No News Is Good News?

So the main thing about today is that the Mother In Law is still staying at the facility and hasn't started calling the daughters asking to be sprung, which is a really good sign. When they've spoken to her it's obviously come up that she doesn't really want to be there, but not to the extent that she's demanding that they come and get her. So there's that.

The wife had a meeting this morning, which is standard for one of her organizations on Tuesdays, so she was up and gone early, which left me snoozing until the Yorkie woke me shortly before noon. I guess I was more wiped out by yesterday's time spent driving than I realized. I'd left my iPhone on the nightstand, but the power was so low that the alarm never sounded. Not sure what's up with that, as it had more than half a charge last night, but whatever, it wasn't like I was late to work or anything, y'know?

I went through my usual web routine, then dressed and loaded up the recycling stuff to drop off while I ran to Best Buy. I'd pretty much decided to blind buy Slumdog Millionaire, since I like the director and the film got almost across the board praise.

I dropped of the recycling, then picked up my movie and a few burritos for lunch. I spoke to both Robbb and the wife on the phone while I was out, Robbb to catch up and the wife to let her know where I was and my plans to be back home soon if she needed anything.

I visited with her, caught up on the morning, then she wanted to try and catch a nap, as her sleep has been fitful at best recently, for obvious reasons. I chilled in the den and watched some Will And Grace while I ate, then hopped online to send a review over the Skinny for the site.

The wife ended up having to deal with several calls, the upshot of which remains that we're stalling the MIL, because the hospital wants to try and secure an affidavit to keep her there for the time being, as her behavior is still erratic and not something they feel she can deal with on her own. We'll see how this goes, and the wife is just taking it one day at a time. The Middle Sister is the only one who doesn't want to play ball on this idea, but she's also the same one who has checked herself out of countless treatment facilities in the past, before we got around to her current setting of 'normal'. Personally, I don't think that she's cool with the idea because if the family suddenly starts committing the crazy members, her ass could be next if she twists off here in a few months.

The wife headed out to an evening meeting in spite of all of her own drama, and I decided to take the Yorkie for a walk, which she seemed really enthused about, so that was cool. The wife had left her order for Chinese for dinner, so I picked that up, along with a little something fro myself, putting hers in the microwave to keep until she got home.

I ended up watching some random television instead of anything I should be watching, either for review or to return to those rental throttling pricks at Netfux. Oh well.

The wife got home early, spent some more time working the phone tree to let everyone know what's up right now, then she ate and we visited about our respective days before she headed to the bedroom to crash while I wrote this junk up.

And before I go, I have a favor to ask all of you kids: Bubs' Eldest, Dystopia, or Nora O'Sullivan to the rest of the world, she placed rather well in the first round of the Fangoria Spooksmodel competition, and now there's another round of voting that I'd like to ask that you participate in. This round you have to check your e-mail, then click on a confirmation link, but everyone is on the web for half their workday anyway, so what's it going to hurt ya, right? They also mention that you can only vote once, so don't try any funny stuff and get your vote voided, unless you're exceptionally clever, okay? Don't fuck around unless you know you can get away with it.

I'm out, kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, iPhone, Errands, Shopping, Recycling, Movies, Slumdog Millionaire, Bu-ray, Lunch, Television, Will And Grace, Family Drama, Netflix, Fangoria Spooksmodel, Contests

By Demons Driven

The day of family drama yesterday ended with the Mother In Law in the same loopy state, but under new medication. The command decision was made to have her admitted, at least temporarily, to a mental health facility, until her medication was under control, with the idea being that the next step could possibly be a center to actually treat the manic depressive issues she's been ignoring.

My poor wife didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning, and was back up about 6 hours later, fielding phone calls and other shit relating to the facility, which is in a town 2 hours away from here.

The upshot was that the place had visiting hours from 6:30-8:30 this evening, so the wife and the Oldest Sister where planning on making the drive and testing the mood of the room to see what the MIL was like, and if she was willing to stick it out a bit longer and (God willing) start to get leveled out and on the road to giving a shit how she's acting.

Both Sisters were still pretty wiped out after their day long fiasco yesterday, and the wife asked if I'd consider coming along, so I offered to just drive them both ways, so that they could both perhaps catch a nap if they could relax enough.

They seemed happy with that idea, so I picked up lunch for the wife and I after I got cleaned up and started some laundry. We ate and then she tried to catch a short nap before the OS arrived to pick us up. I watched some more Will & Grace to kill time, then put away the first load of laundry and started the second.

We left our place around 4:00, the drive went fast and no one slept, as they spent the drive talking over ideas for how to approach things and going over the increasingly surreal details of their emergency room stay last night, listening to the MIL ramble about all the crazy shit in her head. I'd Mapquested Anastasia Beaverhouszen's address vs the location of this hospital, and since she was only about 4 minutes away from the facility, I felt like I should try to see her and her hubby Kno1.

We made our way to their house, getting a little turned around after calling for alternate directions too late to take a specific shortcut that she recommended. We finally arrived at their new place and got the $.50 cent tour, then we followed them to a local restaurant. I let them know that I was planning on hitting a drive-thru for the ladies and dropping them off to visit the MIL (especially since neither woman felt comfortable driving with all the shit they had on their minds), so they grabbed a tabel while we picked up a burger and I left them at the hospital, wishing them luck.

I headed back to the restaurant, ate and visited with the Beaverhouszens for a bit, then we retired to their house for another hour or so. With visiting hours wrapping up, I said my goodbyes and headed basically around the corner to the hospital, where I chilled out front on the provided bench, enjoying the mild night and listening to some music on the iPhone while I checked my e-mail.

The ladies came out and we split, the MIL had seemed agreeable to another night, but both Sisters are apprehensive as to when she'll start having an urge for them to spring her. The drive home was again quick, as we had a whole new set of surreal and nutty shit to talk about, as the past two hours had just been crazy for the women. The MIL is of course thinking she's in charge of everything, has people doing shit for her, bringing her a cup of coffee just the way she likes it, etc. Both Sisters seemed to think that they only had about another 24 hours at best before she decided that she's had enough and wants out, so they weighed options of medications and 'sitters', because we've almost given up on the idea of normalcy and are willing to pay someone to just sit around and listen to the woman rant and rave, keeping her company and humoring her.

