the verdict is in!!

last saturday, boyfriend bman, friend steve and me went to S'MAC!! i was desperate to go opening day and apparently everyone else in new york was, too! the place was PACKED. we waited in line for a half an hour before we even got inside! and once we were inside, good luck finding a seat! if you are going to make the sojourn to S'MAC,

#1 you MUST BRING BACKUP. no going solo, unless it's to-go, unless you don't mind waiting a sweet while for a seat.

bman waiting in line while snagged a table. steve was meeting us there, which takes me to my second rule...

#2 if you don't show up together, be prepared to WAIT. we were lucky, bman was just ordering when steve arrived, so we could all eat together, but if you order before you friend gets there, be prepared to eat alone for 20 minutes before they get there food. and that's if they're right behind you. if they have to go to the back of the line, tack on another 30 minutes!!

my food came first (because i was on a separate receipt as my dining companions), along with my soda. i wanted to get a build-your-own which is an option on their menue, but because of the crowds, there was no BYO that day...boo. so i got a good old regular mac'n'cheese in a medium sized skillet.

#3 LADIES & (most) GENTS - the medium (aka Major Munch) size is ALL YOU NEED. the small one is a great size, but will provide no leftovers and may leave you wanting more. my Major Munch gave me a nice little leftover amount while bman and steve polished theirs off completely. the large size is a family skillet, no lie. it is for sharing or for serious eaters (of which i know a few).

now for the actual taste - DELICIOUS!! i was scared that it wasn't going to be cheesy enough, but in this case, subtle was good. this is not the type that is sticky and gooey and thick dripping with cheese, like a cafeteria M&C. oh, it is definitely cheesy, but it is a slightly more adult taste than, say, the blue box. kids will probably need hot dogs or something else fun in them. but not for me, for me, it was great. AND the leftovers heated up great the next day without coating my dish (and subsequently, my dishwashing sponge) with cheese. i think that S'MAC mac 'n' cheese was built for leftovers. they do takeout, which would be delicious and they offer a bunch of different options. steve and i got regular, bman got Cajun, which was good - onions, peppers, sausage, but in the end it was great to sample, but i wouldn't want a whole skillet of that. but i loved the crispiness of the veggies and anxiously await the true arrival of build your own.

my review in a nutshell:
GO TO S'MAC. it is worth it. the price is GREAT. the crowds are ridiculous and they haven't mastered their AC (it was an oven in there). don't come with fussy kids/adults or if you want to breeze in and out. it can be a stressful experience, but the food more than makes up for it. if you don't want your soda before your food, tell them or the ice they give you will be a puddle by the time your food arrives. word on the street is that the cheeseburger mac'n'cheese stinks, but i can vouch for regular or, if you want a little more, cajun.

i give S'MAC *** 1/2*

Hollywood Pecking Order

poor Rachel Leigh Cook. if you can't snag a role in The Devil Wears Prada, you might as well read it.


now go back to the kitchen and fry me some drug brains.

put your boners away, boys...

Marcia Cross is off the market.

aiyee!! between her and Nicole, the Translucent Skin Singles supply is running dangerously low!

at least SOMETHING good came out of Taxi

from peep-hole:

"NASCAR racer Jeff Gordon is engaged to Belgian model Ingrid Vandebosch, PEOPLE reports in its new issue.

Gordon, 34, and Vandebosch reportedly met on the set of the movie Taxi, in which the model and sometime actress played a bank robber and Gordon made an unbilled cameo appearance."

i give'em sometime between 18 months and forever.

