something to blog about

what with all the sturm und drang of daily life, i keep forgetting to share any pop culture frivolity with you kittens, so here you go...

i found recently that unless a book, tv show, movie, etc., involves someone i'm already pretty into, it doesn't necessarily make it onto my radar. i like to seek out new stuff, but it's hard to have the time when you're jazzercising as fast as you can. that said, i've found the time to catch up on a few new releases and feel the need to share:

* 'ugly betty.' man, i resisted this thing like crazy. for one, i don't get salma hayek's appeal beyond her prodigious bosom, but whatever. as far as tv series go, i'm pretty much an hbo-only tv snob ('buffy the vampire slayer' and 'the office' not withstanding), and that whole abc marketing machine gets on my nerves (speaking of, have you seen the horrific new 'desperate housewives' campaign where they are all photoshopped to the point of looking like melted barbies?). so, imagine my surprise when i ordered season 1 on dvd and fell in love with it. it's treacly and derivative in spots, but mostly it's very candy-colored and funny with a uniformly likable cast that includes some out-and-out fantastic character actors (becki newton, judith light, michael urie) and vanessa williams as a terrific villian. also, it doesn't make my head hurt in the least.

* 'heroes.' we're only three episodes in, but wow! i think you have to have a little bit of inner comic-book geek to enjoy this. funny that when evolution starts doling out superpowers it's to 95% insanely attractive people.

* i've been listening to a lot of good new music around here, so i'll just list it: ryan adams - easy tiger; rilo kiley - under the blacklight; new pornographers - challengers; bettye lavette - the scene of the crime; teddy thompson - up front & down low; tegan & sara - the con

* i should make mention of 'a night at the ritz' by office -- a friend's cousin's (twice removed) band's debut that is confectionary power pop and only 7.99 on itunes. also, the new annie lennox is surprisingly good; i tend to like her voice more than i like her music (i'm trying to stave off being included in the adult contemporary demographic as long as i humanly can), but so far, so good (and madonna guests on the album -- stranger than fiction!)