Lunch, Brides, Art And Guilds

The wife and I woke with the alarm, then she dressed to go and run her normal Monday morning errands a day late due to the holiday. I went to open the garage door for her while she called to schedule maintenance on it, as well as bitch at our lackluster Lawn Guys about the plants that are dying in the front flower beds. I unplugged the motor to the garage door opener on a wild hair, then ran the mechanism back to it's starting point and pressed the button to open the door. Naturally the door opened with no issue, so I ran it up and down several times, then went inside to tell the wife the puzzling news that the dumbass thing was working again. As it turns out the repair guys wouldn't be able to get out her until tomorrow anyway, so we resolved to see how it behaved the rest of the day and cancel the visit should it appear that it's still in working order.

I worked on the current art piece a bit more, then eventually stepped out to run a couple errands before meeting the fellas for some lunch at 1:00. I hit a used bookstore in search of what I'm still thinking should be easy to find books written by Donald Westlake under the Richard Stark pseudonym, and was disappointed yet again as they only had one random book rather than the first novel in the series. I guess I'm operating on the weird principle that these books are ancient and should therefore be laying around in plentiful amounts waiting to be discovered, whereas the reality appears to be that everyone burned their copies when they lost interest in them in the mid-'80s or something.

The decline of Blockbuster Video continues nationwide, and since I had heard of this magnificent sale going on in other people's areas I decided to hit the two here in town, both of which had that same abysmal selections that I kind of expected, so I came up empty-handed on that endeavor. I popped into the jeweler's to get the wife's rings cleaned, as they've been irritating her finger lately and I figured since she wasn't wearing them I might as well get them shined up.

A quick visit to Big Lots afterward scored me a few items on the cheap, as I guess their inventory had finally had some decent turnover, then I met the guys for some Thai food at a place across town to make things easier on EL due to the area he was working in today. We caught up about the past week, including the crazy wildfires that had forced EL's mother to briefly evacuate her home; thankfully everyone was okay when it was all said and done.

I headed home after lunch and finished up the art piece (you can click on it to see a larger version, should you so desire), which I have now dubbed Cross-Hatch, then left it to dry as the wife headed out to attend an acquaintance's parent's funeral. I retired to the den and re-watched a film that I hadn't seen in several years, as the sequel had turned up in the mail from Netfux and I figured I should have a refresher before watching it.

The Bride with White Hair is a really fun film from Ronny Yu, featuring an almost neon color palatte and some great wire-fu, and a stylized love story featuring Brigitte Lin as the titular bride.

As good as this movie was, that's just as half-assed as the sequel (The Bride With White Hair 2) turned out to be. It's like they just did not give a fuck about what had come before and moved things 10 years past the end of the original film and simplified everything down to women are being subjugated by men, let's see if we can have all these bitter women collected by the Bride kill as many men as possible, as she wants to wipe out the entire bloodlines of blah blah blah. Sigh. It was an absolute slog to sit through, and I honestly had to wonder aloud several times if I would've judged this film less harshly had I not just watched the highly superior original only a few hours earlier.

The wife and I had some leftovers for our dinner during the film, then stepped out for a bit of dessert from the ice cream parlor.

The hour was growing late, so we wrapped our evening with something short, the 4th season of The Guild, a show I'm rather surprised to enjoy as much as I do, as it's mainly concerned with online gaming like World Of Warcraft style stuff, which I've never been involved in at all. Thankfully my connections to the nerd world are sufficient to have a basic understanding of most of the humor involved, though they do lose me here or there with certain references.

We called it a night shortly afterward and I got started on this and my usual evening routine of jackassery.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Garage Door, Annoyance, Lawn Guys, Further Annoyance, Errands, Shopping, Lunch, Friends, Art, Painting, Movies, The Bride With White Hair, Ronnie Yu, Brigitte Lin, Netflix, The Bride With White Hair, Television, The Guild

Schmidt Happens

The wife and I both woke around 9:00 this morning, shortly before the alarm and were pleased to see that the Yorkie was still acting perky if not exactly 100% well at this stage of the game. We fed the dog and then stepped out to grab a bit of drive-thru for breakfast, which we ate back at the house while the dog begged for scraps that she's never going to get.

The wife spent some time in the Craft Room, continuing this cleaning jag that she's been on for the better part of a week, so I chilled in the den and re-watched About Schmidt off the To-Watch Pile, as it's a film that the wife finds depressing based on the concept alone and wasn't interested in watching. Personally I love the film myself, as it does capture just the right tone of the helpless/pointless nature of life balanced with the idea that there are still uplifting things out there in the world if you just know where to look for them. Good little film, and it put me in the mood to watch something that I find similar in tone, even if the next movie is a straight up comedy.

The wife joined me for my re-watch of Woody Allen's Whatever Works, which I had watched not too long ago and then purchased cheap at a pawn shop not too long ago. It captures much of the same feeling as the other movie (though with much more obvious laughs) in between a ton of ennui about the pointless nature of existence and features a great performance by Larry David as well as Evan Rachel Wood as his lover/pupil/foil for most of the film.

The wife caught a nap while I did some laundry and worked on the collage stuff for a bit, starting to layer in text for another piece. I've had this image in my head of small text peeking through either images or paint in the background of a painting, though I'm still a bit fuzzy as to how it's going to come together. I guess the idea I have now is to get the background stuff prepped and then approach it later with more of a solid idea or look. **crosses fingers**

We headed over to the In-Laws for a bit of barbecue for our Memorial Day dinner, though we got a bit stymied by the garage door deciding that it was giving up the ghost yet again. Having replaced the entire motor mechanism not too long ago I'm of course thrilled with this turn of events. It behaved strangely Friday before last, but had shown no evidence of a problem since then, so I was hoping it was a one time hiccup in service. Oh well, I'm hoping that it might still be under warranty. Again, **crosses fingers**.

