Amber & Just One More Thing...

Oh my goodness, I love Columbo.

I have been watching episodes from Netflix which aired on the Mystery Hour from the early 1970s and they are fantastic.  Unlike most modern mystery programs, the first 20 minutes show the murder so we, the audience, know the identity of the murderer and therefore more than Columbo.  We then get the pleasure of watching him slowly, slowly, and persistently circle in on the answers, picking up clues and putting them in the pockets of his rumpled trench coat.  He is the anti-Poirot: thinking aloud, imprecise, and clean-shaven.  And yet somehow, in the midst of his sloppiness and annoying questioning and self-depreciating asides, he brings calm and justice.

Peter Falk is fabulous.  His Columbo is an enigma.  Just how goofy is he really?  Is his tangential babbling all a rouse to disarm the crooks?  Or is he simultaneously bumbling and genius?  Whichever he is, he is likable.  The anecdotes about his wife ("My wife says I am the second best [detective].  She says there are 80 guys tied for first place.") round his person.  The episodes are filled with little human moments like when our hero blushes when kissed by a hooker played by Valerie Harper.  (I guess we know what happens in season 3 of Rhoda after her marriage to Joe dissolves.)  (I never liked that Joe or his temper.)

And the guest stars!  John Cassavetes (who directed Falk in some fantastic roles), Leonard Nimoy, Julie Newmar, Eddie Albert, Roddy McDowall (whose Lord Love a Duck is also on Netflix streaming), Anne Baxter and Edith Head (playing herself and choosing a new tie for the detective).

Dare I say it?  I may enjoy Columbo more than either Castle or Bones.

God bless, Peter Falk.  My favorite angel-seer über Berlin.





Who better to explain the simple joys of being alive?  Compañero.

Amber & I Love Pooh

And not just Classic Pooh or Pooh from those Taoist books.  I was raised on Sears & Roebuck Disney Pooh with the red half-shirt, and Piglett in the pink-stripe leotard.  And I love that Pooh.  I loved my aforeblogged Talking Viewmaster Viewer with the amazing depth to the images, but I also loved the flatter hand-painted animations.  Like with the Heffalumps and Woozles.

(Yes, that Pooh nightmare gave me nightmares, but it was a growth experience.)

So just imagine my excitement, when Jimmy directed my attention to this.



I cried. That is how excited I am.  Who is in for a midnight screening on the day it opens?  Huh?

Come on, people.  It's Pooh.  And there seems to be a honey dream/dance sequence.

Love.

Amber & Baby Kevin

It was on this day in history that baby Kevin entered the world.  He was very small and probably wrinkly, like babies are, but I imagine he looked something like this.

Only maybe he didn't have glasses then.  But that scarf is from his heritage and so it seems likely they swaddled him in that in the hospital.

Well, today we celebrate that day, long, long and almost six feet tall ago.  Several rotations of the hands of this clock have passed, anyway.

(Photo by Jimmy)

And, now Kevin is my professional colleague in addition to being my morale booster, musical entertainment, life advice coacher, and truly wonderful friend.  He is also a snappy dresser--this jacket is also heritage, so maybe this was what he wore to his Christening?

(Photo by Jimmy)

Kevin is the kind of loyal, heartful friend that you need for your first chakra.  If someone is going to pack up the contents of your life and present them to you in a U-Haul truck, you want it to be Kevin.

(Photo by Jimmy)

 Kevin will present you with the truth (maybe that you are a hoarder) with humor and caring.  Kevin understands that you're just a regular person and he respects you for it.

Thanks, Kevin, for being born, and for being one of the smartest, generous, funniest, most celebratory, best-haired, book-lovingest, tallest, most dedicated, strongest, and kitty-lovingest people I know.  Had we not met sometime in between your birth and now, I would be much, much less and not at all who I am today.

So, Happy Birthday, Baby Kevin.  And Big Kevin, too.

