Friday, December 12, 2008

Recital


Chick w/ Gun 2, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden has this school thing last night - I guess they call those 'recitals' - where he got dressed up as an angel with all the other 3 year olds and he sat there on stage looking three ways of bored and doing a little gold-mining. Since his preschool is at a Methodist church the recital was all about Jesus' birthday (not complaining, just saying). Most of the music was your basic pre-recorded feel-good kid's choir stuff, with the kids shouting along with the parts they remembered. The whole thing was basically what you would imagine a recital featuring 2-4 year old children to be like, and totally amusing for us parents.

I spent the recital wondering if Brenden would get into trouble with any of the kids up on stage with him later in life - will he ever get busted by the cops for drinking beer at the park (I did - I was with friends at Stone Mountain. Hey, it was the 70's so the cop just confiscated our case and sent us home)? Would he be dating any of those girls up there with him? One pretty girl next to him was the only angel with wings - she sang and danced to all of the numbers. I bet she practiced all the songs at home the entire previous week. Sometimes I think God did me a favor by giving me a boy.

Sometimes I don't: Brenden kept losing his halo, and on one occasion during the singing he was pantomiming loading, cocking, and shooting his finger. This is 2008 but fortunately this is also Alabama, so no one had my son escorted to a waiting police car on charges of terroristic threats. Brenden loves guns, but I have a tough time thinking he needs to be cured of that (see above photo).

I'm ashamed to say last night was the first time Jon and I met Brenden's teachers. I'm going to try to make it to some of Brenden's school activities next year if I can stay away from blowing all my vacation / sick time on things like surgery. I'd really like to hear what the teachers have to say about Brenden without the information being filtered through his baby sitter.

Back at home later that night, Jon was busy in the bathroom and ignored Brenden when B barged in on him. Then Jon looked up and noticed that B was holding one of his disposable razors in one fist and had a shocked look on his face. Then blood started running down Brenden's chin while he cried and howled.

He ran and got blood all over me, and I managed to get him cleaned up enough to see that he had shaved a thin line of skin off the lower part of his lower lip. I gave him a washcloth soaked in ice water and he stuck it on his lip and snivelled for a good hour while sitting on my lap.

He woke up a couple of times crying (I know kid, razor cuts can smart) so I didn't get much sleep last night. His lip will be fine of course but I suspect he will do a lot more whining as today wears on. Note to myself: no ketchup tonight!

I was also not amused by the non-snow event. We were promised 1-3" of snow and I saw nary a snowflake. We haven't had a good snow since Dec 31 - Jan 1 of 2001. I remember that one because it started snowing 10 minutes before midnight. I remember the time because I was on the ground at a bonfire waiting for a planeload of skydivers to jump at the start of the new year. When the plane took off I could see the moon, and then the moon got a little hazy, and by the time they jumped the moon had disappeared and big, fat flakes of snow were drifting down. Despite the decided lack of visibility, every jumper made it back safe. So did the airplane. Jon taught me how to drive in the snow the next day.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

Short bits


Sleepy boy, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's another take on Empire's list, only not as foamy as mine.

And here's some responses to some of Nancy's comments : "pomegranite" was a stupidly obscure play on the Australian slang for a British person (poms, pommy bastards). Also: (forehead slap) How could I forget Billy Kwan? Your other choices are full of win, too.

On an unrelated note, I want to mention how much I love Fringe. Do you know what the difference between a 'rip-off' and a 're-imagining' is? How good the movie / show is, of course. Fringe feels like the X-Files and in a good way. There are no characters who are anologous to Mulder and Scully (that award would go to Life), but the stories are chock full o high wierdness and shady, enigmatic characters.

I can't wait for January: more Fringe, more Lost, and the very last of Battlestar Galactica.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Parts 9 and 10:


Darth Vader, originally uploaded by FrogMiller.

20. Forrest Gump - Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks): Because his name has been bandied about several times on my blog lately, I'll nominate Gary Sinise as Lieutanant Dan for this spot.

19. Jules Winnfield - Pulp Fiction (Samuel Jackson): Yay! Definitely the best character from the best Quentin Tarantino movie!

18. Travis Bickle - Taxi Driver (Robert DeNiro): I'm not a DeNiro fan but I don't actively dislike him the way I do Pacino. I agree with Travis being on this list: they don't make psychos like Travis any more. His sickness is so understated (I mean compared to the typical movie psychotic).

17. Hans Gruber - Die Hard (Alan Rickman): Gruber set the standard for suave Eurotrash villains. I'm not convinced he should be so high on the list.

16. Neo - The Matrix (Keanu Reeves): I nominate the teen he played in Parenthood as my favorite Keanu role, or the cop he played in Speed because he is fun, fun, fuuuun to look at in that movie.

15. Ferris Bueller - Ferris Bueller's Day Off Ferris Bueller is a jackass. His friend Cameron (Alan Ruck), though, is classic. I nominate Long Duck Dong from Sixteen Candles as my favorite character from a John Hughes movie just because I wanted to write "Long Duck Dong".

14. The Terminator - The Terminator(Arnold Swarzennegger) Well, YEAH! But I want to know where the HELL is Sarah Connor! JIGSAW IS ON THIS LIST BUT NOT SPIDER-MAN! NOT CHEWBACCA! NOT SARAH CONNOR!!! WTF IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE!!!

13. Gollum - The Lord of the Rings(Andy Serkis): I'm calm now really. WTF IS SAMWISE GAMGEE!!! WAUGH!!! WAAAAUGGGGH!!!!

12. John McClane - Die Hard (Bruce Willis): I nominate Willis' David Dunn from Unbreakable. Yeah I know: who? But it's my favorite Bruce Willis performance. Go back and watch Die Hard now - Willis is still stuck partway in Moonlighting mode.

11. James Bond - Goldfinger (Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan, Daniel Craig, and yes I wrote this from memory, why do you ask?): I'm not surprised to see Mr. Bond on the list. I am surprised he's not higher up, especially from a list compiled in Britain.

10. Vito Corleone - The Godfather (Marlon Brando) Well no duh. I'm surprised Dr. Evil (Mike Myers) is missing from this list though. No Spider-Man, no Chewbacca, no Sarah Connor, no Sam Gamgee, no Dr. Evil. This list totally blows. *Sigh*.

9. Ellen Ripley - Aliens(Sigourney Weaver) Hooray! Okay it doesn't totally blow. One of my favorite characters from my favorite movies. But but but, where is Hudson (Bill Paxton)? I'm going to start crying again...

8. Captain Jack Sparrow - Pirates Of The Caribbean (Johnny Depp): In his place I nominate Prince Humperdinck, Vizzini, Fezzik, Princess Buttercup, Inigo Montoya, and the Dread Pirate Roberts.

7. The Dude - The Big Lebowski (Jeff Bridges): No, no no no no! No! I nominate Bruce Boxleitner as the titular character from Tron here instead. So there, Jeff!