Amy Sedaris makes being damaged cute

Amy Sedaris' cute-as-pie apartment was profiled in The New York Times. she looks like she would be very easy to shop for. not only would she be so gracious and kind you would feel like a gift-giving king, but it seems like you would make her day saying, "Amy, I saw this at a garage sale and thought of you." i bet she would love old medical equipment.

i always wished i liked Amy Sedaris more than i do. i used to watch Exit 57, begging myself to find it hysterical so i could have my female comedy idol (instead of Dave Foley as a woman). it was just a little too strange for me. and Strangers with Candy was even more disconnecting. the best thing about that show to me were the names (i believe Onyx Blackman is a thing of genius). but i just found it to be too weird. i felt like comedy Amy was punishing me for not getting the jokes. it's like in high school when you're the misfit who's afraid to admit you wish you were mainstream. you just can't win.

everything i read about Amy mentions her tough past and events that must be painful, but i feel like we'll never get close enough to feelings behind it. i just want to sit on a couch and cry with this woman.

i guess i identify with Amy most in the portraits she did for Kevyn Aucoin. she managed to take herself seriously enough to be freakin' GORGEOUS, but had the humor that most of her bookmates were seriously lacking (I'm sorry, Martha Stewart, you're not Veronica Lake so just smile or something!).

M&C 4ME

S'MAC!!

a restaurant DEVOTED to MACARONI & CHEESE!!!!! are you kidding me? are you effin' KIDDING me????

this is a dream come true. i am in love with macaroni & cheese, it's the best!! i love Cafeteria's (get it with bacon!) and have cried myself to sleep mourning the loss of Chat 'n' Chew's good taste. Mama's is delicious, but far (and we all know we go there for the bird). Bomo works in a pinch when you want a side of stuff better than you could have made with the blue box. but there is always room for more good Mac 'n' Cheese places - ALWAYS.

gimme gimme gimme!!! i need to try this!!

Hugh Jackman should be scared sh*tless that he doesn't look that much better than Brett Ratner.

whatever, dude

love on, you crazy f**kheads!!

hmm...

will they last? i don't know. i think she's really strange. i don't know him at all, but i heard he was really into drugs and women. it feels "too soon", but after 10 years of Cruise, i would be grabbing onto the next dude that didn't float away (i'm talking to you, Kravitz).

she sorta has Elizabeth Taylor status now - she keeps popping up in the news, whether or not there is news to be had, and we're all a little tired.

she seems happy, but that could just be a reaction she had 2 years ago that's been frozen in Botox.

explain this again?

presto strange-o!!

from McPaper:

"American Idol runner-up Katharine McPhee waged a five-year battle with bulimia that she managed to get under control just before the competition began last winter, she tells People magazine's next issue, on sale Friday.

She credits her parents and actor boyfriend, Nick Cokas, 41, for helping when she began a three-month program at L.A.'s Eating Disorder Center of California in October."

41?!?!? oh, Katharine, i know you wanted us to relate to your bulimia story (Jamie Lynn Sigler route, nice), but you just threw us all a curve with the 41 year old boyfriend (ah, also very JLS!)! you're no longer a home-spun girl from the jaded world of LA, you're part of the machine!!

the guy looks stank nasty.

i now have a hard time believing that, with the bulimia and the hunger for stardom, you weren't seriously considering Scientology at one point. Katharine McPhee, you are the Keri Russell of American Idol.

at least you can now blame your body and control issues for your hideous taste in Idol outfits.

by the way, don't you enjoy that "I'm so f**king serious" photo that People chose to run?

morning apartment jones!

i have been looking for this article everywhere - in Jane Magazine, actor/creepy Michael Rappaport writes about evicting his friend/tenant/actor/creepy Natasha Lyonne. according to the scan of the eviction notice, NL was living in MR's brownstone on 18th street - i LOVE 18th street! i think it is one of the nicest streets. it has some really nice brownstones and some cool apartment buildings...it's just a gem, until Natasha pooped all over it (not actually confirmed, but probably true).

thank you, Gawker, for finally giving me the link!

got sex on the brain?

this'll sober you up quick.

Denise, what are you doing? this is sleazy!! is this what you want your daughters to see? daughters, mind you, that unfortunately got their father's looks? Richie Sambora? please! they'll be lucky to get Tico Torres - no, not 2026's equivilant of Tico Torres, the actual Tico Torres.

i prescribe a long, soapy shower and "Independent Women, Part I" on repeat, STAT.

fall in line, boys!

Nerd shirts are back!

now, every guy in New York, make my dreams come true and start dressing like this.

are you serious?

is this news? she looks pregnant? how can an opinion be "Breaking News"?

such a shame, In Touch. you rode all that Brangelina Baby momentum into the ground.

the moment of judgement has arrived

What would you do
If I DVR-ed Tuesday Night Book Club?
Would you stand up and walk out on me?

