Catch and Release, and a piggish rant too!

             

Catch and Release is a romantic comedy featuring Jennifer Garner. In it she plays a woman whose fiance dies shortly before their wedding. Heartbroken and unable to pay her rent she moves into the house he shared with two male roommates. Over the course of the movie she comes to realize that her perfect fiance was far the man she thought he was, keeping secrets big and small from her. In an attempt to set things right romance blossoms from an unexpected source and she beings the long process of putting her life back together. 

Well, I shouldn't say the romance came from an 'unexpected' source, since I'm sure you can see the (awkward) love interest from the get-go. Still, a fine little movie that will entertain you but little more. It tries for 'deep' emotional responses from the audience and largely fails, but no matter, what's left is good enough.

2.5 out of 4, or 65 out of 100.

* * * * *

I must mention two largely immature reactions I had to the movie.

First Kevin Smith, who plays one of the roommates, has really put on weight. Smith, you may recall, is the director/co-star of Clerks, Dogma, etc  but sticks to a purely acting role here.

Hey I'm a big guy and I probably look as big or bigger than Smith, but he appears so large that his movements on screen legitimately seem, I don't know, physically  painful for him.

Second, I am sick and tired of people pretending Juliette Lewis is attractive. She is not. Her face, if you want to be PC about it, is 'unconventional', but let's just cut to the chase. She's ugly. She's a female Steve Buscemi without the talent.

(of course when I looked for pics online I couldn't find many that feature the true Joan Cusack-ness of her face, given that most sites prefer to post pictures of her half-naked, so this will have to do)

Yet she continually gets acting jobs, and moreover gets jobs where she's supposedly just the bomb diggity. Jennifer Garner calls her 'really hot' in this movie. Jennifer Garner! She must have been giggling inside when she had to deliver those lines. And that awful voice!

Must I poke out both my eardrums AND my eyes when she's in a movie?

Today's Supreme Court ruling on the 2nd Amendment

Let's start out by saying that I don't own a gun and never have, nor to my knowledge did my parents. I will probably never own one. The last time I fired one was at boy scout camp in 1987, and that was probably a glorified bb gun. My wife's always said that if we owned a gun she'd have shot me a hundred times over the years, and I'm not anxious to prove that she's just kidding.

So it's a little surprising that I was downright happy when the Supreme Court ruled today to overturn D.C's 32 year old handgun law. The law prohibited owning handguns within the city limits (unless they were grandfathered in) but allowed rifles and shotguns if they were kept locked or dissassembled. That last part would seem to eliminate their use for self-defense.

That's an odd little law considering D.C. is one of the most violent and crime ridden cities in America. In 1976, the year the law was enacted, there were 135 gun related murders.

Last year there were 143.

At the very least the law isn't working. At worst, some folks are dying because criminals know they have a free pass in D.C.

Of course the Supreme Court ruling affects far more than just the citizens of D.C. It's the first positive affirmation of the Second Amendment in many years. It clearly states that under the Constitution Americans have a right to own guns and that a total prohibition of them violates that right.

The ruling does NOT end background checks and restrictions; again, it simply reaffirms a Constitional right and forbids absolute prohibitions on ownership. It doesn't say that we should put guns in the hands of every Hinkley and Chapman out there.

As it stands I believe gun ownership is a right of all Americans, and regardless of your moral stance, infringements on that right are legally wrong. If you want an absolute gun ban, change the Constitution. We've done it before when the need arose. It's not easy, but if the majority of people felt that strongly about the issue, it could be done again.

Just don't try to circumvent the Constitution by enacting  local laws that skirt people's rights.

[For the record, I am aware of the arguments concerning the wording of the amendment, and its interpretation.

A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.

 I believe that 'militia' doesn't mean our modern concept of a National Guard. To my mind it was meant to ensure that the self-defense of the individual (who at the time was probably living miles away from their neighbor) would not be impeded, and that they would indeed be available to assume an active defense of the land as a whole. Smarter people than I can argue differently, but that's my take on it.  And while even to me it sounds whackadoodle, there may be a time two hundred years from now when the population may have to act as a militia for their own well being. Note: I do NOT mean a supremacist or separatist militia]

(Actual) News of the Day

Two fascinating bits of news today. The first was word that there are plans to build a 420 meter skyscraper that will constantly change its own shape.