6. Indiana Jones - Raiders of the Lost Ark (Harrison Ford): Mr. Ford has 2 characters in the top 10! Way fine by me!

5. Dr. Hannibal Lecter - The Silence Of The Lambs (Anthony Hopkins): Fine by me. Even on my list of favorite psychos he's in the top 10.

4. Han Solo - Star Wars (Harrison Ford):Woo Hoo,my favorite Star Wars character! Next to CHEWBACCA! No, I like Solo more; I'm just bitter is all.

3. The Joker - The Dark Knight (Heath Ledger): It's too early! I haven't even seen this one yet. It's on my to see list. You know, I just realized I haven't even seen Brokeback Mountain yet. Is Jake Gyllenhaal nekkid in that one? Is he nekkid with Heath? I thoroughly enjoy never minded gay love scenes if the guys are cute. Yeah I'm a sexist pig sue me.

2. Darth Vader - Star Wars (James Earl Jones, David Prowse): He should arguably be #1 on the list. Daniel Day-Lewis's left foot has more right be there at number 1 than the guy who is:

1. Tyler Durden - Fight Club (Brad Pitt): CHEWBACCA! SARAH CONNOR! SPIDER-MAN! PRIVATE HUDSON! DR. EVIL! MAD MAX! KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN! Jebus H. Chocolate chip cookie, The Sta-puft marshmallow man from Ghostbusters makes more sense here than this bozo! I tried to watch it once because I do like Ed Norton but I got bored real fast.

So there you have it, what 17 year old British kids think the top 100 greatest characters of all time are. SRSLY though: Tyler Durden?

Part 8:



Yoda ... you seek Yoda!, originally uploaded by ɲℓιŦεɲđ1.

30. Jigsaw - Saw ZOMG you can't be serious! And at # 30?!!? Sweet animal crackers no! CHEWBACCA! SPIDER-MAN! SAM GAMGEE! Am I beating a dead horse? Sorry. I nominate Mad Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) here.

29. Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood (Daniel-Day Lewis): Kind of ashamed I haven't seen this one because I like Paul Thomas Anderson movies. I'm going to be a jackass here and nominate Milla Jovovich's Alice from Paul W.S. Anderson's Resident Evil because I'm still smarting over the Jigsaw crap.

28. Gandalf - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Ian McKellan): OK by me.

27. Tony Montana - Scarface (Al Pacino): I did not like this movie. I don't like Al Pacino. His best character is Michael Corleone and I'll talk about that later on.

26. Ron Burgundy - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (Will Farrell): No. And so high on the list? No. Not even. I'll nominate Frank the Tank from Old School and at position # 427 at best.

25. Yoda - The Empire Strikes Back Correct it is to be here on this list he should be.

24. Ash - Evil Dead Trilogy (Bruce Campbell): Every one seems to love Army of Darkness, but I prefer Evil Dead II. Good call!

23. Harry Callahan - Dirty Harry I agree. I think his Magnum cannon pistol should have had a place on the list too.

22. Ellis 'Red' Redding - The Shawshank Redemption (Morgan Freeman): An iconic actor in what should be an iconic role. Time will tell, but he should definitely stay on this list.

21. Michael Corleone - The Godfather (Al Pacino): Going back to Tony Montana - I don't like Pacino. I mean there's something about him I actively dislike. His role here was perfect and I like him in this movie only because there's something wrong with Micheal even when he's trying to stay out of the family business. Actually Pacino fun to watch in a derisive way in his last 10 - 15 roles because he hams it up like there's no pork tomorrow in all of them.

Part 7:


Hard_Boiled, originally uploaded by a5ad0r.

40. Patrick Bateman - American Psycho (Christian Bale): Chris's disgusting, murderous, pathetic, asshole yuppie. Definitely he's memorable!

39. Marty McFly - Back to The Future (Micheal J. Fox): SLACKER! Hey, I agree with this choice.

38. Donnie Darko - Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal): Never seen it. I nominate any movie of Jake's where he wanders around nekkid. He should be nekkid in all of his movies! Was he nekkid in this one? If so, I'll put it on my Netflix queue asap but otherwise I'm not really motivated to give it a whirl.

37. Edward Scissorhands - Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp): One of two Depp characters on the list and if you think the gay pirate is one of the top ten, you won't be disappointed. I liked him better as the titular character in Ed Wood.

36. Harry Potter - Harry Potter 1-6 (Daniel Radcliffe): He's on the list just because this series is British. Is he really the most memorable character? Actually I think he is. I wonder if that's saying much? Before anyone sends me an exploding email, I would like to point out I've read the books and watched the movies numerous times. I'd put Ralph Fiennes as Voldermort here just because I can, but Ralph's most memorable role is the hot Nazi in Schindler's List. Hey, I just call it as I see it; don't blame me is Spielberg puts a hottie in a repulsive role!

35. Maximus Decimus Meridius - Gladiator (Russell Crowe): I like swords and sandals as much as the next shmoe, but again seriously: where is Kirk Douglas as Spartacus! I just realized through a Kevin Bacon train of thought which Kevin Spacey character should have made the list. See, Russel Crowe was (good) in L.A. Confidential, a favorite, but I really like Spacey's compromised but has a concience police detective in this gem.

34. Rocky Balboa - Rocky (Sylvester Stallone): He had to be on this list somewhere. Would you believe I have never seen a Rocky movie? I'm proud of that. I nominate the cop he played in Demolition Man as my favorite Stallone character.

33. Tequila - Hard Boiled (Chow Yun-Fat): Hooray! Remember my comment about only watching foreign movies where people get shot or killed by monsters/ninjas/kung-fu monks? Perfect example! Many many bad guys (and good guys!) get dead, dead, dead in this classic actioner. I love this movie, it's one of my top 10 favorites. If I recall correctly, this was the last movie John Woo shot in Hong Kong before he and Chow emigrated to Hollywood and it has the most Hollywood-like sensibility of all his HK films. It's still Hong Kong over-the-top, though. The last 45 minutes is a shoot-out in a hospital!

32. Jason Bourne - The Bourne Identity (Matt Damon): I'm quite happy to see Jason on this list. I love these movies. Love 'em! Have I told you that before?

31. Aragorn - The Lord of the Rings Trilogy (Viggo Mortensen): 3 characters from LoTR made it on the list. Gandalf and Gollum are the other two, and I can't argue with them. But Aragorn made it but not Samwise Gamgee? WTF? Sam MADE the movies!

Part 6:


J is for Julie Andrews, originally uploaded by Rafa from Brazil.

Before I continue: Wow, Nancy - I just scanned the list and the movies mentioned, and except for Firefly and Aliens, I can't say if any others pass the Beschdel test! That's pathetic....

50. Quint - Jaws (Robert Shaw): Yes, definitely! Bruce the Shark should be here too, expecially if they're going to let characters like Jigsaw on the list.

49. Walter Sobchak - The Big Lebowski (John Goodman): If Walter made the list then you know the Dude is on here too. I tried to watch this movie twice and both times I gave up, bored and unamused. Any character from any given Joel And Ethan Coen movie should be here instead. I nominate Nicholas Cage, whom I dislike, when he played Hi in Raising Arizona because it's the only role I can stand him in.

