Look! A deer head!

A few weeks ago my little town had its Santa parade. Now, the week prior it had been almost balmy for this time of year. That of course meant it would be freakin' cold for the parade. Luckily, I live on the main drag so I can sit on my front porch bundled up in a blanket and watch the parade without much trouble.

I went on the Santa stroll and tossed my name into various drawings the local businesses were having. I actually won an exercise ball from my chiropractor's office. I haven't yet inflated it. That's the new year's goal...well, inflating it and actually using it.

The picture is of my sister and big deer head on a shopping cart. My sis is the manager of the bakery at the local grocery store. The store always has their departments decorate a cart and it gets pushed in the parade. For some reason, the bakery went with the idea of making the cart look like Rudolph. It seems someone in the store had offered to give them one of their deer heads off their wall. Tah dah! I yelled at my sis to come closer to me and quickly took the photo; hence the blur. Thankfully, my sister was able to scoot away before the next float caught up to her.

As you all know, I've been very bad with updates. All I can do is offer up that it has been a busy December. I co-hosted a sweet party the first weekend. The following weekend was my office party. For the second year in a row, the person sitting next to me won the flat screen tv. I think I'm going to sell tickets to get the seats next to me. After a few years, I could buy my own tv.

I've gone to a couple of flicks. I think I already talked about how great Fabulous Mr. Fox was. Or did I? It is super cool; a perfect vehicle for Wes Anderson's quirky talents. I saw Avatar and was disappointed. The effects are cool, but it's way too long. You could have easily taken out an hour of stuff. You see every plot point long before it happens and some bits seem like ideas that were later used in Aliens. And, the final big battle made me laugh. Not a good thing. The big highlight was seeing a 3D trailer for Tim Burton's Alice In Wonderland. Oooohhhh, I can't wait for that one. Hopefully next week will be Precious, Up in the Air, and Sherlock Holmes.

I am also going to serve up the usual Best Of Lists. Don't know yet if I will try and tackle a Best o' the Decade or not.

MERRY CHRISTMAS LOVELY FOLK!!

Disco Tree

Here's the new, retro Christmas tree my aunt got for me at an estate sale this past summer. It's not very big, but I don't have a lot of room so that's okay. I believe you aren't supposed to put lights on it, so I have them coiled under the tree and hanging nearby. It's a bit dis-organized, but I don't care. I like it. I had to squish up the living room portion of my DVD collection that has spilled from the two large sets of shelves that are in the hallway in order to make space for the presents. Now all I need to do is buy a couple more gifts and take care of the Christmas cards and I am done!

The small, colored ball ornaments are some I got on clearance a couple of years ago. The larger ones are some that hung on trees from when my Mom was a kid. Pretty cool.

No, I'm not dead.

It's been a long couple or so weeks at work. I have finally caught up with the projects that belonged to the assistant who was gone for almost a week and a half because of her babysitter issues. She hasn't said word one to me about them by the way. I am in the middle of selecting VAV boxes for a hospital we got. I'm on 110 of 203. It takes me about 2 hours to do 50 of them.

In the midst of all that, Disney was upset that myself, the front office lady and a woman from the service department went to lunch one day without asking her. Now, she leaves half an hour early everyday so asking her to go to lunch would mean she would have to make up the time somewhere. I just always assume that she can't go because she has to work through half her lunch to leave at 4:30. Anyway, apparently we hurt her feelings. She wouldn't talk to the front office lady for almost two days. Finally Front Office had had enough so she called Disney on it. Disney told her she just wanted us to all get along and be friends...blah, blah, blah.

Thus, Hands Across The Office was born. Okay, only I called it that, but none the less all the office chicks went out to lunch that Friday. Most of the conversation was dominated by the four of them talking about their children. Whee. Disney thinks we should do this once a month. Ack. Can't wait.

Here's some super fast movie reviews:

Paranormal Activity: B+ It would have been a bit higher had there not been a problem during the screening of the film. Right at the first really big shock moment the "slide show" that normally comes up in between films started flashing on the screen. It broke all the tension that had been built up so the big finale wasn't quite as big as I think it would have been.

Where The Wild Things Are: A Everything about this is great. It's visually amazing, the acting is spot on (especially the young actor who plays Max) and I even enjoyed Karen O's music.

Men Who Stare At Goats: B+ I enjoyed this a bunch. Clooney is fabulous and it's always good when Ewan McGregor is around. Jeff Bridges and Kevin Spacey are great in showing two sides of loony. It's hard to make the transition from a non-fiction book to a fictional movie, but for the most part things work.

Today, it's Pirate Radio...or as it was called when it came out months ago in Britain, The Boat That Rocked. Looking forward to seeing Nick Frost (Shaun Of The Dead, Hot Fuzz) and Chris O'Dowd (The IT Crowd).

Now, off to the bank, the post office, Christmas shopping and a movie. Whew.

OH, almost forgot. I need more single friends. I got tickets for Illinois vs. Ohio State basketball and was very excited. I completely ignored the fact that the game is on Valentine's Day. My thinking was since Valentine's Day is on a Sunday then most people would go out Sat. night and their Sunday would be open. Apparently, this is not the case. Shows you how often I "celebrate" Valentine's Day. So, as of right now, I have one ticket looking for a ticket holder. Any takers?

Winner, winner, runner up chicken dinner

This evening I was at a trivia night/fundraiser that also had a costume contest as a part of the festivities. I ended up runner up in the women's division and got movie passes (sweet) as a prize.

I went as Annie from Misery, mostly because I would be coming straight from work and I needed something that would be easy to change into.

I believe it was my homemade sledge hammer (pictured) and fake Paul Sheldon romance novel that put me in the running.

Originally I was going to go as Mia from Pulp Fiction, but since I don't have Uma's long neck, the wig I'd bought made me look like Moe from the Three Stooges. Kathy Bates was much easier to pull off.

Kids are the new smoke break

I was telling my friend Laura the other day that I think I need to adopt a child so I can get out of work early...or show up late...or take the week off (not vacation though). It seems like my fellow sales assistants use their kids like smokers take advantage of smoke breaks. When I worked at the bookstore, the smokers would be taking 5-10 min. breaks every couple of hours and this wasn't an issue. Granted, it helped that several of the managers smoked and would be running outside every couple of hours as well. Now, instead of people constantly disappearing for a nicotine fix, we have baby related crap to deal with, pardon the pun.

Both sales assistants are breast feeding so they pump during the day. Now, I know that one of the assistants is using the same style of pump that my friend used. It is very discreet. She would shut her office door to get hooked up and then she'd open her door and continue working like nothing was happening. Disney doesn't see it this way. Both she and the other assistant shut their door while pumping. They pump at least two times a day and usually their doors are closed for at least 20 min. if not longer. No one has any idea what they are doing in there. My friend who works the front desk says it seems like they are on their phones the whole time.

They come in late after taking their kid to a doctor's appointment. Fine, I get it. You schedule the thing as early as you can and you are stuck till the doctor actually comes in to see you. BUT, you don't come in at 11 am and then take your hour lunch at noon. Seriously.

