It's a Movie Saturday

Friday, I went out after work with a co-worker and some mutual friends of ours and somehow spent about 4 hours in a bar without realizing it. So Saturday was quite a lazy, lounge on the bed, lounge on the couch, 30-rock watching day. I also re-watched one of my favorite movies "Me and You and Everyone We Know" before heading off to a delightful dinner with the bestie and her mom who's in town visiting. We went to see Frost/Nixon after that and now I am contemplating putting on some Harold & Maude to close out my evening.

Me & You & Everyone We Know is such a beautifully touching and remarkably un-cheesy movie about people trying to connect with each other. The casting is perfect, the music is perfect, and Miranda July (who I have a major girl crush on) writes really amazing subtle scenes with just the right amount of awkwardness, emotion, and sometimes just plain weirdness. I can't say enough about it, but really you only need one reason to see this movie and it's this:

I would have a baby only if I knew he would be this kid. The scene with ))<>(( has me in tears laughing every time I see it.

Frost/Nixon I am less crazy about, though I do like it. I had no idea Kevin Bacon was in it and I kind of giggled every time he had a major boner for Nixon. But wow, Frank Langella playing Nixon? A.Mazing. I never thought I'd feel almost bad for the guy. I wonder if someday someone will be able to make a movie that makes George Bush seem at least a little sad or worthy of some level of empathy (he should hope as much). Buuut, Nixon was much much smarter than GWB will ever dream to be and actually did have some accomplishments during his tenure, so maybe Bush will always be looked at as a huge retardo failure.

Also, it makes me sad to think that history just fuckin repeats itself. Parts of the Frost/Nixon interviews sound like they're coming straight from GWB himself (though of course, Bush isn't half as eloquent as Nixon is. He'd fuck up all the lines and sound like a retard, but the ideas and excuses are the same). This is one reason why I'm a major proponent of a serious investigation (if not prosecution, but a girl can dream..) into Bush's presidency. People like to throw out the bullshit line of "it's no time to point fingers. We have to look ahead, not back!" But if we don't look at what happened in the past, we are so fucking cliche doomed to repeat it. And Frost/Nixon is a wonderful reminder of that.

Now I think I'll watch another of my top 5 favorite movies, "Harold & Maude." I cry everytime I see it but it's so worth it. One of my favorite love stories ever. Goes to show I'd love a love story about a 19 year old and 79 year old. That shit is hot.

Can You Handle The Hotness?

I didn't think so.
ZOMG! Diego Luna and Gael Garcia Bernal back together again in a movie. Thank you Jebus.
I think both of them would be on my list of people that I would get a free pass to cheat on my boyfriend/husband with if I got the chance. Yay 2009! I didn't like Diego Luna in 'Milk' (loved the movie though) but he is so amazingly hot in 'Dirty Dancing 2: Havana Nights.' (And yes I realize I'm admitting I've seen it. But I'll go a step further and say I've seen it multiple times). But really. He was.

Oh how I love holidays. I spent new year's day reading and listening to episodes of "This American Life" that were on my podcast subscription but I hadn't listened to. Have I mentioned my nerdcrush on Ira Glass? I'm pretty sure I have.

I also watched a couple episodes of this crazy show I read about on Tokyomango about this guy who spent a year living in a room and could only live off things he won from mail-in contests. I'm not sure how he didn't starve that first month but watching him go nutty from lack of social interaction and do his victory dance every time the mailman came and delivered him stuff (like a live lobster, a TV, or a stuffed animal sea lion) is the kind of voyeuristic joy that can only be surpassed by the can-fessionals in MTV's newest fauxreality TV masterpiece, Bromance. I wonder when MTV will drop that completely misleading "music" from its network name and just dive head first into what it really does best. The True Lifes, the Mades, Paris Hilton's BFF-esque shows.. Just switch it to RTV or FRTV (which is just a step from FARTV! which would be the best network name ever. If you were an 8 year old boy..)

My weekend was relaxing. My bestie and I made baked macaroni & cheese, which I'll be eating for another day or so, and watched Serenity. I'm going to spend my Sunday finishing our book club book, doing some laundry, unpacking (I'm the slowest unpacker on the face of the planet), and heading to trivia tonight. Let's hope it doesn't snow again this week. But if it does, can it come with some pandas playing in my backyard?