48. Tony Stark - Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr): It's way waaay to early to see if he sticks as a memorable character! Insert my obligatory grumbling about the decided lack of Spider-man here.

47. Blade - Blade (Wesley Snipes): SPIDER-MAN, SPIDER-MAN! DOES WHATEVER A SPIDER CAN!!!

46. Anton Chigurh - No Country For Old Men (Javier Bardem): I haven't seen this movie yet. Joel and Ethan Coen always are either really good or just plain not watchable to me. When they're good though they rock. I heard Tommy Lee Jones is in this one so I'll nominate TLJ's Marshall from The Fugitive.

45. Amelie Poulain - Amelie(Audrey Tautou): When I watch foreign movies, people usually get shot, or their heads are ripped off by monsters, ninjas, or kung-fu monks so I admit I haven't seen this movie. Let's see... my favorite subtitled movie that can't even remotely be classified as action... hmm... (fail)

44. Peter Venkman - Ghostbusters (Bill Murray): Venkman is a classic character but we the audience are supposed to love him but I think he's a smarmy asshole. Venkman is what I picture Ferris Bueller growing up to be.

43. The Man With No Name - The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (Clint Eastwood): An icon, to be sure. If I were to place a Clint Eastwood character on the list it would be Dirty Harry Callahan but of course he's rightly further on up.

42. Alex DeLarge - A Clockwork Orange (Malcolm McDowell): I had to wash the slime off after watching this movie. I'm not not not a Kubrick fan, unless you mention Spartacus. Speaking of, where the hell is Kirk Douglas when you need him?

41. Mary Poppins - Mary Poppins (Julie Andrews): Nancy asked me recently if I like musicals. I had to realize that I do. I blame my upbringing. I saw a lot of musicals both on stage and the screen when I was little. Maybe I might put Robert Preston from the Music Man here, but I like Julie Andrews. Really!

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Part 5


Screen 18, originally uploaded by persephonetravel.

60. Ace Ventura - Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (Jim Carrey): Oh, please. OK, I laughed.

59. Tommy Devito - Goodfellas (Joe Pesci): One of my favorite movies and Devito is a perfect blend of psycho and asshole! Good choice!

58. Rick Blaine - Casablanca (Humphrey Bogart): I like Humphrey Bogart, and I once (1985) went on a Bogart binge. I fell more in love with Lauren Bacall. I'm glad to see something early from this list. Speaking of early, where is King Kong, or Frankenstein's monster, or his bride for that matter?

57. Brick Tamland - Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy (Steve Carrell): I should be happy that one of Steve's characters is on the list. But for absolutely retarded characters, why isn't Peter Seller's Chance the Gardner on this list (or Inspector Clouseau! WTF?).

56. Juno MacGuff - Juno (Ellen Page): Ok ok ok, already! I'll go rent this sometime. Then I'll decide if she belongs on the list. Nice to see another woman though.

55. Lt. Frank Drebin - The Naked Gun (Leslie Nielsen): I'm surprised the 11th graders they polled for this list remember good old Frank. On the other hand this movie and its sequels are constantly available on the "premium" movie channels. My favorite Leslie Nielsen movie is of course Airplane and I nominate Otto the autopilot as the most memorable character.

54. Luke Skywalker - Star Wars (Mark Hammill): Ah, good old Luke, who inherited his daddy's whiny genes. Fortunately Luke grew out of them. His dad had to have his legs cut off & set on fire before he quit whining.

53. Luke - Cool Hand Luke (Paul Newman): Agreed! Another movie that should be on everyone's to watch list.

52. George Bailey - It's A Wonderful Life (Jimmy Stuart): Well, of course! I used to watch this every Christmas but sometime in the 90's I realized I had had enough. I'll watch A Christmas Story though (any bets if TBS is going to give it the 24-hour treatment again?) so I nominate the constantly cussing dad (Darren McGavin) even though Jimmy Stuart is one of my favorite old-era actors.

51. Mal Reynolds - Serenity (Nathan Fillion): I was surprised that he made the list but I'll take it, although I preferred Zoe (Gina Torres, one of my favorite T.V. actors) and Wash (Alan Tudyk). I really liked Mal and Zoe's relationship - how many Brothers-in-arms forged in a war relationships did you ever see between a man and a woman in movies or on T.V? The episode where Wash was insanely jealous of their bond is my favorite.

Friday, December 05, 2008

PART 4



Pabst Blue Ribbon, originally uploaded by Gregory Brown.

70. Atticus Finch - To Kill A Mockingbird (Gregory Peck): I'm so terribly embarrassed to say I've never seen this movie! So uh yeah, he belongs on the list. I mean, if you say 'Atticus Finch' I know from which book/movie he hails plus I know Peck plays the part, so he must be a popular character, right?

69. Keyser Soze - The Usual Suspects (kind of a spoiler, isn't it?): Spoiler spoily spoily spoily spoil.

68. Napolean Dynamite - Napolean Dynamite(John Heder): Definitely memorable. Will he be remembered 10 years from now, though?

67. Frank Booth - Blue Velvet (Dennis Hopper): As much as I bitched about Jack Nicholson playing himself, Dennis Hopper played himself here with an over the topping of psycho assholishness so I'm happy with Booth's appearance on this list. I nominate Sting from Dune here if we're going to mention David Lynch just for fun.

66. The Bride - Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2 (Uma Thurman): I like Tarantino's work and I love over-the-top asian action movies. Heck, I like Ms. Thurman! I'm glad to see any female characters here but overall, I dunno. These movies were a little too self-indulgent. Not that I haven't watched them several times. I nominate the three ladies (Tracie Thomas, Zoe Bell, and Rosario Dawson) in the second half of Death-Proof for my favorite women in a Tarantino movie.

65. White Goodman - Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (Ben Stiller): Nah. I nominate Steve the Pirate (Alan Tudyk). I like Steve the Pirate *much* better than White even though he's an asshole's asshole. Heck, I like Steve better than Jack Sparrow.

64. Withnail - Withnail & I (Richard E. Grant): I'm not embarrassed to say I haven't watched this movie. I haven't even heard of this movie. This list's pomegranite roots are showing. Mr. Grant's an underrated actor and I've liked him in everything I've seen. We won't talk about Hudson Hawk though.

63. Wall-E - Wall-E : I have to complain that it's too early for Wall-e to be on the list, but only because I'm going to whine about the same thing with the #3 entry. Otherwise, I'm happy with this choice.

62. Mathilda - Leon (Natalie Portman): Also Known As The Professional in the U.S. Shoot, why isn't Jean Reno on this list somewhere? Actually I'm glad Natalie made this list here and not with Amidala.

61. R.P. McMurphy - One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (Jack Nicholson): Here's Nicholson's other character and this movie should be on everyone's must-see classics list. Speaking of, it's a damn shame Louise Fletcher's Nurse Rached isn't here because she is one of the scariest and most unforgettable characters EVAR.