The best had to be this week. One assistant called and left a voice mail to our bosses that she wouldn't be in on Monday. Her babysitter's kids were all sick and feverish so the sitter didn't want the other kids coming in and getting infected. Fine. Understandable. Not so kosher was the fact that she didn't call back to let us know when she would be coming in. She didn't come in to pick up her computer to work from home (which is an option...we have laptops). No one knew what was going on until one of the sales guys called her with questions on a job (that was one of three that got handed off to me in her absence) and said "oh, when are you going to be back?"

Our main boss was out of town at business meetings Tues. and Wed. According to the front desk gal, he was upset to hear the assistant hadn't been back in and hadn't checked in. She finally shows up on Friday. Doesn't say anything to me about the files that were missing off of her desk that got passed off to me...actually forwards a voice mail to me to take care of on a job that she was responsible for (and that I had actually gotten called about and took care of on Wed. thank you very much) and, best we can tell, doesn't get in trouble at all for not calling in, etc.

I think they both must possess some sort of voodoo that keeps the guys in our office wrapped around their fingers. They both leave early every day, don't always work through their lunches to make up for leaving early, and then pull crap like this with no consequences.

Oh, did I mention she had a job bidding this week that she didn't check in on. The rep just grabbed the proposal off her desk without looking at it and sent it out to the contractors. The next day he gets a call. Our bid is $11,000 lower than everyone else's, which usually means there is a mistake. Apparently there were several things missed. The rep had to quickly revise the bid and fax it back out.

Sigh.

Anyone want a tractor?

Here are just a few members of the local teenage community. If you click on the pic, you can better appreciate just how far down on the ass the pants are on the kid on the right. I'm not sure why he bothered putting on his pants. He almost pulled them off while he was digging in a back pocket for his cigs.




My landlord put one of his tractors in the front yard with a for sale sign. So far no takers. If you'd like to make an offer, let me know.

As you can tell, I continue to suck with my updating. If only I felt less guilt at the idea of updating at work, maybe things would be different. I seem to have no issue watching video clips from Pulp Fiction however. I am going as Uma Thurman's character for Halloween.

Now, I know, I look NOTHING like Uma. But, I need an easy costume for a party that is taking place after work. The current debate revolves around whether or not I am going to bloody my face and shirt. I am going as post over dose Mia. I have a fake needle that will be sticking out of my chest. To really be accurate, I need to have a bloody nose, blood on my shirt, and an orange dot on the skin just above a black bra. Now, I am going to a party where we are playing a trivia game and my friend's parents have already snagged me for their team. The girls don't come out much, let alone in front of parental units. The orange dot and black bra thing won't be happening, but somehow I think I need the blood. Any thoughts?

Returning to work after a week off was a little weird. The night before I had a dream about selecting air conditioning. The big drama moment of the week revolved around the purchasing of some new office chairs. When I first got hired, I was told I could order a chair. The one I had been using was the spare chair that sort of made it's way around the office till people picked out their own. Disney was also told she could order a chair. She opted not to because she really liked the chair that came with her office. She claimed it was comfy and the person who it used to belong to had gotten it not that long ago.

Our office manager's chair has enough rips in it that the stuffing is starting to fall out. She and one of the new hires ordered new chairs and they came in on Tues. They were pretty decent chairs...leather with high backs. As soon as she realized someone had something nicer than what she had, Disney went to our direct boss and claimed that she just kept forgetting to order a chair. She knew it had been over a year, but her chair wasn't comfortable and she needed more back support. Blah, blah, blah...can I get a new chair.

Of course he said yes, so she had a new chair as of Thurs. or Friday. I am convinced she got the most expensive one. She went around testing everyone's chairs; except mine, I'm sure it was too low brow for her. Our accountant has a super nice chair. She asked our supply purchaser if she could have one like his and the purchaser told her that if she wanted to fork over $1,000 she'd be happy to get it for her. The purchaser was probably joking, but you get the idea of the cost of the chair. At any rate, she found something she liked. It is leather with a high back. I think it would be call an "executive" chair. It is much more stylized than the other office chairs and I'm sure it cost a pretty penny. I sat in it when she'd left for the day and it was uncomfortable. It didn't seem to have very good lumbar support, in my opinion.

I guess I shouldn't expect anything to be different just because I was gone for 5 days.

Vacation Time

I'm on vacation this week so I am going to try and make up for my less than frequent blogging. I seem to always plan on writing something and then it all goes poo side up. While straightening the living room, I found several pieces of paper on which I'd written possible blog topics. I think I will space them out rather than putting in one big long mother. So, here we go...

I believe someone has discovered that I don't have a life because I got yet another phone survey call. The last one proved to be highly amusing (questions about whether or not I liked France remember) so I figured I'd give this one a shot.

This time around I wasn't speaking to an actual person. I wasn't speaking at all. It was an automated call and I had to hit a number to convey my response. The bulk of the call was about the economy. You know the deal; did I think we were in a recession; did I think our economic woes would last another 6 months, a year, longer; did I think investing at this time was a good idea...blah, blah, blah.

Then the call moved on to the topic of the Olympics and our attempt to get them to come to Chicago. Did I think this was a good idea? Did I think it would help the economy? Blah, blah, blah. (Side note: we should have did something like what Jack Black did when he wanted Led Zep's permission to use a song for School of Rock. A stadium full of people singing "Sweet Home Chicago" might have worked.)

The final topic came out of freakin' nowhere and really gave me an idea of who was sponsoring this phone survey.

They wanted to know if I thought American Muslims should be responsible for speaking out against terrorism. Ex-squeeze me? There were about 4 more "American Muslim" questions that seemed very right wing just this side of racist in orientation. Very, very bizarre. I was given a website to check out to see who would be getting the results of the survey, but I'm almost afraid to do it out of fear of accidentally signing up for a Glenn Beck newsletter.

Speaking of Sir Dickweed...in case you ever questioned just how big a jerk this guy is check out this little nugget. Be sure to read all the way down to the end of the article.

Speaking of phones, has anyone else seen Tyler Hansbrough help find the puppy dog in an AT & T commercial?

And speaking of commercials, I saw one for the Smart Mop where the voice over actually suggests that in these trying economic times, one could mop up their spilled drink, wring the mop over the glass, and consume the beverage. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!

Finally, a big woo-hoo to my friend Paul and the web radio site that he is involved with, Future Perfect Radio (see points of interest links on my blog's home page). They were listed in Wired magazine's Playlist (spot #2). The Playlist covers all sorts of cool things. They are in excellent company; Maru the cat was on the playlist a few months ago. Yay Paul!

Didn't get the memo

It seems someone handed out notification that everyone was supposed to act like a complete dickweed this weekend. First we had Michael Jordan's acceptance speech when he was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. Now, I've seen several of these when players I love have gone in (Larry Bird rocks!) and often they make me teary eyed. Jordan's left me disappointed.

How wank-ish is it to fly in your former high school teammate just to essentially say "I'm better than you are at basketball..." No shit, really? Now, if he wanted to make the point that disappointment can make a great motivator, he could have said something along the lines of "thanks to the coach picking you over me I learned that I had to improve my skills, improve myself and show that I deserved to be a starter...thanks for giving me the chance to pick myself up after being knocked back a few." How hard would it have been to take the high road and not the douche road?

Next, we had Kayne West at the MTV VMA's. Now, I don't watch this show live because it usually gets too annoying. I taped it so I could see Muse live (they were fabulous by the way...see below). While zipping through, I saw Kayne take the mike from Taylor Swift and rant about how Beyonce had the better video. Seriously? You can think of nothing better to do than hop up on stage, snag the mike from a sweet 17 yr. old kid and act like a jerk? Poor Taylor looked like a deer in headlights. If Beyonce really wanted to help, she should have hopped up on stage right then, slapped Kayne upside the head and gave the mike back to Taylor.

