yet more Radiohead video

This past Thursday Radiohead performed their last show of the U.S. tour. You all know that I had to miss the St. Louis show because it was less than a week after my surgery. The boys sort of made up for it by webcasting their last show and playing my absolute favorite song "Lucky."



The look of the video isn't spectacular, but that's because I believe it's what was being shot to be shown on the big screens behind them during the show. What it lacks in visuals, it more than makes up for in heart-achingly lovely music. Hope you like it.

Had the first non-lunch social gathering with the folks at work this weekend. Got to meet all the wives and I'm pleased to report that they all seemed nice and easy to talk to. I played with some of the kids. It's amazing how two 2 yr. olds and one 40 yr. old can get the same level of enjoyment out of blowing bubbles and chasing them in the yard. I played "socco" (?) with the two sales reps and the general manager. Think horseshoes with bean bags and a board with a hole in it. Me and general manager got creamed, but it was fun. The food was good, the weather fine, even though fire was involved (we made smores at the end of the evening) no one was injured...always a plus. BUT, Disney didn't bother to introduce me to her hubby while I was standing in a group of people she was introducing. Ermmm...okay. Last time I try to entertain your kid to get him to be less whiny.

So, how about that VP pick from Grandpa? When I saw that on Friday, my first thought was "this could be interesting." I just hope anyone who was on the fence as far as being Republican or Democrat and was going to vote for Hillary just to get a woman in the White House will not go leaping over to the McC camp. We don't just need a woman in the White House; we need the right woman in the White House.

Enjoy your Labor Day--I'll be at a cook out.

And to think, I have a college degree...

I'll get to the photo in a second. First, I'll recount a quick story.

The other day I decided I wanted a BLT. I'd gotten some garden fresh tomatoes and I thought what the hell. I knew I didn't have any bacon so I picked some up at the store.

When it came time to actually think about making the sandwich, I realized that I was out of bread. And lettuce. So, because I was too lazy to go to the store again I just fried up some bacon, sliced my tomato, laid the bacon over the slices, drizzled on some mayo and off I went. Tah-dah. It was actually just fine as it was.

Off to the right you are seeing my new favorite thing. BBC America is running a sci-fi series called Primeval that's about a rip in the time/space yada yada that is letting in prehistoric creatures. Said creatures cad about and the adorable Douglas Henshall has to go find 'em. It's only 3 episodes in and so far it's doing pretty well. Sometimes the SFX don't quite blend in with the live action stuff, but it's not that jarring. Check it out if you get the chance.

I've watched a little bit of the DNC. My problem with those conventions revolves around the whole pep rally gone awry feel they give off. Did anyone really think that Hil-dog or Willy were going to diss Obama? It's all about party unity at this point, which is fine. And, maybe the Clintons really have decided that they truly want to support Obama for being Obama and not just for being a Democrat. Don't get me wrong, I'm diggin' Obama so far. I just think in this day and age everything is so choreographed thanks in part to the media. It gets more and more difficult to feel really optimistic. Instead, I usually look at events with a cynical eye and wonder what they aren't telling me.

Work is okay. At the old job, frustration was born out of no communication and annoying fellow employees. New job-- the frustration is born out of working on a project then finding out another person already did it...or offering to help my fellow new person and she doesn't give me all the info so I end up repeating tasks she's already done, but hadn't noted down. I just don't enjoy wasting my time when I could be doing something productive. Hopefully we will get the kinks worked out soon.

And, hopefully I will be blogging more. Sorry I'm so evil.

Enjoy Labor Day!

almost forgot

Strangely felt the need to add something to my re-cap of The Clone Wars.

Jabba The Hut's uncle had the worst Southern accent. He came across like an old time lawyer. I kept expecting him to bust out into a white suit with suspenders. That or turn into a cartoon rooster.

Like a Replacements' song

"Unsatisfied." I think that was the theme of the day. It was another sit around and wait for something to do sort of day at work. I think I need to have a chat with the general manager when he gets back tomorrow about how exactly I'm going to be assigned jobs to do.

