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Scary is when iTunes does a perfect segue from Madonna’s Push to Kate Bush’s Hounds of Love.

I am, btw, still on Eastern Standard Time and will pay for this in the morning.

J’s in the kitchen, finishing up the mess I made making dinner. My timing never comes out the way I hoped and there were dishes still everywhere when dinner decided it was ready to be served.

Dinner was asparagus with scallions, (thin-sliced) potato and onion casserole and chicken paillard with a green peppercorn, lemon and sherry sauce. I generally winged it and the paillard was not quite thin enough, but it turned out pretty good.

Rome

We caught up on the Rome episode we missed last week and watched the new one too. It’s darker this season, if that’s possible.

Last night we watched Bedrooms and Hallways, a gay-themed movie with Kevin McKidd and James Purefoy. Mr Purefoy was sexy then, but Mr. McKidd clearly has benefited with age. The ending sucked, though.

Watching the movie last night did lend an odd overtone to the scene in Rome when Antony offers Vorenus redemption.

Short

Ted has a nice exposition on socks— it’s worth review. Funny how he too ran out of yarn before being able to complete a full pair of socks. Hey, yarn manufacturers! Men wear socks too.

I’ve posted a bit in the last day or so, so you might, if interested, want to scroll down from here.

So to prove I’m gay, or overpaid, and to restock my supply of sweaters without having to knit them, I went to Gerry’s on Bleeker—the sales guy was cute and tolerant of my trying on every sweater in the store and leaving it rumpled on the chair next to the counter—he told me to. After a while he started bring sweaters to me so I’d leave the others alone.

Sidetracked. Like I said, I went to Gerry’s on Bleeker an bought two sweaters that I could never knit and were not at all cheap. One was a brown Converse sweater by John Varvatos with a chunky zipper up the front. Young, but not ridiculous. This will be the inspiration for every sweater I ever knit for myself, should I ever do so. Slightly ribbed, which flatters my smallness, without making my shoulders look too narrow, as did half the sweaters in the shop. Raglan sleeves are not my friends. Neither are bright stripes across my middle. The other was an inside-out grey-ish, ribby, v-neck by NSF. Cute. I’d definitely lust after a (thin young) man in this sweater. Don’t ask what I paid.

In PTown last summer I saw a cashmere sweater over which I have kicked myself for not buying. I priced the yarn afterwards: 50% more to do it from scratch and months of labor, and I’d screw it up anyway.

iTunes

Apple upgraded iTunes and I’ve spend much of the last two days incorporating the new format into my life. I’ve scanned album covers (for private use only). I’ve confirmed that much of my music is typical of a gay man in his forties. I’ve bought new music.

Thirty seconds is not enough time to decide if one likes a piece of music enough to buy it.

On one hand, Apple should credit you when you buy an album after having bought a song or two from the album. On the other hand, I spend more for espresso. Or sweaters.

Old Music

On the subject of my music collection, there is too much Pet Shop Boys and I am tired of Jimmy Somerville. Early Madonna grates too. Anybody remember the soundtrack from The Lostboys? Keifer used to be so cute.

Erasure is so lame, but I’m listening to them. I’m so old.

Don’t you hate it when you forget to switch the dryer from Air Fluff to Regular Heat? The bathmats are still a bit damp.

Listening to the Decemberist’s The Island from The Crane Wife. I am fascinated by this album.

Can’t believe I’ve never seen it.

Can’t believe it hasn’t been remade. Meryl Streep. Ron Livingston. Reese Witherspoon (the reader). Sean Hayes or Ryan Philippe (the gay boyfriend, Artie), Victor Garbor as Max.

We just watched the last episode of Bleak House on PBS. If you haven’t been watching this, look for a rerun. This was so good. Who thought Dickens was watchable?
One wants to focus on Gillian Anderson—who was fabulous—because you recognize her, but the whole cast was superb. The writing was seemless and the direction totally unnoticeable. After each episode, J. and I were frustrated that there wasn’t more. This was better than any movie we’ve seen all year, save for Brokeback Mountain.
Lady Dedlock. Poor Esther.

With the inexorable pull of CSS coding, not to mention raw HTML, and other knitting blogs, I have again stayed up too late.

We did watch the first two episodes of the PBS show about the French & Indian War. Just this side of fascinating. Makes you dislike the French, Indians, British and Americans, though the British do come out looking worst. It is interesting to get at least part of a Native American point of view for a change.