Thank you, Ron Moore (I promise no spoilers)

Galactica Cast 2, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

I just watched the end of Battlestar Galactica and yeah, I'm crying me a river. A big Ol' Mississippi River for people who never even existed. To quote Ron Moore when he and his team were trying to end the frakking show:

I went into the writers’ room the next day and wrote on the big dry-erase board, “It’s the characters, stupid,” and the writers laughed and we all sat back and said, “Who gives a [expletive] about the plot? Let’s just talk about these characters.”

So thank you, Ron. Thank you for Mom (Roslin), Dad (Bill Adama), and the twins (Apollo and Starbuck). Thank you for Saul and Ellen, and Baltar and Caprica, and Helo and Athena and Hera, and Chief and Boomer, and the 268's and the 145's and 3 and Dualla, Gaeta, Hoshii and Doc Cottle, and a frakload of other characters I've come to care about. Hell, thank you for Hot Dog, who I didn't know the character's real name is Brenden until I read the credits last week. That made me laugh.

I can't stop crying, Ron. Totally, extremely, awesomely, thank you from the bottom of my not so mechanical heart.

Some More Unrelated and Unimportant Things

IMG_2549, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

1) The Orlando Airport doesn't have a play area for children. How lame is that? The Manchester, New Hampshire and Tampa, Florida airports do! It's a great way to let the kidlets vent some energy (and find like-minded folks to play with). We had a four hour layover from the time the bus got to the airport to when our plane back home left. Keeping Brenden in check was insane.

2) No cruise ships in existence can possibly have better ship's horns than the Disney ships. Upon departure and 12 noon on sea days the Disney Magic (and Wonder) belt out the first 7 notes of "When You Wish Upon a Star".

3) Speaking of WYWUAS, I watched "Pinnochio" for the first time in forever. I had forgotten how terrifying a story it is, even the softened version that Disney produced! I also saw bits of "Finding Nemo" and "Fantasia" up on the deck 9 screen (see above).

I also had to sit through "Kung Fu Panda" just about every night on TV because that's currently Brenden's favorite movie.

Other Random Vacation Bits:

Magic and Dutchman, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

1. I enjoyed the cruise, and I would do a Disney cruise again. I'd love to cruise on their new ships which come out in 2011 and 2012. In 2010, however, I want to do the villa thing again on St. John. My small taste of Trunk bay left me wanting more.



2. The friendliness of the staff made it easier for me to overcome my shyness and dislike of crowds. They make it a point of learning your names and more importantly, your beverage of choice. Our dining room server knew to bring Jon an Amstel Light and me a Guinness Stout.



3. Disney thinks of everything! At least they try to. On Castaway Cay during the walk on the beach we discovered a group of pull wagons - available first-come, first-serve, and a freebie.



4. Brenden inherited a good dose of shy from me so that's why we only managed one set of photographs with a Disney character. There was NO WAY IN HECK he was going anywhere near Jack Sparrow.



5. About the beer: As long as it's in a bag that can go through the x-ray machine (and no ice), the security folks at Port Canaveral don't care despite the 'no alcohol' signs. Jon also bought 6 bottles of Cruzan Rum in St. Croix and was allowed to take it to our room. Cruzan pineapple rum and pink lemonade is actually quite tasty.

6. Your stateroom host / hostess tidies up your room twice a day, and at the evening service he / she leaves you chocolates (which B gobbled of course) and a cute little towel / blanket animal.



Our host was even nice enough to make up Beary Bear and Kitty Kat's bed. Those two spent so much time in the sack during the cruise I think it's safe to call them Life Partners.

The Rest of the Trip

Charlotte Amalie Harbor, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Wednesday was St. Thomas. Jon did a scuba excursion and brought back nifty photos including turtles. Brenden and I took a taxi to Red Hook (30 minute drive), took the Red Hook ferry to St. John (20 minute drive) then caught a taxi to Trunk Bay (20 minute drive) and spent 2 hours on one of the most beautiful beaches anywhere, then we went back the same way in reverse order. It was exhausting. I wanted to see St. John again, but the anxiety about making it back to the boat on time kept me from enjoying it as much as I should. We should have just found a beach in St. Thomas. Despite me going it alone Brenden was fairly easy to herd (for Brenden).



Wednesday night and Thursday were all ship days and kinda bumpy. It didn't bother us much which is a blessing. People more vulnerable to motion sickness most likely had problems. I can't remember what we did on Thursday but I remember during one of Brenden's stays at the Kids club Jon and I watched Bolt in 3-D. Now for me watching a 3D movie on a rocking boat was fun, but your mileage may vary. The movie, by the way, is enjoyable and should have done better at the box office.

