lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Tuesday, November 25, 2003
"Two questions: One, where's the fife?  And two, gimme the fife!"
That's right, folks, it's time for the annual edition of Now You, Too, Can Know What Little Beth-Annie Desires for Christmas.  Oh how I hate it.

~ Waverly Garden Room Fruit Toile Dishes (red) - Any part of 8 dinner plates, salad plates, bowls; from Target (not avail. online)
~ Iowa State golf towel
~ FAKE hanging plant - so it stays alive ;)  (I like tropical stuff)
~ The Year That Trembled DVD
~ Jennifer Lopez Still perfume (yeah, right! :))
~ Garden plant encyclopedia
~ African art
~ New York City guidebook
~ Guster Goldfly CD
~ Josh Rouse Dressed Up Like Nebraska CD
~ Calexico Feast of Wire CD
~ Clothes! (usually size M)
~ Counting Crows August and Everything After Songbook

No one in my immediate family will be getting the same list for convenience sake.  Thank you.

EDIT (11:34pm): I changed my mind on the TYTT DVD--I'm just going to buy it myself when it's released Dec. 9.  I doubt anyone would have gotten it for me anyway. :)
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Monday, November 24, 2003
And on to happier things.
A great big hug goes out to FOX for picking up "Arrested Development" for an entire season.  I am simply shocked.

Many people will be happy to know that the first season of "Gilmore Girls" will be released on DVD in the first half of next year.

The past two weekends we have gotten over half of our Christmas shopping done.  That is very strange.  VERY strange.  I will post my Christmas wish-list later tonight or tomorrow for those normal people who wait until after Thanksgiving.

I see Kaly tonight!  Yay times many!
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Friday, November 21, 2003
Further explanation...
Okay, here's the deal.  I know I don't *need* to do this, but since you all are nice enough to read my blog on a regular basis, I feel one of the purposes of that is so that you can get to know me better.  Getting to know people is a good thing, I think.  So, so you can understand me better, I am going to attempt to explain where I'm coming from and why this Jonathan Brandis thing has hit me so hard.

First of all, you need to understand that this all goes back about ten years, which for someone my age is a pretty long history.  Jonathan Brandis was my first, and only, celebrity crush (I will refrain from using the term "teen idol" here, because I just don't like it).  When I was a young teenager he was the be-all end-all for me.  I bought (or begged my parents to buy me) all those teeny-bopper magazines he was plastered all over, taped every little thing he was in on TV, and eagerly read every interview or article I could get my hands on.  I laughed at all the other girls who would write in to the magazines professing their undying love (seriously) and claiming they KNEW they were going to marry him one day... I was never quite that delusional, thank goodness, but I sure did my fair share of drooling over his pictures and at least imagining merely meeting him and getting his autograph some day.  I even once made his mom's chocolate chip cookie recipe after it was given in an article.  All silly stuff, really, but I was young and, well, silly, and those are the kinds of things adolescent girls do.  Kaly was in on all this with me, though to a lesser extent as her devotion was split between Jonathan and Rider Strong (sorry if you didn't want that outed, dear ;)).

So, "seaQuest" ended, and I grew out of my obsession.  I still made an effort to catch him in the TV movies and such he did after that; I never completely lost interest in seeing him in new things, but I didn't care in quite the way I used to.  Up until now I've looked him up on occasion to see what he's been up to, just as I have with a lot of the other "seaQuest" actors, so I could catch his recent projects and because I was curious to see how he was growing up.  On Monday I just happened to be doing so and stumbled upon a message on a forum where someone had posted a little blurb from a Cleveland newspaper that he had been found dead in his apartment in Los Angeles the previous Wednesday.

Now, among the other things I've mentioned before, I think one of the reasons this has been so on my mind for so many days now is that no one seemed to know for sure if it was true.  All anyone had to go on was ONE SINGLE blurb in ONE random newspaper.  For days.  There had apparently been false reports of this kind before, and the fact that there was no corroboration of the story from anywhere else had many of his fans convinced it was a hoax or a case of mistaken identity or just some other kind of mistake.  The single story began to spread around the internet, and some people started getting supposed "confirmations," though not from any official sources, and conflicting information began to fuel wild speculation and rumors.  No one knew what to believe or whether to believe any of it at all.

