Here's a look at what I am watching, using, absorbing, raving about and fawning over. Hover over TV and artist images for details. Scroll through movies, music and product images to read about them and click on them for links and video. Enjoy!

TV Shows

I used to justify my copious TV viewing by saying, "it's my job." Well, it is my job. I also have a love of all things TV. So here are just a few of the things I've been watching. And I mean just a few. There is too much for me to put together a comprehensive list. How sad is that? Don't answer. Hover over the images for descriptions.

Scavengers Reign

Taskmaster Australia

We Are Lady Parts

The Great Canadian Baking Show

Poker Face

Wakefield

Pui Pui Molcar

The Beach

John Mulaney and the Sack Lunch Bunch

Upload

Watchmen

Abstract

The Mandalorian

The World According to Jeff Goldblum

The Gloaming

His Dark Materials

Russian Doll

Tuca & Bertie

Hard Quiz

The Masked Singer

Succession

Total Control

Star Trek: Discovery

The Good Place

Aggretsuko

What We Do In The Shadows

Have You Been Paying Attention?

Robbie Hood

The Boys

Portrait Artist of the Year

The Hunting

Documentary Now!

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Nailed It!

Good Omens

American Gods

Gruen

Master of Photography

RuPaul's Drag Race

Pennyworth

Westworld

Lambs of God

The Good Fight

Drunk History

Travel Man

Twin Peaks: The Return

Legion

No Activity

If You Are the One

Eurovision Song Contest

Face Off

The Musketeers

Cobra Kai

This is Jinsy

Rage

Survivor

Elementary

Game of Thrones

The Checkout

How It's Made

Destination Flavour

Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Return

Marvel's Luke Cage

Mystery Road

Contemporary Artists

I just joined Pinterest, as if I needed another thing to occupy my time. I hope to add images of artists I admire to go along with this part of the Stuff I Like page. To see that board, click on Wouldn't It Be Lovely. Thanks! Otherwise, here is a gallery of some artists I admire. I've done my best to use images from works I own but otherwise if you click through the images, you can go to the artists' websites and check them out. Read more about them and their work by hovering over the images.

Raven, Gav Barbey

I am obsessed by Gav Barbey's detailed head, flourished wing take on bird painting. The rest of his stuff is incredible, too. Along with a Colin Jones painting, Gav is my future dream art purchase.

Waratahs and Flannels, Fiona Craig

I first saw Fiona's still lifes at the Wentworth Gallery in Sydney's Martin Place and they felt like 3D Magic-Eye wonders. Amazing stuff.

Yam Dreaming, Rosemary Petyarre

We are proud to own this piece by Rosemary Petyarre, now 70. She was one of the Anmatyerre women in the Northern Territory to take Aborginal art forward while still telling the stories important to their cultures.

Bush Yam Leaves, Jeannie Petyarre

Although we are fortunate to own a piece by Rosemary, we are looking forward to the day when we can add a work by the youngest of the Petyarre sisters to our collection. Her depictions of dreamtime and Aboriginal life resound with emotion and beautiful colors.

Leaf Study, Ngoc Tran

Ngoc Tran is an art teacher who expresses herself through oil painting landscapes in minute detail, sometimes on leaves and other unorthodox canvases. She's a friend whom we love to support., especially as she ventures into new mixed-media sculpture.

Treescape, Ngoc Tran

2013, oil on canvas

The Wheel is Changing, Ngoc Tran

2014, oil on wooden drawer, wooden dowel, found art

Pop-up Helix, Ngoc Tran

2015, wood planks and glue

New York, Josh Cochran

Josh is an ilustrator and designer who created my and my husband's wedding logo (next image). We have one of his prints, "The Future is Space," (third image to come) and look upon it daily in the office.

WangBrand, Josh Cochran

2005, charcoal

The Future is Space, Josh Cochran

Signed and titled.
13 x 18.5 inches, with 1.5 inch border
Ultrachrome print on Hahnemule cotton rag

It's That Time of Year Again, Sam Brown

Under the rubric Explodingdog, Sam Brown illustrates your thoughts, sometimes with robots. I own four of his prints and two of his books. My friends don't always get it but I love it.

The Future is Almost Here, Sam Brown

2004, signed and numbered print, 16/63

Rain Forest, Yukera Teruya

There's paper cut-out, and then there's Yuken Teruya. Delicate, detailed, politically aware, devastatingly good. This installation at the Shoshana Wayne Gallery in Santa Monica was from a 2006 solo show, 13 paper rolls, magnets and chains.

