Do as I say, not as I do

A few weeks ago, the Smelmooo overheard me leading a conference call for work, which involved me briefing a bunch of people about how to prepare for their visits to Capitol Hill. One of my talking points, which the Smelmooo finds hilarious and ridiculous (I think Minnams agrees, too, and I actually always feel stupid having to emphasize it to grown-ups), is advising everyone to wear comfortable shoes.

So, of course, today I decided it'd be a brilliant idea to wear my $7 Payless thong sandals around the Hill, and my feet are hating, hating, hating me. The space in between my big toe and my second toe (would that be my index toe?) is rubbed raw on both feet, and I have pseudo-blisters on both heels. I'm so not smart.

I am hugely tempted to limp over to the Grand Hyatt and see if I can sneak into the National Spelling Bee in person, because, yes, I'm that much of a geek.

Spaghetti arms!

I've been taking a lot of heat for this, but last night, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Dirty Dancing on the big screen, in celebration of the movie's 20th anniversary. And, really, if I weren' t in D.C. tonight drinking wine with a former colleague, I'd have gone again tonight (and, if I could've worked it out, I really would've gone to the free drive-in event last week at the Tribeca Film Festival).

I am a huge fan of the movie; I've watched the E! True Hollywood Story and whatnot more times than is probably healthy; I've watched the extras on the two-DVD set that the Smelmooo gave me; I keep it on every time I stumble across it when I'm channel-surfing. But I haven't watched the whole movie from start-to-finish in probably 10 years, and I was surprised yesterday by how funny certain characters (Baby's mom, as played by Kelly Bishop; the smarmy Neil Kellerman, played by Lonny Price, who seems not to have acted in a decade), and how good my beloved Jerry Orbach was in this role (particularly juxtaposed with Swayze's not-so-great acting -- that scene on the log where he explains how he became a dancer is still totally cringe-inducing -- but on his own merit, Orbach really delivered a nice, nuanced performance here). It was fun to be part of a crowd that all giggled in anticipation of, "I carried a watermelon?!" and who all whooped and cheered at, "Nobody puts Baby in a corner!"

There was a 20-minute behind-the-scenes special before the actual movie aired, which was okay but not great -- the E! True Hollywood Story is much better -- but it did spend a lot of time talking about the stage version of the movie, which seems to track the film script almost exactly, as far as I can tell. I sort of think that I'd be disappointed, though; I just can't imagine that it could live up to the movie (on a somewhat related note, I have no idea how they've made Legally Blonde a musical, and I wonder how long that one will last). And, really, there's only one Baby, and now that she has her fancy nose, she's disappeared, and I don't think the magic can be recreated.

Save the date now for the 30th anniversary! Who's in for May 2017?