Slowly more and more things began to surface that seemed to make it more and more likely that it was in fact true, and that it was THE Jonathan Brandis.  It wasn't until yesterday that the story started to trickle into the REAL press, five days after the Cleveland paper article and over a week after he died.  As fans who wanted desperately to believe anything in the world other than that the report was correct, it wasn't until the real news outlets finally picked it up that we could really accept it as 101% true, that there was absolutely no chance it was some horrible mistake or joke.  All that time of uncertainty and rumor caused me to spend a lot of time all week on the internet, trying to find out what was going on and talking with other fans of his who were feeling the same things.  If it had just been immediately reported everywhere like most celebrity deaths, so that there wasn't that long period of not knowing what was real and constantly trying to find out (which doesn't do much for getting it off your mind), I think it would have been much less painful.  The way it was dragged out only served to put all of his fans, myself included, through several days of agony.

Even though my crush faded long ago, the fact remains that he was an important part of my childhood, and like so many others I've talked to this week I feel as if a small part of that childhood has died along with him.  And besides the memories of when I was younger, even now I was still his fan.  I still looked forward to seeing him in future movies or TV shows, and hoped to one day see him fulfill his dreams of directing and writing (I have a copy of the "seaQuest" script he co-wrote, and I'm glad for that).  I never wrote him a fan letter or asked for an autograph.  I wish I had.

I will miss him.

Jonathan Gregory Brandis
April 13, 1976 - November 12, 2003
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Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Depressment of the month... maybe year...
I know this isn't going to mean much to you, but...  I found out yesterday that Jonathan Brandis died.  He was my favorite actor from my favorite television series of all time (seaQuest), and he was only 27.  I don't really know what to say...  There's no way I can convey to you how upset I am or how someone I didn't know could mean so much to me...  But he was one of those few celebrities that I for some reason felt like I did know in some strange way, and as a result I'm feeling a much greater sense of loss than I ever have at the death of a celebrity.  After I found out I spent much of last night just on the verge of tears, but never quite letting myself get there (I expect I'll lose it sometime soon).  I guess it sounds kind of silley to be so affected by the death of someone I didn't even know, but I just don't think I could ever explain it in a way that you'd understand (for anyone except Kaly, anyway--she's the one person I know who can really relate to how I'm feeling right now).  I grieve for his parents, for the seemingly unfair loss of someone so young, and for myself and all of his fans at the knowledge that we will never again see one of our favorite actors in a another role.

And I apologize to you guys, too, but I think I may take a break for the rest of the week.  I'm just not feeling much of a motivation to blog right now.

God bless.
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Monday, November 17, 2003
The good, the eh, and the ugly.
Now that the new television season is in full swing and I have had what I feel is sufficient time to sample some of the goods, for the benefit of those readers of mine who actually watch TV (which I think is roughly half), it is time to run down, in no particular order:

The Best New Shows That Haven't Been Cancelled -- Yet.

1.  "Arrested Development" - FOX, Sundays @ 9:30/8:30c.  A very original, half-hour non-situation comedy that is probably the funniest 30-minute show currently being produced (let's face it, "The Simpsons" is still hit and miss at best).  Offbeat and adult (not dirty adult, just adult) in its humor, don't expect it to be around for long.  But don't let that stop you from watching what few episodes do air.

2.  "Joan of Arcadia" - CBS, Fridays @ 8/7c.  Yes, God appears to the teenage Joan in various human forms and asks her to do things.  I'm betting we've all heard that.  But I'm here to tell you the show is actually good.  The characters are likable but have human flaws, and nothing has gone against my personal theological beliefs.  What's most interesting is that the main character is not a "church-goer" (nor is anyone in her family), and so we are getting to watch the beginning steps of her journey toward faith and how it starts to affect others around her ever so gradually.  And it's all done in a very subtle, unobtrusive way so you, along with the characters, don't necessarily notice how change is occurring little by little.  The main underlying theme is of the consequences (good or bad) that any action can have--hence God asking Joan to do things that don't make any sense to her until later, but of course He knew all along what would go down.  Like "Touched By an Angel" it stays away from Christian-specifics for the most part, but it is, for me, light years ahead of that show as far as watchability and saccharine (or lack thereof) level.

