Sell Crazy Someplace Else, We're All Stocked Up Here

What a pain in the ass of a day.

We had issues with an air conditioner, but it's fixed now and the more pressing matters lie elsewhere, so I'll summarize, eliminating that hassle in favor of relating other extraneous nonsense.

We slept in, picked up lunch for the wife and myself, then got the evidently now inevitable daily call that the Middle Sister wanted to come by, which means that my afternoon basically goes down the shitter as we have to entertain a guest who has very little to say but would just like to get out of her own home and spread the crazy around a bit.

Apparently saying hollow pleasantry shit like "give us a call if you need anything" is actually taken seriously by a portion of the populace. Duly noted; will strike that phrase from my vocabulary.

So the Middle Sister shows up around, oh, let's say 2:00 PM or so, as I wasn't watching the clock to see exactly how fucked my life was at this point in time. She sits in the sitting area off the kitchen and the wife makes with the chit chat for a bit, I flip channels on the telly and wonder how long our day will be held hostage this time. I step into the laundry room to start a load of towels to give me something to do, as the idea of getting anything watched for review is laughable with conversation in the other room. The doorbell rings, it's the Middle Sister's Idiot Husband and their kid, which brings me to the verge of an anger stroke (that can happen, right?), as we now have an extra family underfoot that have no reason to be here save for the Sister's unchecked lunacy that no one seems to be able to nail down a solution for.

I gave these people roughly another hour or so, until the husband came and sat down next to me on the couch as I desperately flipped channels to amuse myself and starts asking questions like "Do you follow politics?" For fuck's sake, beyond the fact that politics and religion are the worst subjects to discuss with anyone, he should know after five+ years of being around me that we don't share the same political leanings, so why begin that song and dance? I finally exhausted both the channels available to me as well as my patience, told the wife that I was done with all of this, indicating the house and our 'guests', grabbed my keys and walked out.

Dick move, I'll freely admit, but it was this or me end up shouting at everyone in the place to GTFO, in the parlance of the interwebs, which I figured would go over worse than my simply removing myself from the equation.

I drove around a bit, grabbed a coffee at Starbucks, eventually stepped into the local books, music and video outlet, where I found a few cheap books for the pile, then headed home after trading a couple texts with the wife who assured me that 'this house is clean'.

We debriefed back at the house, I assured her that I wasn't mad at her, but rather frustrated with what is becoming an untenable situation, she assured me that she wasn't mad that I'd left with very little in the way of explanation. I admitted that I had told the Idiot Brother In Law that we weren't in the business of letting his wife spend the night, an idea that's come up on her end recently; I shut that shit down with a simple "Yeah, that's not happening." because I don't want to have to kill myself before my health starts to fail and I Kervorkian my way out of this mortal coil.

The wife and I ordered in some dinner, watched some bullshit off the To-Watch Pile and generally tried to relax after the hassle of the afternoon.

I'm out.

Be seeing you. (Unless you start showing up at our doorstep, then I may hide in the bedroom)

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Frustration, Family Drama, Irritation, Movies, To-Watch Pile

Household Stuff, Etc.

I basically lost today to the typical jackassery that rears its head from time to time. I'd wager that this was in no small part due to the book-length post from yesterday, which left me in a weird mood.

The wife had errands to run, so she was out of the house for most of the day. Meanwhile, we had issues with one of our tankless water heaters, which is kinda odd to me, as we have two in the house and one of them works like a dream while the one that supplies water to the kitchen and the Guest Side of the house is the neediest piece of shit I can imagine. It's had weird issues on and off that I chalk up to the rest of this haunted fucking house trying to kill us with madness and irritation. I have an interweb buddy who describes our running technology and home repair issues being indicative of the fact that we somehow live in a haunted Japanese house, ala The Grudge or something, which makes me laugh. Nervously, because I suppose it could be true.

Between the Repair Guys and the Lawn Guys I managed to slip away to grab a salad for lunch, which I'd barely finished before the Uncle turned up looking to visit with the wife, so I explained that she wasn't here, met his friend that he's traveling with, then they went on their way and I heard the Repair Guys back with the repaired water heater, which in turn stirred the Yorkie up a bit.

I kinda gave up on getting anything done around this point, instead settling in to place a final order for some stuff I'd been eyeing in that Criterion sale on Barnes & Noble's website, because we don't really have anything around here to watch right now and I felt I should try to remedy that.

The wife finally got home in the late afternoon, so we caught up a bit, then she fielded a few calls while I wrapped up my web travels. I made myself a martini while we waited for our guests to arrive, as we were supposed to have dinner with Brian and our friend JH, who I hadn't seen in quite some time. Dinner was at a loud Japanese steakhouse across town, the food was good, the loudly happy drunks at the bar behind us weren't so much fun, but whatevs, it was a good meal and we headed home afterward, stopping for a dessert item for half of our party. I had suggested poking around Barnes & Noble, an idea the wife seemed not that keen on, which annoyed me for whatever reason (slight buzz was probably a factor, judge not lest ye go fuck yourself, m'kay?) so we headed back to the house.

We watched the new episode of The Soup with Brian, JH split early to take an online test, then Brian left around 9:30 and the wife and I kinda hashed out my earlier annoyance. When I am in a bad mood I would sometimes rather let that shit lie, but we ended up talking it out before she headed to bed because naturally not knowing what annoyed me would in turn drive her apeshit and not let her sleep. Misunderstandings aside, it was a fun evening, but I wish I had got a few things done today.

Anyway...

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Frustration, Household Repairs, Repair Guys, Lawn Guys, Yorkie, Shopping, Criterion Collection, Dinner, Friends, Television, The Soup

Life Is Like A Sharp Thumb To The Eye

I don't use the word cunt lightly, but holy fucking shit, it's the most descriptive derogatory terminology I can come up with because I wasn't smart enough to go to school and get a degree.

