Guilty pleasures!

[ralphinlaos]

What do you do when you are not in search of enlightenment? When you just want some junk-food for the soul? Are you secretly a V.C. Andrews reader? Are you addicted to American Idol? A Reverend Wright believer? What, in your heart of hearts, are some of your guilty pleasures?

I'll start.

I watch Survivor and yell at the stupid antics of the participants. (I just watched it tonight and my blood pressure went up ten points).

I'd rather have a pizza (with extra cheese) than a good, wholesome five-course meal anytime (this is probably because I can't get the pizza and I can always make a good, wholesome meal).

I'd rather watch Gray's Anatomy than read a book - I love this show.

Just a start. What's yours?

Ralph

[Saffron]

Guilty pleasures......A Starbucks chai latte. Only once in a great while, when I'm feeling off. It's the steamed milk I like. All TV feels like a guilty pleasure. When I do watch, it's Ugly Betty (most weeks) and Gray's Anatomy.

[Penelope]

I like watching repeats of old TV Series - especially period drama.

So all the repeats are on our ITV3. I watch 'Agatha Christies Poirot' because I love Mr.Suchet - and I love the art deco background, especially the lamps, and I love the costumes. So I am usually looking at the beautiful art deco lamps - and losing track of the plot entirely.

I watch Sherlock Holmes with the same results. Miss Marple. Anything that is set more than fifty years ago. In fact, I will make another confession. When I watched 'Titanic' on a video with my friends....they were really appalled with me because....when the ship was sinking and it showed the ballroom all aslant - said, 'Oh no!!!!! Those Lovely Chairs'.

[DWill]

I like "Desperate Housewives" and "The Office." Those are the ones I watch regularly now. I watch "ER" still, too, but it really hasn't been that good for several years. "Lost" is a huge obsession with the daughters, so I usually go along for the ride...but it's gotten too ridiculous for me.

I don't really read any junky stuff, which is too bad. I think a "real" reader does. Every now and then I sit down and watch a golf tournament on TV; it shows a world so far removed from mine and some amazing skills, too. I like basketball and was glued to the TV during the NCAA Tournament. But now there are no sports on I really like to watch. If I had cable TV, I would watch the Tour de France bike race from start to finish in July. I do a lot of things outside, but don't consider that to be slumming, like these others are. Good topic.
Will

[ralphinlaos]

I've never seen a Starbucks, but that sounds wonderful, Saffron. I make a mix of instant coffee, ovaltine, sugar and milk - that's probably as close as I'll ever get to a latte. And it tastes pretty good, too - they're big ovaltine drinkers over here.

I enjoy the old Miss Marple movies with Margaret Rutherford. They do show a lot of classic oldies on Turner Classic Movies.

DWill, I like The Office (have you seen the British version?), but can't get into Desperate Housewives. My niece, in Michigan, e-mailed me that I must watch Desperate Housewives, she'd even gotten her husband hooked. I tried, watched a couple of episodes, and just couldn't get interested. I've never seen Lost. My real favorite (along with Gray's Anatomy) is Boston Legal - I just like the entire cast (and some of the stories are outrageous).

And peanut butter and jam sandwiches.

Cigarettes (I know, I know).

Ralph

[Saffron]

Ralph:

I've never seen a Starbucks, but that sounds wonderful, Saffron. I make a mix of instant coffee, ovaltine, sugar and milk - that's probably as close as I'll ever get to a latte.

I like ovaltine too! My grandparents always had it around. It is fortified with iron and was originally marketed as healthy. The trick to a latte is getting the milk hot, but not boiling. Next, you whip it with a whisk, beater, or even a fork. The milk gets frothy. Now, you pour it into a espresso, coffee or tea (chai). Voila, a latte! Chocolate or flavoring can be added if desired.

[Penelope]

I am waiting for the President to post something very rude on this thread. I feel like I can read his thoughts!!!!


I am going to give him a karma point for restraining himself!!!

[Saffron]

The Office....one of my daughters really likes the show very much (British version also). I like it, but it is a little weird for me. I went to college with Steve Carell. He was good friends with my roommate. I see him and just think, Steve, rather than the character....with the exception of Little Miss Sunshine. I was able to forget who he was while watching it.

[Penelope]

I have watched a few of the American version of 'The Office' and enjoyed them.

The English version with Ricky Gervais, I found quite painful. Quite a few times Ricky Gervais made me cry.....It hurt me to see him in the episode where he got fired......and just sometimes....that look passed across his face where you knew he realised what a moron he was......brilliant acting.

Isn't it wonderful how a good actor can say so much just with a facial expression.

Having said that 'The Full Monty' was meant to be a comedy....but I cried all the way throough that. Loved it though.

When my Mum lived in Brighton - we went to see 'A Voyage Round my Father' with Sir Alec Guiness playing father. At the point where they are sitting in a summer garden on the grass - and the Father is batting at the wasps, and he says, 'When you are being pestered by a wasp.....don't you just love flies?'. Sir Alec, hadn't got much going for him the the 'good looks' department. But my, what stage presence. He hypnotised us. Mum and I were sitting high up in the Gods at the Dome in Brighton and we could see the wooden floorboards of the stage. But Sir Alec was sitting on a lawn, picking at the grass........and that is where we thought we were. I think this is my most memorable experience of the theatre. What is yours? Don't say Beckett, please.......

[Saffron]

Well, Penelope, most memorable theater experience....I've several. As a kid, I saw Ben Vereen in Pippin (1975 or so). He opens the show singing Magic to Do. He gave a stunning performance.

This is really my most memorable; as much for the circumstances of the day, as for the play itself. Last summer I took my 3 daughters and mother to see Spring Awakening (don't think it's made it across the Atlantic yet). It is a play about teenage angst, sexual awakening and first love. We got to NYC early in the morning so we could stand in line for cheap tickets ($25 as apposed to $89). Well, we got the last 3 cheap tickets and splurged for the 2 full price. It was 11:30AM and the show we got tickets for was at 8PM. We now had about 7 hours to ramble around NYC. We had a packed lunch, train tickets home and a small amount of spending money. It was a very long day. We each took turns alternately complaining and jollying our little troop along. Okay, the play. One of my daughters had an on stage seat (there are about 30 for this show - lined up on each end of the stage). I know this play, but had not really thought about what we would be seeing. Just before the intermission there is a very explicit sex scene. The young actress' breast are exposed and the actor pulls down his pants and bares almost all. My 17 year old was sitting just about 15 feet away with a perfect view of his derriere. My 14 year old, sitting with her 20 year old sister, was mortified. At least that is what she claimed. Everyone loved the show, but to this day the girls tease me about bring them to a show about sex with their grandmother in tow. All this and I haven't even mentioned there is a song in the play called, "Totally F@%#*ed", in which the F word is sung repeatedly. As for the play, it is one of my all time favorites. I've seen it twice!
http://www.springawakening.com/