List Part Three:


Fargo (1996), originally uploaded by rattlingdjs.

80. Norman Bates - Psycho (Anthony Perkins): He's about the only psycho who should be on the list. Ok I agree with the aforementioned Patrick Bateman and yes Hannibal Lector deserves the recognition, but Norman Bates should be way way way higher in ranking!

79. Boba Fett - The Empire Strikes Back: Here's my choice for this position: CHEWBACCA! WTF Boba Fett but no CHEWBACCA! Total FAIL here.

78. Axel Foley - Beverly Hills Cop (Eddie Murphy): Another Meh choice, but he is a highly recognizable character. More recognizable than the next guy:

77. Ed - Shaun Of The Dead (Nick Frost): Hey I love this zombie romantic comedy as much as the next zombie movie lover, but if we're going to have a memorable character from a zombie movie, how about Barbara or Ben from Night of the Living Dead? Hell, I liked Shaun more than Ed (an exception to my assholes are more interesting rule). Bonus points though for the most poignant fart ever committed to celluloid.

76. Dr. Emmett Brown - Back To The Future (Christopher Lloyd): Doc Brown! Heck yeah! He should be way higher on the list - much, much higher even than the #1 guy on the list. I'll grind that axe when I get there.

75. Marge Gunderson - Fargo (Frances McDormand): One of my favorite characters of all time!

74. E.T. - E.T.: Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh. Meh meh meh meh meh! My favorite alien: Michael Rennie's alien in the original The Day the Earth Stood Still. Or James Arness as the Carrot Monster in the original The Thing. Or Joe Morton's Brother from Another Planet.

73. Jack Torrance - The Shining (Jack Nicholson): He's another actor who has more than one character on this list. His other character deserves it more, though. As for this one... sigh. I suppose he's an extremely recognizable character, but I really really really really HATED what Stanley Kubrick did with Stephen King's book here. Jack in the book was tragic and terrifying, Torrance in this movie is just a psycho schmuck. And kudos for keeping his Joker off the list!

72. V - V for Vendetta (Hugo Weaving): Hugo's 2nd character. Agent Smith should have been much higher on the list. I'm not sure V should be on it at all. But then again I didn't much like this movie. With all the characters based on comic books on this list I was kind of sad to see everyone has forgotten Brandon Lee's character in The Crow.

71. Snake Plissken - Escape From New York (Kurt Russell): Justice is served! I love ol' Snake but I heard he was dead. I have a soft spot in my brain for Kurt Russell's Jack Burton from Big Trouble in Little China too.

Thursday, December 04, 2008

2nd Installment


Dracula Prince of Darkness, originally uploaded by skookums.


First, here's my response to Alan's comment (becuase I can't put comments on Blogger blogs at work - sheesh!): The only drawback to HDTV is how lame normal TV looks afterwards! You'll love it. WALL-E is especially remarkable because the detail, like the organized junk in Wall-e's home, is spectacularly OCD.

I totally don't remember where I saw Toy Story nor who I was with. I do remember having to search around on the floor afterwards for my lower jaw and eyeballs, though!

Brenden told me 3 times he wants a baby for Christmas. All righty then.

On with the Show (next 10 of Empire's Greatest Movie Character list):


90. The Wicked Witch Of The West - The Wizard Of Oz: She's definitely an icon, but I would have thought Dorothy would have made this list, too. Sadly no - very few women characters are on this list.

89. Princess Leia Organa - Star Wars (Carrie Fisher): Many Star Wars characters made this list and I have no problem with any of them except Boba Fett. I'll wait until I get to him to rant about that. But I will rant about the 5 Star Wars and why no Star Trek. I know it started as a series but since they let Mal Reynolds on the list (!! and hooray), where the hell is KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!

88. Jessica Rabbit - Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Amy Irving and Kathleen Turner): No problem here, either. I'm thinking back to the movie which I haven't seen in ages and I have to admit she's the most memorable even over Roger. Has anyone noticed this movie never garnered a sequel? Hooray!

87. Dracula - Dracula (Christopher Lee): I'm happy they chose the Hammer Films incarnation of Dracula. The fact that Empire is a Brit magazine probably has somethng to do with it. I'm no fan of vampires so I'm sure everyone knows I would have chosen Bill Paxton's vampire, Severen, from Near Dark. But I do prefer Lee's Dracula over Bela Lugosi's, Frank Langella's and definitely Gary Oldman's. Why? Lee's Dracula has the charisma but he is also a SCARY MONSTER which a lot of people tend to forget about vampires.

86. Roy Batty - Blade Runner (Rutger Hauer): I am so meh about this choice. He's definitely the most vivid character in this movie (Harrison Ford's Decker is a bit of a plank). I've liked this movie since it came out but I'll admit it has problems. I don't think director Ridley Scott let the theme show through enough (what does it mean to be human, duh) and I think the scene when Roy discovered his humanity a few minutes before he died didn't have the punch it needed. In the hands of a director who wasn't so absorbed in style it may have had more of an impact. Good story, good cast, poorly executed.

85. Vincenzo Coccotti - True Romance (Christopher Walken): I'm not sure I would have chosen this gangster as my favorite Christopher Walken character. That would be Christopher Walken his own bad self.

84. Agent Smith - The Matrix (Hugo Weaving): Hugo has 2 characters on this list. Not bad for a little-known Australian actor! I bet you think I'm going to mention Priscilla, Queen of the Desert here, aren't you? Well, I'm not!

83. Mr. Blonde - Reservoir Dogs (Micheal Madsen): Mr. Blonde made the list but Mr. Pink was more interesting. Many psychos made the list but not enough assholes made it. I think assholes are a lot more interesting than psychos (actually I guess that's why I'm O.K with Patrick Bateman being on the list because he is the most psychotic asshole in movies outside of Andrew Robinson's Scorpio from the original Dirty Harry). Also I was miffed that no Steve Buscemi character made it.

82. Marv - Sin City (Mickey Rourke): I dunno about this one - Love the movie and the character is certainly memorable, and can't argue that he's the most memorable. Still, few comic book characters made the list but I'll reserve my rant for the next entry:

81. Wolverine - X-Men (Huge Ackman): WTF is Wolverine doing here - ? Where is Tobey MaGuire's Spiderman? For that matter, have people forgotten Christopher Reeve's Superman so fast? The list is heavily weighted towards movies made in the last 10 - 20 years and I got the impression that the list was decided on in via a poll. Apparently the average age of those polled was 17. But still where the hell is Spiderman?!!?

Wednesday, December 03, 2008

Bald Eagle


Bald Eagle, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I'm totally inspired by this list! I agree with some and am having ZOMGWTF moments at others. I'm going to break up this project in 10 parts.

I'll list a few alternates but they aren't in order. I'm just making knee-jerk observations about Empire's list.