Christmas Awesomeness

I'm back in cold rainy Portland after a wonderful week down in Alabama visiting the fam. My sister and my parents live there, as well as my sister's two dogs, Simba and Lil' Bear. They have now officially become the grandkids of the family. It's a bit ridiculous but they are truly great dogs. They may be spoiled with affection but they aren't aggressive or possessive. My parents are huge Cesar Millan fans and try to follow the Dog Whisperer way. I also got them hooked on It's Me or the Dog (I have a huge girl crush on Victoria Stillwell) so they are pretty good at controlling the puppies (which is good cause Lil' Bear is not so little).


Here's Lil' Bear doing some pre-washing of our dishes after our Christmas Eve dinner. 2 seconds after I took this picture, he bit that wooden spoon and cracked it. Oops! I had one of my best girlfriends from high school and her parents over for brunch on Christmas (we've known their family for about 14 years now). LB fell asleep under the table and snored so loud we had to yell over him. Yea he's kind of awesome. Simba is great too, best dog ever. All he wants in the world is for you to pet him and occasionally slip him some bacon.


These two brothers from another mother (and father) are awesome. The rest of my trip was great as well. I love my family. As crazy as they can be, they are endlessly hilarious, awesome, and entertaining.

I met up with most of the Girls Club, my group of girlfriends from high school. We all keep in touch pretty regularly and they are all just really awesome ladies. We had a few members missing but it was the biggest GC reunion we've had in awhile. My friend Susie has the coolest job ever. She works at Chicago Public Radio as a producer for "All Things Considered." You should listen to her stories and leave her comments about how awesome her reporting is! She says she doesn't see Ira Glass though (supposedly he's out in NYC most of the time) so no need to ask for an autograph or if he'll marry you or anything.

What else...oh! I went to a lesbian bar with my sis and saw possibly the gayest thing ever. A table decoupaged with pictures of Melissa Ethridge. Seriously. Melissa Ethridge fuckin decoupage.

Awesome! We had a great time watching the drag show and drinking cheap booze and chatting. I maybe drank a bit too much and felt it on the plane ride the next day but it was worth it.

Finally, I came home to this, my Christmas present to myself:

I cannot tell you how excited I am to carry around my new Golden Girls tote bag. I got it at this Etsy store. Afuckingmazing. So that's all for my now. I have no plans for New Year's Eve whatsoever. This is my first one actually in Portland and it's not looking like it'll shape up to be a good one, but if y'all hear of anything fun going on, let me know! I'd love to ring in 2009 in style.

Longest.Day.Ever.

Has today seemed like just the longest fucking day ever? I woke up and my first thought (after wanting to kill the creator of alarm clocks, as is my usual first thought every morning) was "How the fuck is it only Wednesday?!?" I got to work and every hour draaaaggggeeeeddd ooooonnnn for forever. My bestie concurred with my theory that time had somehow magically stretched. Then I went to get my hair cut and the guy trimming my bangs was like "Funny you mention long days, today has been the longest day for me too!" What's the deal y'all? I guess the only thing to do on days that go on forever (cheesus, it's not even 8:30!) is to watch videos of cute animals.

Now I don't know how this passed me by (I usually have my finger on the pulse of the cute animal stories network) but this video about Skidboot is amazing. How is that dog so smart? Anyone have any idea? Does Cesar Millan know about this? Can he explain how this dog is so brilliant? SKIDBOOT!!!



It's cramazing!

I think the Wired list did leave out a few. The cat with the major box problem comes to mind.


As does the Ninja Cat.


And this. (Ok, so it's not a video but some awesomely cute pictures. I'm sure there's a video of it somewhere on the intartubes).

But at least they have Christian the Lion on there. That video makes me tear up everytime I see it. I just watched it for the millionth time and got misty.

Anywho, I'm going to spend the rest of my day watching a movie decidedly not about cute animals. I'll let you know if Lust/Caution is worth watching. I've heard that it's the best movie ever and a horrible waste of time (from two different sources, obvs) but I love me some Ang Lee and I love me some hot Chinese actors so I'll give it a go. Here's to the end of the longest day ever.

