You should check this out (if you haven't already)

I don't remember which MySpace blog it was that told me about this link, but if you click on it, you can view An Inconvenient Truth for free; it's in two parts, which are navigable by use of the pull-down menu at the top of the page.

I'll admit to being more than a little skeptical about a documentary starring Al Gore and which was about a topic that has been questioned on more than one occasion. After watching it, however, its message rings true to me and I strongly recommend that you view it -- either via the link I provided or by actually contributing to the economy (i.e., going to the theater or renting the DVD via Netflix or whatever other purveyor you so choose).

What will happen in the new year?

In what is, apparently, his "33^rd annual office pool," legendary NYT columnist William Safire (who now chairs the Dana Foundation) offers a set of multiple-choice questions regarding possible outcomes for the year-to-be. What do you think?

Safire -- who, it seems, in 1969, while a Nixon speechwriter, wrote a short speech to be delivered in the event of the Apollo 11 astronauts being stranded on the moon and (a memo prepared by NASA for Nixon and Vice President Agnew that suggested statements in the event of Apollo "crew fatalities" also is part of the linked document) -- instructs us that we either must pick one, all, or none of the options for each question. His answers and mine follow the questionnaire (a word I'll never forget how to spell as it is similar in construction to "personnel," which I once misspelled to be eliminated from a regional spelling bee]).

*****

1. The “O’Connorless Supreme Court” will decide
(a) without reversing Roe v. Wade to uphold laws restricting late-term abortion because they do not impose an “undue burden” on women
(b) that public schools in Seattle and Louisville, in their zeal to prevent re-segregation, have gone too far in using race in selection of students
(c) to reject Massachusetts’ case to force the Environmental Protection Agency to raise auto emissions standards, holding that “global warming” gives the state no standing to sue without new law

2. Dow Jones industrials will
(a) reflect 4 percent economic growth to rise in 2007 to close above 14,000
(b) fall out of bed to 10,000 in what the Republicans will claim is the Democratic recession
(c) soar to 15,000 before ending the year around 14,000
(d) change from a boring numerical index to lively prose opinions in the with-it Wall Street Journal

3. Bipartisan achievement of 110th Congress and Bush White House will be
(a) blue-ribbon Social Security panel providing cover to raise retirement age to 70 for those now under 50
(b) passage of Leahy-Pence shield law permitting whistleblowers to expose corruption to reporters without fear of being ratted out by runaway prosecutors
(c) immigration reform allowing earned citizenship of current illegals and installing 1,700-mile fence named after the nativist Millard Fillmore
(d) substantial minimum-wage increase with reduction but not elimination of “death tax”

4. Congress will override Bush veto of
(a) federal support of stem-cell research
(b) federal negotiation of drug prices

5. The word most often heard in 110th Congress will be
(a) sellout
(b) compromise
(c) subpoena
(d) civility
(e) payback

6. The Oscar for best picture in a year of great pictures will go to
(a) Martin Scorsese’s “Departed”
(b) Paul Greengrass’s “United 93”
(c) Clint Eastwood’s “Letters From Iwo Jima”
(d) Stephen Frears’s “Queen”
(e) Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris’s “Little Miss Sunshine”

7. The level of American troops in Iraq at year’s end will be
(a) over 100,000, down from surged 160,000
(b) under 100,000, down from today’s unsurged 140,000
(c) under 80,000 with announced timetable for downsizing in 2008 to 40,000 in secure Iraqi Kurdistan

8. Iraq will be
(a) in full-scale civil war
(b) on the road to shaky democracy with insurgency weakening
(c) split three ways with Kirkuk as capital of Kurdistan

9. Iran at year’s end will be
(a) more intransigent than ever and on the way to matching North Korea’s nuclear weapon
(b) more reasonable after plunge in oil income, anti-terrorism boycott, labor-student unrest and global sanctions
(c) red-faced at double cross from Arab Iraqi Shiites

