Moseing (is that the right spelling?) up to the middle of January

Jan 5th

‎'Dinner for Schmucks' was hit and miss, w/ a few laughs and not a whole lot more to offer. PBS's contemporary 'Sherlock' is grand and a credit to the character. And there's no loser on "The Amazing Race" as even the eliminated teams experience sights and experiences I can only dream about.

I have friends on FB who strongly believe otherwise, but I feel that the anti-vaccine movement is a serious threat to public health. To find that one of the cornerstones of that movement is not only a discredited study, but a deliberately fraudulent one, cements that notion. Sadly, as per a CNN.com article "[believers are] not going to let the facts dissuade their beliefs that MMR causes autism"

Jan 6th

I rented 'The Last Exorcism' expecting a lousy film. I'm happy to say I was wrong. A disillusioned preacher asks a documentary crew to film him during an exorcism, so that he can reveal his profession to be a scam. Obviously it doesn't go as planned,but throughout you're never sure if the girl is possessed, mentally ill, crying out for help, a victim or a con herself. Very scary at times and solid throughout. Bravo.

Tomorrow, the two oldest start selling girl scout cookies, so let us know starting tomorrow how many cases you'd like, LOL. $3.75 a box this year, & worth every penny for the opportunities they allow girls locally and globally! Did you know that Thin Mints are 2nd only to OREOS in nationwide sales?!! Now imagine if Girl Scouts sold their thin mints more then just one month out of the year! Thin Mint domination!!

Jan 8th

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has died after being shot during a mass shooting in a store in Tucson, Arizona, law enforcement source tells CNN. NOTE: the report was wrong. She survived. Many others did not, including the 9 yr old granddaughter of former MLB manager Dallas Green.


We watched SALT last night, and I liked it a lot. It was a fun and decently intelligent thriller. Angelina Jolie, while a blonde and therefore not as hot as usual, was great as a suspected Russian sleeper agent. She's earned the crown of best ever female action hero . . . although, come to think of it, I can't think of another candidate.

Jan 9th

No time to say this yesterday, as I worked 'til 10, but congrats to the Seahawks, my 2nd favorite NFC team. It was a pain to follow the game at work, gleaming bits of info from customers, but I can't argue with the result

Jan 10th

‎'Leaves of Grass' was a bore, a truly pretentious turd of a film. There was the woman who answered questions by reciting verses of poetry, the discources on philosophy, needless gore & 'Parent Trap' FX. That enough for ya? OTOH, "The Invention of Lying" was pleasant enough, it's atheist plot notwithstanding. How a man can work alongside Jennifer Garner & not believe there's a Creator at work is beyond me.

I learned that I shouldn't get high to come up with ideas. I should come up with ideas and then get high to reward myself. - South Park "A Million Little Fibers"

RIP Dick Winters, the WWII officer featured in the series Band of Brothers



Jan 11th

We couldn't find a babysitter (6 months today!) so we took Ginger w/ us to lunch at Olive Garden. Subpar service but good food, and Ginger was an angel. She's gone from Thug to darling over the last few wks, and right now she's the apple of my eye. BTW, thanks Pam & Tre for the OG GC.

A man who fears suffering is already suffering from what he fears. - Michel de Montaigne

MySpace has cut its staff in half

A 6,000 year old wine press has been found in Armenia

Jan 12th

Aww man. RIP David Nelson of Ozzie and Harriet

Jan 13th

I love Jimmy Stewart's office in the movie 'Bell, Book and Candle'

"I felt awestruck, affirmed in my belief that there were no bounds to ingenuity when it met the curve of need." - Keith Hollihan, 'The Four Stages of Cruelty'

Jan 15th

A friend just asked to borrow $ from me to get a tatoo on her foot. Correct me if I'm wrong, but we *have* met before right? Asking Dan Slap- to pay for a woman's foot to be marred is like asking the Pope to wizz on the Bible.

The tat in it's final location. Work by Zoe's Vicious Circle on Howard Ave.




I finished Keith Hollihan's 'The Four Stages of Cruelty', a novel about the CO's & inmates of a max security prison. It's a good story, & Hollihan is a talented stylist. IMO the bks biggest handicap is its cover, styled to look like the panels of a comic bk. It gives a completely wrong impression of the contents & I'm sure many people have walked on by it w/out a second thought.