But sometimes even with all that fancy book-learnin', a cunt is still a cunt.

I haven't really talked about too much in the way of truly personal stuff in some time, as I keep finding out that increasing numbers of people that I know 'in real life' (or IRL, for you nerdy tech-speak fuck-faces out there) are for no apparent reason reading this stuff, so what was once an outlet for venting off frustration has now become an eggshell walk that I barely care to do at times, because fuck enjoyment.

I got a call today from Macguffin's mother, who I'd not spoken to for about 8 months or so. In the months after he took his own life, she and I had talked several times about what was to be done with his possessions, but we'd finally left things with her being the one who would call me when (or even if) she felt comfortable enough to begin the process of dispersing her son's belongings amongst his friends, a task she wanted me to be involved in. This also per his suicide note, if I'm not mistaken, just to be perfectly clear about what his mother has said. I had been fairly content to let her make the first move there, as any conversations eventually ended up with both of us bawling at some point, as we're pretty close to the situation, even today.

So it was with some trepidation that I returned her call this afternoon to see what she had in mind; the voicemail that she'd left last night was just one of those generic 'please give me a call' messages.

We spoke for the better part of an hour, and the upshot is this: Both she and her husband were ill for a time, and she'd asked Mac's estranged wife (they were in the process of divorcing at the time that he committed suicide) to please see to it that the notations in his suicide note were carried out, the main bit of which was that our friend Buckaroo Banzai and I were to take his extensive comic book and comic memorabilia collection, then divvy it up as we saw fit, including distributing it amongst other acquaintances, etc. His ex has told his mother that this happened, while I haven't had any contact what-so-fucking-ever with her since....well, let me just look, as we corresponded via text messages that I still have on my iPhone from LAST YEAR.

Okay, I last heard from this woman on 10/28/09, roughly nine days after he died.

From what I understand, in the intervening time she's taken a big fun trip to NYC with the 'love of her life' (whoever the fuck that is; glad my dead best friend didn't cramp your style at all, lady) and evidently become a grandmother courtesy of her teenaged daughter.

What she hasn't done is carry out a man's dying fucking wishes, written down in his darkest moments through what I'm sure had to be a haze of tears and regrets.

The best part of this is that she also said that Bucky was the new owner of all of Mac's clothing, which is a patently ridiculous idea, as the two men are of completely different body types, so I actually laughed out loud when I heard this nonsense. It'd be as useless as me giving clothes to Shaq or something: it's a nice thought, but nobody's gonna be able to wear jack shit.

I don't know what else to say about this, as I had basically given up on the idea of having any sort of personal mementos to remember my friend by after we'd made it into June of this year with no word of any kind from this woman. As with his mother, I'd left the ball in her court, not because I would be crying on her shoulder but because the way she'd left things with Mac put such a lousy taste in my mouth. I always hoped against hope that somehow I'd eventually hear something positive about this, but the call this afternoon pretty much confirmed my nagging feeling that there was probably a big garage sale (on an online one over at eBay), hell it might've even paid for that big fancy trip to the Big Apple, right?

Rationalization is an amazingly fluid thing, and I realize that this woman may very well have all of his possessions locked away safe and sound in a storage unit somewhere locally, just waiting to brave making a phone call to yours truly.

But I highly fucking doubt it, I'm sorry, but all the behavior surrounding both this situation as well as her crumbling relationship with her former In-Laws would indicate that this stuff is long gone and whatever I have to remember Mac by is going to be the two DVD's I had that he'd lent me at some point and not much else. His mother also tells me that there's evidence surfacing of embezzlement which I have to be really honest and say that I very much hope goes to court. And then jail.

Because FUCK. I mean, really. Lies left and right, now outright theft on your way out the door? Is this even the person I knew for...what, a decade or so? Amazing.

It was nice to speak to Mac's mother. She seems to be in good spirits, having bounced back from some health issues and while things skated around the area of maudlin a few times as we reminisced, it never quite took that final sobbing leap, which shows some improvement. She and I still haven't met face to face since the death, as I think that being in the house that he used to live in when we first became friends would be like a hammer to the temple as far as my depression levels go. I do not feel that I have the strength to deal with it, and I have no desire to stir it up. Thankfully she seems content to have these phone conversations, which I can take much better.

There. I'm done, unless I end up discussing this situation in the comments. I've purposely been vague enough to not invite any sort of slander lawsuit should anyone have the unmitigated gall to stumble by here and take offense to my take on this largely fucked situation. Because frankly, I wouldn't put anything past anyone at this point.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Friends, Suicide, Anger, Have You No Fucking Shame

Dirty Wednesday

I managed less than five hours sleep last night, so I finally forced myself from the bed and got the house opened up for business around 10:00 this morning. I had slept poorly, but decided to forego the coffee as I'd been drinking it every day for the past week and I hate to get into that kinda pattern as it seems to exacerbate the acid reflux.

I got some writing done and piddled around with the web a bit, then finally paused around 1:00 in the afternoon to go and pick up some lunch, as I found myself suddenly ravenous. I picked up some food and headed back home and watched a few things off the TiVo while I ate. I even finally wrapped up my viewing of The Pacific, which was every bit as impressive as the Band Of Brothers series was when I watched it late last year.

In a complete wild hair type of move I decided to give the Dirty Harry boxset a spin and see how the Blu-ray versions looked. I'd re-watched Dirty Harry not too long ago, so it was fairly fresh in my mind as I sat down to give it a look, but once I popped in the second film in the series I kinda realized that I may've only seen about 3 of the five films in the set.

Magnum Force was interesting enough, but on my initial viewing I have to say point blank that there is absolutely no reason why this film is over 2 hours long. You could shave at least 25 minute off this thing by simplifying the overall route Harry takes to find his way back to the people killing off San Francisco's criminal bosses and the film could move a lot faster. I suppose it might've been 'edge of your seat suspense' for its time, but for my money this evening I could've done with a bit less.

