LuLu just called from school asking for her inhaler. I know people from my school days are rolling their eyes and remembering me as a hypocondriac (sic), but things change. I've missed two days of work in 12 yrs, & while I'll keep the kids home to go see a concert or a ballgame, I'll be damned if they'll stay home for any illness that isn't fatal. But her asthma/allergies are becoming an issue . .

See what I put up with? - Quote of the Day

Lisa and I enjoy watching shows on Discovery ID like Dateline, 48 Hours - basically any of the well-done network true crime shows. The cable reruns also come with the added benefit of being old enough for a nice postscript to be tacked on, letting you know where the case stands.

This weekend, Lisa missed the first ten minutes of an episode and asked me to fill her in on the details.

"Well, it's about a murder in Anytown. There's this guy, he looks like me, you'll see when it comes back on, he's leaving a gym when he's stopped and shot - "

"Wait, wait," Lisa said, interrupting me. "You said he looked like you?"

"Yeah." I said.

"Let me get this straight," she said. "He looked like you and he was coming out of a gym?"

She was grinning and I smelled trouble.

"Why was he there?" she said, "To deliver the mail?"

Some Quick Movie Reviews

I was surprised when Lisa suggested we rent Sherlock Holmes, as it didn't sound like her cup of tea at all: Victorian England, murder and mayhem, two handsome men, one of them a Doctor, running around shirtless and sweaty - wait a minute!


In the end she didn't care for it, because it turned out to be a somewhat generic action flick. A well acted movie, but an action flick all the same. I enjoyed it, but I didn't care for a Holmes that was more about blood and guts than brains. He's Sherlock Holmes. I expected a few more examples of his trademark skill before we were treated to the 'here's where I explain it all" monologue.


To me, the late Jeremy Brett remains the perfect screen Holmes.


B

* * * *




I rented this, as I said on Facebook, largely to pay homage to my late List of Five great, Brittany Murphy. It has very little in the way of plot, although I've seen far worse, and it's largely a bore. But she does look hot in her trademark crack-ish style. RIP.



C-

* * * *

The Descent was a pretty good horror flick about a group of female spelunkers who meet their doom at the hands of cannibalistic mutants inhabiting an Appalachian cave. I know - it's better than it sounds, trust me.

Part 2 is, as you can guess, all but a rerun of the first installment. Assemble diverse rescue party, put them in the identical situation, watch them die one by one. There is a decent development 3/4ths of the way through, and there are some wicked scenes, but that makes it worth a rental price and nothing more. You're much better off with the first movie. P.S. what's with the dude at the end?

C

* * * *

I may have talked about Triangle before, but if I did, so what? It was dang good.

I rented this solely based on a review on The Billiionty-oneth Geek blog. It concerns a young, single mother of an autistic child who takes an acquaintance up on his offer to go sailing one fine afternoon. Soon a strange storm swamps the boat, and the group is 'rescued' by a passing - and abandoned - cruise ship. And from there, things get crazy.

I can't think of a decent way to explain the plot without giving the crux of it away, but I found it enjoyable, and the twist at the end, while believable, came right out of left field.

Rent it and see for yourself.

A -

the oldest tonight had a fit over wearing clothes? Am I being punked? Otherwise a most pleasant day w/ new friends 🙂 - Lisa

I'm trying hard not to be the snarky pre-2009 Danny, but the populace isn't making it easy. Before work I waited in a 7 person line at a convenience store. Along comes an elderly woman, who cut in front of 4 of us with her Hoveround. She shot us a glare and *announced* that she is elderly & hence will assume that spot. Hey, lady, why does it matter to you how long you wait in line? You've already got a f*ing seat.

Rented a movie but Lisa's already asleep & I'm pooped from digging. I might call it a night. Got a lot done in the yard (but not everything) the kids went to Home Depot for the monthly project w/ Grandma J, Lu went to a swim party, & we set up the sandbox & pool. Tonight Park's the only kid home. We've enjoyed the heck out of our 'quality' time w/ him. Life is good. It'd be better with $, but it's good all the same.

