28 Weeks Later: I enjoyed the first movie, 28 Days Later, about a man in a coma who wakes up 28 days after a plague has swept England. A virus called Rage started infecting people, and the infection is rapid (less than 30 seconds after mucosal/wound contact with blood or saliva) and the symptoms are extreme acts of violence.
Fun, yeah? I don't know, the first movie was harrowing but enjoyable, the second movie is just harrowing. 28 Weeks Later takes place (duh) 28 weeks after the initial infection. Since the spread of the infection was so rapid it was rather easy to keep the infection confined to England, and since victims of Rage had no intelligence left to take care of themselves they eventually starved to death, so people are attempting to repatriate.
Bad crap ensues when they find what they think is a survivor, but turns out she's a carrier. She has the virus but shows no symptoms. Her husband sneaks into her quarantine and gives her a kiss (neither know she's a carrier). Really bad shit ensues, and some military types try to get the 2 kids (uh oh!) of the unfortunate couple out of the area because the repatriation population are rapidly going bugshit. The military types think the kids might have the genetic answer to their mom's immunity to the symptoms of the virus.
Look, I'll spoil it now: rage-infested dad hunts down his kids. Little boy is infected before big sis manages to shoot dad dead. Little boy, however, is immune to the effects, like his mom, but is now carrying. They make it to the helicopter waiting for them (all the people who tried to protect them got offed) and the pilot, out of compassion, flies them over the channel into France. He never knew about the carrier in the first place.
We don't know the ultimate fate of the kids, but 28 days later continental Europe is overrun with bugshit Europeans. The End.
I made Brenden sleep in my bed Saturday night. I STILL HAVE the heebiejeebies. Horror movies just ain't no fun any more.
Monday, September 08, 2008
What I'm Sorry I Watched
Friday, September 05, 2008
Quick Update
Brenden enjoys preschool. Yay!
Jon fixed the pipe on Wednesday so we have water again. Yay!
That is all.
Wednesday, September 03, 2008
My Husband the Engineer part 395
I don't give my SO enough credit sometimes. Did I tell you about the time he fixed our car with a bottle cap? RLY! The shifter went out on our Saturn, and he Jerry rigged it with a bottle cap to get it home. He replaced the cap with something more suitable, but I'm sure the dealership would have charged us $700 for what he did with a couple of screwdrivers and stuff we had in the garage.
So anyway, yesterday morning I was pulling the garbage bin out to the curb and I noticed a nice big damp spot in our yard. Now our yard resembles the Sahara because of a big honking oak tree that is notoriously thirsty. It was so thirsty that last year during the ongoing drought it started to kill our neighbor's yard.
I realized that the damp spot started and went downhill from our water meter (uh-oh) so I pointed it out to Jon. I called the utilities folks when I got to work, and they promised to check it out. I get no call back from them, but when we get home, the mud around the water meter has been disturbed so they must have been by.
Jon decided to do some digging and after some agonizing arguments with tree roots he discovered that there is a foot of desintegrating pipe that runs from the meter into some PVC pipe that is between the meter and our house. Translation = the leak is our problem, not they city's. I can accept that but THANKS FOR TELLING US, TWITS!
We have a friend that works for a different township's utilities (I'm sure they are all nice guys and would have called us in this situation to say "not our problem") so Jon talked to him. I was was wondering; don't they make metal pipes out of brass? In this case our friend informed us it was galvanized steel. Galvanization involves coating with zinc to improve corrosion resistance, but I guess after 30+ years even galvanized steel pipe, buried in ACIDIC SOIL, will rust a teensy bit (the pipe just about broke apart at the touch - pictures to follow).
Of course we turned off the water to our house while Jon took that foot-long section of crap off the meter. We were hungry and running out of daylight so Jon and Brenden (who was helping by throwing clods of mud around the yard) jumped in the pool and washed up. We went to dinner at Logan's Roadhouse (mmmmmmm steak), then hit Lowe's. Jon will fix it after work tonight.
I figure even if you throw in the cost of dinner and the parts, Jon saved us about a $1000+ in plumber's bills. I heart my husband.
Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Wii!
Jon bought a Wii and I'm not that impressed, but then I'm not a big console fan. I prefer games on the PC. We'll see, though, because Brenden and I had fun playing the bowling game.
We had a decent Labor day weekend. Nothing was accomplished and it was too cold to swim (thanks, Fay and Gustav!).
Brenden starts speech at the elementary school today - when he turned 3 he became eligible to take his lessons through the school. Speaking of, he's working hard now on repeating new phrases that we use like 'shaving cream' and 'railroad crossing' and 'GODDAM' which is totally my fault.
He also starts a pre-school program, from 9am - 1pm on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the local Methodist church. I can't wait until he tries out some of his new phrases on his teachers!
We signed him up so he can spend time with kids his own age. He is a gregarious kid and will play with anyone who will play with him. Hope he has fun!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Buffalo = Nummeh
Happy anniversary, Jon! >MUAH!<
Yep, we've been at it for 9 years. Neither of us remembered until Ileana sent me an email this morning congratulating us.
We went to Ruby Tuesday's, which most recenly traded in its old 70's lamps for new 70's lamps, and I had a bison bacon cheeseburger (hold the fries and bun). VERRRRY tasty.
For our 10 year we are planning to visit Puerto Rico. I hope some airlines are still flying at that point in time. Not that I expect them to go out of business, but I suspect in the not too distant future the CEOs of said companies (along with many harried employees) will be tarred and feathered considering the widespread complaining that's going on.
Brenden is back to his old self, though when he thinks we're watching he'll hobble around like a cripple because of the shots he got in his legs. The boy is %100 ham.
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
"I love the smell of bacon in the morning"
"It smells like.... bacon!"
Brenden got sick enough Sunday that we took him to the emergency room that night. He had a 103 temp and he was shaking. While waiting, he puked all over his dad, poor kid. (Poor dad).
They don't know what it was but he was miserable. They gave him an antibiotic shot which hurt like mad. Yesterday I took him to the pediatrician and they gave him another antibiotic shot which hurt so bad he was limping around almost all day.
Guess where Jon and Brenden are right now? At the doc's, getting the last shot. Glad I'm not there. What really sucks is I bet it was one of those ubiquitous viruses so the torture shots are pointless.
Still, I have a hard time ignoring doctor's instructions.
Anyway, the bacon reference is I'm back on a low carbohydrate diet. I'm also hitting the weights. I've been at it for 2 weeks and I've dropped 8 pounds (yes, most water weight but not all) and I feel better than I have since before Brenden was born. RLY!
Friday, August 22, 2008
Meme fun
I've been meaning to do this for a while - I borrowed the idea from Nancy. Basically I searched Flickr using the keywords I came up with when I answered the following questions. Sometimes I didn't use just the first page of results just because.
