So I made an italian pasta/meat dish tonight and watched MST3K shorts in the kitchen while cooking. To paraphrase Ina Garten, "How fantastic is that?"
That's all for now - I'm so tired that if I go on much further I'll ramble even worse than usual so I know when to cut my losses.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Monday, June 29, 2009
Idle hands are the devil's playground...
I think the rule of blogging is that if you don't really have anything to say (or in my case, don't have anything to say and don't really feel like saying it) you shouldn't bother. But, well, I've been off and on with the blog that I promised to keep daily...right... so I guess I can do a boring diary post.
Not a very effective day at work; I find that I am busy all day but I feel like I'm essentially spinning my wheels because I'm not seeing anything technically go away from my project board or my desk, I'm just putting out the fires that come my way on a minute-to-minute basis. So I guess that's something, but I'd really like to see some stuff going away soon.
Unfortunately I'll be seeing my desk area going away in about two days because I'm getting moved...again. Third time in about two years, which is kind of frustrating. I'm also getting moved into an area I'm not too thrilled about moving to, but hey, whatevs I guess. I think I'm going to go through withdrawals being away from the rest of the creative team I've been able to just shout across the hall to, and the priceless looks between Jeanne and I are going to go away, which makes me sad. Maybe I'll actually get more stuff done over there though, who knows. I guess I can't completely discount it until I work through it a couple of days.
The fantastic news from the weekend is that after spending about two days on it, the kitchen is finally done. It was so great to work in my kitchen for about two and a half hours last night, watching Red Zone Cuba on MST3K and prepping meals for the week. And tonight I cooked my first meal - it was kind of cute sitting at the dining room table with Chris and discussing our day over chicken and noodles in a cream sauce. Afterward he ran to Dairy Queen and got me a brownie batter blizzard because he's a good guy. I paid for it though, of course hahaha.
That's about all she wrote for tonight. I still have to write my review for "Up", so I should probably get to that in the next couple of days. Again, I really question doing that for some of these movies because they are so outdated by the time I see them and review them, but I guess it keeps me in practice until I can get my site up and get accredited.
Not a very effective day at work; I find that I am busy all day but I feel like I'm essentially spinning my wheels because I'm not seeing anything technically go away from my project board or my desk, I'm just putting out the fires that come my way on a minute-to-minute basis. So I guess that's something, but I'd really like to see some stuff going away soon.
Unfortunately I'll be seeing my desk area going away in about two days because I'm getting moved...again. Third time in about two years, which is kind of frustrating. I'm also getting moved into an area I'm not too thrilled about moving to, but hey, whatevs I guess. I think I'm going to go through withdrawals being away from the rest of the creative team I've been able to just shout across the hall to, and the priceless looks between Jeanne and I are going to go away, which makes me sad. Maybe I'll actually get more stuff done over there though, who knows. I guess I can't completely discount it until I work through it a couple of days.
The fantastic news from the weekend is that after spending about two days on it, the kitchen is finally done. It was so great to work in my kitchen for about two and a half hours last night, watching Red Zone Cuba on MST3K and prepping meals for the week. And tonight I cooked my first meal - it was kind of cute sitting at the dining room table with Chris and discussing our day over chicken and noodles in a cream sauce. Afterward he ran to Dairy Queen and got me a brownie batter blizzard because he's a good guy. I paid for it though, of course hahaha.
That's about all she wrote for tonight. I still have to write my review for "Up", so I should probably get to that in the next couple of days. Again, I really question doing that for some of these movies because they are so outdated by the time I see them and review them, but I guess it keeps me in practice until I can get my site up and get accredited.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
SLEEEP in heavenly PEACE!
Well, I have to say that I'm proud of my honey. He stepped up when I needed him to and we managed to get a lot done in the kitchen today over the course of a couple of hours. Unfortunately, as most things do when they get organized, the kitchen looks more like ass than ever, but it's about ten minutes away from being something pretty fantastic. It's just a matter of putting stuff in their proper places. I've got to give Chris credit though, he really did a lot of work today in there. It was kind of fun organizing with him and we actually came up with some really great solutions. We also discovered that we have about twice as much cupboard space (or more) than we did at our last house, so that was a really pleasant surprise. I also have a perfect spot set aside for my eventual Kitchen Aid mixer (can you believe I've actually been wanting that thing for about 20 years?) that will go right next to my nifty red food processor. Good lord, if my 20 year old self was witnessing this display of domesticity I think she would throw her copy of her dogeared Camus paperback at me and chastise me for being too lame. Oh well, at least this way I get my Kitchen Aid mixer AND my Camus is still in decent shape in my bookcase.