10. Publishing sleeper-seller will be
(a) “Sacred Games” by Vikram Chandra, a gangster novel like an Indian “Godfather”
(b) Jim Lehrer’s novel “The Phony Marine”

and in non-fiction
(c) “Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries and Deadly Games,” by a retired spook, Tennent Bagley, which refutes C.I.A. groupthink about the molehunter James Angleton being paranoid
(d) “Father’s Day,” by Buzz Bissinger, about his twin sons, one exceptional and the other damaged

11. Internal party struggle will be
(a) John Edwards’s labor-appealing protectionism versus Hillary Clinton’s championing of Nafta-style free trade
(b) John McCain as pro-life versus Rudy Giuliani as pro-choice
(c) cognitive dissonance of anti-bias liberals at bias toward a conservative Mormon candidate

12. Scientific news will be in
(a) neuro-circuitry
(b) deep brain stimulation in treating depression
(c) sequencing the genome of higher apes in studying evolution
(d) vaccine approaches to treatment of Alzheimer’s as well as eradication of malaria
(e) gene duplication to detect mental illness
(f) commercial hype about cranial calisthenics

13. Year-end polls of likely primary voters will have in the lead among Democrats
(a) Clinton
(b) Obama
(c) Edwards
(d) Gore
(e) Richardson-Biden-Dodd-Dean

and among Republicans
(a) McCain
(b) Romney
(c) Giuliani
(d) Gingrich-Rice-Brownback-Hagel

14. Time and chance will happeneth to all predictions if
(a) McCain scampily blows his stack
(b) Clinton freezes over
(c) Romney is brainwashed
(d) Obama loses his cool over press interest in “Rezkogate”

15. Key factor in swing-voter choice of next president will be
(a) experience
(b) freshness
(c) character
(d) name recognition
(e) seizure of health-care issue
(f) Internet organization

*****

Safire's responses: 1 (all) 2 (c) 3 (b) 4 (both) 5 (c) 6 (d) 7 (a) 8 (b) 9 (b) 10 (c) 11 (a) 12 (all) 13 (a), (a) 14 (all) 15 (c)

My uninformed guesses: 1 (a) 2 (a) 3 (c) 4 (none) 5 (b) 6 (a) 7 (a) 8 (b) 9 (none) 10 (d) 11 (a) 12 (b) 13 (a), (a) 14 (none) 15 (c)

RIP, Leslie Lynch King, Jr.; and limiting presidential service

While surfing just now, I saw that Gerald Ford has passed away at 93 at his home in southern California. He was president when I was born, so I have a special place in my heart for old Jerry despite the fact that he was the butt of many a joke (most notably, of course, by: [1] Chevy Chase during his [i.e., Chase] brief stint on SNL [couldn't find a video thereof on YouTube or Google Video] [somewhat little-known fact: CC played drums in a "bad jazz band" called The Leather Canary in the late '60s and that group was headed by Fagen and Becker, the creative forces behind the world's greatest band ever]; and [2] The Simpsons). I had forgotten that Ford was a member of the Warren Commission and, as it turns out, he was the last surviving member of that presumably-august-but-oft-questioned panel. Also, he was the target of not one, but two assassination attempts within three weeks in September 1975, thus fulfilling another criterion for inclusion in history's memory (at least, according to me).

*****

On a quasi-related note, CSM is running an interesting op-ed today by Jonathan Zimmerman of NYU, in which Zimmerman argues for a repeal of presidential term limits. His main point is that if a president is no longer "electable," he is no longer accountable (a la W). His secondary contention is that the American people have enough "long-term common sense," as Eisenhower put it, to know when to boot out an ineffectual chief executive.

It's funny that this arises now because just yesterday (Xmas Day), I had a brief conversation with others (all of whom, I assume, voted for W [at least, in '04]) and the general consensus was that W doesn't really care as long as it's (i.e., "the war on terror") cleaned up by his successor.

*****

I've really got to get to bed. Good night.