Lady Gaga, Pink and Muse gave the best performances of the evening. I'm not a fan of Lady G, but she did the one song I do like from her, Paparazzi. And, her performance was enjoyably strange and she sang really well. Pink also pulled a weird one out of her hat. I give her major points for being able to sing while paying tribute to Circus of the Stars. (Note that Beyonce only really sang for part of her song...most of the time she just danced. Pink was flipping all over the place and held her own vocally.)

Here's Muse's performance.

Muse - New Music - More Music Videos

Jane, you ignorant slut

I think that is the correct line. It's been a long time since I've seen the Dan and Jane era of Weekend Update. But, since I seem to only have time on Saturdays to write anything, a nod to SNL seemed appropriate.

So how is everyone doing? Nice to see our politicians can still excel at rational discourse. (I really hope you are catching the sarcasm.) I think I've seen similar tactics by high school students at sporting events (yeah, blatantly ignoring someone by texting while they speak, that'll show 'em). The following day at work I was waiting for one of the reps to get off the phone so I could ask a question. I was standing outside my big boss's door and heard him angrily re-hashing the whole insane theory that our President isn't an American citizen. Sigh. Now, I'm all for a good conspiracy theory, but that would be one seriously far reaching plot. Psychics would have to be involved and I doubt they would be as cute as James Roday.

Italian Fest last weekend was a good time. Nice weather, no bees; though, we did have some crazy gnat action. My friends and I took the kiddies out to a park after supper and came upon a scene that I think only happens in small towns. When we got there, someone had their radio cranked in their vehicle. The windows were open for the music to spill out. One guy was sort of using the swings (and smoking) while another guy and a girl were on the ground laying on top of each other.

Now doesn't that sound like fun. Hey, Dave! Me and Jane are going to go dry hump in the park...want to join us?

We eventually went over there way so we could use the merry go round. Our bold move with pre-teens in tow sent them away eventually. It seems there was another person in the vehicle so maybe swing guy had a fight with his girlfriend and that's why there weren't two sets of scraggly looking hormonal folk rolling about in the grass.

I think I may need to start taking something to improve my concentration. While heading home from Jinn's house (a drive I've done a thousand times), I went right past my exit and didn't even notice till I was almost a good 5 miles away. How early does dementia start to set in?

Finally, now that summer is over, here is my fave movie wrap up for the season:

1. Up
2. Hurt Locker and District 9
3. 500 days of Summer and Moon
4. Brothers Bloom
5. HP 6
6. Star Trek

Okay, I have a birthday party to get to. Don't forget, the new Muse cd, The Resistance, comes out on Tues. You can see them on the MTV video music awards on Sunday. I've been listening to their album via their website and so far I am digging it. They are over the top in the best way possible.

Later gators!

Tired

Here is my "drafting" table, or the tilt-y table as I sometimes call it. In the time since I took this picture, the second row of paperwork has extended to the full length of the table.


As you can see, we seem to favor ordering the crazy, neon colored post it notes.

Once again, it was a very busy week. I worked for two solid days on a bid for a hospital (the file for which is big enough to take up two large expandable file thingies). After putting in some overtime this week, I decided to use some of those earned hours and leave work early on Friday. When I was discussing this with one of the reps, he told me that the door blocking assistant owed him hours. I was glad to hear that he was aware of this situation. He's such a nice guy that I worry he does not always see people taking liberties with his niceness.

This weekend brings the Italian Fest here in town. It has blossomed into a nice sort of gathering. There are big, bouncy, blow up things for the kids to jump in. There is food (natch), a baseball game, a basketball tourney, a race, tomato chucking (sort of like pumpkin chucking) and more of the usual fest type activities. Last year, part of the entertainment featured a group doing songs from Mamma Mia. Nothing like some Swedish flair at an Italian festival. We are a melting pot.

Is anyone else as tired as I am of all the crazy anger that seems to be coming out of every media pore? I am fully aware that there are insane people on both sides of the political spectrum (and that they all seem to have television shows). But, really...people are pissed that the President wants to talk to their kids about the importance of staying in school? What the f*ck?

Having the President talk to our country's youth is nothing new. Somehow I doubt that the President giving a short speech to the kids is going to "indoctrinate" them in any way. I don't have kids, but I have friends with kids, and seeing how much their own children do and don't listen to them ( and this is after years of being in the same household), I question that the message of staying in school will get through to them, let alone any secret agenda the right seems to think Obama has up his sleeve.

So, instead of teaching their child to at least be respectful to the office of the President, and perhaps using the opportunity to discuss the many sides to what the President says, they are going to be pissy and keep their kids at home. Again I say, really? The broadcast of the President's speech for some of the kids will probably have the same lure as a personal hygine film from health class. I'd wager several of the kids will be doodling on their notebooks, texting each other, staring out the window, etc. Pretty much behaving like they normally do when an adult is talking to them. Having said that, I'm sure for some kids this is going to be a cool moment; the President is talking to them. They don't have to share his views, but to actually be spoken to in a rational manner would be exciting.

I won't even start on all the mis-information being tossed about in regards to the health care debate...if you can even call it a debate. It all makes me tired.

I think this song is sort of fitting, though maybe not the video...try and ignore the half naked chick, unless that works for you of course.

I should have taken a picture

I considered taking my camera to work to capture the state of my desk. Well, the state of my desk and my drafting table. Seeing those photos would have explained why I haven't blogged in a week.

I've been flippin' busy! How busy you may ask? Let's just say I know what time the AC in the office switches to "unoccupied" mode (aka doesn't keep the air as cooled since, in theory, there are no people in the building). That magical time would be 7:30pm.

You heard me. I worked till 7:30 the other night. Why, oh why, you say. Well, it would be because my rep was out of the office all day so I was flooded with phone calls and couldn't get to much of my real work...which included a bid for work at a hospital and a bid for work at an Armory. Both jobs bid on the same day. Oh, and I had stuff for the other rep because he was out of the office too and his main sales assistant wasn't coming in till almost 11am so I was getting some of his calls too.

It was a long, long, long freakin' week.

Speaking of work, I have a "None shall pass" update. Our receiving guy was dropping off something by the front offices and he passes by the open door of this particular assistant. He notices the table blocking the door and says, "I think that is a fire hazard. What if Sue couldn't get out the front door, she'd have to go through that door to get to the closest exit?"

Sales Ass. answers something along the lines of, "Are you sure? I don't think that's quite right."

"Why is the table blocking the door anyway?"

"I needed to move it so I could reach my dry erase board." (LIAR!)

(Editor's note: the board does hang on the wall the table used to be in front of, but if you slid the table down a little, you can reach the board...or you could use the spare chair to reach better)

"Besides," she adds, "someone put a little table in front of the other side of the door."

HER PANTS ARE ON FIRE! (too bad we can't get to the emergency exit) She was the one who put the little table in front of the door and added the sign.