The wife and I took a break from the movies at this point and watched last night's episode of Louie, which was hilarious as always. I can't recommend the show enough, great, brutally honest comedy.

We wrapped up our evening with tonight's (as always) kind of underwhelming Ghost Hunters International, then called it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Television, TiVo, The Pacific, Band Of Brothers, Movies, Blu-ray, Dirty Harry, Magnum Force, Louie, Ghost Hunters International

Homo Tuesday

Y'know, because I like a theme, which will become clear as you read on...

The wife and Yorkie rose with the crack of dawn and the Yorkie was spared a vet visit by actually consuming and keeping down some food. I dunno what she got into that made her vomitous yesterday evening, but it appears to have passed, thank you GOD.

I got some writing done in the late morning, then the wife was kind enough to pick up some lunch that we ate while watching A Single Man from Netfux.

The movie is directed by Tom Ford, whose name will be familiar to you from the fashion world, and this debut film firmly cements him as a talent to watch in the realm of cinema as well. The story of a middle aged man who loses his lover to a car accident, the film is basically set around a single day in his life eight months after the tragedy, as he goes through the minutiae of planning his own death. The film is made up of the small pleasures he takes in his life, as well as the small disappointments that plague him along the way. The film was amazing, Ford has a stunning eye for detail, the scenes are composed in gorgeous ways and it has a tremendously emotional effect on the viewer. True, this may've been due to the subject matter (someone going through the preparations for suicide obviously strikes a certain chord with me after how things turned out with my best friend), but there's a very sweet tone running throughout as Colin Firth's character reflects on his past relationship.

I got a bit more writing done after the movie, then decided to make a few martinis after we got into the five o'clock hour and retired to the den to pop in another flick.

I ended up watching Bigger Than Life, recently purchased during the Criterion half price sale that Barnes & Noble is running this month. The film sees James Mason becoming addicted to cortisone and taking his mood swings out on his family. It felt like an amusingly cautionary tale in the vein of something like Reefer Madness by the time it was said and done. Amusing stuff.

I decided to round out my evening with a re-watch of Wong Kar Wai's Happy Together, which I'd picked up cheap on Blu-ray recently. The story of two gay lovers played by Leslie Cheung and Tony Leung, we follow Leung for the most part as he deals with the general shittiness of how Cheung acts and treats him after they move to Buenos Aires. The film looks amazing, shot in both B & W as well as some really eye-popping colors and depicts a painfully realistic of a doomed relationship that seems to feed on the cycle of abuse and misery that the men have fallen into. This isn't my favorite Wong Kar Wai film, but it looks amazing on Blu-ray and I'm happy to have given it another watch. This is one film of his that I have only seen a few times, so I was happy to re-visit it in the newly released edition from Kino, great stuff.

I called it a late night and headed to the Office to dick around with this nonsense.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Movies, Blu-ray, A Single Man, Tom Ford, Colin Firth, Bigger Than Life, James Mason, Criterion Collection, Happy Together, Wong Kar Wai, Leslie Cheung, Tony Leung

Shopping, Drama, More Illness, FML

Kinda low-key this evening, no fuss no muss.

The standing lunch date was on for 1:00 PM today, so I was out of the house a bit before noon to run a couple errands and see if I could turn up a new lamp to replace the one in the Office that had a bulb snap off in it's socket last night when I went to change the bulb. I ended up grabbing one from Target that I'd seen online, which turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. I met EL at our normal Mexican food place, we did our usual catching up routine while we ate, then I split to run a few other errands.

I hit up our Big Lots to investigate a few new arrivals I'd heard tell about, then decided to try to Odessa location as well on a wild hair. I had been thinking about doing this stuff this coming Wednesday, but figured if I got all my running around done today that I could be at home writing for the rest of the week.

The pawn shop beckoned, as it'd been a couple weeks, and I found a few things in their '4 for $10' dumpster dive-ish sale, only to stand in the standard 15-20 minute checkout line. I get to the counter and the broad tells me that they're 5 for $10, which made me ask why the hell their sign said four? I scrabbled around and found a fifth title, paid and got the hell out of there to check out the other Big Lots and head home.

The wife texted me as I was getting into town about going out to dinner, so I met her at the house and we debriefed about our respective days, then headed out to dinner still going over the current family drama that she'd been dealing with. It's not as chaotic as it could be, but there's no easy fix to anything in sight and I kind of wanna go out to the garage and run the gas out of the car when I start to think about it too much. This also kinda makes me wanna kill the In-Laws and be done with it move far away without a forwarding address, but obviously that's never going to happen. Best laid plans...

Oh, and now that the Yorkie has shown improvement with her neck issues she's begun throwing up this evening as we're trying to bed down, so the wife will be taking her to the vet in the morning. That poor little dog has really been through the wringer lately.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Shopping, Target, Big Lots, Family Drama, Yorkie, More Illness, FML

Now You See Me, Now You- Ah Fuckit, That Sounds Dumb

The wife and I continued our odd weekend behavior with the ritual sacrifice of a small woodland creature to our unholy Lord Baphomet this morning...naw, just fucking with ya, we made breakfast again, which is weird for us. We aren't usually breakfast types, but the wife made waffles while I browned some sausages to accompany, then we read through the newspaper and ate while the Yorkie weaseled her way around our feet, hoping for the scraps that would never come.

