Things have been a little weird around here. For one, I’ve been crazy busy with several projects floating around at once. For two, we’ve had a cold snap recently which changed the ficus trees in the neigborhood from a healthy green to a dead brown. I enjoyed the rain it brought, but the bitter cold can be overwhelming (not to mention the fact that it gave me a bad cold). But I do have a couple of things to share here.

For several weeks I’ve been getting emails from the makers of something called Supermarket of the Stars, a series of short comedy bits with Illeana Douglas playing an actress who is forced to take a menial grocery store job. Illeana is one of those people who can do no wrong, especially since her turn in Grace of My Heart as a singer-songwriter closely modeled on Carole King. Love her. I finally checked out the fifth and final chapter, just uploaded at YouTube. These are cute and funny, leisurely paced and somewhat reminiscent of Christopher Guest’s films (it helps that that wonderful Guest regular Jane Lynch has a supporting role here). Apparently the show isn’t that new at all and the whole thing’s really a big marketing ploy, but that’s okay.

I also got an email from Marty Weil, who operates the simply titled ephemera weblog. Coincidentally, I’ve had this one bookmarked for several weeks now. Weil interviews ephemera collectors and dealers here, along with sharing plenty of weird old printed crap. Just what I love!