In other news, I went and saw Inglorious Basterds and I was disappointed. I think Tarantino has fallen too in love with his dialogue because people would not stop talking in this movie! The ideas are cool, the European actors are great (esp. the main Nazi guy), and if it would have been trimmed down to about 2 hours, I think I would have really enjoyed it. Instead, I was checking my watch. The opening sequence had the tension sucked out of it because the two characters just kept talking and talking and talking. I wanted to yell out "the Jewish farming family is hiding under the floor boards...look down already!"

Most of the moments involving the American actors sucked. I thought Brad Pitt was doing a really bad George Bush impersonation. I have no idea why anyone thinks Eli Roth can act (not saying I can act either, but I know Tarantino has acting friends...he coule have used one of them instead of one of his directing buddies). Most of the rest of the "basterds" didn't even have lines. I kept looking at B.J. Novak thinking, why is Ryan from The Office in this movie? Shouldn't he be off making copies or something?

Finally, in two weeks, the new Muse cd is coming out. Since I decided to pre-order it through their website, I get some groovy, free downloads. In fact, watching those downloads held back my blogging by about 30 min. One of the videos was of a live performance of one of my favorite songs, "Stockholm Syndrome." The clip below isn't the live performance I got, but it's a damn good clip of the same song anyway. It's loud and a bit "guitar masterbation-y" at the end, but I love it. Enjoy.

Quick bit

Last week, I sent an email to a contractor to let him know when he could expect his equipment to arrive. I told him the ESD was 8/28 with a delivery window of 8/31-9/3.

He called me a few hours later after he read the email. As soon as he started talking, I could tell he was one of the older contractor guys. This was how the conversation went.

"How can I help you?"

"I just read your email. I don't know anything about this twitter stuff...what does E-S-D mean?"

(Pause as I try not to chuckle) "It stands for estimated ship date."

"Oh. All right."

I would have sworn ESD was used long before "this twitter stuff." Maybe I was wrong.

Best. Movie. Of. The. Summer.

I have just seen the best frakkin' movie of the summer! (Now, I do realize that Inglorious Bastards hasn't come out yet, but sometimes you just don't know with Tarantino)

District 9 was amazing. Not only sporting a first time director in Neill Blomkamp, but a first time actor in the lead role, Sharlto Copley, District 9 is a rare creature, a science fiction movie that has an original vision, a deep and emotional story line, subtext to get you talking and a sweet, bad ass action sequence.

I don't want to give too much away because that is part of the ride that is the movie. You can get the gist of the film from the trailer--aliens come to Earth, get stranded, are marginalized and kept in what becomes a slum, District 9. We come in 28 years after their arrival when they are about to be relocated.

The film comes from a short that the director did. He co-wrote the script and the lead character was developed with the help of a fellow director and buddy, Sharlto Copley, who ended up being offered the lead at the suggestion of the director (and the approval of producer Peter Jackson). After watching his performance, you would never guess that he had never acted professionally before. You also wouldn't guess this is the first feature done by the director. He has a very clear vision and thanks to great acting and some seriously fabulous SFX by WETA, he has been able to bring this vision to us to enjoy.

I'm already checking my schedule to figure out when I can go see this again.

None shall pass!

You too can be passive aggressive through interior design.



The view from the other side.



At least the note says "please."

Where I work the building is separated into two parts. One side is the sales side and the other is the accounting side. There are two ways to get from one side to the other. You can use the hall way near my office or you can use the door that connects the two sides. The problem is the door is in a sales assistant's office.

I can appreciate that it could get a little annoying to have people walking through your office, but it doesn't happen that often. Now, I suppose it would cause concern if you were afraid people would see you on your cell phone, or the internet, or paying your bills, or doing anything but your job...'course this is just speculation on my part.

My friend, who left and recommended me for the job I have, is back working two days a week while Disney is out on maternity leave. She was used to the office's prior occupant not having a problem with her using that door. So, she went ahead and used it several times in one day.

The next morning (I should note here that this is a morning my friend would not be in to work) the offended assistant took the time to move a long, folding table away from the side wall to now block the door. She also went to the other side, used a smaller table to block that door, and put up her note.

I will freely admit that I have written plenty of notes in my day, but it was usually after repeatedly speaking to people, whether they were booksellers or management. I will also admit that I am not above passive aggressive behavior, but I'm working on getting better.

Still, it seemed the perfect, high school-ish reaction by this person. And the bonus bit is, the person cutting through her office is her cousin! She couldn't even just ask her cousin to stop going through the door. Instead she has to use the table, etc. Sigh. It would be so much cooler if she would just ask us about our quest, our favorite color, and the velocity of a swallow.

Yes, I'm still here...

It has been pointed out that I currently suck as a blogger. I'll admit it; I've been very lax as of late. My excuse for this weekend was it was too flippin' hot in the computer room for me to attempt to type something funny or interesting or even correctly spelled for that matter.

I'm over at a friend's house right now feeding her cats and using her computer because of the guilt that Jackie has inflicted upon me.

So what's up, you may ask? Not a whole lot, I answer.

I can strongly recommend seeing The Hurt Locker. Kathyrn Bigelow (probably mis-spelled that) is one of the few female action directors out there who, thankfully, kicks ass. The Hurt Locker lets us spend about a fictional month with three members of a squad of soldiers in 2004 Iraq who are responsible for locating and taking care of any number of explosive devices.

The movie is very well done. While the idea of a bomb going off at any moment has an inherent level of suspense to it, Bigelow amps it up through camera angles, editing and often, just sitting with the characters as time keeps ticking away. Jeremy Renner plays Sgt. James, who is THE bomb guy. Renner walks a fine line as he is both full of swagger and compassion. I appreciated that the movie was pro in any direction. It's not over the top pro-military, but it isn't really pro-war either. It's a very specific story about a very interesting group of people. There is plenty to talk about afterwards, but for the most part, politics stays out of the story.

Renner and Bigelow's direction really made the movie for me, plus it's fun to see all the cameos in the film. I won't give any away because there are a couple of enjoyable "holy crap that's..." moments. Just go see the damn movie already.

Not much else going on. Boots and Buttons are gadding about and sometimes stop by as I'm typing to nudge me for some lovin'. Guess I should start petting them.

Movie review, baby name and possibly something else

I actually have seen HP6 twice as of this writing, but I knew I would spend most of my time during the first one figuring what got left out of the books. It always takes until the second viewing before I get a real sense of how I feel about the movie. I can safely say it's pretty damn cool. It is a weird sort of film though. We spend a lot of time with the gang as they make their way through the hell that is teen age romance. There are several funny moments that come about through all this hormonal turbulence. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, we get reminded that things are getting darker and more dire.

I gotta say that I loved Alan Rickman's performance, along with Tom Felton, who plays Draco Malfoy. Both actors have dealt with their characters being used more for comic relief in the films and now they get the big pay off for their patience. Felton has almost no dialogue in the movie so his performance completely relies on his ability to let us see his character's turmoil via visual cues. It's pretty impressive.

I only have two minor complaints. The first would be that I would have liked to have seen a bigger moment between Harry and Ginny. I will say that my opinion is highly biased by the book. I saw the movie with people who hadn't read the books and they really enjoyed the quiet-ness, if you will, of the moment in the movie. I'm probably just being picky.