The meal was good, we caught up on the past few weeks and talked a bit about the cruise that we're all taking as an extended family group in July. The wife and I called it a night fairly early, as we were kinda antsy to see how the Yorkie was faring after a full day of medicines. We made the short drive home and I opened the garage to let the car in and then ran the little opener back to its resting position, just to make sure it locked properly and secured the cars for the night.

We spent the rest of our evening watching a few things off the TiVo, just some randomly recommended stuff to pass the time, calling it a night around 10:00 so that I could get started on this and get some decent rest tonight.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Movies, To-Watch Pile, About Schmidt, Whatever Works, Woody Allen, Larry David, Evan Rachel Wood, Garage Door, Frustration, Family Dinner, TiVo, Art, Collage

I'm Gonna Prevue You, Sucka!

I slept in this morning, so when I got up I had a couple texts from the wife telling me that she'd taken the Yorkie to the emergency vet because she'd taken a poop that had blood in it. This is a sadly expected and common situation, but we're always a little freaked out, as blood from any orifice is never a sign of anything good.

With the rest of the family out of the house, I took the time to fiddle around with the various connections to the electronics in the den, as the death of the universal remote was bugging the shit out of me. I mean, if the thing was constantly dropped and bouncing off the hardwood flooring, I would expect it to give up the ghost, but it has no reason to not work. Well, lo and behold, after disconnecting the main sensors completely and reconnecting them, the thing is behaving as it is meant to, so that's one less thing that we have to deal with next week.

I picked up a little lunch and was passing the time with a re-watch of I'm Gonna Git You Sucka when the wife returned with the dog. The Yorkie had some medicine and the same diagnosis as usual, the weird hyper-colitis brought on by absolutely nothing (or reasons unknown if you prefer), so she was feeling better and ate some food, then crashed out after her long morning/early afternoon. I wrapped up my flick, which was as fun as I remembered from on old VHS viewing. Keenan Ivory Wayans send-up of the typical Blaxploitation tropes actually stars a good number of the people who created the genre, Jim Brown, Isaac Hayes, etc. Good stuff.

The wife and I retired to the couch and she napped while I popped in something off the To-Watch Pile that I felt would make for fun background noise while I collected stuff for future collage work. Mad Ron's Prevues From Hell was something that originally circulated back in the days of VHS, collecting a bunch of horror trailers and bridging them with a minor story involving a host and a zombie puppet character who either commented on the action within the theater the trailers were playing in, or poked fun at the trailers themselves. It was decidedly lo-tech looking, which fit the material perfectly and I enjoyed watching it while I piddled with other stuff, read through the newspaper and what have you.

The wife was so kind as to make chicken friend steaks for dinner along with all the trimmings: mashed potatoes and gravy and some English peas to round things out. We had a great meal and watched some junk off the TiVo, as there was nothing of any real interest on television this evening.

I put the wife and Yorkie to bed and then got started on this.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Illness, Lunch, Movies, TiVo, Im Gonna Git You Sucka, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Jim Brown, Isaac Hayes, To-Watch Pile, Mad Rons Prevues From Hell, Trailers, Dinner, Television

Thank You Sir, May I Have Another?

Y'know, as in punishment? It figures in later...ah, kiss my ass, they can't all be winners. I don't see any of you making with the funny, Goddammit.

I was up exceptionally late last night, then blew off the actual posting of the blog and went to bed to watch some dumb shit on Netfux Instant Watch before finally falling asleep around 5 in the morning.

I woke around 11:00 to the Yorkie barking at the garbage truck in the alley, which seems odd considering that ti's a holiday weekend, but as long as our waste is emptied I suppose I don't really care when they do it. The wife had been up for a bit, but she lay in bed with me for a bit, shooting the shit for awhile, then we got up and stepped out to grab a coffee and a bite to eat for lunch.

Upon our return home I was annoyed to find that the universal remote has suddenly and without warning decided that it's only going to do about half the things that it's meant to do, so I spent some time dredging up the various remotes that it had replaced so that I could fire up the Blu-ray player in the late afternoon without any issue. We ended up watching the end of Nikita season one off the TiVo, then I poked around for a selection off the To-Watch Pile.

We re-watched the Thomas Jane re-boot of The Punisher, as I have owned it forever and still hadn't re-watched it. Plus, I figured the wife would be in and out, so it wasn't anything I thought she'd care if she missed bits and pieces of. I still like Jane in the role, but it still doesn't capture the 'flavor' of the series I recall from the series in the '80s. I mean, I can appreciate the fact that they made his story a bit more personal, with a crime lord wiping out his family for revenge, but I actually prefer the idea that he loses his family in a 'wrong place, wrong time' happenstance and snaps, rather than being involved in any way with the events that are set in motion. Oh well, it's all water under the bridge now, as there's been yet another re-boot anyway.

The overall visual styling of the character is fairly spot on in Punisher War Zone, which I followed up our afternoon with, though the film hits such cartoonish levels of violence that it's hard to take it as a straight action film. I do really enjoy Ray Stevenson as The Punisher though, he does seem to physically embody the image I had in my head as a kid when reading the Mike Baron and Klaus Janson series, from his facial expressions even down to the way his hair is styled. Both of these movies are silly but fun, worth a look if you aren't trying to take it all super-seriously and just have a good time with it.