(420 and buildings that appear to move on their own - sounds like it could be a Cheech and Chong skit)

This skyscraper is proposed for the kingdom of Dubai, home of many engineering marvels in recent years. Each floor of the building would be capable of rotating on its own, courtesy of wind turbines located on each floor. The building itself would be pre-fabricated and allegedly need very few workers at the actual construction site.

It's an awe-inspiring concept and if it works it should be breathtaking. I say 'if' it works because the man behind the project seems to be a bit of a P.T. Barnum, with an exaggerated resume and degrees from colleges that don't exist. But you never know.

[I love engineering. Well, I love the idea of engineering, never having actually done it for a living. I always say that if my kids aren't sure about what they want to do in life I'd try to steer them towards that field, even though I don't have the slightest bit of talent in that department. It's better than wasting four years of college on an Art or History major like I did, that's for sure (assuming they don't want to teach).]

Floor space in the building will be $3000/sq foot, which means the largest apartment will cost a cool forty million dollars.

The second bit of news is that scientists have allegedly found the precise date of one of the events in Homer's The Odyssey.

In that epic poem Odysseus returns home to Penelope after ten years at sea and an eclipse occurs that very day. Following clues in the text (astronomical events, etc) they have pinpointed the day as April 16, 1178 B.C., close to noon local time.

If you take the book as pure fiction this is a colossal waste of time. If, as with The Iliad, there is a hard kernel of truth behind the epic then we now have a more accurate baseline from which to study the text.

Did I mention this was page 2 news in today's Journal-Sentinel, and while I don't have the paper in front of me I think it was also mentioned on the front page. I love history and I love literature, and I find the news compelling, but not that compelling. Wow.

* * * * *

Completely irrelevant: when I was in kindergarten we went on a field trip to a farm and my Dad chaperoned. I remember the heat got to me and he stayed behind with me in the barn until I felt better. He bought me a orange soda from a nearby machine (a glass bottle no less - those were the days!).

I have no idea why that jumped into my head, but the whole time I was typing this post it kept hammering away at my temple, so I figured it's best to set it loose.

Fuzzy and the Crew

Beth over at Nutwood Junction wrote about her childhood stuffed animal and asked readers to comment on their own. As usual I'm too long-winded for my own good, so I figured I'd post it here.

Unlike Beth I don't think I have any pictures of the animals, at least in electronic format, so the text will have to do.

When I was in preschool we had a show and tell day where we were encouraged to bring in our teddy bears. I didn't have a bear. Instead I had three favorite animals: an elephant named, stereotypically, as Dumbo, a horse named Rusty, and a blue dog with floppy ears named Ralph. Ralph never really struck me as a dog. He was designed in a more-or-less seated posture, and I think he looked more like a Sesame Street monster than a canine.

Anyhow, of course the kids made fun of me for not having a bear. When my Mom picked me up I told her the story and we made a beeline for Toy Country, located up on 27th Street where Pet World is now.

I went up and down the aisle before deciding on my bear. From that moment on Fuzzy and I were inseparable.

He was small, with dark brown matted fur and tan paws. There was very little detail on him - a red stitch or two for lips and a simple nose. I do remember his eyes though. They were brown with a hint of orange, and one eye was always obscured by a stray bit of fur.

Later Scottie, a very simple dog made by my paternal Grandma from two pre-printed pieces of fabric, joined the group.

I always imagined Fuzzy as the leader of my little group of animals, a sort of Pooh-like world where Pooh actually had brains.

Where are they now? Rusty is in storage at my Mom's and Ralph should have been with him, but I didn't see him the last time I checked. Scottie is upstairs with the girls, Dumbo is MIA, and Fuzzy .  . .

Well for a number of years he was lost, and rumor had it my Dad tossed him in a bag that was donated to charity. But a few years ago a bear looking suspiciously like Fuzzy resurfaced at their house and I snatched him up. He has many of the characteristics, right down to the eye, but he also has some traits I don't remember.

In the end whether he was the original or not is irrelevant; I say he is, so he is. The kids occasionally sleep with him now. I never do. Except, you know, when I have one of the kids sleep with usand the bear just happens to fall out of their arms and over to my side of the bed.

Accidentally of course.

Smiley's 1st Big Wheel

When I got home from work Lisa was waiting with a half-assembled Hot Wheels Big Wheel for Smiley.