The Fight, David Irvine

Canadian artist David Irvine sifts through thrift stores, yard sales and the trash to find unwanted paintings. He then adds pop culture elements to them and signs his name with the original artist in a series he calls 'Re-Directed Art'.

Wine And Fish, Lisa Sylvester

A high school friend, Lisa Sylvester merges literature with art in her sketches and paintings. As she notes on her site, "The words are steeped in all the associations that spring from their lives in the verbal world, but they also function as pure visual image."

25, Igor Gorsky

Exciting and dynamic, Igor Gorsky uses rollers, big tools and Pollackish techniques to create large, ambiguous works of movement and color. I first saw him at the Westwood Gallery in New York. Huge fan.

Solitude of the Subconscious 1, Sokquon

We met Cambodian Australian artist Sokquon through filmmakers Eddy Gill and Sonia Bible. A sublime landscape artist, he was a 2013 finalist for the Art Gallery of NSW Wynne Prize.

Motion, Sokquon

2014. Oil on canvas. Seen at the Australian Landscapes show, 326 Oxford Street, Paddington

Barangaroo, Ben Morley

I met urban landscape artist Ben Morley at a recent Sokquon show. He uses oil and acrylic paints on canvas for an abstract look at Sydney and studying the city's ever-changing neighbourhoods.

me a water buffalo and a baby pig, Holly Topping

We Holly Topping's work at Track 16 Gallery in Bergamot Station and it was fantastic. She combines stereotypic "Olan Mills" poses of herself with Dutch master-type backdrops to produce oil-on-canvas send-ups of portrait painting. This image was from the postcard we have of her exhibit.

Unfair Dismissal, Adam Hill

We saw a retrospective of Adam Hill's work at the Mosman Art Gallery in 2012. A Sydney artist, his work challenges notions of identity and authenticity and what those concepts mean in contemporary life for the Aboriginal community.

Zashikibuta Meets Shaky Bacon, Dan Goodsell

Dan Goodsell, the creator of Mr. Toast, painted a series of watercolors for the Sanrio 50th anniversary in LA in 2011. He also happens to be friends with Alynda Wheat, which rules.

Hello Kitty Topiary Art, Eric Joyner

He paints donuts and robots, sometimes together. What's not to love? First saw his work at the Sanrio 50th anniversary celebration in Santa Monica and got a print of one of his robots trimming a Hello Kitty topiary. He has also done the cover of the most recent Ben Folds Five album.

Tron Kitty, Plasticgod

Also at the Sanrio 50th Anniversary show was pop artist Plasticgod, who does digital prints on canvas of celebrities. We love the fusion of Tron with Hello Kitty here and with the baddie Sark in the next image.

Sark Kitty, Plasticgod

2010 Signed and numbered.

Looking Back, William Wegman

I interviewed William Wegman for a 1997 People piece when he was releasing his book Puppies. I found him so engaging. I bought this print, "Looking Back," at auction (with a paddle!) in Santa Monica in 2001. It's signed and print 9 out of 150. Read more about him on his Artsy page.

Vantage Point, Andrew Whyte

Andrew Whyte is a fine art photographer exploring new ways of capturing light. And Lego figures.

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Tom Gliatto

Not only is Tom a fantastic writer and TV critic, the People editor is a digital illustrator whose musings I love. Here’s to one day putting these together in a book or for a gallery!

Bondi Beach Mural Art, 2016

All along the wall separating the boardwalk from the beach in Bondi, street artists are given room to create.

Products

Of all the products here, if the Uglydoll image was particularly compelling for you, I've started a Pinterest board called It's the Beady Eyes! It's filled with the stuff. Please follow if you are interested! Otherwise, hover over images to read about them and click on them for direct links.

Uglydolls

It's the beady eyes! It's the beady eyes! That is still my mantra for buying cute plush. Taking it to this century, can any resist the cuteness and ugliness inherent in Uglydolls? I mean seriously. And now the mashup of Uglydoll and Hello Kitty? Hells yes.

Avon Skin So Soft

If you are, in the eyes of biting insects, a delectable piece of sushi, and DEET has more often than not been the wasabi to your sushi, this lotion is a great alternative. I should know as I've been on mozzie menus my whole life. Don't just take my word for it — the New York Times wrote about it, too.