The situation continues to confound me, as the MIL is still under the impression that she's smarter than any doctor. Y'know, because she took some counseling courses back in the early 80's or some shit, which was the worst thing to ever happen to her in my opinion, in that it fosters her feeling that no matter what a doctor says, she can outthink them rather than putting any of what she learned into practice.

We arrived home safely by 10:30, to an ecstatic reception from the Yorkie, wen through the mail and then the wife crashed, as she has to be up early again and I had this writing bullshit to slog through before bed.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Family Drama, Treatment, Frustration, Lunch, Television, DVD, Will And Grace, Dinner

Cinematic Sunday Eighty-Two

Okay, so today was pretty much eaten up by the wife's charity stuff, then the family drama part 6,956.

Briefly: I slept in until almost noon, happy to catch up on some sleep after the past week or so of odd sleep scheduling and strained eyes. The Yorkie was feeling better today, though she still seemed a little stand-offish about eating. Sometimes it's as if she knows her own limits, others, not so much.

The wife grabbed a shower and I grabbed the newspaper and got online for a bit, poking around to see what was up with all the people attending Horrorhound Weekend and Twittering about it.

I decided to grab a sandwich for my lunch, so I went to do that while the wife made a few phone calls, then I dug into my lunch back at the house while she headed out to be a part of this charity thing this afternoon. And that was the last time I saw her.

I'm typing this at 10:20 this evening, and the wife has been tied up with bullshit ever since she left the house. She did her time as she'd planned, but went to see the Mother In Law around 4:00 or so when she got finished. This led to her and the Older Sister talking about the situation, and then to them and the Uncle going over there around 5:00 with an ultimatum involving the MIL going to the emergency room and seeing what they can do to level her out, as the medication her doctor prescribed 4 days ago hasn't even dented her weird behavior.

I first started getting texts from the wife about this around 4:30, just to let me know what was going on as I was settling in to watch Punisher War Zone. I told the wife to let me know if she needs me, but she sounded startlingly calm and collected about the whole situation, which is a nice change from days past.

Since she was fine, if annoyingly occupied for the indefinite future, I chilled out and watched Punisher War Zone, which had arrived last week from those rental throttling pricks at Netfux. I'm annoyingly behind on the Netfux titles, so I wanted to watch at least two of them this afternoon.

I actually dug the movie pretty well, it's a violent comic film, the action bits are bloody in a Rambo kinda way and Ray Stevenson really pulls off the character pretty well. I'd actually give it another look at some point, this is worth checking out.

I watched an Anime film called Vexille next, which was just glorious in the Blu-ray format and was a future-set film about Japan isolating themselves completely and an American team eventually trying to infiltrate the country and discover what sort of technological threat they posed. The story was a bit overlong at almost 2 hours, but the animation really makes up for that, it's well worth a rental.

I headed to the web to do this and wait patiently for my wife to be released to go and live her life again.

Trailers this evening include:

Lymelife is a film by Derick Martini, which stars Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton and a couple of the Culkins in a 70's era period piece, which looks like a funnier version of something like The Ice Storm. Oh, and I spotted Cynthia Nixon in there stretching her acting chops and playing what looks like a total shrew, which I find shocking, just shocking. Seriously, that actress is virtually one-note, I liked her on Sex & The City, but she's the same person in any role. That aside, the flick looks interesting, give it a spin.



Next we have the much anticipated Where The Wild Things Are, from director Spike Jonze. Unfortunately, I can't say that I remember ever reading these books, so I don't have the same childhood boner that a lot of other people seem to for this material. That said, it looks very cute, and I hope it doesn't turn out to take place in John Malkovich's head or something, because Jonze has thrown me for a loop before.



Finally, talking of Ang Lee's period dramas earlier: Taking Woodstock is his latest film, which stars Demetri Martin, Eugene Levy, Emile Hirsch and Liev Schreiber in the story behind the Woodstock Festival, which I understand was some sort of musical gathering similar to Ozzfest, only with more hippies.



Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Family Drama, Movies, Netflix, Punisher War Zone, Vexille, Trailers, Lymelife, Derick Martini, Alec Baldwin, Timothy Hutton, Cynthia Nixon, Where The Wild Things Are, Spike Jonze, Taking Woodstock, Ang Lee, Demetri Martin, Eugene Levy, Liev Shreiber, Emile Hirsch

Boxers, Babysitters And Role Models

I was sleeping soundly last night, only to find myself up at some unGodly hour of the morning due to sudden sinus drainage attempting to choke me to death, but was able to get back to sleep by 5:30 or so after about 30 minutes of coughing and nose blowing. I sincerely hope that the weather gets its shit together and stays consistent from here on out.

I slept in until 10:00, then got up and got the house opened up for the day. The wife had left a note saying that she'd gone to visit the Mother In Law, so I let that situation lie and hopped online and finished polishing up a review as well as hitting some of my usual haunts until around noon.

I got a call from the wife, spoke to her a bit about the MIL's behavior. Her Aunt had spent the night over there (y'know, because she just straight up needs a babysitter right now? Fuck me), and she'd called this morning to tell the wife that she was leaving, so someone else would need to be there. Which is fine, but I have to ask again, TO DO WHAT? Sit by her bed and listen to her yammer on about anything that pops into her head for as long as you can stand it? I'd rather stick my pinky into a fucking pencil sharpener. The Uncle seems to be worried that she's going to be calling people and making an ass of herself, but she's on and off the phone the whole time he or anyone else is there, so what's the point? Is someone meant to wrest the phone from her grip if she starts getting too loopy in her conversation?

Because it's never going to happen.