Friday was Castaway Cay day, and the Cay in the Bahamas is a private island that Disney bought and Disney cruisers have for their exclusive use. In a nifty marketing move, Disney parked one of the sets for their Pirates of the Caribbean movies on a sandbar so the first thing you see when pulling up to the island is the Flying Dutchman.



We went to the beach, ate lunch, and then while most people were still on the island Brenden got almost exlusive use of the ship's pools. I walked around and took photos. We kind of overdid the photos - the digital age rules. We took over 300.



Saturday... I don't want to talk about Saturday. By that time I didn't want to leave the ship. Not because of the drinking or the food or the entertainment, but because it was great having someone else do the cleaning and cooking! Our stateroom host, a nice young man named Jojo, was fantastic and I wish I were rich enough to hire him away from Disney. I miss him. *Sniff!*

Hotel on the Cay

Hotel on the Cay, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

While we were in Christiansted this place intrigued me . I also remembered the name of the place we ate: Fort Christian Brewpub. The habanero hotwings and the honey wheat ale are nummy.

In the meantime I may have gout. My freakin big toe hurts like hell!

The rest of my trip report soon come.

Trip Report - St. Croix

Fredericksted Statue, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Tuesday we docked at Fredericksted in St. Croix, where Jon had reserved us a car so we went and got it and drove to Cane Bay for some sun, snorkel time, and sand. Afterwards we drove into Cristiansted and found a restaurant by the wharf and had some awesome Habanero chicken wings.



I'll say one thing for St. Croix - it has a 2-lane highway where you can actually reach speeds over 55 mph, something that is almost physically impossible in the other USVI's. I liked St. Croix. The people were friendly and while it doesn't have the money that St. Thomas or St. John has, you can find nice places to visit and to stay.



We returned the jeep and were back on board by 4pm - the boat left dock promptly at 6 and sloooooooooowly made its way to St. Thomas. St. Thomas was just next door so we went at a snail's pace.



Tuesday Night was Pirates night - a Disney Cruise tradition that involves dressing up like pirates and drinking like one. Brenden got to wear his pirate costume from Halloween and he was happy. He had taken a nap so we actually made it to dinner that night. He also managed to stay up for the fireworks. Before dinner we discovered a deejay playing kids music in one of the lounges and all the little folks had their boogie shoes on. Brenden didn't really dance, but he ran around like a maniac. If there's one thing that Disney is good for, it's finding places and situations for little kids to run around like maniacs.

Trip Report

Loading the Magic, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

So we flew down to Orlando on the 27th, Friday Evening, while there were thunderstorms in the area. The Southwest flight had plenty of turbulence. Bleah. But we weren't late, and we had no problem getting our luggage and a trip to the hotel (a Holiday Inn Express).

On Saturday we caught the shuttle back to the airport and did a number of things to get on another bus to the port (Canaveral). Jon had bought some beer at a convenient convenience store and was stressing as we went through security at the port terminal but they let it through without so much as blinking.

We were let on board around noon but the staterooms wouldn't be ready until 1:30. I knew about this ahead of time and had thought to bring our swimsuits in our carry-ons. So armed with beer and swimwear we splished around in the pools for a while. Brenden, I might add, spent the majority of his time in the pools.



So we eventually made it to our stateroom, did the obligatory emergency drill, more swimming, etc and eventually ate room service because our dinner seating was at 8:30 pm and there was no way in heck we were going to make that (a common problem during the trip).

Sunday and Monday were sea days and are a blur. The highlight was a visit to the spa after we dropped B off at the Oceaneer Club (for 3-4 year olds and Brenden seemed to enjoy it). I had reserved the 'Rasul' room which basically is a steamroom / spa area where a couple can enjoy some alone time (nudge nudge, wink wink) (I know! On a Disney Ship!). I also recall swimming, drinking (a LOT - the case and a half Jon brought aboard disappeared a day and a half in), food, and not much else.

Frak you, Ron Moore!

No, this isn't a spoiler, it's a spleen venting. 3 hours away from the end of Battlestar Galactica, and Moore gave me exactly what I wanted IN THE WORST POSSIBLE WAY!

I envision 3 solid hours of crying in my future.

