Quote

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"

Leaves of Grass and The Invention of Lying

'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 discourses 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.

A Good Fight

I love when my kids fight over the last brussel sprout, makes me feel like I'm doing something right! - Lisa

Gabrielle Giffords

U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords has died after being shot at a store in Tucson, Arizona, law enforcement source tells CNN. -

RIP

UPDATE: the CNN report was incorrect. She has survived!!!!!

The Last Exorcism

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.

TV

'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.

A trip to Chi-town

In mid November we took the kids on a spur of the moment trip down to Chicago, both to eat at a deep dish pizzeria and to check out the skyline. Despite a very long wait for the pizza the kids behaved, and while they did their best to act underwhelmed at first, they quickly became entranced by downtown Chicago and the skyline.

Said Ginger a few days afterwards to a friend: "We went to Chi-taco"

Me and the Junie

Jaws

'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.

Knight and Day

'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.

 Winter break went surprisingly fast with very little problems...Thank God! But still looking forward to my 3 hrs without kids in the am tomorrow - Lisa

More updates from Nov

Nov 18th



Were having some internet problems (by 'problems' I mean I forgot to pay the bill) so for the immediate future all FB will be by mobile only.



Nov 20th


out at a restaurant, and Smiley is macking hard on the cute waitress.


Nov 21st


RIP Laurencia Bembenek. I'm sorry WI denied you justice in life.


Damn Michael Vick is good. (this post, re: the Eagles QB wh0 served time for dog fighting, brought out a very negative response on FB. I replied as follows: so we can/are expected to allow for the rehab of everyone from rapists to killers, but someone responsible for the death of animals is somehow unforgivable? That says more about the screwed up mindset of our society than anything else.)





Nov 22nd

‎"You happy Mommy?" Ginger's favorite ?, asked every morning and off and on throughout the day

Dick Button is a judge on Skating w/ the Stars? What a coup for the show, adding a much needed pinch of respectability to what threatens to be a short lived experiment.

Nov 23rd
Weird day, eh? Late November, but so warm it felt like spring, w/ rain showers and even tornado warnings in SE Wisconsin. & yet it's supposed to be in the 20's later this wk. What a beautiful, whacky state.

Woken up @ 4:45 by noise in the alley, & when I saw the light on in my car I ran outside. No one was there, & I suppose Lis coulda left the lt on. Next time I play hero I can't be barefoot slippers & wearing onlypj bottoms. The hell w/ the danger of a fight, the cold nearly did me in.

I finished Blatty's "Crazy", a novel about a boy who befriends a girl w/ a few screws loose who may/may not be from the future. It'- very sweet and nostalgic, w/ a few good laughs tossed in. As always Blatty's faith provides the philosophical backbone of the book. A nice read in the vein of Mitch Albiom {sic}

The Big Bang Theory

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

Quote

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

Books Read 2010

1. Trail of Blood by Lisa Black
2. Mortal Fear by Greg Iles
3. Columbine by Dave Cullen
4. Ancestor by Scott Sigler
5. Blue Eyed Devil by Robert B Parker
5. Dimiter by William Peter Blatty (sp?)
6. Split Image by Robert B Parker
7. God's Spy by Juan Gomez-Jurado
8. The Passage by J. Cronin
9. The Moses Expedition by Juan Gomez-Jurado
10. Matterhorn by Karl Marlantes
11. The Father Hunt by Rex Stout
12. Silent Speaker by Rex Stout
13. Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez
14. Emails from an Asshole by John Lindsay
15. The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo by
16. The Girl who Played with Fire by
17. Blockade Billy by Stephen King
18. The Infinite by Douglas Clegg
19. Little Stranger by Sarah Waters
20. Savages by Don Winslow
21. Final Target by Steve Gore
22. Silent Prey by John Sandford
23. One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich
24. The Burning Land by Bernard Cornwell
25. The Burning Wire by Jeffrey Deaver
26. Gone for Good by Harlan Coben
27. Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
28. The Andromeda Strain by Michael Crichton
29. The 1st Rule by Robert Crais
30. Horns by Joe Hill
31. The Colorado Kid by Stephen King
32. The Third Option by Vince Flynn
33. The Incredible Shrinking Man by Richard Matheson
34. The Ghosts of Cannae by Robert L. O'Connell
35. Star Island by Carl Hiassen
36. The Automatic Detective by A Lee Martinez
37. Darkly Dreaming Dexter by Jeff Lindsay
38. Dearly Devoted Dexter by Jeff Lindsay

39. Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay
40. Dexter in the Dark by Jeff Lindsay
41. Dexter is Delicious by Jeff Lindsay

42. Bad Blood by John Sandford

43. Marathon

44. The Epic of Gilgamesh

45. Stalingrad by Anthony Beever

46. Painted Ladies by Robert B Parker

47. White House Diary by Jimmy Carter

48. Write it When I'm Gone by Thomas DeFrank

49. Flash Forward by Robert J Sawyer

50. The Searchers by Alan LeMay

51. Body Work by Sara Paretsky

52. Let the Right One In by John Ajvide Lindqvist

53. Handling the Undead by John Ajvide Lindqvist

54. The Manhattan Hunt Club by John Saul

55. Layover in Dubai by Dan Fesperman

56. Towers of Midnight by Brian Sanderson and Robert Jordan

57. Crazy by William Peter Blatty

58. Jaws by Peter Benchley (the last book, chronologically, that I read in '10)

59.

60.

More FB from mid November. I guess I had a lot of free time on the 16th. Sorry 'bout that.

Nov 15th

We finished Season 2 of Hell's Kitchen tonight. There's no way Virginia should have made it to the finals, but in the end the right choice (Heather) won. She was shafted re: the prize, but that's a tale for another day. Trivia: Heather,who I found quite yummy, was romantically involved w/ fellow contestant Rachel. Sadly, Rachel killed herself less than a year after the show aired.

I'm 50 or 60 pages into Stephen King's new story collection and yawn yawn yawn. Hopefully it picks up. BTW, I hate when King writes about sex, even in passing. I don't care how many kids he has or how long he's been married, the text always comes off crude, like it was written by the ugly kid in high school who has to pretend he knows what boobies look like.

[that posting led to Alex, an old grade-school classmate of mine, ribbing me that I didn't know much about women either. I replied as follows: Ah, to shake the persistent reputations of our youth. Alex, I can assure you I've seen plenty of boobs. I have a subscription to National Geographic.]

Nov 16th

the rare, funny Leno one-liner: "President Obama's overseas trip has been such a disaster that people in Kenya now claim that he has an American birth certificate."

Britain's Prince William and Kate Middleton have announced their engagement. 'bout time you made her an honest woman William!

Word is everyone from the execs, to Tom Brockaw, to the grunts in the field despise Keith Olbermann. He's a knob. Case in point? The man allegedly demands that staff leave notes outside his door, rather than soil his presence by having to see the underlings.

Just tried and failed to win tickets to the New Kids on the Block/Backstreet Boys [NKOTBSB] concert in June. Crap. Still, it's not like I won't buy tix eventually. At least the winner is a Joey fan, although I'm not keen on her bringing up Jon's sexuality on-air, and I sure as hell don't like Alley's anti-Jon bias. A woman cursed with kankles should have better manners - words to live by Alley, words to live by.

Ginger got off the school bus in a dark mood. We sat outside on the porch, enjoying this warm Nov day, but when I stopped Ms. Grump from writing on a fundraiser form she picked up a flowerpot LuLu had made over the summer & intentionally shattered it on the ground. She is now screaming at the injustice of my anger & her banishment to her room - oh, she just yelled that she hates me. I must be doing something right.

In an upset, former Milw. (current NYC) Archbishop Timothy Dolan has been elected Pres of the U.S. Conf. of Catholic Bishops! "It means the bishops have decided to opt for a confident Catholicism. They had a choice, & they chose the boldest, most outspoken bishop. U wouldn't choose him as ur leader unless u thought what he was doing in the capital of the world (NY) is what we want the church to represent." (quote of Princeton's Robert George)

btw, IMO this was a clear and bold rebuff of the passive, submissive wing of the American Church, the folks who try to get by with wringing their hands and saying "can't we all get along, even if it means we give up everything we believe in???"

Ground was broken today on the site of the George W Bush Presidential Center, set to open in 2013.

The body of 16th century Danish astonomer Tycho Brahe is being exhumed. I vividly recall reading about him in high school.

Reports on CNN indicate Iraqi Christians have reason to fear their Muslim neighbors and are more and more often staying out of sight. Ah, the religion of peace at work.

I took LuLu to get a haircut today, & while she was in the chair I went next door to do some shopping. When I returned a man approached me and asked if I'd be interested in having Lu model for him. I know - instant creep factor, & I brushed him off. But he left a business card behind & to my surprise he cks out, w/4 decades of legit art exhibitions (assuming he hasn't rigged a half dozen websites). Huh. Weird.