3.  "Las Vegas" - NBC, Mondays @ 9/8c.  It's shiny (Las Vegas), pretty (Las Vegas, Josh Duhamel, Vanessa Marcil), fast-paced (Las Vegas), and rugged-but-lovable (James Caan), with the perfect mix of drama, intrigue, and comedy.  Not terrifically intellectually stimulating, but it's not supposed to be--think the television equivalent of a good, summer popcorn movie:  entertainment for pure entertainment's sake.  It's not for everyone, but it sure is for me.

4.  "A Minute With Stan Hooper" - FOX, Wednesdays @ 8:30/7:30c.  I know what you're thinking:  "But, but, but... this is a NORM MACDONALD show!  True that.  And I have despised the man for years.  So I really can't explain to you WHY this is such a good show, but it is.  It's actually FUNNY.  And Norm himself is NOT annoying.  I'm so confused.  What does this all mean?  I think I need therapy...

5.  "Miss Match" - NBC, Fridays @ 9/8c.  Kind of like "Las Vegas," this is an entertainment show rather than a thinking show--though it's completely different in style and substance from the afroementioned.  Sweet and at times cute, it's a nice watch for a Friday night at home, with a little love combined with a little lawyering.  I've never liked Alicia Silverstone so much in something--she just IS her character.  I wouldn't be devastated if it were cancelled, but I certainly would be disappointed.

6.  "Tru Calling" - FOX, Thursdays @ 8/7c.  It's a real shame that this got buried in the death timeslot opposite "Friends" and "Survivor," because it could have been a great show.  I say "could have" because, even though it has yet to be cancelled, I somehow don't think FOX is going to let a 4-million-viewers-per-week show live much longer (unless they decide to show some mercy and give it a shot elsewhere on the sched before canning it).  It sounds a little odd, yes:  a pretty twentysomething morgue worker has dead people ask her for help, and she is then promptly wisked back in time to live the day over again and try to save their lives.  Hey, I was a fan of "Early Edition," and while Eliza Dushku is no Kyle Chandler (though if I were a guy I bet she would be ;)), I dig this show.  And I will continue to watch it even though doing so creates another one of those times when there are three things on at once (the other being Wed. between 7 and 8).  Don't cancel this one, FOX.  Just move it.

7.  "The O.C." - FOX, Wednesdays @ 9/8c.  I know I've already told you how I love my "O.C.," so this is just to reiterate:  I love my "O.C."  It went into a bit of a slump just before FOX broke for the baseball playoffs, and I wondered if it was starting to fail to keep up with its creative start, but a few episodes back now it appears my fears were unfounded.  For the time being.  I wish they'd lay off the tempting of the spouses with various eye-candies, though.  Sandy is not going to cheat on his wife by kissing pretty co-worker Mona... er, um, whatever pretty co-worker's name is.  You can drop it now.  And more Adam Brody.  Always more Adam Brody.

The Jury's Still Out.
(OR, Okay shows that are not terrible but could be/get better.  If they aren't cancelled.)

"The Lyon's Den" - NBC, Sundays @ 10/9c.  Two words:  Kyle.  Chandler.
"I'm With Her" - ABC, Tuesdays @ 8:30/7:30c.  A mediocre sitcom.  With Rory's dad.
"Hope and Faith" - ABC, Fridays @ 9/8c.  I love Kelly Ripa.  That is all.
"Karen Sisco" - ABC, Wednesdays @ 10/9c.  Hit and miss.  Need more info.

Tried and Died.
"The Brotherhood of Poland, N.H." - CBS.  BORRRRR-RRRRING...  Cancelled.
"Skin" - FOX.  Critically acclaimed.  Saw two eps, just couldn't get into it.  Cancelled.
"Coupling" - NBC.  Yeah, I tried it.  Ick.  Cancelled.
"One Tree Hill" - WB.  BORRRRR-RRRRING.  Click.  Still on air.
"Run of the House" - WB.  Stu-pid.  (Though not enough to warrant double-letters or all-caps.)  Joe Lawrence ain't half bad, though (never liked him during the "Blossom" years).  Cancel this show so he can come back to "American Dreams," please.  Still on air.