Long story longer, the wife spent the morning and about half the afternoon over there, making the MIL some lunch and 'visiting' as best she could and still maintain her own sanity. I finished writing a second review and decided to go and grab some lunch. I was on my way home and noticed that the wife's car wasn't at the MIL's anymore, so I was happy to find her at the house when I got back.

We debriefed while I ate and then we watched some Will And Grace before retiring to the bedroom so that I could watch a flick I had for review.

Chocolate is an interesting take on an autistic girl who learn martial arts from watching movies and the Muay Thai boxing school next to her home. She uses her skills like some sort of a savant, reacting to the attackers she encounters in life with lightning reflexes, and later with actual violence to collect money owed to her ailing mother from various thugs and lowlifes. The film is a little different than the average kung fu or martial arts flick, and I really dug it, I'll be typing up the review tomorrow afternoon.

The wife fell asleep during the film, as she was tired and felt even more exhausted after dealing with the MIL, so she crashed almost immediately. I decided to watch something short on the DVR that I had no real intention of reviewing, just to relax and chill with a flick. The Babysitters is a film I think I may have talked about in the past, but suffice to say it's the highly plausible story of attractive teens girls who begin selling pussy to all the local married men for some extra cash. No teen girl should lose her virginity to John fuggin' Leguizamo, statutory rape be damned, I'd say that it's just outright abuse for her to have that goofy fucker laying on top of her, hunching away like a Labrador on a mission. This movie vaguely kept my interest (despite a lack of any real nudity given the titillating premise), but I'm already forgetting details of it as I type this, so it's definitely not anything you need to run out and see.

The wife got up and made herself some dinner, as I wasn't all that hungry. I lay in bed and watched last Friday's Dollhouse off the DVR, which was very engaging again, I'm liking the direction it's started taking in the past few weeks.

We finally chilled out again and watched Role Models, something I'd picked up a few weeks back and just hadn't had the chance to watch yet. I love Paul Rudd, that guy has the greatest delivery and reactions to the delivery of others that I've seen in quite some time. He reminds me of John Cusack when he was doing more straight up comedy material, and the film was pretty amusing. It co-stars Elizabeth Banks, or as I like to think of her, the white female Samuel L. Jackson who also feels like he's in every other movie I watch at times. She's been in everything recently, or maybe she just had a lot of films hit all at once, but she's been everywhere lately.

The wife crashed out with the Yorkie, who had gotten suddenly ill earlier in the evening, but seems fine now, I hope she just threw up whatever was bothering her. The two of them are sleeping soundly in the bedroom while I peck away at this and try to head to bed early.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Family Drama, Reviews, Writing, Lunch, Television, Will And Grace, Movies, Chocolate, Muay Thai Boxing, The Babysitters, John Leguizamo, DVR, Dollhouse, Role Models, Paul Rudd, Elizabeth Banks

"But What Are YOU Going To Do About It?"

I stayed up until about 3:30 last night, because I'd finally decided that I'd prefer to wake up knowing that the two projects I've been working on were in the final stages. Plus, I'd rather stay up all night and sleep in the next day rather than have to get up at some unGodly hour to get a head start on things; I'm just weird that way.

I slept six hours or so and got up with the alarm, only to find the wife already out of the house to run the Yorkie to the Groomer and then do some errands of her own. I checked in on the web, then settled in to get the final bit of work done, listening to more of this week's episode of Outside The Cinema as I wrapped that up.

I finished that up around 11:00, then called the Bossman, who was going to be home for the afternoon, so I made plans to see him and hand this stuff off so that I could feel like I was over it for the weekend. I got dressed appropriate to the funky weather, as yesterday's high in the 80's was replaced today by one in the 40's. I wish we could decide if we're into spring or not, dammit, this is just ridiculous.

I dropped off stuff to the Bossman, then hit the bank and deposited the check and picked up Jack In The Box for lunch on the way home. I ate and watched a few more episodes of Will & Grace, since that's my current time-killer show that I've been stuck on recently.

The wife got home and we visited a bit, since her Uncle has been calling sweating her, basically about what SHE'S meant to do for the Mother In Law, who is acting a little better, but not what you'd call normal. He seems to be worried that if left alone, she'll go out and make an ass of herself in public, to which the wife has finally said "So what?" I mean, what can we do, really, besides put her under some kinda 24 hour private care to sit by her side and make sure she's not doing anything stupid? If she's unwilling to give up her stupid high for the sake of her family's normalcy, what are we really supposed to do? Move in with her and sell our house, just so she gets whatever attention she might feel that she's missing?

The wife talked to the Older Sister, who said essentially the same thing, which is nice to see the children getting on the same page with things. The bottom line is that we can all care and worry and fret as much as we want to, but if she doesn't want to manage her mood swings any better than this, we can't change a thing, even if we sit by her side morning, noon and night.

The wife and I chilled in bed, avoiding the phone and watching the last few episodes of Deeper Throat, which ended about as well as expected, as the white trashy contingent who owned the Deep Throat trademark of course refused to let the larger company use the name once they had finished filming a movie based around it. There's just something sleazier about the other side of things compared to the way Vivid works on their smut. I mean, I honestly think Vivid is silly for putting the 'high class' spin it does on what's just people fucking, but man, the other end of the spectrum is completely low rent and depressing. Oh well, it's a show that's now off the DVR, so that's cool.

The wife caught a nap and I poked around the web and got some writing done on a review until the Groomer called about the Yorkie, so I went to pick up Bella and let the wife nap, as it's her only refuge from her fuckstick family and all their asinine problems.



I got home and the wife got up because the Yorkie refuses to let her sleep amidst the excitement of her return, so she started making a little dessert tart item for us in the kitchen. I offered to cook a little something simple for dinner, so I started on that and we piddled around and just generally enjoyed the silence of a Friday alone without the phone ringing.

We watched some more Will & Grace just because it was conveniently already in the player in the den, then caught a new episode of The Soup before calling it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Groomer, Workday, Podcasts, Outside The Cinema, Bossman, Lunch, Jack In The Box, Television, Will And Grace, Family Drama, Deeper Throat, DVR, The Soup

The Lonely Theaterical Experience

I slept in an hour later than I intended to this morning, then got online and ran through that usual routine before starting a pot of coffee and settling in to get some work done.

