A Day in the Life...

Here's an update on the various things currently occupying my time:

-Television :: Alias

That's right, after four gripping seasons I've finally jumped on the bandwagon. Thanks to the magic of TV-on-DVD (seriously, my new favorite thing), I started season 1 of this series last week. It's quite good and totally easy to get hooked. I have to say, I definitely like Jennifer Garner 5x better than I ever did before after seeing her in only a handful of episodes so far. She's a royal badass, but you also want to be her friend. Hoping to catch up by the premiere of season 5 this fall, but am slightly disappointed to learn that ABC is switching the "Alias" timeslot to compete with "The O.C." on Thursday at 8 pm...

The music on this show is excellent, as well. After hearing "La Cienega Just Smiled" (Ryan Adams) in the third episode, I was sold. I'm really enjoying how great TV shows are finding a way to weave in really fantastic new music. I have to give some credit to one of my ol' favorites, "Party of Five," for being one of the pioneers of that. And then of course, "Dawson's Creek" really did a great job, and now I'd have to say "The O.C." reigns supreme.

(Edit: Meevs has just reminded me that the true pioneer for music on TV was "90210." C'mon, Brenda & Dylan in his convertible with "Losing My Religion" playing in the background? Classic.)

-Books :: One Hundred Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez

Whew. I finally got through this one last night. After hearing so much about this book and seeing it on countless "favorite books" lists of friends and famous people (Oprah, of course), I decided I had to read it.

Well, I can't say it was one of my favorites. I definitely enjoyed portions of it, as indicated by over a dozen post-it notes I have sticking out of the book, but on the whole, it was a difficult book for me. And this is the other thing I'd heard about it-- it takes some work! I'd actually gotten through about half of it over the summer, but put it down for too long that by the time I resumed I didn't have a clue what was going on and completely lost of track of all the Aurelianos and José Arcadios! I should have expected this type of thing from a book that posts a family tree at the very beginning, though!

Once I picked it up again, I tried to read it as a series of short stories, rather than trying to focus so much on how each character was connected to the next. And ultimately, this is what is rewarding about the book. García Márquez has a way with words, and he made even the most seemingly mundane daily activities of a family seem like pure magic.

In describing one of the family members of the Buendía family who begins eating the earth after her lover leaves, he says:

The handfuls of earth made the only man who deserved that show of degradation less remote and more certain, as if the ground that he walked on with his fine patent leather boots in another part of the world were transmitting to her the weight and the temperature of his blood in a mineral savor that left a harsh aftertaste in her mouth and a sediment of peace in her heart.

For me, this and many other beautiful expressions of language (this was translated, mind you) is what kept me pushing 'til the end. Getting to the end is worthwhile, too, as the long and complex story of the Buendía family concludes very nicely and kind of makes you breathe this big sigh of relief. It also makes you think about your own life and family and the kind of legacy you'll leave behind, and the strange sense that there could be a time, maybe a century from now, when the town you lived in could be so vastly different from how it is currently, and how your family and your stories could become merely a myth. Incredible, really.


-Music

So I've been helping Auddie load a bunch of music onto her new mini iPod (yes, we are officially an iPod family). At first I loaded on about 500 of the obvious picks-- her "Grease" Soundtrack, various teenybopper classics, Maroon 5, and so on and so forth. But then last night she wants to edit her collection, so we're sitting over iTunes and she's picking and choosing additional songs. Let me just say, I was so delighted when we started adding Ben Folds (a few songs at a time, initially, and then.. "oh just put that whole album in..!"), and then of course some Dave Matthews classics, and then some other unexpected "Pouy" music. I can definitely get into some of Auddie's fun music (Play's first album is a singalong essential), but it makes me really excited when I know I've influenced her taste at all, and that she can appreciate some of the stuff I force her to listen to if we're cruising around in the car.


-Random thought:

I just thought of this after seeing it in an episode of "Alias." I've never eaten Chinese food out of the carton, which is the only way it's ever eaten on TV. Why is this? Do people really do this? Or is it just for TV to indicate a "take out" dinner? Am I crazy and just overly anal about my mealtime that I have to use a bowl/plate to enjoy my take out? They overstuff the Chinese food boxes with food anyway, so how can you possibly be expected to just stick your chopsticks in there and start eating? And if it's rice? Nobody, especially not non-Asian folks (sorry), eat rice with chopsticks out of a carton. Besides, the box is always dripping with some sauce or grease at the bottom.


Current Music: Landed, by Ben Folds