Tara Conner, Katie Rees, et al

In the wake of the recent beauty queen scandals, Salon provides us with Miss America 1998's viewpoint, which, of course, is the last word (note sarcasm here).

Gumming up the works

Just thought I'd let everyone know that the new Orbit Lemon-Lime gum (not mentioned on the link) is pretty tasty and quite potent tang-wise (not to be confused with what the Apollo astronauts sipped or the T'ang Dynasty or the Wu-Tang Clan -- the latter [well, two members thereof {the RZA and the GZA}] being part of one of my all-time favorite short sketches from Chappelle's Show).

The Tara Conner Affair

I guess the reigning Miss USA gets to keep her crown after all, or, at least, so says The Donald. Seriously, who cares? Of course, in posting this rather link-laden blog entry, am I not implying "caring"? Whatever.

Other notable Miss USAs:

• Laura Harring (1985) -- Naomi Watts', er, co-star in the weird David Lynch movie (that's the most redundant statement I've made in months) Mullholland Drive;
• Shanna Moakler (1995 [runner-up, but assumed title upon titleholder becoming Miss Universe]) -- Pacific Blue to Playboy to MTV to Dancing with the Stars to fighting in clubs with Paris Hilton...oh, how the mighty have fallen;
• Ali Landry (1996) -- What has she done other than be "the Doritos girl"? Good grief! She used to be married to A.C. Slater?!
• Brandi Sherwood (1997 [ditto the Moakler Effect]) -- She is/was (?) a "Barker's Beauty"...way to parlay your pageant career into greater things there, Brandi; and
  
• Shandi Finnessey (2004) -- She's all over GSN ("Lingo," "Playmania"), so I see quite a bit of her (in between the new "I've Got A Secret" and reruns of "Match Game 73," that is)...also came in second in Miss Universe that year.
  

I watched ballet last night? What the ... ?

In my quest to watch most -- if not all -- of Robert Altman's films (this goal driven home more since his 11.20.06 passing, aged 81 years), last night, thanks to Netflix, I sat down and watched his 2003 film, The Company.

The film, which "stars" Neve Campbell, James Franco, Malcolm McDowell, and the entirety of the Joffrey Ballet Company of Chicago, has no plot to speak of and is, to my untrained, not much more than a art-house, well-photographed paean to classical dance from Campbell, who also co-produced and co-wrote (the story -- what little there is of it -- not the screenplay) the movie; as Wikipedia tells us:

She began her show career as a dancer. She trained at the National Ballet School of Canada at the age of 9, and appeared in performances of The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty.

Her ambition since she was about six years old was to be a classically-trained ballerina, but after numerous injuries (pulled calf muscles, arthritis in the neck and hips, surgery on her feet, fallen arches, hip syndrome, tendonitis, shin splints, bursitis, etc.) she got a check-up from the doctor and he told her that she had practically no joints left.

I'll be the first to admit I know little, if anything, about dance -- especially ballet -- but watching a movie that had no story other than to, as stated by the director in the commentary track (to which I fell asleep), show a "day" or "season in the life of the company," with no plot points and no real characters to grab hold of and learn about (i.e., the aforementioned actors are the only professional actors in the piece; the Joffrey dancers are the other "characters"), I can't say that I particularly cared for this movie.

That being said, I'm loath to pan an Altman film upon only one viewing (e.g., I can't even begin to count how many times I've watched -- with or without commentary -- Gosford Park). Also, the way in which the dance sequences are filmed is truly masterful; perhaps, it has a lot to do with the fact that it was shot in high-def video (or something like that -- I'm not very technically-minded). Finally, one has to admire Campbell's commitment to spend months training to get back into that life and to actually perform professional dances with some of the most polished performers in this country, at least.

Besides, what other movie can boast the director of M*A*S*H, Alex from A Clockwork Orange, the girl from Party of Five (i.e., the one that's not Jennifer Love Hewitt or Lacey Chabert), and James Dean (well, sort of)?

Jack McCoy sent me an e-mail!

