com is too stupid for most people. it's okay for you, though.7 May 2008
last night in the inner sanctum
Tina tuned into American Idol last night which she is wont to do on occasion. So-and-so "is a really good singer," she said. "I care a lot," I said. Then she said something along the lines of "I'm just trying to get you up-to-date on the popular zeitgeist," but without using the word zeitgeist.* "Uh-huh," I said. Then, "Y'know... I'm bummed that they cancelled thirtysomething."The whole conversation had started with her asking me what Paula Abdul had said recently. Apparently she'd flubbed her lines again. We Googled her. 138 stories told how she'd gotten confused recently. Most stories said she should be removed from the show. At least one said that having her on, flubs and all, probably brought viewers to the show. Fascinating, huh?**
* I can't remember her exact phrasing because I was too busy trying to sound like I'd reached the nadir of boredom and the pinnacle of condescension.
** I am SO kidding.
making me wait
Fandango asked its visitors which films they were most excited about seeing this summer...Most Anticipated Summer 2008 Movie:
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (82%)
- The Dark Knight (42%)
- Iron Man (38%)
- The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (37%)
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (30%)
- Get Smart (29%)
- The Incredible Hulk (22%)
- The X-Files 2 (20%)
- Speed Racer (19%)
- Sex and the City (19%)
My own top 10 anticipated summer flicks in order of gotta see-ness:
- The Dark Knight
- Iron Man
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
- Hell Boy II
- Hancock
- Redbelt
- Wall-E
- Hell Ride
- The Incredible Hulk
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
book 15
A Dirty Job • Christopher MooreI’ve read a few other books by Christopher Moore and this looked fun. So. In this story, Charlie Asher, a secondhand shop owner with a kid on the way suddenly finds that he’s moonlighting as Death. Which sort of casts a pall on the evening. (Sorry, obscure Python reference there). Anyway, in Moore’s typical light-hearted style, bad things may happen but quirky characters make the best of the situation – a situation that only keeps getting stranger. Quick, non-taxing, mostly fun read, nothing super great though. One plot point that the reader sees a mile off catches Charlie by surprise. I hate that. Still, this guy writes an entertaining story.
6 May 2008
dissing Nic Cage
Nicolas Cage is a hitman in a summer flick called Bangkok Dangerous due in August. I saw a trailer for it. He's got stupid hair again. It's long, scraggly, and greasy-looking. He probably thinks it looks cool. I think it looks retarded. (It's the same stupid hair he had in Next, see pic, right). He should do what I do and just buzz his head. That's what I say. (He's not fooling anyone.)
true life DVD
We watched The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, based on the book by Jean-Dominique Bauby. In 1995 Jean-Do was the editor of Elle magazine (in Paris) when he suffered a "cerebrovascular accident", i.e. a debilitating stroke that left him paralyzed and mute, a victim of "Locked-In Syndrome." He communicated by blinking his left eye (and dictated his book by blinks). Sad story but well done and makes you glad for what you have. (In French).book lust
I've updated my Top 5 Wish List; the last two are new (since the others were recently acquired).5 May 2008
rock'em sock'em summer flick
Iron Man
Directed by Jon Favreau
Boozy, billionaire playboy Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), a weapons maker, gets abducted by baddies in Afghanistan and is ordered to build them a missile while jailed in a cave. He builds his first Iron Man suit instead and opens a can of whup-ass on the baddies. This annoys them. But then you'd know all this if you've seen the trailers. First of all, Downey is perfectly cast, second of all, this flick delivers a very enjoyable, occasionally funny epic superhero movie. The scenes where Iron Man flies are way cool and the dialogue is often witty and never corny. This flick is big fun.
What was probably not a good idea was eating a chicken pesto sausauge and garlic fries before seeing this flick. It was even more of a bad idea for the people sitting next to me. Mu-ahahahahaha!
Oh, two more things, 1) stay for the end of the credits for the coda (although, it may be more meaningful for fans familiar with Iron Man). And 2) Iron Man 2 is already scheduled for April 30, 2010.