First name: Sandy
Favorite Food: Steak
High School: Stone Mountain
Favorite color: Blue
Celebrity Crush: Damian Lewis (2nd guy from the left. And the woman next to him, Sarah Shahi, I have a girlcrush on her)
favorite drink: Guinness
Dream vacation: St. John
Favorite dessert: Ice cream
What do I want to be when I grow up: Rich
What do I love most in life: Dreaming
One word to describe me: Lazy
Flickr name: Beesmom
Monday, August 18, 2008
Itteh Bitteh Fisheh
Happy Birthday, Honey! >MUAH!<
Jon is 14 today. I mean 38. Wow, he might catch up with me yet!
Lesson learned this weekend: never take Brenden with me when I shop of bras. Upon entering the intimate apparel section of Target, he said "WOW!" and started fondling the nearest selection with gusto. Eesh.
There is still nothing new in the world to report.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Big Fish Small Fish
I'd blame my lack of posting on being busy but that simply isn't true. The truth is nothing is happening. Brenden continues to grow gills and his potty training is going well. His use of the English language continues to improve but he's still most fluent in Brendenese.
For instance "Maha veegay!" means "I want to play on your computer, mom!" and "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" means "I disagree".
I've been fooling around with some freeware photo editors, and I am pleased with the results. This photo used to be murky blue but the way it looks now is closer to the truth.
Friday, August 08, 2008
To Nancy, Helly, and families
ZOMG RUN!! RUN!!!! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!! THE RUSSIANS ARE COMING!!!!!111!!
No, really, look at the map!
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Skip Caray, long time Atlanta Braves' sports announcer, died Sunday. I was very sad to hear this - he has been announcing Braves games for a litle longer than I've been a Braves fan. He started in 1976, I started in like 1980 or maybe a little earlier - I remember watching baseball on WTGS because that UHF station (later to be WTBS) would show tape delays of the games, and I was a nightowl, and that was the only thing on TV that late. That and Hogan's Heroes reruns.
Skip had a wonderfully dry, sarcastic sense of humor, and when he got excited about something, it was something to be really excited about. The 1991 season stands out especially, when the Braves for the first time in God knows how long made it to the World series.
Like many Atlanta fans, I turned the sound down on the TV for the playoff / series games to listen to Skip, Don, and Pete (and Joe) on the radio because Joe Morgan and Tim McCarver just plain sucked.
I watched the pregame show Monday night on SportsSouth and cried some - sometimes you don't realize that something is a constant in your life until you lose it.
On a related note, I don't think I ever wrote here that I'm glad I got to go to Wrigley Field and sing along to 'Take Me Out To the Ballgame' with Harry Carey (Skip's dad) during the 7th inning stretch before Harry passed away. This was in 1990. I hope Turner Field memorializes Skip in some way like Harry is at Wrigley.
Monday, August 04, 2008
Saturday, August 02, 2008
Friday, August 01, 2008
Nothing to post. Just Nothing.
Twinkle, Twinkle, Patrick Star,
I made myself a sandwich.
My mommy named it Fred,
It tastes like beans and bacon,
And smells like it's been dead.
Writing stuff is hard so I use a pointy pencil
Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Point.
P.U., what's that horrible smell?
I have a head,
It ends in a point
Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Pointy, Point.
This song is over,
except for this line,
You win this round,
Broccoli!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
What I'm Watching:
Sin City: I've seen it before. I recommended it to Nancy, who wanted to know about the violence against women in this movie. I had to think about it - I recall saying that I didn't think the movie is anti-women and that most of the violence towards women is implied. Now after watching it again I have to stand by my remarks. For the record, theres a couple of shootings, smackings, and one whipping on-screen, but none of the scenes struck me as voyeuristic nor at any time did the tone of the movie imply "she had it coming". The violence towards the men, however, both heroes and villains, is downright torture-porn.
Not all the men are monsters; Bruce Willis especially is a decent man who rescues a young girl from being raped, tortured, and murdered. He spends a long time in jail for his good deed, and keeps himself sane and in one piece because the girl he rescued sends him letters. The other two heroes - a totally unrecognizable Mickey Rourke and a very recognizable Clive Owen - are hoods but because they actually like women and try to help them, are heroes of sorts.
Even though most of the women in Sin City are all prostitutes or strippers exotic dancers, the movie is sympathetic to them and portrays the men who exploit them as monsters. Really gross monsters. If I have any complaints I'm not much into the 'women as helpless victims for heroes to rescue' stories, but the movie totally makes up for it with a sequence where a bunch of scantilly-clad, pretty hookers open fire on a bunch of men (who had it coming).
So in short I think women would like this film. As for men who are wondering if they should watch: the movie has whores with guns! what more do you want?
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Twinkle Twinkle Patrick Star
Getting 'prepped' for a colonoscopy involves a 'bowel prep kit'. The one I was prescribed was called 'Halflytely' which consists of two tablets that get things moving, so to speak, and a 2-liter jug of some godawful tasting stuff that you mix and then slam down 8 ounces of the stuff every 10 minutes until the jug is empty. Hilarity ensues, if you enjoy poop jokes.
I was going to make a joke about 20 tabasco-soaked chicken wings and a six-pack being cheaper, but I'll stop.
The procedure was far more pleasant because the doc and nurses knocked me out before spelunking.
Anyway the doc removed a polyp and I presume that's being tested and he will tell me the results on Monday about it. Once the demerol wore off I started really thinking about that damn polyp. From what I can tell it's probably nothing but the last time I wrote those words I ended up losing a boob.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Action B
Julys seem slow to me. The only thing new in my section of the country is Brenden's swimming skill set is growing in leaps and bounds. He will now swim underwater and jump off the diving board. We spend so much time in the pool that all three of us permanently smell like chlorine. Brenden is also a nice cocoa brown, except for underneath his trunks.
I have that colonoscopy this coming Monday, so that's something to look forward to!
Friday, July 18, 2008
Happy kids that have nothing to do with this post.
What I'm Watching:
Not much, but I'll recap:
Jumper Kinda boring, even with interesting premise (teleportation) and Samuel L. Jackson.
Dairy of the Dead A George Romero zombie movie. I lost interest. WTF?
Out of the Blue I'm kind of sorry I watched this, it's about a true incident in 90's New Zealand where a nutbag went postal. I'm sorry I watched because it involved the death of kids (thankfully all off screen but still pretty haunting). I watched it however because my newest imaginary boyfriend, Karl Urban, is in it. You might remember him as Eomer in Lord of the Rings but he was hidden under a lot of hair. I'm totally excited that he's playing Dr. McCoy in the new Star Trek movie. I'm also thrilled that Eric Bana is playing a Romulan. Double-shot, woo hoo!
Monday, July 14, 2008
No more sparklers. Bummer.
