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Sunday, November 18, 2012

A New Job

No longer work at Piggly Wiggly. New job: Michaels Craft store. More hours, better pay, 25% discount (yah baby!), similar position (floral designer), and I won't be forced to tuck in my shirt like a 12 yr old school girl! Whoooo hoooo!!!  - Lisa

Thursday, November 15, 2012

I mean, it's obvious, no?

Miguel Cabrera's team made the playoffs, Trout's team did not. He switched to a more difficult position before this season to make room for another All-Star and handled it like a pro. He won the bleeping Triple Crown. If you truly believed Miguel Cabrera wasn't going to win the MVP . . . 

Tuesday, November 13, 2012

A Whole Dang Presidential Term

Today marks 4 yrs since Job Prior and I parted ways

Three Flicks






[REC] 3: Genesis is a continuation of the Spanish film series that uses the ‘found footage’ technique to chronicle a zombie outbreak, this time at an elaborate wedding in the Spanish countryside. In America the series was remade under the title Quarantine, but I think the original series is better, especially since the Spanish sequel incorporated an ingenious twist into zombie folklore. In this installment only part of the film is found footage, with the majority being filmed in standard fashion. Does this remove an integral hallmark of the series? Er, sure, but if the elimination of a gimmick  is enough to kill a series, then the movie was a waste to begin with; happily, I think REC survives the loss just fine. There’s plenty of suspense and gore, some humor, and a splash of genuine romance to make up the difference. Lisa thought it was too gory, but I thought it was just right. She’d grade this an F; I think it deserves a B.



Red Lights has genuine star power on the marquee: Robert De Niro and Sigourney Weaver headline this story about a long-retired psychic who returns to the stage in time to fuel the obsession of professional skeptic Weaver and her assistant.



 This movie literally ANGERED me. You have major actors on the payroll, what appears to be a decent budget, nice direction and cinematography and you **** it all away on a loose,  poorly plotted script with an amateurish ‘twist’ ending.  This is the kind of film that makes your soul scream at the injustice of it all. Somewhere people are being paid big bucks to write this garbage, while you slosh away at a dead end job and spend your hard earned money on their drivel. Grade: a big F


Your Sister’s Sister is a charming independent film starring Emily Blunt and Mark Duplass. One year after the death of his brother, Duplass’ character is adrift in life, anchored only by the friendship of his brother’s ex-girlfriend, played by Blunt. She sends him on a sabbatical to her family’s summer home, where he unexpectedly finds himself rooming with Blunt’s sister, a lesbian who just broke up with her lover.  From there things get complicated, but the film never loses sight of the strength of the relationship between Duplass and Blunt. I thought the movie was sweet, moving, and fun to watch. I grade this an A.




3 Flicks




The Barrens is a horror film set in the forests of New Jersey. Heath Ledger look-alike Stephen Moyer plays a father who takes his family camping into the Pine Barrens, hoping to foster closeness and unity. Funny thing, though: he forgot to mention that he’s feeling a little under the weather and, oh, I don’t know, may or may not be seeing the Jersey Devil and/or killing some random campers. It’s not a bad movie, but there are some rather unbelievable moments where ‘suspension of disbelief’ just isn’t enough of a panacea for the script. I’d grade this one a C.




An oldie but a goodie, The Boys from Brazil stars Gregory Peck as Nazi doctor Josef Mengele and Lawrence Olivier as his Jewish nemesis. I knew going into the film that it was about the cloning of Adolf Hitler, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how suspense filled and  well developed that plan was in the film. Both of the main actors are grand, and their fistfight (which includes some Tyson like chewing) was worth the theoretical price of admission all by its lonesome. As a side note, I loved Mengele’s home and couldn’t stop talking about it, which, now that I see it in print, sounds creepy. But it’s a lovely home. Grade: B+



