Entries in the Category "tomato nation"
From what I understand, the seventies were all about serial killers and neckerchiefs
Hey, you know what's one of my favorite movies? I mean literally? Zodiac. Just the other day someone asked me what I thought was the best movie that came out in the last 5 to 10 years. It might have been a toss-up between Zodiac and Inglourious Basterds, but then I gave it to Zodiac because I haven't gotten around to re-watching Basterds yet, but I love Zodiac SO MUCH I burned it to my computer so I can watch it all the time.
So that was all just a preamble to this (enjoy):
From Tomato Nation
Daily Awwwwwww
Here's a lovely story that's unfolded over the past weekend. I go pretty regularly to this site called Tomato Nation, where (in addition to the cookie, candy and cereal rankings that drew me there in the first place) the sitemaster, Sarah Bunting, sometimes mobilizes her mass of readers to donate to charities or contribute to various efforts. A couple days ago someone wrote in asking for publicity for her friend, whose dog Zeus needed surgery to remove his poor diseased eyes. This friend of hers had started her own blog with a place for donations on it, but the money (the procedure was estimated in the 2K-range) was trickling in rather slowly.
So Sarah posted this letter with a link to Zeus's blog. Within ONE DAY the dog's surgery was paid for, and then some.
It really is amazing--the amazing feats of kindness that can be achieved via grassroots efforts like this one. The fact that it is all due to a blog (which have such reputations for self-centeredness). Also, the level of compassion that people feel for their pets. Just looking at Zeus's blog makes me want to race home and give my girl Skylar a hug. (Look at the picture on that last entry I linked to. We have that exact same orange ball, though lately Sky's been favoring a blue frisbee.) I want to contribute money to the SPCA or something.
All the more impressive because Bunting herself is a cat person. Click here for one of my favorite of her essays, about meows in translation. This is my favorite: "I ate a leaf and you said not to and I ate it and it tasted bad and now I'm angry."
(Skylar says: "What's this 'your bed too' nonsense?" Also, "Hope you're feeling better soon, Zeus. And give back my orange ball.")
Osssssssscars!
I am reading all these bloggers who’ve pledged to see all the Best Picture nominees, or all the films with a non-technical nomination (that’s Sarah Bunting, and she almost did it). Some of them spent two Saturdays in a row parked in a movie theater seat watching five wannabe Best Pictures back-to-back. My major regret going into Oscar night is that I haven’t seen enough of the nominated movies. Living virtually across the street from a limited-release haven like the Cedar Lee, just about every one of these movies has crossed my path (not something I could say back when I was living in Lansing, Michigan--sorry Lansing). I went to an Oscar party in which the crowd was generally well-versed in movies—not just the big ones, but independents, foreigns, documentaries—and I wished I could have given more opinions instead of continually saying, “That looked really good. I heard that was good. I was going to see that. Everything I’ve read online says that was overrated, actually.”
The real problem is this whole being-in-grad-school thing, which will be over soon enough. I’ll be a cultural civilian again by May, and then it’s seeing movies all the time, reading books all the time, just because I damn well want to. And maybe next February I’ll plan my own Oscar film binge.
This year, I had to content myself watching the Oscars having seen only Inglourious Basterds, Up in the Air, Julie and Julia, and one-third of The Hurt Locker. I'm catching up on the other movies at my usual snail’s-pace rate. (Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning movies I have seen in the past few months: Valmont, Mrs. Brown, Frozen River, They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?, Gangs of New York.)
Anyway, here are my totally uneducated thoughts on the proceedings.
Continue reading "Osssssssscars!"
Like cereal?
As an avowed carb enthusiast, I'm taking a break this morning between drug deals (Tony Montana’s, not my own, I promise!) to let everybody know about the N Cereal AA going on over at Tomato Nation. It’s a bracket tournament in which cereals compete (by garnering reader votes) for supremacy. The author of the site, Sars, has already done similar tournaments with cheese (winner: English cheddar) and ice cream (winner, in a stunning upset: mint chocolate chip).
If you think you can choose between Cheerios and Golden Grahams, visit the site and vote today--and keep visiting. These things move quickly. In between votes, there’s lots of play-by-play write-ups, and as an added treat, Sars is being joined in this tournament by her friend Tara, arguably the funniest woman on the Internet. If you don’t believe me, just head over to Sling.com and read her recaps of the first season of Beverly Hills 90210 (the original, with the sideburns and the Shannen Doherty and whatnot).