"Bad temper is an indication of a man's character; every man can be judged by the things which make him mad." Archbishop Fulton Sheen

One Brett Favre stat no one ever talks about: in his career Farve has put his hands under another man's ass over 20,000 times. (h/t Mick Lexington)
For dinner I made a huge pot of Zuppa Toscana from a Olive Garden knock-off recipie I found online. I tweaked it by adding chopped fennel and using half and half in place of 2/3rds of the required heavy cream. Quite deeelish. Now Lis and the newly tattooed Chris are out celebrating the latter's bday w/ a mutual friend, & I'm sitting down for the Packers playoff game vs Atlanta.

Tramon Williams' is gonna have to change his name to Sherman, 'cuz he done burned Atlanta!

[The Pack won and advanced]

Japanese Tsunami

 

I took the family out for a fish fry to celebrate the 1st Friday of Lent. The kids were good - good enough to get a compliment from an elderly couple nearby. Now Lis and I are about to sit down and watch 20/20's report on the horrific earthquake in Japan . .

Jefferson Quote

 "DO NOT bite at the bait of pleasure, till you know there is no hook beneath it."

--Thomas Jefferson

Kate Winslet

 Kate Winslet. #1 on my List of Five for 13 consecutive years.

On Online Ads on News Sites

I have no problem with having to watch commericals on a news site. I just think the site should be more conscious of the context in which they're placed. I'm sure Company X doesn't want their happy-happy jingle to be followed by a story of abuse and torture, as was just the case on CNN.com. It's poor taste, and the fault is CNN's, not the advertiser.

My Thoughts - Online Ads

 I have no problem with having to watch commercials on a news site. I just think the site should be more conscious of the context in which they're placed. I'm sure Company X doesn't want their happy-happy jingle to be followed by a story of abuse and torture, as was just the case on CNN.com. It's poor taste, and the fault is CNN's, not the advertiser.

 My ass is broke I think. And no, I'm not referring to my constant state of poverty for the last 2 plus years, I'm talking about my actual ASS. Thanks to my kids legos and some 120 year old stairs. Sympathize for me, as I don't get any sympathy at home - Lisa

New Years Day thru January 4th

Jan 1st 2011

May I just say - The Big Bang Theory is one heck of a funny, well done show.

In the news: The Pope rallies Christians to not despair in light of recent attacks, and New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson declines to posthumously pardon Billy the Kid.

We're 10 days shy of going 6 months w/out a single day w/out kids - or for that matter, so much as 4 hrs (!). Haven't seen a movie in close to a yr, haven't gone out to dinner alone (w/out a curfew) for months. Typical for some families I guess, but Lisa & I enjoy our time together more than most. I think some parents keep their kids on their t*t so they won't notice how little they like their spouse.

Jan 2nd

Hot damn, the Packers win and advance to the playoffs! Who-hoo! Two other reasons to be happy for the win: a) it came at the expense of the FIB Bears and b) it eliminated Tampa Bay, thereby making Carlos' life just a little less grand. Triple-win for Dan-Dan!

Jan 3rd

An incident at Mayfair Mall, allegedly planned via social networking sites, had the mall on lockdown. According to a witness (and who knows how reliable they are), the incident was not 'isolated' as claimed, and involved as many as 100 youth.
They knocked over merchandise, screamed and yelled, and there were reports of shots fired in the parking lot.

Aside from complaining about the babysitter situation, it was a pretty good New Years wknd. Alcohol helped, of course, but for the most part it was a relaxing wkend full of excessive amts of TV & homemade pizza. Sunday was a little more productive. I watched 9 hrs of football, helped Lis carpet the back stairs, hung a closet rod for Smiley & tracked down a new phone on Craigslist for our friend Chris.

Zsa Zsa Gabor will have a leg amputated





Jan 4th

‎'Knight and Day' was a fun but forgettable spy flick, at least worth a rental from Redbox. What made it rise above its tired plot? A) Tom Cruise's character was genuinely LOL as he prattled on, oblivious to the situations around him and B) Cameron Diaz has gorgeous feet. That alone would sell the movie for me.