Victory of the Daleks

Just finished watching "Victory of the Daleks", ep. 3 of this season of Dr. Who. It features Winston Churchill, a devilish Dalek plan, and Spitfires (!) in a dogfight around the moon LOL. Grand. Good to see the new team jettison Davie's obsession w/ stamping out the Dalek race; this ep. made it clear the Daleks are back & here to stay.

The oil spill in the Gulf is horrendous, & the enviornment will suffer needlessly. But to those who claim this is *the* reason to abandon drilling: unless you live w/out a car, plastics, lawn mower, etc - YOU NEED OIL. We can continue to delude ourselves that letting other countries pump oil for us is somehow saving Mother Earth (?!), but its not. Plus all the economic & security reasons . . .

"When I became a man I put away childish things, including the fear of childishness and the desire to be very grown up." - C.S. Lewis

I'm 12 ft into digging a 2ft deep/30 foot long trench w/ no shade in sight. Anyone want to come over and help? For gosh sake's I'm a fat guy - I'll have a heart attack any second.

My Thoughts

Not to decide is to decide.

So the sandbox is restored for the season, I wonder where the possum will go now? - Lisa

Richard Dawson on Match Game '74: "[Brett Summers] doesn't drink as much as she did. We slowed her down - we bent her funnel."

Just finished putting a new (well, 'new to us') storm door on the back door. Now if only I'd remembered to buy a closer for it . . .

Oopsie

We sent Lu to school today in her full Daisy Scout uniform. An hour later she called us from the office; there is no Daisy meeting today and she sticks out like a sore thumb. Oops. It's certainly not our worst error tho'. A couple of years back we sent both girls to school dressed to the 9's for Pajama Day and, well, I think you can see where this story is going 🙂

Quote of the Day

I was going to spend the morning digging a garden in my backyard, but it's raining, so let's blog!

* * *

Yesterday we had a very casual family dinner, just hot dogs and chips, and the experience was unusually enjoyable. All the kids were friendly and talkative, the polar opposite of the night before, and we all had some laughs.

At one point LuLu spilled ketchup on her white school uniform, and I sent her off to change her shirt. Smiley asked why she couldn't just sit through dinner without a top.

"Because she's a girl," I said, skirting the fact that I'd never allow anyone to come to my table shirtless.

Still, he couldn't understand why that was an issue.

"Because girls have boobies," I said. When in doubt, keep it simple and cut to the chase.

By this time LuLu had returned, and she rolled her eyes.

"Dad, ladies don't have 'boobies'. I'm not a little kid anymore, you should call them by their real name." she said. She took a bite of a chip, swallowed, and finished her thought.

"Smiley," she said,"they are called 'boobs'"

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

I wasn't immune to the positive buzz surrounding The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by the late Swedish author Stieg Larsson. Not only did the book receive wonderful reviews, it became a commercial success with a large and loyal audience. Fearing I had been missing one of the great mystery novels of our time, I bit the bullet and picked it up last week.

And now? Now I'm confused.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is the story of disgraced financial magazine publisher Mikael Blomkvist. Set up and convicted of libel, Blomkvist is hired by the elderly head of the once-mighty Vanger family to investigate the 40 year old disappearance of his teenage grandniece. Soon he is joined by the titular character, 24 year old researcher Lisbeth Salander. Salander is an odd character, even for a fictional world. Heavily tattooed but physically the size of a teenager, she is brilliant yet declared mentally incompetent by the courts. She is
prone to calculated violence and haunted by her past. Together they dig to learn the fate of the missing girl, while all the while a killer closes in on them.

Here's my take on the novel.

I thought the book started horribly slow and was quite tedious. Judging by this book Larsson was quite prone to distraction, and the prose wanders off on a tangent as often as not.

So for 200 pages I was bored - I told someone it was like watching paste dry - but committed. Then slowly, slowly, slowly, I actually started to *care* about the mystery. I think it is largely due to the sheer weight of all the background you're given on the characters, and the time you spend with them; you're damn near forced to care by default. And I'll admit that Salander is a dynamic and captivating character.

100 pages from the end I could admit to being legitimately spooked at the idea of heading into my dark basement to retrieve a load of laundry.

The mystery resolved with a bang, and then the book plodded on for another 50 pages or more! Yes, it allowed for the resolution of the magazine subplot, but honestly - who cared?