I listened to another older episode of Outside The Cinema while I worked, getting a decent chunk of that finished before the wife got home from her meeting. We visited a little bit, I explained my plans for the day, then we ate some lunch and watched a little television before I spent one final hour on the graphs before dressing to go meet Macguffin to catch a movie.

The lawn guys were here doing their bit as I left and the wife was on the phone with one of her Sisters, so I pecked her on the forehead and slipped out the door while the dog was barking at a guy with a leaf blower in the front yard.

Mac called as I was halfway to Odessa to let me know that his wife would be unable to attend the film, so we could go to an earlier showing rather than waiting for her to get out of work. I drove directly to his house and then we headed back to the theater, and by the time he had procured his armload of snacks and we were settling into our seats in the theater, the film was set to roll. Perfect timing.

One other lone, fat nerd wandered in wearing a tie-dyed shirt the size of a wind sail and took a seat several rows ahead of us, but we were otherwise alone in the theater for an afternoon showing of this little independent film I recently heard about called Watchmen.

That's right kids, I finally got off my ass and headed out to the theater for the first time in several months. I must confess that I didn't even bother with a refresher read of the comic, feeling confident that all the salient bits would come back to me, which they did, though I can't account for certain changes that were obviously made for the film's ending. I enjoyed the movie, possibly slightly more than Mac did, though I do have my laundry list of quibbles, as does every other comic nerd that read the book in the late 80's, but what else is new? I'm planning on writing what I'm sure is a pointless review (because who the fuck cares what most reviewers think about blockbuster stuff like this? You'll either see it or not, y'know?) for the site tomorrow afternoon if I get a chance.

I've still got both projects to put the final touches on, and if I can finish those late tonight or early tomorrow, I think I'll feel about 50% of the stress in the back of my mind melt away, I just feel like I have those hanging over my head right now.

After the movie Mac and I headed back to his house, visited with Blancodeviosa for a bit, then I headed home. I got a hankering for some Thai food on the drive, so I called in an order that I was able to pick up as I drove into town. The wife was at a function that I'd been released from attending, so I got home, fed the ecstatic Yorkie and then was watching some television when the wife got in.

We caught up on our respective days, then she crashed for the night in the bedroom and I headed to the web to get this finished.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Workday, Podcasts, Outside The Cinema, Lawn Guys, Yorkie, Movies, Watchmen, Reviews, Thai Food

An Unexpected Turn Of Events

The electricians who were supposed to call us yesterday afternoon about the power issues in the garage attempted to make up for it by calling at a quarter til 8:00 this morning. I assured them that we'd be home (we're fucking sleeping, where else would we be, sir?) and got up and started coffee. The guys came and basically dicked around out in the garage for about 30 minutes just to tell me that one of the breakers which doesn't look thrown, in fact was. Fuck me to death.

Oh well, I suppose that it's my own fault for not manually flipping each and every breaker on and off to be sure, but if it doesn't look any different, why would I bother? Bah.

I got some writing done since I was wide awake, the wife got up and dressed for a meeting at the Museum, then I moved to the kitchen to finish my coffee and get some more work done.

I listened to an older Mail Order Zombie while I worked, then moved on to an Outside The Cinema later in the afternoon. I took a break in there when the wife got home from her meeting and went to pick us up some lunch.

I touched base with the Bossman while grabbing lunch, who seemed cool with me getting the two projects to him on Friday. I took that as a sign and relaxed a little in the afternoon with some television and the wife before making the final attack on things between four and five thirty, then called it a day.

The still-crazy Mother In Law is en route to her home today, the drive is about an 8 hour one, so we got intermittent weird calls from her, most of which the wife let go into voice-mail, because who needs that much drama? The MIL's suitor, the one the wife introduced her to recently. The one we've been more than a little afraid would be scared off by all of this, well he called as well. He drops by, as he was set to spend the night (platonically, you pervs) at the MIL's house this evening since he's recently sold his own house here in town and moved a few hours away to be closer to his elderly mother. He drops in, and he's way cool and relaxed about the situation with the MIL, as he himself evidently suffered in the past from the same manic type stuff, so he understands where she's coming from and can deal with it.

Holy shit, (to steal/paraphrase a Simpsons line) it's like the guy's not only trying to get into Heaven, he's running for Jesus or something! He's totally willing to deal with her even in this frustrating and downright annoying state without even blinking? Shit, I want to marry him!

I never in a million years would have imagined that he'd be so laid back about this sort of thing and take it all in stride. God bless him, I hope he has the same soothing effect on the MIL he had on the wife's feelings about it, she was nervous that he was coming by to tell her that he was changing his number or something

He headed over to the MIL's house to wait for her arrival (we offered him the wife's key) and the wife and I chilled out and watched Ghost Hunters before calling it a night.

Now before I call it a night, I wanted to implore all three of the regular readers here to go over to the Fangoria Weekend Of Horrors page, where they are holding a Spooksmodel competition. Once you click over there, you'll want to scroll down to the bottom of the page and vote for the lovely and talented Nora O'Sullivan, eldest daughter of Bloggin' Buddy of mine, Bubs. She's an all around horror fan, very active in her local horror scene and could really use your support, as I'm sure this competition will be pretty fierce. If she scores in the top 13, she'll get to head out to LA to compete in the contest proper, so make with the clicky clicky, and let's make that shit happen before voting ends this Sunday. Oh, and it's a single vote per person, so you won't be having to schlep your way over there once a day for the rest of the week or anything, just one vote and you're done.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Electrician, Annoyance, Workday, Podcasts, Mail Order Zombie, Outside The Cinema, Family Drama, Television, Ghost Hunters, Fangoria Spooksmodel, Contests

Allegedly Clever Description Of Blogpost

I'm not exactly feeling the whole interweb routine this evening, so let's dance and then move on, shall we?

