Elise's Ramblings

Wikets Review Site

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:16:00 +0000

For the last week or so I've been working with a new iPhone review app called Wikets. To put it in movie parlance it's like Facebook and Yelp put together, but cooler.

Here's the run down. you and your friends review places, products, and enter bar codes on Wikets and optionally post them to your Twitter and Facebook accounts. once you've friended someone you can share your reviews. For example if we were friends you could go to my Wikets reviews of places and see all the pastrami sandwich places I recommend. Which you should do, by the way. You can also ask for reviews on a particular item you are interested in, should that be something other than pastrami.

If all that weren't enough you earn points for all your reviews that can later be exchanged for online merchant gift cards. 100 points equal $1.

Why I think this is so great is that you get reviews of places and things from your friends who presumably you can trust. Rather then the too often owner augmented reviews on some other more anonymous review sites. Also How many times do you sit around trying to figure out where to go out to dinner. Now you can go to a knowledgeable friends page and look at all their restaurants and you're done. I think I'm hungry with all these food examples.

If you're interested in getting the App you can use the Promo code EliseCD.

See you on Wikets!

Kathy Griffin on OWN Rosie Show

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 04:55:00 +0000

Rosie's Show on OWN is having Kathy Griffin on for two episode Tuesday and Wednesday. I think they have a serious talk about Kathy's life. I just want to spread the word I think it will be interesting to hear her speak without all the jokes and bravado.

Just as an aside I love the Rosie Show and if you haven't been watching find it. It's on OWN, you can check your local listings. As you would expect she has great Broadway shows on and classic stars of stage, screen, and TV. It really is nirvana for people who like all the things I write about here.

Etta James RIP

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:31:00 +0000

I know everyone thinks At Last when they think of Etta James but this is my all time favorite. Thanks for all the good times Etta. You're the queen!

I Just Want To Make Love To You.

Magic City on Starz

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 14:21:00 +0000

Just caught the preview for Magic City on Starz today. I keep hoping that one of these new shows set in the 1960's will be as good as Mad Men, could this be the one?

Set in a hotel in 1959 Miami there are plenty of interesting places for it to go. Mobsters, The Kennedy's, The Rat Pack, the whole Cuba thing??? All that and what sounds like a Louis Prima soundtrack. Lots of promise, and my fingers are crossed they come across with the goods.

The cast is pretty impressive too with Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Danny Huston (Hubba Hubba). Check them out in this trailer.

Martin Luther King Day

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:36:00 +0000

I know there is a lot of controversy about this monument, but it is there. I saw it last summer on my visit to DC. Even if you feel it was poorly designed, I feel good that our country is moving in the direction of equality for all people, black or white, male or female, straight or gay.

Perhaps it is metaphorical. We are far from finishing this journey but we are making strides. In the mean time I heard they are fixing the truncated quote on this monument that dissapointed so many.

Happy Martin Luther King Day

Little Big Planet 2

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:37:00 +0000

As a member of the Playstation Family I got a copy of Little Big Plant 2. We recently opened it up. I think my kid is addicted.

She always loves these kind of games where you travel through a world collecting coins, or in this case stickers, which as the narrators says, we love so much we want to kiss them. This game has the added fun of adhering the stickers all over the virtual world and dressing up our little rag doll person and so much more I haven't even discovered yet.

If you're looking for a fun game for your kid I can highly recommend this. Based on my research of every kid in the neighborhood trying this game in my livingroom I would say it is good for 5 year olds and up, boys and girls, preferrably who can read though it's not mandatory.

Could be a good Valentine gift if you're trying to go easy on the candy!

Here's the trailer

Mad Men Season 5 returns March 25

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 01:35:00 +0000

Finally word that Mad Men Season 5 will return to AMC March 25th. Is it me or does it feel like the last episode aired in the actual 60's???

Still I am very pleased we will finally get to see how badly Don has screwed up his third marriage (depending on how you count them that is), if Joan's husband gets killed in Vietnam or can count 9 months, and finally if Peggy and Abe are still together. Cause I LOVE Abe.

I guess I've hit my limit of using the word FINALLY in a post. But really AMC you better give us Mad Men Season 6 no more than 6 months after season 5 ends. You owe us.

Downton Abbey This Sunday

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 21:45:00 +0000

It's finally time, Downton Abbey Season 2 starts this SUNDAY! I'll be tweeting it with #DowntonAbbey. Come join me.

It's on PBS check you local listings. I'm on the west coast, but if you start tweeting I'm sure you'll find others in your time zone.

Can't wait to see what becomes of all our favorite!

My Silly Dogs Playing

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 00:57:00 +0000

Sorry in advance if you hate animal videos, but my dogs ARE the cutest. Here they are rolling around on their backs playing You Can't Bite Me. Totally ridiculous.