Here's their first, er last, 10:

100. Martin Riggs - Lethal Weapon (Mel Gibson): Can't argue with him being on the list. He took the "outside the rules" renegade cop cliche and gave it a nice suicidal pathetic spin. Too bad the director, Richard Donner, didn't do anything good with his character.

99. Hal-9000 - 2001: A Space Odyssey: I'm in agreement here. Creepy and iconic. Totally belongs.

98. Charles Foster Kane - Citizen Kane (Orson Welles): Very few older movie characters show up on this list. Just to be contrarian, I like Harry Lime from The Fifth man much better.

97. Clarice Starling - The Silence Of The Lambs(Jody Foster): Total agreement!

96. Ethan Edwards - The Searchers (John Wayne): I guess they had to stick a John Wayne character here somewhere. My vote goes to Rooster Cogburn from True Grit.

95. Freddy Krueger - A Nightmare On Elm Street (Robert Englund): No argument. He's an icon. I was happy to see that non-entity Jason Voorhees missing from the list. At least ol Krueger has a personality.

94. Buzz Lightyear - Toy Story (Tim Allen): Woody!!! I told you this was knee jerk. See the Randal graves entry for why I like Woody better - he's a bit of an asshole, RLY.

93. Martin Q. Blank - Grosse Pointe Blank (John Cusack): If you are going to list a John Cusack character I think I like his Lane Meyer from Better Off Dead. And If I'm going to mention that movie I'll also mention Curtis Armstrong's Charles De Mar ("Go that way, very fast. If something gets in your way, turn!"). But if I'm going to mention Curtis Armstrong I have to mention Booger from Revenge of the Nerds. So he's my pick. No pun intended.

92. Randal Graves - Clerks (Jeff Anderson): This list ain't so bad after all! Most people I bet would pick Jay and Silent Bob (yes, they count as 1 character) but Randal Graves is a total asshole and I have a weakness for assholes in movies (as you might know but I promise if you stick with me you will find out).

91. Scarlett O'Hara - Gone With The Wind(Vivien Leigh): Another token old character. Actually I can't complain about this addition. Scarlett was a bit of an asshole, chasing that Ashley wuss and totally ignoring what she had in front of her.

Tuesday, December 02, 2008

Wheee!


Wheee!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

My lips are a little numb right now. We just pulled the trigger on the Disney cruise we're taking next year and that was one interesting price tag!

I will not be live-blogging from the ship because I am not going to pay $15 a minute for computer time.

What I'm Watching:

I finally watched WALL-E all the way through, and I have to say it may rank up there with The Incredibles and the Toy Story movies in how much I love it. Where on the Pixar ranking list I can't say yet; I'll have to watch it a dozen more times first.

Extra bonus: even though it couldn't hold Brenden's attention in the movie theater, he sat and watched the entire thing with me on DVD! What a difference 6 months make. He kept saying "Where walle?" when the little robot wasn't on the screen and "oh no!" when something scary would happen to him. It was totally cute.

Jon took B to see the new Madagascar movie on Turkey Day but I wimped out. He did better but was still fidgety. Jon reported that the movie was "Meh", sort of like the first one. Pixar it ain't.

We also watched Get Smart, and enjoyed it. First it's always fun to see Alan Arkin, who played Maxwell Smart's boss, plus I think Steve Carrel is funny so there's that too. What really got me was one of the bad guys looked like Richard Kiel's clone (Think Jaws from the James Bond movies. THAT Richard Kiel)! It's worth a dvd rental for a good laugh or two.

Saturday, November 29, 2008

Say Cheese


Geese, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Speaking of The Stand, the Sci-FI channel is re-running the miniseries as I type. It's a boring scene right now, so I thought I'd make some useless comments:

1) The miniseries is quite faithful to the book, and therefore suffers the book's same problems. Namely, the first part of the book is total kickass horror as most of humanity gets offed by Captain Trips, and the second part has some adrenaline spillover so it's pretty interesting as the survivors try to hang on then band together as they start realizing they share the same dreams / nightmares.

But then the third part is pretty DAMN BORING as we wait for SOMETHING, ANYTHING to happen! The Ad-Hoc ruling committee of Boulder, Colorado just isn't that scary. The fourth part picks up the pace but it ends with a mighty WHAT? when God shows up to put the smackdown on the walkin dude and also destroys some pretty interesting characters in the process.

2) The miniseries opens with Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper". Just like for the generation behind me finds it impossible to listen to the William Tell Overture without yelling "HI-YO SILVER!", it is impossible for the generation in front of me to hear that B.O.C . song and not yell "NEEDS MORE COWBELL!". My g-g-generation, we do both.

3) The Guy who plays Tom Cullen, Bill Fagerbakke, has a very familiar voice. I was in the middle of the third installment when I realized he does the voice of Patrick Starfish. M-O-O-N, that spells YORGYSHMORGIES!

Sorry. Brenden is spending the night with Jon and I'm a little stir-crazy.

Monday, November 17, 2008

unrelated bits


Santiago, Chile, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon is away on business(in of all places, Santiago, Chile) this week. Guess where he gets to go in December: Milan, Italy! The most exotic place I've been to on business is Edmonton, Canada, eh. Anyway we talked to John yesterday after he arrived via Skype. Brenden was really thrilled that Jon was talking through the computer. B is making more sense when he talks, but he still doesn't get that no one can see him when he's talking on the phone so I have to interpret.

Before he left, we watched Kung Fu Panda which was cute. That's it, that's the total review. Nothing to see here, move along.

I finally, finally finished Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, his trilogy that takes place in the late 1600's - early 1700's. All I'll say the last third of the last book I was really getting impatient and was speed-reading (which consists of scanning the first sentence of a paragraph - is it a description? SHEESH! Move onto next paragraph & repeat). I don't care how much you like your characters, 300 pages is too long to try to have anyone executed.

I should tell the worm & rubber mallet story for Helly: While working in the yard I usually give Brenden an earthworm or two to investigate to keep him out of trouble - I know you can sense problems with this story already - but one day a few weeks ago I let him take a rubber mallet out of his dad's toolbox so he could pound acorns littering our driveway. While he was pounding away, I was digging up a shrub and I said "Oh, look, a worm!" Brenden came over, picked it up and I stupidly didn't put 2 + 2 together until I heard the "WHACK".

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Quality Time


Quality Time, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Of all things, I watched Airplane II last night. I laughed more from it's creaky lameness than I did the jokes (although I don't think I'll ever be over Macho Grande). It's also sad because of all the dead people in the cast: Raymond Burr, Chuck Connors, Lloyd Bridges, Richard Jaeckel, Sonny Bono, and John Vernon. I'm sure I missed some. But hell, the movie was made in 82. And of all things, it passes the Beschdel Test! Sheesh, if this stupid-assed movie can pass, everything else should.

Also:

Brenden and I had an earnest talk about my breast cancer last night. While he was sitting on the pot taking care of business, he pointed at my chest and said "Mama boo boo?"

To which I thought "Oh, great! The boy has 'boo-boo' and 'boobies' mixed up! Nice job of screwing up your son, there!"

