PinkBeltRage

Peter Jennings 1938-2005

It’s no secret to anyone who knows me that I love Peter Jennings. If I watched the news, it would be to see him, hear him and have him relay current events.

I even used to wish he was my dad! As a kid, it was always Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird (one of my favorite novels).

Peter Jennings quickly replaced Mr. Peck.

I thought all the time, “How awesome would it be to have Peter Jennings as a father?” And yes, I’ll admit, he’d come on TV and say his greeting and I’d say, “Hi Dad!” to the television. (Don’t tell anyone this!)

I remember growing even more attached to him during 9/11. My phone ringing so early that morning and I didn’t answer it and let the machine pick up…

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Devil's haircut

10 June 05 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comments [8]

Announcing my latest site creation… Jonathan’s Blow Out!

You thought I was kidding, huh?

Well, I wasn’t!....

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On my nightstand

6 October 04 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comment

Now I’m also reading No Plot? No Problem! A Low-stress, High-velocity Guide to Writing a Novel in 30 Days by Chris Baty, the founder of National Novel Writing Month. With three books of my own in the works, why not, right?

I just picked up Dave Egger’s latest How We Are Hungry: Stories. It’s a very cool looking book, all black, embossed, with an elastic band. It looks like a journal. You know I love Dave Eggers, all things Eggers, McSweeney’s – one of the first essays I wrote for this site is actually up on McSweeney’s. The thought that Dave Eggers may have read it just makes me giddy inside.

I finished Augusten Burrough’s latest Magical Thinking. I highly reccommend it. I absolutely loved Dry and thought it was much better than Running With Scissors. There were points where I just cried. He’s so honest with his writing. I find it shocking and wonderful.

The latest D. Sedaris Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim has been read! Finally. I finished it over the Christmas weekend. What are the odds of reading two books back-to-back, both featuring the personal accounts of gay men drowning rodents?! Crazy stuff, my friends.

Louise Welsh The Cutting Room
Junot Diaz Drown
IKEA 2005!
Assortment of Pottery Barn catalogs
West Elm catalog

I’ll read anything by David Sedaris several times.
I loved Kissing In Manhattan by David Schickler.

And as for my own writing, well, I wrote a little essay that’s on McSweeney’s Internet Tendency here.

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Crimes of fashion

3 October 04 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comments

Katie Couric and those mini-tiered ruffly skirts should be outlawed. And worse yet, Katie Couric in said skirt should be shot.

I know Katie Couric has had her share of personal tragedy, but since I wasn’t fond of her before her husband passed away, there’s no reason why I should like her now.

The pettiest pet peeve of mine with Ms. Couric: her lips and hideous eye make-up. That heavy black liner doesn’t suit a woman of her age. Neither does the slimy, slithery lip glosses she abuses.

My theory on the lip gloss is this: her lips are deflated, her mouth wrinkled like a prune (is she a smoker? nah, she just talks too much), so the glitter glosses are used to distract.

Maybe it’s not her fault. Maybe those NBC execs force her hair, make-up and wardrobe staffers to attempt the impossible and make her look “youthful”. In that case, my apologies to Katie.

Now the skirts…

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Un-break My Heart: Don't show me your package

19 July 04 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comments

My essay which appeared here in it’s rough draft form will soon be featured in McSweeney’s in it’s final revised glory. Watch this space for the link.

Hooray! It’s finally up. I’m in McSweeney’s! Here’s the link.

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The long and the short of it

17 July 04 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comments

Lately, I’m addicted to watching make-over shows. You name it, I’ve seen it. Some unsuspecting fashion criminal is set-up by their so-called “loved ones” for a completely new look.

The episodes where the make-overee has long hair always involves the traumatic-chopping-off-of-locks. This is guaranteed. Now is it because long hair is “out of fashion”? Or does this cutting make for a more extreme and obvious makeover? Thus ensuring great television

I have noticed that when long hair is involved, it is never nice. And yet, these people have weird, unhealthy attachments to their horribly under-conditioned, splintered, thinning tresses. What is up with people who are attached to their hair as if it were an extra useful limb or some vital organ?

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I watch too much (bad) TV

6 April 04 ¦ Permalink ¦ Comment [2]

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Any Bravo reality show
Alias
The Daily Show
VH1’s Best Week Ever
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition – I’m a sucker for this show. No matter how many times I swear I won’t watch it, I do and I always cry.
The Apprentice
America’s Next Top Model
Blow Out (like, duh!)