Betsy Devine: Funny ha-ha and/or funny peculiar

I just listened to Tony Kahn‘s Thanksgiving podcast*, something to make us all feel extra-grateful today.

I’m also grateful to Tony for treating me and Halley to lunch at WGBH, where we enjoyed not only conversation but several  meta-conversations too…

Now I’d better get back to the stove and Amity’s killer caramel-chocolate brownies. I just posted the recipe as a story–your tastebuds will thank me but your
bathroom scale won’t!

Your name as a rock star, if you become one…

(Favorite candy / Last name of favorite musician ): Reeces Pieces Clapton

 

Your “fly boy” nickname, a la J. Lo?

(First
initial / First two or three letters of your last name): B. Dev (or
maybe R. Cla, if we start with Reeces Pieces Clapton.)

 

As a famous fashion designer, you’d call yourself…

(First word you see on your left / Favorite restaurant) Thesaurus Temple Bar

 

If the CIA recruits you as an exotic foreign spy, you’ll need a cover identity…

(Favorite spice / Last foreign vacation spot): Oregano Geneva

 

If you become a billionaire socialite, tabloids will call you…

(Silliest childhood nickname / Town where you first partied): Betsy Boo Manhattan

 

As a hard-boiled detective, you’ll be called…

(Favorite baby animal / Where you went to high school): Kitten Concord Academy.

 

If you walk into a bar on a regular basis, your fellow barflies will say “Here comes…

(Last snack food you ate / Your favorite alcoholic drink): Mixed Nuts Margarita!”

All things considered, I’d better stick to blogging as Betsy Devine.

On the brighter side, as Roland continues, “To all European Kerry supporters the result
may be disheartening,  but never the less, the outcome is a
victory for democracy.”

(Det brukar sägas att vi svenskar får precis den regering vi
förtjänar. När det gäller presidentvalet i USA kan man säga att världen
får precis den president som amerikanerna förtjänar. För alla
europeiska Kerryanhängare kan det verka nog så provocerande, men årets
val är trots allt en seger för demokratin.)

Picture this: a screaming preacher invades a crowded subway. When one
rider asks the screamer to quiet down, several Bible-toting
“Christians”
surround her and start yelling about the special hellfire God has
planned for gays.*

Instead of retreating, she starts singing her favorite show tunes. Finally, her attackers give up and get off the train.

You go, girlfriend. If I’d been there, I hope I’d have had the courage to start singing harmony.

http://nytimes.com/2004/08/05/opinion/05gates.html

Soyinka

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/05/opinion/05gates.html?ex=1249444800&en=e57a5bec2f42c128&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland

I heard about the Gary Wills review of Bill Clinton’s book from my husband, as we went for a humid twilight stroll.

Frank’s one-sentence synopsis of Gary Wills: “Wills says Bill Clinton is a tragic hero.”

Frank one-sentence improvement of Gary Wills: “In other words, Bill Clinton’s a great big jerk.”

Betsy’s commentary on Frank comment: I think that’s a really deep
interpretation not only of Bill Clinton but also of tragedy. Think
about it–Oedipus–Antigone–Macbeth–Hamlet–royal pains in the ass,
every one of them.

Just read about this over on Scripting, thanks Dave–

Jay McCarthy–the generous, funny, energetic blogger of MakeOutCity–has a first-person account of watching his house burn down:

Our friend Lisa Williams has started a PayPal account to help cover Jay’s family’s expenses, e.g. take-out pizza. A very worthwhile cause, in my opinion.

* * * * *

Wow! Congratulations to Cory Doctorow! His novel Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (which I absolutely loved) is on the short list for a Nebula Award.

I met
Cory at sxsw, and sat across
the aisle from him at the Bloggies, where Boing Boing won three awards
(out of the four they were nominated for.)

I have mixed feelings about this–Cory and BB are awesomely brilliant and funny. But–
if the gods decreed they would lose one Bloggie anyway–couldn’t they have lost that one to my pal AccordionGuy?

It’s hard to pick one best moment in ROTK, but here are my top five (major spoilers ahead!):

Number 5: When Legolas fights a huge elephant plus all its riders.

Number 4: When Gimli tells Legolas, “That only counts as one.”

Number 3: When Eowyn and Merry defeat the Witch King.

Number 2: When Sam jumps up to go hit on Rosie Cotton.

Number 1 and absolutely best: Outside the movie, afterward, when my husband says, “Poor Aragorn. He really picked the wrong girl.”