You just might say,
"At least you didn't DVR How to Get the Guy."
I'd tell you I did, then you'd flee

8eth Leav3l is what everyone hates about actors. her need to be ON is a big, big NO.

i replaced some letters in her name with numbers because i refuse to give her the satisfaction of finding this when she googles herself.

it has finally come full circle, Banana Republic is selling safari clothes again!!

wave your flags and cover your brains as Zombie Anthony Grand Marshalls this weekend's Puerto Rican Day Parade!

From the CNN "Law Center":

"HANOVER, New Hampshire (AP) -- Authorities raided the Dartmouth College fraternity that inspired the 1978 movie "National Lampoon's Animal House.

Court documents regarding search were sealed, and authorities said only that the Alpha Delta house raid Thursday was part of a two-year investigation."

Evidence removed included two sledgehammers, a computer, and Stephen Furst.

Oprah truths up!!

i was watching Oprah After the Show online, which is what you do when you're suffering from Original Oprah Withdrawl. it was the follow up to "Why I Hate Myself: Mothers Confess" and Oprah was discussing how her weight is in direct correlation to how she's feeling about herself and how much joy she's allowing into her life. then, she did something i didn't expect her to do, she owned up!!

Oprah has been pinning her weight gain on her now embarrassingly long-ago trip to Africa, where the meat was so unsanitary and unreliable that she had to eat nothing but bread and that carbs were the reason why she gained so much wait. well, she finally admitted on After the Show that she gained weight because her busy schedule allowed her to go numb about other things in your life. she didn't go into detail, but i am glad that she finally pinned her weight gain on more than her limited access to the right food. i believed it for a while, but when the weight never came off, i just thought it was an excuse.

so, hooray!! a breakthrough!! Oprah, i wish you hadn't saved this precious nugget for After the Show! this is the juice we wanna hear LIVE!!!

things i like: The Last Days of Disco

here's another thing that may be a series or may dry up with this one post, but with the summer bringing no good television (Oprah's on vaca!) or much gossip to speak of, i thought i would talk about things i really like.

i love The Last Days of Disco. it's one of my favorite movies, but not one that i can watch over and over again. in fact, i've only seen it a handful of times, but i really connect with it and enjoy the trip it takes me on. here are some of the things i adore about this movie:

1. Chloe Sevigny - i freakin' hated her in Kids and haven't seen her in anything else, except for a "look at my range!" appearance on Will & Grace and her naughty naughty with Vincent Gallo in The Brown Bunny (thank goodness for internet pervs!), but she fascinates me. her sleepy delivery, her fashion sense (in this movie, she looks smoking in all her clothes!), her sexy dance moves. in conversation, she is so mousy and blah she's almost pathetic. i say almost because she is in a movie, after all.

2. Entry-level jobs - the two leads, Alice and Charlotte (played by Ms. Sevigny and Kate Boobinsale) are editorial assistants at a publishing house. i don't know why, but i like seeing folks who work in boring/ordinary jobs more than in "glamourous" jobs (don't need no PR mavens or fashion magazine editors, thank you!). maybe it makes me feel better to see them struggling. i don't know what it is, but i like that they don't have it all.

3. Apartments!! - i love movies that feature apartments or any real estate talk (hello, i am willing to see The Break-Up for this very reason!). i especially love apartments that look within my reach. Alice, Charlotte and their friend Holly (played by pre-Imitation of Christ creator/Jimmy Fallon Boinker/Wes Anderson Dumper Tara Subkoff) share a railroad apartment in Manhattan and it is cramped and unsexy and i love it. they make a "fancy" dinner to impress some guys with Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup. Alice has to sleep in the equivilant of the living room. it feels real and difficult and it makes me giddy.

4. Drugs!! - i've never done coke and i don't want to, but this movie still manages to make drugs look good. even when the strung-out dudes are high on coke, it looks like it's just what you're supposed to do! i don't know, maybe it was the time, but i have a hard time believing that not everyone was on something in the late 70's and early 80's. i think i can watch this movie from a safe distance because now, in 2006, drugs have been completely eliminated from society, right?