Back From the Cruise

IMG_2787, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We returned yesterday evening from our 7-Day cruise aboard the Disney Magic. I'll blog more later but I'll say this: Disney does it right -down to little details up to the design of the ships. The Magic wasn't the biggest cruise ship in port, but it was the prettiest. The Carnival ship parked next to it looked like a garbage scow compared to the sleek, old-time look of the Disney ship.

My pride and joy

IMG_5371, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Just wanted to share.

What Boykins do Best

What Boykins do Best II, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Finally! Anyways: not much is happening so not much reason to update. One nice thing: we had a reputable concrete contractor come out and look at the pool. His price estimates were eminently reasonable plus he showed me samples and we are going to be able to get the pool & patio looking nice. Right now it looks like an abandoned section of an industial park.

What I'm Watching / Playing

I finished Fallout 3 and it's very good except I didn't much like the ending. At least there was a Giant Freakin Robot though. An expansion is due out in April but now what do I play?

Battlestar Galactica: Again no spoilers, but okay maybe a teeny one. After the disappointment of Earth, Gaeta found a way of bringing out the very best in mom, dad, and the twins. Being BSG it was of course the worst possible way.

Life: Is back! Hooray! Charlie is getting ready to slip to the darker side of things again - he shot the FBI guy who shot him. But then they had a nice chat so maybe there's hope. The first episode back came dangerously close to spouting some skydiving nonsense but fortunately it was kept to a minimum.

Lost: Yes, with each episode there are more questions, but answers are starting to show up too. Also: YAY JIN!

24: I spend every episode worrying that Tony is going to die (again). I hope they give him a better send-off than the first time he died.

Fringe: Between this, Lost, and BSG, I'm having an acute case of overloaded answeritis. I guess I shouldn't complain.

Cloverfield: I had not seen this re-invention of Giant Monster movies yet. It was good! People had complaints about the hand-held camera aspect but I thought it worked well and I never got seasick. I also heard people saying they didn't like the self-absorbed, yuppy characters. I liked them. They were still in harm's way because one of them couldn't leave without the woman he loved and the rest were friends who didn't want to leave without them. What's shallow about that?

Also, no children showed up anywhere at any time in this movie. When it comes to horror, all movies should ignore that children exist!

Doomsday A combination of The Road Warrior, 28 Days Later, and Resident Evil and it sucked. It had plenty of cheese, but there was a nasty attitude about it that left a scummy feeling in my mouth. Peh! Hey Sean Pertwee dies again, but that's just normal.

Mustang

Mustang, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Is this thing working?

I'm still here. Flickr is being flakey so my predominant means of posting has been disabled.

*This* is where we were

IMG_2402, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's a really good idea of what a real snow storm does. I enjoyed it so much, and enjoyed not getting frostbite. I may be talked into trying skiing when Brenden is old enough!

What I'm Watching:

I'm being inundated with television! Whee! Besides 24 and American Idol, I'm watching:

Battlestar Galactica: No spoilers, I promise, but AUGH!

Lost: Yay, it's back! The remaining losties on the island are unstuck in time. Nice! Poor Hurley. Accused of murder and having visions of Michelle Rodriguez. At least his mom loves him. And believes him!

Fringe: Haven't finished this week's ep, but it's nice to see Olivia show some emotion.

Lie to Me: I haven't had a chance to watch this, either. I almost hope it's not good, despite my Tim Roth love. Why? Because Lost is on at 8pm on Wednesdays and so is Life (when it comes back in February), and this show. My damn TiVo only has 2 cards, dammit.


What I'm Reading::

Despite the plethora of books I left every one of them at home, dammit. Fortunately my brother has similar reading tastes to mine so I was able to finally read Watchmen, the acclaimed comic book graphic novel. I can see why it's held in such high regard as it has a compelling story with complex characters. I didn't much like the women in the story, but to be fair, every one of the main characters are messed up.

I'm looking forward to the movie - Zack Snyder directed it and he did 300 and the remake of Dawn of the Dead. Alan Moore, who wrote the book, refuses to have anything to do with the movie and considering that he wrote League of Extraordinairy Gentlemen and V for Vendetta I can't rightly say I blame him. But still I geeked when I saw the trailer so I'll give it a go.

This is not where we were

Action!Brenden, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

The family flew to Manchester, New Hampshire last Friday to spend an extended weekend holiday. We stayed at Chez Boykin, my brother and his wife's lovely home in Andover, Massachusetts (photos soon come) and despite our raging monkey boy and our propensity to supply him with missile weapons (of the Nerf variety, but weapons nonetheless) we had a terrific visit.