Salvation Boulevard features an all-star (well, minor league all star) cast: Pierce Brosnan, Jennifer Connelly, Marisa Tomei, Ed Harris and Greg Kinnear. Kinnear plays a former Deadhead turned Christian family man who witnesses his mega-church pastor cover up the shooting of a well known atheist, and wakes up to find himself framed for the crime. It’s actually a pretty light little comedy, with an aim to satirize religion and evangelical Christianity. I think the satire falls flat, largely because it’s such an obvious target that you see it coming from a distance, and partly because, whatever his sins, it’s obvious the pastor is a true believer torn by guilt about his moment of weakness.  Overall, the movie was so-so. I grade it a C+

Monday, November 12, 2012

ISO - a cooking tip

Anyone know how Olive Garden prepares their broccoli? Lisa and I think it has to be steamed in some kind of broth - chicken is our best guess, but as it's probably used for vegetarian meals we'd concede to vegetable broth. No answer on their website - which, by the way, now features full recipes for nearly their entire menu. Can anyone provide some info?

Sigh

So, my day continues: @ 5:30 we get an urgent call from a friend asking if she and her children can move in with us; I said we'd take them in for a few nights and "take it from there" but no, I don't this household to grow by 50%, esp. since said friend has no source of income to help us out. 7 kids, 3 adults here, at least through Wednesday. Oh boy.

Report Cards - Quarter 1



Report card/parent teacher conferences were this past Wednesday. Both of my oldest girls made the Honor Roll, Smiley did much better than I expected given his own assessments of his performance to date (confidence boy, confidence!), and Ginger . . . well, she hasn’t been expelled. Yet.

YaYa:  A’s in: Gym, Science, and Technology (Computers). A-‘s in: Music, Art, Reading (huh? The kid reads nonstop), and Social Studies. B’s in: Religion and Language Arts. B-  in Spanish and a lone C in Math, which her teacher chalks up to her lack of confidence rather than a lack of understanding or skill. Health is not listed as a subject.

GPA: 3.294

LuLu:  A+ in Health.  A’s in: Gym, Art, Spanish, Social Studies. A- in Religion, Technology (Computers) and Music.  B+ in Language Arts.  B in Reading. C+ in Math and a C in Science; neither of the last two are acceptable.

GPA: 3.263

 We have submitted paperwork at the local community center requesting a math tutor for both girls, mainly just to boost their confidence in the subject.

Smiley: No letter grades in 2nd grade just N (needs improvement) P (progressing) and S (Secure).
P’s in Health, Reading, Religion, Music, Social Studies. S’s in Gym, Science, Math, Art, Spanish, Computer.  A single lone ‘N’ is English, due largely to a series of disastrous spelling tests. No ‘N’s in the behavior section.

Ginger’s class is graded with + (demonstrates consistent understanding and application), / (general understanding) and – (needs more time to develop); there is no overall grade for each subject, just a series of individually assessed skills within each area. For convenience sake I’m going to ‘round up’ using whatever grade appeared most often under that banner.

+’s in: gym, music, math, social studies, Spanish, computer. /’s in language arts, science, religion. Under fine motor skills it’s 2 ‘/’’s and a single ‘-‘ under “prints first name”. She’s been getting into all sorts of trouble for writing her name all goosey-loosey when she knows better.

Under behavior she received N’s (needs improvement) under: demonstrates self control, accepts responsibility for own actions, demonstrates listening skills, and follows directions. She also was given a N  for “speaks clearly using appropriate language patterns”

Good job kids! Mom and Dad are proud of you all! XXOOXXOO


Sunday, November 11, 2012

The New Bond Movie

Three days after its opening, Skyfall has earned $518.6 million worldwide...

Our Day

I took advantage of the 60+ temperature day to take a brisk mile walk in the early afternoon, followed by a stroll with LK later. Still later I took LK and OJ to the park to play on the swings, but got caught in a rainstorm and had to hurry home. By morning it should be near freezing here. Sometimes Milwaukee is just depressing.