5. Kate Beckinsale's tummy - adorable. you know you're in a "smartie arty movie" when the gratuitous skin is just tummy...oh, and a naked Jaid Barrymore (girl's gotta eat!).

6. The mini-stars!! - this movie is a wealth of "where are they now"-worthy celebs! Robert Sean Leonard, Jennifer Beals, Mackenzie Astin (my personal fave)! and while all of these folks have gone on to...things, it was nice to see them when they were definitely going for cheap.

7. Josh Neff - played by Matt Keeslar (aka Johnny Savage from Guffman), this guy is a sweet and strange lawyer who reminds me of my boyfriend, except for the being institutionalized part. the school snob in me is impressed that he went to Harvard and i like how honest his character is without caring about the consequences. in one scene, Josh is ironing his shirts for work and i find that incredibly attractive. and i love his name. Josh Neff - i don't know, it's one of my favorite fake names.

8. The cattiness! - Alice and Charlotte should not be friends. they even admit that they weren't close in college and the only reason why they are living together is because they can't afford to live alone and don't know anyone else. this relationship is what i find most appealing in this movie. it's real - these aren't best buds conquering the world. these are two girls who quietly chip away at each other while trying to earn enough scratch to live on their own. i imagine this is what being in a sorority would have been like - banded together against "lessers" but at each other's throats when it came to guys.

9. The music! - the closing credits to LDOD are among my favorite in history: "Love Train" by The O'Jays. i had my LDOD soundtrack with me the night my harold team Dillinger made its debut and we used "Love Train" as our entrance music and it was magic. the whole soundtrack is genius - i highly recommend you get it today.

i know tons of people who hate this movie and i can totally see why. there are a lot of jerky, unsavory characters and a lot of snobby, upper-middle class bitching going on. it's all true and i don't think i would want to be friends with any of these people (except maybe Alice and Josh Neff). but i am fascinated by their relationships. they're young and have little enough to complain and envy but too much to really suffer. they don't know what they want so they allign themselves with folks who they understand but don't necessarily appreciate. they think they're ridiculously smart, and their brains hurt from dealing with everyday people. but when you watch the movie, you know they are just in a bubble of their own creation and that one moment it will pop and they'll have to deal with the real world. i don't hate these characters as much as i feel sorry for them and sometimes envy how simple their complicated stuff is.

eh, i'm no film scholar - i just like this movie.

welcome back!

From the gossip hounds at msnbc.com:

"Keanu Reeves was spotted at L.A. restaurant Cut looking cozy with actress Claire Forlani, reports a source. . ."

who?

oh yes!

Claire Forlani! the british actress who could do an American accent to save her life!!


the girl who was Hollywood's "Next Big Thing" after starring opposite Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black!


the girl i always thought was Natalie Imbruglia in those spacey L'Oreal ads!

the star of what must've been unfortunately humbling, The Medallion!


now, just as we thought you OutMol-ed the Master, you come clawing your way back onto our celebrity radar - BRAVO!!!

say it ain't so!!

From the Knower of All Things:

"Singer-songwriter Alanis Morissette and her fiancé for the past two years, actor Ryan Reynolds, have split, a source close to the couple confirms to PEOPLE."

No!!!!!!!!!! i loved this couple! my sister and i have been Ryan Reynolds appreciators since Fifteen and love her or hate her, Alanis is a force. i thought the two of them were really adorable and i was happy that after the boneheads, she managed to find someone and be at peace.

eh, what hope do any of us have?!?!?

More requests!

narc.com reader the great sangu has been begging me to do another post on Michael Bolton & Nicollette Sheridan, this time on their new duet, "The Second Time Around" on Bolton Swings Sinatra, the self-explanatory new album from the King of the Crass Croon.

i finally sampled a snippet of it on my iTunes last night and all i can say is:

Huh?