But what I said was "mama had a boo-boo on her chest but it's all better now."

"Mama go doctor?"

"Yes, honey - I had a boo-boo but the doctor fixed it."

"Doctor fix boo boo."

Then all of a sudden he looked down and said "Poo poo yucky!" and that was the end of that conversation.

Saturday, November 08, 2008

Laughed until I hacked up a lung department:

funny pictures of cats with captions
more animals

A Little More Life



NUP_131459_0131, originally uploaded by davidouss.

Good news for me and my viewing habits:

NBC moved Life away from the slot-of-death (Fridays 10pm EST) to a more tolerable timeslot (Wednesdays 9pm) and the ratings improved a little. Then I read this morning NBC decided to renew Life for the full season so I am quite happy today.

Yeah it's a standard police procedural but even the guest stars get a chance to be vivid, interesting, and sympathetic (mostly. There have been some dog episodes but I can think of some rotten Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Battlestar Galactica episodes).

To illustrate, I've been watching CSI:NY reruns on Spike for a couple of weeks now, but its totally not that interesting. I've adored Gary Sinise since The Stand became a miniseries and I like his character but he's basically flailing about by himself out there.

Damian Lewis is an amazingly versatile actor (no, I'm not prejudiced - watch an episode of Band of Brothers and then an episode of The Forsyte Saga and I promise your brain will blow up real good), and fortunately is surrounded in this series by talent. I miss the hell out of Robin Wiegert, but Sarah Shahi, Adam Arkin, Donal Logue, and Brent Sexton are good actors who are fun to watch on this show.

So thanks, NBC, for making my weekend! \o/ \o/ \o/ \o/

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

Avast, Mommy!


Avast, Mommy!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden rightly thinks that Halloween is the Best Day Ever - he got to wear his pirate costume to preschool and he kept it on until I took him out to trick or treat. A friend called up and wanted to bring his two kids over to canvas our neighborhood because they live in a more rural section of town. So Brenden, Andrew, and Sierra took off together and had the best time extorting candy from willing adults. JK and I were able to hang back and keep an eye on the three of them while they ran around like maniacs.

After the neighborhood was sucessfully plundered I was surprised at how easy it was to get B back into the house. I hurriedly turned the porch light on and opened the front door and hoped we'd get some trick or treaters because I had a honking sack of candy I didn't want in the house. To my surprise and delight, Brenden wanted to give candy out to the kids who came by. It was so sweet! When I was a little kid I'm sure I would have plotted to hoard the candy instead of giving it away.

I closed the door at 8:30 and Brenden had a truly awe-inspiring meltdown. He DID. NOT. WANT. Halloween to end! It took a while but I finally got him calmed down.

Early Saturday Brenden and I drove over to Athens, Georgia, to visit Nancy, Mark and Anthony. Brenden and Anthony got along well, which was great considering B is 2 years younger than A. I enjoyed talking with my old friends but I was somewhat zombiefied by not getting enough sleep the night before. I woke up Sunday with a massive migraine but fortunately I came prepared with my newly prescribed Trexamet so that turned into nothing.

On our way back I stopped at a McDonald's for lunch and it had a play area for kids. Brenden befriended a little boy about 2 years older than him and they played keepaway from the little boy's 2 older sisters. What would happen is the two of them would run up to the sisters, giggle and scream, then run and hide. The two sisters would roll their eyes at each other and continue playing together and ignore the boys. That was our weekend.

Friday, October 31, 2008

Swinging


swinging3, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Happy Halloween, everyone! This is the 4th photo from my 4th set on Flickr, a meme I borrowed from Helly. I couldn't do the 4th photo in my 4th folder on my computer because I'm just not that organized. If Flickr ever crashes I'm going to go postal.

And Helly, I still have that postcard from Alan! I never throw anything away that resembles correspondence. I'll try and dig it up & post it on the blog. Soon come...

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Going to see the Trains!


Going to see the Trains!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Despite my son's lagging enunciation skills, I have noted some interesting developments in his speaking. For instance, he seems to get the difference between "I" and "you". When his dad lets one rip, he will run up and point his finger at him, and announce "YOU FARTED!"

Likewise when Brenden blows his trumpet, he will say "I FARTED!"

Also, at restaurants especially, he likes to say "I GO POO POO!" if he wants us to take him to the bathroom, or if I get up to go he'll say "YOU GO POO POO! MAMA GO POO POO!"

He can also read one word: "PUSH". He pointed it out to me when we were going out the door of McDonald's last Saturday afternoon.

Monday, October 27, 2008

Decision 2008

I've finally made my decision about who I am voting for this year. I don't care for either candidate for the major political parties, and even the Libertarian candidate makes my eyes cross. Therefore I am writing in Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho as my candidate of choice. RLY.

BTW, did you know that 'decision' and 'incision' have similar roots? That's neither here nor there; I just love etymology.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Dad and B


Dad and B, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I mentioned last weekend Jon was out jumping off bridges. It was the annual Bridge Day at New River Gorge bridge in West Virginia. Jon told me this story this morning and I thought it was nifty.

Apparently there were a bunch of students and doctor types running around 'studying' the BASE jumpers (clue to you all: Bridge Day is pretty tame compared to some of the other places they jump). One doctor, for instance, was taking saliva and blood samples from certain jumpers before and after their jumps. Other people (sociology students, I would bet) were going around asking questions.

When Jon finished with one jump, as he was leaving the landing area, one of these quetioners asked him a bunch of things. When he asked Jon what he considered his proudest acheivement, the thing he was most proud of in the world, Jon said "my son".

The student then said, "Really?"

Jon replied, "Not a doubt in my mind."

Tuesday, October 21, 2008


B on hayride, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

He loves to sing theme to Cops - Baboy baboy, wha go doo, wha go doo... baboy baboy, wha go doo, wha go doo.. (repeat 50 times).


The Bechdel Test:

I can't remember where I read about testing for real women in movies. It's a fairly simple test:

1: Is there more than one woman?
2: Do they talk to each other?
3: About anything other than men?

For me if a movie fails this test it doesn't make it a bad movie, but I have noted I tend to enjoy it more if it passes. I have subconciously applied these criteria to entertainment long before I read the rules spelled out. When I'm writing my "what I'm watching" blatherings I need to start commenting on whether it passes the test or not.

Please note the comic strip mentions Alien - you would be surprised how few movies you will find before (and after, sadly) 1979 pass the test.

Of the TV shows I watch regularly, only Fringe passes pretty much regularly - the show's lead and a representative of a shadowy megacorporation are both women and they talk pretty much every episode about things other than men. I'm trying to think if J.J. Abrams' other hit, Lost, passes the test. I'm sure somewhere along the line Sun, Julia, Kate, and / or Claire talked to each other about something other than the men. Right?

Sarah Connor Chronicles: I can't think of the last time it passed. Most of the time Sarah talks to Cameron, who is a robot so maybe she doesn't count. Plus they are usually talking about John. But sometimes they talk about other stuff.