We arrived Friday afternoon and yakked with my brother Ed and I cooked dinner. Jen was driving back from New York (yuck) and we drank some beer and relaxed an monkey boy got aquainted with Blue and Dascha, their Siberian Huskies. B got scared pretty bad at one point when he startled Blue by approaching him from behind. Blue barked at him very close to his ear so B cried some but after that Brenden learned not to sneak up on a Siberian Huskie. They got along pretty well after that. Brother Ed was highly entertained by Brenden trying to give Blue orders: "No, Doggie! Stay! Sit Down! Bad Doggie!!" Blue just stared at him looking quite perturbed that a little monkey was telling him what to do.

Dascha is timid and she avoided monkey boy at all costs. She's a sweet doggie though and was letting me skritch her by the end of the visit.

On Saturday we drove into Salem / Peabody / etc and made the rounds visiting Jon's relatives and friends. One of his uncle's lent us some snowgear for Brenden and boy did that come in handy! We also visited Robb and Erin, old friends of Jon's, who have twin sons who are six months younger than Brenden. B is big for his age and they are small for their age so he looked like Gigantor next to them. Nonetheless they played quite well together.

Sunday was SNOW DAY! I wanted snow and I got it! I can't tell you how many times over the last 6 or 7 years I have woken up and ran to a window because the weather guys have promised snow and the delivery FAILED big-time. Well I woke up, looked outside, and was startled to see thick fluffy snowflakes falling. I ran to look in the driveway and there was already 3-4 inches laying on top of our rental car.

It snowed snowed snowed snowed all day! We went for a walk with Jen and Ed, and I learned an important lesson about bitter cold and snow. If you dress right you won't freeze. (Duh). Jen graciously lent me her Marge Gunderson hat and I had bought some cheap but snuggly boots so I was fine. B looked like that kid in A Christmas Story and he was having all sorts of fun throwing himself into snowbanks and being pulled along on a sled.

The rest of the visit was fun, too. I wish it would snow here more because it really wears out little kids. Thanks so much to Ed and Jen (who had a respitory infection, not fun!) for yummy food and a place to stay!

Rambling Post

bpic4, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon and I both dodged a bullet known as "layoffs" at our workplaces (whew I might add), and we both renewed our committment to setting aside enough money in an emergency fund so that if we both lost our jobs we'd have enough to live off of for 6 months.

After that, we have several projects around the house - namely, put gutters up, sod the yard (and install a sprinkler system so our sod doesn't freakin die), and get the concrete around the pool repaired. Basically now that the house is %100 completely ours, we need to make it pretty.

We're also going to be taking the vacations that we didn't take last year, namely Puerto Rico and the Disney Cruise (which is also completely paid for except the drinkin'). We're going to visit Massachusetts soon - I find it completely funny that my brother Ed moved there, about 60 miles away from where my husband grew up.

We're also thinking about going to Disney World around June for an extended weekend to take advantage of the "get in free on your birthday" promotion for Brenden. He loved the hell out of Busch Gardens so maybe a couple of days in the House of Mouse might rock his world.

Since that cruise is coming up in March, both Jon and I are back on the diet hamster wheel so that we don't gross anyone out too bad when we run around in our bathing suits and stuff. In some ways this is probably pointless - most people don't look like fashion models anyway so our flabby white butts won't be out of place. But still I guess it's important to actually be able to fit in your bathing suit... I'm too cheap to buy a new pair of board shorts and I'm only about 5 pounds from fitting comfortable into my old ones.

It's nice to be able to blather about things like this considering the economy. I can't tell you how great it is to not feel much worry about our finances. Getting out of debt is like getting out of prison!

What I'm Watching

Quite a lot, apparently!

The Dark Knight: Good, not great. Yes, Heath Ledger was awesome. I think much of it can be laid at the hands of the writers for interpreting the villain as someone who likes to fark things up just for the fun of it. I still think Aaron Eckhart looks like the middle of a morph between Viggo Mortensen and Thomas Jane. *Nifty* makeup on Two-face!

Mongol Foreign film about the origins of Ghengis Khan. Good movie and John Wayne is nowhere to be seen. Oh, come on! You've seen The Conqueror, haven't you? The Howard Hughes film that was filmed near a nuclear testing site? The film where many participants died from cancer? Or maybe it was shame.

Prince Caspian: Second and probably last (boo!) installment of the Chronicles of Narnia. Good! Lotsa battles and dying soldiers so it's not *quite* a children's movie, but still an engrossing 2 1/2 hours of niftyness.