Amber & Oh, My Queen

Thanks to the tornado (which I witnessed outside while picking up farm share and running a fever of 102), I had no Internet yesterday.  Time Warner's lady robot who answered their phone when I called yesterday from my sick bed, desperate for amusements, described it as a "storm-related outage" and assured me that the technicians knew how important my cable was to me and were trying to restore my service.  (She also didn't understand my responses when I said "yes, please."  Robots do not appreciate courtesy.)

But, it came back in the middle of the night with a vengeance, in the form of a dedicated foe of evil, defender of the weak, champion of truth and justice.

I loved Isis.  I remember very little about the show, except that it was on at the end of Saturday cartoons and that she would invoke various Egyptian gods to give her powers.  I would get the TV listings from the paper and then highlight the shows I wanted to watch so I would know to change the channel when needed at the right time.  And, I always changed to channel 3 for Isis.  I seem to remember some episode about an archeological dig?  Or maybe that was just the backstory in the opening credits?  I remember, though, that I loved it.  And so it must be good, right?

After all, she's a snappy dresser and a part of my heritage.  And she predates this other part of my heritage by about ten years.

I wonder if she will scare Nick, Diana, and Kevin as much as that younger heritage.

Amber & My Gift

So, today is a super big day for me for two reasons.

First, I got a chiropractic jaw adjustment, my first ever.  Dr. Cooper is a miracle worker.

He started off my massaging the inside of my mouth which was not very enjoyable.  And then he did that scary magic thing with the cracking sound.  And now my jaw is in a different place; I am actually biting my tongue a bit and have a lisp, which the doc says will get better as I adjust to the correct position.  He said it moved a whole centimeter.  Crazy stuff.  And, now I am wicked sleepy, likely from the release of all of the tension.  Maybe tonight, I can sleep through dawn?

The second big thing today, maybe even bigger than my jaw miracle, is that maybe I will get my big dancing break tonight.  I mentioned to my chiropractor that I was planning to go see Nick's sister dance tonight.  (Also, I asked to leave postcards in his waiting area.  Seriously, it sounds wonderful and you should go.  It's about the Forest, which is very timely for me--stay tuned.)  Dr. Cooper asked what I had been doing to prepare in the event they asked me to join them on stage.  Why, I have been born to dance, as readers of this blog know.

But, even those with natural gifts sometimes need to use them lest we lose them.  To this end, I have spent the week watching Shakira videos.



See?  Anything I want, anything in the whole wide world.  And what I want?  Is to share my gift.

I only hope the world is ready.  I fear the crowd might yell, "Give us Barabbas!"  And then my dance would be silenced.  Not to use too heavy of a metaphor.  Or to bring to mind my favorite summer reading.

More than anything else in the world the Procurator hated the smell of attar of roses.

Amber & Double Gold

Who has two gold bagpiping medals that he won today and deserves our congratulations?

This guy!

Congratulations, Jimmy!

Amber & The Great Fork Massacre of 2010

On my way to the office this morning, I passed the tragic site of The Great Fork Massacre. Lo!

On the corner of Madison and 29th Street, there were, for no reason I can offer, thousands of shredded and mutilated little plastic fork corpses.

I tried Googling ("weird forks in street madison ave new york," "broken forks road madison ave new york") but came up with no explanation for this senseless waste of fork lives.

Our thoughts go with you, brave little plastic fork soldiers, slain in battle, I can only imagine, with a giant  order of To Go Lo Mein.  Our brave heroes!  Remember our fallen fork brethren.

Amber & For Terri Beth

There is really nothing else to say.  Wonder.

Amber & The Champions, My Friend

Remember when James became a bagpipe heavy medalist?  And then, oops, he did it again?

Well, congratulations are once again in order.  He won two silver medals yesterday at the Highland Games and Scottish Festival at Bonnie Brae.  It's so nice to see something James has practiced at since I first knew him flourish and blossom into a talent others recognize and hand out medals for.

James also reports...

And I saw a cutie groundhog, but he was too quick for me to get a photo of him.

I imagined he looked something like this guy from the fiends over at CuteOverload.

Amber & Pen Pals

My favorite annual pen pal, Wonder Woman, sent me another great tome.

