It’s been so nice taking some time off these past few weeks.
Time off from both the pottery studio and my “glitter gig” responsibilities.
Time off for the holidays – both Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
Time off to play with friends – sharing meals, stories & gifts.
Time off to watch FAR too much television!!! And I do watch too much TV.

And I seriously don’t think that my TiVO has EVER been empty!
Except maybe the first day when I first plugged it in?!!!

This window on my TiVo is usually filled with shows, hours & hours of TV all
piling up because I don’t have time to watch them! Many shows with that little
yellow symbol threatening to delete shows if you don’t watch them soon!

Now that I’m all caught up on my favorite shows…
I can’t wait to get back into the studio! Starting tomorrow!!!

I love clever puns… clever wordplay gets me every time.
I love giggling… and seeing people giggle uncontrollably in an awkward situation.
And now I love Anderson Cooper for both of those reasons.

Yes, generally professional, straight-laced, and well-respected CNN Anchor
Anderson Cooper has combined a crazy “news” story with a ton of puns and
cracks himself up. On air. On CNN. On one of the most respected news shows
in the country!!! Imagine him doing this while interviewing the President…
or the Queen Mother… or reporting from the front lines in Iraq… or while hosting
“The Mole.” Yes, some of us do remember that he got his start on broadcast TV
as the host of the reality show “The Mole.” We should have known then…

Click here for the video… Anderson Cooper Giggling on CNN

And then, the following evening on CNN, he revisits the incident and puts humself
on “The Ridiculist” and calls out other on-air TV gigglers! More giggling fun…

Click here for the follow-up video… Anderson Cooper Puts Himself on “The Ridiculist.”

Happy Birthday Lucille Ball.
Hard to believe that she would have been 100 years old today
if she were still alive! Yet sadly, she’s moved on to another comedy sketch in the sky!

Luckily, her legacy of laughter will live on forever.
Whether she’s battling the chocolate conveyor belt…
or hatching another scheme with Ethel… lying to Ricky… teasing Fred…
or pitching the ever popular & everyone’s favorite Vitavetavegamin!!!

The new cast of the upcoming season of “Survivor” was announced today!!!
Only sixteen players so far, with the promise of two yet-to-be-identified returning
“Survivor” alumni who also be joining the cast! I can’t wait…

Mark your calendar now for the season premiere…
Wednesday, September 14th on CBS. And let the games, and the gambling, begin…

Special thanks to TV Land cable station and last weekend’s Season One “marathon”…
because I now have a new favorite TV sitcom. With all of the past season’s episodes
back to back, keeping my TiVO very busy… I’m now all caught up and ready to go
with Season Two of my new favorite… and soon to be yours too…

Okay, so it’s not the classiest… or the smartest… but it is very funny & witty.
And you know how I LOVE WITTY!!! And with these four classic funny ladies
at the helm, how can it not be funny?! It’s got Betty White after all.

Here’s the basic premise… three jaded & superficial girlfriends from Los Angeles
are on an airplane bound for Paris when they need to do an emergency landing in Cleveland.
And instantly find out that they men there find them “hot” as they are. No need for their
superficial ways, they normal guys in Cleveland find them irresistable. So they decide to stay.
One of them leases a house for the three friends in Cleveland that comes with a housekeeper
in the sarcastic form of Betty White!!! And hilarity ensues…

We’ve got Valerie Bertinelli, post Jenny Craig, as the grounded, level-headed one.
Wendie Mallick, as an aging & very self-centered former soap opera actress.
Jane Leeves as an English aesthetician looking for a Green Card.
And the incredible Betty White hurling slurs & witticisms at all of them!

Let’s not forget some of the other guest celebrities either…
Carl Reiner, Tim Conway, John Schneider, Wayne Knight, Joe Jonas, Amy Sedaris,
plus Susan Lucci and the cast of “All My Children”!

So check out your cable programming and find “Hot In Cleveland.”
You’ll be glad you did…

Yesterday, my studio “neighbor” Karen Patinkin asked if I would be
interested in splitting a cone 10 reduction kiln with her. Of course I said yes.
Unfortunately, I’ve been focused on my next soda kiln… and not cone 10.
So I asked her when she would like to fire and when I would need to have
my pieces ready to go. She mentioned two weeks!!! Yikes.