Stepbrothers: If you want to see a good movie with Will Ferrell and John C. Reilly see Talladega Nights. I spent the movie thinking about how I was going to kick my son out the minute he turns 18. If you are really curious about what the term "teabagging" is this movie will explain it to you, however.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets: I spent this movie wishing anyone but Nicholas Cage was in it. I just don't like him. I was glad to see Helen Mirren - but the two main women were harridans. And you know, I can't think of where the two women actually talk, except maybe to mention Cage's character. So Beschdel test: FAIL Also: total waste of Bruce Greenwood.

24: Yeah I'm watching. Glad to see Tony, Bill, and Chloe back as a renegade CTU because the government is filled with EEEEEEVIL people! EEEVIL!!! It took two episodes before Jack actually said "WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF TIME!!!" but only one to torture someone. Actually he just threatened and the guy, and seeing it was JACK BAUER doing the threats, he folded like a bad poker hand. It's a good thing the guy's wife wasn't there or Jack would have shot her. I have missed the Jack Bauer Jokes!

American Idol: This is the "Nobody Cares Anymore" season.

2008: The Year that Was ( really truly slow)

HI, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jan - Went back to work after taking December off but was still on pain meds.

Feb - Became engrossed in The Sarah Connor Chronicles.

Mar - Visited Nashville, and became obsessed with engrossed in Life.

Apr - Oklahoma visit! Also sold our plane to the business and paid off a chunk of our mortgage with the proceeds.

May - I sabotaged a visit from Nancy and family by dosing her up with Xyzal.

Jun - Boob surgery!

Jul - Colonoscopy! Plus Brenden's first trip to a movie theater.

Aug - Brenden got sick plus I ate my first buffalo burger.

Sep - We paid off the mortgage, definitely THE highlight of the year!

Oct - Took Brenden on a choo-choo ride.

Nov - Jon got to visit Chile on a business trip.

Dec - Christmas in Tampa! Any visit to ANY beach is heaven in my book.

Somewhere in there I was diagnosed with migraines and Brenden started potty training.

On a totally unrelated note: I am very sorry to read that it's Helly's turn in the barrel. Here's hoping you don't have too many doctor / hospital visits in your future before everything gets cleared up.

Odd bits & answering comments

flamingoes2, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Happy New Beer, everyone!

Nancy: I need to update my GoodReads stuff. Mostly I received science fiction, including Neal Stephenson's Diamond Age, Harry Turtledove's The Great War, and William Gibson's Spook Country. Also a book on Henry Morgan, the pirate. Dad also gave me an Iain McBain book, Matter, which is british science fiction. I'm reading that one right now.

Stuart: I didn't know anything about Marley and Me until I walked into the theater. I could see why dog lovers love that movie (and book). Critics slammed it for being to ordinairy - I think that's why moviegoers (including me) enjoyed it. Imagine liking a movie about ordinary people with typical problems! Including a dog from the 9th circle of heck.

January makes me squee: New Battlestar Galactica, Lost, Fringe, and 24. Yeah, I'm still watching 24. I watched the TV movie that's basically the opener for the new season this last Sunday and I still like watching Jack whup up on evil bad guys.

Oh! Stay away from the toxic sludge that is Space Chimps. You have been warned!

Loot

Little Guy walking, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Besides his two choo-choos, Brenden got a nifty Rube Goldberg-esque HotWheels setup, a Thomas the Tank Engine computer game, Lincoln Logs, a basketball, and a bunch more toys. Jon got a truckload of accessories for his iTouch.

I got a new Weber gas grill, and it totally rocks. I used a similar model at my dad's house in Oklahoma and fell in love with it. Dad and Ilu raided my book wishlist at Amazon and I am set up with reading material for a few months. They also set up the house rental in Puerto Rico in July, woo-hoo! I'm looking forward to that vacation so much.

Oh yeah! I got Fallout 3 which was done by the same company that did Oblivion, which I have played even more than BioShock this year.

Brenden's Pictures

bpic47, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Here's my favorite photo that Brenden took. We are in Busch Gardens here (see the rollercoaster to the left?).

Christmas Vacation Recap

usatbeach, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

We flew to Tampa last Monday (the 22nd) to spend Christmas with my dad and his wife, Ileana. Jon decided to take the King Air so it took about 2 and 1/2 hours. We had a good time, especially of course Brenden, who divided his time between playing on the Nick Jr. site on the web and frolicking about in grandpa's spa. And then of course on Christmas day he had tons of toys to play with (including his two choo-choos, which he loves, of course).