The wife made a great little dinner of sausage and dirty rice, along with a jambalaya concoctioon to compliment it, then we wrapped our evening with a viewing of Tommy Wiseau's The Room. I'm amazingly late to the party on this movie, but by the time I got around to picking up a copy it'd been covered, reviewed, sampled and everything else by the entirety of the internet, so I kinda let it languish on the To-Watch Pile for a bit, so as to not feel overwhelmed by everyone else's opinions on it.

The movie is every bit as strange, inept and amusing as I was led to believe, defnitely something I'll be revisiting with the various commentary tracks that are floating around out there. I'm happy to finally be on the same page as all the other hipster film fans out there, or the same page from three or four years ago.

We called it a night shortly after wrapping the movie and I got started on this nonsense and getting the blog caught up to date. Y'know, for the four people reading it.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Netflix Instant Watch, Errands, Lunch, Annoyance, Universal Remote, TiVo, Television, Nikita, To-Watch Pile, The Punisher, DVD, Thomas Jane, Mike Baron, Klaus Janson, Punisher War Zone, Ray Stevenson, Blu-ray, Dinner, The Room, Tommy Wiseau

Twelve Tears For The Hausu

The wife was out of the house early and I slept until after the alarm, because some days it's just hard to fucking care anymore.

The Lawn Guys arrived and set to their task, irritating the Yorkie to no end. This stirred me from my resting place and I got up and started my day, making the bed and dressing to go grab a bite to eat.

Over lunch I watched something that'd been hanging around far too long as a Netfux rental: The recent Joel Schumacher film Twelve. I have this weird fascination with stories about the idle rich (hence my being an easy mark for Bret Easton Ellis' body of work), so the idea of a high school drop out selling weed to his former classmates on the Upper East Side of Manhattan sounded like an intriguing enough concept from the get-go. The only problem is that the 1st half of the film writes a check the 2nd half can't cash, as it ends up feeling like someone read or watched The Rules Of Attraction and Requiem For A Dream, then tried their damnedest to mash them together in to a workable story of their own. I am kinda keen to check out the original novel, as it was written by a 17 year old (at the time), so I'm curious if something may've been lost in translating it to film.

The wife returned home while I watched the film and was piddling around the house in the late afternoon, so I stepped out briefly to hit up the liquor store, gas up the car and drop off some recycling that'd suddenly mounded up while I wasn't looking.

Upon my return to the house I poopped in something off the To-Watch Pile, the only film by Wong Kar Wai that I had yet to see: As Tears Go By, his debut film from 1988 which was much more concerned with the criminal underworld than his later work. I liked it well enough, though it's a bit strange to only see hints of his style here, as I've been so accustomed to the visual flair that he brings to things.

The wife had made plans to see Brian this evening, and since I had been drinking for a bit I wasn't all that keen on the idea of going out to dinner, so I sent those two off on their own and popped in another To-Watch Pile selection, the recent Criterion Blu-ray release of House (Hausu), which is possibly one of the weirdest films I've ever seen, hands down. It feels almost like a children's program with the wild happenings and lo-tech special effects and is definitely something that I'll re-watch sooner than later.

The wife and Brian returned and we watched a bit more television, then Brian split around 10:00 or thereabouts, leaving the wife and I to watch a Lisa Lampanelli appearance on Comedy Central before calling it a night.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lawn Guys, Lunch, Movies, Twelve, Joel Schumacher, The Rules Of Attraction, Bret Easton Ellis, Requiem For A Dream, Errands, To-Watch Pile, As Tears Go By, Wong Kar Wai, House, Criterion Collection, Television, Lisa Lampanelli, Comedy

Easy Hot Dogs

I had made late-night Facebook plans to see my friend B for her birthday today, so I woke with the alarm and forced myself from the bed to grab a shower and try to get the sleep out of my eyes before I had to drive anywhere.

I ended up meeting she and a girlfriend of hers at the alternate Thai place that we tend to keep on the bench, since that restaurant was fairly close to home. She and this gal have been friends since jr. high, so it was interesting to watch their rapport and the exchange of jokes or anecdotes that comes with a friendship that spans roughly half of ones' life. The food and conversation was good, though I left still feeling a little jittery due to my lack of sleep from last night and the pot of coffee tumbling around inside me.

Back at the house I worked on getting last night's blog post caught up, as I'd started it but hadn't published due to the late hour and the fact that I'd decided that I'd rather join the (Cool) Shite chat last night instead of listing the daily minutiae in its' entirety. I piddled with that for a time, then finally took a break, considering either a nap (which I rarely do) or a movie to pass the time.

I had started listening to a podcast earlier in the day that was to review Hot Dog: The Movie, which I noticed was on Netfux Instant Watch, so I decided to give that a spin in the den. One of those odd '80s sex comedies that I had always heard of but had somehow never seen, it features Shannon Tweed in her prime and a shitload of skiing montages, which I could honestly take or leave, as I've never set foot on a ski in my life, so the main draw was the other hijinx that the leads got up to in between time on the slopes.

The wife returned from her day of errands and other jackassery, we caught up and watched most of the documentary Nerdcore Rising off Netfux Instant, as it'd been on there forever and I keep looking past it in favor of other stuff. Nerds rapping about video games, Magic The Gathering and other geek culture, it's an interesting genre but something I think I might be hard pressed to dig too deep into, as it's does still feel a bit like a novelty act for the most part. It is a largely entertaining and clever novelty act, it just feels like something I might have to be in a very specific mood to listen to.