It's a bird, it's a plane...
quote
Added to Bookish Quotes:~ Ray Bradbury
3 May 2008
Summer Movie Predictions 2008
ESP 2008: Top 20 lists are in, the grid is up.2 May 2008
recipe
This is the first thing I cooked on my new gas grill:Lamburgers (makes 4)
- 3/4 pound ground beef
- 3/4 pound ground lamb
- 4 or 5 tbsp chopped purple onion
- 1 chopped garlic clove
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 1 tbsp chopped mint
- tsp salt
- dash of pepper
in the works
ESP 2008: I've got most everyone's lists. Loki and VC Nickels are AWOL. Two other players sent lists of 19 movies. It's going to take a while to put the grid together. If Loki and VC don't get me their lists pronto, they are gonna be booted.1 May 2008
evil
This stuff about the Austrian who imprisoned his daughter and fathered seven kids by raping her AND keeping three of the kids imprisoned in a dungeon for their whole lives is almost beyond comprehension.The rooms are described as being neat and tidy. There are no windows. The three children who lived in the cellar, 19-year-old Kerstin and her two brothers aged 18 and five, had never seen daylight, and grew up with artificial light.
source: Inside Josef Fritzl's cellar dungeon [BBC News]
Both Stefan, 18, and Felix, 5, are hunched from the cramped conditions in their 1.7m high cellar and Felix prefers to crawl, although he can walk. Elisabeth reportedly walks with a hunch and appears decades older than her 42 years. Their sister Kirsten, 19, and critically ill in hospital, has lost most of her teeth.
Chief Inspector Leopold Etz, from the lower Austria region, said he was "staggered" to watch the boys initial bewilderment and shock as they found themselves in a world they had seen only on the television screen in their cell and known from their mother's descriptions about the life she had led until her incarceration at the age of 18.
He said the two boys spoke their own dialect consisting of gurgling sounds: "To say that the children speak is only a part of the truth. It is a mixture of gurgling sounds and noises, a kind of a dialect of their own.
source: Dungeon kids speak in gurgles, grunts [The Australian]
30 April 2008
first bike
Luke got his first bike last weekend.
requests granted
Not long ago I was awoken at 5:00am by my 3-year-old daughter, Kajsa.Daddy: Okay, sweetie. (blearily takes off moderately pee-soaked diaper)
Kajsa: Daddy, clean my butt!
go H20
I've always wondered how a water birth would work.scruffy-looking nerf herder
The first words out of my mouth today were: "Oh crap!" I overslept. Doing so when you have to catch a train is not good. I went tinkle, brushed my teeth, threw on some clothes, grabbed an apple, and ran out the door. That's all the time I had. So much for the early start I was planning. I really have to get to bed earlier.29 April 2008
more doodling
I pushed the squid off to the Previous Logos page.bloody DVD
I watched David Cronenberg's latest flick, Eastern Promises which stars Viggo Mortensen as a Russian mobster and Naomi Watts as a nurse who gets tangled in mob business. Interesting flick but also has some hard-core violence (the steam room scene). I guess Cronenberg's into that now. Not a date movie, though. The flick has a couple nice surprises.28 April 2008
latest book read
The Canon: A Whirligig Tour of the Beautiful Basics of Science• Natalie Angier
Science is cool. I didn't think so back in high school but I like to think I've matured since then. Back then I evaded chemistry by taking an earth science course (Rocks for Jocks). Seems a shame because now I find that stuff very interesting. What Ms. Angier so ably and entertainingly covers in this slim — under 300 pages — volume is the scientific method, probabilities, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. You don't have to be a Ph.D. to understand it either. I only wish some of my teachers in high school had been as interesting as Ms. Angier. (In particular, my physics teacher in high school was a waste of meat.) I've read about several of these subjects before in some other entertaining books. Two that come to mind are Innumeracy by John Paulos and A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson. I'd recommend all of these books as they complement each other and if you're interested learning cool stuff and filling in a few gaps in your knowledge, these three books are excellent and a good place to start. And Ms. Angier has some fun turning a good phrase here and there. One passage that stood out was one in which she explains just what it means to be a scientific theory. It should be taught in school. The rigorous work and facts behind an established theory (like, say, evolution) makes a statement like "Of course, it's just a theory," sound especially obtuse. [amazon]
27 April 2008
think about it
Y'know... I was thinking that sometimes, a knapsack is really just a man purse.doodles
Also, hey, check out my maze.
