Our First Family Fun Night

In the midst of our first family fun night . . . homemade tacos, now getting ready to play Topple and Go Fish

Irresponsible

I think it's appalling that 'legitimate' media outlets like CNN and CBS are using gossip sites like TMZ as official sources and then running pieces with no legitimacy . . do I think Brittany Murphy died of drugs? Probably. But I wouldn't write a headline piece about it just because a quack on TMZ (who didn't know her or work on the case) said it "must have been drugs".

 I think I'll feel more Christmasy after the house is clean, so that's the goal for today! - Lisa

News of the Weird

 BOSTON (Dec. 22) -- Police say a frustrated Boston woman called 911 to say she couldn't get her 14-year-old son to stop playing video games and go to sleep.

Ready for Xmas?

School programs done? check. Tree up? check. Presents? check. First holiday party? Check......Ready for Christmas? Hell no....lol. - Lisa

FYI

Just received word I'll be in the Journal again on Christmas Day. You've got plenty of notice, so no excuses for not buying a paper that day :)  That'll be the 13th or 14th column of the year for me. Kinda neat it's happened so often I've lost count.

My mother in law is coming home today....poor thing two of my kids are there to "welcome" her....muhahaha.....j/k...they won't be there too long, school tomorrow! Besides it's the two easier ones....that's not saying much, but still! - Lisa

Another Stupid List - Concerts I've seen

I'm not a big concert person, so don't expect a long list here. I don't like crowds, I don't appreciate start times that mean "two hours from the time printed on the ticket" and I don't like artists who F with their songs on stage in the name of 'art'.

Alice In Chains
Kenny Rogers
Creed
Tina Turner
Madonna
Bare Naked Ladies
Prince
New Kids on the Block
Cyndi Lauper
Billy Ray Cyrus
Black 47
Belinda Carlisle
Liz Phair
Dada
Joey McIntyre
Jordan Knight
Alanis Morrisette

I Love You, Man

"Jesus," Lisa said. "It's like they made a movie about you!"

Not true, I countered. Yes, "I Love you Man!" features a protagonist who is more comfortable among women than men, who hangs out at home with his lady rather than goes out with the boys, who doesn't drink often, and who.

But, I countered, unlike him I do have male friends, and rattled off a list.

"But you don't go hang out with them," Lisa said, "That's why your All-Star party is so important to you. It's the one time a year you do the guy thing."

"But that's my choice," I said. "It's different."

And so it is. Later in the film, however, it's revealed that the main character often slips into a cadence that resembles an Irish lilt. Lisa roared.

"That is SO YOU!"

I'll give her that. For some reason, I have developed a verbal tic where I slip into the same speech pattern. It's nuts, and I've been raked over the coals for it.

Anywho . . .

The great Paul Rudd plays Peter Klaven, all around nice guy without any male friends, and at the urging of his fiance he goes in search of a buddy to be the best man at his wedding. He finds him in the form of Sydney Fife, played by Jason Segal, and the two hit it off. Too well, as a matter of fact, because his fiance soon gets jealous. Will Klaven have keep his friend and his wife? Or will he have to choose between them both?

I thought this was a very good movie, and very funny at times. Segal is a little too laid back for the role, IMO, as you'd think it would take a complete extrovert to draw Klaven out, and not merely a more masculine introvert. There was also, as his fiance points out, a degree of awkward sexual tension between the two that seemed out of place at best.

Small potatoes really. An enjoyable film, and a 3.1 out of 4.

Tropic Thunder

This movie has everything it takes to implode the head of a Politically Correct watchdog.

There's an actor in blackface, a movie-in-a-movie portrayal of a mentally retarded man, a heroin addicted comedian who specializes in farts, a Jewish executive who's greedy and obnoxious, the kiling of a giant panda, and a whole mess of drug peddling violent South East Asians.

Yikes.

Tropic Thunder is a film about a Vietnam movie being filmed on location. Unbeknownst to the actors they are no longer part of an experimental film technique, they're actually at war with a local drug cartele. Hijinks ensue.

I thought it was a blast, a solid if not spectacular chuckler from beginning to end. And the cast was top notch - Robert Downey (who was great), Jack Black, Ben Stiller, Nick Nolte, Matthew McCaughnahay (sp?), and Tom Cruise (in a great part as the movie exec).

The drawbacks to the film are readily apparent and irrelevant - what, you wanted a complex plot and romance? - and shouldn't hold you back from seeing this movie.

2.5 out of 4.