Yeah, They Were Dancin' and Singin' and Movin' to the Groovin' . . .

My American Idol review is starting to sound like a broken record - but a really good one:  

Joshua - Winner, winner, chicken dinner!  He chose a good song, his voice is amazing, enough said! 

Colton - Equally awesome! 

Skylar, Hollie and Jessica - All "nearly" perfect in my opinion, but each with a slight flaw that kept them just below Joshua and Colton. (Did anyone else want to get Skylar a decongestant?  The nasal twang on the "wind" in Wind Beneath My Wings was too much for me.) 

That leaves Deandre, Elise and Phillip - also known as boring, blah and off key.   

There was no middle ground for me - It was a love 'em or not so much kinda night.

DWTS:  I was sad that Jack Wagner got sent home, but I'm hoping it means he has free time to return to General Hospital. 

But oh, the tears, to nearly every dance and emotional story behind it.  Katherine Jenkins blew me away.  The heartbreak of her story was so evident and her dance was amazing!

William Levy's dance (one of the Latin ones) was also excellent, but I'm still miffed that he's not an actual "star".  But, just because he's the token guy-who-looks-good-without-a-shirt doesn't mean he can't dance.  And his story about his early life in Cuba was shocking and (what else) made me cry.  

I've been a Jaleel White fan the first few weeks but the rumors of his "hissy fit" put me off a bit.  I'm going to assume that the truth lies somewhere between the tabloid stories and total innocence.  

So do you totally agree with me?  No?  Who did you pick?

Before the Poison by Peter Robinson

Chris Lowndes built a comfortable career composing scores for films in Hollywood. But after twenty-five years abroad, and still quietly reeling from the death of his beloved wife, he decides to return to the Yorkshire dales of his youth. He buys Kilnsgate House, a rambling old mansion deep in the country.

Although Chris finds Kilnsgate charming, something about the house disturbs him — feelings made ever stronger when he learns that the house was the scene of a murder more than fifty years before. The former owner was supposedly poisoned by his beautiful and much younger wife, Grace. Grace was found guilty and hanged for the crime.

His curiosity piqued, Chris talks to the locals and searches through archives for information about the case. But the more he discovers, the more convinced he becomes that Grace may have been innocent. Ignoring warnings to leave it alone, he sets out to discover what really happened over half a century ago—a quest that takes him deep into the past and into a web of secrets that lie all too close to the present.

The best phrase to describe this book is "not quite".  It combines a murder mystery and a gothic ghost story, with a bit of romance, but I'm still undecided on the success of the result. It's not quite what it could have been, or not quite what I expected, or....just not quite.

I loved the setting - English country house, dreary weather, local pubs - very Phyllis Whitney, only with internet.  The protagonist is equally gloomy - recently widowed, bit of a hermit, haunted by a convicted killer - but likable and easy to sympathize with.  The story moves between Chris's present-day story, and Grace's story from the 1940's and 50's - but they don't quite join convincingly.  Living in her home, using her desk and piano, Chris's fascination with Grace is understandable, even expected, but the connection never feels quite complete.  The plot edges towards "ghost story" but doesn't quite get there - the sightings are few, vague and never really explored.

The sections taken from Grace's war-time diary are especially haunting - and proof that you can read, cry and walk on a treadmill simultaneously - but their impact on the present-day story is not quite what it could be.  By the end of the book, it felt as though even the author had grown tired and was merely revealing things that happened "off camera" instead of letting them unfold on the pages.  

I enjoyed this story, always looked forward to the next chapter, but it just wasn't quite . . .  I give it a 4 out of 5.

Reading About Reading . . .

Time to clean up the Draft file again.  I found three articles/ideas I had planned to make into complete posts, but can't think of enough to say about any of them, so I'll just share them here in brief.

Who Reads Books?

According to an article on Mental Floss, which got it's statistics from a 2003 survey conducted by a company called The Jenkins Group, readers are a dying breed.  Here are the figures they quoted:

• One-third of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives.

• 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college.>

• 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year.

• 70 percent of U.S. adults have not been in a bookstore in the last five years.

• 57 percent of new books are not read to completion.

If these numbers are even close to realistic, I'm stunned! 80% of families did not read a book last year?  I understand that shopping online has drastically cut the number of people who set foot inside a physical bookstore, but at least they're reading. And I understand books not being completed.  I give up on a few each year myself - my motto: "Life's too short to read bad books."  Or I check books out of the library and then get busy with other things and don't get them read so they go back unread.  But a life without reading? - that I can not fathom!

Reading Prejudices

I don't remember where I read this article, so my apologies to whoever I'm plagiarizing. The question of the article was "Do you have reading prejudices?"  Are there genres, authors, settings, subjects, etc. that are deal-breakers for you?  I'm sure we can all say yes to the genres and authors.  In general, I'm not a science-fiction fan, though I have read some good science-fiction titles over the years.  I like a good Louis L'Amour western, but I don't normally browse the Western section of the book store.  And of course there are authors whose books I have read and disliked, so haven't tried any more.