23 April 2008
pre-six-year-old art
I've updated the Luke Art page to include a couple pieces of art from last December that I never got around to posting until now. One is a treasure map, the other a pirate valentine.21 April 2008
Mass MoCA
Kajsa and Luke present... Mass MoCA!
A wall inside the Mass MoCA (not actually an exhibit).
A glass sphere in front of many different colored spools of thread. From an exhibit by Devorah Sperber.
More April pix here.
18 April 2008
at Starbucks
Woodge: I need an Iced Grande Latte, stat!Barista: You're lucky we like you!
(Did you know that the plural of barista is baristi? I looked it up.)
17 April 2008
DVDs
Here's the last two I saw:- Walk Hard: So-so comedy, loses steam fast, but boy that Jenna Fischer's sure got a great rack — just saying!
- No Country For Old Men: Great flick, bloody, unpredictable. Wondering if I should read the book now. Hmm.
16 April 2008
Perry Bible Fellowship
15 April 2008
in the news
These people look like aliens trying to masquerade as humans. But they're just idiots that are part of a strange cult. And they look like dorks.13 April 2008
by North Station
9 April 2008
wait a sec...
DVD: romanticizing war
The last flick Netflix decided to throw my way was Flyboys which stars James Franco among a bunch of young men who decided to join the Lafayette Escadrille — essentially learn to fly and fight in World War I. The aerial scenes are fun. The rest is chock-full of tired clichés and the whole thing suffers from too much "stirring epic" music. I fast-forwarded through the 2nd half and mostly watched the aerial scenes.8 April 2008
7 things I often say
- Sweet cracker sandwich!
- Crap!
- Lukas!
- Go back to bed.
- I know, but tell me again.
- Yeah, I can drive.
- Ooh, I wanna see that.
bookworms are legion
I like this site Good Reads I recently stumbled across. (I've got a widget in the column at right). Fun to browse and muck about with.7 April 2008
writerish quote
3 April 2008
apropos
cool pic
Wired mag top 10 self-portraits, #4at work
1 April 2008
flicks
I saw The Bank Job over the weekend. Very cool.And the latest Netflix movie that wasn't the top of my queue was Hitman which had a few cool fight scenes, a gratuitously naked chick (and upcoming Bond girl), but suffered from being adapted from a videogame and as such was kinda silly and overly unrealistic in spots. Also, tell me that bald hitmen with barcodes tattooed on the backs of their skulls will blend in with the crowd. You gonna sell me a penis enlarger next?
26 March 2008
McCain makes more sense
Drawing a sharp distinction between himself and the two Democratic presidential candidates, Senator John McCain of Arizona warned Tuesday against vigorous government action to solve the deepening mortgage crisis and the market turmoil it has caused, saying that “it is not the duty of government to bail out and reward those who act irresponsibly, whether they are big banks or small borrowers.”
Hell, yeah! I don't want to bail out idiots and gamblers. Right on, McCain!
television makes me vomit
In my humble* opinion American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, prime time game shows, and other "reality" TV is worthless, annoying crap viewable only by complete morons. Golly, I hope I haven't offended anybody.* rrrrright
25 March 2008
job verbiage
Not many people know this but occasionally I get resumes from jop seekers looking to join the company I work for. Here are the top resume verbs I've come across:- spearheaded
- embezzled
- impregnated
- narrowly averted
- harpooned
- gussied-up
- vanquished
- honey-glazed
- estimatated
- nailed
(I do get the occasional resume, but the rest of this post is me lying.)
24 March 2008
is this retarded or genius?