Rep #1 kept giving tasks to the other new girl. I think I need to designate a name for her. Perhaps Disney. Yeah. I was going to go for Snow White, but I think Disney works.

Anyway, Disney kept getting little tasks all day long. I hoping this due to the fact that her office is right across the hall from Rep #1 so it's easy for him to just pop over there. Rep #2 was playing catch up from his on the road day yesterday. I did spend the morning asking the questions I needed to ask on the project I'd started on Wed. I got finished right around lunch time after revising my work 3 times. Went to lunch feeling pretty good. Was gonna practice AHU's right after lunch except...

Disney went on an errand run till about 1:30. Okay. I got back from lunch. Checked my email, sent a few emails, check movie showtimes. She gets back and she has little projects to do. Okay. I go through some of my notes from the last few weeks. Then I go back online. Check to see if the NIN site has posted any pic's from last night's show in St. Louis that I missed.

Around 2:15 I decide, fuck it, I'm going to work on the AHU's by myself. The plans we are supposed to look at are flippin' huge and in the conference room so I'm walking back and forth trying to make sense of what I'm looking at. Nothing is making sense. Every time I check, both rep's are on the phone so I have no one to pose questions to at this time. Around 3:30, I get a couple of questions answered and I start to dive in. Finally around 4, Disney swings by my office and says we don't have time to set up in back so maybe we should just work on our own. Fine. She then proceeds to call back to my office every once in awhile to ask me a question.

I spent about 4 hours doing almost nothing. Definitely need to find out if I'm supposed to go trolling for work or are they supposed to come to me. Hope tomorrow is better.

Feeling unsatisfied was also part of the crux of the new Woody Allen film I went to see after work tonight. Vicky Cristina Barcelona stars Scarlett Johansson, Rebbeca Hall and Javier Bardem. Cristina and Vicky have been friends since college and go to Spain together to hang out for a couple of months. Rough I know. While there, they chance to see Juan at an art gallery. Cristina is immediately struck and it works out that they see him later while out to dinner. He walks up to their table and invites them to join him for a weekend of good food, great wine, beautiful vistas and oh, yeah, sex.

Vicky, the pragmatic one, is both amused and appalled by his offer. She is engaged and even if she wasn't, she tells him, this sort of offer from a complete stranger is not for her. Cristina, who has a more "romantic" view of love (pain is always involved), accepts the offer easily. And, even though she argued against going, the next thing you know the three are heading out for the weekend.

Thus begins our story. How does it end you may be asking? Well, I think it's inaccurate to say the movie really ends. We just sort of leave the characters to continue living their lives. Through this relatively brief inter-twining of their lives, the characters share experiences that you'd think would change their lives. But, that doesn't seem to happen. I walked out of the movie with the impression that whether you live your life looking for some revolutionary type of romance or you take the safe and steady route you've got an equal chance of being happy...or unhappy. Satisfied or not.

The movie is really beautiful. I'd like to visit Barcelona someday and the movie made it even more desirable. Rebbeca Hall, who plays Vicky, is very good. I'd seen and been impressed with her in Starter For 10. She displays the strongest wit in the film and you really like her character. It's a pleasure to watch her character deal with feelings and events that are foreign to her.

Javier Bardem is the perfect temptation for both women. He is charming and intelligent, but also a bit wounded (via his crazy ex-wife played by Penelope Cruz). He is that artistic boy from college (mostly) grown up. You never get the sense that he is using either woman. Rather, like Cristina, he may not really know what he wants.

Scarlett Johansson almost makes up for The Island and The Black Dahlia in her portrayal of Cristina. Cristina still seems to be clinging on to her romantic ideals of suffering for love and for art. She even admits that she has an artistic inclination without any talent. She's like the artistic girl from college who never picked a major and just sort of wanders from art form to art form. Still, I'll give Johansson credit for keeping Cristina from getting annoying. Her acting is very natural, and even though I felt like the script was poking fun at her view of life just a bit, she never went into comic relief mode.

The dialogue is fabulous. Everyone sounds smart without sounding too smart. As I mentioned before, Vicky is quite funny and dry and to some extent so is Juan. Cristina ends up in some amusing situations which also give the film some humor.