Today, I received a message in my Gmailbox "from" Sam Waterston urging me to join him in the fight for an end to the partisan bickering in Washington. His e-mail included a link to a testimonial video in which he idealistically argues:

The system is broken, and a third force in the middle is essential to fix it...Through Unity08, for the first time in American history, we are going to throw out the backroom deals and, yes, change politics forever. [my emphasis added]

I'm 100% for ridding ourselves of "politics as usual," but I hope the man who voiced Lincoln in the epic Ken Burns documentary, The Civil War, is not tilting too much at windmills.

Weird coincidence: As I finished adding links above, the shuffling Windows Media Player was playing "Everybody's Got The Right" from Assassins and "John Wilkes Booth" (as played by Jack Bristow, er, Victor Garber) sang his part:

Everybody's
Got the right
To be happy.
Say, "Enough!"
It's not as tough
As it seems.

Don't be scared
You won't prevail,
Everybody's
Free to fail,
No one can be put in jail
For their dreams.

For more of my ramblings re: presidential deaths, see this post.

Thanks to Michaela on deviantART for the cool SW portrait.

One more reason to like Michelle Malkin

Not even Britney Spears (who doesn't appear to have an "official" home page any more [unlike her less-than-musically-gifted ex] -- that is, any more than she cares to dress and act appropriately in public) can escape the punditorial (I know it's not a word, but it seemed to "fit" here) acuity of Ms. Malkin:

This article even suggests -- gasp -- that all of this gives K-Fed (i.e., he of the New Year's Day WWE tilt versus champion John "The Marine" Cena) more of a chance in the custody battle. Heaven help us all.

Today's baseball news

(1) If the D-Rays feel the need to move some of their games to the EPCOT parking lot, isn't that an indication that the team is not viable in Tampa and should be relocated -- perhaps to Vegas, Portland, Charlotte, or some other place where the population isn't: (a) transient (a strike against moving the Expos to DC [that organization now has a new marketing slogan -- whoopee!], I suppose, but that happened); and (b) coming out in force (relatively) for divisional rivals like the Sox and Bombers?

(2) Nick Lachey is going to be a part owner of the Triple-A (for Seattle) Tacoma Rainiers. Now, all we need is Jessica Simpson to get up and make some comment about it being strange that her former beloved is buying animals from Santa. (Wait a minute...wait...get it? Never mind.)

The former model, a dead economist, and a quote

(1) From SI.com and Lew Rockwell.com (with some links added by me):

Tiger Woods' wife, Elin Nordegren, has filed a libel lawsuit against an Irish magazine story that included fake nude photos of her and claimed that she appeared on Internet porn sites. If the lawsuit is unsuccessful, Tiger plans to simply buy the mag and shut it down.

* * *

Murray Rothbard believed that there should be no libel laws, as one does not "own" one's own reptuation. (A reputation is what others might think about someone.) However, Murray certainly would have supported Woods' Plan B. A private property solution!

I have to say that buying up that which defames you and yours is a pretty good solution, albeit one that's available only to a select few.

---

(2) Another quote from my favorite net pundit, Ilana Mercer:

In a truly free society, the kind we once enjoyed, one honors the right of the individual to associate and disassociate, invest and disinvest, speak and misspeak at will.

Happiness is...redux

Yesterday (11.27.06), everybody's favorite NHL owner, Ted Leonsis, blogged on the "five traits of happiness" ("Not much different than what has made me happy recently," MCW said, rolling his eyes) after seeing "another study on happiness." Leonsis argues that the happiest people he knows all share:

1. Being connected to multiple communities of interest in an active way. The more people on your buddy list the happier you are;

2. Giving back through volunteerism and sharing with others. (YouTube, MySpace and other social networks prove this point on the importance of sharing);

3. Pursuing the higher calling in all of your major efforts, by doing what is right in the right way.

4. Self expression. Having a good third place to exchange ideas, be creative and have your voice be heard (why do you think there are 54 million blogs out there?)