I'm trying to read more books - it's easier for me on the weekends to carry a book around while chasing Brenden than try and use the computer. I realized recently that I had basically quit reading for pleasure around 10 years ago and I miss books. On her last visit here Nancy brought me some books which I'm working through, and I'm also trying to read some classics simply because I'm appalled that I've never read them.
I finished Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms Sunday and while I admire the way the man wrote - he never wasted a word, ever! - I find him a total downer. Read it because it is a classic, but have something by Terry Pratchett nearby for afterwards so you can shake the gloom out pronto.
When I'm trying to judge something, I go by the old standard of what was the author /director /whatever trying to say, and how well did he /she /it achieve it? But I also have to add in something I learned from Ayn Rand: what is the sense of life in the work? I think I once mentioned on this blog that I'd rather watch any given episode of McGyver than sit through any of Stanley Kubrick's movies simply because of a more optimistic sense of life in the former despite the superior technical ability of the latter.
Look, I'm not saying every story has to have a happily ever after ending. I just prefer to read stories by people who cherish life and understand that no matter how bad it gets it's still a gift. I think that's the reason why Dan Simmons is my current favorite author: even though horribly bad crap happens to good people in his writing I still get a sense of optimism and hope by the end of his books (even if I'm crying me a river).
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
WOW BOOM!
I'm going to stop writing Brenden monthly letters, because this blog is basically all about Brenden anyways, with an occasional "what I'm watching" report thrown in occasionally.
So, Brenden's going through a defiance phase. He says "no!" to everything. Fortunately it's easy to take something away from him and he whines but that doesn't bother me. I like that he's learning that there are consequences to his actions. Sometimes it's pretty simple, like he found a dime in the couch this morning. He exclaimed "money!" and "mine!" which was fine with me.
Then I said, "put your shoes on, hon, it's time to leave". He said "No!" so I confiscated his dime, and told him he could have it back when he put his shoes on. Hey, it worked, with a little fussing.
Brenden loves fireworks. We went over to a friend's house on Thursday and shot off a bunch of stuff (there are some advantages to living in Alabama). Brenden's comments were along the lines of "WOW, BOOM!"
He's getting better at swimming. He'll get close to Jon or I in the shallow end, then duck his head under and dog-paddle towards us and grab a hand or a shirt.
Brenden is pretty much completely toilet trained, except at night time and that's my fault because I still have half a big box of diapers. Also, I'm not completely ready to remove the gate from his door. Once we do that there will be no peace ever. Not that we have that now.
Thursday, July 03, 2008
Brenden's First Movie
Yep, we took B to Wall-e! And it was only a semi-fiasco. He got bored about halfway through - he just doesn't like to sit still for that long.
Sure it was only a 93 minute movie, but tack on that FARGING 15 MINUTES OF CELL PHONE COMERCIALS!!! ZOMG WTF?!!!?!!!11!
Add to that the popcorn was stale and expensive and the picture just wasn't that great I think I'm going to stick with NETFLIX from now on.
I gotta admit I enjoyed the Indiana Jones movie in the theater, but we arrived 15 minutes late and didn't even miss the Paramount Logo.
The movie? Pixar's worst movie still remains A Bug's Life. I can't tell you where it ranks yet (I need to see it when I don't have to accompany a bored toddler to the bathroom every 15 minutes) but what I did see was wonderful, great, fun, etc etc etc in otherwords typical Pixar.
Oh and anyone who gets their panties in a wad because of any message they find in the movie: get a life.
Monday, June 30, 2008
Kitty Come Home
We had a scare this weekend. Jon reminded me on the way home from work on Friday that he was going to take Brenden with him to the drop zone. A night to myself, o joy! After they left as I was preparing dinner, I noticed that Big Fat Kitty did not come into the kitchen to annoy me until I fed him kitty treats.
I searched everywhere for him in the house, including the attic, but he was gone. I tried to think back to the last time I saw him. I realized, to my shame, it was Thursday night. Our kitchen door doesn't close completely unless you pull the knob hard. That door leads to the garage, and kitty is adept at opening the door and sneaking in the garage.
I figure he must have snuck out, then left through a garage door and was locked out when we closed the garage doors for the night. I can't remember kitty trying to sleep on my face Thursday night nor trying to trip me the next morning when I was getting breakfast ready so it must have been Thursday.
I had planned to work through a six-pack while playing BioShock again but instead I walked through the neighborhood asking my neighbors if they had spotted a really big black and grey kitty. No luck. I did finally go in, drank a few beers and played a little but my heart wasn't in it. Poor kitty. I left a garage door open and I kept going into the kitchen to see if he was there.
I did some more searching in the neighborhood on Saturday and as the day wore on I got sadder and sadder. You have to understand, Big Fat Kitty is sweet but stupid and has lived his entire life indoors. I imagined him getting squished, or running away in terror at something and diving down in a storm drain and not able to find his way out. Saturday sucked, in other words.
But around 10 P.M. that night, Brenden asked for some water so I went in the kitchen to get him a sippy-cup. After filling it I did what I had been doing at least 5-10 times and hour which was open the kitchen and yell "Kitty!" and listen for a meow. I didn't have to yell; he was sitting right there with an expression on his face like "Hey, how you doin?"
Of course I yelled "KITTY!" which brought Brenden out of his room. He yelled "KITTY!" too and scared the crap out of BFK. I did manage to coax him into the house with kitty treats. Other than being a little dusty he seemed ok. I didn't find any ticks, fleas, bites, scrapes, or other problems.
There's a Spongebob episode where his pet snail Gary runs away because Spongebob is neglecting him. When Spongebob realizes what's happened he is totally miserable, crying into his Krabby patties, and he and Patrick scour Bikini Bottom looking for Gary. About in the middle of the cartoon there's a montage with a pretty sad song:
Gary can’t you see I was blind?
I’ll do anything to change your mind
More than a pet you’re my best friend
Too cool to forget
Come back because we are family and
Forgive me for making you want to roam
And now my heart is beating like the saddest metronome
Somewhere I hope you’re reading
My latest three word poem
Gary come home
As you can imagine this freaking song wouldn't get out of my head all day Saturday! All's well that ends well, however.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Monkey Boy Wants To Swim
What I'm Watching:
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull: Oh yeah, Jon and I got out once when I was out sick to see a movie. I'm glad I got to see this one in the theaters. Indy still kicks a lot of ass even though he's an old fart. Since I'm bordering on old fartyness myself I can't complain. Sure some of the action was outrageous. I didn't care. Come ON, it has Cate Blanchett as the Bad Guy! That's the real reason I wanted to see it. And I'm not allergic to Shia LeBouf so that helped. It is a nice Swan Song for Indiana Jones (and Harrison Ford's career - here's your chance to bow out gracefully, sir!).