Anyway, the day was mostly spent doing that stuff, so I couldn't argue when Chris asked if we could go to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner tonight. As an added bonus he stopped off at the store and took further advantage of the mega sale on Coke products they had OH MY GOD I'M TURNING INTO MY MOTHER.
Sigh. Well, I knew I probably should have just skipped the blog for tonight, but hey, my stream of consciousness rule for blogging got the best of me. Meanwhile, I can hear Chris wrestling in the kitchen with some stuff so I'd better see what's going on and then maybe we can watch some of Dead of Night Theater before going to bed. Even though I still have a laundry list of things to do tomorrow, he did such a great job today that I won't even give him the stink eye when he gets up at noon again tomorrow. And I'll go see Up with him since he wants to see it.
But only if we finish the laundry list... hehe.
P.S. I just noticed that one of the examples for labels for the blog posts is "scooters". What the hell?!
Anyway, the day was mostly spent doing that stuff, so I couldn't argue when Chris asked if we could go to one of our favorite restaurants for dinner tonight. As an added bonus he stopped off at the store and took further advantage of the mega sale on Coke products they had OH MY GOD I'M TURNING INTO MY MOTHER.
Sigh. Well, I knew I probably should have just skipped the blog for tonight, but hey, my stream of consciousness rule for blogging got the best of me. Meanwhile, I can hear Chris wrestling in the kitchen with some stuff so I'd better see what's going on and then maybe we can watch some of Dead of Night Theater before going to bed. Even though I still have a laundry list of things to do tomorrow, he did such a great job today that I won't even give him the stink eye when he gets up at noon again tomorrow. And I'll go see Up with him since he wants to see it.
But only if we finish the laundry list... hehe.
P.S. I just noticed that one of the examples for labels for the blog posts is "scooters". What the hell?!
Saturday, June 27, 2009
I do not like the cone of shame
Well, as per the norm I got no DVR movie viewing done and even less done around the house. However, it is all worth it because I ended up having a really nice day with my brother.
It started this morning when he came by and we went to Gamestop to pick up the latest Guitar Hero (nerds) and then I treated him to some lunch. He then came back to the house where we proceeded to "rock out" for about an hour and a half after which I sat around for a bit and then futzed on the computer before taking a great hour-long nap (but I had the most bizarre dream where I had a really bad brace job on my teeth and I had all of these wires poking out - I even woke up and felt my teeth, strange). Then he and I went to see "Up" which was one of the most charming films I've seen. I really can't stand animation, unless it's something like Miyazake or some anime (and even that is limited to like, 4 titles I like out of the tens of thousands that are out there) and Pixar is particularly annoying to me. However, this was a great movie and I laughed so hard I cried and cried so hard I was afraid I was going to embarass myself and my brother. Hopefully I'll get to the review today or tomorrow.
Anyway, it was a nice day and it put me in good spirits for when Chris came home with the groceries, and we set about putting them all away right away and cleaning out the fridge. He's already promised me that we would work on the kitchen tomorrow so that should be really nice to do. I'd like to do some weekend prep so we can have easy meals this week.
Speaking of Chris, it's kind of cute that he's sitting in his office watching Michael Jackson videos on the computer.
It started this morning when he came by and we went to Gamestop to pick up the latest Guitar Hero (nerds) and then I treated him to some lunch. He then came back to the house where we proceeded to "rock out" for about an hour and a half after which I sat around for a bit and then futzed on the computer before taking a great hour-long nap (but I had the most bizarre dream where I had a really bad brace job on my teeth and I had all of these wires poking out - I even woke up and felt my teeth, strange). Then he and I went to see "Up" which was one of the most charming films I've seen. I really can't stand animation, unless it's something like Miyazake or some anime (and even that is limited to like, 4 titles I like out of the tens of thousands that are out there) and Pixar is particularly annoying to me. However, this was a great movie and I laughed so hard I cried and cried so hard I was afraid I was going to embarass myself and my brother. Hopefully I'll get to the review today or tomorrow.
Anyway, it was a nice day and it put me in good spirits for when Chris came home with the groceries, and we set about putting them all away right away and cleaning out the fridge. He's already promised me that we would work on the kitchen tomorrow so that should be really nice to do. I'd like to do some weekend prep so we can have easy meals this week.