5. Showing gratitude by being thankful and optimistic.

From what I've heard about Ted, he sounds like a pretty "good" guy, but then again, if you take a look of the things he's done over the course of his life (through January of '06) and how much he's achieved and earned, it's pretty difficult to not be happy (IMHO, at least). However, when I just Googled him, both his Wikipedia entry and a posting on ESPN's Page 2 referenced surviving a 1983 plane crash, after which, according to the latter, he made the list of things he wanted to accomplish, which tempers my cynicism about his happiness quite a bit; getting through 70% of them in 50 years of life is pretty impressive.

RIP, Robert Altman (updated)

Film director Robert Altman has passed away at 81. My favorite Altman movies:

• Gosford Park (my favorite);
• Kansas City;
• The Player; and
• Cookie's Fortune.

I've never seen many of his most important films (e.g., M*A*S*H, Nashville, etc.), so my list is far from bearing great insight into the auteur's career.

An interesting coincidence: I got The Long Goodbye from Netflix late last week and it's still sitting on top of my DVD player, yet to be viewed.

FYI: "RIP" is often taken to stand for "rest in peace," but, in fact, it originally stood for requiescat in pace, which is Latin for - what else - "rest in peace."

**UPDATE**
I moved the slide show previously at the top of this blog to a post by itself.

**UPDATE**
Thanks to Richard Wall, via Lew Rockwell.com, for the photo above. The article to which that links is a very interesting take on Altman's films, by the way.

One more for the road

A million years ago, it seems, my mom and I were playing the original Trivial Pursuit and the answer to one of the questions was "Jo-Jo the Dog-Faced Boy." We laughed heartily at that answer and it became a running joke as a default answer when we didn't have a real one.

Anyhow, a decade plus has passed since then. A recent Discovery Health program documented the medical conditions of "sideshow freaks" and first up was said Dog-Faced Boy. Turns out he had severe hypertrichosis.



Don't know why I posted on this, but it's just interesting (if not a little creepy, in all honesty).

Sign of the apocalypse, number 581

From PerezHilton.com via All Headline News via The Fix (Salon's, not WaPo's):

"I may not have the type of voice you like, but I can sing. You can't take that away from me, 'cause singing is a gift from God, and when people say I can't sing, it's kind of like insulting God."
-- Fergie (BEP, not HRH) in Vibe

I'll take "Messianic Complexes" for 800, Alex.

Two influential women in one blog?!

(1) I realize I'm a bit late on this train, but I wanted to make sure as many people as possible see the recent Camille Paglia interview on Salon. I know the name (i.e., über-intellectual, off-kilter [to many] and iconoclastic feminist), but didn't know much about her views until reading this piece. It's a must-read for anybody who is disenchanted with our current political system as a whole.

(2) Too bad Reese and Ryan are splitting up.
(Hey Reese - call me!)

Tyson + food = dinner?

Just when you thought Michael Steele's list of supporters couldn't get any stranger, it just did.

On top of that, more thoughts on the ubiquitousness of a certain Food Network star and media personality.

Questionable campaign strategy in MD

Would you want this man campaigning on your behalf?

I didn't think so.

"EVOO - how cool is that?" [use sarcastic tone while reciting]

When I read this, I had to blog it.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2006/10/14/rachael_ray/

Rachael Ray, my dinner hooker

As much as I say "barf-o" to her perky "yum-os," I have to admit the frightfully popular TV host's quick and reliable meals can't be beat.

By Mary Elizabeth Williams

Oct. 14, 2006 | There is an entire industry built around the loathing of peppy media chef-phenomenon Rachael Ray. Google up "Rachael Ray" and "hate" and you'll uncover an enthusiastic community devoting considerable energy to "Raytard's" manic je ne sais quoi and dubious fashion sense. But does the "Joker faced" celebrity chef really merit that much scorn? This is a woman who, as far as we know, has never thrown a phone at an assistant, evaded her taxes, launched into any unfortunate, blood-alcohol-elevated tirades, or rapped at the Teen Choice Awards. If there ever comes a day that Rachael Ray is hospitalized for exhaustion, it'll be a safe bet that she really is exhausted. Why then is there such a thriving cult of antipathy toward the woman Forbes recently identified as the second most trusted person in America?