Aaaand that's about it. I've watched a bunch of C.S.I. episodes recently but like I said earlier, it's a guilty pleasure. Guilty because I really don't care about anyone (though I've always liked how Gil is so non-judgemental of other people). But they're fun and total hooey. BSG, Lost, and Life are all on hiatus and there isn't anything good to put in my Netflix queue.
There will be in about 6 months, when all the nifty movies that are out now will be on DVD. I'd actually like to see Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, the former because I've always liked Robert Downey, Jr; and the latter not because of Ed Norton (who is a more logical choice than Eric Bana to play Bruce Banner but I'm kinda fond of Eric) but because the Bad Guy is played by the sorely MIA Tim Roth, who was a major favorite of mine back in the 90's. The new Batman should be out shortly, and Hancock might be fun.
I'd also like to see Kung Fu Panda and (of course) WALL-E, and I wouldn't throw away tickets for Get Smart if someone gave them to me. It's an interesting year in movies. Ok, maybe not; but it's more interesting than last year.
Monday, June 23, 2008
More Fun in the Pool
It sucks about George Carlin. He loved to point out the funny and inconsistent things about our language, including the naughty bits. The words, not our actual naughty bits, though he talked about them too. He was a joy for amateur etymologists like me, though sometimes especially in the later years he was too bitter. Despite all his cursing, my favorite bit of his is his essay on the difference between Football and Baseball. Like Football has THE TWO MINUTE WARNING!!!!! but baseball has the 7th inning stretch! Football has SUDDEN DEATH but baseball has extra innings!. Woo-hoo! we have EX-tra innings! Football has PENALTIES, but baseball has errors. Whoopsie! I made an error!!
The whole routine is a classic.
I was able to swim this weekend. I feel some tightness in my chest but I suppose that will pass, or I'll get used to it as I heal more. Brenden is now going to the potty without much prompting. He aims about as well as a drunk guy despite his shorter range so I've invested heavily in Clorox wipes. We won't talk about the time we were at the pool and he announced "poo poo!" so I got the bright idea of taking his swim shorts off before he went in the house. That was a mistake.
Friday, June 20, 2008
Surgical Procedures R me.
I am scheduled for a colonoscopy July 28th. It's just a precaution because of my dad's cancer. I can't wait to blog about that, especially what I have to do they day before so that the guy with the camera has an unobstructed view!
Ed has signed up for one too, in October.
They Win!
Check this out: I'm related to them. Sort of. Joey is my husband's older brother. They have one son, Aidan, who is 6 months younger than Brenden. When we found out his wife was pregnant with twins, we told Joey "You win!"
Brenden has more cousins, hooray!
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
The Day After Surgery
I'm ready to talk about my boobs: I knew I wasn't going to be happy. None of the options were appealing so I chose the one that I thought would distress me the least. I've mentioned this before: I chose to have reconstructive surgery using an implant on my right side as well as a smaller implant under my left breast to even things out - had I just gotten the implant on my right it would have been perky while my left would have been a normal saggy 40+ year-old boob. Now they are both perky (sort of), but bigger than what I was used to.
The right side also had nipple reconstruction. The aureola was fashioned from a piece of skin from my inner right thigh (apparently this is a section of skin that is naturally darker). Since you can't cut a round section of skin then sew that shut and have it look normal, the doctor took a piece of skin that left a four-inch long wound. the stitching doesn't look neat, either; like he was in a hurry.
Now that it's all over but the healing, the left side is bigger than the right and I think it's noticeable. I won't bitch too much. I need to drop 16 pounds anyway so maybe I can even things out that way. I'm not happy with all the scars on my body but I can't see how they are avoidable. So I'm pretty much super-annoyed about everything but I can't really enjoy being annoyed because I was lucky.
In other news Brenden's toilet training is coming along nicely. He has accidents and some days are better than others, but he's been really cooperative with the whole process. He's come along so nicely that Jon is optimistic (as am I) and we've started making plans for a cruise next year.
We're planning on going to Puerto Rico for our 10th wedding anniversary, but Jon has always wanted to do a cruise. We've decided on a 7 day Disney cruise (Eastern Caribbean, and yes that includes the Virgin Islands) in February. Disney cruises tend to be more expensive than comparable cruises, but from everything I've read they are worth it, especially if you have kids. We'll find out!
Monday, June 16, 2008
Swimming
Big old Battlestar Galactica spoilers for the mid-season ending episode - Scifi is going to frak with us and not show us the second half of the last season until next year, so I'm going to list here the things I want, not what I predict, because what the hell might as well shoot for the moon because Earth is an irridated wasteland! Listed from least important to me to most important:
7: I hope that the Fightin' Agathons keep on. I've always liked Athena and Helo, and nothing should separate them (nor should they lose their daughter again).
6: Because Baltar finally did something I could love him for - he saved Laura - really, think about it! I wish him peace as he and his followers go off and do their thing.
5: If Starbuck can't figure out how to treat someone nice, I hope she and Leoben live crappily every after. If she can, I hope she and Sam can figure it out. Then creepy Leoben can go hang with bitchy Tory, who deserves someone like him.
4: Lee is going to be president of whatever's leftover, we know that. He should be a male stripper - open a joint called 'the Inconvenient Towel'. Anyway, he and the only remaining Three should hook up since they are going to spend a lot of time together as the respective leaders of their people. They deserve each other.
3: Poor Saul Tigh. But hey, he has a hottie six who loves him. Not only that, it's Caprica Six! And she's pregnant! With what clearly is the final and 5th Cylon (think about it). They need to settle down together and raise their kid. They deserve each other and I mean that in a good way.
2: Bill is doomed - he can't live without Laura and she's going out soon anyway. I wish them both a good time with what little time they have left. And he and Saul better make up. Saul may be a Cylon, but he proved he's the man he always was when he offered himself to the airlock.
1: Oddly enough, this is what I want to see the most: I want to see Boomer, the original 8, make her way back to Tyrol. Sure, he married the woman who killed Boomer and had a child with her, but Boomer has been shagging a Cavil (ew) so it evens out. I don't know why, but most of all I'd really like to see Boomer back with Chief again because that would close a very painful circle.
Actually, since we're talking about Ron frakkin Moore here, I'll be happy if one or two of the characters I have mentioned make it out alive. Just one or two, Ron. Please!
Friday, June 13, 2008
Brenden at the Pool
Ugh. I'll write about my surgery, eventually. No, I'm not happy but it's not like any of my choices to begin with were going to make me happy.
So what have I done this last week, other than whine about my breasts? I finally played and finished BioShock. Twice. Fracking good game. It's a first-person shooter, most of which I don't like, but this one is the 'spiritual sequel' to System Shock 2, which was/is the best game ever. Instead of outer space, BioShock takes place in an underwater city, circa 1960. The designers were clearly inspired by 'Atlas Shrugged' and a better name for this game would have been When Galt's Gulch Goes Horribly Wrong. But no one would have bought it.
