Thursday, February 26, 2009

First Person Pronounless

Took tomorrow off to go into SF for the weekend. Spendin' money don't really have.

Haven't been much into writing. Ah, well.

Been worried about paying for the trip and a place to stay for my brother's wedding. Parents may rent a house though, and that'd solve where to stay, and how much it costs. Now more worried about taking time off work and how to get there. Probably driving.

Need to get up to Cowtown in the next few weeks and talk to parents. (Unrelated to thing in above paragraph.)

Amazoned near sister-in-law her birthday present on Monday. Tracking hasn't really tracked it all week. Hope it gets there by her birthday on Saturday.

To get to SF whenever, bought a card that beeps at the front of the bus instead of carrying cash. Think it's a good investment.

Think DVD player is dying, almost 10 years-old. Hasn't been reading the Sabrina set Mom loaned me too well. Hasn't been reading Deadwood too well, either.

Job's changed, sort of. Trying to catch-up the DEU stuff. Slow going when the I&A guys are also there to boss me around.

Wonder if the reason people thing glasses make one look smarter is because the first people who wore glasses were ones who read and wrote a lot.

Want food processor. Even more, want more counter space so there is room to use food processor.

Possibility of winning ticket to see advance Watchmen. Would like to win so don't have to pay for movie will see, but not particularly excited about.

Feel stinky sweaty. Yucky.

Done. 'Bye

Edit 4:25: PS Wish WingB and her beau a safe flight and a fun trip to Italy! They leave in a few days.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

40,000

The waterless urinals claim to save an average of 40,000 gallons of fresh water per urinal per year.

Now, if each urinal flush is 1 gallon (which seems to be the maximum per flush on the American Standard website urinals) that's 40,000 flushes a year, or about 109.5 flushes per day or 4.6 flushes per hour in a 24 hour period 7 days a week. In an office building open only five days a week for 12 hours a day it's about 12.8 flushes per hour.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

News From This Weekend

My brother, the one who live in Oregon, is engaged. He and the fiancée are aiming for August 1st to get married on the coast.

Pretty cool.

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Wicked Cool

Wicked is going to be around during WonderCon. I'm seriously considering staying the night in SF on Saturday and going to Wicked after WonderCon.

Expensive, but probably worth it.

10:17 AM PST: Wait and go with friend for birthday, if she's up for it. Save money on hotel!

Excellent.

10:43 AM PST: Well, my friend is going to see it a week or two before my birthday. Still, I'd rather go around my birthday than during WonderCon.

Spread the fun around, right?

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

It's Another One of Those

Once again I'm sitting here, nearing the end of the work day, wanting to write something here, but not having much to say.

It's been that way for a while, hasn't it. Seems like all my recent blogs have only been a few sentences or a meme or questionnaire. Just a reflection, I guess.

I leave later for Cowtown than I originally planned to, on Thursday. Like around 8:30. It's supposed to start snowing there tonight, though, so I may not leave until Friday morning so I can head up after the plow and sand truck.

I found out I have TV again. I was trying to get the digital box thing to work with my bunny ears and I thought, what the hell, and plugged the TV into the cable outlet. I have (basic) cable for free. I wonder when it happened.

Easier to veg, now.

Monday, February 09, 2009

Movie Questionnaire

Questions from here.

1) What was the last movie you saw theatrically? On DVD or Blu-ray?
Either Orange County or Recess: Schools Out, but it's been a while since a movie was in my DVD player.

2) Holiday movies— Do you like them naughty or nice?
There are times for both.
Really I like my classic more nice because the good ones aren't overly sentimental.
Modern holiday movies that try to be nice are way too cloying or else they're pretty mean-spirited with a "happy" twist at the end.
Modern naughty movies that don't get too sentimental tend to be really good.

3) Ida Lupino or Mercedes McCambridge?
I'm not familiar with the work of either of these ladies. From the pictures, though, Ida Lupino.

4) Favorite actor/character from Twin Peaks
Have never watched Twin Peaks.
Still, I bet I'd be fascinated by the backward talking dwarf.

5) It's been said that, rather than remaking beloved, respected films, Hollywood should concentrate more on righting the wrongs of the past and tinker more with films that didn't work so well the first time. Pretending for a moment that movies are made in an economic vacuum, name a good candidate for a remake based on this criterion.
I'd kind of like a remake of Soylent Green, where the future is more dirty and the acting is less cheesy. (Although Edward G. Robinson was wonderful.)
Logan's Run would be another good candidate, especially if it's based more on the book.

6) Favorite Spike Lee joint.
I don't think I've ever seen a Spike Lee directed film.

7) Lawrence Tierney or Scott Brady?
Lawrence Tierney

8) Are most movies too long?
The ones I really enjoy never seem long enough, even if they clock in at over 2.5 hours. The ones I don't like a always too long.