Since we were up fairly early and got a decent start on the day, I decided to pop in a flick off the To-Watch Pile in the early afternoon. This inadvertently followed up the recent viewing of Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers with a re-watch of his 2000 flick Hollow Man, but it was something nice and light to chill out with and just relax, rather than something I was interested in taking notes on for review. The film holds up really well, I was actually pretty impressed that the special effects held up as well as they did, though some of the bits as Kevin Bacon is trying to 'phase' back into visibility looked a little hokey. Plus there's the added bonus of Rhona Mitra as the hot neighbor who doesn't use her curtains all that much, just to keep your interest if the sci-fi angle is boring ya. Fun stuff.

I piddled around in the Media Closet in the afternoon, sorting some as yet unwatched things into alphabetical order for my own anal-retentive nerdiness, then decided to grab a shower and pick up a late lunch/early dinner with the thought that we'd just have any leftover Chinese as our evening meal. We'd just finished eating when the wife's Middle Sister turned up at our doorstep, so I retreated to the Office to let them visit, as I figured they had more to talk about amongst themselves than with me riding shotgun.

The wife and I spent the evening as we usually do, first with some of the Fox animation re-runs, then with new stuff off HBO; True Blood, etc., etc., etc.

And then tomorrow the cycle all begins again. Yay?

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Breakfast, Yorkie, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Paul Verhoeven, Hollow Man, Kevin Bacon, Rhona Mitra, Starship Troopers, Media Closet, Chinese Food, Dinner, Television, HBO, True Blood

Incorporating Mysteries Into My Bad Taste

I got a decent amount of sleep last night and woke around 10:30 this morning to the sounds of the wife and Yorkie in the other room. I stirred and went to see what they were up to, finding the wife on the phone with a friend and the dog checking out any passing cars with mild interest.

Once I got some coffee started I decided to make breakfast, which is something of a rarity around this place, as neither one of us is what I'd characterize as a morning person. I usually make a little omelet-esque concoction involving eggs, cheese and sausage, which we usually eat like little sandwiches on bread. I suppose we could go through the process of actually making toast, but if it ain't broke, y'know?

I spent most of my afternoon working on a couple reviews in the office while the wife piddled with some laundry and that sort of thing. I eventually stepped out to pick up some steaks and the trimmings for our dinner, breaking my own self-imposed rule of avoiding supermarkets on weekends due to the packs of assholes that do their shopping then on their days off. Once I got home I put away my groceries and then popped in a movie before it was time to start cooking dinner.

Bad Taste is a flick I've always been aware of and had blind bought awhile back when I ran across a cheap copy of it. It's from director Peter Jackson, who would go on to make shit like King Kong and the Lord Of The Rings films, but got his start in smaller splattery horror fare like this film, which I found rather underwhelming for whatever reason. I dunno if I was in the wrong mood for this type of film or what, but it did little save to pass the time until we started making dinner. Oh well. Buyer's remorse isn't anything new.

The wife and I finished up the 4th season of Supernatural this evening, which typically ended on a cliffhanger as the show always has in the past. This is monumentally frustrating this time around, as the next season won't be available on DVD until this coming September 7th. Gah. I sincerely hope that they have a re-cap at the beginning of the next set, as I may lose all sense of history in the next month.

We wrapped the evening with a couple episodes of a new Scooby-Doo show that's been airing on Cartoon Network. Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated is a new take on the classic series that moves the characters into an almost self-aware area. The series seems to have a slightly sarcastic edge that wasn't in the old classic series, a sharp edgy style to the animation and an actual sense of continuity hinting at a mysterious behind the scenes figure named Mister E that I find rather intriguing. Top this off with Matthew Lillard voicing Shaggy (he played the character in the two live action films) and it's a no-brainer that I'm gonna love this. I'm hoping this gets a good long run, I'm hoping for at least the standard 20-something episodes to this season and a DVD release.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Breakfast, Movies, Bad Taste, Peter Jackson, King Kong, Lord Of The Rings, Television, DVD, Supernatural, Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated, Matthew Lillard

Not The Best Movie To Watch Right Before A Meal...

We woke at the crack of dawn with the Lawn Guys doing their thing and drawing the Yorkie's ire, so while it was scary to see her get all antsy about the noise it was also kinda nice to see her show a little more life than she has in the past week or so as she comes off the medications. The wife had some appointments lined out for the morning, including dropping Bella at the Groomer on her way, so they split to do that while I made some coffee and cursed inwardly at my poor decision to go to bed so late, as I ended up with maybe four hours sleep thanks to the Lawn Guys arriving at such an unGodly hour.

The computer was actually in the middle of a scheduled scan, so I left it to its own devices and popped in a flick from Netfux that we've had absolutely for fucking ever, so I wanted to try and turn over the queue sometime before I die. Hunger is a 2008 film from Steve McQueen (not that McQueen) starring Michael Fassbender which relates the details of a hunger strike undertaken by IRA prisoners in the 80's as a desperate bid to draw attention to the inhuman conditions under which they were being held. The film is truly stomach churning at times, for a variety of reasons, including the brutality of the violence as well as the utterly disgusting conditions these people are held under. The visuals are also rather inspired, as a character's full body convulsions are mimicked by a skeletal tree shaking free of a flock of birds against a blue skyline; gorgeous imagery offsetting the horror of the situation. It's well worth a look, but I don't know how often one might want to re-watch it, as the film is rather bleak from beginning to end with no real glimmer of hope, to be perfectly honest.

I picked up a giant salad for my lunch and was in the process of watching a few animated things off Netfux Instant Watch when the wife got home. We caught up for a few, then she headed back out to pick up the dog from the Groomer while I finished the last episode of my show.

The wife and I both caught a nap in the afternoon, though I as usual only dozed for about a half hour before snapping awake like I was under attack. I ended up reading for a bit in the Library on the other side of the house so as not to disturb the wife and dog.

