106: Favorite Things XII

Drive-by favorites:

Mythbusters
Sometimes, you just want some good explosions.  Mythbusters always delivers on the pyrotechnics and the science, to boot.  Whether Adam, Jamie, Grant, Tory, and Kari prove or disprove the myth, they always make the process entertaining.  (Also, Grant Imahara is the creator of Craig Ferguson’s robot skeleton sidekick, Geoff Peterson, which makes him automatically awesome.)

Detective Tomas "TJ" Jaruszalski
Law & Order: Los Angeles came back this week, and we said our final goodbyes to both TJ’s partner (Skeet Ulrich, we hardly knew ye) and TJ's mustache (which I will miss more than Skeet Ulrich).  My mother thinks Corey Stoll’s head looks like a cue ball now, and I can’t really disagree.  Regardless, I was reminded, while watching the new episodes this week, that TJ was my favorite character from the show's early days, and I hope that, as he grieves for his slain partner, the writers don't sacrifice the wry, amusing essence of the character on the altar of interior melodrama.  (...and now I'll just pack up my pretentious language and move along.)

The Secret Lives of Dresses
I'll admit it: I judge books by their covers.  I was unspeakably disappointed that Twilight had such appealing cover art.  This book by Erin McKean, however, has both a pretty cover and an enjoyable, well-written story.  Not a coming-of-age story as much as a figuring-out-how-to-be-an-actual-grown-up story set against the backdrop of small-town North Carolina, I was so engrossed in this book that I read about half of it in a day (and most of that was during the long stretches of waiting around during my training at the new job).  I think part of the reason I liked it so much is that Dora, our heroine, is a liberal arts major who has no idea what she wants to do with her fancy degree.  Girl, I feel you, for real.

Wayfarer sunglasses

RIP, sunglasses.

My trusty Target wayfarers broke this week, and I've been at a loss ever since.  I'm halfheartedly trying to find a pair to replace them, but I'll probably never find another pair that's black on the outside and purple on the inside (purple! my favorite color!), so I'm seriously considering just super-gluing the suckers back together.  Those glasses made it through airport security about eight times during trips to San Francisco, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles, survived being tossed around with all the other stuff in my purse for about three years, and went out in subzero cold and super-humid ninety-degree weather.  Of course, all of that contributed to the huge split in the frames that makes them unwearable now, but my point is this: those glasses have been good to me, and I'll never have another pair exactly like them.  Farewell, sunglasses.  (I will also miss these sunglasses more than I will miss Skeet Ulrich.)

This video

Anderson Cooper would, apparently, have been my best friend if we'd met as children.