I know, adorable right!

Music Monday with Cole Porter Anything Goes

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 02:59:00 +0000

I've never heard some of these verses. I also need to google several of the people referenced. Who new they were have nudist parties in Hollywood in the 30's???

PBS AMERICAN EXPERIENCE RECLAIMS THE WEST

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 12:56:00 +0000

PBS' American Experience starts it's 24th season on January 10 with a look at the most famous people of the American West.

The season will begin with Billy The Kid, then premier Custer's Last Stand, followed by Wyatt Earp, Geronimo, Annie Oakley and Jesse James.

Check you local listings Tuesday nights on PBS.

New Years with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:49:00 +0000

Here's a great old clip of Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, not to mention Ruth Buzzi. Too funny if a bit blurry and with a second of Abba on the end. Gotta love them all the same.

Hope you have as good a new years as them!

New Years Resolutions

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 05:37:00 +0000

It's that time of year when, most everyone comes up with new years resolutions.

Are you?

I don't know, I guess I could try to watch more TCM and PBS. It would be difficult but I could try...

In all seriousness though, there are a couple things I could work on. Off the top of my head, spending more time with my daughter just playing. I actually do spend a fair bit of time with her, but it is doing home work and cleaning her room or running errands. These are all important, but before I know it she won't want to spend any time with me, so I better store up a back long now to get me through those lean years.

Also the husband could probably use a little attention. We have never been the kind of couple to have date nights, even before the kid. I can see now how they might be important though so I'll try to get a couple of those on the calendar. Even after 15 years and all my complaining about him and us and the house I love him and gotta maintain it.

Finally, for myself I think I need to take better care of me. I don't mean work out and eat right. Cause let's face it I'm never going to do that in a significant way. I mean do more just for me stuff. Like go to the movie alone in the middle of the day, get a facial or a body scrub, even meditate. Basically things that are just for my own enjoyment.

Hope you all take good care of yourselves too in the coming year and of course keep coming here and seeing my ramblings.

P.S. If you're wondering about the picture with this post, it's me in my best Mad Men Garb. It'll be back this spring and I'll be ready and waiting.

Happy New Year!

Good Gravy Recipe

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:13:00 +0000

With the season on us it occurs to me that gravy is important. Looking around the interwebs I find gravy recipes that call for everything from ketchup to cream of mushroom soup??? Really people...

So here is my incredibly simple (if I can do it, it must be) fool proof gravy recipe.

Begin by putting one tablespoon of flour in a cup of milk. The best way to mix these together is by shaking it vigorously in a sealed container. I use a small mason jar for this. Then once you remove meat, be it a roast, turkey, meat ball from the pan stir the milk mixture with the pan drippings over a low flame. You can add a second cup of milk/flour mixture if you have that much drippings. Salt and pepper to taste. You're done, I told you, easy!

This yeilds perfect lump free gravy every time and really could not be easier. It's how both my grandmothers made gravy and they probably got it from their grandmothers, so more than 100 years of gravy making can't be wrong.

Hope this reaches you in time for your christmas dinner.

Happy Holidays with Sonny and Cher

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 16:59:00 +0000

Hope you all are enjoying the season. Here's a fun holiday clip from the old Sonny and Cher show. Love Chaz's face when he sings. Looks like he's think these people are nuts!

Happy Holidays!!

TCM Thin Man Series Dec 22

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:01:00 +0000

I want to be sure you all know there is a Thin Man Marathon on TCM this Thursday Dec 22nd beginning 8PM eastern (that's 5PM for us west coaster)

As is often the case, there are diminishing returns as you proceed through the series, but after the first two it's too late for a school night anyway. If you do manage to stay up for all of them you'll have bragging rights of having seen them all.

My hat is off to you!

Music Monday with Armstrong and Fitzgerald: Baby It's Cold Outside

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 13:50:00 +0000

Here's a little Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstong singing Baby It's Cold Outside. Perfect for the holidays and one of my childhood favorites.

All Fords are Green

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 04:28:00 +0000

Ford recently invited me and a few other bloggers to the Farmer's Daughter (adorable)for brunch and to hear about all the great efforts they are making to green up their cars.

To begin with the 2008 Ford Escape HEV was the 1st US automobile to utilize 100% post industrial seat fabric. Today, For every 300,000 Ford Focus models produced in North America, more than 5,000 barrels of oil are saved.

I know they are cars and they are inherently ungreen, but since no one in LA is about to give up driving these cars are a great option.

Here's a great video Ford made of the event.

Spread the Sweetitude with Stonyfield

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 20:04:00 +0000

Thanks to MomsLA I was given $50 by Stonyfield to give away as part of their #Sweetitude program for the Holidays.