Anything else (new) I haven't watched and don't care.  Just like you all. :)
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Thursday, November 13, 2003
Executive decision: This is officially Music Week.
We have bought tickets to a weeknight concert in Indianapolis on December 10th. How stupid of us. Why we were so stupid is three-fold: a) tickets were reasonably cheap considering the lineup of b) Guster, Howie Day, Maroon 5, and Jason Mraz, all of whom you'll notice I own CDs by, and c) proceeds go to the Make-a-Wish Foundation. Now, maybe you can't understand if you're not me, but this is a RIDICULOUS lineup to have all at the same concert. It's so good it's practically wrong. The only thing I would change is the order: instead of Howie, Guster, Maroon, Mraz, I would make it Maroon, Mraz, Howie, Guster. But don't lets be picky, here. This of course means that we will not be coming to Ames the weekend before Thanksgiving, as the only reason we would have was for the $10 Guster concert in Des Moines, which we are now skipping. Yes, that's right, my life revolves around music. Like you didn't know this.
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Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Because I apparently can't talk about anything but music.
Since I regularly pontificate on music I think you should all be listening to, perhaps it is now time to disclose some of those songs currently on the radio that I, against my better judgement and for reasons unbeknownst to me, sort of like.  These are the songs I am somewhat embarrassed to admit I stop my incessant (just ask Josh) radio-station-surfing for; in other words, Top 40 songs--or at least non-AAA songs (and here the purpose of the 30-second clips is simply to identify a song in case you've heard it but wouldn't necessarily know how it goes from the title):
John Mayer, "Bigger Than My Body"
Nickelback, "Someday"
Pink, "Trouble"
Michelle Branch, "Are You Happy Now?"
Beyonce, "Baby Boy"
OutKast, "Hey Ya"
Linkin Park, "Faint"

There you have it.  I like some crap, too.  ;)
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Tuesday, November 11, 2003
And speaking of good music videos...
I dig Dido's "White Flag" video.  But that's because David Boreanaz rocks.  And Dido rocks.  And the song rocks.

Yup.  That's what I have to say.
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Monday, November 10, 2003
Six Brilliant Songs.
That's right. Time for more songs you will hate.

Nikka Costa -- "Push and Pull"
Nikka Costa -- "So Have I For You"
Nikka Costa -- "Tug of War"
Nikka Costa -- "Everybody Got Their Something"
Marlena Shaw -- "California Soul"
Elvis Presley -- "A Little Less Conversation"

Go ahead, bring it aaaawwwwnnnn...
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Friday, November 07, 2003
I have successfully decloggified our bathtub drain with the help of my friend Mr. Liquid-Plumr.  By golly, the stuff actually works.  I rock.

Hmmm... to leave my pretty, long fingernails pretty and long, or to brutally hack them off so I can play guitar?  Such are the dilemmas of life.