I have no talent whatsoever for assembling these products and normally leave it to Lis, but this one took both of us more than an hour to get together.

For much of that time Smiley was chomping at the bit and getting in the way, but boy was he happy when it was ready!

Of course, it took one hour to assemble and he played with it for all of 5 minutes before preferring to join me as I transplanted some hastas in our yard, but that's a kid for you.

aoljurlAdd, aoljurlAdd_3

Video of NKOTB's 'Summertime'

Ony four months until we see NKOTB in concert, but I've yet to find out when the whole album hits stores. I'll have to surf the net for a bit today and get a release date.

In the meantime here's the video of their song 'Summertime', featuring many scantily clad women in bikinis, none of whom I believe are their spouses. Reason #55 to become rich and famous . .well, #'s 2-55 actually, behind only 'buy a lot of stuff' ;)

Just in case the song is yanked from YouTube, here's the official link from VH1.

Happy Birthday Jeanne

In all the hubub I forgot to wish my mother-in-law a happy [redacted] birthday!

Happy Birthday Jeanne! We love you!

How the rest of the day went - 8:50 p.m. update

After this morning's dispute, it was a very sedate day at work, oddly enough, and in the afternoon a pleasant surprise. My 18 year old cousin (Lu's Godmother) who unofficially  hasn't been speaking to us since Halloween, called and stopped by the house.

I say unofficially because there was no 'argument', but the strong makings of one and we all went our separate ways.

Since we last saw her she's graduated from high school, moved out on her own (and since moved back) and Lu was very happy to see her, and vice versa.

I even conned her into cutting my lawn for 8 bucks - hee haw!

Nah, truth be known she asked to help out for a few extra bucks and I was grateful. Together we cut, trimmed, and edged the entire backyard, even under the trampoline.

Smiley tried to lend a hand too

Then he chilled out

Lu joined him, but unlike Smiley's shot her's was staged, the camera hog

The car in the next two photos I found in the garbage down the alley, and yup, I quickly scooped it up for the kids.

Lump was already in bed (I should have photographed her, as she was wearing an adorable dress), and YaYa?

YaYa was swimming with her cousin. Continuing this unusual string of sick days with her, she broke out in a bad rash up and down her arms and legs. When I called the doctor he ran me through a list of questions but then wrote it off as an allergy. To our knowledge, the only thing the girl is allergic to is High School Musical brand hand cream. Now her cousin had some, but YaYa claims not to have used it. Hmmmm, what are the chances she threw caution to the wind and tried some again?

What a morning!

Wow. Bit of a morning here, and it's only now 7:30.

The Mom who took YaYa over the weekend has a daughter that Lisa babysits. She came over this morning rip roaring and saying she was pissed at us. She said she had to have her car professionally portered yesterday and that YaYa claimed she didn't have any stomach issues but instead told her that we were all sick with the flu.

Ok, as I told the Mom, no six year old is going to go to a friend's family and say "I have chronic constipation. I get stomach pains because I do not poop.". I do not believe the car had to be portered or that it could even be accomplished on a Sunday in this town. The father said none of this the day of the event.

In addition she said we should have apologized to her (never mind the conversation with her husband or the unanswered call to her) and that we had 'no idea what she went through'.

??? I have four kids. We've both been shit on/puked on/pissed on/spit on a thousand times. It's what happens when you take kids. If someone's kid had puked in my car I'd have been annoyed, but I wouldn't have made a scene three days later, treating it as a personal affront and I would have called and checked on the kid's health the next day as a courtesy (which did not happen).

Long and the short of it, after a few minutes Lisa said enough was enough, find another babysitter and some more words were exchanged.

Oh, and George Carlin died, Lisa's brother failed to call her as promised, and her Uncle needs a heart valve replacement.

Happy Monday!

A Dinosaur Birthday Party

I won't say today was perfect, but it went much better.

This afternoon we attended Lisa's cousin's son's 5th birthday party.

 

You think we do parties with flair? Take a look at this.

After a brief but fierce rainstorm the kids were sent into the yard to search for 'dinosaur bones'. Our big concern was that each of the kids find at least one, but with 31 of the bones out there it was easy pickings.

Each of the bones came from a dinosaur jigsaw puzzle. Each piece was magnified and traced on wood as a template, then cut out and painted. This was the final product once all the 'bones' were found.