But what about settings and subjects?  My first response was "No, I'm a pretty open-minded reader.  I don't rule out specific topics or places."  But not long after, I caught myself dismissing two bestsellers for just those reasons.

THE SHADOW PATROL, by Alex Berenson.   The former C.I.A. operative John Wells returns to Afghanistan to pursue a possible leak from the C.I.A. station. 

I love a good thriller, but not interested in anything about Afghanistan or the CIA.

SONOMA ROSE, by Jennifer Chiaverini.  A California woman fleeing an abusive husband hides with a former lover in Sonoma County, where winemakers struggle under Prohibition.

"Abusive husband", "prohibition" - Two words/phrases that kept me from even slowing down to look further.
Now that I've discovered some of my reading prejudices, I'm not sure what I'll do about them.  Is it ok to have certain topics/places you don't want to read about?  Is ignoring an entire genre acceptable? Should we try to break them, or just accept them and move on? What are your reading prejudices?

Reading Fiction Helps Your Career

An article on Ragan's PR Daily quotes an article from Scientific American which claims that reading fiction makes business sense.  

1. Reading stories can fine-tune your social skills by helping you better understand other human beings. 

2. Entering imagined worlds builds empathy and improves your ability to take another person’s point of view. 

3. A love affair with narrative may gradually alter your personality—in some cases, making you more open to new experiences and more socially aware. 

So if you're job-searching, tell them you're a reader.  If you're interviewing, ask about their reading practices.  That's all - just thought it was interesting.

The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley

Eva Ward returns to the only place she truly belongs, the old house on the Cornish coast, seeking happiness in memories of childhood summers. There she finds mysterious voices and hidden pathways that sweep her not only into the past, but also into the arms of a man who is not of her time.

But Eva must confront her own ghosts, as well as those of long ago. As she begins to question her place in the present, she comes to realize that she too must decide where she really belongs.

Not your average romance, which is what I thought I was getting into.  I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, not really expecting to like it because I "don't do romances".  Not that I'm against romance, I just don't want it to be the ONLY focus of a book.  So I started my walk through The Rose Garden with a bit of an attitude, looking for things not to like.  But I searched in vain.

Trelowarth House, where Eva goes to scatter her sister's ashes, is the typical dark, forboding house of gothic novels.  It is set in the damp, gray English countryside - a setting I always enjoy - and I was expecting the typical Lord-of-the-Manor/Damsel-in-Distress romance, but it took an unexpected shift into time travel.  Eva moves back and forth - with no control over her entrances or exits - between the present and the time of pirates (Can't remember the exact date, but I'm thinking 1700's).  As expected, she falls in love with the tall, dark and handsome Lord of the Manor, but he's been dead for 300 years.  That puts a kink in things!

In spite of my anti-romance bias, I liked this book - a lot.  It's got mystery, science fiction AND romance.  Enough of each to satisfy most readers, regardless of their usual reading choices.  As hard as I looked, at least initially, the only negative I could find was that the characters seemed to accept time travel a bit too easily, but I soon became so engrossed in the story that I didn't care.

I would recommend this book to fans of romance, time travel, or mystery.  I have already pre-ordered Ms. Kearsley's newest book - due out in April - and will pick up her past books when I can.

Reality TV Wrap Up

Joshua Ledet

American Idol

Once again, I thought Joshua Ledet was the clear winner on American Idol.  That kid can sing!  Randy called Josh's performance "flawless" and I agree.  On my scale of 5 stars, Joshua got a 10!

Nipping at Joshua's heels, with 5 of 5 stars, were:
Elise Testone - Her rockin' Led Zepplin number showed a new side I liked.

Hollie Cavanagh - Hollie managed to take a song I don't like and make me love her performance anyway.

Phillip Phillips - A little different style for Phillip and the first time I thought he was enjoying himself.  In spite of Phillips protestations that he doesn't want to be made into a star (thus his refusal to listen to Tommy Hilfiger) - that he just wants to be himself - he always strikes me as working a little too hard to convince us that he's being natural.  Last night he let go of that andhad fun and I liked it.

Jessica Sanchez was close behind with 4 stars.  Jessica may have the best voice of the bunch but, in my book, she lost a point on basic technique.  Breathing and phrasing are essential and every time she sucked in a breath mid-word, it grated on me:  "beautiful night [gasp of air] mare." 

At the low end of the spectrum were Deandre Birkenstick and Skylar Laine.  The few notes Deandre sang in his normal voice were beautiful, but enough already with the squeeky falsetto!  Dave's review: "I never want to hear him sing again.!"  Skylar actually did a nice job, but it was just the same ol', same ol'.  She has one style, one volume, one tempo.  Time to change it up.

A couple of side notes:

• Dave requests that bouncers be placed in the teen crowd at the front of the stage and that they immediately evict anyone who waves their arms in the air during a song.  At the very least, please require that the cameraman not line up his shot to intentionally show the waving teens and that contestants be disqualified if they stoop to touch waving hands during their performance.