I’m always up for a challenge. So I started the production process today with
several hours of quality studio time. I used about 75 pounds of clay making some
of the “standards” I know I’ll need for the upcoming art fair season. Mugs, bowls,
soap dispensers, tiles and more! So I’m thinking that tomorrow I’ll be faced with
a LOT of stamping!!!

And if a day of throwing weren’t enjoyable enough… tonight was also
the PBS broadcast of the “Les Miserables” 25th Anniversary Concert!
So I got to play in the clay and hang out with all of my favorites… Eponine, Fantine,
Cosette, Jean Valjean and Javaert. The concert was great… even if it was on my
small, dusty & splattered studio TV! Didn’t matter… still completely enthralling!

And now that I’m home for the evening, how “convenient” that the second broadcasting
of “Les Miz” is currently playing on my larger & much cleaner living room TV.
It’s all so much bigger, brighter and more beautiful on a better TV. Looks like I may
be staying up a little longer than expected this evening. Shucks!

Okay, so I’m in the middle of Season Three in my “LOST” re-watch! And…
tonight I got to one of my all-time favorite episodes… that everyone else hated!!!
When it first aired, there was a LOT of griping about how stupid the episode was.
How it didn’t matter. It was a useless-information episode. That nobody cared
about these two people who unexplainable show up in Season Three… as though
they’ve been there the whole time?!

I thought it was brilliant. And very tongue-in-cheek how the writers finally
addressed the viewers questions about “the rest of” the passengers who survived
the crash of Oceanic Flight 815 – but never got to do anything “on screen.”
Okay, so we had Arzt who tried earlier… but we all know what happened to him!
They finally introduced two new characters who were “there all along” but gave
them a storyline, interspersed them into scenes we had already seen previously
and used them to reveal things from a different vantage point…

and then killed them!!!       Kind of… oops…   SPOILER ALERT !!!

Imagine how exciting it would have been for these actors to finally get the call,
and find out they’ve landed a spot in the hit show “LOST”… only to find out that
you only get three episodes and then you’ll be buried alive!!!

Going through “LOST” again from the beginning has been great fun. There are lots
of little things that I had forgotten about. Plus hints & clues that we didn’t put much
thought into – but now knowing how it all ends, some scenes take on new importance.

R.I.P. Paulo & Nikki… some of us will miss you!!!

Today is SuperBowl Sunday…
so I went into the studio to make some “Soup”-er Bowls!

And then somebody mentioned
that there was a game of some sort on TV???

So tonight I was in the studio trimming the stamped mug cylinders and
cleaning up my studio a bit. Typically not the most fun… the cleaning part…
but it becomes a whole lot funnier when you throw in some of your
all-time favorites from “Seinfeld.” Still one of the funniest TV shows ever!
My personal favorite… The Soup Nazi. Plus other favorites… The Close-Talker.
The Backwards Indian Wedding. Muffin Tops. Sponge-Worthy. The Pirate Shirt.
Man Hands. Rhymes With A Female Body Part. Bizarro World. Shrinkage.
Master Of My Own Domain… not that there’s anything wrong with that!

And in case you’ve forgotten anything… here’s a quick reminder!
YouTube – 100 Seinfeld Quotes – Episode One

And since there are a LOT more than 100 funny Seinfeld quotes…
here’s a hundred more! Guaranteed to make you laugh again & again!
YouTube – 100 Seinfeld Quotes – Episode Two

Elaine was always my favorite. The dancing. The shoving. The sarcasm.
And here she is in the best Seinfeld Blooper ever!!! I still can’t watch
this blooper scene without laughing out loud. Still…
YouTube – Elaine Benes & Frank Costanza Blooper

Today was another day of terra cotta fun in the studio.
Finishing up the terra cotta planters with drainage holes and little feet.
Setting them out to dry overnight so I can start finishing them with a
black underglaze wash n’ wipe before firing.

Plus… more “LOST” again.
A couple more episodes closer to the end.
Again.