Brian had made plans with us to have dinner and hang out for a bit, so he arrived around 6:00, I suggested a sandwich shop on the South side of town and everyone seemed agreeable, so we headed out to grab a bite. Dinner was good, we grabbed a coffee and a dessert item on the way back to the house, then the wife mentioned possibly dropping in on the Mother In Law and The Beau to see what they were up to. We called ahead to see if they were accepting callers, then popped in there and spent an hour and change visiting with them. We eventually headed back to the house and watched the TiVo'd episode of The Soup before Brian split, then the wife and I watched a couple Will & Grace re-runs just for the hell of it before calling it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lawn Guys, Yorkie, Groomer, Movies, Netflix, Hunger, Steve McQueen, Michael Fassbender, Netflix Instant Watch, Dinner, Friends, In-Laws, Television, The Soup, Will And Grace

Jenny Agutter's Bum And A Few Other Things I Saw This Afternoon

Not really feeling this one today, so I'll be brief.

Overslept, as my week of 5 hours a night had caught up to me. Picked up lunch, popped in the Blu-ray of Starship Troopers off the To-Watch Pile. I hadn't watched it in forever, but man that flick looks amazing in Blu-ray, a sharp picture to the point that when the wife walked in she even commented how great it looked. The flick holds up well and is still a lot of fun, loaded with satire, violence and boobs, what's not to love?

We also watched Terminator: Salvation off the old TiVo, just because I was curious and had heard so many mixed things about it. In the end I wasn't blown away, but wasn't put off by it either, it was a fine way to spend a few hours, end of story.

The wife and I watched some television as we got into the evening, including this week's episodes of Entourage and The Real L Word, then I started another movie in an effort to clear off the TiVo a bit.

Logan's Run was a film I'd always been aware of and had never got around to actually watching, so I'm happy to finally have that off the list. It was also nice to see a little skin from the ever gorgeous Jenny Agutter, who I will forever hold a torch for and who managed some casual nudity here and there, as if to do me a solid. I have to say that Michael York is a little less than enthralling as the lead, but overall the flick was an okay watch, mostly due to Agutter and my curiosity as to where it was going when they finally go on the run together.

The wife balked at the length of the movie in relation to how late it was getting, so she headed to bed and left me to finish the third flick alone.

Now here we are with this nonsense.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Starship Troopers, Blu-ray, Terminator Salvation, Television, TiVo, Entourage, The Real L Word, Logans Run, Michael York, Jenny Agutter

I Haven't Been Played With Like That In Years!

Forgive the suggestive quote, but the wife has been interested in seeing the newest Toy Story film since it hit theaters, so we'd made plans to get out to the theater to give it a look at long last this morning. We were both up and running early, the wife fielded a few calls while I checked e-mail, then we dressed and headed to the theater just before noon.

Toy Story 3 was a lot of fun, and actually the first 3-D film I've ever seen on the big screen, which made for a fun experience. The theater was virtually empty, though out of the entire audience (five adults total and one child), the one kid was running up and down the aisle for a bit until the mom or whoever took him outside, threatening to leave altogether. They eventually came back and settled for the rest of the flick, which was nice, but I don't know why I was surprised that the only child in the entire theater would be acting like an asshole. I did actually tear up at the end (as I was meant to), it's great stuff and really tugs at the heartstrings.

We grabbed a bit of lunch afterward at an Italian place adjacent to the theater, then headed back to the house. The wife caught a nap and I spent some time with a flick I have for review, then in the evening we watched the 5th disc out of the Supernatural season 4 set, which I'm trying to slowly dole out as we're almost out of material until September when the 5th season hits DVD.

We wrapped our evening with this week's episode of Louie, then called it a night around 10:00.

I'm beat.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Movies, Toy Story 3, Lunch, Television, DVD, Supernatural, Louie

Got Lost Seeding The Ghostly Highway

I was up with the alarm, as we had the Maid on the line for today and wanted to be awake for it.

I got coffee going and was in the process of working on a review when the Maid arrived and set to her routine. The wife got back from her meetings and the two of us spent some time in the Office working on this or that on our respective computers, then she ordered some food and I went to pick it up so that we could have lunch sooner than later.

We watched some television as we ate, then the Maid split and we both actually lay down for a nap, as I was just plain tired. I dozed about 30 minutes, then got up and popped in a movie while the wife relaxed.

Seeding Of A Ghost was a Shaw Brothers title that I had on hand from Netfux for longer than I want to admit, so I finally gave it a look and I'm rather glad that I did. It's a story of a cabbie whose wife is raped and murdered, who then employs black magic to seek revenge on her tormentors, which plays out with an amazing amount of hokey effects and over the top nonsense in the film's last half hour. I really enjoyed this one, it is very much in the same vein as The Boxer's Omen and is well worth a look if you're into the splattery excess and practical effects of the 80's.

I hit up the liquor store after my flick, as I was out of provisions. I've begun to really puzzle over why all of our local liquor stores are run by these Russian women, it's damned strange and makes me wanna just straight up ask them why the fuck they're in the middle of West Texas.

The wife and I chilled in the evening with David Lynch's Lost Highway, which I hadn't watched in some time and had on the old To-Watch Pile. I have to say that Lost Highway is definitely one of my favorite Lynch films and holds up amazingly well to repeated viewings. It also made me realize that I don't own Mulholland Dr. for whatever reason, so I may have to remedy that soon, as I don't expect a big features-laden edition, given Lynch's disinterest in commentaries and that sort of thing. Of course the week I buy it I'm sure that I'll see an announcement about the Blu-ray, but oh well...

We called it a night shortly after 10:00. The Yorkie seems to be a little better now that we're officially 24 hours off her meds, though she's still not all that perky overall. I don't think we'll ever see her back to her 'normal' self that I've known these past five years, but she doesn't act like she's in pain, which is a bit of a relief.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Maid, Writing, Lunch, Movies, Netflix, Seeding Of A Ghost, Shaw Brothers, The Boxers Omen, Lost Highway, David Lynch, Mulholland Dr., Yorkie

Standard Monday Procedures

The wife split early to run her errands, so I got up with the alarm to get coffee going and fired up the computer top get started on some writing. Imagine my surprise to discover that the computer was still in the process of doing a complete system scan (the first I'd done since we bought it a few months back), so I kinda left that to finish up while I grabbed a shower instead.