(he later rejected her as "too tall")

A 'Dancing With the Stars' upset - Bristol Palin sends Brandy packing. Wow. Good for her, but there's no way she was a better dancer than Brandy. Not that I care; IMO folks that spend more than half their workday dancing have an unfair advantage that skews the results (cough Nicole Scherzinger, cough). But again, congrats Bristol. Good luck next week in the finals.

Willow Smith is Wil Smith's 10 year old daughter and has a hit on her hands w/ "Whip my Hair". It's one of YaYa's current favorite tunes, and she adores the fact Willow is only a year older than her. The kids got a voice, that's for sure, but even to my pop-friendly ears the song has little more than a nice hook to recommend it.

A'ight, some of my Pop Culture training must be kicking in. When Elton John's 'Bennie and the Jets' came on the radio tonight YaYa correctly identified it, w/ no hesitation at all. She then asked me what the heck the song was about, and I didn't have a bleepin' clue. LOL

It predates my birth by a year. What, that means I can't come out and recommend it now? I've been listening to the album 'Band on the Run' a lot lately, and it is mighty fine. If you don't own a copy, pick one up. You won't regret it.

I finally saw the LOST epilogue, "The New Man in Charge". Eh. So-so. 12 minutes is too short a time to answer any question worth asking. I'd like to see Hurley's 'reign', and Walt and Ben's employment, explored further in other media as the years go by.


Nov 17th

I spent part of the morning surfing FB on the new NOOK color.

Lauren Conrad = Yum da YumYum. She looks like Marcia Brady, only not fifty and poor. Better yet, she's the super hot Marcia Brady as you *imagined* her to be when you were a kid.

Is anyone reading Stephen King's "Full Dark, No Stars"? I am, and right now it feels a lot like work. The first novella is so derivative of Poe it reads like student work from a creative writing course. The 2nd story is better, but naturally has a writer as the protagonist, just like, oh, Dark Half, The Shining, Bag of Bones, Misery, The Body, etc. Way to think outside the box Steve.

Former President GHW Bush will receive the Medal of Freedom. Congratualations, and well deserved sir.

WISN is reporting that Lawrencia Bembenek has been moved to a hospice & won't live to see 2011. I can remember my Grandparents looking at newspapers during her trial & saying they were sure she was framed; it'd be nice if some measure of justice took place while Bambi was around to see it. A request for a pardon is in the works, but the powers that be have kept her down for 30 yrs, so don't hold your breath.

Mid November on FB

Nov 13th

Just finished watching the new "Nightmare on Elm Street". It was pretty good, but I'm not a fan of the new Nancy, or the humorless Freddy. The worst part? The preschool picture, w/ all the kids in the ancient outfits? It was dated *1994*. I was wearing flannel and mourning Kurt when those buggers were being potty trained. Ugh.


"The Hairy Hands is a ghost story/legend that built up around a stretch of road in Dartmoor, United Kingdom, which was purported to have seen an unusually high number of motor vehicle accidents during the early 20th century." - Wikipedia (after researching a scary story I read in one of YaYa's books)

Wisconsin destroyed Indiana on the gridiron, scoring 83 points. Wow.

Nov 14th

I just finished Towers of Midnight, the 13th book in the Wheel of Time series. As expected, it's a well written, engaging storyline populated with characters you know better than you know yourself (and small wonder, unless you've written 13 autobiographies of 1000 pgs each). The sun has begun to set upon the Third Age; Tarmon Gai’don is near. May the Light preserve us all.

Today is my parent's 40th wedding anniversary. Congratulations to them, and may they enjoy 25 more together!






Today we celebrated Meadow's birthday (our friend Chris' daughter) Here's a pic of her younger sister (aka Smiley's bride) giving her beau a kiss, and of a cake we had here.




Later YaYa went to a sleepover party for Meadow, where she had her hair done.





Well, this means poop over diddly to anyone else, but I just discovered (via the magic of the wiki) that a series of books I read in my childhood were penned by a pseudonym of none other than Eisner winning writer Peter David. It's good to know I was drawn to the good schtuff even in my youth.

I can barely say this w/out cringing in embarrassment, but it was the Photon series, the 'backstory' to the Photon lazer tag game. The series ran for 5-6 young adult novels around the time I'd have been in middle school.