Speaking of Chris, it's kind of cute that he's sitting in his office watching Michael Jackson videos on the computer.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
Thriller
I know that by now, even only 10 hours (or less) since his death there have been a million things said about the death of Michael Jackson. I was completely shocked to find this out, of course, and was really sad to hear about it because throughout all of his bizarre (and possibly illegal) behavior he's exhibited over the past twenty or so years, no one could deny that he was a one-of-a-kind musical talent who could dance the pants off anyone. He was an unbelievable entertainer and though musically, I think his best years were way behind him, his death will go down in history in the shocking/before his time category that will ensure his legendary status.
I've been thinking about death for the past day or so, before I even heard about MJ or Farah Fawcett dying today, because last night I watched the exhaustive two and a half hour documentary, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. I had seen this documentary about five years ago and was both blown away by its thoroughness as well as the fact that it was clearly made by filmmakers and film lovers for filmmakers and film lovers. The material was not remotely dumbed down in any way. Tom Cruise, of all people, voiced in the documentary exactly what I was thinking the first time I saw this film, "There will never be another Stanley Kubrick film". And that fact, combined with the sheer adulation I feel for the man made me cry (though to my credit, I think he had died just a couple of months prior to me seeing the film) because it kind of put the finality of death into a tangible perspective for me. Of course I know that after someone dies, that's it. But when someone makes such incredible contributions to film and art history, the knowledge that you have only what is in the past to hold on to, and nothing new to look forward to, is a really depressing notion. Another thing I noted this time around was that Martin Scorsese mentioned that seeing a Kubrick film was like an event because you had to wait so long between films, but you always knew that it would be worth it. That just reminded me that no matter who you are, if you're a film buff, and if you love experiencing films so much that it physically hurts sometimes, you're going to feel the same way others do. It's gratifying to me to know that I have even just one thing in common with men like Scorsese and Woody Allen, even if it's an insatiable love of film and a deep reverence of Kubrick.
On the personal front, there hasn't been a whole lot happening. I helped Matt out a little with some work things and finished most of what I should have this week at my own job. I started the kitchen somewhat (mopped the floor, including under the stove, moved the microwave and cart, etc.) but there is still a great deal of organization to do so that is something that will have to be completed this weekend by Chris and I. Tomorrow being Friday I have off, so I plan to take full advantage by hopefully knocking a couple of movies off the DVR and just doing some general relaxing. This week was pretty uneventful for me, but sometimes that can be a good thing I guess. I definitely think we need to complete a laundry list of stuff this weekend, but remember to do something fun at least once as well.
I've been thinking about death for the past day or so, before I even heard about MJ or Farah Fawcett dying today, because last night I watched the exhaustive two and a half hour documentary, Stanley Kubrick: A Life in Pictures. I had seen this documentary about five years ago and was both blown away by its thoroughness as well as the fact that it was clearly made by filmmakers and film lovers for filmmakers and film lovers. The material was not remotely dumbed down in any way. Tom Cruise, of all people, voiced in the documentary exactly what I was thinking the first time I saw this film, "There will never be another Stanley Kubrick film". And that fact, combined with the sheer adulation I feel for the man made me cry (though to my credit, I think he had died just a couple of months prior to me seeing the film) because it kind of put the finality of death into a tangible perspective for me. Of course I know that after someone dies, that's it. But when someone makes such incredible contributions to film and art history, the knowledge that you have only what is in the past to hold on to, and nothing new to look forward to, is a really depressing notion. Another thing I noted this time around was that Martin Scorsese mentioned that seeing a Kubrick film was like an event because you had to wait so long between films, but you always knew that it would be worth it. That just reminded me that no matter who you are, if you're a film buff, and if you love experiencing films so much that it physically hurts sometimes, you're going to feel the same way others do. It's gratifying to me to know that I have even just one thing in common with men like Scorsese and Woody Allen, even if it's an insatiable love of film and a deep reverence of Kubrick.