There was a ball pit, a small inflatable pool, hot dogs and brats, and a delicious chocolate cake that featured a smoking volcano on top with dinosaurs surrounding it (the volcano was filled with dry ice).

We'll have to steal that idea for one of Smiley's parties in the years to come.

A good time, even if it was often interrupted by rain.

Here are some blurry but cute shots of Lump from today:

Don't Mess with Old Ladies

I read this on Make 'Em Laugh and had to repost it here. Please be so kind as to visit that journal and say hello.

An older lady gets pulled over for speeding...

Older Woman: Is there a problem, Officer?

Officer: Ma'am, you were speeding.

Older Woman: Oh, I see.

Officer: Can I see your license please?

Older Woman: I'd give it to you but I don't have one.

Officer: Don't have one?

Olde r Woman: Lost it, 4 years ago for drunk driving.

Officer: I see...Can I see your vehicle registration papers please.

Older Woman: I can't do that.

Officer: Why not?

Older Woman: I stole this car.

Officer: Stole it?

Older Woman: Yes, and I killed and hacked up the owner.

Officer: You what?

Older Woman: His body parts are in plastic bags in the trunk if you want to see

The Officer looks at the woman and slowly backs away to his car and calls for back up. Within minutes 5 police cars circle the car. A senior officer slowly approaches the car, clasping his half drawn gun.

Officer 2: Ma'am, could you step out of your vehicle please! The woman steps out of her vehicle.

Older woman: Is there a problem sir?

Officer 2: One of my officers told me that y ou have stolen this car and murdered the owner.

Older Woman: Murdered the owner?

Officer 2: Yes, could you please open the trunk of your car, please.

The woman opens the trunk, revealing nothing but an empty trunk.

Officer 2: Is this your car, ma'am?

Older Woman: Yes, here are the registration papers.
The officer is quite stunned.

Officer 2: One of my officers claims that you do not have a driving license.

The woman digs into her handbag and pulls out a clutch purse and hands it to the officer.

The officer examines the license. He looks quite puzzled.

Officer 2: Thank you ma'am, one of my officers told me you didn't have a license, that you stole this car, and that you murdered and hacked up the owner.

Older Woman: Bet the liar told you I was speeding, too!!!!


Don't Mess With Old Ladies

Why a vasectomy would be a good thing

Ugh. What a lousy day.

Chin up, mind you - no one died or was injured, which is always a plus. But for the first day off since the trip to the zoo it just plain SUCKED.

Sleep in? Never! The kids were up at the crack of dawn. In fact I found YaYa on the kitchen floor at 5 a.m., complaining about a stomach ache.

She was supposed to go with a friend's mother to a picnic/pool party in a neighboring county. When the time came she was still feeling ill but said she would be good to go. Fine and dandy. You could tell the Mom was leery of taking her but I told her the truth - YaYa suffers from chronic constipation (she's on occasional medicine for it) and sometimes stomach aches are par for the course. It's not like it's contagious.

Two hours later I'm eating soup in the dining room when the friend's father walks into the house with YaYa. She'd thrown up three times at the party, had to shower in the host's house, and then threw up in a bowl during the car ride home.

"Is [Mother] pissed?," I asked the Dad.

He laughed. "Oh, yeah!"

Sigh. I'm gonna hear about this one FOREVER, guaranteed.

Lisa was out with her Mom to get her nails done at a spa, a mother/daughter trip for her Mom's birthday. Fine, except the lady is awful, butchering her nails, dragging it on forever, and then abandoning them both halfway through, forcing someone else to take over. $40 down the tubes.

"Why didn't you tell the manager?" I asked.

"I couldn't. She was a student, it would have cost her her job," she says.

Ok.

Meanwhile the kids are atrocious and I'm already at my wits end (it's ~2 p.m. at this point).

Lisa comes home for but a minute before turning around and going to work. Sigh. Ok, I decide to pack the kids up and go get ice cream. There is not a peaceful moment to be found, with YaYa all but torturing LuLu in the backseat and Smiley doing his grunting behind me as the baby cries.

I was soooo ticked at YaYa. I'd hear a smack, cries would ensue, and she'd plead that she barely touched her sister - forgetting that the new van has that additional mirror and that I saw her haul off. I promised her that I'd let the other two walking kids have a free crack at her if I saw her do it again.