Dear Mr. Iowa DOT Person,
Thank you for the Highway 20.
Yours,
Beth-Annie

Dear God,
Thank you for the grapefruit.
Yours,
Beth-Annie

Dear Mr. Cheese Inventor Person,
Thank you for the cheese.
Yours,
Beth-Annie
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Thursday, November 06, 2003
49 days and counting...
MattandLeigh and Co. have done it again. They have taken a beautiful Christmas hymn (one of my favorites, actually) and somehow made it even better. You can listen to their brilliant version of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" on the website for a new Christmas compilation album Maybe This Christmas Too. Changing chords can so be a good thing. And, in the proud tradition of Spanglish Christmas songs (e.g. Steve Taylor's "Winter Wonderland"), if you're in a humorous mood you can also listen to Guster's "Donde Esta Santa Claus" from the same album, which features their rarely-heard-because-he-can't-sing-worth-a-lick drummer Brian shouting out "reindeer" names, some of which are actually names (or nicknames) of members of the Guster family. And in case you're wondering, Brian singing sounds very much like Brian shouting. If you don't believe me, I can provide live mp3s of him "singing" "Total Eclipse of the Heart" and, coincidentally enough, "Kiss Me," at concerts. It's... an experience.
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Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Happy Belated Posting.
This will likely be of little interest to anyone who has never played handbells, but I believe I failed to mention that a few weeks ago our church's bell choir participated in a handbell workshop of sorts at a local church. There were four choirs there and we were led by Cathy Moklebust, Handbell Arranger Extraordinaire and composer of the infamous "Crazy Bells" (real title "Ring to the Lord a New Song"). We spent about six hours doing nothing but playing bells and eating, rehearsing several pieces--all by CM--and then performing them in a service at the end. I had never before had the experience of playing bells along with several other choirs and trying to keep everyone together. Trust me, it ain't easy, especially when the pieces themselves ain't easy. It was quite an educational experience, and I'm glad our choir decided to participate. It was only marred by the complaining by a couple select members of our choir throughout the weeks of rehearsal prior to the event about the fact that all the pieces were by the director (which they interpreted as some kind of money-grubbing), the difficulty of the music (which they interpreted as crappy arranging, when in fact it was just the opposite), and just a general and I think irrational and unfair disdain for the whole affair. It made no sense to me and annoyed me quite a bit, but I bit my tongue, as I usually do. I guess some people don't recognize musical talent when it bites them on the butt.
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Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Not to be a one-track pony*, but...
I'm really sick of people complaining about the storylines on "Gilmore Girls" and "Ed."  Rory hasn't had anything to do, she spends an entire episode looking for a place to study, she goes home way too often, blah, blah, blah.  Ed and Carol and their relationship are too much the focus and there are too many major plotlines within that relationship in too short a time, blah, blah, blah.  You know what?  These shows are too good to be dragged down by plot.  Because plot is not what makes them brilliant and is not what should drive them.  It is the writing, the witty humor, the--ugh--quirkiness (to use a too-oft-used cliche).  For the most part, if these two shows make me laugh (really laugh, not sitcom-laugh) every week, I'm a happy camper and couldn't care less what happens or doesn't happen in the plot.  Good writers can make anything entertaining or funny, even the most mundane of things.  THAT is why I watch.  Save the plot concerns for shows like "Alias" and "24."  No one watches "The Simpsons" for story arcs.

*Okay, yes, that was very lame.  Shut up.
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Monday, November 03, 2003
Pointless pointing out.
It is totally and utterly unfair that on one of those rare occasions on which the aurora borealis was to be visible to us (and pretty spectacular, to boot) every single night was completely clouded over.  It is also not fun that it has been raining for 40 hours straight and likely will continue to do so for another 12-24 hours.

"In your face, space coyote!"
I have done it.  I have accomplished my goal of breaking 50 on the par-27 golf course.  I shot a 49 on Friday afternoon, and now I have something wonderful to think back on come spring when we can go out again and I shoot a 70.

Fun-, full-, or king-:  the conundrum.
Both "Ed" and "Gilmore Girls" last week made reference to giving out full- or king-size candybars at Halloween, and both within the introductory scene before the opening credits roll.  Now THAT's what I call spoooooooooooky...

Which reminds me...
Are you Virginia Prinses able to see this season's episodes of "Gilmore Girls" or will we need to bring some tapes with us when we see you over Christmas?

"There's trouble in here..."
Just for all y'all's info, we've been having a bit of server trouble again, so if it seems to go down every once in a while for an hour or two, that's why.  It does not like us.  We are trying very hard to make it like us, though, so we will let you know if we are successful.  And can you see my comment links?  Do they say how many comments there are?  I cannot see the links and thus assumed no one else could either, but then I have gotten new comments since then, so I'm wondering if it's just this computer.  I can still read and post to the comments by clicking on the double bar to the right of the timestamp, but the "I want to be a comment" thing is not there.  It's very peculiar.  Is it completely normal for you?

Not the Halloween kind, the "bad you!!" kind.
I just wanted to give a big ole "BOOOOOOOOOO" to networks like NBC for shelving good shows like "Miss Match" and "The Lyon's Den" for November sweeps.  For shame.  Next thing you know they'll yank another stellar gem like "Coupling," too!  Oh, wait...
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