Would a picture help?

Two Required Books: Sister of My Heart by Divakaruni  & The Kite Runner by Hosseini (These are the required books my seniors needed to get through.)

One from the Fiction pile: The Help by Stockett (This is easily my favorite book in a long time.)

One from the Non-Fiction pile: Decoded by Jay-Z (I confess I started reading this to break up my other non-fiction pic–What to Expect: The Toddler Years. And I started it because C.K. wasn’t finished with Clash of Kings, the sequel to Game of Thrones. But Decoded is smart, engaging, and has moments of real depth. Jay-Z’s talents in writing extend far beyond his incredible songwriting capabilities. And his perceptiveness is evident on every page. It comes with endnotes for when Jay-Z “close reads” his own songs–an aspect of the book that borders on academic. Decoded is definitely the “Seabiscuit” of my summer reading so far.)

Here’s my TOP TEN favorite Christmas songs (in no particular order):

1. “Joy to the World” as recorded by Mariah Carey

2. “O Come All Ye Faithful” as recorded by Celine Dion

3. “This One’s For the Children by New Kids on the Block (awesomely bad but still a favorite)

4. “Up on the Housetop as recorded by Jackson 5

5. “What Christmas Means to Me” by Stevie Wonder

6. “Do You Hear What I Hear?” by Whitney Houston

7. “Sugar Rum Cherry” by Duke Ellington

8. “Frosty the Snowman” by Harry Connick, Jr.

9. “Trepak” from The Nutcracker

10. “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” by Bruce Springsteen

And, just for good measure, here’s my TOP TEN least favorite Christmas songs:

1. “Baby, It’s Cold Outside” by whoever sings that song (It was cute in Elf. Other than that, it’s just creepy.)

2. “Santa Baby” by Madonna (There is nothing “Christmas-y” about Madonna. Never will be.)

3. “Give a Little Bit” by the Goo Goo Dolls (The Gap commercial killed it.)

4. “Here We Come A-Caroling” by anyone

5. “Happy X-Mas (War is Over)” by John Lennon (I know lots of people like this song. They are blinded by mindless Beatles worship. Get over it.)

6. “Jingle Bells” (This song is almost as annoying as “99 Bottles of Beer.”)

7. “Christmas Eve / Sarajevo 12/24″ by Trans-Siberian Orchestra (Good song. Played out.)

8. “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” by anyone but The Boss

10. “Feed the World” by Band Aid

Of course, I couldn’t stop there. So I included the last scene from Blood Sport and a scene from The Transporter. One could never write a post about awesome fight scenes in movie history without including Van Damage. And Jason Statham? I just threw him in for good measure. Enjoy.

It’s seems from these first two episodes that the show is returning to its old characters (Claire, Hiro, Peter, Nathan, Matt, HRG, and Sylar). They kept the one mascara twin, presumably because the actress is extremely attractive. Sure the show has some other lookers, but Ali Larter hardly ever gets screen time and Hayden is like twelve. (Sidenote: It’s totally gross that Milo Ventimiglia is dating her. I read that somewhere. “Somewhere” equals Us Weekly or some other high-gloss publication. Extreme sidenote: It’s a little disturbing that Dooney and Burke gave Hayden her own bag. I guess D&B is going for the younger customers now that teenagers carry Coach and Vera Bradley bags.)

And now I’m sidetracked. Heroes was pretty good. It kept my attention.

Interesting development: Dr. Suresh finally has powers. These new capabilities include spidy-sense and an out of control libido.

We also enjoyed this lovely proseco cocktail from Martha Stewart Living. It tastes like a variation of White Sangria. Here’s how to make it.

1 peach, diced

1/2 lb. strawberries, diced

3 tablespoons sugar

3/4 cup of vodka

bunch of basil, chopped up

1 bottle of Proseco, Italian sparkling wine

In the bottom of a pitcher add all the ingredients except the Proseco. With a wooden spoon, mash up the fruit well and leave it in the fridge to marinate. When you’re ready to serve it, add the bottle of Proseco and mix well.

Also on the menu…

Shrimp Cocktail

Salad with carrots, dried cherries, bleu cheese, balsamic vinagrette (Tara made it. I think it had nuts too.)

Filet Mignon with Bernaise sauce

Brussel Sprouts with Pine Nuts

Baked Potatoes

Cupcakes from Lulu in Scarsdale. (Very nice!)

Click read the rest of this entry to view them.

Here’s a compilation from YouTube by glassjaw1986 of the read Gordon saying “uh” a lot:

Goblins: What babe?

DB: The babe with the power.

Goblins: What power?

DB: The power of voodoo.

Goblins: Voodoo?

DB: You do.

Goblins: Do what?

DB: Remind me of the babe.

The power of the Bowie. What has Labrynith just taught us? That goblins ask a lot of damn questions and David Bowie should skip to the point. This is one of my favorite movies. It still gives me a good dose of the creeps (creepy in a good way though, not creepy-creepy like HBO’s Carnivale. Pause while we mourn the loss of Carnivale).

And I think I will forever be disturbed by David Bowie’s gray leggings and codpiece in this film.

I love when he throws the baby up in the air at the end.

The latter happened time and time again. I really hate it when judges on those shows use superlatives (the best cast, the best hip-hop dancer they’ve ever seen, the best routine of the season). On SYTYCD, the judges have clear favorites and use a lot of their screen time to stroke the choreographers’ egos. Don’t tell me who I’m supposed to like. And stop saying how brilliant Mia Michaels is. The woman is certifiably insane.

While this season wasn’t as good as seasons past, it was not bereft of talent either. In fact, I think Joshua is one of the best and most relatable dancers to ever grace the stage.