And hey! We've started potty-training Brenden. He's doing pretty good, so far. He has accidents, of course, but he's starting to get real good about using the facilities on command. I hope he soon starts asking us to use them. So far we ask him (about every 15 minutes).
Wednesday, June 11, 2008

more cat pictures
Just to let you know, I'm fine but not feeling up to writing much. I'm mortified by how big my chest is.
Tuesday, June 03, 2008
Edible Greens
This is the Greatest!!! Theological!!! Argument!!! EVER!!!!
One of the most basic laws in the universe is the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This states that as time goes by, entropy in an environment will increase. Evolution argues differently against a law that is accepted EVERYWHERE BY EVERYONE. Evolution says that we started out simple, and over time became more complex. That just isn't possible: UNLESS there is a giant outside source of energy supplying the Earth with huge amounts of energy. If there were such a source, scientists would certainly know about it.

more FAIL
Here's an annoying philosophical pause - one of the not very fun aspects of undergoing surgery for cancer is spending too much time under the influence of painkillers and contemplating the meaning of death.
I have always had a problem with faith in general - once I got past the age of 12 I have had a tough time just believing in things. I'm categorized as a 'soft' atheist - I have no freaking clue as to whether a god or gods exist but that's besides the point; I don't believe in God the all-father who will give me eternal life so long as I (insert religious belief here).
I think it's the eternal life thing - living forever on a different plane of existence - that gets to me - it just doesn't make sense. I think I prefer the idea of recycling - I mean reincarnation. I'd love to come back again and try something new.
And so anyway there I was stoned out of my gourd thinking about coming back and trying again, and I was wondering, since the universe is so vast and time is so very long, maybe reincarnation isn't as far-fetched as it sounds. What I mean is that a combination of factors would come together again so that somewhere something was born that would have my conciousness.
I'm not making myself very clear. I'm not talking about my soul or my memories, just something somewhere that would be aware like I'm aware now. Argh. It's hard to explain exactly what I mean.
Then I got to thinking even further (remember, I spent December pretty well smashed 27/4) about how just long forever is, and I was wondering if the universe keeps exploding and expanding, and exploding, and expanding, and wondering if it's the same every time. Does every time the universe explodes does the planet earth get formed and evolve human beings, and around the time they label 1964 some girl named Sandy gets born? Do things change every time (meaning some times I wouldn't be born at all as my ancestors make different choices) or do we constantly make the same choices (disco is inevitable - forever and ever, amen)?
Then I got to thinking even wierder - maybe it's the same every time around but every time it's different and I have someone else's conciousness, or point of view. Meaning at one time or another, I have been / will be everyone.
That totally gave me the heebie jeebies. I've been / will be Hitler? Not to mention every single Jew that got gassed. That got me to thinking about all the murder, mayhem, slavery, rapes, and robbery throughout the ages. And all the pain. And Ryan Seacrest! Holy crap. I guess I ought to be nicer to myself.
Monday, June 02, 2008

more cat pictures
More ado about nothing
My surgery is set for this coming Wednesday. Even though it's an outpatient thingy, I'm going to be in the hospital all day. Whee! I underestimated how much time I'd be out of work. I thought it would be a couple of days but my doc said it would be at least a week, maybe 10 days.
Ed and I agreed it was a great season of Lost. We think it was because it was a shortened season so the writers kept the fluff to a minimum and just told the story they needed to. And I'm glad Ben is alive. I still hate him, but he's the most fun character on the show. And I'm happy for Penny and Desmond, although they seriously need to find a deserted island somewhere to hide out.... ok maybe not an island.
Letter to Brenden Month 36 Hooray, in 4 days you are three! We still haven't potty trained you, although you have shown pretty good bladder control (I won't go into details) lately. Please quit taking off your loaded diaper. You keep surprising me with your vocabulary, for instance yesterday, you grabbed the spatula from sink and yelled "SPATCHA!"
You are loving video games a bit too much so we decided one of the things we were going to buy you is a video game console a bit more advanced than your age (but not a Wii). If you can play Call of Duty 4 you can handle the VTech console. You also have pretty much wrecked your dad's classic game controller - the one with Donkey Kong, Galaga, Pac-Man, etc. Fortunately all I have to do to get you away fron the controls is ask you if you want to go outside. The water was 80 degrees this weekend so we swam, swam, then swam some more. Despite my decisions to the contrary this month you will be taking swimming lessons. Enjoy, bud!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Big Stick for Dad
My dad keeps passing his checkups with flying colors. Yay, dad!
I forgot to mention: I took Brenden to the park last Sunday morning. He discovered an interesting swing - it is a big tractor tire suspended from three chains so it hangs sideways like it would be lying flat on the ground. The thee chains meet up at a swivel so not only can it swing side-to-side, it can spin.
He got me to spin him, faster and faster. Finally he asked me to stop, and I pulled him off the swing and tried to get him on his feet. He was a little unsteady. He asked to go home and he insisted I carry him (it's a half-mile walk). Every time I put him down he'd walk a little, then beg me to carry him. If I refused, he'd cry. Finally I put him on my shoulders and we got home.
I gave him some water while he sat on the couch. Suddenly he stood up and hurled his breakfast all over the couch. It wasn't a little puke, it was a standard Linda Blair joke projectile mass of goo. I was worried he was sick, but he was fine after that. Lesson learned: spinning a toddler around and around for a long period of time is not a good idea.
I also forgot to mention: I watched The Simpson's Movie (in Blu-Ray, but that hardly mattered). Cute, funny, worth a watch especially if you are or were ever a fan of the show. And weren't we all at one point in time? I don't think I've watched the show since before I moved to Alabama. It's been on the air since 1989! Sheesh.
If you get the cable channel G4 ( Spike for Nerds) it is showing The King of Kong Sunday afternoon. Really, it's worth watching!
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Nothing much about nothing
I hope everyone had a good Memorial Day weekend. Brenden and I swam, and then we swam some more. Then we swam even more, and Sunday night Jon brought a bunch of skydivers home and Brenden swam with his dad a bunch.
We took a break on Monday because it was cloudy. We swam just a little bit then Brenden told me it was too cold. I spent most of the day watching the CSI marathon on Spike (that show is a guilty pleasure), and took time out to watch a documentary recommended to me by my brother: The King of Kong.
I concur with Ed's assessment of the doc. I will add that when it begins and I first met these people I felt an incredulous desire to see if Christopher Guest is in the credits anywhere. After a while I really started to empathize with Steve Wiebe, who took solace in Donkey Kong after getting laid off from his job (I lmao'ed when his son is yelling at him when he's trying to finish a game - been there, done that).
It would be easy to smirk and say 'what losers' but I think of all the time and quarters I wasted over the years on video games (I was pretty damn good at Galaga in the height of the 80's - there was a machine at the laundromat I used). I have to recommend a viewing of this documentary to everyone (despite it being about trying to beat the high score on an ancient video game).