My beloved Life fails in the 2nd season because Robin Wiegert got replaced by Donal Logue as the "boss". Even then, though Wiegert and Shahi got to have regular conversations on occasion, they usually revolved around Charlie (though most definitely not in a romantic context, but it still doesn't count). Now Logue's character continually sexually harasses Shahi's character. Yeah, that's an improvement!

Battlestar Galactica: It has passed many times! Roslin doesn't get to interact with Starbuck that much but they have; plus Starbuck and Athena have interacted with the other female pilots. I can't forget Roslin's interaction with her assistant, Tory. The 2.0. - 2.5 Pegasus arc was total win with Commander Cain and Starbuck talking about hardcore military shit.

The last couple of movies I have watched that didn't fail were the two Grindhouse movies. Deathproof especially had nothing but women talking to each other, sometimes about men but not continuously. The 2nd half, with all the motorhead talk, was the best all-woman conversation in movies ever.

Jon and I watched Iron Man last night (FAIL). It was decent. It would have been just ok if they hadn't had the smarts to put Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Choo Choo Yeah!


Choo choo yeah!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

What I'm Watching:

Jon was out jumping off bridges and Brenden was a little sick and whiny (rash, congestion, low fever etc) this weekend so I didn't do much but catch up on my TV shows. Brenden was fine this morning. When I wasn't watching TV he was watching Thomas the Tank Engine and asking me if we could go on a train ride.

The Sarah Connor Chronicles: FOX has given the go-ahead for a full season. YES!! I had a few eps to catch up on and I'm glad they gave a very plausible reason for Cameron the Terminator to look and occasionally act like a teenaged girl (she, I mean it, was modelled after someone John knew. Will know).

Life: I'm still holding my breath for NBC to give this show a full season. The ratings aren't good but then again most NBC shows across the board have bad ratings and 10pm on Fridays is just the suckiest sucky timeslot ever. Come on, NBC, I need my weekly dose of redhead!

Speaking of, the History Channel was nice to me and had a Band of Brothers marathon this weekend and I managed to watch 9 out of 10 eps. I still marvel at what WWII veterans, especially the airborne, went through - not just D-Day but then the total funparks that were Operation Market Garden and Bastogne. I am almost finished with The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich which is a unique book in that it wasn't written by a historian but a journalist who spent most of his time in Germany while Hitler came to power. I guess that's pretty common-place now but I believe the author (William Shirer) paved the way for journalists to chronicle history.

Adolph Hitler wasn't a military genius nor even a great politician; he was a total bullshit artist that people were willing to believe simply because they wanted his shit to be true. Not just Germans who were smarting about the outcome of WWI but the European powers that bent over for Hitler because they wanted to avoid another war. Seriously, if I had that time machine to go back into history, it wouldn't be to kill Hitler, but to knock some freaking sense into the French and English who not only went on their knees for Hitler, but they held down his other victims like Austria and Czechoslovakia when he had them annexed (to continue the anal rape analogy. Speaking of, did you see South Park with the shot-for-shot remake of the love scene from Deliverance?). Ugh. All I'm saying is if someone had stood up to that nutbag a little earlier many many boatloads of soldiers (including my grandfather) wouldn't have had to die.

Along with a little Fringe and C.S.I I caught up with my T.V habits. I didn't watch any movies but I did squee and chortle like the geeky fangirl I can be when I saw those stills from the new Star Trek movie. Miniskirts, go-go boots, and pointy sideburns are intact! If Karl Urban doesn't get to say "DAMMIT, JIM!" at least once, I will be sorely disappointed.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

2 Seconds of Quiet


2 seconds of quiet, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Brenden spent Saturday night and Sunday morning puking. We believe it was food poisoning - he couldn't hold anything down and we had to give him water a teaspoon at a time for a while. He was better Monday - I could tell because he begged me to take him to McDonald's and he demolished his Happy Meal, ate a quarter of my Big Mac, and then demanded that I get him a hamburger, which he polished off, too.

Jon and I watched Hitman Sunday night. I wish we had done something more interesting but a totally bald Timothy Olyphant held me in thrall - he's a good actor who doesn't get much work but he shouldn't be so misused! Maybe he had a house payment overdue or something. He can play everything from weedy, psychopathic scumbags (Go and Live Free or Die Hard come to mind) or intense, self-righteous sheriffs (the enormously great and sorely missed Deadwood). But I spent this movie thinking to myself - "Dude, you're BALD! Where's your HAIR?" while poor Timothy was trying to inject some life into this crappy movie based on a video game. Meanwhile, Jon was obsessing over the truly hideous costume design. I'm being sincere when I say it made The Fifth Element's costumes look conservative and tasteful. Other than that, there was some nice blood spatter but that's about it.

Thursday, October 09, 2008

Dr Evil and Mini-Me


Dr Evil and Mini-Me, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I went to see my allergist the always-cool Dr. Krishna on Tuesday for a routine visit and I complained to him about reoccuring sinus headaches, mainly because I was experiencing one right at that moment. He listened to my symptoms, and told me to see my general practicioner because he thought the headaches didn't sound sinus-related.

My GP listened to my symptoms: the headache is always on the left side of my face and feels like its behind my eye ( also at my temple and around my teeth), it always occurs when the weather changes, and lasts for three days. Oh yeah - it's hard for me to work because looking at a computer screen is painful and I can't stand loud noises. I can't stand them anyway but it really drives me batshit insane when I have one of these headaches.

Those of you reading who experience migraines are probably laughing, because those are all classic migraine symptoms.

So my GP gave me some sample meds to try - I'm supposed to take them at the first sign of one of these headaches. I'm also going to keep a diary of when these headaches happen to see if there are other triggers other than the weather.

Doc asked me on a scale of 1 to 10 of the pain, and I'd put it at a 7. A 10, btw, is what I experienced when I had my C-section and I tried to sit up in bed and my weight shifted and I was pulled upright. The pain was so bad I nearly blacked out and was close to puking.

If I'm right about the weather being the trigger, these puppies will be easy to predict, however. Jon won't be able to bitch at me anymore for watching the weather channel all the time.

Tuesday, October 07, 2008

Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum


Diesel Cab, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Last Sunday we took Brenden to the Heart of Dixie Railroad Museum in Calera, Alabama. We took the "Pumpkin Patch Express" which was a train ride to this little area near a vinyard that had some fun things for little people to do like get their faces painted, a big inflatable thing for them to jump on, and a hayride. We got to pick a pumpkin too. Brenden was all about the trains of course.

I think the museum in Chattanooga is the best one we've been to, but Brenden enjoyed himself the most at this one because he's just become old enough to really appreciate these trips. Last night he begged me "Brenden go choo choo?"

"You want to go on the choo-choo again?"

"Yeah!"

"OK, we'll go again, soon."

"Oh, thank you, mama, thank you!" And he wrapped his arms around me and gave my legs a big hug. So yeah, we'll be going again.