On the personal front, there hasn't been a whole lot happening. I helped Matt out a little with some work things and finished most of what I should have this week at my own job. I started the kitchen somewhat (mopped the floor, including under the stove, moved the microwave and cart, etc.) but there is still a great deal of organization to do so that is something that will have to be completed this weekend by Chris and I. Tomorrow being Friday I have off, so I plan to take full advantage by hopefully knocking a couple of movies off the DVR and just doing some general relaxing. This week was pretty uneventful for me, but sometimes that can be a good thing I guess. I definitely think we need to complete a laundry list of stuff this weekend, but remember to do something fun at least once as well.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Angels & Demons
Adequate & Dull
You just can’t keep a good symbologist down, apparently, no matter how hard the religious ne’er-do-wells try. Dr. Robert Langdon (Tom Hanks) is back to decoding religious symbiology in an attempt to save the world, or some aspect of it at the very least. This time he is helping the Vatican decode a plot hatched by the Illuminati against the Catholic Church (timed with the Pope’s death) as retribution for the church’s mistreatment of the secret society centuries ago. Now they are wreaking their revenge by threatening the lives of four cardinals, and ultimately, blowing up Vatican City with a nifty little stolen gadget called anti-matter and it’s up to Langdon to find and solve the clues in a four hour time span.
With all due respect to the millions of people who read this book and went nuts for it, there was absolutely nothing about this story that I found interesting. Though I actually really enjoyed reading The Da Vinci Code (and this is the first and last time I’ll compare the two novels/movies) and had high hopes for this book, when I tried reading Angels and Demons I couldn’t get through the first 30 pages without giving up because I found it to be incredibly boring. I can barely even keep my eyes open reading the synopsis I wrote about the movie and that’s my own writing. I didn’t buy that they were working urgently (it seemed like an hour was more like a “movie hour” of about an hour and a half at least) and found the developments and “twists” so obvious that I entertained myself by pretending I was as smart as Langdon and could figure out the riddles just because the camera pointed out the answer to me. (“Of course it’s under the floor – one of the three dozen angels’ arrows is pointing right at the spot!”) And speaking of predictability, I was once again intellectually offended by a filmmaker forcing several possible villains down my throat in a bid to be suspenseful. Honestly, good writing and direction is all you need, not five people giving furtive sidelong glances like the shifty-eyed dog on The Simpsons.
The acting in the film was decent, though certainly not inspired. Tom Hanks always seems very natural in his films, and I was pleased to see one of my favorite contemporary actors, the under-valued Stellan Skarsgard in the film. Once again, however, the female lead (Ayelet Zurer) was completely ineffectual and Ewan McGregor simply chewed scenery without a lot of panache. I also don’t know when Armin Mueller-Stahl become completely unintelligible, but I couldn’t tell you most of what he said in the film because I couldn’t understand a word he said.
Having completely bagged on the story and an elderly German actor, I do now have to admit that the movie was actually somewhat easy to watch, if only in an “I don’t feel like I’m completely wasting my time” way, the same way I will watch a Lifetime Movie Network flick to fall asleep. Realizing this sounds fairly negative, one has to look at Ron Howard’s films in general: They are always easy to watch but not challenging, and adequate but not exciting. Unless someone is really interested in a subject matter that he covers, I think that his films tend to be the culinary equivalent of a Little Debbie snack cake. They are good when you’re hungry, but other things are so much better; yet, you know what you’re getting into when you take a bite. I really enjoyed Frost/Nixon after seeing it, but I’m also a history nerd, and the interesting thing about that movie was after seeing all of the other Best Picture nominees of last year, it quickly fell to a definite last place in the running for me. On a definite positive note, however, I can say that, whether the locations were simulated or not, as an art and architecture lover I thought the location shots were great, and my experience was further enhanced by my parents leaning over occasionally to whisper, “We were there!”
I can’t completely pan Angels and Demons, but I also don’t have a lot of good things to say about it either. The best thing I can truly say about it is that it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, which is sometimes all you can ask for in a summer popcorn flick.
5/10
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Monday, June 22, 2009
Frigid Air
Jeff and Chris are currently messing with the room air conditioners which are going in Chris' office (he tried justifying it to me and after awhile I basically said, "And how much was the air conditioner that I'm actually going to pay half of...?") and the kitchen. The idea is that the kitchen one is going to cool down the rest of the place with the cunning use of fans. I'll feel it when I believe it, but all I know is I came home and it was all I could do to not slither on my belly toward the back bedroom (and its new fan) like the Grinch.