Clearly, one of her super powers, in addition to jumping over ships, making star underpants sexy and smiling, is wisdom.

I am a good person, even if!  Thank you, Wonder Woman, for understanding.

I can't wait to see what special messages she has for me next third week in April.

Amber & Mind Blenders

Sometimes on the weekend when I am engaged in meditative activities like laundry and house chores, my mind is like a blender mixing together different ideas and thoughts and quite often coming to exciting new conclusions (often then forgotten by Monday) or new resolutions.  Today, I made a smoothie from the different delicious fruits and yogurts and ice cubes that CRD served up over at Internals Plural.

I was thinking about what I would be like if I hadn't ever met some of my BFFs and also remembering how central Kate Bush, who might just become HUGE with the Twighlight fans any minute now when they Google "Wuthering Heights," was to many of my first conversations with CRD.  And if it wasn't for Kate, Jerry and I wouldn't have first bonded, and I would have never met his roommate, Kevin, who introduced me to Diana, or his friend Chuck's friend James.  And then who would I be?

And that made me think about how much of who I am, the quintessence not sparked by my BFFs and family, is all thanks to Kate.  After all, Kate defined pretty for me with leotards, beautiful sparkle eyes and red lips.

And where do you think my love of big hair came from?  When I want to be pretty, really, I want to be Kate.

And without Kate, I might not have pursued my dream and honed my skills in interpretive dance...and wouldn't the office be a less interpretive place without it?



And, aren't we, after all, what we eat?



Like a pomegranate, insides out, all is revealed: everything I am, Kate, is you, too.

Amber & Remembering

On this day, 99 years ago, tragedy struck New York.  And on this day, today, once again, we remember thanks to some anonymous but very familiar-looking, chalking.

I used to take classes in the building where so many young garment workers lost their lives.

It strikes me as very important and weighty to remember the events that took place and the lives lost.

Those lives remind of us a New York now gone.  These names and their ages and addresses, give us a snapshot both into a particular labor heritage we share as New Yorkers, and into an ethnic history now rapidly being erased by Lower East Side bars and NYU undergraduate class rooms.

And, it reminds us of the struggles of modern workers for the very basic right of safe working conditions.

And it reminds us how lucky we readers of this blog are to have fire escapes and unlocked doors and posters reminding us of our NEW YORK BREASTFEEDING rights.

Thanks, anonymous chalkers, for not letting us forget where we came from, of what's important, and how to make nice capital G's.

I'll be working on a dance for the 100th anniversary next year.  Stay tuned.

Amber & Eyes

Look at the way Steed looks at Mrs. Peele as she pins a carnation to his lapel in the opening credits.

I want to go to there.

Amber & Mrs. Peel, We're Needed

With the holidays leaving my Hulu queue as dry as a dessert, I've been watching the 1967 season of The Avengers over on Netflix Watch Instantly.

These are the episodes I remember most vividly (in color, one might say, or colour) from my youth.  Obviously, I wasn't quite alive for the original run, but I think they aired late nights on PBS, after my other favorite and fellow British Isler, Doctor Who.

As an adult, the highlight is the charm of Mrs. Peel and John Steed.  Their banter and chemistry is superb, as are Mrs. Peele's outfits.  She karate chops and flips her hair and makes puns, all while looking lovely with fake eyelashes.

Steed remains dapper and with-chapeau while mayhem swirls around him.  I still find him irresistible.  I'd take Steed over Johnny Depp any day.

Another highlight is the surprise special guest stars that I doubt I noticed on first watching.  A super special treat was a bespectacled Jon Pertwee (the third Doctor on Doctor Who) in full brigadier gear.

And, later in the season, there was a bearded young Donald Sutherland rocking pin-up girl bangs and a weird Eastern (cold war) accent.

But, even with my new adult skills and a BFA in program watching, I still find the villains just as creepy as I did as a wee lass.  Only now, I just make the window smaller on my laptop rather than hiding behind the couch.

But then, as now, I knew things would end well with mystery solved, Steed and Peele quipping and flirting and being suggestive in a distinctively British way with that peppy, and happy music in the background.