Facing multiple lawsuits over sexual abuse, the Archdiocese of Milwaukee is filing bankruptcy. This is a shame, and IMO, a victory for the devil. Literally. My own opinion aside, Archbishop Listeki's statement is very well done, admitting the wrongs of the past and laying blame on those responsible (priests). Either he's a gifted writer or his copywriter deserves a raise.

‎'Jaws', the novel by Peter Benchley, was largely a waste of my time. Speilberg was right - in the book you wind up rooting for the shark because all the humans are a*holes. There's not much to say about his style either. The film is infinitely superior, although I will say that the opening sequence of the book is both well written and suspenseful.

The son of the former Shah of Iran has committed suicide. RIP.

I have a column in tomorrow's (Wed) Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. Kindly pick up a copy if you can.

The words 'injun' and 'ni---er' will be purged from a new edition of Twain's classic Huckleberry Finn. This is, w/out question, censorship and political correctness masked as an attempt to 'widen the reading audience' of the book. "Think of the children!" Yeah, think of them listing to the N word in every other rap. An acquaintance of ours nicknamed his son 'chigga' from a song that rhymes it with the n-word. And Twain is what we worry about?

My cousin Mindy stopped by w/ her son Isiah:




Obama's staff is rumoured to be due for a few roster changes. This is typical at the midpoint of a President's first term. However, when a President is *perceived* to be struggling it is often misinterpreted as a sign of panic and lack of faith - note Carter's disastrous cabinet shakeup in the wake of his 'malaise' speech.

Ouch! I just burned my stomach taking cookies out of the oven. Yeah, I shouldn't be baking sans shirt, but I can usually count on my thick manly belly hair to protect me. Oh well. At least the inevitable scar will blend in with the stretch marks.

Remember, I'm in the paper today. As of now, there are 11 comments about it on the JSOnline site, 2 of them full of angry liberal CAPS and !!!!!! marks. Which is odd, since it has nothing to do w/ politics, left or right. Thank heavens JS didn't have comment capability when they published the gay marriage/concealed carry/Catholic Church columns. I had anonymous hate mail sent to my father's house after one of those.

Morning Glory

I've got this all backasswards - the busier I am in the day, the more I post. Instead of stopping for a cigarette break, I spend a few minutes clogging up your news feed. Yay for you. Just finished Morning Glory, and was shocked it was so good. I LOL'd 11 times - I counted - and Harrison Ford was superbly funny as the crochety old anchor. Loved it.

Quote

Believe that life is worth living and your belief will help create the fact - William James

Grrrrr

Now this Madison mess has interrupted The Wendy Williams Show. Have they no decency?

Walker just finished his press conference. He was well spoken, calm, reliant on acts not emotion, and I'm pretty confident he has balls the size of watermelons. A striking contrast (no pun intended) to the cliche ridden tantrums outside the Capitol.

Instant Replay by Jerry Kramer

Last night I finished "Instant Replay", Jerry Kramer's classic diary of the 1967 NFL season. It's a fun read, with a clear and intelligent voice. (not to spoil the ending, but the Packers win the SuperBowl)

 Yo, if news reports on the chaos in Madison interrupt or pre-empt American Idol, I'm gonna be pissed.

 Breaking news: from what I understand the collective bargaining measure has been removed from the budget bill and pushed forward on its own; since it ISN'T a fiscal bill the GOP can vote and pass it w/out the Senators that fled to IL. I guess it'll happen tonight.

Some short (and I mean short) reviews of TV & Movies

We recently watched the movie "Never Let Me Go", a movie based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. Although the plot is nominally sci-fi, it is so understated as to nearly escape the attention of the viewer. It is moving, beautifully acted, and heart wrenching. SPOILER: I do wonder if the Donors were indeed 'souless' in the sense it as used in the film, as the 'beautiful' art Tommy creates looks like infantile scribbles to me. Was that the intention of the scene?

After a long day at work Lis & I watched "I Knew it Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" (aka Fredo from The Godfather). It was an entertaining tribute to him as an actor, but little else. As to Cazale as a person, we learned he was born in 1935, smoked a lot, died young . . . and that's it. The filmaker could have done a lot more with the material.