But, this isn't a true romantic comedy. I'm not even sure I would call it a romantic anything. It's a character study with some humor in it. If you're looking for something smart, full of attractive people and places, and that will generate an interesting discussion on the way home, you can't really go wrong with two girls and a city.

twiddleing my thumbs

Here's the rundown for today.

Out of the office: General Manager, Owner, Two Sales Reps, One Sales Assistant.

In the office: Financial goddess, me and the other new girl.

HOLY CRAP!! I worked on my one assignment for about an hour, but I can't go any further until I get someone who really knows something to look it over. Thankfully, it's not due until sometime tomorrow. Now I'm just trying to help the other new girl and I think I've checked my email about 4 times.

This afternoon will be an exciting hour of practicing the selection of Air Handling Units. Then, new chick and I will be entering variation claims. Thank goodness I have a chiropractor appointment this afternoon so I can leave at 4pm.

Possible Vicki Crista Barcelona tomorrow night. Perhaps I will even get the title right afterwards.

More Really Beautiful Video

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Okay, I'm being bad and putting something up with about a minute of lunch break left. I just watched this and loved it...another winner in the Radiohead/aniBoom contest. This song almost makes me cry everytime I hear it.

Sometimes it's best to never go home again.

Andrew Davies has been a very busy man. He recently wrote two of the latest BBC/PBS Jane Austen adaptations that were shown this past winter. And, he also had time to co-author an adapt of Brideshead Revisited. I'm thinking it's almost time to decree that all British authors will be adapted by Davies, unless they want to do the screenplay themselves...unless of course they're dead.

Anyway, I haven't seen the TV miniseries and I have not read the book so I won't be able to compare either to the movie I saw. I will say there were moments when you wished that you had just a bit more time to see things happen. The jumps aren't horrid. You just know that there is something more to be experienced.

None the less, Brideshead was a pleasure to watch. It is beautifully filmed and well acted. Unlike most films out this summer, there are no explosions, no evil villains (unless you count Emma Thompson as the overbearing mother), no superheroes. Instead, you have a film examining separation brought on by differences in class and religion. Or at least that's part of it. There's also the multi-faceted love story that spans years. There's humor, there's drinking and two naked guys standing behind a shrubbery trying to not get noticed.

Emma Thompson rules the few moments she is in the picture. She gives depth and understanding to a character that is sucking the life out of her children from birth. Matthew Goode (of the upcoming Watchmen) as Charles and Ben Whishaw (of the completely insane, but brilliant Perfume) as Sebastian work well off each other.

As a whole, the film feels subdued...or maybe I should say sublime instead. It doesn't move fast and the end isn't particularly happy, but if you are looking for something different to end the summer with, Brideshead Revisited is worth the effort.

The Clone Wars however...
I'll say this for it...the kids I went with loved it. Or at least the boys did. They were quoting lines and talking about the movie all the way home. As for me, eh...it was okay. The style of animation I thought was okay. The editing was solid--the action sequences very much follow the style of the live action films. Surprisingly, I enjoyed the score. Well, except for the weird moment of jazz that I had to suffer through in one bar scene. The story goes astray during the last half hour. It feels as though they had a good story to cover 60min. and then had to come up with something to get it to feature length. I will say this, the battle droids have now become comic relief and I will admit that I laughed out loud several times. Perhaps I should be embarrassed. Nah, I've got bigger guilty pleasures hanging over me. I'll mention "Since You've Been Gone" and leave it at that.

Bonus points to whomever did one of the trailers for the new Cohen Brothers movie, Burn After Reading. They used a really great Elbow song for the music. Woo-hoo!

Down with Web-inars!

I got to experience my first "web-inar" the other day and it almost made me catatonic. It lasted 3 hours and covered a claims entering program called Falcon. I got to skip an hour of the presentation because it dealt with HVAC warranties, which I won't have to really keep track of myself. Most of the time our webmaster, Jeremy, just read from the powerpoint presentation we were watching on the screen. The one highlight involved a branch not being able to see the screen Jeremy was using. Jeremy kept saying the phrase, "Can you see my Falcon now?" over and over again. Thankfully our phone was on mute so we could make terrible comments about "his Falcon."