Then LuLu and Smiley got into it in the shopping cart at the store.

Meanwhile, at work, Lisa runs into her long-lost brother, Smiley's godparent, who has not called or stopped by for easily 16 months for (by his own admission) no good reason at all.. A 15 minute argument ensues, leaving Lisa in tears.

Grand.

At home the kids are in bed but torturing me. Because of his hearing/speech difficulties Smiley has this gawd awful high pitched screech that serves as his primary means of expression. It soooooooooooo wears on your eardrums and eventually works it's way under  your craw, wherever the heck that is. He won't stop.

LuLu, a whiner by nature, has picked up on the effectiveness of the screech in getting attention (good or bad) and has added it to her repertoire. She drones on endlessly.

YaYa won't stop kissing my a**, saying "I love you Daddy" with all the sincerity of Charlie Manson saying the Lord's Prayer.

Lump is displeased with her crib and will not lay down.

Someone spilled red food coloring all over my hardwood floor. There is crushed breakfast cereal throughout the house. My sheet is missing from my bed. There is poop smeared on the towel hanging in the bathroom and a turd in the bowl with no toilet paper.

I am in hell.

I even tried calling my Mom for solace but she didn't answer her phone.

This goes on until maybe half an hour ago, and dear God it's a wonder I didn't hop in the car and head for the hills.

Better tomorrows, as Jerry Taff always said, better tomorrows.

Resolution by Robert B Parker

             

One good thing about a Robert B Parker novel; it's a quick read. Always heavy on dialogue  his novels read like expanded screenplays, and I started this one in a doctor's waiting room yesterday, read a little before bed, and finished it today - despite it being 304 pages long.

Resolution is a western novel that is a continuation of the adventures of Everett Hitch and Virgil Cole, lawmen/gunmen who in this case hire on as bouncers in the town of Resolution. Hitch quickly runs afoul of the local gunman and kills him, the opening salvo in a war between competing economic interests in the town.

In recent years Parker has not only worked on improving his signature Spenser series, but has also branched off into several directions: young adult novels, the Sunny Randall series, the Jesse Stone series, and this western team.

The characters are familiar to any Parker reader. Men exceptionally skilled at violence, often acting in ways that are less than 'moral' by mainstream standards but fit within the rigid moral code they have adapted for themselves.

Another re-occurring facet of the Parker style is a dysfunctional romance. As if love and relationships weren't hard enough in real life, Parker makes sure his characters face life-wrenching decisions wherever their heart is concerned.

If you are looking for the next Hondo or Shane, or the complexity of a Lonesome Dove, look elsewhere. This is not a book that will be remembered in the genre when your grandchildren's grandchildren visit the library. It is however a quick and entertaining read with a small but real insight into the mentality of men like Hitch and Cole.

Recommended for western readers. 2.75 out of 4, 65 out of 100.

aoljaolPictureAdd, aoljaolPictureAdd_1

Robert B Parker's Now & Then

                     

I'm a huge fan of Robert B Parker. That in itself is odd, considering his text is sparse and far closer to the Hemingway school of writing than the elaborate and sprawling texts I usually prefer.

[there is a great quote out there by Herman Wouk. I wish I could remember it verbatim, but it goes on about Hemingway and dismisses his style, saying he prefers a novel that isn't afraid to use and appreciate the English language]

Ten years ago though, I began to write off Parker's work. The plots and characterizations were becoming cookie-cutter affairs, and with each novel the size of the text seemed to increase, padding out what would otherwise have been a skimpy  novella.

In recent years however, the Spenser series has returned to some of its early glory. In his twilight Parker has begun to use each of the novels as a testing ground. He's reintroduced minor figures from previous novels, expanded on what we think we know about the big players in his universe, and spent a lot of time thinking about the past.

In a number of ways, Parker seems to be prepping his characters for the author's own inevitable end.

In Now & Then Spenser is hired to verify a wife's affair on behalf of an FBI agent, and soon enough both the Mrs. and the client turn up dead. It turns out the wife's lover was a member of a terrorist organization, one that could afford to leave no witnesses. As expected Spenser is on the case to the bitter end, paying client or not, but that isn't what this book is about.