I ended up working on some reviews for a couple hours before I took a break and started getting the recycling together to drop off while I was out to grab lunch with EL, as is the Monday custom. Lunch was Thai this time around; we caught up a bit then I headed out to run my errands, including a trip to the Post Office and the recycle bins before I headed home.

The wife and I were like ships passing the night for the most part, as she was in and out of the house between meetings, grocery shopping and a doctor's appointment, then she split for an evening meeting that ended up eating up her late afternoon and most of the night. I got some more polishing done on the review I'd been pecking away at, as well as spent some time with e-mail trying to sort out a situation with Swap A DVD regarding two movies I'd mailed to someone that were returned due to lack of a forwarding address. This is my first hassle in about 14 transactions so far, so I guess that's not too bad of a success ratio, right?

The wife out of the house indefinitely, I decided to watch a few things in the den that I could kinda ignore while going through the mail and other stuff. I watched a couple Family Guy re-runs as well as the MST3K version of The Giant Gila Monster, which was pretty amusing all the way around, especially a goofy tow truck driver who kept playing a fucking ukulele in certain scenes, very odd stuff.

Once the wife got home we caught up on her day, allowing her to decompress a bit, then she basically needed to head to bed to be up early for another meeting, so we said hi and bye and I sent her off to bed. I think we're going to try and see a movie on Wednesday, so we'll finally get to spend a bit more time together then.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Errands, Swap A DVD, Television, Family Guy, Movies, MST3K, The Giant Gila Monster

Quirky Pregnant Fun

I need a generic template of "up late, slept in", which I could just adjust as needed when rolling through these stupid things, it'd save me a lot of typing.

I picked up our lunch after taking down the paper that's now used to cover the front window at night. We've yet to really address the fact that one of our drape set-ups came crashing down off the wall this past Thursday morning. I've been covering the windows in the evening with paper so as to not feel like we're on display for the neighbors and other passersby. The worst part is that the hardware ripped itself from the wall, so I don't know what the easy fix is, what with the exact place these things need to go being all shredded out drywall and shit. It actually gives me a hint of a headache just thinking about it, hence the ignoring of the problem with the paper half-assed solution for the time being.

We watched Away We Go while we ate our lunch, which was something I'd had on the TiVo for quite some time now and wanted to give it a look and get it off there. My current plan is to try and catch up all the outstanding recordings from the first half of the year, of which there are many more than I want to go into here. Away We Go was an enjoyable watch, but it also felt like it wore its indie film feel on the sleeve a bit too strenuously, what with the cast of quirky characters and folky soundtrack. I had to roll my eyes from time to time in spite of really liking Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski as the leads in search of the right place to start their family after they discover that she's pregnant. It's definitely worth a look, but may be a little heavy handed in how 'alternative' that it feels at times. I think it may grow on me with another viewing, as I'll know what to expect from it and be able to adjust my expectations or annoyances accordingly.

I ran by Big Lots in the afternoon on a wild hair, as they were having a sale that took an additional 20% off for members of their Buzz Club, a group that I'm kinda ashamed to say that I've now joined since I'm spending so much time rooting through their cut-rate shit lately. I found a few things, then stopped into Best Buy on the way home for a browse as well, picking up a couple cheap Blu-rays; just a few things we'd rented in the past and didn't have for the re-watch. Don't judge me.

In the evening the wife and I watched our usual assortment of Fox animation re-runs as well as new episodes of True Blood and Hung before calling it a night. Minor side note: Thank you GOD, Hung finally point blank acknowledged the fact that the two kids Thomas Jane supposedly had with Anne Heche look nothing at all like either one of them; if anything they defiantly deny containing any of their DNA from all outward appearances. It's nice that they finally addressed something I've been saying since the first episode, that's all.

I wasted my weekend completely, as I have some things I need to be writing and keep putting off because I'm a lazy tosser. I really need to get some things done tomorrow, come hell or high water.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Home Repairs, Fuck Me, Movies, Away We Go, Maya Rudolph, John Kransinski, TiVo, Television, True Blood, Hung, Thomas Jane, Anne Heche

Nostalgic Afternoon

I slept in this morning, as my past few days of 5-6 hours of sleep finally caught up with me. The wife had a conference call and spent some time with a mailing for one of her non-profits, so by the time I was waking up she was heading out to drop her letters off.

The wife was kind enough to bring some lunch back with her, so we ate while I watched the 2nd disc of the Robotech Macross series, the Legacy collection which I had picked up via Swap A DVD awhile back in a fit of nostalgia. I don't think I've watched any of this stuff since they first hit DVD back in the early 2000's, and then I only saw the first disc, so I haven't seen most of this material since I was in junior high if I'm not mistaken. I can actually say that it holds up rather well and really takes me back to that time in my life, which is something of a mixed blessing, as far as emotions go. One thing that this re-watch is doing is making me keen to see if there's any way to track down the original material that this stuff was taken from, as I've know it was originally three separate programs that Harmony Gold kinda re-worked into one over-arcing show.

Y'know, because I need a few more things to watch, right?

We watched To Catch A Thief in the evening, something which neither of us had ever seen before. I have to say that I really enjoy having put off a lot of classic film like these until my middle age, as I have more of a palette to enjoy them with, as I doubt that I would have really found the charm in a lot of older cinema had I had it foisted on me at an early age. I think I have more of a sophisticated eye to enjoy older films where I could imagine that as I teen I might've turned up my nose at this sort of thing.