In the past I have paid for people shipping cost at the post office during the holiday season.
This year I haven't gotten my chrtistmas card act together so I'm not at the post office. Instead I decided to buy groceries for an elderly couple in line behind me at the super market this morning. I was thinking they probably live on a fixed income. We always think of children at this time of year, but we should remember the grandparents too. They were very sweet and sent me on my way with a Merry Christmas.

Feel free to spread the Sweetitude!

Here's more info. from Stonyfield about the Sweetitude program and a contest:

This holiday season, Stonyfield is spreading a little natural sweetness to the world – organically…….. to celebrate our newest, 100 calorie, naturally sweetened cup! Our exciting new campaign is called ‘Sweetitude’.

To us, sweetitude means: n. – A naturally sweet attitude. An attitude produced without the use of toxic pesticides, hormones, or chemicals. A pleasant disposition brought about by a non-artificial act of sweetness. (Often brought to you by a cup of Stonyfield).

It can also mean the little thoughtful actions that can make a difference – letting someone go before you in that crazy line at the department store, giving up a close parking spot to an elder, sharing baked goods with your coworkers, etc.

What does sweetitude mean to you? Head to the Sweetitude website, www.sweetitude.com, view our call to action video, and submit what sweetitude is to you in 100 characters or less. For every 1000 entries, we unleash 100 coupons and deliver 100 cups of yogurt to those who need it – nursing homes, homeless shelters, etc – we’re open to all ideas and would love to hear from YOU about places and people that you think need some extra sweetness this season! Plus, one grand prize winner will receive a ski trip to Okemo – in the beautiful mountains of Vermont, and there are plentiful daily giveaways as well.

So, join us in some holiday cheer and sweetness this season – and help us spread it far and wide! We’d love for you to share this with your Twitter followers using the hash tag #sweetitude as well.

Music Monday with Tommy Dorsey Ochi Tchornya

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 13:12:00 +0000

So The other night I was watching My Man Godfrey and noticed one of the characters was playing Ochi Tchornya. I remembered the song from Idiot's Delight with Norma Shearer and Clark Gable. Then some of the people I was tweeting about it with remembered it from the music box in Shop Around the Corner. I know we are uber classic film geeks.
We started wondering if all these 1930's film used the song because it was a hit of the time. I still don't really know, but one of my fellow classic film fiends @TheRedan3553 ,on twitter, found this Tommy Dorsey recording on Youtube.

Enjoy! I love the clarinet solo.

Debbie Reynolds on Motherhood at The Paley Center

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 21:02:00 +0000

Here's a great little interview, one of my co founder's of MomsLA did with Debbie Reynolds at The Paley Center here in LA. The Paley Center has just wrapped up another of Debbie Reynolds fabulous costume exhibits. But don't worry if you missed it, you can see some of it on the end of this video.

Book of Mormon Coming to LA's Pantages

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 21:45:00 +0000

Book of Mormon is coming to LA's Pantages Theatre in September! It hasn't been announced when tickets go on sale, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear. The show is only running 12 weeks, and I wouldn't be surprised if it sells out every show. With that in mind I'd buy tickets as soon as they go on sale.

Just FYI I have heard that the show can be a bit....what's the right word....to put it nicely let's say irreverent. I guess if you've seen South Park (Trey Parker and Matt Stone created South Park and Book of Mormon), you know what you're getting yourself in to. I think it's going to be amazing, but you should know what you're signing up for.

Stay tuned for more details.

Music Monday with Billie Holiday

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:31:00 +0000

Here's a little Monday music for you. I love my Billie Hoilday, this clip has God Bless The Child, and Now Baby or Never. I have a particular soft spot for God Bless the Child, my father use to reference it a lot. Probably around allowance time.

Anyway, enjoy these classic tunes. I'll try to post something musical every Monday.
Oh and by the way she is singing with the Count Basie band, who are amazing too, of course.

Downton Abbey on PBS Jan. 8, 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:32:00 +0000

Well, I tweeted out that I was dying for Downton Abbey and PBS tweeted me back this preview, in the hopes of getting me through till the second season premieres January 8th, 2012.

Enjoy, I did

Robert Osborne back on TCM Dec.1st

noreply@blogger.com (Elise Crane Derby) — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 17:35:00 +0000

Tomorrow is Dec. 1st and Robert Osborne returns to TCM. It's been about 6 months, and he has been seriously missed.
In honor of his return here is a 6 reel salute, all in black and white of course.

Starting with the Classic Dinner at Eight.

A little medley of Thin Man silliness

Casablanca's beginning of a beautiful friendship

A little romance from Philadelphia Story

The head strong Bette Davis in Jezebel

and finally Sullivan's Travels

This could have been a 21 reel salute but time is limited, and Robert knows better than anyone what they should be.

Welcome Home Robert, don't go away again!

More post on Robert Osborne and TCM.