Just a quick note to say that I so miss your writing here and hope the birth was as problem-free as possible. Come back just as soon as you can!! I have to admit, I'm surprised by how much your absence has impacted my workday. I'm sure you'd have some bitingly funny things to say about that, if you weren't busy with your little one. :)

Your loyal reader,

Nanda

HH--glad you're back! also glad to finally read something negative about this horribly sappy and uninteresting series, one of the many this season.

but you neglected to mention one more truly annoyingly subpar thing about this show--rachel griffiths. one can only imagine what her experience must be like, having to perform this drivel after years of six feet under. i guess she needs the money or something. still, what a come down.

anyway, the things that just bugs me about her performance is her accent! she's australian, and for the entire run of six feet under, you'd never have known it. now, perhaps i was distracted by the excellent acting, writing, directing, etc. of that show, but she's constantly using australian intonations on brothers & sisters. is even she so appalled at the wretched dialogue that she can't perform well? it's really surprising, coming from her.

next time you watch it, if any of you ever do again, listen for her australian accent. it's all over the place. it's almost as bad as brad pitt's in seven years in tibet.

definitely mark ruffalo

also love me some benicio del toro as well as peter krause when acting in six feet under

and, at the risk of getting too mainstream, denzel washington is always very yummy.

ok, along with mark ruffalo, benecio del toro, peter krause as nate fisher on six feet under, and denzel washington...

after seeing him perform live at the Punch Line recently, i have come to the realization that dave chappelle, while goofy and silly, is also really sexy! my husband was surprised and shocked by my week-long crush after that show, but dave chappelle is very, very cute IMHO.

i gotta stop posting.

sorry, i just keep thinking of more and more and more...

and on the topic of mos def, if you disagree, go hear him perform in howard zinn's Voices of a People's History of the US as i did recently, and you'll see what i mean. mmmm mmmm.

sadly for her, abbie cornish's first break-out role in the US with in the gossip headlines about ryan phillippe and reese witherspoon's divorce. cornish and phillippe are in an upcoming movie about the military's stop loss program, made by the director of boys don't cry. anyway, cornish was in the headlines as the potential mistress of phillippe and last straw for witherspoon.

hopefully, she'll soon get better press about her acting. she's also in that new russell crowe movie, a good year, which doesn't look very good.

after seeing the preview a couple times and being truly horrified by the clunky dialogue and jennifer garner's awkward line delivery, not to mention reading a few newspaper reviews about how terrible this movie is, i find it hard to believe that the movie is worth seeing. were it just for the bad reviews, i would possibly see for myself in the theatre, since i was a big alias fan and am generally curious about jennifer garner. but the preview is just so bad! her line delivery is awful, or maybe it's the script...i don't know. i guess i'll have to wait for it to come out on video to see what zacharek is talking about here.

i do recommend that before anyone here spend $9-10 on this film, google the film title and watch the preview online first.

yikes! a little harsh, don't you think? why so much animosity? had a bad day?

i only just now happened upon this article of yours; i got here from a link in the latest piece on Anne Lamott. i am so thankful for your writing and am so grateful to hear a bit of what the writers think of all the hatred and nastiness here. you are write in your assertion that some readers no longer write letters--i am one of those. i don't need to be gratuitously attacked and find it upsetting, so i no longer write letters on salon (except this one, of course). it is exactly like the drivers who yell and flip you off from the safety of their cars--it feels exactly the same to be flamed by one of the salon readers.

i just don't understand the level of nastiness out there. and it troubles me that so much of it seems headed in the direction of the female writers (stephanie, heather, debra...it seems that anything they post now gets crude, snide remarks that have little to do with what they actually wrote).

i support the salon leadership taking a good look at modifying the letters policy, and i encourage the writers to stop reading the letters if you need to. i'd rather have you continue your good work and be less in touch with your readership, if otherwise you would find it difficult to write without self-editing or emotional distress. you don't deserve that in the least.

thanks again.

have you already given up on this?