Oh, and another amusing Brenden story (and a big old "FYT" to Kathy Lee Gifford): I'm trying to get him to tell me when he has a poop and he started to this weekend: he walked up to me twice and handed me his fully-loaded diaper which he took off. He proudly announced "Poo-poo!" both times and I had to scramble to find the wipes before he decided to sit down any where.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
What I'm watching:
Bee Movie and Ratatouille: Yes, I've seen the Pixar movie before, but we caught it on one of the Hi-def channels right after the Bee stuff. It helped me understand why I thought the Bee stuff blew. Ratatouille's story is character-driven. I mean the characters drive the story! Remy the rat has a mad passion for good food and wants nothing more to be a chef. The movie not only says this, it shows it. What happens during the story is driven by Remy's (and to a lesser extent the other characters) desires and actions.
Whereas the B movie just rambles. Jerry Seinfeld's bee character doesn't want to just pick a bee job and work it until he dies. But from that point he just rambles around, makes friend with a florist, and eventually sues humans for stealing honey from hardworking bees. It's just stupid.
Oh, yes: the animation was no where near Pixar's greatness. Crap, it didn't even come close to Toy Story, which was released over 10 years ago! Upon a second viewing, I've come to think Ratatouille is a darn good movie.
Beowulf: Speaking of bad animation... That poem we were all forced to read in high school is made into a bad movie by the same people who made The Polar Express. It's completely CGI and the characters seem lifeless. Again, Pixar kicks ass compared to blah blah blah... Either make cartoon characters CARTOONS or use the techniques that Sin City and 300 used for the animation.
The Kingdom This one is about a terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia that kills many Americans, including plenty of women and children. A group of FBI agents manage to trick their way in to investigate. This movie is actually a pretty good thriller, with Jamie Fox, Jennifer Garner, and Chris Cooper. It allows the terrorists to be bad guys, but not in the stock movie character sense. What I mean is I don't think you could replace them with Eurotrash Nazis and have the same movie. It's worth a watch but brutally violent.
The Pixar Story I caught this documentary while channel surfing. This movie illustrates how the little guy perservered in the face of great odds. I did not know that Pixar was originally a subdivision of Lucasfilm! Basically George Lucas told them "A full-length comuter animated movie is a nifty idea, but we don't have the money for that". Suuuuuure, George, I believe you. But anyway Steve Jobs kept Pixar afloat until the company made a deal with Disney and Toy Story was born. And I hope Lucas spent a few weeks kicking himself in the butt when he saw that movie's box office receipts.
It almost didn't get born because Disney kept trying to interfere. Hooray for John Lassiter for sticking to his guns! Pixar's worst film is A Bug's Life and I adore that movie! After 8 films, I think there is plenty of proof that Pixar is good, not just lucky.
Lost and Battlestar Galactica OMFG! HS!HS!HS!HS! And I have to wait 2 weeks for both shows. That just blows.
For the record my order of preference:
Toy Story
Toy Story 2
The Incredibles
Cars
Monsters, Inc
Ratatouille
Finding Nemo
A Bug's Life
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Name that Pile of Poo
Just because I so totally have nothing at all to talk about:
Top 5 Bill Paxton Movies
Aliens: Along with his small role as older brother Chet in the forgettable Wierd Science his role as Hudson vaulted Paxton into semi-fame (he became one of those "hey, it's that guy!" actors). Hudson is an obnoxious Colonial Marine who goes into shock and semi-hysteria after his squad gets thier collective butt handed to them by rampaging alien hordes. Hudson has a thousand quotable lines, from the immortal "Game over, man - game over!" to "Hey, maybe you haven't been keeping up on current events, but we just got our asses kicked, pal!"
Apollo 13: After years of grinding semi-obscurity, Paxton finally had another big part in an ensemble movie. Instead of the usual obnoxious guy with all the great quotes, he play astronaut Fred Haise as a decent everyman in a really sucky situation. I'm not a huge Ron Howard fan, but when he hits a home run, it's always totally out of the park. This movie is required watching, as is Parenthood.
One False Move: Independent thriller about FBI agents tracking murderers to a small town in Arkansas. Paxton plays the rather excitable sheriff of this area but loses his enthusiasm fast when he realizes he has a connection to one of the killers. This movie made some people finally notice Mr. Paxton has some acting ability (including Ron Howard).
Near Dark: I hate vampires but this movie is an exception. I think it's because the bloodsuckers in question aren't effete and angsty. They just like killing and blood drinking. Especially Severen (Paxton's character). He and his family are inducting a new member, who freaks when he's shot in the belly with a shotgun. Severen exclaims "It's a kick, ain't it?" then proceeds to tear apart the bartender who shot him. Vampires suck (heh), but I love this little band's enthusiasm.
True Lies: Bill Paxton at his obnoxious best. He's a sleazy used-car salesman here who is putting the moves on Arnold Swarzenegger's neglected wife (Jamie Lee Curtis). Fun cheesy movie if not WAY overproduced. Still, Bill gets most of the good lines, including the classic "[Y]ou get their pilot lit, they could suck-start a leaf-blower!"
Frailty: Hey I said 5 but I'll make it 6. Bill Paxton directed as well as starred in this movie and is it twisted. He's a widower trying to raise his two sons when God tells him he has to kill demons living among everybody. He brings his two young sons in on his crusade. There's enough here to offend the most die-hard atheist *and* fundamentalist Christian. I got a big kick out of it.
Saturday, May 17, 2008
Maintaining Tradition is Important
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you!
Happy Birthday Bill Paxton,
Happy Birthday tooooo youuuuuuuuuu!
Monday, May 12, 2008
Brenden and Anthony
Nancy, Mark, and Anthony came for a weekend visit. We had fun at a Decatur park and in the pool and hot tub - the pool is clean, clear, and open even though it's cold. Nancy came over to catch up on Battlestar Galactica season 4 and we made it through 4 out of 6 episodes. I'm so glad I can geek over the show with someone I know! Besides my brother Ed.
I stole this photo from Nancy's Flickr site. It's totally adorable; she took it just before they left on Sunday. And since Sunday was Mother's day, Jon gave me a terrific gift: a Brenden-free day! I dropped him at the drop zone (heh) and went home and did nothing but play computer games and snack on cheese and olives.
The olives were a Mom's day gift from Jon; the cheese was a birthday gift from my brother Ed and sister-in-law Jen. They sent us some cheese for Christmas which was TEH YUMMEH and I loved getting more.
The only useful thing I did was vacuum the worms out of my pool. They committed suicide during the night before's terrific thunderstorms.
Friday, May 09, 2008
What I'm Watching:
Alvin and the Chipmunks Kiddie film. A waste of Jason Lee, of all things.
