Did anyone watch this week’s episode of Top Chef? Did anyone catch what Hung said during the Quickfire Challenge about why he loves food and cooking? He said of his family, “We grew up eating food…” I keep hearing that line over and over in my head and it gets funnier every time. I mean, do you know anyone who didn’t grow up eating food?

I recently finished watching the entire second season of The Office, the UK version. (The library has free rentals of DVDs; I also watched several episodes of Sherlock Holmes and Irving Berlin’s Easter Parade with Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. Great stuff.) The consensus among my friends is that the American version of The Office is hilarious, but often too painful too watch. Steve Carell plays the character of the boss very well but almost too well. I believe the phrase best used is “train wreck.”

Well, the UK version is the original version of this show, and the boss is played by the writer of the two shows, Ricky Gervais. The UK version is much the same as the American version, only much less painful. Ricky Gervais plays the role of boss beautifully. He plays it in a way that you still feel bad for his outrageous level of ignorance, but you don’t feel the need to shield your eyes. My only complaint is that the show is a bit more crude; apparently they can get away with a lot more on television in the UK (which is quite sad given the trash they air here in America, I can’t imagine how much worse it must be over there).

XM: Ryan Adams - “Carolina Rain”
Mood: Ready for the day

I was supposed to be at Dr. Beal’s office this morning, but they rescheduled the appointment for July 19. I admit I was looking forward to it, but I’m happy about the reschedule because it means I’ll actually be meeting with Dr. Beals. When they scheduled my original appointment they failed to mention that it would be with a nurse practitioner. Apparently Dr. Beals wants to be the one to meet with the new fibromyalgia patients, so they are doing a lot of rescheduling. I am 100% okay with that!

What else is going on? Not much, I guess. I’ve been watching a lot of Last Comic Standing. They play the reruns on Bravo so I get to watch every episode twice. I was watching last night and the show that came on after it was America’s Got Talent. I was reading the opening credits and guess who produced that show? Yup, Simon Cowell. I vaguely remember having a conversation about that on Sunday at Mom’s… I just want it to go on record that I wasn’t making things up. I was right, as always

I watched Karate Kid tonight but during the commercials I flipped over to Bravo and caught pieces of “Great Things About Being Fat.” This show was part of a series called, “Great Things About Being…”, which is described as a fun, facetious, satiric and sometimes edgy look at what pop culture tells us are the great things about being blonde, queer, fat, 30, and from a red-state. Facetious? Satiric? That’s right up my alley. And the whole fat vs. thin issue really gets me worked up.

One of the “great things” about being fat is that we are historically hot - meaning that back in the day heavy women were considered attractive. So why should we starve ourselves to fit in with today’s standards? Maybe we were just born in the wrong century. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not advocating going out there and eating until you are obese. I’m just saying that I don’t believe there is anything wrong with a little chub here and there. I would even go so far as to say that it’s…. (dare I say it?) normal. These lovehandles and stretch marks that we women agonize over are part of life, people. Everybody has them. But we watch all these movies and television where all those imperfections are hidden, so we start to believe that they are unacceptable. And we worry and obsess over something we have no control over. Well, maybe we do have control over some of it. I could work out every day and maybe my lovehandles would disappear, or my potbelly would become firmer, but what have I really gained from all that investment? My friends and family will not love me more as a result. And if I wasn’t happy with my body before, I probably still wouldn’t be much happier with it after loads of exercise. I mean, let’s face it, the ghetto booty and the potbelly will always be there. They are part of my design and I am learning to embrace them (figuratively, of course). I am also learning how to dress them, but that’s another story. (Try doing internet research on pear-shaped women; it’s fascinating. For as many as there are of us, you would think they would do a better job of designing clothes to flatter our shape.)

There is so much more to be said on this subject, and I would love to hear your thoughts. And keep in mind some of the other “great things” about being fat: you can eat, you’re everybody’s best friend, you’re awesome at sports, you’re hilarious, you can sing, and nobody is likely to kidnap you.

I was telling Rachel last weekend that I know of a guy who does a great Bob Dylan impression (they were watching a Bob Dylan documentary). I tell her his name is Steven Banks. She says yes, from the Steven Banks Show on public television, or something like that. I only know him from the Showtime Special, but I say that he writes (or wrote?) for a Nickelodeon cartoon. It’s the same guy. Of course, no one else in the room knew who he was. I am always amazed at Rachel’s knowledge of obscure entertainment. Rachel has never seen the Showtime Special, and apparently I’ve never made Chey watch it either. I think it’s about time for another Steven Banks party.

I did some internet research for you (you had to see this coming):

“The Steven Banks show began as Banks’ play “Home Entertainment Center,” which aired on the Showtime Network. The play depicts Steven coming home from work and having to provide a speech to the board of directors at work. Rather than work on the speech, chronic procrastinator Banks embarks on various diversions, such as picking up various musical instruments in his cluttered apartment and improvising entire songs. The play became the basis of a pilot which Showtime aired, but never developed into a series. PBS picked up Steven Banks for his own show in the summer of 1994, when public television was under pressure from right-wing critics who criticized PBS as a “liberal media elite”, and gave him a limited 8-episode run on Monday nights from July 11, 1994 to September 5, 1994.

The series was based on the pilot, and featured Michael Kostroff and Teresa Parente as the entire supporting cast, as well as various other one-time roles. Banks was still himself, still a bachelor in his mid-thirties, acting out his own fantasies and procrastinating in his cluttered apartment in what some critics described as “Pee-Wee’s Playhouse for baby-boomer shut-ins.” However, the show vanished from the air in September of 1994, leaving 5 episodes untelevised in the U. S.”

When the Showtime special aired, my mom taped it and we watched it over and over again. It was hilarious. We laughed our butts off every time. But then at some point the tape got misplaced. We looked for it for years. I searched the internet to find another copy and after 6 months I finally found one. So now we each have a copy. The whereabouts of the original tape were still a mystery for several years, until Kari was reunited with Mark, her high school sweetheart. Kari was telling him awhile back about Steven Banks. He said, “Yeah, I remember. I still have the tape.” Oy. The hilarity continues.

Sweet. Last week I watched Judging Amy and I heard a song playing in one of the scenes that I just loved. I didn’t know what it was or who it was and I didn’t know how to find it. So I just accepted that I may never hear it again, but then…

I felt like listening to Beck today on Comcast Rhapsody and saw that he had a new album released today. Can you believe that the very first song was that same song I heard last week? And damn, I just want to play outside because the weather is so nice but I can settle for dancing to Beck in my office with the window open. Go ahead, picture it… ;^)

TurnOffYourTV.com
By the way, I really need to go back to the no tv thing. I was so much more productive and responsible and I spent more time with God during that time. Any time at all with Him right now would be an improvement. I am a tv junkie. It is such an addiction. I waste hours and hours in front of that tube and I can’t seem to find a balance. So maybe I just need to keep it turned off. Argh.