American Idol

I'm watching Idol w/ Lisa, and let me tell you: I have developed a major crush on Nicki Minaj. Cute, sexy, funny, and the *clear* leader of the pane by force of personality and intelligence. As for the fight with Mariah, she's right: they are obsessed with pigeonholing these singers and forcing them into a mold, and kudos to her for calling out the pompous and dull Mariah. As Lisa said in a text to me "w/o Nicki I'd b yawnin"

The Following

Watched the pilot of Kevin Bacon's "The Following". A little formulaic, plus I'm sick of Poe being misused as a demented inspiration, but I'll continue to watch the show. As for Maggie Grace . . . .welllll, the woman tries, I'll give her that.

:Shiver:

Wind chill of -25 degrees (F). It's f'ing Stalingrad out there.

Medieval Madness

Saturday night was my step-father-in-law's 75th birthday party at Organ Piper Pizza. In the arcade there I found something Carlos H and Dale C might remember: a Medieval Madness pinball machine. True talent doesn't fade with time, and soon not only was I making that machine my [redacted] I had a group of fans watching my performance: kids, teens, and even a cute blonde. I earned two free games and strutted away, giving the games away to my adoring crowd. It was, somewhat sadly, the premier athletic accomplishment of my life. BAM!

My Thoughts

I know most fans I've talked to want SF to win it all, because (so their reasoning goes) they beat the Packers: ergo, if they take it all, we can say we were beat by the best and some of the pain goes away. That's a crock. If you're ass is whupped, root for your tormentor to get his own ass whupped. Rooting for your oppressor is some seriously 99% sh*t.

Congrats to Lu!

Congrats are in order for LuLu and the Cudahy Girls Basketball Club, who finished 3rd in the Oak Creek Shootout Tournament yesterday!

Congrats!

Kudos to Entourage's daughter Meadow for her MLK Day essay, which won an MPS contest and was published (with her picture) in the Journal-Sentinel.

A Great Quote

"History doesn't repeat itself - at best it sometimes rhymes" - Mark Twain. One of the smartest quotes of all time.

Cloud Atlas

I watched "Cloud Atlas", the Tom Hanks/Halle Berry movie based on the great book by the same name. It's a long film with characters and storylines inter-weaved across centuries. I liked it, even if I think it would have been better served by trimming a few scenes, like the Cavendish adventure. I don't quite understand why the film was ignored by the Oscars. Worst case scenario it's an ambitious film with stunning visuals, and certainly worth a nod in (at least) a technical category.

 2013 tally to date: 4 books, 21 movies

Earl Weaver

 RIP Earl Weaver, age 92

Stan Musial

 RIP Stan The Man Musial, age 92. Baseball - and the world of harmonica players - will miss you.

Oh Boy

The school had standard lice checks today, and while LuLu was being examined her teacher asked the nurse:  "How did you learn to be a lice checker?"

To which the nurse replied- : "I grew up in South Milwaukee". 

Priceless.

Tired of people who lie to make themselves feel better. Just tell the truth, plenty of people can relate to the truth. For instance, car accidents....notice how it's never really anyone's fault? Well here's a confession: I once hit the person in front of me because I was looking down in my lap putting a sauce packet into a taco. Now that's a fault to an accident. I learn from my mistakes, not lie about them. - Lisa

Boxing Day 2012

It’s a Boxing Day Tradition for Team Slap: each year on the day after Christmas we take a road trip. 2012’s destination was supposed to be the Cave of the Mounds, but financial concerns scratched that trip. Instead we headed down to Gurnee to dine at the Rainforest Café.

I’d been there before a couple of times, but I must not have been paying attention, because I had no memory of how cool it was. Robotic jungle animals sit just out of reach (we dined near the tigers). There’s a ceiling of stars. Jungle vines hang from the ceiling. Giant aquariums grace the entrance to the dining room. Every 15 minutes a crash of thunder is heard, and ‘rain’ falls in the jungle areas.