Time and again Spenser and his long-time love Susan (easily one of the most hated 'good guys' in the mystery world)  reference an affair she had in a previous novel - 'long ago' in Spenser's world, thirty years ago in our own. The affair has rarely been brought up in the intervening years, but here it's made clear that the scars of that incident have never gone away.

As much as Spenser works to clear the case, he's working just as hard to excise the demons of that ancient betrayal.

And in the end, what is legitimately a shock - the couple begins to talk about getting married, an event no Spenser fan could ever see coming.

Not the best book to introduce a new fan to the series, but a fine, solid work. 3 out of 4, or 79 out of 100.

A conversation with Socialist - warning: Politics ahead!

Our home phone is working again. It was out of whack for nearly two weeks and then out of the blue it rang and scared the bejeesus out of Lisa. God only knows what cleared up along the line.

BTW, If I claimed to have missed it let me apologize, because that's a crock: I resent having the thing in working order again, although I do appreciate the safety of having it around.

* * *

I wasn't going to put this online, just because I have ZERO interest in igniting a political debate right now, but what the heck: I think it reads well.

This was written near the start of the month and is a pretty accurate transcript of a conversation between me and Socialist the day I went to Home Depot with Smiley.

Socialist: "Are you going to shed a tear?"

Me (Confused). "Uh, wasn't going to, no."

"Really?? I thought you'd mist up over Ms's speech."

"It'd help if I knew what the F* you were talking about"

"Hillary! She's going to concede in a few minutes. I figured you and the rest of your Republican brethren would mourn her failure. I know you were hoping she'd be there in November."

"Ahh. Because I quake before the mighty Obama. Yeah, uh, no. I think he's plenty vulnerable."

Laughs. "Yeah, because when people see Obama and McCain on the same stage they're going to say 'hey, let's vote for the old white guy'"

"As opposed to all the little old ladies who'll say 'let's vote for the Black guy'?"

"Typical Republican B.S. man."

"Uh huh. Two words: West Virginia."

"F West Virginia. I don't want those hicks in my party anyway."

"Nice. I just came over to let Smiley pee man, I really don't want to get into this."

"Whatever."

"Ok, even if  there are only a [air quotes] 'handful' of people who won't vote for him because he's black there are plenty who won't vote for him because he's inexperienced, or who won't vote for him because he hangs out with hate mongers [at which time I put up a hand to stop Socialist from interrupting] and s**tloads of crazy old vets who'll vote for McCain because it's Vietnam's last chance to produce a President"

"You're full of cra*.  And this gleeful hand rubbing about all the Democrats who scream [impressive old woman voice]  'I'm going to vote for that McCain now!" because Hilliary's out, well they're full of it too. The number of people who will jump ship is so miniscule it won't even matter."

"My parents and sisters are voting McCain, and they're as Demmy as Dems get. That Vietnam thing hits a chord with some people."

"And I don't want them in my party. Anyone who crosses the line and votes for McCain should hit the f*ing road from now until hell freezes over."

"Nice. Very inclusive."

"I'm sorry man, nothing makes me more intolerant than intolerance."

* * *

One last note and then I'll shut up: regardless of your political stance, you have to wonder if AOL's headline makers get a paycheck from the DNC. There have been more slanted, misleading and biased headlines favoring Obama and/or slamming McCain then I ever saw in '00 or '04. I mention this because in some cases the content of the article itself is neutral or implies the opposite of the AOL headline. Yikes. At least pretend to be unbiased guys, you are getting paid to post the stuff.That makes you a professional. Act like it.

That's all. Enjoy your weekend!

The Somnambulist

                                     

I've stared at a blank screen for several minutes trying to pigeonhole The Somnambulist into one genre or another, and it just isn't happening.

Any description would have to include the 'mystery' genre. Edward Moon, the main character is a detective. Not a professional but a part-time aficionado, he makes his bread-and-butter as a stage illusionist. In may ways he is a a literary tip of the hat to Sherlock Holmes.

Except of course, that  in place of Dr. Watson we have the Somnambulist, a giant hairless mute who consumes vast quantities of milk and is utterly impervious to swords and knives. 

There is also a time traveler, a Hannibal Lector-like figure behind bars, an albino secret agent, two supernatural killers, a plot to destroy London, a poet, a crippled young boy ala Tiny Tim, a bearded lady turned prostitute, a zombie, a religious movement, and, last but not least, a human fly.