The second would be I'm not entirely sold in the director's choice for how Harry reacts at the end of the movie when he confronts Snape. Again, I am biased by the book. And on my second viewing, it struck me that perhaps the director didn't want the reaction to be too similar to how Harry acts after he brings back Cedric's body at the end of Goblet of Fire. It also struck me that Snape smacked down Harry repeatedly, so Harry may not be able to react the way I want him to. Still, just being picky I'm sure. It's the wanna be director in me having a mini bitch fest.

On the work front, I have now entered the era I like to call The Second Maternity Leave Countdown. This translates into working exclusively for the other sales rep for about the next 2-3 months. I don't know how long Disney is going to take off, which means I also don't know when my next vacation is going to be. When I found out what Disney named her kid, I almost used a naughty word or two. In general, I can handle non-traditional names for kids. I have a couple of friends who have gone down the unique name road. But, I have what is probably an unreasonable dislike for the "cute-sy" use of the letter Y. Disney's name choice...Jayla Skye. WTF? Really? I'm baffled. I think I'm gonna Google Jayla and see what I get. Maybe she was hopped up on pain killers after the birth and she meant to say Kayla? Oops.

On a final note, there is almost nothing better than driving on a freshly re-vamped road in the midst of a sunny, 75 degree, blue sky day!

just wondering...

So, who thinks it's broken? I rammed the last third plus of my right foot into some furniture this morning and now my next to last toe is purple and a bit swollen and sore, my nail scraped and squished. I'm not feeling crazy pain so I'm thinking it's okay. Sure looks purty though don't it?

Ow.

just because

While doing some reading on the last NIN tour, I just now find out that my beloved Trent got engaged. And it wasn't to me. Poop.

A (Sadly) Not Fully Functional Death Star

A few weeks back I built a Death Star Pinata with my friend Cherrill. It was for her youngest son's birthday party. I believe this is the 4th one we've done. And while we get better each time, we still haven't quite hit D.S. nirvana.




We made a light saber for the kids to use to smash the pinata. I tried to get her son to pose with it, but (shocker) we were watching Empire Strikes Back and he was too engrossed with the t.v. to look at the camera.



In case you can't make it out, the buttons on the light saber read "on"/ "off"/"ouch." It's good to have options.



This is our book that shows what it is supposed to look like.



But, we don't play by the rules, so here is what ours looks like. If you click on the picture, I think you can enlarge it and see the word "fire" written in the center of the black circle along with a stick man storm trooper.

ROCK!

Death by Co-Worker, almost

Once again it's been a very busy week...weekend...more of the week. I have stories to tell about fireworks, a Death Star pinata, and expired driver's licenses. But, right now I have time for one story.

On Monday, I drove over to the Subway that is housed in hell, also known as Super Wal-Mart, to get lunch. The road I take back to work has a moderately tight turn and it's in an industrial area so any moron knows to take it at no more than about 35 because you never know when a semi might be turning onto the road just a bit in front of you.

I went around the curve and saw a semi, with it's right signal flashing, on the street next to our parking lot. I peaked in my rear view mirror and saw no one behind me and was saying a quick prayer that the semi driver would wait till I was past before he started to turn. He did wait for me and as soon as I got by that street, I hit my signal and slowed down. While waiting for traffic to go by so I could make my left hand turn, I looked in my mirror again and saw the semi making it's turn.

Next thing I know, out of flippin' no where, this pick up truck comes flying past me on the right hand side. They were in the grass shoulder and I swear they were doing at least 45 to 50, if not more. While uttering a few choice words, I notice the driver is a female with their brunette hair in a pony tail and wearing a blue t-shirt. Once the shock of the moment passes, it hits me. It was freakin' DISNEY driving the truck!!!!!!

Now, we in the office are somewhat familiar with her lead foot and crappy driving skills, but none of us had experienced it yet. Thankfully, she didn't hit my car or crash into anyone in front of me. I go inside and utter that I was 90% sure that she had virtually side swiped me.

She came back a few minutes later, McDonald's in hand, and I asked her if she had been the one almost clipping me earlier. She goes all drama queen and declares that it was the semi drivers fault. She claimed the semi "came out of no where" and because it was having to make a wide right hand turn, she had to swerve to avoid hitting it and when she got around the truck, she suddenly saw me and had to go on the grass to avoid hitting me.

I really wanted to correct her and her version of events, but it seemed pointless at the time. I wanted to shout, "NO NO NO!! Liar, liar! You suck!" Instead, I will bitch here and just keep my eyes peeled for the crazy, shitty driver. Argh.

Break in the in-action

Finally, a beautiful day! Why then am I inside writing on the computer? Because I haven't updated since we entered the second ring of hell and it was too flippin' hot in the computer room!

Thanks to the heat, I haven't been doing much beside sweating while not moving. Not much then to write about. But, I can recount going to the theater.

Well, children's theater, but theater just the same. My friend's oldest son was Gaston in a production of Beauty and The Beast (junior). He is a big ham so it was a perfect part for him. I'm happy to report that Noah is a good singer and he did an excellent job projecting both his singing and speaking parts.

There were a few other kids that you could tell were comfortable on stage. They were actually "acting," I just wish they had spoken louder. We were in the second row about 7 feet from the front of the stage and I still missed some lines. The kid who played the Beast seemed to come from the school of acting that says angry = yell your lines really quickly. But, I shouldn't be so judgmental. The kids looked like they were having fun. Even the youngest kids who played the flatware during "Be Our Guest" seemed to be having a good time. I'll save my smart mouth for the Broadway Series production that I'll be seeing in Feb.

Hopefully soon I'll be getting out to see some of the big summer flicks. Public Enemies is out this week and the countdown has begun for HP6!!!! Can't decide if I want to mess with Transformers 2 or not. Maybe I'll save it for a really hot day.

On a final note, my new favorite thing, Wired magazine, called out the Maru the cat videos as one of their favorite things! Thanks to galaxy carol for hooking me up to the best kitty in Japan. Seems he is now a national treasure, which is how it should be. There is also a great article about Facebook in this months issue, as well as an interview with the guy behind Prez O's plan to open up tons of government data and make it available to the public on-line.

End of the world, coming to theaters this Nov.

I found this link to the new international trailer for the upcoming disaster flick, 2012. I'm surprised that it is coming out in the winter, a time usually reserved for Oscar fare, but Nov. has also been the month for HP and Twilight, etc. so perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised.

Brought to you by the fine Independence Day folks, we get to see John Cusack (yeah!), his wife, Amanda Peet (yeah!) and their kids trying to survive the end o' the world. It looks like we will get plenty of the now standard destruction of major world landmarks (bye Vatican, see you later big Brazilian Jesus, au revoir some L.A. freeway). I'm always up for Cusack in hero mode.

Oooo...and extra groovy bonus, Danny Glover appears to be the President and Woody Harrleson is crazy. Sweet!

Someone I Know Has Talked to Martha Stewart on National TV!

I got word that my friend Jill, who is a goddess at Purina, was on the Martha Stewart show. Purina is partnering with Martha to sponsor a pet video section on the website. Or something like that. Anyway, Martha went to HQ in St. Louis and got a tour of the facility, etc. Jill talks to her about a new dog food that they have developed.

You can watch it here. Jill shows up about the 2 min. mark (looking quite lovely in blue I might add). Hang around till the 4 min. mark-ish and you can see her super cute beagle, Fiver (hope I'm spelling that right). One of my fave bits occurs around the 5 min. mark when the guy next to Jill starts to tell Martha about a surprise they have for her. Jill's eyes go a bit wide for a second; it's almost a WTF sort of moment. I wonder if Jill knew about the surprise.