Nicollette is barely audible on this track. you can hardly hear her! and it just sounds like a mess vocally. i was never a huge fan of Bolton's and his voice seems like it would be very hard to find a match for. so i don't know why they thought that having Nicollette make her singing debut on this was a good idea.

actually, it's a great idea for the fans, and the great sangu. and it made the rest of us talk about it, which is an accomplishment in itself.

kudos to you, Bolton, Master of PR!!

can they both go away now?

James "Beautiful" Blunt and Petra "Tsunami" Namcova have finally turned their heat into noxious gas.

now get out of my face!!

nugget!

i didn't want to render my verdict on just a thumbnail print, but now that i've see this enlarged version, i can now say:

ADORABLE!!

say what you want about Brad (i can't stand him), but he does make good baby! the angle of the pic has Shiloh looking a little piggy, but i am sure that isn't the case. please! we need this baby to be the most beautiful human! if we were doing an interplanetary beauty pageant, she would represent EARTH.

meanwhile, you would think Jon Voight had a new movie coming out this week, the press he has been doing about this baby. i am not a big JV fan. of course, i don't know the true scoop between he and Angelina, but it just seems like he should keep his mouth shut and not talk to the press about his daughter's life. there are ways to reach out without putting your face all over it. i don't know, it just seems grubby.

Happy Birthday, Bro!!

My brother Arin turns 23 today!! Hooray!! i love you lots, bro!!

as for the pic, this is what you get when you Google image "Happy Birthday Arin".

Porkchops and A**holesauce

i caught My Fair Brady 2 last night on VH1 - ugh!! i am a huge Brady Bunch fan and watching it just made me so disappointed in Christopher Knight. who is this douchebag?

long story short: He's marrying Adrienne Curry, the first "America's Next Top Model" (aka "America's Current Has-been"). their relationship seems to be built on spanking each other and bubble baths. Chris is constantly laughing at her/laughing at himself for being in this situation. he only agreed to marry her if:

a) she signed a pre-nup
b) she quit smoking
c) he got "fixed" - WHAT?!?

he wants to get a vasectomy because he doesn't want kids right now. Adrienne offers to go on the pill or stop having sex, but Chris thinks those ideas are ridiculous. she keeps telling him he has trust issues and control issues and Chris just shuts down at this idea.

what are these people doing together??? maybe the sex is hot and they make each other slightly more famous, but they should not be marrying each other! it's really upsetting. Chris is just a jerk-off through and through in this episode. he's treating Adrienne like she's a baby and she is a little on the kooky side, but you're the one who's marrying her!! apparently he's been married twice before, so at this point he should know he's rushing into something...risa does not approve.

earlier in the episode, he met with Barry Williams for lunch. Barry stressed the importance of communication and making decisions together.

what?!? wisdom from Johnny Bravo?? you know the world is upside-down now.

since i know they already went through with it, this show lacks its sense of suspense, but i am still drawn to the a**hole maneuvers of Chris Knight. i know why Adrienne wants in - she's a wreck! i think she in search of all the stability she can get, even if it at the expense of her self-confidence. but Chris, you should know better than this. be nice to the girl, you stupid jerk!

aiyee!!

Dear Amazon.com,

For the last time, I do not want Wings on my WishList!

Beards 101

Matthew Broderick: A+ (A plus extra credit for baby)

Toothy Tile: A- (Post-Kiki pickings have not been great)

Kevin Spacey: Incomplete (Where are the ladies lately?)

Hugh Jackman: C+ (Too much "I love sex with a woman" talk)

TR Knight: F (you expect me to believe you boink the Burke?)

thank goodness for big sis!

how would Ali Lohan get anything fucking right if not for big sis Lindsay?

get thee to London!!

Patrick Swayze's in Guys & Dolls!

i love how he's playing Nathan Detroit, yet for the photo shoot, they dress him up like Danny Zuko.


i would love to see this, i wish i could travel by air somehow to get there.

alas, just a fool to believe...

glad or sad?

this morning i saw Jill Talley on a commercial for the Home Depot. should i be sad that her sketch talents are being used to peddle doors? or should i be glad she's working period?

i have been picking on The Break-Up for quite some time now and i can't quite explain why. i am not on Jennifer Aniston right now and i feel this movie is trying to shove her down our throats after we welcomed her into our homes for almost a decade.

it's funny, when i tell people how horrible i think this movie is going to be, they're all very dissappointed.