I Am Legend I finally got to watch a movie where Will Smith acts, and doesn't play Will Smith (not that there's anything wrong with that - I enjoyed Hitch way more than I should have). The plot has a few holes, but it's saved by Smith's performance as his character seems to be the only survivor of a plague that killed most and turned a bunch into bloodthirsty mutants who managed to wipe out those who were immune to it. I'm not going to say more but I was gushing tears at several points and it's all Mr. Smith's fault.
Touching the Void Amazing mountain-climbing story, narrated by the 3 people who actually participated in the event (and dramatized by actors). Two guys climb a mountain in Peru (the third is at their base camp) and on their way down one of them breaks his leg (and not a simple snap, either; he described it like he drove his lower leg bones through his knee and jammed into his femur -OW!). His friend painstakingly lowers him down 300 feet at a time, but at one point, it gets dark and storming and the hurt guy ends up dangling over a precipice and his friend ends up having to cut the rope between them.
Surprisingly suspenseful, considering it is narrated by the guys it happened to. The hurt guy's journey out from the crevasse he landed in back to the base camp is just insane. YOU scoot on your butt backwards over a glacier! I don't know why I'm watching so much mountain-climbing stuff; I certainly have no desire to do so (and this story didn't make me want to do it any faster).
Monday, May 05, 2008
Letter to Brenden Month 35
You have quit with the hitting, at least other kids.
Sometimes you're funny: you will knock on my arm or leg, like knocking on a door, to get my attention. You constantly want my attention. Sometimes I just get so tired of you being in my face. I'm sorry about that.
Last weekend you were great at the pool store, good in the grocery store, and then things rapidly deteriorated from there. I took you into the hot tub Saturday. When we got out, I set you down and wrestled the cover on, only to discover that you ran around to the other side of the pool. I asked you to come back, and you refused. You played that game where if I walked towards you, you would move to keep the pool between you and me.
I finally noticed a big bug in the water and I pointed it out to you. You came around to look so I grabbed you around the waist, took you inside, and spanked you. Hard. In between your screaming and sobbing I tried to tell you why I spanked you.
What a load of good that did; you played the same game with me on Sunday.
I'm just about totally revolted by my lack of mother skills.
Friday, May 02, 2008
Slacker
Been busy and nothing to write about.
Jon's mom visited for a week and it was nice to come home to a clean house and a cooked dinner. Not wonder husbands like wives. I need a wife.
About the most exciting thing I've done all week is open the pool, and any polar bears in the vicinity are welcome. I hope it warms up soon enough.
Of course I'm watching BSG and there's even new episodes of Lost (yay!).
Oh! I almost forgot. I'm scheduled to get my new set of hooters June 4th. I can't wait!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Everything you want, in the worst possible way.
There's only a vague spoiler below:
Jacob of TWoP wrote those words about Battlestar Galactica - "everything you want in the worst possible way". I've reflected often on this curse, because it comes true OFTEN for us the audience, as well as the characters.
(My favorite silly instance of this curse was when we got to see Lee in a towel in Why We Fight. All the fangirls were begging "More Apollo in a towel, please!!!!" So what does Ron Moore do? We get Lee in a towel during his "distressed at Kara so I'm going to eat everything in site" phase. Aagh! My eyes!)
I mentioned to Nancy this show makes me cry at least once a month and it has set a record by making me cry for the first 3 episodes. The last ep I saw ("The Ties that Bind") made me cry for a character who I was looking forward to watching die. This character's death left me feeling horrible! Everything I want, in the worst possible way.
This character did some stupid, stupid things and got everything dreamed of (in the worst possible way). What a screechy, annoying asshole and right now I am so haunted by this character's end. That was no way to live and that was no way to die.
I'm so scared for everyone on this show I almost don't want to watch.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
The Best Way to Travel
I don't have much time to write as I'm still busy playing catch-up. We're back from a week in Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping over the plane. Really, we had 40 knot headwinds flying to McAlester but it beat driving. We had to stop in Stuttgart, Arkansas to refuel and most of Arkansas is under water.
We had a fine, relaxing time at dad's house. I did absolutely nothing and I think my total TV + computer time all week was less than 2 hours. I read some and ran around after Brenden mostly - his favorite activities involved kicking ant hills, throwing rocks into the pond, and getting rides on the 4-wheelers. He also made oatmeal cookies with Ilu and had ninja fights with his grandpa using balloon swords.
I have a crapload of pictures to post and when I do I'll go into more detail on exactly what we did.
The flight back was much better because we had a 20 to 30 knot tailwind. Our flight there was over 5 hours (including the stop) but the flight back was 2 hours, 47 minutes.
Oh yeah, a big cheer (\o/ \o/ \o/ \o/) for Fox! They renewed The Sarah Connor Chronicles.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Short bits
Tornadoes took out the Dixie Railway Museum last Friday so our Day out with Thomas on sunday was cancelled. I'm glad Brenden doesn't really understand things well yet because that would have been a headache to explain to him.
These women should never ever have to buy their own beers (or fruity mixed drinks, if that's what they prefer) again: Sgt. leigh Ann Hester and Spec. Monica Linn Brown.
This blog constantly causes me to snort hot coffee out my nose: Bad News Hughes. Too bad he's not writing it any more.
And I wanted to post a link that is some convincing proof that John McCain is a cylon but it's a season 3/4 spoiler so I won't.
We are going to Oklahoma soon for vacation. Yay!
Rant time:
I just wrote a $65,000 check to put on our mortgage. No, it wasn't painful at all. You know why? Because we're saving about $100K in interest.
Jon and I were listening to the Dave Ramsay show the other day and he was talking to a sadly ignorant woman who didn't want to be out of debt. Her husband did (and obviously had talked her into talking to Dave). Dave was patiently explaining to her why sacrificing now would pay off in the future, but her whole argument was that in order to buy things they would have to go right back into debt.
I don't know if she was merely ignorant or just stupid (I hope the former for her husband's sake) because I used to think like she did until I learned to run the numbers. I am going to work HARD with Brenden so he understands terms like 'saving' and 'delaying gratification'. If I had kept every dollar I have paid on interest I would be able to pay cash for real estate on St. John.
Monday, April 07, 2008
Bummer.
I am glad his suffering has ended - being 84 with Alzheimer's has to suck. I've been a fan of Charlton Heston since I was 10 or 11. I'm amused /annoyed at all the press write-ups that mention him and his affiliation with the NRA but don't mention his work during the Civil Rights movement. Wikipedia touches on some of it. I don't agree with all of his politics but he shouldn't have been smeared and vilified the way he was. He was an old school LIBERAL who grew disenchanted with the direction the country was heading and had the courage to speak up about it. Rest in Peace, sir.
Before I forget,I have one Charlton Heston memory that just skidded through my thoughts: He was on the Mike Douglas show a billion years ago and Mike had him read aloud from a car manual. The idea was that Heston could make anything sound dramatic. It did and it was hilarious.