Groovy stuff none the less.

When "one" sounds like "three."

Today I went into the big city to see a movie and have some lunch. When I can, I try to avoid chain places only because I can make my own damn hamburger and it won't cost me $10. But, I have a gift certificate I got from work for Applebee's so I figured I'd save my own cash and go there.

It was a little after one and the place wasn't very busy. The kid in charge of seating people walks over to where I am waiting. He looked like he was a twelve year old stoner. Or, at the least, had taken too much Ritalin this morning. He asks me how many, which you'd think would be obvious because I was the only one standing there at the moment. Still, I could be meeting people there I suppose. Anywho, I answer, "One."

He proceeds to grab 3 menus and three sets of silverware. I was almost going to say something, but I can just see a couple people have walked in the door behind me. Okay, he's multi-tasking and going ahead and grabbing stuff for the next table. Fine.

Nope. We go to the table he's selected and he starts setting down more than one menu. I get his attention and say, "umm...it's only one."

He looks at me, completely surprised and says "I thought you said three." Now, I can fake my way through some French, but I am in no way bilingual. That being said, off the top of my head, I am unaware of any language where "one" sounds like "three." Except maybe the language of "I don't want to be here today and I'm not really paying any attention to you because you aren't a hot 20 year old." Perhaps in that language the words are almost exactly alike.

Lunch was okay. I wouldn't have directly paid what I did for that salad. The service was okay and at least nothing got spilled on me.

Now, the movie. I went and saw The Hangover. The vote is still not quite in on it. There were some very funny parts and I really liked Ed Helms and Zach Galifianakis. I also thought the idea of us finding out what happened the same time that the guys do worked to the movie's advantage. I just didn't laugh through the whole movie the same way I did with 40 Year Old Virgin and Superbad. It's a funny, raunchy film--good for adults, but I don't know that I put it up there with my favorites. Speaking of adult films, it was almost refreshing to see trailers for R rated movies since the last few trailers I've seen have been for G Force and other kid's flicks. I'd almost forgotten what an adult trailer looked like. But, I have to admit I'm frightened to see Kyra Sedgewick and Michael C. Hall in a trailer for Gamer, which looks just awful.

I might try to get to Drag Me To Hell this week. It will be fitting since this week both sales engineers are on vacation and it's just us chicks and our boss at work. Sounds a bit like hell to me.

Ups and downs

Last week, during my vacation, I saw Up a total of three times. It was worth it all three times.

Normally, I don't do Disney. But, now that Pixar is part of the Disney con-glom, I patiently sit through the "when you wish upon a star" crap to get to the hopping lamp.

Up tells the story of Carl Fredrickson and his quest to fulfill the childhood dream of going to South America. Along for the ride is Russell, a Wilderness Explorer (friends to all of nature) who is trying to get his Assisting the Elderly badge.

Pixar amazes me in their ability to broach bold, emotional topics in a way that is entertaining and a bit subversive. I remember when I first saw The Incredibles. I was blow away by seeing the very real struggle of someone trying to get what they have paid for from the insurance company. Who the hell else puts that in a "kids" movie? It is no different with Up. I don't want to tell anyone too much about it, but I will say I was crying in the first 15 min. of the film. I actually cried during the same 3 parts all 3 times I've seen the movie.

The film itself looks beautiful. One of my favorite scenes is the deceptively simple shot of the house and all its colorful balloons set against a perfectly blue sky. The score is very good; I actually blame it for the two other times I cried. I would hear the refrain from an earlier piece and instantly went back to the same place emotionally. Micheal G. (I won't try and spell his name) who does the music for Lost created the score. The vocal talent is perfect, esp. Ed Asner as Carl. There is plenty of comedy in the shape of Dug the dog and Kevin the bird, particularly when they are interacting with the human characters.

Up is easily one of the best movies I've seen so far this year, not to mention the last couple of years. The short, Partly Cloudy, that runs before it is quite sweet and entertaining as well. GO NOW TO A THEATER NEAR YOU!

Okay, on to the down. My flippin' car is still at the dealership. It was supposed to be done Friday. Nope. I got a rental car. I called there at 3pm to make sure the car would be ready tonight. Yep, I was told. If there's a problem, we'll call you.

I didn't get a call so I drove the extra 10 min. to the dealership. I get there and look around the lot near the service entrance and I don't see my car. The doors to the service garage are still open so I go inside to try and find someone to help me. As I'm looking around I notice my car...up on the lift things...missing two tires. WTF!? The lone service guys comes up to me and I explain that I was here to pick up my finished car, but since I thought it was that one over there the whole "finished" thing seemed a bit premature.

Oh, he says. Didn't Ryan get a hold of you? Erm. No. There was no call to me at work before I left at 5pm. The only other number I gave him was my home phone and I told him not to call me there.

Which, of course, is exactly where he called me. After letting the service guy know I'd already told the rental car guy that I would be returning the car and being told that it was fine if I kept the rental, I got home and had four messages. Three where Ryan spoke to me and one that I could hear things in the back ground, but then whomever hangs up.

Now, if you had spoken to someone at 3pm, told them you would call them if the car wasn't ready and you had been given their work number, where they would be until 5pm, wouldn't you call the work number first? And, if, in your stupidity, you called the home number, left a message, claim to have sent a text to a land line, and no one responded, wouldn't you try the work number?

Dork boy left his cell phone number so I called him. His first words were, "I've been trying to get a hold of you." No, really? Who would have guessed? I asked, did you have my work number? Yes, he says I tried that around 5pm. I pointed out it was after 5pm because I left at 5pm and I didn't talk to him. He tells me he should have the car done by 9 or 9:30. Convenient since I will be 40 miles away at that point at work. I also have an appointment tomorrow night so I am hoping to get my car by 7:30 or so. I'm also hoping no one will steal it because the dealership closes at 7 pm, of course, and my keys will be hidden on the car so I can actually drive it home.

Have I mentioned I have to pay for gas on the rental? I filled it up tonight right before pulling into the dealership. Now I've already added about 10 more miles. It'll be 30 to work tomorrow, about 25 to go to my appointment and about 45 to go from the appointment to the car dealership so I'll be filling it up again tomorrow night.

What is the dealership doing for me after all this hassle? They are paying for the rental car, but they should since if they would have had the car done on Friday like they said they would, I wouldn't be needing a rental. The extra special thing they are doing for me is.....they are going to wash my car. Yep. That'll go bad pretty quickly since I park out in the open and I'm near a tree. You do the math. Don't think I'll be going back to these folks anytime soon. ARRGHHH!!!!

Travelling back in time and getting lost

I took off a few days this week to get some vacation time in between the breeders popping out their kids. As a part of that break, a friend and I drove over to my beloved Univ. of Illinois to bum around.

It was raining when we first got there, but since we were hitting a used bookstore before heading to the campus, I figured we'd end up okay. It was a little misty, but the Quad looked as lovely as I remember it.

In fact, the Quad was about the only thing that had not changed that much. While pointing out the various apartment buildings I had lived in, I realized that there was a hell of a lot less parking available. My usual hot spots were all now designated for people with stickers. All my tricks and special knowledge seemed to have vanished.