I finished up the end of the documentary while the wife left for an evening meeting , then piddled around the house with the Yorkie until she returned with some take out for dinner.

We settled into the den and watched the Blu-ray of Easy A that I had picked up awhile back. The movie is really funny and charming, reminded me a bit of Mean Girls, which would make for a pretty sweet double feature now that I think about it, as they are both high school comedies that manage to rise above their genre trappings and make it their own. Plus Emma Stone is a cutie and has great comedic timing as the lead.

We called it a night shortly afterward and I started getting all this stuff polished up to be posted and catch everything up.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Birthday, Lunch, Friends, Podcasts, Movies, Reviews, Hot Dog The Movie, Shannon Tweed, Netflix Instant Watch, Nerdcore Rising, Documentary, Easy A, Emma Stone, Blu-ray, Mean Girls

Sexy Ambersons

The Maid arrived with a 'plus one' today: her mother, who was meant to help her out with her normal duties. The wife and I spent the morning in the Office, as she's been on a cleaning jag recently and was still sorting through a bunch of different stuff while I piddled around on the web a bit, re-sizing posters for the BSL website.

I picked up some lunch for the wife and myself, which we ate in the den since it had already been cleaned as the Maid and Co. made their way through the house. We watched the 4th part of Mildred Pierce while we ate, then the Maid split and we relaxed for a bit before the wife had to be at a late afternoon meeting.

On a wild hair I popped in something short, as I knew the wife would be home shortly and I didn't feel like being in the middle of something when she was starting to cook dinner. I made a selection off the To-Watch Pile and watched Sexy Timetrip Ninjas, which is an early film from director Yojiro Takita, who would eventually go on to win an Oscar for his film Departures in 2009, which isn't something that just any soft-core porno director can say, y'know? The films on the Pink Eiga label are truly a strange beast, as they have the standing sex quotient that must be in there, but different directors do their level best to actually tell a story, as evidenced by the myriad trailers included on the disc, ranging from comedies to thrillers to what appear to be actual love stories, all shoe-horned to the brim with the requisite groping and grinding. It's funny to say that there are some decent stories here, as the exploitation quotient is so high, but dammit there's more going on here than just smut, I swear to ya.

The wife returned and she and I made dinner, she working on the main pork loin while I started a side dish or two, then we watched the finale of Mildred Pierce over our evening meal. Feeling that the general feel of the film was similar to Pierce, I suggested a viewing of The Magnificent Ambersons, which I had recorded off TCM awhile back. It's a damned shame that Welles lost control of the film, and all we have left to us is this truncated version, but what can you do?

The wife crashed out for the evening while I watched another disc of Deadwood season 2, then I headed to the web to get this started and check out a live recording of the latest (Cool) Shite podcast.

And as it turns out, I may end up posting this turkey a day late, because who cares, right?

And I'm out.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Maid, Lunch, Television, TiVo, Mildred Pierce, HBO, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Sexy Timetrip Ninjas, Yojiro Takita, Pink Eiga, Departures, The Magnificent Ambersons, Orson Welles, Deadwood, Cool Shite, Podcasts

Maximum Trappings

There is a certain cruelty to waking 15 minutes before the alarm is set to go off, but it appears to be my lot in life in the past few weeks. The wife and I both got up and moving, I made some coffee and opened the house up for the day. The wide got started on psme little cleaning projects that she'd been putting off and I worked on some things in the Office online.

I had the usual lunch plans, but wanted to stop into Barnes & Noble before I met the fellas for lunch, so I dressed and headed out early. I also poked my head into the local pawn shops on the way, finding absolutely nothing, so I think I may take a few months off from that troll, as it's been less than productive the last few times I've gone either here or Odessa. I still go into there on the high of the last 'find', which happened at this point several months ago.

Barnes & Noble beckoned, as I had a giftcard and a coupon I was hoping to use towards something interesting. I eventually settled on a Bloom County compilation that I had been eyeing for some time now, as that comic strip was the biggest thing in my world circa 1988 or so and it's nice to have the series in a nice hardbound collection in their proper order.

I met the guys for lunch, spent some time comparing notes on the various art projects we'd been working on, then said our goodbyes, as we each had places to be.

I pointed the car towards the house, as I had some minor gardening issues to attend to in the front flower beds. The Lawn Guys had swapped out some of the various sprinkler heads for bubblers or whatever the terminology is, but the water was still not getting to some of the plants in a certain corner once it'd all soaked out. I figured the easiest thing would be to just take a trowel and kinda dig out a few little trenches to allow the water to travel farther when the thing is flooded out.

The rest of the afternoon was spent at the kitchen counter, as I decided to tackle three of the collages that'd been languishing there for the past month or so, as I finally have something of a plan for the final look I'd like to see from each of them and wanted to strike while the iron was hot.

I grabbed a random suggestion off the To-Watch Pile, the Jean-Claude Van Damme flick Maximum Risk from back in the day when he was first working with Ringo Lam. It's a pretty middle of the road actioner, though it was cool to pass the time while I went through the mail and did a few other things, pausing specifically to watch when Natasha Henstridge was on the screen, because yowza.

The wife made a pretty spiffy little pasta dish for our dinner and we watched a movie called Trapped, alias Baker County USA, in which Henry Silva plays a leader of a group of hill folk who kills a man who has been porking his wife, but the event is witnessed by some unsuspecting college students. The kids try to turn him in, the local law is unresponsive and when Silva realizes that there are witnesses things get further out of hand as he and his cronies try to eliminate them. Naturally, the kid who was arguing with a professor about how no one could ever be justified in killing another person is the guy who is left to play hero and take on Silva, because this is one of those heavy-handed kinda hillbilly horror thriller flicks. Fun stuff, but as I said, kinda heavy-handed as far as how you know from the first 5 minutes how it'll end up.