Bed Head Manipulator

So you want a hair gel or pomade that will make your hair do what you want it to do but you don't want it to be all stiff, or oily, or fall out quickly, or smell perfumy. Gee, you're demanding. You're like me! And so I turn to the coconutty magical goop known as the Bed Head Manipulator.

Dunkin' Donuts Honey Glazed

Why are they so good? Why are so many people trying to make alternatives when you can just eat this one? As Homer says, "Mmmmmm, dohhhhh-nutzzz." Yay, Dunkin Donuts.

Sydney Morning Herald puzzles

The Target word sets three levels of accomplishment for making words of four or more letters out of nine given ones with at least one 9-letter word in the bunch and all requiring the one letter in the center. The cryptic crossword, a Commonwealth favorite, adds trickery to the clues, which you must figure out first before deriving at the right word to put onto the grid. As a word nerd, this is a daily treat courtesy of the Herald.

Tic Tac Grape Envy

My favorite gum as a kid? Grape Bubba-licious. Favorite ice cream? Grape Ice, a (failed) launch from Baskin-Robbins. Have I lost the childlike devotion to grape flavoring? Apparently not. Thank you, Tic Tac, for bringing this to the market, albeit briefly. I see you now have "Apple Battle." Um, okay.

Paper Shredder

I happen to have a Fellowes, as in the photo. But any will do. Really.

TOMS

I have a tan line on my foot that basically cuts it in half. It has spoiled me from wearing sandals or flip-flops with any sense of style or integrity. I do not care. I have 10 pairs of Toms. Yay.

IKEA storage

Billy bookshelves and Chris cork boards, yeah, yeah yeah. Behold, though, the wheeled organizer known as Helmer. Papers lay flat but you can also store other things in drawers you can take out and move about.

uni-ball Signo 207

For a long time, my preferred pen was any that came free from a hotel. It didn't matter if it was a Bic I could get from the office supply closet — somehow having the Doubletree logo on it made it super powerful and long-lasting. Now that I don't travel as much, I've settled on packs of the uni-ball Signo 207. It's a fantastic pen, good for official documents and greeting cards as well as doing the aforementioned Herald puzzles.

Washi tape

It's a kind of masking tape, but it's pretty tape. Tape tape tape tape tape. Is it something I can get at the Container Store. It sure is.

Enviro-bags

Matt and I never fail to have several of these handy when we go grocery shopping. Less plastic, yes? For really pretty ones, the clickthrough goes to Envirosax, of which I have a couple.

Logic Puzzles

I told my friend Cheryl that if she wanted to be left alone on a flight, she should whip out one of these. I'm addicted to logic puzzles but only this version by PennyPress. Some are picky about diamonds. I'm picky about grid puzzles.

Golden Gaytime

Yes, that's its name. Toffee and vanilla ice cream dipped in chocolate with a crumbed biscuit coating. YUM.

Toyota RAV 4

Spent 10 years motoring SoCal in a RAV and got the same model here in Sydney. They say your car is a reflection of you. If so, I am compact but versatile, and always with a backpack.

Product 19

This has been my favorite cereal since I was a kid. I like plain and crunchy, but not straight-up corn- or bran-flake crunchy. You eat a spoonful of Product 19 and then take a swig of very cold milk. That's how it's done. I think I also quite like the bleak-futuristic-generic name, too.

Sara Lee Butter Pound Cake

Since childhood, this has been best eaten straight out of the freezer, left to thaw for just a few minutes, then savored in compact, wadded up bites per slice.

Uglydoll Hello Kitty

I mean.

These videos

Dumb Ways to Die

Conchita Wurst, 'Rise Like A Phoenix'

Zootopia, sloth trailer

Emmet Otter Outakes

This Is A Generic Brand Video, by Dissolve

Jenna and Mark, SYTYCD

Sesame Street: Would You Like to Buy An O?

Montreal Canadiens fan's little delight

The Leprechaun Brothers

Guinea Pig Theater "Romeo & Juliet"

Melisandre at a Baby Shower

24: The Unaired 1994 Pilot

We Got That B-Roll!

Muppets "Bohemian Rhapsody"

Total Eclipse of the Heart Literal Video Version

Movies & Music

When I watch movies these days, I usually enjoy them at home a year or few removed from their release dates. I love all the shiny ones, as my friend Jeannie calls them. You know the ones — The Avengers: Endgame, Incredibles 2, etc. But here are trailers for a few more off-the-beaten-path films, as well as some videos for musical artists I've discovered recently.