In general movie news, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince has been pushed back from its Nov. release to July 17, 2009! Crap. Partially blame the entirely justified writer's strike. The summer of '09 is looking rather bleak and Warner Bros. decided to stick HP6 in a summer slot to try and create some excitement. Plus, HP did well in its last summer slot. Allegedly, this move will not change the release dates for the two HP7 movies, which will actually make the whole end of the series movie quickly I think. We just have to be a bit patient for now.

BUT, this move spells happy, happy, joy, joy for fans of Twilight, which will be moving into the now vacant HP6 slot. So instead of being surrounded by legions of twittering teen age girls in Dec., you can now enjoy tons of audible sighing on Nov. 21.

And yes, I will be there too.

This weekend though it'll be Brideshead Revisited, The Clone Wars (viewed with atleast 5 children, possibly 7...pray for me) and if I can work it in next week, I may have to look past my current "I hate Scarlett Johanssen (sp)" state of mind and go see Vicki Whatever Barcelona only because Javier Bardem (sp) looks freakin' amazing.

Really Purty

Watch more cool animation and creative cartoons at aniBoom

Radiohead had a competition on aniBoom to select an animated video for one of their songs off the new album. They ended up picking 4 winners instead of 1. Very cool. I like this video a lot.

things overheard at lunch

From the "quite possibly a group of carnies" table--"I've seen a lot of things. I've seen a midget at 400lbs."


From the booth behind me--the ring tone for the girl sitting behind me was "Carry On My Wayward Son" by Kansas if I remember correctly. I think I visibly shuddered.


From the guy ordering at the front counter--"How big is the burrito? Six inches? Smaller? Larger?" Makes one wonder what he needed the burrito for exactly...


From me as I consumed my last chip with salsa before heading out, the salsa dripping onto my lovely lavender shirt--"Figures."


Also--is it wrong of me to not be super impressed with Michael Phelps and the number of medals he's getting? I mean, he can compete multiple times during the games so of course he can possibly generate those sorts of numbers. Show me someone who can only have the chance of getting one medal per Olympics who gets those numbers and I'll be really awed.

No surprise

Here's the first negative I've encountered from the changing of jobs. Yesterday I helped a friend clean her sister's house. This effort involved about 1 1/2 hours of squatting and stretching on my part. Holy crap do my thighs hurt today!!

How's this for a downer...read today that some of the shots of the amazing fireworks display from the Opening Ceremonies were computer enhanced!! Seems they were concerned about the helicopter taking the shots being mucked about by all the fireworks. Bummer. Still really pretty though.

Adding things

As you can see, I've added an avatar (they didn't have much to choose from in the non-anorexic category so I've improvised here) and some music. If you'd prefer that the music didn't automatically start, let me know. I like the idea of tunes suddenly appearing, but I do realize that others might not...even if all you have to do is hit the pause button to stop listening. I will warn you that a couple of the songs have a stray F word here and there so perhaps you should keep the volume down at work. Rock out!

Ooooo....Ahhhhhh....

Well, you gotta give China credit. The opening ceremony was flippin' spectacular! I missed the first part, but what I saw was stunning. I'm not sure which I loved more, the above bit with the folks on wires running all around the globe or the bit with the martial artists forming perfect circles as they did their moves (this moment struck my former marching band member's heart). And let's not forget the fireworks! Holy schmoly. I don't think I've ever seen a more beautiful chunk of explosions. China definitely played to its strengths--fireworks, story telling through dance, music and art, and tons of athletic skill through the wire work and martial arts.

I was really impressed with their ability to have the spectacle encompass the whole Olympic Village. When NBC pulled out for the wide shots of the fireworks, you could see just how much area the fireworks covered, not to mention the light show on the ground (the pool facility looked amazing). The lighting of the torch was inventive and having that little kid who survived the earthquake doing his best to keep up while walking beside Yao Ming gave it a good "weepy" factor.

Can't wait to see what they do for the closer.