Sure, it's a jumbled mess, but it's also a hoot. Jonathan Barnes does a wonderful job of keeping you enthralled with his London-that-never-was, and he takes great liberties with the format. To quote the first lines of the novel:

Be warned. This book has no literary merit whatsoever. It is a lurid piece of nonsense, convoluted, implausible, peopled by unconvincing characters, written in drearily pedestrian prose, frequently ridiculous and wilfully bizarre. Needless to say, I doubt you'll believe a word of it.

Or how about when he introduces a character:

 His death is a matter of pages away.

Please don't get attached to him. I've no intention of detailing his character at any length - he's insignificant, a walk-on, a corpse-in-waiting.

My favorite of these playful lines takes place on page 194, when the narrator interrupts a conversation momentarily with the following, then resumes the dialogue.

Later that evening, lulled by the rhythmic snoring of his wife, just as he was about to go to sleep, Inspector Merryweather would think of a rather amusing retort to this. But he would know that the moment had passed, and would roll over instead and hope for pleasant dreams.

Barnes will set up a scene, populate it with emotion and humor, and then abruptly have the narrator interrupt to admit it was wholly fabricated. It sounds like a technique that should wear on your nerves, but in limited doses it is cheekily amusing.

However, I do think Barnes got greedy near the end. I think he read over his draft, recognized a hit when he saw one, and left far too many points unresolved in hopes of leaving the door open for a sequel. A dirty rotten trick, on par with much of the book, but I'll gleefully read any sequel even so.

3 and a quarter stars out of 4, or 84 out of 100.

Our New Van

Well, we bought a new van.

We scouted the internet for a bit over the weekend and then took LuLu and one of YaYa's friends with us to a few dealerships on Monday. Other then a nice Caravan with a DVD system, we didn't see much that screamed 'buy me'.

But that night, while trying to find the DVD van on the dealer's site, I came across a vehicle that caught my eye. Tuesday after work I decided to go look at it and dragged YaYa along - Lisa bowed out of the process, citing her purchase of the lemon Voyager (a foolish thought, as she did all the right research and just hit some bad luck).

YaYa and I test drove the car, looked at all the features, debated price with the salesman for awhile, then took the plunge and bought it. The decision was simple, the actual purchase was not. We were at the dealership from just  5 p.m. until just shy of close at 9 a.m.

[note: aside from an initial bout of brattiness right at the outset, YaYa sat patiently for hours, coloring, reading and playing on my phone. She also walked right into the side mirror of a Mustang, cutting her lip open (!). All in all she rocked and I was proud of her.]

In the end we - or rather I, as Lisa's (superior) credit was not run - got the loan and we were good to go. With the downpament payments are only $15 more a month than we paid on Lisa's Ford Aspire back in '95.

Of course, we haven't had a car payment at all in years and years, so the whole thing is frightening and very adult-ish.

It's a white 2005 Ford Freestar. Please spare me any formulaic anti-Ford propaganda. During our time together Lisa and I have owned a 1994 Aspire (still running) a 1995 Aspire (totaled by a drunk driver, which paid for a lot of our wedding), a 1994 Ford Escort wagon we sold to my Dad when Smiley was born, and a 1998 Ford Windstar (totaled by a woman who sped through an intersection and sideswiped Lis and LuLu). All ran fine and were dependable and durable as you can hope for, especially Vi, our '94 Aspire.

The Plymouth however . . well, p**s on it.  

So I was gleeful to be back in a Ford. It reminds me a lot of our Windstar, with some upgrades. It has stow and go seating, dual sliding doors, a second row bench which gives us a crucial extra seat in the middle, remote keyless entry, a CD player (no small thing, as the Voyager's radio was on the fritz), and more.

What do I like best? Aside from the stow and go, the bench, and the 36,000 miles on the odometer,  I dig the little mirror located above the rearview mirror. It's sole purpose is to allow the driver to see the kids in the back row, which downright ROCKS.

Here's some pics right off the website.

Here's that second row bench:

Here's the stow and go before:

and after:

Some of the dealer perks: a $520 gas card, a year of roadside assistance, a 3 month/3000 mile comprehensive warranty, and free car washes for the life of the vehicle, which can come in handy with a white car.

I like it, and I hope/pray/wish it works out well for Lisa for many years to come.