And that lavender outfit!  I still want to be Emma Peel when I grow up.

Amber & Anniversaries of Births

Today is the 46th anniversary of my longest-running favorite program, Doctor Who.

To celebrate last week, Jimmy brought down a copy of the latest episode which just aired on the BBC, Waters of Mars, and some delicious papri chaat for lunch.

(Photo from the fantastically inspiring MidtownLunch.com, a midtown worker's best friend)

Jimmy and the Doctor AND Indian street food made for the most enjoyable lunch hour ever in the office.

Kevin may not have been so interested in the penultimate episode starring my most crushingest crush, David Tennant, but he sure was interested in some chaat and the fresh, hot naan that came with it.

Jimmy brought to my attention that is also Harpo Marx's birthday.

This clip from the British Queer as Folk is perfect for today, merging, as it does, things Doctor Who-related and birthdays.  (Also, the show's creator was also the person responsible for the revival of the Doctor in the 21st century, which explains what K-9 is doing at a gay birthday.  Thank you, Russel T. Davies.)



Bloody brilliant, as they say.

Amber & It Takes One

Exciting news! There are two full additional seasons of everybody's favorite criminal-working-for-the-good-guys show, It Takes a Thief, on Hulu.  I bet you can guess what I'll be doing this weekend.

Al Mundy was one of the first Hulu Heroes I discovered.  In season two, he says things like "swinging place" and refers to women as "birds."  He also wears alot of white pants.

Hulu is also featuring a modern day re-telling of sharp-dressed caper-creator working for the G-Men, somewhat against his will in the new series White Collar.

It's the same premise: cunning con-man gets out of prison, works with a disdainful cop, has secret heart of gold, smarter than the Feds, handsome, hair parted on the side, etc.  The new one stars that handsome man who looked really familiar and then I remembered he played the handsome spy on Chuck.

He's good at playing handsome men.  The pilot itself was pretty good--not great, but good.  I'd watch the second episode.  One highlight was that it featured Miss Diahann Carroll as the widow of an Old Time con man, donor of the thief's wardrobe, and owner of a fancy New York penthouse into which the thief moves.  Miss D added a nice touch of elegance to the show, as did the art forgery plotline and blue contact lenses worn by the lead.

 I sure love the handsome criminal shows.  Thank you, Hulu.

Amber & Intertextuality

It's a Firefly reference in an episode of Castle.



Thank you, television, for acknowledging that the reason I watch this run-of-the-mill procedural dram is 20% love of the genre, 20% witty banter, 5% the cop's flippy hair, and 35% nostalgia for Nathan Fillion's best role ever.  Even better than Captain Hammer.  And thank you, Hulu, for making it possible.  (I'm so grateful for everything right now, especially acupuncture.)

Amber & Stocking Cap Starts

Today marks the 18th anniversary of the day I met Kevin. It was, perhaps more notably, the day he moved into his NYU dorm room. Due to some previously made friendship, dueling stereo systems, and Kevin's flexibility, he wound up with my friend Jerry as a roommate.

Little did I know, when I saw him in a stocking cap and yellow sweatshirt and knit bootie slippers dancing on his chair to the Pixies that he would become such an important part of my universe and, eventually, my boss.

Nor did I realize at the time that he knew the secret last name of the Virgin Mary which he shared with me in the ice cream parlor in Port Jervis in this photo by James in 2004.


Kevin brings joy to my life. Thank you, Kevin, for eighteen years of friendship.

Amber & Birthday Treats

Diana made a delicious ice cream terrine with layers of rhubarb frozen yogurt, Italian plum sorbet and peach sorbet. It is frakking delicious!

Holy crap, Diana. You are amazing.

[Update 11:37 pm: I added these photos to show a) that Kevin was not bored by the terrific terrine, but rather with my photojournalistic intrusion...

...b) what a joyous and lovely laugh Diana has...

...c) it was a birthday celebration, and d) I can fill up my cheeks like a squirrel does but with air instead of nuts.]

[P.S. Don't I look oddly like Woody Allen in that shot? Look at the eyebrows.]