Got up with the alarm, checked e-mail after the wife surrendered the computer on her way to a meeting. I dicked around for about an hour, then showered and loaded up the recycling stuff that I'm fairly certain I already took to the bins not even seven days ago, so I'm not sure where all this shit came from.

Headed out to the garage to find my car trapped inside when the garage door refused to open at all. Manually opened the door and called the wife, letting her know I was going out to run errands, but that we need to call the garage door folks if she got home before I did. Mailed a package at the post office after standing in line for what felt like an hour but I'm sure was only forty five minutes at the most. Seriously, it took forever, why the hell can't they have more than two fuckers working at the same time?!? They"re raising my postage yet again in May, can't they hire a new guy with the results?

Dropped the recycling off, then hit Big Lots and picked up a few cheap DVD's before going to both Best Buy and Barnes & Noble to see what was new. I picked up some lunch and headed home to see what the wife was up to, she already had a call in to the garage door people and had left them my cell number since I'm usually easier to get ahold of and would for sure be around the house.

I ate and watched some television while she fielded a few calls from her relatives and the Mother In Law, who is still acting batshit crazy at the relatives house in Arkansas. The plan is that they will drive home tomorrow and the MIL will see her psychiatrist on Thursday, but we'll see how this goes, as she's in a manic state in which she seems to think her current behavior is normal. I'm fully prepared to be extremely rude to this woman if she comes over here with her crazy road show, so I'm hoping that she'll listen to her kids and go see a fucking doctor. I'd hate for her mental issues to end up getting me drummed out of the family because I'm not willing to play the game.

The garage door guy showed up, only to find that the problem wasn't just the garage door, the entire garage had no power in it, so I guess we've had squirrels chew through some wiring or some such shit, so we had a call in to an electrician, but never heard back today. I'm hoping to see them first thing in the AM, but we'll see.

The wife split for an afternoon-into-evening meeting, so I settled in and got another good chunk of work done, listening to an older Outside The Cinema and last week's Dead Lantern Splattercast while I worked. I took a short break to rest the eyes and then listened to most of an older SModcast while I got one final push of stuff done, knocking off for the day around 7:00 to retire to the bedroom and watch a few things off the DVR.

I'm happily caught up with Dollhouse (which had a GREAT episode this past week), so that's cool, and the wife got home in time to watch the finale of Eastbound And Down with me. I have to admit to being a little on the fence with the ending, as there's a hint of a sequel circulating the web rigth now, but nothing definite, and the ending they give us isn't anything sunshiney and typically Hollywood, so...yeah. I'm just not sure what I think of it, I'd almost say that they didn't know how they wanted to end it, given the way things turn out. It's still one of the funniest things I've seen in awhile, well worth checking out, I'd just be curious to hear what anyone else thought about the ending.

The wife and I had a debriefing about our respective days, then I headed to the web to do this and she went to sleep.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Errands, Shopping, DVD, Family Drama, Workday, Podcasts, Outside The Cinema, Dead Lantern Splattercast, SModcast, Television, DVR, Dollhouse, Eastbound And Down

Getting Something Done For Once In My Miserable Life

I was up with the alarm this morning, determined to get some work done and get back into a normal schedule with both the cheesy writing and the actual paying work.

The wife had a late morning meeting, so I made coffee and then hopped online while she got ready for that. I submitted a couple of reviews to Pop Syndicate, then settled in with my coffee and got the first project prepped while listening to an older episode of The Gentlemen's Guide To Midnite Cinema.

I took a break and visited with the wife, who had just arrived home as I was making myself a sandwich for lunch, then she did some interweb stuff while I ate and watched some more Will & Grace. I don't know what the deal is, I feel compelled to finish season seven this week for no real reason except that I've had the DVD's laying around forever and haven't watched them, so I'm trying to get my money'd worth out of the deal. I watched a few more of those, then got back to work.

I finished prep work on the second project while listening to an older Night Of The Living Podcast in which they compare and contrast both awful versions of Prom Night, finishing up on that around 3:30 in the afternoon. I checked e-mail for a bit, then decided to start in on the actual graphs with the first project, just to see what I could get finished in the hour I had left of the show I was listening to.

I knocked off for good around 5:30 or so, content with the chunk of work I'd finished. The wife had an evening meeting for 6:30, so I offered to pick up dinner, but we realized that I most likely wouldn't have it back in time for her to eat before she left. She asked me to pick up something small that she could easily re-heat, so I headed out to grab a chicken sandwich for my dinner.

I came home and watched several more episodes of Will & Grace, because I only have one more disc left in this season, so why not try and plow on through? The wife came home and we visited a bit about her evening, then retired to the bedroom to watch tonight's episode of Heroes, which was okay, as they did some house cleaning, so to speak, but there's still a lot of stuff up in the air that I'm waiting to see how they resolve. I'm enjoying the season, but it's still leaving me twiddling my thumbs with a few of the plotlines.

I headed to the web to dick around with this and then catch some sleep. Then I spent about 15 minutes editing the damned Blogger tags that keep giving me weird double tagged listings on my Technorati account. Y'know, the account that refers exactly zero people to the blog each week, so of course I'd waste some time editing things around to fix it, right? I'm an anal-retentive idiot.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Reviews, Pop Syndicate, Workday, Podcasts, Gentlemens Guide To Midnite Cinema, Lunch, Television, DVD, Will And Grace, Night Of The Living Podcast, Movies, Prom Night, Heroes, Blogger, Technorati Tags

Cinematic Sunday Eighty-One

Today was another glorious day of playing 'don't ask, don't tell' with the Mother In Law's current craziness, in which we made no effort to really call anyone who might (God Forbid) want to talk about the situation, lest the mere mention of it stir things up. Oh, we eventually got a call here or there in the late afternoon, but it wasn't anything like the end of last week, where my wife had her head in the oven most of the day and I was sharpening stakes to use on the sanity-vampires in my life.