9) Favorite performance by an actor portraying a real-life politician.
I'm going to bend this and say it's Emma Thompson playing Susan Stanton in Primary Colors. As anyone who has seen the film knows, Susan was basically Hillary Clinton.

10) Create the main event card for the ultimate giant movie monster smackdown.
The Cloverfield monster vs Chōjin, aka Overfiend

11) Jean Peters or Sheree North?
Sheree North

12) Why would you ever want or need to see a movie more than once?
Some movies just make you feel good. Some movies need to be viewed more than once to get the full effect. Some movies you see something new each time you watch it.

13) Favorite road movie.
Probably Vacation. At lest that's the first one that comes to mind.

14) Favorite Budd Boetticher picture.
I don't think I've seen any of his movies. I'm not much for westerns.

15) Who is the one person, living or dead, famous or unknown, who most informed or encouraged your appreciation of movies?
Probably my parents for showing me a variety of different kinds of movies as I was growing up. It wasn't so much about the genre as opposed to would we enjoy it.

16) Favorite opening credit sequence. (Please include YouTube link if possible.)
The first opening that pops into my head is the credits to Catch Me If You Can. The design and the music just meld together to create a wildly entertaining sequence that sets up the era of the film and also tells the story of the movie.

17) Kenneth Tobey or John Agar?
Kenneth Tobey

18) Jean-Luc Godard once suggested that the more popular the movie, the less likely it was that it was a good movie. Is he right or just cranky? Cite the best evidence one way or the other.
I think that too often this statement is true. I can't imagine Paul Blart: Mall Cop ever being considered a great, or even very good, movie, but it was the top at the box office in the US for like three weeks. But then there are other films, like Pixar's Ratatouille or Wall-E, which made tons of money and seemt to be watched by nearly everyone, but were wonderful, thought provoking movies that everyone can enjoy together.

The popularity of a movie doesn't control the quality of it, just as the quality doesn't control how popular it'll become.

And based on that statement It's a Wonderful Life must have been an extremely great movie when it was released and hated and not watched, but it must be really awful today since it's on TV every year and is quite popular.

19) Favorite Jonathan Demme movie.
I think Philadelphia is a superior film on all fronts. Although, Silence of the Lambs is spectacular, too.

20) Tatum O'Neal or Linda Blair?
Linda Blair. Who out there could possibly choose O'Neal?

21) Favorite use of irony in a movie. (This could be an idea, moment, scene, or an entire film.)
As a film, all of Nashville, but the ending was the most ironic moment of a movie built on irony.

22) Favorite Claude Chabrol film.
I have never seen a Claude Chabrol movie. Oh, God, I am such a prole.

23) The best movie of the year to which very little attention seems to have been paid.
For 2008, probably Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which was really funny, or Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, which was cute and sweet, not great, but I find myself thinking about it still..

24) Dennis Christopher or Robby Benson?
Robby Benson, for his voice work.

25) Favorite movie about journalism.
Network, although it's more about TV in general than journalism in particular, but it all starts with a news broadcast.

26) What's the DVD commentary you'd most like to hear? Who would be on the audio track?
Walt Disney, Leopold Stokowski, and Deems Taylor on Fantasia with the directors dropping in for their sequences. That would be bliss to hear.

27) Favorite movie directed by Clint Eastwood.
Letters from Iwo Jima

28) Paul Dooley or Kurtwood Smith?
Seriously, do I have to choose? These are two of my favorite character actors who show up in, sometimes, the weirdest and most wonderful of places.

If forced, I'd probably go with Kurtwood Smith, but I'd do it grudgingly.

29) Your clairvoyant moment: Make a prediction about the Oscar season.
Heath Ledger will win, even though he shouldn't.
The death of Bernie Mac, as much as I liked him, will get more time in the telecast than the death of Eartha Kitt will.
Also, Hugh Jackman hosting will make me wish Billy Crystal was back.

30) Your hope for the movies in 2009.
That The Princess and the Frog will prove that people want a good story out of animation, not just 3D computer stuff that's "flashy."

I want Don Bluth back to making great movies with excellent stories and beautiful animation. I think, if he had been allowed to do his thing and not worry so much about pleasing suits and people weren't so locked in to animation-equals-for-kids thinking, he could have been the US's Hayao Miyazaki.

31) What's your top 10 of 2008? (If you have a blog and have your list posted, please feel free to leave a link to the post.)
I can't. I didn't see all that many movies this year and I hate doing top 10 lists.

BONUS QUESTION (to be answered after December 25):
32) What was your favorite movie-related Christmas gift that you received this year?
I didn't get a movie-related gift for Christmas, this year. TV stuff, but not movie.

Cinnamon Rolls

My mom, and friends, made 130 dozen cinnamon rolls on Saturday.