The Farewell (2019)

I did not grow up with my grandparents around, and I was born in the US, but I am an only child of first-generation Chinese Americans and this movie speaks many truths. Thank you, Lulu Wang (no relation, I think)

Can You Ever Forgive Me? (2018)

Melissa McCarthy and Richard E Grant give incredible performances —simultaneously broad and intimate—in this film, beautifully shot and directed by Marielle Heller.

Colossal (2017)

Unexpected sci-fi with a fantastically flawed yet very human protagonist in Anne Hathaway’s Gloria, whose personal life is writ large via a monster ravaging Seoul. Imaginatively written and well directed by Nacho Vigalondo, the trailers really don’t do this justice as it is hard to capture the scale of what he’s done. And Jason Sudeikis’ performance is also unexpected, but outstanding.

The Florida Project (2017)

Sean Baker’s film explores a slice of life not seen enough in the cinema or in the news. The performances are raw, vital and urgent and Bria Vinaite is incredible as an emotionally and physically scarred young mother who has moments of keen awareness (and affection for her daughter) between periods of utter recklessness. She’s lashing out in spite of herself, in defense of herself, in harm to herself, and it’s heartbreaking. Also devastating—the performance by Brooklynn Prince, who we get used to seeing as a “tough cookie” until a later scene brings her age prominently to mind. I was so glad to see an Oscar nomination for Willem Dafoe; wish the other cast were also acknowledged.

JANE—National Geographic (2017)

Before this documentary, I had only seen interviews and images of conservationist Jane Goodall as a distinguished, gray-haired older woman. To see her in her prime, in action on behalf of chimpanzees, was a revelation.

Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2015)

Director David Zellner based this film, which he made in 2014, on the real-life story of Takako Konishi, a Japanese woman who committed suicide in 2001 outside Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, but, in urban legend, was said to have died of hypothermia searching for the ransom buried in the 1996 film Fargo. The movie itself is awkward and simultaneously silly and sad, but Rinko Kikuchi is terrific to watch.

Jodorowsky's Dune (2014)

Matt remembers director Alejandro Jodorowsky's 1973 film The Holy Mountain as being super, super trippy. We both remember and hold David Lynch's much-maligned Dune fondly. But this documentary made us yearn for Jodorowsky's vision of it. We appreciate the talent and inspiration he brought to future filmmaking through this crazy ride.

Minuscule Valley Of The Lost Ants (2014)

The interstitials that air on ABC Kids in Australia and on the Disney Channel in the States, produced by French animation house Futurikon, are a delight. Now it's captured in a feature-length film. Yes, I watched insects of my own volition. Of course, the beady eyes help.

The Congress (2013)

So many props to Robin Wright for making this film. It's flawed, confusing and could have been better, but it's ambitious fantasy/sci-fi melding animation and live action. Wright plays a fictionalized version of herself, selling her essence to a film studio to earn enough to save her ill son. Yet in a future controlled by illusions, will she be content knowing most of the world sees her as a product?

In A World... (2013)

Lake Bell does a great job in directing, writing and starring in this fond and funny look at the voice-over business. There are some serious undertones here, too, in regard to the role of women in the field.

Frances Ha (2013)

Let's be clear — Noah Baumbach's Kicking & Screaming is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I adore Mr. Jealousy. However, I haven't been able to bring myself to watch The Squid and the Whale or Greenberg yet. Maybe it's just not my kind of subject matter. However, Baumbach has a great muse in Greta Gerwig. This is a simple story of the life of a woman in New York. That's all I wanted to see, and there it was. So good.

Robot & Frank (2012)

Frank Langella plays a prideful man facing his age and forgetfulness with much willful distain and yet palpable fear. His adult children do their best to help him and as this is set in the near future, they argue if a robot valet is the best aid for their dad.

Saun & Starr "Big Wheel"

You may have seen Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert over Christmas 2015, but Jones, an R&B powerhouse, and her band, who played behind a lot of tracks on Amy Winehouse's Back to Black record, have also spawned Saun & Starr. The pair, backup singers for Jones, released their own record in 2015 called Look Closer. It's super fun, and Saundra Williams and Starr Duncan Lowe step into the spotlight.

Karen "Miss Murphy" Andrews Sings I'd Rather Go Blind: The Voice Australia Season 2

The Florida Project | Official Trailer HD | A24