We wrapped our evening with the middle episode of Mildred Pierce, then spent some time picking up the kitchen a bit before I headed in here to work on this crapola.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Errands, Shopping, Books, Bloom County, Lunch, Friends, Gardening, Movies, To-Watch+Pile, Maximum Risk, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Natasha Henstridge, Ringo Lam, Trapped, Baker County USA, Henry Silva, Television, Mildred Pierce

Road Hamlet (Hamlet Games?)

The recycling continues to be the most demanding thing around here besides the pain in the ass Yorkie, so I loaded up all of our stuff to drop it off while I picked up a sandwich for my lunch. I ran into an older woman who looked somewhat familiar at the recycling bins, though I was never able to place her as older rich women in dark glasses all start to look alike after a certain point these days. She mentioned that the cardboard bins were full (as if the drift of cardboard lapping at my ankles wasn't something of a clue), though I was able to cram my small pile of stuff in there anyway, as I wasn't in the mood to wander-ass all over town in my efforts to be green.

I grabbed my lunch and headed home, where I settled into the den to watch Road Games off the TiVo, a movie about two Americans, Stacy Keach and Jamie Lee Curtis playing a truck driver and a hitch hiker respectively and their attempts to stop a traveling psycho who picks up and dismembers hitch hikers across the Australian Outback. Why these two random people happen to be from the US and not Aussies is never really addressed, but maybe I was looking for more info than I really needed from the film. It's a pretty decent flick and Keach plays it fairly convincingly as the exhausted trucker, who begins to doubt what he's even seen, wondering if he's seeing things or jumping to conclusions after being on the road for so long.

I spent a bit of time in the late afternoon with the current art projects, as I think I may finally be coming to an idea to 'save' the one that's been hanging around the longest. I'm just not happy with anything about it, so may have to go back to the drawing board completely (as the saying goes) and just start collaging shit over the existing images completely for a fresh start. We'll see how it turns out if I still feel this way when I get up tomorrow.

The wife and I both spent some time on the Office working on things on the web, she fielding e-mails and the like while I updated the BSL site further, then she had to split to be at a function at the museum. Thankfully, I had the 'night off', so I wrapped up my stuff on the PC and then relaxed in the den with a random selection from the To-Watch Pile.

Hamlet 2 is one of the most amusing comedies the wife and I have watched in the past few years, and if you don't smile at least a little at the song Rock Me Sexy Jesus there's just something wrong with you.



The wife returned with something for dinner toward the end of the movie, so we finished that off and then watched the two hours worth of Supernatural that aired last Friday. I'm still liking the show, but this season has felt off for me and as they keep upping the stakes it's hard to imagine where they will take the show next, as the original idea of the series led to some rather wild stuff to end last season, only to have them decide that the show must go on...

Oh well, it's a show that still has good bits interspersed throughout, so I'm sticking it out.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Errands, Recycling, Movies, TiVo, Road Games, Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Hamlet 2, To-Watch Pile, Television, Supernatural

Casual Swearing Sunday

The disc worth of Deadwood episodes I watched late last night kept me up until around 4:00 in the AM, so the wife and I both slept in this morning, though her movements in the house finally woke me around 11:00. We lay in bed for a bit with the Yorkie, chit chatting about this or that, then I took her lunch order and stepped out briefly to pick up some food.

We ate at the kitchen counter while looking over the newspaper, then moved into the den where I watched the final two episodes of Deadwood season one to see how they wrapped up the first run of the show. It ended well enough, so I moved on to the first disc of season two as well, just because the wife was napping and didn't care what she missed.

We ordered in some deli stuff for dinner and spent the evening with the usual Fox animated fare, interrupted briefly by another chapter of the Mildred Pierce mini-series that we're still working our way through.

I put the wife to bed and spent a bit of time sorting some books into the Library to do away with some piles that had begun to develop over the past few weeks with stuff I'd recently read or purchased stacking up here and there in the bedroom and den.

I finally headed into the Office to get this dumb shit caught up for the weekend, so I can go into Monday on the right page instead of playing catch up.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Television, Deadwood, DVD, Lunch, Mildred Pierce, HBO, Books, Library

Shopping, Grindhouses, Double Features & Comedy

The wife had a photography class scheduled today, so I took the opportunity to do a bit of shopping based on her interests expressed at the art show last night. I set my alarm for 10:00 this morning and grabbed a quick shower before heading out to pick up a certain little bauble that she'd express an interest in, as well as a painting that she liked. Naturally the artist was someone who didn't accept credit card payments because they're still producing art in the fucking stone age or something, so I ended up giving he and his wife a down payment and then a series of post-dated checks to pay off the piece, as he was willing to work with me on it and I wasn't going to empty my bank account on this idea.

I grabbed some lunch and a coffee on the way back to the house, then re-watched the Grindhouse Blu-ray off the To-Watch Pile while I dug into my lunch. The movie holds up well, but I will admit that I still to this day feel like the gals in Tarantino's portion are just doing their version of him when delivering their dialog.

The wife got home toward the end of the movie, so we caught up on her day, then she and the Yorkie napped while I finished the movie and started another double feature from the Something Weird Video folks, a disc featuring the two 'teens in peril' films Damaged Goods and The Hard Road, in which relatively wholesome teens go from casual hijinx to STD nightmares, including full on videos depicting the horrors of genital lesions and the like. It's a pretty amusing disc, though to be perfectly honest The Hard Road gets a bit boring and tedious in the back end, as it starts off as something that's at least amusing enough to poke fun at, but gets boring in the 2nd half of the film. Best line of the night was the wife's, as she noticed one of the 'teens' was wearing something a little out of character for a care-free senior in high school: "Wait, is that guy wearing a wedding ring?!?"

