Pepperkorn Current Events

What I'm Reading Now

9/13/04 - I'm STILL trying to read the Hobbit.  It's very good but I get distracted or I'm too exhausted to commit to a chapter.            So I've given up and am reading Snobbery with Violence - Marion Chesney's latest serial mystery book.  I'm glad they reclassified her as Mystery as opposed to Romance.  It was embarrassing to go to the Romance section looking for new books from her all the time.  Now I find in so doing I have missed out on years of books!  I have stacks of mysteries by MC Beaton to read now!  They're great junk food for the mind - like a box of milk duds, I love them!

What I Read Then

1/23/04 - I'm reading nothing at the moment.   Trying to read the Hobbit.  reading magazines Self, Muscle and Fitness HERS  yippee.  They all say the same things but --- so I have to find a good book.  I'll let you know when I find one!

1/23/04 - Well I finished McNally's dare a while ago actually.  it was OK.  I just miss Sander's Archy. lardo's is more often than not a big jerk. It's the difference between a guy you'd marry and a guy you really regret wasting your time dating!  10/01/03 - I confess I haven't been able to read this thing yet -- I read the first five pages and got annoyed. but I WANT to, I really do! 9/15/03 - McNally's Dare - Vincent Lardo (who can't hold a candle to Lawrence Sanders) I don't know why I keep bashing my head against a wall buying these.  i keep hoping the old Lawrence Sanders Archy will turn up.  He never does.  This Lardo guy just doesn't get it. He doesnt have a clue as to what Archy is all about.  But I guess he's close enough.  It's just a sad thing to know THIS is the best we've got now. This Archy has no eye for quality -- just name appeal.  I knew something was very wrong when in McNally's Dilemma that LS supposedly wrote (no credit to Lardo at that point) that a woman bought "strictly off the rack"  Lardo doesn't GET how making fun of a guy using a bic pen as opposed to a Mont Blanc differs from saying a woman buys her clothing strictly off the rack -- in my mind that in a nutshell is what's wrong with him and why I fear I will never see my Archy McNally ever again.   The first is an insecure guy making fun of someone who is labled upper class.  The second is a guy looking down his nose at someone.  Archy was never a snob - especially not when it came to women!

9/01/03  Ninth Square - Gorman Bechard Not bad.  A lot of New Haven stuff and obviously he lived there for a while.  Funny he calls Hamden Harmony.  Funny, he talks about playing at the Grotto. The guy must be a contemporary of mine.  Maybe older though I think!  It was a fun enough yarn.  A little obvious when you got to "the moral/point of discussion of/in our story" paragraph.  Amusing he sees Yale as  Republican hot bed of crime and my mother sees it as a democrate den of iniquity!  Both think Yale sucks though.  Both are right.

What I'm Watching Now

September 13, 2004 - I'm watching a lot of Sesame Street DVDs.  Rock around the something or other and Hoot and Howl in the barn yard or something like that.  Rebecca loves them.  I love to see her dance!  It slays me!  On real TV... Seinfeld re-runs while making dinner.  Nova.  PBS cartoons if Rebecca wants TV in the am.  She doesn't watch TV much at all but when she asks for it to go on it generally does and then I'll leave it long after she and I have moved on to other stuff. Nothing else really.  Oh we got rid of fancy cable again ages ago. No hockey anyhow so... the $7 basic will serve us fine.

January 23, 2004 - I'm watching basically nothing but hockey - we even caved and got MSG and FSNY.  We had a free preview of Center ice last week too -- THAT was just too much hockey.  well.. for my family it was.    -     I'm not sure how I feel about Stevens-less Devils.  They really are sloppier.  I can see his thumbprint on other players now.  Rafalski is adorable in my opinion.  when Stevens announced he wasn't coming back any time soon Ralfy really started to take his role even more seriously.  There's a lot more shouting on the ice without Stevens.  I'm not sure what that means. The defense particularly is communicating through big arms gestures and shouting. And you know, Stevens was great on Whoopie - i was just grumpy - very relaxed on screen. In fact really I wish whoopi had given him more space to be himself - she was so scared he'd be stiff she had to get her big fat face in there and mess around! of course... I might have done the same.

October 9 2003 - Well - last weeks season premier was OK but no Spike really -- last nights was cute.  A lot of Spike.  He's the grumpy good guy like on Buffy.  Sort of cute because he's moony about life now instead of Buffy!  He loves being alive (though he's a little ghostly at the moment).  I think that's really neat!  I'm romantic about life myself and I never really saw it that way until thinking "Man, Spike's always got to be all moony over somethign doesn't he?" But he makes such a great romantic! That's his whole charm! Oh and because he's a ghost you don't really know if he's a vampire or not...I missed the very begining he might have had a vampire forehead when Angel attacked him on arrival and I missed it...

October 8, 2003 - Scott Stevens on Whoopi Goldberg's new show.  Boy the show SUCKED! Scott Stevens was typical.  I'm always disappointed seeing him on TV.  I always hope I'll see some flash of humor from the guy.  But he's just too self aware to let anything shine through.  He's very relaxed and very professional he's just ... he's a tightass.  Whoopi acted all goofy obviously trying to loosen him up and that made Stevens laugh - that was cute (though not acting :p ).  He seemed sort of thrilled at the wackiness of it but he didn't understand it.  So why is he so different on ice? He brings so much more to the table than technical proficiency when he's playing hockey.  But off ice...he's just downright constipated!  Maybe he just can't keep his butthole so tightly pucked while he's flowing so freeling on the surface of the ice :-D

October 1, 2003 - Woohoo!  Psyched to see the season premier of Angel tonight!  How will Spike enter into the picture?  WILL he be a vampire? I'll have the update tomorrow!

September 2003 - I'm not watching cable TV!  They charge an arm and a leg and I'm not willing to pay $80 plus to see hockey - since that is the only thing worth while on TV -- AND I have to buy premium cable AND pay extra for the sports channels - that sucks!  SOOOOOOOOOOOO... since the only other thing I watched besides hockey last year was Buffy the Vampire Slayer -- and now she's off the air I guess I'll move on to Angle since Spike moved from Buffy to Angel.  Plus it'll be fun to see how he comes back to life.  will he still be a Vampire?  or will he be human?  Enquiring minds want to know!