I’m recovering from dental surgery and a slew of work-related passive aggressive emails (or perhaps we can properly label them as downright obnoxious), so my apologies if I’m a bit surly this A.M. I’m blaming it all on the pain meds, lack of REM sleep, and a very anti-climatic Gossip Girl. However, happy thoughts. Happy […]

I’ve yet to meet anyone who is just as obsessed with The Shining, cannibalism and carnage as much as I am. I keep these passions quiet for fear of being labeled a lunatic at proper cocktail parties, however, I had long conversations with two people this weekend - one a Shining addict and another […]

I loathe shopping, I do. Department stores give me vertigo and try-on rooms remind me of fun-house mirrors - you look horrific every which way you turn. Then there are the salespeople who either ignore you and prattle on incessantly about their latest trysts gone wrong or they hound you, gush in your ear […]

For some, the holidays are a whirlwind of tree decorating, turkey carving, watching It’s a Wonderful Life whilst sipping eggnog by the fire and cuddling our loved ones. This is a time for bonding, tearful toasts and Sears family portraits. For the rest of us, the holidays are a harbinger of doom. We cradle […]

Last year I spent Thanksgiving wretching in the bathroom due to a nasty food allergy. This year, I’m bringing my pop to a friend’s pot-luck party. I adore pot-luck - delish food without all the holiday madness! I’m off until early next week, friends - enjoy & manga!
My Pot for the Pot-Luck:
Nigella’s Butternut Squash with […]

In public we are our most radiant selves, but it is only in private that we are cruel. For years this is how I lived: one face forward, one that I carefully manufactured, while my other self, one that was fractured, angry, mournful, suffered in quiet. I delivered to the world an idea, a cast […]

Can the camera lie? Does it bear false witness? Can its lens simultaneously see and conceal? -NYT
Bleeding reds, chilly actinic blues, gray shadows and white light are some of the contrasting color techniques utilized by director Dariusz Jablonski in his quietly horrific documentary, Photographer. In 1987 someone rooting about in a secondhand bookstore in […]

Click here to read the first chapter (pdf) of my forthcoming memoir, The Sky Isn’t Visible from Here.
Wait, you want to pre-order the book? Well, don’t let me stand in your way! Click here to get your copy before the screaming masses

“Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again. It seemed to me I stood by the iron gate leading to the drive and for a while I could not enter, for the way was barred to me”.
I feel like it is almost cliche to begin my post with Daphne Du Maurier’s opening lines to […]

vanessa needs to go - preferrably head-first into a compactor. nate and jenny are clearly meant for one another as are chuck (clearly, between him and my obsession over joaquin phoenix, i have an affinity for men who appear slightly unhinged) and blair (i felt terribly sorry for her although she is beyond uptight) […]

Whether you’re purchasing your first or your 40th cookbook, the cookbook section of your local bookstore can inspire feelings of vertigo–-the seemingly infinite choices! The cute pictures! The foxy chefs! Oh my! Great tomes with dozens of glossy pages displaying velvety trifles, grilled flank steaks and burgundy risottos might cause the novice to shriek: could […]

Well! You might have noticed that my crib got a long-overdue makeover (and we’ve got some tweaks coming). Regular readers - have no fear. You are not in the Twilight Zone (aside: Rod Serling is a genius). My smashing refresh comes courtesy of rockstar, Lorissa Shepstone, the original G. We love me some Lorissa, we […]

Recently, a friend of mine created a group on Facebook, Death to the Memoir:
THAT’S ENOUGH. WE KNOW MORE THAN WE WANT TO KNOW. STOP SUPPLANTING THE NOVEL WITH EXAGGERATED MEMOIRS A/K/A FICTION UNDER ANOTHER NAME AND OFFERING BIGGER ADVANCES.
Although I believe my friend created this in jest (not intending to offend, although it did), unfortunately, […]