We also finished "The Ghostwriter". It would be a dang good movie if the plot made any sense. A former PM of Great Britain demonized and branded a war criminal for having 4 known terrrorists kidnapped & waterboarded? The UK allowing a PM to be brought up on charges by the (ridiculous) internation court? A consistent anti-American plot thread (literally)? Meh. Bleeding heart politics masquerading as art.

On the opposite end of the entertainment spectrum, we finished watching Survior: Pearl Islands. While we wanted Rupert to win it all, we were pleased that his pal Sandra took home the million dollar prize.

We also watched The Bachelor, Season One. Odd how the 'rose ceremony' had yet to earn its moniker (it was called 'invitation night' instead). Even more noticeable compared to this season (which we also watch): the average physical appearance of both the bachelor and the women has soared over the years. The 'winning' woman was yummy, but the majority . . . yikes.

Our love of The Amazing Race continues, although we've now run out of DVD's. To compensate we started Season One of The Mole. It's a great concept but executed a little sloppily. I hope in later seasons they've learned from their errors.

I've started watching The Streets of San Fransisco and have come away quite impressed. Ditto for the few episodes of The Phil Silvers Show (aka Sgt. Bilko) I've watched. Unlike many older sitcoms it seems well written and the humor is still fresh.

That's it for now. Tune in next time folks.

Lego Smiley

 

Quote

 Do Good And Care Not to Whom - a sign in the hallway of Junie's school, attributed to an old Italian proverb

Finishing 2010 on Facebook

Dec 29th

We watched 'Barry Munday' last night, an indie comedy about a man who loses his testicles and then learns he knocked up one of his last conquests. It's a very sweet but dry film, w/ a few scattered LOL's, and Lisa liked it a lot. I wasn't as thrilled, but it was OK. Of course, the subject matter begs the question: would they make a comedy about a woman who loses both breasts to cancer? Same diff right? Ah, the double standard at work.

Bleepin' kids are all over me while Lisa's at the mall. No, you can't go on the computer. No, you can't watch a movie down here. You have the entire 2nd floor, TV and all. Use it. And don't complain. You are a guest here. That's right, a guest. A guest for 18 long years, but a guest all the same. It's my house & my toys, so pbbbt!

Dec 30th

Two pics of YaYa's new perm:




NY Eve
Fyi Adalbert alum - I just saw Sr Kathleen. She says Sr VIrginia's lung collapsed yest. She is in St Lukes but not doing well.

Here's some photos taken during a recent Girl Scout tour of Palermo's Pizza factory.







Jan 1st

A writer only begins a book. A reader finishes it - Samuel Johnson

 Tim Cuprisin is reporting that Charlie Sheen has been fired from "Two and a Half Men". What crap. If you aren't allowed to be a drug fueled sex addict, then what's the point of Hollywood success?

The Ghostwriter

 Just finished "The Ghostwriter". It would be a dang good movie if the plot made any sense. A former PM of Great Britain demonized for having 4 known terrorists kidnapped & waterboarded? The UK allowing a PM to be brought up on charges by the (ridiculous) international court? A consistent anti-American plot thread (literally)? Bullsh-t.

I just watched some new footage from 9/11, & LuLu came up & asked me if the Towers were factories (because of all the smoke rising from them). She admitted she had no idea what 9/11 was or what it meant to this country. I spent several minutes explaining what happened that day, and I think I did a good job. I'm surprised she hadn't been taught about it in school, although in fairness she is quite young.

 Happy 6th birthday Parker! We love you Smiley!

Happy 6th Birthday Smiley!

The title of the post says it all. Happy Birthday Smiley, and may God bless you with as much love and happiness as you've given this family over the last six years. I love you Little Man!

I Knew it Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale

Tonight, after a long day at work, Lis & I watched "I Knew it Was You: Rediscovering John Cazale" (aka Fredo from The Godfather). It was an entertaining tribute to him as an actor, but little else. As to Cazale as a person, we learned he was born in 1935, smoked a lot, died young . . . and that's it. The filmmaker could have done a lot more with the material.