We piddled around with a bit of television off the TiVo, then called it as night around 11:00 so that I could get this nonsense done.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Nostalgia, Robotech The Macross Saga, Legacy Collection, Swap A DVD, Movies, To Catch A Thief, Television

Writing, Good Mail, Television, Bad Movie And Then Dinner

I got up with the alarm this morning after a quick 6 hours of sleep. The Yorkie had started the evening at the foot of the bed but was already in the sitting area off the kitchen, waiting patiently for the return of the wife, who was out of town overnight visiting the Older Sister.

I got some writing done in the morning over a pot of coffee, then the mail arrived with the first couple purchases from the 50% off Criterion Collection sale that's currently taking place over at the Barnes & Noble website, so I now own both Steven Soderbergh's 2 disc film Che along with Visconti's The Leopard on Blu-ray to dig into at my leisure sometime between now and the next format change. Or my untimely demise, whichever comes first. I'm really looking forward to The Leopard, I've heard nothing but good things about it as well as this transfer.

I got a few things uploaded to the various sites (though not as many as I should've), then I paused to go and grab a little something to eat. I caught up on some television off the TiVo, including a new episode of The Boondocks, then piddled around in the web for a bit before I got a call from the wife saying that she was about an hour or more out from town, so I chilled in the den with a little something off Netfux Instant Watch to kill some time.

Going for something that I figured I could at worst just kind of ignore as background noise, I watched Stan Helsing, a fairly unfunny horror parody spoof type of film that made me feel as if I was watching a half-assed Mad Magazine article come to life, from the corny humor to the parodies that I know are supposed to be funny but never quite hit their mark. Pass, unless you're just really bored, it's not really worth it.

The wife got home, we caught up on the past 24 hours or so (nothing really happened, long story short), then we ordered in some food and chilled out with some tube and a movie I have for review so that I can get some writing done towards that tomorrow afternoon.

We called it a night around 10:00, the wife heading to the bed to fool around with her iPad while I started doing this shit again.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Movies, Criterion Collection, Che, Steven Soderbergh, The Leopard, Luchino Visconti, TiVo, Television, The Boondocks, Netflix Instant Watch, Stan Helsing

Crunch Time

So between the broken dog, the quasi-depression peeking in from the corners of my life and the general fucking around for hours and days on end I find myself sorta up against a bit of a deadline as we get into the weekend. This means that I don't have time to dick around with this stuff right now in favor of plowing through several films that I need to review for one of the sites.

This in mind, I'm starting this post early as I plan on watching at least two films this evening back to back and then spending some time working on a few reviews instead of piddling with the blog and surfing the web for bargain prices on shit I don't need, as is my nightly custom.

I will be writing two reviews, one for the Valhalla Rising film that I watched earlier in the week, as well as Tokyo Sonata from director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, a director who I've never actually seen a film from that I was all that impressed by, despite the general raves most folks seem to have for the man and his work. I have just never been able to discern what every one else has thought was so appealing, his work has struck me as boring more than anything else in films like Kairo and Séance. I have to admit that he might finally be winning me over with Tokyo Sonata, which has a growing sense of existential despair that is almost palpable as the main character refuses to tell his family that he's lost his job. Overall the film stays on point, though there is a bit of noodling in the last reel that didn't do a lot to drive the plot along, but I can say that this film was something of a pleasant surprise for me. Maybe my mistake is investigating Kurosawa's horror fare, perhaps I'd be better served looking into his dramas instead. I can also see the comparisons that might be drawn between his and Yasujiro Ozu's films, as this definitely had the same slow burn character interactions and quiet despair in the face of modern life. Well worth a look.

The wife took a day trip to visit the Older Sister and her family at their lake house, so I had the day with the Yorkie to try and keep her chilled and myself on task. The wife returns tomorrow, at which point I hope to finally be caught up.

Oh well, I have reviews to hunt and peck at, so I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Movies, Writing, Reviews, Deadline, Valhalla Rising, Tokyo Sonata, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kairo, Seance, Yasujiro Ozu, Travel

Venus, Flashing, Points, Etcetera

The morning and early afternoon were eaten up by the wild hair that I had to drive to Odessa and check out the Big Lots to see if anything new had turned up, which naturally meant that I found nothing interesting. The wife was having something of a bad day, as stress from both the non-profit sector and the personal interaction with the family has begun to take a stressful toll after the past couple of 'what the fuck next?' style weeks. She rather wisely retreated to the bedroom and slept a bit after having something of a meltdown with me; the time away seemed to rejuvenate her spirits, which was a relief.

The Yorkie on the other hand continues to have little life in her, which is killing me by inches and probably taking years off my life. Between that, the wife's current ups and downs due to extraneous bullshit and then the fact that heading to Odessa tends to remind me of Macguffin, I had something of a somber trip over there and back and don't know when I will be making the drive again.

Arriving back in town in the mid afternoon, I picked up a cheap pizza for a late lunch and chilled in the den with another MST3K episode to try and cheer myself up, which sort of happened, though the film wasn't as funny as that I watched yesterday afternoon. The First Spaceship On Venus just wasn't doing it for me, though there were a few laughs to be had here and there. Oh well, I suppose they can't all be winners, as evidenced by the very films they cover.

I threw in something off the To-Watch Pile in the late afternoon while the wife fielded a few phone calls, just to have something to occupy me while she did her thing. I watched Flash Point, an action flick starring Donnie Yen in which he plays a cop in something of a prequel to the film Killzone, a film that I loved when I saw it late last year. This one didn't quite strike me as the being as well put together as Killzone, but it still had a few amazing sequences, including one towards the end that goes on for about 15 minutes of solid martial arts. My only issue is the inclusion of the MMA shit, which I just don't find all that interesting to look at, though it might be growing on me slightly as time goes on.

