteries of Laura

I'm sure that talking about this will jinx it. But since I'm amazed that it has lasted this long, I figure I'll take my chances.

You see, I've actually found a new TV show this season that I enjoy. In recent years, those have been few and far between. But I saw a story on line, today, talking about the fact that no new shows have been cancelled, yet, this season. So I'm taking my chances.

I've been watching "The Mysteries of Laura" - it's a light, relatively fluffy, yet still police-procedural show on Wednesday nights. It stars Debra Messing (she was Grace on "Will and Grace," and has had other shows since then), and has a really good mix of characters in the ensemble.

She's not the best cop. She's not the best mom. She's not always styled to the hilt, nor is she a total schlub. She's funny, brassy, and ballsy.

And the show makes me very happy when I watch it.

I highly recommend it. (And, since I've done that, I recommend that you watch it soon, because with my luck it will now disappear...)

A Platypus Is Not A Metaphor

The book I'm currently working on is metaphor-packed. The title is a metaphor. The chapter titles are metaphorical. And in every. single. chapter. there are more metaphors.

There are animal metaphors. There are transportation metaphors. There are metaphors based on other metaphors.

I'm over halfway through it and I've kind of lost the point of the book, because I'm bogged down in so many metaphors. (One of which did include a bog, today.)

The book is taking me longer than I expected, simply because I keep forgetting what the author is referring to. And I've had to leave notes saying "I'm sorry, I don't understand this" more times than I care to count.

As I was thinking about all of these metaphors, I was reminded of a song on Phineas and Ferb which makes reference to metaphors. So I figured I'd share it (if you watch it, the title of this post will make more sense).

And, no, I don't mean that metaphorically - or a simile-ly either, for that matter.