Monday, March 1, 2010
Aches and Pains, Time and Space
Got the Census form done. Had some amusing moments, since I was filling out everything for everybody in the household. One last time. The Census is done every ten years. Weird to think about that, where I was this year, and 2000 (just started at the Press, no kids, yet), and 1990 (in college, a very, very fateful year for me, it turned out).
2010 is going to be so much better a year for me than 2008-2009 (although, bizarrely, I could probably trace the troubling years going back to 2001 onward -- just a dissonance that grew and grew and grew until things broke in 2008, and 2009 was a year of sorting through the rubble; 2010 is my year of rebuilding. I'm more than ready for it.)
I'm eating a "HUG ME" Valentine's Day lollipop B2 gave me. He had some kind of candy stash left over from Valentine's Day, something he got at preschool. Little scamp! I gave him a hug when he gave it to me.
2010 is going to be so much better a year for me than 2008-2009 (although, bizarrely, I could probably trace the troubling years going back to 2001 onward -- just a dissonance that grew and grew and grew until things broke in 2008, and 2009 was a year of sorting through the rubble; 2010 is my year of rebuilding. I'm more than ready for it.)
I'm eating a "HUG ME" Valentine's Day lollipop B2 gave me. He had some kind of candy stash left over from Valentine's Day, something he got at preschool. Little scamp! I gave him a hug when he gave it to me.
Swai? Census?
I pan-fried some Swai (aka, Asian Catfish) tonight, with broccoli on the side. Yummers.
Got the LONG Census form in the mail, so I'm going to try to get that done tonight and/or tomorrow morning.
B1 and I planted carnivorous plants in a special container, put it as the centerpiece on the dining room table.
I'm worn out and tired today. Some home front frustrations, delivered on the phone -- babysitting fell through, which is going to cause trouble. Forward March!
Got the LONG Census form in the mail, so I'm going to try to get that done tonight and/or tomorrow morning.
B1 and I planted carnivorous plants in a special container, put it as the centerpiece on the dining room table.
I'm worn out and tired today. Some home front frustrations, delivered on the phone -- babysitting fell through, which is going to cause trouble. Forward March!
Pulaski Day
It's Pulaski Day! B1 doesn't have school. They should serve paczkis on Pulaski Day. I bet Casimir Pulaski would totally have eaten them, if the opportunity presented itself.
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Hall of Fame
I saw this while driving out to the western suburbs.I didn't even know such a place existed. Apparently, it's in Chicago!
Or, Elk Grove Village, if you want to be a stickler.
Movie: Zombieland
I saw "Zombieland" on DVD tonight. Mildly funny -- an enjoyable enough movie, although I wasn't (ar ar) blown away by it -- it wasn't the comedic multiple orgasm-on-celluloid that I was led to believe it was.
It wasn't quite an undead romantic comedy ala "Shaun of the Dead" (and, at heart, that's what that movie was, although it had some great comedic moments in it, likely because the Brits have that razor's edge instinct for comedy when they want to). Or maybe it was another undead romantic comedy of sorts, since the neurotic nerd guy does end up with the cool babe, the babe who'd be out of his league in a non-apocalyptic world, but now, somehow likes him (instead of the Woody Harrelson character, who a gal like that seems likelier to like). Wish fulfillment by the screenwriters?
The telegraphing of the various Zombieland Rules was overdone -- it's one thing to have them make a pass through, but for them to keep reappearing felt like the writers were looking down their noses at the audience -- "Look! This is what the narrator was referring to earlier!" The "rules" feels like a hook that sold the screenplay.
I think we survived the Great Zombie Cinematic Plague, if we're in the parodic place for it, now -- sort of like the "Scream" movies re: slasher movies, where it's all self-referential and what-not. "Zombieland" captures some semblance of humanity in its characters, which gives it something of the half-life of a Twinkie, but that's not saying too terribly much.
I can't hear the title of it without thinking of Terminal Mind's "Zombieland" tune -- a good song, offering a critique of American culture. They were a Texas band, and this story begins in Texas, so maybe the writers were inspired by that. Very likely.
I need to think a bit more about it, I guess. Or not.
It wasn't quite an undead romantic comedy ala "Shaun of the Dead" (and, at heart, that's what that movie was, although it had some great comedic moments in it, likely because the Brits have that razor's edge instinct for comedy when they want to). Or maybe it was another undead romantic comedy of sorts, since the neurotic nerd guy does end up with the cool babe, the babe who'd be out of his league in a non-apocalyptic world, but now, somehow likes him (instead of the Woody Harrelson character, who a gal like that seems likelier to like). Wish fulfillment by the screenwriters?
The telegraphing of the various Zombieland Rules was overdone -- it's one thing to have them make a pass through, but for them to keep reappearing felt like the writers were looking down their noses at the audience -- "Look! This is what the narrator was referring to earlier!" The "rules" feels like a hook that sold the screenplay.
I think we survived the Great Zombie Cinematic Plague, if we're in the parodic place for it, now -- sort of like the "Scream" movies re: slasher movies, where it's all self-referential and what-not. "Zombieland" captures some semblance of humanity in its characters, which gives it something of the half-life of a Twinkie, but that's not saying too terribly much.
I can't hear the title of it without thinking of Terminal Mind's "Zombieland" tune -- a good song, offering a critique of American culture. They were a Texas band, and this story begins in Texas, so maybe the writers were inspired by that. Very likely.
I need to think a bit more about it, I guess. Or not.
Curling
B1 was cute -- he said "You know why I like curling?" and I asked him "Why?" and he said "The stones are kinda special. They aren't some boring old ordinary rocks -- they are curling STONES. And it's kinda like a puck, and kinda like hockey, only with brooms."
Good Day
Had fun today -- the Zipcar went off without a hitch. The boys loved driving around in a Scion xB, and we hustled to the grocery store and got everything we needed, then I loaded it all upstairs and then took the boys on a playdate, which they greatly enjoyed. Then I hustled them home ahead of the USA/Canada hockey game. Overall, good day.
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Feeling the Heat
Me on the thermographic imager, B1 touching the screen.
My glasses really repel the heat!
My glasses really repel the heat!
Me being filmed by a thermographic camera lens.
The seeming leer is simply the camera in front of my face.
The seeming leer is simply the camera in front of my face.
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