The week in culture: Jan 21-27

Watched:
Stardust
27 Dresses
North and South (BBC, not Swayze)
Hairspray
Atonement
Wallace and Gromit (their three short films)

Read:
Mr. Impossible by Loretta Chase (oh the shaaaame)
Bitten by Kelley Armstrong

Heard:
Natasha Bedingfield's new album, which is OK.
The Psych theme song in Spanish, which is awesome.

Pop Culture Zen of the Week:
The Men of Jane Austen. Yum! Darcy is where it's at, but Wentworth from Persuasion ain't too shabby either.

Random Cultural Observation:
Over the past few years, I've become less and less involved with the awards shows. I still like to look through the magazines to see all the stylish duds, but it feels less critical to me to see all the nominees and figure out in my head who will/ought to win. As the years pass, it seems more evident to me that awards show recognition doesn't exactly mean quality as it does industry clout, and that many worthy shows, films, and actors are left out. Hard to muster up enthusiasm when it seems that the things you think are great are straight-up ignored. (The Emmys being the worst offender in this category.)

Soccer Update:
An awesomely fun time this week, playing in the rain on a grastroturf(?) field that wouldn't get wrecked or turn to mud. It was alternately sprinkling and solidly raining while we played, and the field didn't have completely proper drainage so it was rather soggy and slippery, but it was still quite delightful -- even when I fell in the grass and suffered completely sodden shorts as a result. We lost, 5-3, but I scored a goal so I wasn't entirely bummed by it all. No indeed!