And they're big rolls.

Thursday, February 05, 2009

Movie Meme

Da Rules:
  • If I haven’t seen it, the film is listed in red.
  • If I saw it but would never watch it again, the film is listed in strikethru.
  • If I saw it and loved it, the film is listed in bold.
  • If I saw it but have no strong reaction, the film is listed in normal type.
1. Pulp Fiction (1994)
2. The Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001-03)
3. Titanic (1997)
4. Blue Velvet (1986)
5. Toy Story (1995)
6. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
7. Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
8. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
9. Die Hard (1988)
10. Moulin Rouge (2001)
11. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
12. The Matrix (1999)
13. GoodFellas (1990)
14. Crumb (1995)
15. Edward Scissorhands (1990)
16. Boogie Nights (1997)
17. Jerry Maguire (1996)
18. Do the Right Thing (1989)
19. Casino Royale (2006)
20. The Lion King (1994)
21. Schindler’s List (1993)
22. Rushmore (1998)
23. Memento (2001)
24. A Room With a View (1986)
25. Shrek (2001)
26. Hoop Dreams (1994)
27. Aliens (1986)
28. Wings of Desire (1987)
29. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
30. When Harry Met Sally... (1989)
31. Brokeback Mountain (2005)
32. Fight Club (1999)
33. The Breakfast Club (1985)
34. Fargo (1996)
35. The Incredibles (2004)
36. Spider-Man 2 (2004)
37. Pretty Woman (1990)
38. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
39. The Sixth Sense (1999)
40. Speed (1994)
41. Dazed and Confused (1993)
42. Clueless (1995)
43. Gladiator (2000)
44. The Player (1992)
45. Rain Man (1988)
46. Children of Men (2006)
47. Men in Black (1997)
48. Scarface (1983)
49. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
50. The Piano (1993)
51. There Will Be Blood (2007)
52. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad (1988)
53. The Truman Show (1998)
54. Fatal Attraction (1987)
55. Risky Business (1983)
56. The Lives of Others (2006)
57. There’s Something About Mary (1998)
58. Ghostbusters (1984)
59. L.A. Confidential (1997)
60. Scream (1996)
61. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
62. sex, lies and videotape (1989)
63. Big (1988)
64. No Country For Old Men (2007)
65. Dirty Dancing (1987)
66. Natural Born Killers (1994)
67. Donnie Brasco (1997)
68. Witness (1985)
69. All About My Mother (1999)
70. Broadcast News (1987)
71. Unforgiven (1992)
72. Thelma & Louise (1991)
73. Office Space (1999)
74. Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
75. Out of Africa (1985)
76. The Departed (2006)
77. Sid and Nancy (1986)
78. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
79. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
80. Michael Clayton (2007)
81. Moonstruck (1987)
82. Lost in Translation (2003)
83. Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn (1987)
84. Sideways (2004)
85. The 40 Year Old Virgin (2005)
86. Y Tu Mama Tambien (2002)
87. Swingers (1996)
88. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997)
89. Breaking the Waves (1996)
90. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
91. Back to the Future (1985)
92. Menace II Society (1993)
93. Ed Wood (1994)
94. Full Metal Jacket (1987)
95. In the Mood for Love (2001)
96. Far From Heaven (2002)
97. Glory (1989)
98. The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
99. The Blair Witch Project (1999)
100. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Space Filler

Swiped from Jazz, here's hers.

1. Have you ever felt alone, but yet there are people around you?
All the time. In fact, the times I feel most lonely aren't when I'm by myself, but when in groups of people.

2. Do you have any video game consoles? Which ones?
I have Nintendo stuff, up to the last generation. So, that's an NES, a Game Boy, an SNES, an N64, a Game Boy Advance, and a GameCube. Been quite a while since I played any of them.

3. Do you freak out at food warnings/outbreaks, such as the recent peanut butter salmonella scare?
No. I bought my peanut butter months ago, so it's fine. I didn't worry about the spinach or the tomato scare. Why be scared? The worst that'll happen is days of explosive diarrhea, but that means no work.

4. What color/pattern is your beds' comforter/bedspread?
It's striped white and tan and blue and light blue and dark blue. It's different on the other side, but I don't see that side every day so I have no idea what it actually looks like.

5. How many windows do you have in your house?
Five. I rarely open the two on the front, though, to keep the noise and neighbors down.

6. Name six things that are in your bathroom.
Sink
Bathtub
Shower Head
Toilette
Mirror
Soap

7. How big is your garage? Should it be bigger?
I have no garage. So, yes, it should be bigger.

8. Got your taxes done yet?
The state ones, although I don't think I got 'em in fast enough.

9. Think of a mental disorder..... why did you think of that particular one?
That's easy, depression because it's the one that I know I got.