• We are aware of our age and we try not to let it affect our opinions of the performances.  Contestants frequently choose songs we've never heard, which is understandable since we really haven't listened to much pop music in the last 20 years.  But a bigger issue is when these little whipper-snappers announce that they're going to do "Without You" by Mariah Carey and we scream at the TV, "That's not a Mariah Carey song, that's a Harry Nillsen song!"  I'm not really sure what my point is here, except that it makes me feel really old and I don't like it.

Dancing With The Stars

We were slightly sad to see Martina Navratilova go home first - even though she was probably the worst dancer - because the name of the show is Dancing with the Stars and she's actually a star rather than a model who slept with George Clooney, or an actor who's biggest role was in a music video.  Our point being that the producers seem to be either struggling to get real stars to participate (unlikely) or they are choosing some contestants based on how they look half-naked (more likely).

There are more exceptional dancers this year than in past seasons, so it's hard to pick a clear front-runner, but my favorites so far are:

• Katherine Jenkins - she's just so blonde and adorable and so totally NOT what you expect from an opera singer.
• Jaleel White - so talented and so NOT Urkel
• Gladys Knight - talk about a star! And still beautiful, elegant and talented at 63.  Love her!

And of course, Jack Wagner, who gets my vote just for being half of Frisco and Felicia, the soap opera "super couple" from General Hospital (circa 1980's). 


Ok, here's where you tell me how wrong I am and who you think should win . . .

Talkin' Turkey

Sitting in the living room last night, I kept thinking I heard "a noise".  I do this frequently and, of course, Dave can never hear what I'm hearing.  I think it's a mom's ear attuned to hearing a sniffling child in the night or a teenager's phone conversation from three rooms away.  I hear the rattle that means the washing machine isn't "quite right" or the low hiss that means the outside faucet is on.  Mom hearing diverts a lot of disasters, but it can also be annoying when you can't find the source of the sound.

Every time I shushed Dave and the dogs so I could hear more clearly, it stopped. I finally had to walk around the house to determine where it was coming from.  I glanced out the narrow window in the front door and this is what I found:

Tom Turkey (or maybe Gretta Gobbler, we weren't properly introduced) was strolling across the yard, not twenty feet from the door.  The picture is poor quality because I had to 1. tell Dave to get to the window, quick 2. scramble for a cell-phone and 3. try to get the shot through that narrow little window before the turkey strolled out of the frame.  The result was a blurry picture with a portion of the door and the reflected flash obscuring parts.  But the enlarged section above at least proves my story.  I tried to step out the door to get a clearer picture but, naturally, I startled him and he made for the pond like it was the day before Thanksgiving.  We could hear Tom and his buddies, probably gathered around the Turkey Bar, listening to the retelling and chortling over his close call.

In my excitement, I texted the kids: "A turkey just walked across the front yard."  Mitch's response was immediate:  "SHOOT IT!".  Amanda's took a few minutes, but was similar: "Did you shoot it?"  We raised such rednecks!  I answered "No, we just took it's picture."  Amanda: "Well, ok, but I don't know how you're going to eat that."  Ya gotta love 'em!

Food: Fresh, Frozen and Forbidden

Updates on a couple of food-related things in my life.

NutriSystem:  Going very well.  I hesitate to use the word "easy" lest it conjure visions of Magic Weight Loss Fairy Dust.  That's not what NutriSystem is about at all.  What it IS about is learning portion control, a balanced diet, and a healthier attitude toward food.  So, as life without lemon cupcakes goes, this is easy.  After ten weeks, I've lost 27 lbs.

Eating It Real:  This is a challenge issued by Trish at Love, Laughter and a Hint of Insanity, in which we attempt to cut processed foods from our diet - focusing on more nutritious fresh and frozen foods, and avoiding chemicals and preservatives. Since a large portion of our diet right now is coming from NutriSystem, we adapted the challenge to cover the foods we add to the NS plan.  I have to admit, this has been a bigger challenge than I was expecting.

Switching to fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables was a snap. . . except for green beans.  I eat a lot of green beans and our small-town grocer doesn't stock fresh green beans out of season.  I have picked them up whenever I'm in a larger town, and I've used frozen, but I have slipped back to the canned ones on occasion for convenience. 

Dairy products - about the only dairy I'm consuming at the moment is yogurt - lots and lots of yogurt.  I haven't got a clue how to make yogurt from scratch and, frankly, the thought of making something that involves "live cultures" without a good handle on safety issues makes me a little squeamish.  

Breads and Grains - I'm not eating bread except hamburger buns and tortillas. Tried to make buns from a recipe I found on-line which included calorie info (unlike Grandma's proven recipe). Not successful.  I love making pasta, but I'm not eating it right now.  I did switch to brown rice (point for me).

Attempted homemade hummus from dried chickpeas cooked according to package directions. Evidently the package directions were approximate because they weren't cooked clear through so they didn't blend into the smooth hummus I've come to know and love.  I went back to buying my hummus.

Then there is pop (or soda, if you prefer).  Hello, my name is Tami, and I am a diet pop addict.  I've cut down, but just can't let it go.  

So basically, I stink at this challenge and would probably die of some disease caused by the many artificial ingredients in my food - if it weren't for the fact that I'm not eating much food any more - so I'm hoping it evens out.