The company was great and the food was yummy!

We ended our meal with their signature desert, a mountain of brownies and ice cream topped off by a sparkler. Deeeeeelish!

What a great Boxing Day, even if it wasn’t the one we had planned.

 

Dear Abby

 RIP Pauline Phillips, better known as Dear Abby, age 94.

American Idol Season 12

My verdict on American Idol Season 12? So far Keith Urban might as well not be there for the impact he has, Mariah Carey has no personality, unless you count the occasional bit**yness, Randy is still Randy, and against all odds, Nicki Minaj is shaping up to be not only an endearing and effective judge, but a highlight of the show.

The Chuck E Cheese Christmas Bash!

Last week Monday (1/7/13) my Mother-In-Law held her annual Christmas outing at Chuck-E-Cheese, a holiday present for the kids in our circle. As usual, it was a blast, and we stayed until 9 pm!

 The day was best recorded by the 'sketchbook' booth at CEC. I don't know what technology it uses, but I LOVE that program. 

Here's Junie/Ginger and her friend Tempe

Junie and her Grandma

Junie and her Mom

Here's two of my beautiful ladies - YaYa and her Mom

Lisa and her entourage

LuLu and Meadow

Me and my lady

Here's Smiley, and Smiley and Lisa. 

Speaking of Smiley, he won the annual contest to win the Gingerbread House (this year a tree) that my mother-in-law crafts and places in a glass jar handed down from her mother. Smiley was thrilled to win it, as it has been all but owned in recent years by the Entourage's kids! 'Bout time we got to taste the treat (and btw, LuLu would scream at me if I didn't mention she'd helped Grandma make it)

The Layover aka Abducted

The only high point of the last 36 hours was watching "Abducted" (also known as "the Layover" an awful film in which Lauren Holley plays a hospitality mogul kidnapped by sex traffickers in Detroit. There's no nudity in the film, very little blood, and absolutely no story worth watching. BUT it does have a great, unintentionally hilarious line: "I'm not saying you're all hags, but at best you're Detroit Pretty". Worth the price of the rental right there.

So Far

So far I've spent the first day and 1/3 of my days off coughing up a lung or passed out in bed. I should have called in over the weekend when this thing hit and been done with it, but noooooo, I am a prisoner to my childhood and refuse to skip work/school unless I'm dying. Which, at the moment, it feels like might just be happening.

It's All We Have Left

As our culture and our nation continues its slide into full Suckassyness, one bastion of our grand past still stands tall: The Match Game.  Where have you gone Gene Rayburn, a nation turns its lonely eyes to you (woo woo woo).

The First Two Books of 2012

Today I finished my first book of the year, ‘The Lawgiver’, a new novel by the great Herman Wouk. It’s the story, told in epistolary format, of the pre-production troubles of a film about Moses. The book was written by Wouk as a concession to his decades-long inability to finish a book on the Old Testament figure, and he and his wife are included as characters in the novel.  I liked it well enough, and Wouk seems technologically savvy despite his advanced age (he’s in his late ‘90’s) but don’t kid yourself. This isn’t in the same class as his masterpieces. What bothered me greatly was that for all the talk about how complex Moses was and how difficult a subject he is, very, very little of the book is given over to explaining why that is so, or to attempting to unravel that enigma.  Grade: B-+

I’ve also finished ‘Your House is on Fire, Your Children All Gone’, a novel by Stefan Kiesbye. It reads as a collection of interconnected short stories centered on a small group of children in post-war Germany. It has been widely acclaimed as a gem of literary horror, but while I found some of the stories well developed and chilling, most of them left me feeling empty.  I have to say, this one was a bit of a disappointment. Grade: B

LOL

Txt from Lisa: I wish u could appreciate mac n cheese . . . I feel like it keeps us apart a bit ;)

50 Degrees

50 degrees on January 11th? Uh, and I'm supposed to consider global warming a "problem"? Enjoy the sun folks!