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Monday Miscellany

1. Am I the only one appalled by the DirecTV commercial in which David Spade tells us we should get DirecTV while his dead friend Chris Farley cavorts in the foreground? Don't get me wrong -- the other incarnations of this commercial (Bill Pullman in a scene from Twister, Naomi Watts from King Kong, Sigourney Weaver from Aliens*) were also pandering of the cheapest sort, but dude. C'mon. Chris Farley is dead. Not cool, David Spade. NOT. COOL.

2. I went on a walk this weekend and took my camera with me. I live in a suburb of Cleveland, which was built in the early 1900s, so there's some pretty interesting architecture.** These people have a moat!

3. I watched the pilot episode of White Collar on the USA channel recently--and it was pretty entertaining. Just like FX is the cable channel for hard core, strange, gritty shows, USA seems to be carving out a niche for itself with snappy, charming, buddy comedies.

4. In case you care, the brightly colored knee socks at Target are excellent. Knee socks are notoriously troubling things to wear because they are often (a) too tight, and cut off circulation or (b) too loose, and fall down, but the ones I got from Target for a Halloween costume are neither. I think I'm going to go buy a billion pairs before the fashion changes and they don't carry them anymore.

5. Also, you can custom order Timberlands. Which is a godsend if you, like me, are looking for a knee-high boot that laces up all the way so that it fits properly at the ankle and the calf.***

~~~

* And shame on you, Sigourney Weaver, for this. Shame.

** Although I don't take pictures of people's houses directly. I found it makes people nervous, like you're a hit man wandering around the neighborhood or something, which is crazy. Everyone knows that hit men drive.

*** Ask any woman -- most boots don't fit properly in both places. Either you can't get them over your calf, or you can but then you look like you have elephant ankles. Or they bag around your calves and you have to tuck your jeans into them just to get them to stay up. And lace-up boots aren't in fashion this year, so the Timberland find is a big one for me.

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