i'm an old woman (aka why i love medium)

boy, do i love my crime dramas. at one point, my old roommate and i had a tradition of "crime drama sundays" and it got to the point where we would recognize guest stars on "criminal minds" that had been on "svu" the previous week. things got pretty scary. but i digress.

i also like semi-spooky stuff involving ghosts and/or premonitions. so when the two combine in any form, it usually gets my vote. medium's been on since about 2005, but i never really started watching it until a few years ago. it moved to friday nights on CBS last year, which has occasionally made it hard to catch (thank god for ondemand) but it's really worth a watch if you haven't seen it before. 

the show is based off of an actual psychic, allison dubois, who helps the police solve murder cases based on dreams she has, though none of the episodes of the show are based in truth. this season has actually been the best yet in my opinion, and the plotlines are actually pretty unpredictable and exciting. plus, the dad (played by jake weber) is a total DILFy fox. reow! for a network show, it does a pretty good job of giving me some serious heeby-jeebies. so check it!

 

bewitched! well, almost.

those who know me know that kitsch is practically my middle name. i live at smelly vintage stores, die over retro tchotchkes, and appreciate nostalgia more than many. so when my good friend emily told me about coven, a funky new bakery and cafe opening in salem, ma (yes, the "spooky" one), i was totally psyched. they did a "soft open" this wednesday, so naturally our cupcake-loving selves could not wait until the grand opening at the end of the month and went the very next day. while the concept is undoubtedly AWESOME, let's just say i'm not completely lovin' coven just yet.

we wander in shortly before 7pm and notice a bunch of unique/gourmet groceries on our way to the counter. cool! but as we approach to take in the cafe offerings, we're met with a wimpy wasteland of goods that looked like they hadn't been restocked since the place opened this morning. i completely understand that these first few weeks were meant as a "preview"- no full menu, etc. - and that's fine. but you'd think that if the place is open until 9pm, there would be a decent selection of fresh food throughout the day, so as to create a positive first impression. the girl who served us was nice enough, albeit a little out of it, and seemed a bit flustered when we started ordering for some reason.

but the thing that killed us....KILLED US! was the fact that there were no cupcakes. we had been dreaming about delicious frosting-topped cupcakes all day, but apparently they were "cleaned out" this morning. and no more were made?! for shaaaaame. we cut our losses, ordered a slice each of tomato-fontina-bacon quiche (decent) and a dessert bar (me, oreo; emily, lemon...okay, but no cupcake).

the atmosphere has major potential - we took seats at one of the hi-tops pictured and chowed down, surrounded by classic scooby-doo episodes on the tvs and a shelf full of board games. also pictured is the crazy-cool cereal wall, where you can pour a bowl of your choice. if i lived closer, i could totally see myself coming in on a lazy weekend morning, snagging some cocoa krispies and playing some scrabble.

we definitely plan to be back in a few months after the grand opening to see if they've worked out the kinks, but i was a little let down by my first taste of coven.

i'm with youuuu

talk about a major fail. never mind the fact that the motherf*ckin' princess and bruce jenner's spawn are dating, but they also decided to get matching rib tattoos this weekend, proclaiming, quite simply, the f-dash-dash-dash word. have we learned nothing from pamela anderson's "tommy" to "mommy" incident or johnny depp's "wino forever" snafu? welp, at least this ink's message is pretty much guaranteed to reflect avril & brody's sentiments 2 years from now whenever they see their tats!

band to watch: taylor locke & the roughs

as a long-time rooney fangirl, i've had my eye on lead guitarist taylor locke for quite a while now. lord knows he can wail on the guitar, but i must say it came as a pretty big surprise to me when i saw that he had started his own side project, taylor locke and the roughs, with charlotte froom of the like, mike mccormack of everybody else and chris price of the price brothers (all part of an LA circle of bands i happen to follow fairly closely). i was even happier when i got hold of their debut, grain and grape, and immediately loved it. the record harkens back to the straight-up singalong swagger of 70s rock, but still takes enough twists & turns to keep things interesting. i have a feeling these guys just might blow up real big real soon. check 'em out!