Honestly, while I wound up liking the book, all the hoopla and praise seems surreal. I dislike Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code, but I could see why others would buy into the frenzy. I'm not sure why this wasn't left on the shelves gathering dust. Even if I'm wrong and the book is an all-time classic, it is not something I'd expect to entertain an American audience. Color me surprised.

I don't know. All those points against it and I'm still going to read the next one (I'm 70 page in, actually). So who knows - maybe the author made a pact with the devil to win fans. It worked for Stephanie Myers :)

1st half C-
2nd half B+ (A to A+ if you stop after the main plot is complete)
Overall B-

My latest column will appear in tomorrow's Journal-Sentinel. I'll post this again later just to be obnoxious, but you've been warned - buy one!

An argument with YaYa

YaYa and I had an argument this afternoon that matched one I had with my parents almost thirty years ago. Subject matter, volume, regrettable angry statements, you name it - it was eerily word for word at points. Afterwards she lost the glasses she's had for ONE day (found them later). We're good now but man. That was depressing. On the plus side, the column I wrote this morning was accepted by the Journal.

A rare flaw of mine

The word I can never, ever seem to spell correctly without spellcheck: convenient

TV Night

Lisa watched today's Oprah on the DVR. In one segment a woman was happy to say she'd signed Oprah's ridiculous "contract" to ban cell phone use in a car (even w/ hands-free sets). How did the viewer break her 'habit'? Why, by cranking up the volume on her radio to eleven and singing along as she drove. Because THAT isn't more distracting than carrying on a conversation.

AI was surprisingly good, wasn't it? From what we saw (we missed Mike's song) the weakest performance was Bowersox, and she wasn't 'bad' at all. There may yet be hope this season. OTOH, DWTS minus Kate just wasn't worth it. We fast forward-ed (sp?) it this week. Sigh. Maybe if Edyta was still on the show . .

Productive day off so far. Wrote & submitted a piece to the Journal, spent some time w/ Lisa, took Junie w/ me to Home Depot, just got done patching some cracks in our sidewalk and . . .well, sh**, I don't know the construction vocab: redoing a 3x3 square of 100 year old concrete that had cracked and caved in. Now, pending a disaster in the drying process, it looks as good as new. [fingers crossed]

Sometimes they just wear you out

Ok....that's it, they are getting naps. I. am. so. done. - Lisa

Quite Right Doctor

"It's always a big day tomorrow. We've got a time machine. I skip the little ones." - Matt Smith's Doctor

Charles Nelson Reilly ate his own weight in coal and excreted diamonds everyday. True Fact.

My love of The Match Game is well documented; less so is my admiration for the man who entertained America from the top row/stage left for most of the show's run. I speak, of course, of Charles Nelson Reilly.


Well, it turns out that Weird Al Yankovic released a song paying tribute to The Match Game superstar. Here, in a parody of the White Stripes, is 'CNR'.




Charles Nelson Reilly was a mighty man
The kind of man you'd never disrespect
He stood eight feet tall, wore glasses, and had a third nipple on the back of his neck
He ate his own weight in coal, excreted diamonds everyday
He could throw you down a flight of stairs, but you still would love him anyway
Yeah, you know you'd love him anyway

Charles Nelson Reilly won the Tour de France with two flat tires and a missing chain
He trained a rattlesnake to do his laundry, I'm telling you the man was insane
He could rip out your beating heart, and show it to you before you died
Everyday he' make the host of Match Game give him a piggyback ride
Yeah, two hour piggyback ride, giddy up Gene

Ninja warrior, master of disguise
He could melt your brain with his laser-beam eyes, Oh yeah
Oh yeah
He had his own line at the DMV
He made sweet, sweet love to a manatee
Oh yeah
Oh yeah, that was something to see, I tell ya

Charles Nelson Reilly figured out cold fusion, but he never ever told a soul
I've seen the man unhinge his jaw, and swallow a Volkswagen whole
He'd bash your face in with a shovel if you didn't treat him like a star
You could spit at the wind, or tug at Superman's cape
But Lord knows you don't mess around with CNR
No, no, no
Talkin' about CNR