I got up early, grabbed the paper and made coffee, greeted the wife who said good morning on her way to the shower, then I hopped online and wrote another review. We went and did the grocery shopping at 11:00, trying desperately to beat the after-church zombie shuffle that always ruins any Sunday afternoon activity. I know you're all smug and self-satisfied because you're going to Heaven when all this is over, but I'd like to buy some fucking margarine in peace without all of your children in their Sunday best scampering around in my way.

We headed home, unloaded everything and put it away, then had sandwiches and watched some more Will & Grace just because I'm trying to at least get all the random television we own watched before I die.

We watched The Funhouse off the TiVo in the late afternoon, a movie I'd never seen before and was pleasantly surprised by, as the tone was very creepy and unsettling, not just because of the Funhouse Freak himself. The carnys in the film, as well as the generally sleazy feel of it all added up to make for an unsettling experience right from the get go. I'd definitely recommend giving it a rental if you haven't seen it.

The wife caught a nap and I spent some time in the office, writing a bit more and even getting a jump on this before I planned to take a break and check out the evening television options.

Trailerwise this evening we have something of a mixed bag, as I'm listing something that I think looks like total shit, just because I want to point out how awful it sounds, y'know, because I'm a petty asshole.

First up we have Away We Go from director Sam Mendes, which is about a quirky middle aged couple on the verge of having their first child together, traveling the US in search of where they want to settle and start their family. Everything I've read relating to this film (aside from actual press releases) has been going on about how it reminds them of Juno or Garden State. I must admit that I like the leads (John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph), as well as Mendes, so I don't want to just start kicking this film in the nuts from the get go. That said, it's hard to not nervously cross your fingers and hope for the best when a film looks as though it may get a little too quirky for its own good.



Next we have a teaser for Give 'Em Hell Malone, from director Russell Mulcahy. It looks all hardboiled and shit, plus the trailer features successful use of music and action. The film stars Thomas Jane, and if the trailer is to be believed, Ving Rhames as a big ass black car, though maybe he's just driving the car (?), but everyone else's credit appeared over their image onscreen...anyhow, I really hope he's playing a car, cause that'd be really unexpected.



Up next is Orphan, from director Jaume Collet-Serra, a film which stars Peter Sarsgaard and Vera Farmiga as a couple who adopt the most Satanically creepy looking kid they can find because they lost a baby or some such shit. I mean, seriously, you lose a baby and instead rush to adopt the most Bad Seed-like child you can find at the orphanage, even though you already have a couple kids at home that you can love and care for, who might not even kill you? People are fucking stupid.



Finally we have Sorority Row, the film I mentioned earlier that I think just looks straight up awful. Hollywood continues to foist Rumer Willis on me with this film, as well as giving that broad from The Hills, Audrina Patridge a chance to be in a forgettable film. The film is directed by Stewart Hendler and also co-stars Carrie Fisher in a supporting role, presumably paying off some kind of bills that had sprung up in her life, because this just looks like a pile of cliches, from the prank death to the return and killings a year later.



Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Shopping, Groceries, Lunch, Television, Will And Grace, Movies, The Funhouse, Trailers, Away We Go, Sam Mendes, John Krasinski, Maya Rudolph, Give Em Hell Malone, Russell Mulcahy, Thomas Jane, Ving Rhames, Orphan, Jaume Collet-Serra, Peter Sarsgaard, Vera Farmiga, Sorority Row, Stewart Hendler, Rumer Willis, Audrina Patridge, Carrie Fisher

Pizza, Sitcoms And Quasi-Porn

The wife and I slept in until noon, with no one calling, no one dropping family drama on our doorstep, and without even the hassle of the Yorkie poking her tongue into one of our noses in an effort to rouse us from slumber. It was glorious.

I retrieved the newspaper and the wife started piddling around in the kitchen a little, picking up and doing a few dishes, then we decided to make lunch happen before we found ourselves eating lunch at 4:00 PM or something. We ordered and picked up a pizza for lunch, then headed back home to eat and chill with the television for a bit.

I ended up popping in the 7th season of Will & Grace, because we've managed to run out of anything on the TiVo that isn't a full length film, and more than likely something I want to try to take review notes for. I don't really have anything for 'light watching' right now, but I remembered that I had several seasons worth of Will & Grace that I'd picked up cheap awhile back, so I threw that mother on to watch while we ate.

I eventually headed to the office to check e-mail and try to get a little writing done. I have to say that when I get out of the habit of sitting down to write out a movie review at least every other day or so, I always find it difficult to get back into the rhythm of it, and today was no exception. I finally got one review of the FOUR that I have notes for finished, so maybe tomorrow will prove more productive if I can get into the groove.

I took the Yorkie for a late afternoon walk that she seemed to enjoy, then the wife and I ate some leftovers for dinner and watched a few more Will & Grace episodes and a new Color Splash before retiring to the bedroom to watch a few things on the old DVR, lest it get maxed out over the course of the next week.

Deeper Throat is another cable show (on Showtime) following the production of a high profile porno film, in the vein of the Debbie Does Dallas Again series from last year. We have several episodes of the show stacked up, so we watched the first three in a row, and it's interesting/silly enough to make me want to see how it ends, but I was also struck by the fact that they kept cutting away from the girls actually demonstrating their deep throat abilities on various sex toys provided to them. I'm relatively sure that I've seen some tramps on cable sucking on dildos before, so I'm not sure why they kept shying away from showing it to us on this particular program. To sorta quote Bill Hicks, I don't wanna sound like Randy Pan the Goat Boy here, but I'm pretty sure I just saw a glimpse of at least one girl's asshole on national television, so why can't I see her stick a rubber dick in her mouth? It just seems like an odd line to draw, y'know?

I headed to the web after the show to get started on this and now here we are.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Television, TiVo, DVD, Will And Grace, Reviews, Writing, Yorkie, Color Splash, Deeper Throat, Bill Hicks

Oh, This Sonofabitching Family...

Nothing much happened today except for another dose of the family drama bullshit with the Mother In Law, so let me skim over the salient details for all three of you still reading this.