The bad? I didn't land (yet another) job I'd applied for, making me quite grumpy for a minute. Then, a small burst of good news. The Journal-Sentinel has asked me to do a holiday column, w/ the editor stating that "From previous columns of yours, I think you could do one with the right feel, be broad enough to appeal to all readers, and also steer clear of politics." So there's a coupla bucks in my pocket.
Here's a pic of LuLu and a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle she completed today:

And here's a picture of Ginger following her dance class (11-15)

Palermo's PIzza Tour with the Girl Scouts

 

An Update on my 1st Grade Teacher

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.

FB Nov 5th thru 12th

Nov 5th
I finished "The Dead Path" by Australian writer Stephen M. Irwin. It's a ghost/horror novel reminiscent of Straub's "Ghost Story", and it's quite good; intelligent, well written, and disturbing in all the right places. BTW, I first saw the book advertised here, on FB, on one of those sidebar ads. So I guess they do work sometimes :)


RIP baseball great Sparky Anderson

Nov 6th

According to politico.com, ‎31% of self-identifying gay voters cast ballots for Republicans in the midterm election.


YaYa is up in Wasau at a two-day dance 'intensive', a seminar that includes a solid 6hrs of dance tomorrow. Pics of her departure were posted earlier. Here's an email from her to Lisa (I didn't warrant one apparently :) " hi mom we're at the motel, havin lots of fun.... syl !!!! love u i would write more but only got 20 mins!!! your daughter gracie/gracye"






Nov 7th

The best part about being predictable was that it allows u to do the unexpected (Brandon Sanderson)

Nov 8th

Al Harris was released by the Packers today. Unless he decides to wear purple [join the Vikings], I wish him well.

Nov 9th

A Carnival cruise ship w/ 3300 passengers aboard had a fire that knocked out their power. Their passengers are now stuck off the coast of Mexico w/ no electricity and precious little in the way of non-perishable food - not to mention hygiene concerns.

Scottish explorer Donald Mackenzie, who had gone in search of Noah's Ark, has been reported missing.

A mistake Google made on one of their maps gave Nicaraua an excuse to invade part of Costa Rica. This, my friends, is why I use Bing.

[3:39 PM] It's a beautiful, warm Nov day and Smiley and LuLu are outside w/ me in the backyard. They are playing a game called - can u believe this? - "Fartchicken"

Watching Dubya on Oprah. I adore that man, I truly do.

The kids were awful tonight. Ginger picked up her dinner plate & chucked it across the table; we put her to bed w/out supper. Meanwhile Smiley's had 7 or 8 crying fits (no exaggeration), YaYa was moody, and LuLu was a demon before she fell asleep before supper. All the kids are now in bed for the night. I don't care if it is 6pm, or if homework's done - enough.

The CMA's are advertising they'll feature "the country music debut of Oscar winner Gwenyth Paltrow" Really? C'mon now, that's a joke, right?

[re: official reports dismissing the contrail over LA as an 'illusion'] Yup. An illusion. Like a weather balloon. And swamp gas. Move along people, nothing to see, nothing to see . . .

Nov 10th
[following news that the Met was sending 19 objects back to Egypt]I've said it before, Zahi Hawass is a vile ass. The kingdoms and people who created these objects have more in common with me than they do to the Islamic state that rules the ground now. W/out Western exploration and insight, these artifacts would still be buried or treated like debris. And Hawass? The Rosetta Stone was just a hunk of rock before a Brit deciphered it.

Nov 11th
Remember boys and girls - if a recording artist has even the smallest bit of commercial success, it is your job to heap scorn and ridicule upon them. After all, how dare they succeed while you toil away at the low paying job you so richly deserve? The nerve!

Nov 12th

[news that a Bay View student was stabbed en route to school] He was a Bay View High student, and yet he was coming on a school bus from 36th and Burleigh!!! It'd be nice if Bay View would eventually educate, you know, *kids from Bay View*. Geesh.

RIP Hugh Hickey, a real life (local) inspiration for M*A*S*H

We watched "Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore". It was fine, if you can stomach watching a fantasy world where dogs are remotely as smart as cats.

A trip to Discovery World (mid Nov 2010)

In mid-November my two oldest girls went on a Scouting field trip to Discovery World, a local hands-on science museum. While there they silk screened a canvas bag and created their own signature perfumes. They came away with a good deal of knowledge and a lot of fun. I remain impressed with their experiences in Scouting.

 I really wish my fingers wouldn't go numb 5 minutes after going on the computer, takes all the fun away. - Lisa

Barry Munday

We watched 'Barry Munday' last night, an indie comedy about a man who loses his testicles and then learns he impregnated one of his last lovers. 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.