Also gone, a great bar where I saw a ton of bands play. The bulk of the campus town area looks completely different. As we walked, I kept saying "that used to be..." I was happy to see Zorba's, a Greek restaurant, was still there along with a bar that has the best grilled chicken sandwich ever. But, the two cool records stores are gone (replaced by a Panera break company and I think a sushi place). The Steak n Shake where the hookers hung out and where a couple members of The Smithereens snagged some fries from me is long gone.

I understand that change happens and a decent amount of the time, happens for a reason. Still, I felt a bit disappointed that the version of campus that was closest to my heart was no longer there. It made me feel old. Thankfully, bringing home a couple of Papa Del's deep dish frozen pizzas made much of the pain go away. Right now, the past is a close as my oven and that's pretty cool.

Coming your way in 2010...

Lego games are about the only ones in which I have a chance of kicking any ass so I am very excited to see HP 1-4 is coming out. Woo hoo, I'm a dork.

France and Splenda. Conspiracy or just good friends?

It's a little blurry, but I was zoom lensing like a mad person to get this picture of a bunny hanging out at my house. I spotted him as I was going to work. I had my camera in my bag so I was moving very slooooowwwwly to get it out, put the batteries in and take a picture without scaring my little friend away. Yay bunnies!

This afternoon I got a phone call. It was a phone survey that started like this:

What do you think of France? Do you approve, disapprove or have no opinion?

I actually laughed and told the lady on the other end of the phone that I wasn't expecting that sort of question. I said approved because France seems to constantly get bitch slapped and two of my favorite film directors are French.

I think we went through 5 or 6 questions on France. What did I think of their president? What words would I use to describe the France? She listed off about 10 words (and one sentence) that I was supposed to choose from. By the time she got done listing my options, I'd forgotten half of them. Once I'd given her my word choices, the next question sent us off in another direction completely.

"Which of the following non-alcoholic beverages do you drink?"

Now, I was very confused. I was asked about seemingly every kind of soda, diet soda, juice, diet juice, tea, diet tea, bottled water, really pricey bottled water and energy drinks you could imagine. I was asked about Splenda, Equal, etc. I answered "no" to many questions. The whole time I was trying to figure out what France had to do with these drinks. Are they trying to gain a strong hold on the beverage market? Are they hoping Coke or Pepsi will sponsor a theme park to rival Euro Disney? Are the French creating Splenda and are they adding ingredients that will cause Americans to crave escargot?

When everything had been answered and the lady thanked me for my time, I asked her what France had to do with my drink preferences. All she said was they do surveys on many topics. Apparently they like to go with completely unrelated topics. I still wonder if there isn't some sort of greater truth to be found, maybe a greater conspiracy. I think I'll check for phone taps just in case, 'cuz once you give France a thumbs up, you are a marked girl.

You will remain awake for this one!

The latest adapt of a Dan Brown novel, Angels & Demons, is thankfully much better than the first flick we slept through a couple of years ago. Tom Hanks sports much better hair in his return as Robert Langdon, all around signs and symbols guy. The pace of the movie is set by the plot of the book. Because the action takes place over the span of a few hours, the movie has no choice but to keep up.

The movie really is a decent little thriller. I can't help but like Hanks in pretty much anything he does and he doesn't disappoint. Getting to zip through the streets of Rome is a highlight. Apparently, they shot the scenes guerrilla style and the kinetic pace of the filming helps maintain the pace of the story. There are plenty of great actors to enjoy. I'll admit that I would happily confess my sins to Ewan McGregor. There are some pleasant twists and turns and the gore factor is not over the top, but it's not shy either. If you've read the book, you'll be pleased that virtually all of the key plot points have been kept...though some bits were shortened for time. Definitely worth checking out.

Also worth checking out is the new trailer for Sherlock Holmes, starring Robert Downey, Jr. and Jude Law. We have to wait until Christmas for the movie, but I'm happy for this taste of Robert. It looks like it will be quite funny and full of action. Hopefully Guy Ritchie will be back on form. Check out the trailer here.

"It's always something with you people."

WARNING: IF YOU HAVEN'T WATCHED THE SEASON FINALE OF LOST YET, DON'T READ THIS!!

Time for the Lost finale recap, which has almost become a tradition with me (for better or worse).

Here's some random things in rough chronological order as they appeared on the show.

-It was cool to see the Black Rock while Jacob and ? were talking on the beach.

-I'm starting to wonder if we are going to get a flashback with Kate as Patsy Cline. As soon as you hear Patsy, you know Kate is involved.

-First "Jacob meets the gang" moment involves the purchase of a New Kids On The Block lunch box...obviously a bad omen.

-So, Richard doesn't age because of Jacob? How does that work exactly? Jacob doesn't age either.

-Jacob does his Ione Skye impersonation and gives young Sawyer a pen. (Okay, that's not exactly it, but any time I can work in a Say Anything reference, I will.)

-I gleefully enjoy "bitchy" Ben. He is wonderful when he is snarky.

-Hmmm...just how nice is Jacob when he sets up Sayid's wife to get hit by a car.

-Because, sometimes, we must have obvious justice, Ben's Dad shoots Sayid.

-YEAH VINCENT! SUPER YEAH FOR BERNARD AND ROSE!!! I love B & R more than I can express. How freakin' cool is it that they have been just hanging out for the last three years enjoying their time together?

-What's in the freakin' box?

-Jacob knows Ilana (sp?) too. I wonder how long he's known her. Apparently she feels their relationship is strong enough to withstand burning his crappy shack.

-BEST JACOB MEETS THE GANG MOMENT: While sitting in front of a large building, Jacob is reading is Flannery O'Connor's "Everything That Rises Must Converge." Moments into the flashback, we see a body falling to the ground behind him. It's Locke when he fell out the window and lost the use of his legs! I probably shouldn't have, but I laughed at the funny weirdness of it.

-Gleeful Locke works his mojo on bitchy Ben, pushing all the right buttons to try and convince Mr. Linus to kill Jacob.

-Thanks to various storm warnings, I wasn't able to read the captions for Jin and Sun's wedding when Jacob was there.

-Jacob is almost the old woman who lives in a shoe; instead, he's the ageless man who lives in a foot.

-So Jacob buys Kate a lunch box, gives Sawyer a pen, does something at J & S's wedding, buys Jack a snack--but essentially kills Sayid's wife...not very fair I say.

-Jack and Sawyer chat and surprise to no one, all of Jack's bomb motivation has to do with Kate. Man up dude! I believe Sawyer feels the same because he goes on to kick Jack's ass.

-Poor Juliet realizes this is the beginning of the end for her and lovely James so she decides to help Jack to keep her and James from ever meeting so she will never be hurt.

-Jack convinces Kate to join him by hitting the Claire Guilt Button found on Kate's soul

-Hey look, Jacob got Hurley out of jail...these things are starting to get just a little annoying.

-Jack snags the bomb and heads off, but not before kissing Kate...no wait, that would only happen if he'd stop being quite so unrequite-y...instead he LOOKS at Kate. Erm...okay.

-Locke and Ben go into the foot to see Jacob. Here Ben, have a big ass knife.

-Miles has slowly become one of my favorites. How brilliant that he points out that perhaps setting off the bomb is "the incident" they are trying to avoid? "Glad you all thought this out..."