The wife and I ordered in food and then watched the Aziz Ansari comedy special off the To-Watch Pile to wrap up our night. I love that guy, he never fails to make me laugh, even if the Tom character on Parks And Recreation feels a lot like him playing himself at times.

I put the wife to bed and got started in this crapola, but to be honest I may back burner this junk and watch a bit more of Deadwood season one, as I'm getting toward the end of the set and liking it pretty well.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Shopping, Art, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Grindhouse, Blu-ray, Something Weird Video, Damaged Goods, The Hard Road, Comedy, Aziz Ansari, Parks And Recreation, Television, Deadwood, DVD

Artsy Fartsy

I woke with the alarm this morning, then slept for another hour or so until the Yorkie woke me yapping at the Lawn Guys doing their bit outside. I finally rousted myself and spent a bit of time working on stuff for the website, downloading and resizing poster images to update things to a more uniform look.

The wife and I spoke on the phone as I prepared to head out to grab a bite to eat and then I ran my errands and returned to enjoy my food, watching a little something off the TiVo while I ate. The wife returned and we caught up a bit, then she napped while I piddled around with a few other things around the house before it was time to start getting ready for our evening.

We were set to attend the annual arts festival downtown with a few friends, so the wife and I both dressed for that, then I poured myself a cocktail to pass the time while we waited for everyone to arrive. Once we had Brian and JH in hand, we headed downtown and found a parking space relatively close to the venue, then began the long, drawn out mingling process that would consume the evening. We eventually hooked up with EL and his wife, made a lap of the building to check out the art and ran into the In-Laws who were there doing the same. We eventually stepped outside to grab some food and chilled at our table to eat and visit. Some extraneous folks came and went during the course of the meal and we eventually started saying our goodbyes and headed back to the house, joined by our guests for an extended stay to catch up and have some more food ordered in.

We called it a late night and now I'm doing this dumb stuff that I may not bother to post until the middle of Saturday. Or early Sunday morning, depending on my commitment to this whole shitck.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Yorkie, Lawn Guys, Errands, Lunch, TiVo, Television, Art Show, Friends

Website Zodiac Maintenance

The alarm woke me this morning, though I did spend some time lounging in bed rather than getting up, looking at Twitter and e-mail on the iPhone for a bit before forcing myself to get moving. The wife split to run errands and meet a girlfriend for lunch, so I fired up the PC and started working on some odds and ends of the back end of the Big Suck Loser site.

My web guy has finally got things in what I hope are the final stages of design, so I've been updating the various posters to be used for the reviews and stripping out the odd review that I didn't actually write, just to completely make it my own. I highly doubt those previously involved will care one way or the other, as their interests and commitments lie elsewhere nowadays. I gave that project a good hour and a half before deciding to break for a bit of lunch. I stepped out for a burger, then chilled out in the den to eat and watch some tube.

The wife got home shortly after I did, so we caught up a bit before she headed into the Office to field some e-mails. The wife had a pedicure lined up, so while she went to have that done I popped in something off the To-Watch Pile.

I have owned Zodiac on Blu-ray for quite some time and was happy to finally give it a day in court, as I recalled absolutely loving it on the initial viewing. It holds up well, though I think I felt its' running time this time around, as the theatrical viewing seemed to fly by. This may have been due to the wife coming and going during the film, drifting in and out of it as she returned from her appointment and then stepping out again to pick up dinner a bit later as we got into the evening.

We watched the 1st part of the recent HBO Mildred Pierce adaptation off the TiVo, then moved away from the melodrama for the season finales of The Office and Parks & Recreation, just to end the night with a few laughs.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Website Maintenance, Big Suck Loser, Lunch, Television, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Zodiac, Blu-ray, Dinner, HBO, Mildred Pierce, The Office, Parks And Recreation

The Business Of Graduating Monkeys

I ended up watching a disc worth of Deadwood season one last night, just to try and keep it fresh in my mind, so by the time I hit the pillow it was around 3:00 in the AM. I slept in today while the wife ran the Yorkie to the Groomer and did her usual meetings and whatnot.

Lunch was on my mind early in the afternoon, so I stepped out to grab a bite to eat, touched base with the wife while I drove to find out the she and the dog were on their way back to the house. The wife and dog napped while I ate and watched another random recording off the TiVo, grabbed due to me noticing that it starred Cary Grant.

Monkey Business features Grant as an older scientist who accidentally ingests a youth tonic and begins to chase around after his boss' secretary (played by Marilyn Monroe) in addition to just basically acting irresponsible, which I assume is how older Hollywood types saw the younger generation? The guy's wife also gets into the sauce, more hijinx ensue, then they eventually realize that one of his lab monkeys is actually who added extra stuff to the formula, but only after most everyone in the film has been dosed with it.

We had the Nephew's sixth grade graduation this evening, so the wife and I both got cleaned up for that, showered and dressed, then left the house just before 6:00 to meet the rest of the family. The actual graduation program was fairly quick, then we adjourned to the Country Club for dinner and a little video presentation that the moms and school put together each year for the graduating class. I recalled this from the Niece's graduation, and was again struck by how bizarre it all feels, as these poor kids may or may not be in for a rude awakening when they encounter a school that doesn't cater to them quite so much. I mean, I very seriously doubt any school will give this much of a shit about them ever again, unless they are very good at sports. Maybe.