How Agrado Spent Her Weekend

I spent the weekend at Elaine's house cause the bitch was down in Mexico where it's warm and sunny. On the upside, I got to housesit, which means I had a whole house to myself. A house that comes with a dog!! The easiest dog in the world to take care of. I let her out a few times a day, I fed her, I pet her, and then she just lay on her blanket while I watched Law & Order and Golden Girls (cause I'm 80 years old). It was heaven y'all. This is how Turtle spent most of her weekend.

I don't have a TV at home so I've been catching up on the multitudes of bizarro TV shows that are on now. I really wish I had Animal Planet. It's totes my new favorite network. I can watch it all day long. Fat Pets, Animal Cops, Dogs 101, Cats 101, It's Me or the Dog (though I'm not crazy about the new American episodes. What happened to her dominatrix outfits!?)

And isn't it weird that everything is now a realitv show? I just watched Scream Queens on Vh1. A girl I went to law school with is on Whale Wars (that show where militant animal rights activists ram into whaling ships). I saw a preview for a show about people that give parking tickets! I wonder if this is some attempt at making people happier with their jobs by showing that even mundane work is exciting enough for TV. Cause I'm in a profession that has a billion shows about it, and I seriously heart L&O, but it is nowhere near that exciting. I can't imagine that getting a role in Saw VI is really going to change your life and start your career. Being on ANTM won't even launch your career, and TyTy is exponentially more famous than all the Saw movies put together.

I also watched the season finale of The Pick-up Artist 2 (and by watched, I mean I had it on mute for half of the 10 minutes I was able to not implode from RT). Oh my god that is the most ridiculous show on the planet!! Despite the fact it is based on a laughably sexist premise, I can't even muster up the energy to be offended. Mystery is so distractingly, ludicrously ridiculous, I would need to make up a whole new word for him. At this point all I've got is wtfzomgwtf, but I'm sure I'll think of something better soon.

Now I'm back at my house. My cold sad house with other people living in it. I seriously need to get my own place soon. It's not that my roommate isn't nice (only 1 now, but 2 more are coming). I just have this thing where I don't want people around in my living space most of the time. I love having guests and stuff, but for the most part, I just want to be by myself. Especially in the morning when I'm a zombie-bitch-from-hell before I have my first cup of coffee. Is it so much to ask to just stay in your room until I leave for work! Sheesh.

Oh, and I did two other awesome things this weekend.
1) 2 of my girlfriends came over while I was at E's and we cooked an aaaaaamazing dinner of lamb meatballs on polenta with veggies. We sat around, drank wine, talked shit. It was awesome.

It doesn't look half as good in that picture as it tasted. But try it. It's fuckin delish.

2) I went to the NIN show at the Rose Quarter. Holy crap it was amazing (and I realize I say a lot of shit is amazing, but omg, seriously. This show was Afuckinmazing.*) I've seen them before and I've had a long-lasting crush on Trent Reznor (I secretly heart goth dudes. They're so pensive!), but they have put together some crazy shit for this tour. Not only do they rock the old school tracks, the visuals at the show are unreal. And again. Hot.

So that was my weekend. My birthday party was not that fun, which is why I didn't post about it. Aaah well, what can you do. I could (and probably will) write more about my new favorite shows and other awesome meals I've cooked (or my friends have cooked and I played sous chef). But it's Monday night, and I'm totes over my day.

* I really need substitutes for "amazing" and "awesome." I use them way too much.

It's my berffdaay!

Woot woot! Monday birthdays generally aren't that great, what with the work thing and all, but I managed to have a chill stress-free day at the office. I usually love to do fun things for my bday. Big dinners and nights out but I guess I shouldn't have become a lawyer a year ago and been so lame as to not really do much for my birthday by the time I'm 25. Aaaaahh well, that's how shit turns out.

I just ate at Le Pigeon for dinner and holy crap it was good. We (being my bestie, Jacob, and I) had some pig (the magical animal) for every course. Pork belly and egg noodles (with truffles - my absolute favorite flavor ever) for appetizers; beef cheek and the most amazing piece of pork I've ever had for an entree.



And for dessert? Cornbread with maple ice cream, apricots, and BACON of course!