The wife and I were up and piddling around the house this morning as is our habit, suspecting nothing. I eventually made burritos for our lunch shortly after noon and we were sitting down to eat when the wife's Uncle comes by the house. He wanted to talk to her about the MIL and her weird behavior.

The MIL had evidently been calling around to various family members saying that she and the guy she's been dating for a month are now engaged, which of course we all find to be a little doubtful, as this man has been divorced for 37 years (!) and I just don't think the MIL has it in her to close the deal in under a month. Sorry, it's just not happening.

The Uncle went on to say that the planned trip for this weekend (in which he'd drive the MIL to visit other family and spread the crazy around) is looking less and less appealing, so he'd planned to tell her that he didn't think they should go. The MIL had also said that she wanted all of her girls to come over and listen to her do her nutty routine this afternoon, which the wife flatly said that she had no problem being asleep for and missing the call if it actually came.

I spoke to Anastasia Beaverhouszen for about an hour in the afternoon, catching up a bit and relating some of the MIL's weirdness to her, which she was suitably puzzled by.

The wife did indeed retreat to the bedroom and sleep rather than spend her day dwelling on all the family idiocy, and I eventually joined her and watched Synecdoche, New York on the PS3 so that I could return it to those rental throttling pricks at Netfux. I dug the movie, though I wasn't at first prepared for the typical Charlie Kaufman weirdness that ensues, it actually took me awhile to get into the flow of the film, but I warmed to it by the end of things and was happy with the film overall. It's well worth a look, and an interesting meta-textual film that I'd recommend checking out.

The wife got up and spent some time on the phone with both of her Sisters, who each have their own theories about the current state of affairs, but neither of whom actually have any real ideas as to how to deal with it, because everyone still wants to handle the MIL with kid gloves. The upshot is that whereas a year or so ago we figured that she was over-medicating, the impression we're getting now is that she's stopped taking certain medications, which is equally asinine. I'm so sick of the In-laws and all of their issues driving my wife crazy that I want to go apeshit, Oh Dae-su from Oldboy style and take a hammer to the next person who comes around bearing any sort of bad news or drama, it's been a long week for it and I'm completely the fuck over it, alright?

The wife and I picked up dinner and watched some television, then got a great laugh when another telemarketer called and I dared her to start venting her mom problems on whoever made the mistake of calling. She went for it in a big way and I present you with the transcribed version of her side of the conversation:

"Oh hello there Marcy, I'm actually glad you called this evening, I really need someone to talk with!"

Pause for reply...

"Well, I'm not sure if a credit card can help me with the issues I'm having with my mother this week, Marcy."

She places the phone on speaker at this point, and I hear the woman stammering about how she's sorry that she's having a rough day, but---

The wife cuts her off: "Y'see Marcy, my mother met this gentleman on the Adult Friend Finder, and it's been nothing but trouble ever since, ya know what I mean?"

"I don't think I can help you with that this evening ma'am, and I thank you for your time. **click**"

I can finally die laughing at this point, I was amazed that the wife kept it straight for the entire conversation. I love this new trend, maybe we can get added to some 'crazy/drunk-do not call list' if we fuck with enough random callers. Though it never worked for her actually drunk and crazy Middle Sister when she was on the sauce a few years ago, so who knows?

The MIL of course called around 10:00 and related all the same stupid shit we'd already heard from the rest of the family to the wife, I excused myself and started my evening interweb routine, then comforted my understandably strained wife once she finally got off the phone. As I suspected the whole conversation was another rambling pile of shit that the wife sat there saying "uh-huh" and "yeah" to for about 30-45 minutes while the MIL didn't notice her disinterest or boredom.

I got the wife tucked in for the night and then headed in here to finish up this stuff, which I note with some concern is growing into just me pissing and moaning about the In-laws every day. This is why I'm leaning towards the hammer party I mentioned above as a way of simplifying my life.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Family Drama, Annoyance, Frustration, Bitching, Movies, Synecdoche New York, Charlie Kaufman, Dinner, Oldboy, Reverse Prank Call

Family Drama (Part 358)

The wife and I were up this morning with the alarm. She had some non-profit rat-killing to do online, so I dressed and stepped outside to retrieve the paper and looked through that for a bit, then moved into the office while she made a few phone calls so I could check my e-mail.

The wife was feeling very frustrated with at least two of her charities today, as one was asking her to drive across town again to sign something or another (she's already done this once this week, it's fucking ridiculous that they can't nail all this stuff down for one day a week at the most), and another organization's rep was calling because she'd fucking lost the only copy of something the wife had entrusted her with. Already frustrated with these fools, she ended up on the phone with the Mother In Law, which past experience has taught us is never a good idea when you're having a bad day to begin with.

The MIL was sounding fairly squirrelly, so much so that the wife even put the phone on speaker for a few minutes so that I could hear the rambling nonsense that she was listening to, and the MIL never even noticed. I don't know if she truly hadn't slept (her claim), or if she'd popped some kinda pills, but she was babbling on about shit that made very little sense to me coming into the conversation in midstream, and the wife was getting about the same out of it on her end. I said goodbye and headed out to get a haircut and say hey to the Hairdressers.

The perpetual construction/destruction/yardwork bullshit that goes on in our neighborhood almost constantly had service vehicles parked at either end of our alley when I backed out of the garage, so I weighed my options, then tried the far end, who have had workmen clogging things up longer. I guessed they'd be more used to having to move their vehicles. I started to attempt to pass by driving over the pile of sod and dirt that'd been piled behind their house, but got about halfway and realized that the car could very easily slide into the van parked there if the dirt gave way at all, so I backed off and stuck my head over the fence to see a guy already on his way to move the van, having heard the car approaching. I called the wife as I followed him out of the alley to let her know that she should prepare to be annoyed when she left in a few minutes, only to have her tell me that the MIL had now insisted on coming over to talk to her in person because she'd wanted to 'help' the wife through her bad mood today. I knew that no good would come of this, but what can you do?