"Really? It looked good in the commercial!"

are you effin' kidding me? it does NOT look good in the commercial. the only line i chuckle at is when Vince and Jen argue about doing the dishes:

Jen: "I want you to want to do the dishes."
Vince: "Why would I want to do the dishes?"

funny. i'll admit that. but the rest of the commercial is dreck. it's dreck beyond dreck - do not get me started on the gay brother singing "Owner of a Lonely Heart"! and i know this makes for a stinky movie because they usually put the best stuff in the commercial - unless it's a thriller, or an action movie. but even then...i have a hard time believe that there is anything more satisfying than watching Tom Cruise run and smash into that car in MI:III.

but, in a weird way, i am itching to see this movie! i know, can it be? well, yeah, and i'll tell you why:

i wanna see that apartment!



i wanna see this prime piece of real estate that these two are going War of the Roses over. that was the best thing about the preview and the commercials. the sumptuous white couch, the sleek streamlined dining room, the colors, the Rufus Wainscotting - this is what i would pay $10 to see!! even in the movie poster - what kind of sheets are those? they look so comfortable!! and they live in Chicago, of all places! heaven!!

seriously, as a real estate/travel junkie (all vicarious), this movie is soft porn!

congrats, Cuomo!!

Rivers Cuomo graduates - hooray!!

Pinkerton helped me through freshman year and Green Album was my savior at my first job. i would be in love with you, and maybe you would love me back, but i would never stop worrying that i was dissappointing you by not being japanese.

a big THUMBS UP to you!!

From The Chicago Sun-Times:

"It's the sequel no one wanted to see: Sun-Times movie critic Roger Ebert, who battled back from cancer three times before, will be undergoing cancer surgery again."

oh no, my dear Ebert! thankfully, he is expected to make a full recovery. Ebert is awesome. he's on my list of folks i would love to have over to dinner. the luminaries who share this distinction include:

Bruce Vilanch
Paul Ruebens
and Clay Aiken - if he's ready to get real!!

i guess to get into my good graces you need to be fat, gay or both.

let the Braxlash begin!

McPaper did a story on how the American Idol finale affected record sales:

"Other Idol finale performers showed mixed results: Live registered a nearly fivefold gain (2,100-9,700) and Prince climbed to 21,000 from 13,000. But Mary J. Blige was up only 3% and Toni Braxton dropped from 4,800 to 4,400."

Ouch, yet Yay!! Toni B. pissed me off with her performance and i was so angry that Idol let her duet with Soul Patrol. she ruined his moment and she was a terrible choice.

by the way, i caught some of the "McPhee 'n' Hicks in '06!" campaign stops on the tube this week and here were my thoughts:

Entertainment Tonight - such garbage!! Mary Hart should be shot. this featured all the Idol finalists, except for Jammin' Yamin...hmm...Mary was trying to get dirt on everyone and it wasn't working. dude, these kids are BORING. that's the problem when you have finalists that have been pursuing music for years - there's nothing going on with them!! if Elliot had been there, they could have said, "This time last year, you were working in a pharmacy - now this!" but with Soul Patrol and Katharine, what are you going to say?

Larry King Live - Seacrest Out hosted and Taylor and Katharine were joined by Randy Jackson with Paula Abdul drunk dialing in. pretty boring. it seems like the press is treating Katharine like a soft touch. everyone was afraid to ask her if she was dissappointed and they didn't let Taylor bask in his victory, which he should be able to. a stark contrast from the Ruben/Clay show a few years back which was a hoot and a delight, and tipped me off that they would be seeing Frenchie Davis in Rent the next night...just like me after i bought my ticket!!

The Today Show - Taylor and Katharine were shielded from the crowd during their interview (i could tell by the distinct absense of hoots and hollars). again, Matt Lauer asked if Simon made Katharine cry and she vehemently denied it. i don't like this girl and i don't know why everyone is focusing on her so much. do they want to make sure she gets her fair shake? the way they directed so many questions to her, you would think she won...she is not going to be Clay 2!!