Election news, some random pics, and other malarkey

Nov 1st

Yest was a long day. I took Lu to church to sell candy w/ her Brownie troop (my rare contribution to her Scouting; Lisa's one of the leaders), then went off to work before returning at halftime of the Sunday Night Football game. Meanwhile Lis took the kids trick or treating again (Milwaukee has different times than Bay View) and ran the show at home. Another long one ahead of us today . .

I've finished "Worth Dying For" the latest Jack Reacher novel by Lee Child. 'twas a time, a few yrs ago, when I thought the series was going to hell, and quickly, but he's turned it around BIG time with the last 3 bks. Very enjoyable. Book geeks - who'd win a three way fight: Reacher, Joe Pike, or Spenser?

Some random phone pics:









Except in cases where the obvious exceptions apply (illness, travel, deployment, handicap) absentee voting is absolute BUNK. Getting off your butt & showing up at the polls is a sign to the world of how much you value YOUR voice being heard. It's also a great way to teach kids the same lesson. If you reduce the act to something akin to filling out a sweepstakes form or voting for A. Idol, all the more shame on you.

Nov 2nd - General Election Day

[re Disney star Demi Lovato dropping out of a tour to receive treatment for mental illness] Save the snark. I wish her well.

The Brewers have hired virtual unknown Ron Roenicke as their new manager. Roenicke was the bench coach of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. There are rumors that he got the job only after $ caused talks with Bobby Valentine to break off, but the club denies that they wanted anyone else. True or not, best of luck to him.



Drudge is calling the WI Senate race for Johnson, but I'm loathe to rely on exit polling with voting still open. We'll have to wait and see.

Family night in progress: pizza and garlic bread, followed by homework and a rental of Toy Story 3. YaYa and LuLu are even getting along, chit chatting, helping each other with chores and homework and standing up for one another. That last bit just isn't right. The world seems somehow . . . off.

Obama: Agenda 'all at risk' if GOP wins today. Let's hope so.

‎{Fair Warning: Gonna be a lot of political posts tonight. If it isn't your thing, feel free to scroll on by.} "Tea Party Scores Multiple Victories, ABC News Projects Rand Paul Win in Ky. Senate Race"

‎*Fair Warning: Gonna be a lot of political posts tonight. If it isn't your thing, feel free to scroll on by.* Dan Coats won Evan Bayh's seat in Indiana, marking the first Senate gain for the GOP today; also, as reported below controversial Rand Paul (R) will win in Kentucky.

CNN.com is now reporting that the House is in GOP hands . . .

Nov 3rd

Ah, happy day, happy day! Here in WI we put Scott Walker in the Governor's chair & knocked Feingold on his keister. Nationally the GOP picks up at least *60* seats and control of the House, the largest gain since 1948. The only downer was the local defeat of two folks I know. November 2nd 2010 = a great bleepin' day.

In non election news, Toy Story 3 was great, if a wee dark for the younger kids. Kudos to Pixar for crafting a fine trilogy. Later Lis and I watched the Swedish film "The Girl Who Played With Fire". Bleh. It was so slow we didn't even watch it clean through. Weird - the bk was better than the over-hyped Dragon Tatoo, but the movie version of that blew this sequel away.

Your likely Speaker of the House, John Boehner of Ohio.

One last political blurb (for the time being). I notice, coming off a trouncing, Dems, including Harry Reid, are big on saying "we must work together". I'm not against the notion, but uh, where was that crap when your Prez was telling Republicans to "sit in the back of the bus" and to "shut up"? How hypocritical to ask for courtesy when you were willing to offer none when YOU had the power.

[failed Gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett states he'll run for re-election as Mayor of Milwaukee] This one doesn't count. It's local. :) Yeah, he's an allright Joe, but I think Barrett has done little more than tread water and raise my property taxes as mayor. I just don't know anyone (better) who is interested in running right now, so he may get a bunch of votes by default.

Nov 4th

I just finished 'Splice' , a horror film about a genetically engineered humanoid. It wasn't terrifying, but it was intelligent & raised some valid concerns about that line of research. It also featured the oddest sex scene I've ever seen in a mainstream film. BTW, I found the female researcher morally repugnant, start to finish. In another life she would have been sewing kids together in a concentration camp.

[a follow up to Lovato] Again, save the snark. She seems like a very nice, talented young woman and my kids like her. According to her parents, she suffers from both eating disorders and a history of cutting. My prayers are with her.

Some pics I took while waiting for YaYa's dance class to let out