Because there are two kinds of people in the world. There are those who leap out of bed smiling and eager to start the day, the kind who come up with team-building exercises for their departments, who stay out late into the evening line dancing because it's just so darn fun, and who wake up again the next morning still smiling and eager to start the day. These are the kind of people who sell T-shirts on their Web sites that say "Yum-O." Then there are the rest of us, the ones who see people like that and want to barf-o.

Rachael Ray, the turbocharged personality who has built an entire career on the notion that anyone can pull dinner out of their ass in under a half-hour, has, in the past year, gone from high-profile basic cable star to full-blown media juggernaut. She is the face of her own magazine, the author of a string of bestselling cookbooks, and the host of approximately a bazillion Food Network series. In September, her eponymously named daytime talk show launched with the highest ratings for a syndicated debut since Dr. Phil hit the airwaves four years ago. Earlier this year, Time named Ray one of the 100 most influential people in the world. She has become, to crib from her bottomless supply of stock phrases, a big ta-da.

Hers is a quintessentially self-made American success story. Small-town girl and specialty food buyer hits upon the idea to teach "30 Minute Meal" classes as a way of moving the merchandise. The classes lead to TV appearances, which lead to cookbooks and a Food Network gig, which lead to guesting on "Oprah" and subsequent total media domination. Ray has no formal culinary training, and a brash willingness to embrace pre-washed produce and canned broth. She has boasted that she's completely unqualified for every job she's ever had. Unsurprisingly, she pisses a lot of people off.

Unlike some of her other Food Network compatriots, Ray brings no seductive charge, no "food porn" element to her work. Jamie Oliver, Tyler Florence, Giada De Laurentiis and their ilk infuse their personas with the erotic decadence that comes from good cooking. Their newest colleague, Nigella Lawson, owes much of her fame to languorous finger licking. Ray, in contrast, is all brisk and bouncy. Even when she posed for FHM a few years ago in a series of skimpy outfits, her wholesome smile, her cheerful lack of subtext when nibbling a strawberry, remained firmly intact.

Ray does not exist to wine you and dine you. She is here to wham-bam thank-you-ma'am you, an abundantly useful strategy. I may find her personality considerably off-putting. I may feel guilty for turning to her again and again at that certain hour of the evening when I need gratification. Rachael Ray is my dinner hooker -- fast, reliable, a sure bet. Her critics can bemoan the meteoric rise of the warp-speed dinner; they can turn up their noses at her "sammies" and burgers. But not every meal can be a truffle-infused work of art. Most nights, you're just grateful for a little culinary reach-around.

Therein lies the secret of her success. Perhaps she's a star because that breakneck energy and interjection-riddled vocabulary are genuinely appealing, although if that's the case I may have to move to another, far more dour corner of the globe. I prefer to believe she's made it despite the relentless ebullience, that she connects because she understands that for a whole lot of people, getting dinner on the table is a major accomplishment. You work late, you take care of your kids, you have no time to shop. You contemplate choking down a solitary Luna Bar or picking up a supersize bucket of trans fats at the drive-through. Rachael Ray says there's another option, and with her chipper, can-do attitude, she demystifies cooking. If she weren't sugarcoated to the gills, her message would be almost too tough to take. Suck it up, she's saying. If I can do it, you can to it. Take one lousy half-hour and get a hot meal together, for yourself and for your family. A real meal, preferably the kind with some lean meat and fresh vegetables. No expensive equipment or specialty store ingredients; no fancy French terms or techniques. No excuses.