Someone bought a cornflake shaped like the state of Illinois for $1,350 on eBay. Source: AP story |
 |
C'mon, it vaguely resembles Illinois at best. And why someone would even pay 10 cents for a single cornflake let alone actual money... well, the word insane comes to mind. (Besides, don't you think you could just go spend the three or four bucks for your own box of cornflakes and just sift through them for a similar flake? I bet you couldn't find a Massachusetts flake, though. Now, that would be something.)
cute stuff (DVD)
Once again Netflix mailed me my 2nd flick in the queue: Enchanted. Nice turn on the usual fairy tale clichés. Amy Adams is perfect as the always chipper and blissfully naive heroine, Giselle. We thought the kiddos might get into this flick but no, there was "too much talking." It's cute, though and has some laughs and some catchy songs.20 March 2008
Shrek the turd
We recently borrowed the Shrek the Third DVD from the library and I gotta say: Meh. For me, the only good one was the first movie. These sequels aren't keepers.18 March 2008
Summer movies are coming
I've got a list of movies up on the brand spanking new ESP 2008 (Summer 2008 Movie Predictions) page. Contestants from last year will have until April 15th (tax day) to reserve a spot in this year's contest. Top 20 lists are due May 1st but would be appreciated a day or two earlier. If not all 30 return from last year, the spots will be open on a first come, first serve basis. Send me your reservation e-mails now to
. Time's a-wastin'.
17 March 2008
wwwroot
I was illustrating one of my make up stories (called Nethervine) and naturally turned it to a site logo (above). The gator has been banished to the land of previous logos.DVD: snatched
The Invasion is another remake of Invasion of the Body-Snatchers, this time starring Nicole Kidman and Daniel Craig. Meh. It was okay. I still like the 70s version with Donald Sutherland the best. This new one has a happy ending which doesn't fit as well with the story.Seuss
The whole family went to see Horton Hears A Who this weekend. They happily munched on candy necklaces and popcorn while watching this flick. It's made by the Blue Sky studio which also made the Ice Age movies (which I love). They did a great job with it. Luke was sitting to my left giggling away. Kajsa sat through the entire thing without being a fidget (practically a first). Jim Carrey voices Horton and doesn't overdo it. The same can be said for Steve Carell who voices the mayor of Whoville. And the whole look of the movie stays true to the Seuss universe. And it's only a hour and a half long, perfect length for the little ones. (By the way, if you pay attention, you'll see a Who carrying a delectable tray of green eggs and ham.)
I especially liked Vlad, the vulture (voiced by Will Arnett).
13 March 2008
DVD: bring out your dead
Every once in a while, I rent a DVD to appease the wife, that is, I get a movie that doesn't feature a blood and guts thriller. This time I got the comedy, Death At A Funeral. This one features English actors directed by Frank Oz as they attend a funeral where many things go wrong. Personally, I enjoyed the guy who accidentally took a hallucinogenic drug before arriving at the funeral.12 March 2008
egoiste
I often tend to identify with Bucky's way of looking at things.readings
I re-read one of my all-time favorite books recently. And I've still got to get around to adding a review for The God Delusion which I finished a couple weeks ago.10 March 2008
back
I haven't posted much lately because I've 1) had the flu, 2) been busy.Here's the last few DVDs I've rented:
- The Brave One: Jodie Foster does a Death Wish thing after an attack in Central Park leaves her beaten and her fiancé dead. The ending is not believable.
- We Own The Night: Slow-moving drama set in the 80s with some palpable suspense, and a couple of exciting scenes. Stars Joaquin Phoenix.
- Paprika: Japanese animation that I ultimately couldn't finish watching, mostly because the story made no sense. I quit early on this one.
27 February 2008
thou shall not make for thyselves an idol
Sometimes the missus likes to watch American Idol but I prefer hammering 4-inch nails into my ears with a ballpeen hammer.defacedbook
I deactivated my Facebook account. I wasn't using it. Or, when I was, it was just a time-sink. I'm messing around with Twitter instead. Besides, it's much simpler.25 February 2008
three pix from yesterday
The birthday boy and his mother.
Kajsa and me.
I am Kajsa's foot stool.
the new math
Yesterday Luke turned six...
Luke: I was five and four quarters.
Archives?
There ain't no stinkin' archives! Older entries are just plain GONE. Too bad if you didn't get a chance to read 'em. They were really good, too. Not like the crap posted above.