I did indeed attempt to do SOMETHING with the kitchen at least, even without the benefit of an air conditioner or the cunning use of fans, but it seems that part of the problem we are experiencing with the broken dishwasher has caused the hot water to not be so hot and really is more of a cold trickle. So much for attempting to wash the dishes that have accumulated in the sink. The good news is... ta-DA! our dishwasher is allegedly getting fixed tomorrow. I cannot freakin' wait. The bad news is that Jeff ended up coming over and busted me watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight. I was so embarrassed that I just went, "YES I'M WATCHING JON AND KATE PLUS EIGHT!" Ugh. I've never seen a more drawn out separation/divorce in my life. The whole "will they or won't they" thing isn't just tacky in sitcoms when it comes to characters who are going to sleep together and cause the show to jump the shark - it apparently is just as appropos for TLC reality shows about people getting divorced as well. Just do it already, christ. Everyone will live, Jon will get laid by some college student while bar-hopping, Kate will maybe find that her life actually isn't so bad and she shouldn't have been channeling and they'll all make millions. A truly heartwarming end to a true 21st century family.
In bad news, I guess my Dad has to have some kind of gum surgery tomorrow, which is never pleasant. In true Dad form, he didn't let on about this one bit yesterday when I was over there for Father's Day; instead I heard about it from Kathy via her new iPhone. (By the way, I hope I can love a non-breathing object someday as much as she loves that iPhone - I think it's adorable.) Anyway, Dad's having surgery, doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, and doesn't want any of us to do anything for him. I suspect I will be bringing some soft foods to him in the future. I called Matt to tell him and I think he was half-listening, which kind of pissed me off, but whatevs. No big deal. I just forwarded the e-mail and called it a night. I can't qualify any feelings I'm having today, happy, sad, good, crappy, whatever because I am just overall pissed off due to a limited number of sleep, hot weather and general malaise mixed with frustration over feeling like I haven't accomplished anything that isn't work-related lately so I'm just letting everything roll off my back today and tonight like they are do-overs so I don't overreact to something that just isn't there. And I STILL haven't written my freakin' Angels and Demons review. I think I just need to take like, twenty minutes tomorrow and just bang it out. I don't want to start populating the blog with other reviews until I start that one.
LOL I just overheard Chris say to Jeff in the kitchen, "And that's LOW speed!" so I think that things are looking up. That's a nice thought to go to sleep to.
I did indeed attempt to do SOMETHING with the kitchen at least, even without the benefit of an air conditioner or the cunning use of fans, but it seems that part of the problem we are experiencing with the broken dishwasher has caused the hot water to not be so hot and really is more of a cold trickle. So much for attempting to wash the dishes that have accumulated in the sink. The good news is... ta-DA! our dishwasher is allegedly getting fixed tomorrow. I cannot freakin' wait. The bad news is that Jeff ended up coming over and busted me watching Jon & Kate Plus Eight. I was so embarrassed that I just went, "YES I'M WATCHING JON AND KATE PLUS EIGHT!" Ugh. I've never seen a more drawn out separation/divorce in my life. The whole "will they or won't they" thing isn't just tacky in sitcoms when it comes to characters who are going to sleep together and cause the show to jump the shark - it apparently is just as appropos for TLC reality shows about people getting divorced as well. Just do it already, christ. Everyone will live, Jon will get laid by some college student while bar-hopping, Kate will maybe find that her life actually isn't so bad and she shouldn't have been channeling and they'll all make millions. A truly heartwarming end to a true 21st century family.
In bad news, I guess my Dad has to have some kind of gum surgery tomorrow, which is never pleasant. In true Dad form, he didn't let on about this one bit yesterday when I was over there for Father's Day; instead I heard about it from Kathy via her new iPhone. (By the way, I hope I can love a non-breathing object someday as much as she loves that iPhone - I think it's adorable.) Anyway, Dad's having surgery, doesn't want to make a big deal out of it, and doesn't want any of us to do anything for him. I suspect I will be bringing some soft foods to him in the future. I called Matt to tell him and I think he was half-listening, which kind of pissed me off, but whatevs. No big deal. I just forwarded the e-mail and called it a night. I can't qualify any feelings I'm having today, happy, sad, good, crappy, whatever because I am just overall pissed off due to a limited number of sleep, hot weather and general malaise mixed with frustration over feeling like I haven't accomplished anything that isn't work-related lately so I'm just letting everything roll off my back today and tonight like they are do-overs so I don't overreact to something that just isn't there. And I STILL haven't written my freakin' Angels and Demons review. I think I just need to take like, twenty minutes tomorrow and just bang it out. I don't want to start populating the blog with other reviews until I start that one.
LOL I just overheard Chris say to Jeff in the kitchen, "And that's LOW speed!" so I think that things are looking up. That's a nice thought to go to sleep to.
