I know this blog has been severely neglected. Sorry about that. I’m going to try to do better. It’s nice to be able to write about stuff that isn’t TV.
Here’s a starter. For those of you who don’t know, my mom got married a few weeks ago. I now have a stepfather, a stepsister and a stepdog. All three are exciting.
Here’s a picture of the new Levine-Miller family.
My brother and I are very different in general. We don’t look alike. We’re interested in different things. He likes girls. He’s very bookish and academic while I’m very… TV blog.
In any case, sometimes we do share a certain comic sensibility.
Here’s the backstory on this: My brother has never liked animals. I wanted one my whole life. Still do, in fact. When I was little, I wanted to be a dog when I grew up. That never really materialized, but I am still best motivated by food and belly rubs.
In any case, my sister-in-law, much to my brother’s chagrin, is also a dog-lover and launched a get-a-dog campaign. Meanwhile, she also launched a let’s-move-from-Virginia-to-Maryland campaign.
Soon enough, a deal was struck. If my brother agreed to buy a house in Maryland, they would never own a dog. Cut to the chase, they moved to Maryland. My brother is very pleased with the way this turned out.
Fast forward to the recent past, my brother was getting his new driver’s license when he created this on his laptop using their engagement photo and MS Paint (his preferred method of art, if you recall).
An e-mail exchange with my mom about this TiFaux post, where I appear to indicate that she won’t be co-hosting The View.
From: Mom
To: Dan
Dan,
How can you be sure I won’t be hosting The View?
Love,
MOM
From: Dan
To: Mom
Rosie and I had a little sit-down the other day. I’ve got the inside scoop.
DAN
From: Mom
To: Dan
Maybe I will surprise you! :~}
You wanna know the way we roll in the Miller family? I’ll show you how.
Somehow, casual Oscar viewing parties in my family have transformed into a sprawling affair sponsored by my Mom’s commitment to themes and unparalleled — near pathological — attention to detail. Above you can see our costumes — dressing up as characters from films of the past year. My mom, who was originally going to be a Dreamgirl, eventually just settled on The Queen (when I arrived at her house, she was finishing up the costume and asked for my advice on shoes. “Something sensible,” I said.). I was Idi Amin from The Last King of Scotland. My brother was James Bond and/or George Reeve from Hollywoodland. And the gold star for excellence goes to my sister-in-law for her interpretation of Olive from Little Miss Sunshine.
The fete took a seriously huge amount of effort on my mom’s part. It included:
On a side note, here are my two favorite quotes from my mom of the night.
My brother, me and my cousin Morgan — circa 1986.
As Belle noted, look how tan we are! It’s freakish!