Oh, and one of these little 6th grade girls mentioned in the video that she owns a horse named Bieber after Justin Bieber, and she 'rides him every day', which almost caused me to burst into Freudian induced laughter. I sincerely hope she views this video with the appropriate amount of mortification when she's older.

The wife and I grabbed a coffee on the way home, then unwound at the house with the new episode of South Parkbefore calling it a night.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Television, Deadwood, Lunch, Movies, Monkey Business, Cary Grant, Family, Graduation, Justin Bieber, Freudian Slips, South Park

Lunch, Movies And Other Stupid Shit I Waste Time On

I woke shortly before the alarm this morning, which is always one of the cruelest tricks that the body can play on you. The wife and I spent time in the bed cuddling with the Yorkie for a bit, then the wife headed into the Office while I made the bed and got coffee started, opening the house for the day.

The wife eventually dressed to be at a meeting, so I spent a bit of time on the PC fielding a few e-mails and updating my various nerd lists that I keep regarding the movies watched, etc. I had the usual plans to meet the fellas for lunch, so I confirmed those, then dressed and headed out to meet them at our usual Thai place. We caught up about the past week or so, had some good food and came near to emptying the restaurant by the time we'd finished the meal; I almost felt like we were closing the place down in spite of it being in the middle of the afternoon.

After lunch I ran by a couple bookstores, as I was in search of the various monthly magazines and hadn't been able to track down all of them yesterday afternoon. I naturally had to hit two different stores because the first place only had one magazine, while the second place didn't have what I found at the first store: nothing's easy.

I got home to find that the wife was still out visiting a girlfriend who was passing through town, so I piddled around for a bit, reading in the bedroom while some laundry went through its final cycles. The wife got home, we compared notes on our days, then she crashed out for a nap so I moved into the den and popped in something off the To-Watch Pile.

I hadn't watched Rapid Fire since the VHS days, and to be perfectly honest I don't even remember buying it, so I fear that the Pile may now be sentient and self-replenishing, but let's worry about that another day. The movie holds up fairly well as a fairly generic action flick, though there's not a whole lot to recommend it besides being one of the few roles Brandon Lee had before his untimely demise during the filming of The Crow. Oh well, it was a fun way to kill 90 minutes.

The wife had a meeting this evening, so I jumped into the 2nd disc of Deadwood season one to pass the time, then she and I watched the season finale of Hawaii Five-O once she returned, calling it a night shortly after 10:00.

Now the wife is (rather frustratingly to be perfectly honest) watching a how-to video relating to the sewing machine that she's owned and used for the past year or more here in the Office, which wouldn't be a big deal except that I'm somewhat accustomed to being able to listen to music or what have you while I write this dumb shit, so it's throwing me off a great deal for no real reason.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Lunch, Friends, Shopping, To-Watch Pile, Movies, Rapid Fire, Brandon Lee, The Crow, Television, DVD, Deadwood, Hawaii Five-O, Annoyance

Oh, The Weiners I've Seen This Afternoon

The wife had her usual battery of meetings and errands this morning, so I woke with the alarm and rousted the Yorkie from the bed to make it and get the house opened up for the day. I made some coffee and decided to nip out for a bit on my own, so I loaded up the recycling and dropped that off on my way to Odessa, where I intended to visit Big Lots and a pawn shop or two.

I came up empty-handed at both Big Lots and my normal pawn emporium, so I hit up their books, music and video place and found a magazine and a couple used DVD's, purchased almost as if to make the trip less of a waste of time. I picked up some lunch from Wienerschnitzel for the wife and myself on the way home, then we caught up over lunch and a bit of television.

The wife caught a nap while I settled into the den with a double disc double feature of John Waters films, starting with Desperate Living from 1977 and then diving into Polyester from 1981. I have to say that as much as I can appreciate Waters' early material for the confrontational wackiness that it is, he's definitely grown by leaps and bounds as a filmmaker over the years. The storytelling differences between these two films is surprising, as I hadn't seen either film before save for a few clips here and there, so I wasn't exactly sure what I was getting into beyond something strange. Where Desperate Living seems interested in being as shocking as it can, Polyester has more of a straight narrative, as weird as it may be with the nutty suburbanites it focuses on.

The wife spent some time in the Office working on this or that, eventually joining me for the end of Polyester and sorting some paperwork as we dove into Hairspray from 1988, which I hadn't seen since watching it on television what seems like 100 years ago. The movie holds up really well, though watching it sorta makes me curious to see the film that was based on the musical version of this same story, which means I'd have to sit through an hour and 30 or 40 minutes of John Travolta in drag, which sounds like the fodder of nightmares.

Which is a funny thing to say, considering I just watched two films back to back that featured Divine in leading roles, but there you go.

The wife was kind enough to pick up deli sandwiches for our dinner, so we wrapped up Hairspray over those, then I decided that we'd wrap up Spartacus: Gods Of The Arena this evening, watching the final two episodes in quick succession. It ends well, setting things up for the Blood And Sand series, though I would be curious what connections will be drawn between those two and a third series, which I'm fairly sure is on the docket at this point.

I headed to the Office to get started on this while the wife played around in the Utility Room with her sewing machine, calling it a late night a bit later.