I was walking into the salon when I realized that I'd left my damned checkbook at home, so I'd have to make a trip back to pay her later in the afternoon. I assured the Hairdressers I'd be back today since they were going out of town tomorrow, then headed back home, dialing the wife on the way back to the car to see if she wanted anything for lunch.

She answers the phone in mid-sob, no lunch for her, but she and the MIL are still in mid-misery over whatever. Super-fantastic, maybe I'll just eat in the garage, with the Maxima running until it empties the tank.

I picked up food and reluctantly headed home. The MIL and the wife are in the bedroom, the MIL sobbing her head off about...well, I honesly couldn't understand much of what she said, but just hugged her instead and listened to her blubber something about how she'd let my wife down. I left the two of them to finish up whatever they were talking about (because my wife, my main and really ONLY concern seemed fine at this point, more put off/confused by her mother's behavior) and I retired to the den to eat my lunch.

The MIL split eventually, the wife and I talked a little about what had been discussed, it became apparent that the original problem of my wife's mood (feeling frustrated and irritable) had been sidelined by the MIL latching onto some mention of how she tends to not be around when the wife might need her, thus making the whole problem about her and how she's let everyone down, etc., completely skimming over how my wife was feeling right now. Y'know, the reason she came over to begin with. The MIL tends to make things about her, and today was no exception.

The wife had to split for doctor's appointment, stopping on the way to sign that stupid paper for the one guy, so I said my goodbyes, asking that she call if she needed me. I headed back out myself to drop off the check to the Hairdresser and pick up some flowers for the wife as a little pick me up. I grabbed several different colors of tulips and a little 'thinking of you' card and stood patiently in the checkout line, getting the odd looks I'd expect to get when holding a large bouquet of spring flowers and wearing a shirt with Nicholson looking all apeshit crazy on it.

I picked up coffee at Starbuck's since I was in the neighborhood, then headed home to arrange the flowers. I used a large crystal pitcher and just dropped them into the mouth of the container for a large springy feel. I spent some time on the web poking around, trading a few text messages with the wife, who was still waiting to see the freaking doctor, having sat in the waiting room for well over an hour. I'm sure this did wonders for her already shitty mood.

I decided to take the Yorkie for a walk while we waited for the wife to return, so she and I walked a little circuit of a few blocks, and she seemed to enjoy the outing. The wife was turning the corner near the house when we were walking up the driveway, so we all got home about the same time. The wife was pleasantly surprised by the flowers and card, then I left her to chill while I went and picked up sandwiches for dinner.

We ate and watched a helluva lot of television off the TiVo, talked out the day a little and basically enjoyed our night because it was just the two of us without any outside forces fucking it up for us.

The wife crashed around 10:00 and I headed to the web to dick around with this stuff again.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Annoyance, Frustration, Charity, Family Drama, Hairdressers, Haircut, Shopping, Television, TiVo

My Kingdom For A Magazine Rack

I had made plans to have lunch today with a friend (TH) who I hadn't seen since the wife and I got married almost three years ago, so I wasn't sure what to expect on that visit but figured what the hell, it might make for a good story.

The maid was arriving as I left for lunch, walking in on her cellphone in mid conversation. I left the wife to deal with her chattering, as I wasn't relishing the idea of listening to her side of a conversation for several hours and was happy to be out of the house.

I loaded up all the recycled stuff I put off dropping off last week and headed out to the restaurant, a local favorite that I knew TH doesn't have in Austin and he'd suggested, presumably out of nostalgia and convenience. We caught up a bit, then I offered to drive and go poke around for a few things I keep putting off buying.

I find myself in need of the most random of storage items, namely some decorative boxes to replace some generic cardboard ones that I have a bunch of odds and ends stored in, just so I can sit them on a shelf or in a closet without looking like I'm moving out at any moment. I'm also in the market for bulk amounts of magazine holders, and I keep running across them in twos and threes, but not the twenty or so I feel like I need to just fill up the desktop and be done with it once and for all. I was hoping to run across bulk amounts of those or some boxes to store crap in while TH and I wandered around and visited about this or that, but to no avail.

I found exactly nothing that fit my needs, so I guess I'll end up scouring the web for the items in question and hoping that buying sight unseen isn't a horrible mistake.

I eventually dropped TH back at his car and said our goodbyes, though I don't know when I'll see him again, I honestly don't like Austin all that much, but maybe I just need to give it another chance with a different group of people. The wife's convinced that her annoying friend Blather ruined my first impressions of the place, but I can't say that I find the hippies and patchouli all that fascinating either.

I headed home and the wife split for her afternoon meeting while I hopped online and looked around a bit. I was actually nodding a little at the computer while the maid finished up, so when she split at 4:00 or so, I went and lay down in the bed and caught a nap, something I usually don't do.

Next thing I know, I'm waking up, groggy as hell and the wife is just getting home at 6:00 in the evening, asking me if I want to go to dinner. I'm in pajamas at this point, but I said yes, because she rarely asks me to go out to eat in the evenings with her. I dressed and let her finish checking her e-mail, which included some shit from her (our) accountants about the fugging IRS audit we got notified about yesterday. They wanna go over our shit from 3 years ago, which is annoying, because I don't even know how much information I actually have to give them, I mean I believe they want to see deposit slips for fuck's sake, and those don't usually even make the car ride home from the bank once a deposit is made. Oh well, so far we're not sweating it ( I mean, what the fuck do we have to hide?), though it is just a pain in the ass and does nothing to bolster confidence in an accounting firm that we're already on the fence about anyway.

We had dinner and I eventually woke up completely around midway through the meal, so that was nice, then we came home and watched the last two episodes of Ghost Hunters back to back.

The wife crashed a little early and I headed to the web to work on this, but instead got fished into a (Cool) Shite live show that they ran via Ustream. That's finally wrapped up, so I'm calling it a night myself.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Maid, Lunch, Errands, Shopping, Dinner, Television, Ghost Hunters, Podcasts, Cool Shite On The Tube