Thursday, January 29, 2009

Latenight reading and Famous James

Remember Kate asking about The Namesake? I don't know if the movie is any good, but last night I finally got around to picking up the book and never put it down until I turned the last page at 1:30 AM. I am paying for it today - grouchy and squinty-eyed - but the misery is worth the few hours of being transported into someone else's interesting world for awhile. I can see how a movie made from this book might end up seeming shallow and being poorly acted - the loss of the language would definitely be detrimental. And there are plenty of books that outshine it, but it explored the nature of family and identity in an ultimately affirming way, unlike The God of Small Things, which made you feel like life is brutish, nasty and short, and so is everyone in it. Now I need to go read some Nikolai Gogol to catch the significance of the namesake's name.

Here are recent photos:
James is famous! He is now advertising the virtues of the Y all over town! Can you find him?


Here are my math gnomes. I can't decide whether or not to give them eyes. They are not quite as cute as the ones online, but they are fun to play with.

And I just couldn't resist Claire's legs yesterday. While y'all are suffering from ice and snow, we are enjoying temps in the high 60's.
Did you find James? Here's some help:

9 comments:

Deanna said...

James is on the Y, too!? Way to go!! That's so funny because I am on three YMCA commercials running now (The shot is of me saying "My family's best investment!" and then at the end it shows me in the group saying "It's MY Y!". I was also on the radio. I didn't tell too many people b/c I look like a cow. To steal a line from Friends...if the camera adds 10 pounds, how many cameras were on me?

James looks WAYYYY better than me,anyway! :-)

Emily J. said...

Too funny! Did you get paid? A free month of membership? Every time I drive past one of these signs I wish I had added a little royalty clause on the waiver form. We just happened to show up the day they were taking pictures.

Deanna said...

No...actually I had to sign something stating I would not seek financial gain from it (and would not endorse a competitor for 5 years). I submitted a little survey saying why we whose the Y and they picked my story to be included in radio, print and TV airtime. I had hoped I'd at least get a month's membership for free or they'd pay for ONE of the FIVE kid's athletic fees!!! It's not like my commercial is going to open up an entirely new revenue stream for us!

Deanna said...

OK...Seth took ONE look at this (like 1/2 a second) and said "I know exactly which one James is!" to which I replied something I will not write and told him to point him out...he did! When further questioned (because I hate losing) he said "I can totally tell how James stands!"

How can I argue with that?

And Mr. I'm-On-A-Roll just insisted that I include that he just beat the English Major (ie: me) at Scrabble. I must retort...I was down 39 and ended up losing only by 9. He's still over here blabbering away "blah, blah, blah"...he's just happy to FINALLY beat me...

BettyDuffy said...

LOVE LOVE LOVE Clare's legs!

LOVE it that James is a local celeb.

Love math knomes!

Not sure why the Y would want a poster advertising kids playing video games--is that something kids can't do at home? DId I miss out on some cultural shift by whence video games suddenly became good for your health?

BettyDuffy said...

Clare looks like Twiggy or Mia Farrow.

Emily J. said...

By the way, BD, it's CLAIRE. We are one of those difficult families that adds extra letters to our kids names. None of the little Saint Clare trinkets match.

The video games are supposed to be interactive: Wii, giant screen tv;s programmed to Nickolodeon while walking on the tread mill, bikes with terrain pictures, etc. James is on the dance revolution game that you have to follow the dancer on the screen. Watch out MTV.

BettyDuffy said...

I knew that. I was just abbreviating her name--ex:lol

Kate said...

I picked him out right away! He should have jockeyed for a front-facing game station, though.

This reminds me of when I was in Rome for UD's high school Shakespeare in Italy program, and they were taking pictures for future brochures and told me to get out of one.