On Christmas eve we spent the day at Busch Gardens. They have a train that goes around the park so we had to ride that. Brenden and I went on a log flume ride while Jon did one of the many rollercoasters. Brenden cried after we got off not because it was scary but because he couldn't get back on immediately and do it again. By then his dad had finished his ride so they went back on the log ride.

We finally got over our aversion to letting Brenden use the camera and he was snap-happy on the trip. I was totally surprised, while poring over the photos, at how many of Brenden's pictures were really good! I deleted a bunch of photos of his thumb and out-of-focus extreme crotch shots.

We also went to the beach twice. The first time we weren't really going to stay long but Brenden was in Valhalla so we stripped him to his underoos and let him splash about for a little while before going to eat.

We were supposed to leave on Friday but the weather was really horrible up in Alabama. We saw a movie, Marley and Me, which surprised me in that it didn't suck, and then Jon decided to get the King Air home while Brenden and I would stay an extra day and fly commercial back on Sunday. I heart Southwest Airlines, by the way.

So that extra day, Saturday, Ilu took Brenden and I back to another beach and B and I frolicked in the freezing water (68 degrees!) and built sand castles with Ilu and took our time. We ate out again once Brenden had his fill of the ocean.

Back home I went to take a shower while Ilu watched B for me. Brenden had a severe moment of trauma: he let Beary Bear fall to the floor and the two puppies (dad has a new Shih-tzu and they were babysitting my brother Jonathan's dog) attacked. Brenden was hysterical but Ilu was swift and rescued the bear before it was torn apart. Beary Bear suffered no damage but he smells a little like doggy breath.

Speaking of Brother Jon's dog, I can't remember what breed it is, a Shiba something, but he referred to it as a Japanese bear hunting dog. I had a moment of wiseassness and asked: "Is that a Japanese BEAR hunting dog, or a JAPANESE bear-hunting dog?" I was ignored.

All in all it was a good vacation, except I have been sick for the entire month of December: 2 back-to-back sinus infections and now a cold. I whine too much. Some good news though - I had my first mammogram since my surgery and everything looks fine.

I want a choo choo

I want a choo choo, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

For a couple of weeks out of the year, Constitution Village in Huntsville becomes Santa's Village so we took Brenden to see Santa last night.

While waiting in line we coached him to say "I want a choo-choo please", a line he delivered almost flawlessly (forgot the please). Santa was very nice and gave him a candy cane and when B got off Santa's lap he was somewhat pissed that he didn't get his choo-choo right then and there.

I have good intel, Brenden, that Santa's bringing you at least two trains so have a little patience there bub.

Revelations

kyle, originally uploaded by HollyCullen.

Wow! I never knew I was Jew! Actually I'm a Jew who gives lip service to Islam but am secretly practicing Mormonism on the side.

This article also explains why my skin crawls every time I have to do something in Visual Basic, even if it's just VBScript.

Toy Story

2 seconds of quiet, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon took Brenden to the doc's yesterday. It turns out his ear infection from a month ago hasn't cleared up so he's on another round of antibiotics. After the doctor's visit Jon took B to Walgreen's to fill his prescriptions and B got a noisy toy while they were there.

After Jon dropped B off at the babysitters, he went to his dentist appointment - he is getting a crown and the affected tooth has been bothering him. The dentist gave him a prescription and Jon gave me the prescription when he got to work and asked me to drop it off.

After I got off work, I went to the same Wal-Green's and dropped off the prescription. Because is was going to be a short wait, I decided to go browsing around the store while it was being filled. I wander into the toy aisle and I spot this little brown teddy bear that looks familiar. I picked him up, and I could have sworn it was Brenden's favorite. I inspected his back, and sure enough I saw the grey thread I had stitched him up with when he busted a seam.

Here's the interesting part: I felt really, really, bad for the bear! He was just sitting there on a shelf, looking forlorn because his kid Brenden had dropped him in his excitement on picking out a new toy.

I tucked Beary Bear (named after a bear Spongebob won from one of those toy crane slot machines ) under my arm, found a copy of a Stephen King book I haven't read yet (Duma Key), and got the prescription and left, ready to fight with any store employee who insisted I pay for Beary Bear (nobody did).

I brought him home and Brenden was delighted to see his bear, and he probably didn't even know he was missing. I promise you though come bed time he would have asked for him and Jon and I would have torn up the house looking for Beary Bear.

I have watched Toy Story one too many times.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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?!!?

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.

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.