What I'm Watching:

Life is back, hooray! The ratings haven't been great though. That sucks. I have to admit the cases-of-the-weak are pretty ho-hum, but the characters and their interactions are fun and involving. The scenery ain't bad, either.

Fringe I'm liking this X-Filesy show, and so are a lot of other people. Good!

Feasting on Waves is over, and that's too bad. The show wrapped up in the British Virgin Islands, with Alton Brown closing the show with a meandering but truthful monologue about the difference between good food and great food (He decided it was love - food lovingly made, especially for family, and lovingly eaten). Translation: if you want great food, stay away from the fancy-pants mango chutney restaurants and eat local.

Children of Men: Science Fiction dystopian story about a world where all of a sudden everyone is sterile. 18 years have passed and the world has gone to hell in a handbasket because no one can have babies. Really: the idea is there's no future so everybody lives with despair. I won't say more, I thought it was a fantastic movie and I think anyone who is a parent will be able to empathize with the main characters.

Knocked Up: Better than I thought it would be, although I'm getting tired of Seth Rogan.

Friday, September 26, 2008

Nada


zilch, originally uploaded by duncan.

Jon and I went to the bank, then went to FedEx and we just next day aired our last mortgage payment to Chase.

So the number you see in the photo is the amount of personal debt we have.

Yes, I'm gloating. And I'm also feeling the loss of the weight of debt. I have owed money one way or the other since I was dumbass enough to apply for a MasterCard in college.

In all honesty the business loans are not separate so there's still that obligation. But, if the business decided to close yesterday we have enough assets that even at fire sale prices we could call it even.

*Whew*.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Short Subjects


B Fun 2, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I hope everyone enjoyed 'DrinkTalk like a Pirate' last Friday. I did not because I'm sticking to my diet and beer does a number on my resolve.

Fall is my favorite time of year in Alabama. Winter is cold without the fun of snow, Spring is tempermental with the tornado sirens going off at least once a week, and Summers are sticky hot. Fall means cool mornings, tolerably warm days, and pleasant evenings. And lower power bills.

Brenden and I went to the nearby park Sunday morning. I noticed, as I have many times recently, that my nose is working at almost %100 capacity. After going so long without a sense of smell it is still a novelty to be able to smell the grass, trees, even the stagnant water in the creek and the mold and mildew on the park benches. Paradoxically it's easier for me to eat less now because I smell more. I had a tough time when I couldn't smell controlling my eating and I think it was because I had to eat a ton of food to get any flavor at all.

Another paradox: when I get that urge to snack I read cookbooks. For some reason it curbs my desire to eat. Not because I'm revolted; matter of fact I usually get to planning the week's dinners. But I don't snack.

Brenden is exhibiting better control of his bodily functions. We are going to bite the bullet and take the gate off of his door this evening and encourage him to go to the bathroom at night by himself. Jon is stressing that he will get into the kitchen and do something silly like chop onions or something so we'll put the gate on the kitchen at night. I figure if B tries to climb that the ensuing crash will be enough to wake us up.

Wednesday, September 17, 2008

County Fair


08, originally uploaded by Mike to the D.

We took Brenden to the Cullman County fair last night. He was in Valhalla, of course. The three of us did a few rides together but I was surprised at how many rides were aimed at little people his age. He went, all by himself, on a mini-rollercoaster called the Dragon Wagon, and several variations of a merry-go-round (including a real merry-go-round). He and I went on one of those that spins you around while spinning your seat around (a scrambler?) and he loved it! No puking incidents.

Overall his behavior was great with only a few incidents of innattentionitis. He of course had to be carried out crying once we ran out of money, but still it wasn't a complete meltdown and once we got to the car he resigned to going home.

He did talk me into stopping so he could have some chocolate milk, and I finally got to try a diet Sierra Mist. I love Sierra Mist and am on the hunt for a diet anything that I actually can stomach. The SM diet stuff is pretty tolerable!

When we put him to bed, he got out again and asked me to come back in his room ("Momma, come here please!")

I did and sat down on his bed and he climbed in my lap and hugged me. After a while (like I'm going to stop him from doing that) he pulled away and said "Truck Broken".

I had busted a tail light by misjudging backing up and hit the company van. Whoopsie.

I said, "Yes, but daddy fixed it today, remember?"

He poked a finger in my chest and said "Truck broken! Mama broken Truck!!"

I laughed, agreed that mama broken truck, and tucked him in. He's so much fun right now.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Adding the Oatmeal


Adding the oatmeal, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Short Bites

Dad and Ilu stopped by on Saturday on their way to Oklahoma - dad looks great; he's dieting and has lost a lot of weight he put on as a result of chemo. Brenden remembered them from our visit last May. I showed him a pic of him and Ilu making oatmeal cookies together and he pointed at her and said "Beebop!" (That's their nickname for B).

I'm going to close the pool in a couple of weeks. It's been a cooler summer than normal and it's just getting too chilly. Brenden doesn't want to swim as much as he used to.

Brenden's speech has improved in leaps and bounds in the past month. We went shopping last weekend and he was pointing out to me where he gets his hair cut, his preschool, and of course McDonald's and Burger King. The point is I understood what he was saying.

What I'm Watching:

The Sarah Connor Chronicles is back, hooray! Kinda weak start back from the awesome FBI dead pool cliffhanger from last season but so what.

Lost won't start back until next year, boo, but in the meantime I'm giving Fringe a try (J.J. Abrams created both shows). It's kind of X-Filesy. The pilot ranged from so-so to pretty interesting so I'll stick around for a while. Besides, the obligatory mad scientist character is a protagonist so that's something in its favor.

Feasting on Waves Alton Brown's new 4-part series on the Food Network: he's sailing from island to island in the Caribbean and investigating local cuisine. I am so impressed that he managed to wrangle a paid vacation in such a manner! Like I am, he's totally fascinated /stymied by the fact that so much of the fish served in caribbean dishes is dried, salted cod, usually imported from Canada.

I have 2 weeks to go for new episodes of Life, hooray! I have to wait until January for the last Battlestar Galactica eps. Boo!

Without a Paddle Totally sophomoric comedy starring (get this) Seth Greene, Dax Sheppard, and Mathew Lillard. About as stupid as you would think, but it was funny! And it got the taste of 28 Weeks Later out of my brain.

Monday, September 08, 2008

What I'm Sorry I Watched


Sanctuary, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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.

Friday, September 05, 2008

Quick Update


B bugging Kitty, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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


Dada and B getting wet, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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!


Wii!, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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


Buffalo, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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"


Boodle bacon, originally uploaded by dulcie.

"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


Meme fun, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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


Disco fish, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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


bigfishsmallfish, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

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

Tuesday, August 05, 2008


anouncers, originally uploaded by Valerie Reneé.

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

Concerning my bum


.Little Orange Starfish., originally uploaded by tassiesim.

It's A-OK. (whew)

Saturday, August 02, 2008

In case of zombies...


In case of zombies..., originally uploaded by Drunken Monkey.

I scored Z+, of course!

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!