My pictures didn't turn out that great but after more than half a bottle of wine, my camera aim and selection of camera settings was, perhaps, not at its peak. I love the Pidge for many reasons. Even their vegetarian food is awesome. I was a vegetarian for 7 years before I went to China and I've had a few wonderful vegetarian meals at Le Pigeon. I also went through my foiegrastarianism there, where I ate no meat except foie gras at LP. It's a really exclusive food movement, not too many of us ever existed. But now that I'm back to eating meat when the urge strikes, I wanted to go all out. And though I feel like I've had enough meat to last me until my next birthday, my belly is happy.

There's not too much else on my wish list this year. I do want some boots, a new winter jacket, and maybe a date with either T.I., Jon Hamm, or James Franco (shit, can I just be Sean Penn and make out with both Franco and Diego Luna!!??). Jet Li, Jon Stewart, and Rahm Emmanuel are also always on that list. Agrado's Future Dog Sprinkles Fund (AFDSF) is still accepting donations and I could really use my own apartment. One of those new condos popping up all over Portland will do just fine. Like the Sunrose on 28th & Burnside. Top floor on that one would be great. Y'all got that? Cool.

Teh Hotness

Taken from a benefit for the Spina Bifida Association.
Here is an ok video of the roast. It's a bit shaky and I'd really love to see more reactions (like Dana Perino's!) so I hope a better version comes out soon, but it's worth a watch. Oh Rahm...you're so dreamy...

My Silly Casey Negreiff Story

Yes I have one.

I have not been a long time OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting, for those not in-the-know) listener. While I totally love and respect the NPR enterprise, I’d rather rock out to my decidedly 2006 playlist than be reminded of the financial crisis and how much I hate George Bush’s voice. I am a huge fan of driving only because I love to sing along to any and everything that I know the lyrics to. So when my car’s CD player died for good about 3 months ago, OPB was my go-to in the morning. When the only other choices are horribly annoying loud offensive sexist douchebags, ‘Morning Edition’ was an easy choice. I am now completely addicted to my morning dose of perfectly unbiased, thoughtful news while I drive to work. This is how I first became familiar with Caseina Griff. Not only does he have the calm, academic voice that I imagine is accompanied by a geeky-sexy intellectual personality and nerd glasses, but he has the strangest name ever! Everyday I would wonder how he spelled his name (is it Caseyna? Caseina? Caseena? I was leaning towards Caseina), where it came from, if other people thought it was strange. My first thought (and I’m pretty sure I’m the only person that has ever made this connection) was of that 70s movie with David Carradine and Sylvester Stallone, “Death Race 2000,” that takes place in a dystopian future (2000!) with no values or respect for human life and the ultimate entertainment is watching cars run down old people and babies. Anyone remember this? No? Eh. Anyway, while this is all going on, an underground movement is trying to stage a revolution. A delightfully crappy story of American values blah blah blah, but the leader is one Thomasina Paine, related to Thomas (with the cleverly chick-ified name!)*. So literally, my first thought after hearing Caseina Griff’s name was “hmm…I wonder if this is like "Thomasina Paine" and some odd attempt at changing a name to be more feminine. But he's obvs a guy, so maybe his parents wanted to shirk gender rules and instead of just naming him Casey, they’ll name him Caseina, as in a distinctly feminine Casey, but he’s a boy!” Seriously. That stupidly complicated thought process went through my head the first time I heard Casey Negreiff’s name.

The other day I was at my bff’s house and we were talking about public radio personalities and how we both imagine that all of the hosts on NPR/OPB must be incredibly attractive (::ahem:: Ira Glass!) with such powerfully soothing voices. My bestie wanted to know what Kristian Foden-Vencil looked like and while I was scrolling through the other hosts, I discovered the truth of Caseina Griff. Casey. Negreiff. Well no shit Agrado.

Now I can't help but laugh at how arbitrary and random my thought process is every time I hear his name. At least I was right about the nerd glasses.

And just to throw it out there, Casey Negreiff, if you ever google your name and come across this post, I’m totes available, allergic to cats, and love cooking. Unless of course, working for public radio precludes you from hanging out with people who say 'totes' and 'obvs.'

*Ha, I just wiki’d this movie and found this line: “Disruption of the race by the resistance is blamed on the French by the state, who are also blamed for ruining the country's economy and telephone system.” ::shakes fist at France:: The French! Why must they ruin everything! Including our telephone system!