-Guns, explosions, yelling, the drill won't stop, sorry Phil, drop your weapons, Jack tosses the bomb into the hole, Jack and Kate share a look, Sawyer and Juilet share a better look and....and....and....NOTHING HAPPENS! Oops. Hold on, something does happen...remember when the energy was building up before?...metallic things start flying towards the hole. Miles helps his Dad, Jack is knocked out, Juliet gets snagged by some chains and is drug into the hole. (NO, NO, NO, NO...she's such a great actress and character!!!) Plenty of amazing acting between Elizabeth Mitchell and Josh Hallowy ensues as Sawyer tries to save her (Kate can't do much). F*CK ME, THEY'RE GOING TO KILL JULIET!!

-What lies in the shadow? "He who will protect us."

-Seriously, what's in the box...a body from the cargo hold? Slow reveal to...LOCKE'S DEAD BODY! What the hell? Who's in the foot with Ben?

-"Locke" aka ? from the opening is gleefully egging Ben on while Jacob tells Ben he has a choice. Sadly, Ben feels like Jacob has completely ignored him the entire time he has been on the island. Plus, when Ben asks Jacob what is wrong with him, Jacob answers with a "What about you?" Not entirely snarky, but probably not what Ben needs emotionally right now. So, Ben stabs him...twice. Just before getting kicked into the fire by "Locke," Jacob says, "They're coming." Who's coming? The crew from the 70's? The group lead by Ilana? Crazy ninjas? Sane ninjas?

-Back to the hole, Jack, Kate and Sawyer start trying to leave (where are Miles, Sayid and Hurley during this?). ACK! Juliet is still alive...just. Well look, there's the bomb. She starts hitting it with a rock and KA-BOOM!

-Then the "poof-ish" sound effect and the title appears on screen. YOU BASTARDS! At least 8 months before we know what happened! How did ? know about Locke? How long has he been off the island? How do he and Jacob get off the island? Did he visit everyone too? Where the hell is Claire? ARRRGGHHHH!!!!! Did the smoke monster know that "Locke" was ? guy? If so, does that make the smoke monster work exclusively for the bad guys or does Smokey have a separate agenda? By appearing as Alex, it pushed a very guilty feeling Ben to vow he would do whatever Locke told him to do. Is it working with ? to get rid of Jacob or was it fooled too?

No wonder I love this show!

Thoughts?

Sci Fi Weekend

Knowing that I will fall behind on my summer blockbusters if I don't get to them within the first couple weeks of their opening, I hit two flicks today. I'll start with the crap.

Wolverine. Ugh. Hugh, I love you, but did you read the script? While I can see the bonus of you popping up out of water naked and glistening, such a scene is not quite enough to redeem this pile of poo. It's not for lack of trying on your part. You just had crappy lines, a weak story, and too many characters (a problem with X Men 3 in my opinion) to work around. I was looking forward to seeing Ryan Reynolds, but he's barely in it. Instead, we get more of Will.i.am, which no one needs really...especially since he isn't a very good actor. There was potential for this to be great; Wolverine was definitely the most interesting character to come from the first 3 movies. But, instead we get stiff acting, marginal SFX (the claws looked really lame most of the time for some reason), and a cliched story.

Star Trek was much better. Visually, it is a beautiful movie to watch. I guess ILM did the SFX work and it is stunning. I even dig the new look to the process of "beaming up." I thought all the actors were solid in their roles, though Karl Urban as Bones never quite worked for me. But,he and Kirk do have one of the funniest scenes together so I'll give him props for that. I would have liked to have seen more Simon Pegg, but I know it's not a film about Scotty.

The first half of the film is the strongest. The action set pieces are impressive and the opening sequence actually had me a little choked up. But, the story seemed to drag in spots and there were too many coincidences for my taste as the movie progressed. I thought Zachary Quinto was perfect as Spock and Chris Pine had just the right mix of bravado for a young Kirk (no channeling of Shatner here).

The set design was sweet and bonus points to the music dept. for their use of a Beastie Boys tune. I would've liked a bit more bad to our bad guy. He's there, then he's gone, then he's back, but if felt a bit haphazard.

Still, for a fresh look at an origin story, it was a pleasure to watch and had more than enough moments to make it a pretty cool summer movie. You don't even need to be a Trekkie to have fun with it.

I'm a little nervous about the upcoming Angels & Demons since Da Vinci Code was such a snooze fest. Everytime I see the Terminator Salvation trailer I get excited, but I can't decide if that's because of Christian Bale or the supremely excellent use of Nine Inch Nails' "The Day The World Went Away." I saw a longer trailer for Up and I absolutely can not wait. Pixar productions are the only Disney product I can stomach for the most part. Sam Raimi (sp) is back with Drag Me To Hell and don't even get me started about HP6.

Well, I better close. I still have my Mother's Day presents to wrap for my Mom and my sister. I realized that I will forever live a life of irony. The anniversary of the surgery that effectively ended my ability to naturally become a mom will always be around Mother's Day. That's right. It was one year ago today. It all just zipped by.

Run away! Run away!

Okay, I should be in bed, but just before logging off, I got the urge to look for something. I now present to you one of Cheaters finest moments.

I give you Woman Hitting Her Cheating Husband With Her Shoe in the Guy's Bathroom...in D minor.




I find the fact that the "other woman" took the time to get her leftovers boxed up before she headed out especially funny.

Just 'Cuz

This is what I found when I googled "ninjas." How could I not put this up?

I've been very bad about updating lately. This current trend works out really well considering I just found out a former bookstore employee/friend/all around cool chick has put a link to my blog on her website.

You should check out her always entertaining entries here. She's also in my points of interest section. Amy and Galaxy Carol always provide a good read.

Okay, this is fairly lame, but I'm tired. I should be updating with a recap of Wolverine and Star Trek over the weekend. Later.

Harry Potter and more of the box cat!

The line is under the tent.



The Wesley's Flying Car at the HP Exhibit

Yesterday I got to check out the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. This is the only Midwest stop for the exhibit. Thanks to having friends who are members, I got to see the goods before the general public. Sadly, they didn't allow anyone to take photos. All I have is the picture of the car that was near the ticket counter and a shot of the outside of the museum. The white tent covers the area where people will be standing in line as they make their way to the exhibit itself. Because the response has been so positive, the exhibit's stay was extended 3 extra weeks.

If you are able to make it, I recommend paying the $5 for the audio tour. You get to hear the costume and set designers, etc. talking about what goes into their creative process. The exhibit is set up very well and is full of cool props and costumes. I enjoyed getting to sit in Hagrid's chair and seeing the dementors' and Death Eaters' outfits up close. As an added bonus, currently the folks manning the exhibit are from Great Britain so you get to hear plenty of kick ass accents as you mill about. I'm not sure if they will be there for the entire stay, but they are there now and I was in aural heaven.

When you first go in, there is a quick sorting ceremony. Then you are lead into a room with several screens each about the size of a painting. The door shuts behind you and it's you, the screens and four walls. There is a montage of clips from the movies then a visual effect making it seem like you are on a train. Like magic, one of the walls moves back and with a bright light and some smoke you see the Hogwarts Express and the tour begins. Pretty slick. You can check out some of Hagrid's Hut and the Great Hall. You can also toss a Quaffle if you so desire.

In other "news," we have more video of the box cat! I don't want to give anything away, but I can promise you will laugh your butt off. I want this cat as a pet.