Back to my regularly scheduled blatherings: I like this quote: Experience is what you get when you don't get what you want.
What I'll be Watching:
Dollhouse Woo-hoo! A new science fiction series from Joss Whendon! Plus Tim Minear is aboard and Eliza Dushku stars. (\o/). I'm also pleased to see that Olivia Williams is signed up for a part. She played Bruce Willis' wife in The Sixth Sense. I have always wanted to see her in more but everything else I've seen her in she hasn't really done much. Anyway it's about sekrit agents who get their minds wiped between assignments -basically they are programmed like robots for their jobs. Dushku plays an agent who starts to develop her own personality. Hey, it's Joss Whedon. I'm there.
What I'm Watching:
Monty Python's The Meaning of Life I love Amazon Unboxed but they should really have the titles you can download closed-captioned. Brenden tends to be turned up all the way to 11 just before bedtime and most of the Monty Python fun is when someone goes off on a diatribe. I've seen it before and it's still funny. I was amazed at how young everyone looks.
Speaking of the Meaning of Life:
I'm sorry I'm such a goober - remember I said my love for something can be embarrasingly unconditional. I've been obsessing over this show for the last week or so and thank the GODS Battlestar Galactica Season 4 started Friday so I can start worrying about Kara and Lee again (and Bill, and Laura, and Six, and Athena, and Helo, and Saul, and Anders, and yes, even Gaius). It's a long way to September when we get new episodes of Life.
I'm totally dorking about all the Deadwood alumni that showed up - Robin Wiegert (Calamity Jane) is a cast member; William Sanderson (best known as Larry who had 2 brothers - Darryl and Darryl), Garrett Dillahunt (constantly plays creeps well - was also a creep in 4400 and Sarah Connor Chronicles) and Titus Welliver (is that a great name, or what?) have all guest-starred and all 3 characters would be welcome back. If the casting director manages to snag Timothy Olyphant or Ian McShane for season 2 I might spontaneously combust.
Thursday, April 03, 2008
Letter to Brenden Month 34:
You were tested by the Hartselle School system, and you actually did well on vocabulary, but you qualify for tutoring on enunciation. I'm relieved to hear that it's not only me who doesn't know what the hell you are saying.
Your behavior the past month has been troublesome - you tend to hit. It's not out of anger or frustration as much as wanting attention. I wish I knew some kids your age, bud. We're thinking about putting you in a day care setting one or two days a week so you can play with other 2 to 3 year olds. The 5 year olds you spend time with of course don't want much to do with you because you aren't as developed as they are. Still, jumping on them when they aren't looking is a no-no. At least they aren't smaller than you, but it's troublesome.
The other thing that is really annoying me is you've been playing me - the night before last you woke up crying and you wouldn't stop. I couldn't tell if you were hurt or having nightmares or what. Jon went and slept on the couch and you slept with me. There were no more tears. Then the next day Devin said you had a good day and were cheerful, etc. but as soon as you came in, you started crying in that fakey way you have when you want something and you wanted to be held. Jon called shenanigans earlier, but I didn't smell the bullshit until then. I knew it was going to be a long night. You cried and cried and cried, but I made you stay in your own room. You finally went to sleep. Crap, I hate it when you play me like that!
On the bright side we've gone out to eat a couple of times and your behavior has been moderately acceptable. I'm so glad it's warming up so we all spend time outside together after work.
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Tank Hard
That "tippity tappity tippity tappity" noise you heard yesterday was me doing a happy dance. We sold our private airplane (\o/) to the business. The money is going on the mortgage. I also am happy (\o/ \o/ \o/) because Battlestar Galactica starts season 4 this Friday.
What I'm Watching plus a bonus rant:
Live Free or Die Hard: It's interesting to note how much Bruce Willis has changed over the years - how much he's matured as an actor and aged as a man. This movie is okay but it's further proof that the 80's are over. Action movies are in a low-point on the cycle - a cycle that James Cameron ushered in with his 2 Terminator movies and Aliens, then John McTiernan imitated with Predator, the original Die Hard and Hunt for Red October (which in all fairness is more of a political thriller and his least James Cameron-like movie). McTiernan's career seemed to have imploded with The 13th Warrior (which is a GREAT MOVIE BTW - it's got VIKINGS!) and the remake of ROllerball (which sucked the proverbial ass).
Then Renny Harlin, who is a pale imitation of John McTiernan who is a pale imitation of James Cameron, did Die Hard II and Cliffhanger. He suffered from hubris and made the godawful pirate movie Cutthroat Island and was last seen directing dogs like Manhunters and The Covenant.
Then we won't go into Micheal Bay, who seems to be in a category all by himself in terms of directing hubris but he still wishes he were James Cameron (Bad Boys, The Rock, Armageddon etc etc etc). He's got enough smarts at least to try to reinvent himself and Transformers was a pretty good kid's movie that also appealed to people who grew up with those toys.
One thing that James Cameron understands that his imitators didn't really get was he knows that action movies tend to exclude women. They either exist to prove that the hero is heterosexual or to be rescued by the hero (in many movies they are both at the same time). In Cameron's movies the woman tends to be the hero. (True Lies is the exception but Jamie Lee Curtis had more to to than your average woman in an Arnold Swarzenegger movie). Cameron understands that in a date situation 80% of the time it's the woman that chooses the movie so he made it a point to try to have something that appealed to them. People can slam Titanic and hate it all they want - that movie appealed to girls and women, especially young girls and they represent an ungodly amount of purchasing power.
So anyways most straight-forward action movies these days are either direct-to-video or they have a strong appeal to women. The Bourne franchise is the only one I can think of that has been kicking box office butt and it has strong women characters and a tortured hero you just want to hug. The other action movies that have succeeded in the late 90's to present day have strong fantasy elements (The Lord of the Rings, Pirates of the Caribbean, Spider-Man) that succeed with women because the actors appeal to younger women and / or there's an aspect of the story that appeals to them (love beyond the perfunctory heterosexual creds, tortured cute heros you want to hug - actually I don't get the appeal of the gay pirate thing as much but still - there are pirates which are almost as cool as Vikings).
So to get back to what we were discussing, the last Die Hard movie (directed by Len Wiseman who perpetrated the Underworld movies on us) tanked hard but it wasn't really that bad of a movie. It wasn't great, but I bet in the late 80's - mid 90's it would have been box office gold. As I watched it, it just felt kind of flat. Been there, done that, blah. Plus there was just nothing there to appeal to me as a woman. Nothing!
I also watched the first episode of the Showtime show Dexter, about a serial killer who stalks and kills serial killers. Cool premise, but I am beginning to completely hate voice-overs. There's nothing that Dexter said in V.O. that I couldn't have inferred by what was happening on the screen.