The interwebs have begun to act hinky, as the Suddenlink service is known to do, so I may have to try to save this for now and post it in the morning, lest I break something in a rage.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Errands, Recycling, Shopping, DVD, Lunch, Movies, To-Watch Pile, John Waters, Desperate Living, Polyester, Hairspray, Divine, John Travolta, Television, Spartacus Gods Of The Arena, Spartacus Blood And Sand, Shitty Service, Suddenlink, Blogging

The Talk Of The Sunday

Even though I made a point of being in bed at a quasi-reasonable hour last night, I was up soon afterward with sinus issues. I gave up on the idea of sleep pretty quickly, so I collected my iPhone, iPad, earbuds and a book and headed to the kitchen. I spent a bit of time working on the art collage and shredding out more images for later use while I listened to a couple podcasts on the iPhone. I eventually tired of standing at the counter, so I finally retired to the den and read a bit more of The Ten Cent Plague, a book about the scandals that rocked the comic book world in the '50s until around 5:30 in the morning.

I headed back to bed finally, waking again around 7:00, then was roused near 8:30 to the wife freaking out in the kitchen because the Yorkie had gulped down a treat and found herself nea the point of passing out because she didn't bother to chew it. The wife had been mortified to look down and see the dog stumbling around as if drunk, bug before she could pick her up to poke the lodged food further down her throat the dog finally manage to choke it down. I only caught the aftermath of all this, but was relieved to find out that alk involved were okay, if a tad rattled. The three of us retired to the bedroom again, as I still hadn't gotten what I'd consider to be a decent amount of sleep.

The sounds of the wife running her sewing machine in the utility room woke me in the early afternoon, so I finally dragged my sorry carcass out of bed and said my good mornings/afternoons to the wife and the Yorkie. I offered to pick up a late lunch for the two of us, then dressed, took the wife's order and went to grab a couple burgers.

We ate in the den while watching a few things off the TiVo, then the wife caught a nap while I started another random Cary Grant selection off the TiVo, the 1942 film The Talk Of The Town. Cary plays a free-thinking type who becomes a scapegoat when the very mill that he'd railed against burns to the ground, killing a foreman in the process. Already convicted in the public, he escapes jail and hides out in a cottage that is being rented by a law professor from a young lady that Grant used to have feelings for once upon a time. It has a few amusing bits, though as a whole I might've liked to have seen it be slightly shorter, as it runs out to a full 2 hours by the time it's all said and done.

The wife and I chilled out with the usual Fox animation stuff in the evening, wrapping our night with the Desperate Housewives season finale. I put the wife to bed after piling up a few things to go to the dry cleaners out of the closet, then headed into the Office to polish up this crapola and call it a night, as I'm still feeling a bit out of it due to the weird sleep patterns.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Sinus Issues, Insomnia, Art, Collage, Books, The Ten Cent Plague, Yorkie, Choking, Lunch, Movies, TiVo, The Talk Of The Town, Cary Grant, Television, Desperate Housewives

Brunch Vs. The World

The wife and I were to meet another couple to celebrate the other wife's birthday, so we'd scheduled out a little brunch get together with them this morning at what is becoming a favorite hangout of ours downtown. We arrived just before our guests, then settled into the only empty table in the place for a bit of a visit and a nosh. We caught up on the past few weeks, comparing notes on summer plans and the like while tucking into some decent food and saying hello to a few random acquaintances that happened by. Christ, but this is a small town.

We invited them back to the house for a few, as I wanted to let them see the new art, having discussed my nerves over it with my friend over lunch a few weeks back. They eventually excused themselves to head home and make certain that their kids hadn't killed one another, so the wife and I stepped back out to grab a coffee at Starbuck's and took a leisurely drive back to the house.

I decided to bite the bullet and put up the last two days' worth of blog-posts after finishing them up and giving them a final polish, so the wife caught a nap while I worked on that. I eventually spent some time in the Library scanning another shelf or so into the Good Reads app on the iPhone, then decided to step out for some olive juice for a dirty martini. The local chain of stores was still fucking sold out, which I found a little ridiculous, so I made a point of driving completely across town to hit the other store, who as it turned out only sold something called 'dirty martini juice', a cloudy looking concoction that I grudgingly purchased in hopes that it would do the trick.

The label ingredients said 'salt, water and lactic acids', with nary an olive in sight and I was even further puzzled to note that it smelled a little bit like the spicy chili paste that we keep on hand to spice up Asian take-out. I said my (possible) goodbyes to the wife, Yorkie and Twitter in case this shit killed me, then shook up a martini and added the standard portion of 'dirty martini juice', then gave it a tentative sip. Well, I'm obviously alive to type this now, but I can say that I'm completely unimpressed with this product and anyone reading this should shun it like the half-assed swill that it is. If I set foot in another Pinkie's and don't find my normal product on the shelf, I'm leaving with a district manager's number to lodge a complaint, as it's got to be a fairly common mixer item that they're just not bothering to carry suddenly?

The wife and I watched a few things off the TiVo, then ordered in a pizza and finaly watched Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World off the To-Watch Pile, which we were both very amused and pleased with. The film has been one of those divisive movies that people either love or hate, so I've been gun-shy to hop right into it for fear that I would end up hating an Edgar Wright film, having absolutely adored his output up to this point. Suffice to say, the movie was a helluva lot of fun, and actually makes me wanna look around for the comics that inspired it, as the little pieces of art I've seen from them translates well into the film.

We called it a night around 10:30 and I started polishing this up while the wife settled down to read for a bit in bed.

Be seeing you.

Tag, you're it, Baggy Eyes! Brunch, Friends, Errands, Blogging, Books, Good Reads, iPhone, Shitty Liquor Stores, Television, TiVo, Movies, To-Watch Pile, Scott Pilgrim Vs The World, Edgar Wright