True Confessions

O.K., I admit it. I'm Oliva Out-of-it. I finally had to look up who Jessica Simpson is. Somehow I had confused her with the cartoon Simpsons. I do know who Britney Spears is and that she's pregnant. Of course, one would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to know. Paris Hilton and her best friend are not speaking. I haven't seen the TV show in questions, but I'm sure it's inanely cute. Or maybe inane. I did watch the very first Survivor. Watched Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. Got a little tedious after a while with the wife or girlfriend coming in and screaming "oh my god" for five straight (or gay) minutes. Oh my god!

These eyes have never seen that music whatchamacallit- American Idol. Hey, I haven't even seen the West Wing. Sopranos, yes, Sex in the City, yes, Deadwood, no! Six Feet Under I came to late and had no clue. The Wire, no, although it sounds pretty good.

I never watched Friends.

If you write and work and cook and have a modest social life and family life and garden and these things, then it is very hard to watch TV. I did see a bit of the Tour de France and sometimes I'll tune in to an inning or so of the Red Sox. I like Mystery at nine on Sunday. Most of the time. TV is a habit, and I ain't addicted.

The other thing is that I'm not crazy about movies with lots of explosions and special effects, so we tend to see foreign films and "little" movies, like Sideways.

I am not the kind of person who ooohs and aaahs about Las Vegas. South Beach is all right in small doses. Key West! Now there's a cool spot. Puerto Rico, ditto. You will never see me disbarking from a cruise ship with guys in muscle shirts and black socks.

I am not philosophically against sleaze, but I like to pick and choose my sleaze. So personal, yes? In the old (very old) days, Nantucket had a nice little backwater feeling, just this size of sleaze. Old and sleepy and a bit rundown. God, I would take that any day to the new Nantucket of the robber barons and the mega-mansions.

So it goes.

Aloha,

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