My own relationship with Ray began in her early days on Food Network, when I was a frazzled new mother and the sight of watching people cook was the most soothing thing I could imagine. Her "30 Minute Meals" offered a warm and accessible personality, a regular gal who, like me, was just trying to get dinner made without having a nervous breakdown. I enjoyed the repetitive lull of her drizzling "EVOO" (that's extra virgin olive oil to you and me) "twice around the pan" night after night after night, even as her patter about Grandpa Emmanuel and Daddy's Cajun cred wore thin. Our bond was truly fixed, however, when I was pregnant with my second child, and I was helpfully gifted with one of her cookbooks.

It was a fascinating read. On the one hand, what legitimate cookbook author uses more exclamation points than a month's worth of Craigslist postings? Who in her right mind actually writes out phrases like "h-e-double-hockey-sticks" or "WHOA! I can't find the time to do all that!"? I, a semi-competent, fairly snobby home chef with a subscription to Cooks Illustrated, was appalled. On the other hand, the annoying chick delivered. Mere speed and convenience alone do not a successful recipe make, as anyone who's ever watched the Cool Whip-wielding nightmare that is Sandra Lee will attest. In contrast, Ray's roast leg of lamb was a crusty, garlicky hit, and her rosemary grilled chicken was, according to my mate, "restaurant quality." The last thing I made before going into labor was Rachael Ray's green minestrone. In the weeks and months that followed, her other cookbooks appeared on the shelf, and became battered and grease-spattered from constant abuse. She may grate on my nerves like a block of Parmesan on a blade, but dammit, she's my fix.

She wasn't always this irritating. Take a gander at the early episodes of "30 Minute Meals" that air regularly on Food Network, and you'll find a coherent personality putting together some pretty decent dinners. As her star has risen, so, apparently, has Ray's energy level and fondness for cutesy phrasing. The woman who could once do the "chop and drop" with a reasonable amount of serenity has been replaced by something resembling a hyperactive Red Bull addict going through a speed drill while delivering a stream of consciousness. Case in point: Her laid-back howdy-do of yore has been obliterated on her new show, which opens with a large metal gate parting to unleash Ray, bat-out-of-hell-style, upon the masses. As she patters a mile a minute and announces she's heading into her kitchen (emblazoned, à la Mary Richards, with the star's trademark monogram) to grab a cup of coffee, one can only pray that it's decaf. During the course of a recent episode, I heard the 38-year-old use the phrase "back in the day" twice in one minute, "awesome" in four staccato repetitions, and "girl" what felt like roughly 9,000 times. And when she settled down to nervously interrupt and giggle her way through the next interview, somewhere, I could hear the sound of a blogger's hands rubbing gleefully together.

But consider this: 66 percent of Americans are overweight or obese, while fast food and takeout consumption and portion sizes have ballooned. It's estimated that less than half of American families sit down to eat together every night. It doesn't take a genius to figure out how these things are related. So if the woman that Anthony Bourdain is not unjustified in referring to as a bobble-head can make dinner a little less intimidating, I can admit she may not be the antichrist. If she understands the vicissitudes of the dinner hour well enough to divide a recent tome into "Meals for the Exhausted," "Meals for the Not Too Tired" and "Bring It On! (But Be Gentle)," she can girlishly giggle herself all the way to the bank. And if, most important of all, a fair share of her recipes actually pass the taste test, she's welcome on my shelf any day.

Do the meals that have become my weeknight staples actually get made in under 30 minutes? Sometimes. My husband has been known to hopefully flip open a Ray recipe 30 minutes before he expects to eat, only to emerge considerably later, bathed in flop sweat and exasperation. But as Ray "eyeballs" her measurements, I do likewise with my time, and I can usually hit pretty close to her mark. The timing is realistically livable, and I'm not dialing for takeout or beating myself for not having a pot roast-compatible lifestyle. Our family sits down together. We eat our vegetables. We have time for the rest of the evening. The most frantic woman in America, ironically, brings a measure of peace and pleasure into my hummingbird-paced day. So I'll keep making Ray's seafood stew, her veal involtini, and, when the fear of a lingering, E. coli-related death leaves me, her spinach rolls. Just don't expect me to ever call them yum-o.

-- By Mary Elizabeth Williams