The wife and I watched a few odds and ends off the old TiVo, including a new episode of Louie off FX, as well as The Real L Word, which is fast confirming our suspicion that one of the gals on the show is just a big giant douche, as she continues to juggle several relationships at once and wonder why all these women are upset around her.

We called it a night just before 10:00, as the wife wanted to get some rest because she's driving to visit the Older Sister and her family at their lake house tomorrow, while I've elected to stay home and take care of the Yorkie. She's been feeling so lousy lately, I don't feel comfortable putting her through a trip, or someone else staying with her, because it just makes me sad all the way around.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Shopping, Yorkie, Family Drama, Non-Profit, Depression, Movies, MST3K The First Spaceship On Venus, Flash Point, Donnie Yen, Killzone, Television, TiVo, Louie, The Real L Word, Travel

Meathead Zombies And Giant Ants, Why Do You Ask?

I overslept this morning, touched base with the wife on the phone and then headed out to pick up some lunch as the wife was to be tied up with non-profit stuff for most of the day. The Yorkie continued to loaf on her chair in the area near the kitchen, fairly unresponsive to most things save for the comings and goings at the back door, so I told her I'd return soon and to avert her attentions from any assholes that might happen by at the front of the house. She needs to save her strength, as we've seen little to no change in her physical behavior.

The chicken wings I grabbed for my lunch were simply glorious and I enjoyed them whilst watching a little something off the Netfux Instant Watch, the MST3K drubbing of Zombie Nightmare, a film in which a musclebound goofy ass baseball player is run down by a pack of cliched teenagers running wild and is then brought back from the dead by the local voodoo woman to seek his revenge. Why the fuck this town has a local voodoo woman is beyond me (there goes the neighborhood, y'know?), nor did I understand why the guy looked like more of a gym-rat metalhead than an actual ball player. Funny stuff.

The wife got home late in the evening, though we did speak briefly over the course of the afternoon as I piddled around in the Office with a few things on the web. We debriefed over what is fast becoming a typically stressful day as we settled in with our dinner, then watched something lighthearted off the old To-Watch Pile. I had never seen Joe Dante's film Matinee, his loving tribute to the atomic age sci-fi and horror of the 60's, an homage to director William Castle's gimmicks and the feeling that films could still be an event. It's never been on DVD before, and since I'd heard nothing but good things about it when it finally came out, I decided to give it a blind buy. The flick is a lot of fun, filled with tons of awesome movie posters & memorabilia.

We also gave The Bank Job a re-watch on Blu-ray whilst lounging in the bedroom to wrap up our evening, then I headed to the web to piddle with this nonsense.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Movies, Netflix Instant Watch, MST3K Zombie Nightmare, Office, To-Watch Pile, Matinee, Joe Dante, William Castle, Blu-ray, The Bank Job

Catching Up, Yet Still Behind...

I slept my fairly customary 5 hours last night, then got up with the alarm and started some laundry, made coffee and hopped online in the Office while the wife checked her own e-mail on the other computer. The wife also made plans to have the Interior Decorator drop by to offer up a couple lamps for possible placement in the den. I personally would still prefer to pick up a certain lamp from Restoration Hardware that I've shown the wife multiple times, but for whatever reason she seems oddly resistant to that idea (tho has never said that she doesn't like the lamp?), wanting to see what the local guy offers instead, so I've given the fuck up on that and resigned myself to liking whatever showed up at our house, just because I want a light source to read by and don't wanna get a fucking divorce over it.

I hit up the exercise bike for a bit, then grabbed some coffee, put laundry in the dryer and took a quick shower so I could try to squeeze in a movie before I had to meet EL for our standard Monday afternoon lunch. I watched a screener of Nicolas Winding Refn's Valhalla Rising, which I was expecting to be a promo of the DVD release but instead turned out to be just the film itself, which may make it difficult to review, as I have no box art for an American release, etc. to accompany the review. The movie was great, the lead is a mute warrior adrift in a violent time as Christianity begins to make its way into the Nordic regions, and the film looks amazing, making great use of the remote, bleak landscapes. Great film, though it may prove difficult to write about.

I met EL for lunch, where the service was kinda lacking but the food was great, then I stopped into a bookstore in the way home to pick up a couple magazines that I was expecting to have arrived.

Once I got home I ended up chilling in the den with a couple things off the TiVo and Netfux Instant Watch, just to try and force myself to turn over some of the stuff taking up room and queue space. This included John Krasinski's directorial debut, an adaptation of David Foster Wallace's Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, something I am basically only familiar with because I know Wallace was a fairly influential young writer who went on to take his own life in 2008, so I was curious to see how an actor that I liked made the leap to directing with something that put him under this much pressure, as the man's small catalog of work is very well regarded. The film was interesting, basically a character study as a young woman looks for the reasons men behave the way that they do, beginning a series of interviews after she is unceremoniously dumped by a boyfriend. It felt a bit like In The Company Of Men at times, but was still an interesting watch.

I also gave a peep to a movie called Deep End from 1970, in which a 15 yr old boy in England gets a job working as an attendant in the local bath house (which sounds amazingly seedy even typing it), a first job which introduces him to a promiscuous young redhead that he naturally falls for, insinuating himself into her personal life. These attempts at getting her to notice him start out as borderline ridiculous and end up drifting over to the dangerous area by the final act. It was watchable, though felt like it took some wild jumps of logic as far as what the average person is willing to put up with when faced with an annoying kid following them around.

The wife and I grabbed some sandwiches for our dinner and watched some random television in the late evening, including a couple new Ace Of Cakes episodes before calling it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Interior Decorator, Lamp, Thank You God, Movies, Valhalla Rising, Nicolas Winding Refn, Lunch, Netflix Instant Watch, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, John Krasinski, David Foster Wallace, In The Company Of Men, Deep End, Television, Ace Of Cakes