Movie Shame On Haunted Hill

With this being the wife's birthday week I woke with the alarm and got moving immediately, as I had a grocery list of things I needed to get done. The wife was up making coffee, so I greeted both she and the Yorkie, then got the bed made and the house opened up before making a couple phone calls. I spoke to both the clowns who have been scalping our lawn, as well as the guys who we're evidently going to be buying a replacement ice machine from, as the parts for the old system are neck and neck with a completely new model, then started getting the recycling together so that it could all go to the bins and then got dressed for the day.

The wife had a mailing that she was to send out, so I offered to drop it off while I was out, then finally got the car packed up with everything and headed out on my errands. I hit the bank and the Post Office, then ran a couple of birthday related errands, during one of which I managed to forget one of two items I meant to buy in a store, which made me feel like a real dumbass when I was in the car driving away and also gave me yet another stop in my already fairly busy morning. Oh well, fuck my plans and orderly list. I eventually got everything taken care of and picked up a burger for my lunch before heading home to unload a few things and enjoy my food.

Since the wife was out of the house I took the time to lay out her small gift of the day and then chilled in the den with an episode of Being Human off the TiVo.

The wife returned and we caught up on her day thus far, then she chilled while I finished my show. She also let me know that the Middle Sister was going to be dropping off the Nephew for a few hours this evening, as she and her husband had to attend her DWI classes together. This revelation was a real turd in the punchbowl for my day, as I was looking forward to an evening with the wife and dog, catching up on some television or what have you. I also love that the MS's shitty behavior & losing her license has now led to collateral damage ruining not only my night, but her on again, off again husband's as well as the wife and her kid. Her DUI's are like the gift that keeps on giving. FML.

I spent an hour or so with some jazz and a periodical in the Library, then decided I'd try to sneak in a Movie Shame Monday selection before we were invaded by the In-Laws. I popped in House On Haunted Hill, the original from 1959, as I wasn't certain that I had ever watched the film in its entirety, or just became familiar with it via all the various key clips that you see in horror retrospectives and things like that. I was a little over halfway through this film when the dog starts going apeshit because the In-Laws are here about an hour early, which means I'm losing 3 hours of my night now, because superfantastic. Bah.

The two parents hung around for about 30 minutes visiting with the wife, who was planning to take the Nephew to Chuck E Cheese or something, but the kid balked at that suggestion, as he wanted to hang out here and play with our Wii. I sighed inwardly at this point, as the Wii lives in the den, which effectively fucks my movie watching plans in the ass. We finally get the MS and Brother In Law out the door, then I eject my movie and tell the wife I'm moving into the bedroom to finish it while they play around with the Wii in the den.

The wife gave me the pleading eyes because she knew I was agitated, but I honestly can't not be irritated by all this, I'm like a bird rousted from it's nest.

I finished the movie, which was enjoyable and still has a few truly creepy bits, especially that strange white haired woman who glides around as if pulled along on a skateboard, she's still freaky all these years later.

I paused at this point to hop online and update the blog with another post, as I have been gaining on it as much as I can because the Blogger change will happen for good after the 1st of May and I don't know if the drafts I have written will publish registering the proper days. I'm sure this is a concern to no one but myself, but kiss my ass, I need things to obsess over and give me a reason to get out of bed.

The wife came in and we spoke briefly about my irritations, which I assured her weren't at her, but with the stupid fucking situation, which isn't necessarily any better in the long run, but I like to at least make the distinction. We discussed dinner, and agreed on pizza for delivery, as it seemed easier than getting out to brave the weird weather that was blowing through. It kept threatening rain, but mostly what we got was wind and some dirt blowing around. Typical.

Since I was still trapped in the bedroom, I started another movie off the To-Watch Pile, popping in the Blu-ray of Trollhunter for a look at long last. It's a 'found footage' style film in which a film crew starts following around what they first suspect is a bear poacher, but the mysterious hunter turns out to be the sole line of defense in Norway to keep the trolls in line. The CGI is used rather well, blending really well into the handheld footage, and it's a pretty fun little flick all the way around. I paused in the middle of it to go and grab some pizza when it arrived, as well as helping get the Nephew settled at the kitchen table to eat. The wife paused her envelope stuffing and ate with the boy, watching YouTube clips on his iPad to pass the time.

The In-Laws returned earlier than expected, but naturally hung around for a bit as well, so I figured the hell with it and stayed in the bedroom to finish my movie until after they had split.

The wife and I reflected on the evening, which had left her rattled in spite of me assuring her that I wasn't upset with her, as she really feels for the kid in the situation, regardless of what sort of jackassery his parents are getting up to.

We watched a few things off the TiVo while the wife worked some more on her mailing, then we finally called it a night around 10:30 and I put her and the Yorkie to bed, then got started on this post.

Be seeing you.

Forbidden Eggs Above Suspicion

This morning I slept in, after the wife's allergies woke me several times during the night to her snorting or sneezing. While there was evidence of she and the Yorkie having been awake earlier, they were both back asleep in the bed when I woke, so I decided to get dressed and go grab a bite to eat for our lunch to kinda surprise her on this, the beginning of her birthday week.

I picked up an assortment of burgers and sandwiches at a burger joint, then headed back home to find that the wife and pup were both up and moving, which made my life easier. I set up our lunch spread, then we ate while I watched an episode of Ultimate Spider-Man off the Tivo like some big fucking dork. I'm actually enjoying the show quite a bit, even though I'm still at least 2 or 3 episodes behind.

We watched a little something off the To-Watch Pile afterward, the film Death Laid An Egg by director Giulio Questi, which was something of an oddity that I recall hearing discussed on a podcast forever ago, leading to a 'gray market' purchase if you will. I knew little about the film aside from the oddball setting (a poultry farm) and the fact that it featured a lot of Giallo trappings, black gloved killer, a weird love triangle between the couple who owned the farm and his secretary, things like that. The film is interesting in that it's from 1968 and features a lot of elements that are somewhat ahead of their time as far as Gialli go, but aside from a few novelties like that it's nothing groudnbreaking, and was surprisingly nudity free, something of an oddity for Italian films I'm used to watching form around that time period, especially since this one features numerous prostitutes. Not to sound like Randy Pan The Goat Boy here, but there's certain genres that you expect a little nudity in, and this film sort of falls into one of them. Oh well, it's still a decent little time waster.

The wife paused the envelope stuffing that she'd been working on and made us some coffee in the late afternoon. I took this time to sort through some DVD's and rotate some of the To-Watch Pile stuff, which I try to do to keep things a bit fresh as far as what I'm sifting through to watch next. I also took the time to make sure that all of the various Sunday evening programming was set to record properly, then popped in another film off the To-Watch Pile, as I kinda wanna pad out my viewing numbers as we get towards the end of the month and I pretty much snoozed on yesterday afternoon as far as my viewing went in favor of television stuff off the TiVo.

Since I was in the mood for a Giallo that really packed in the 'goods', I popped in The Forbidden Photos Of A Lady Above Suspicion, a film that I had watched quite some time ago before purchasing for the collection. I've really enjoyed the films of Luciano Ercoli quite a bit, and this tale of blackmail and betrayal is no exception, plus it features an Ennio Morricone score and the always gorgeous Susan Scott in a supporting role. Really fun stuff, featuring the always appealing backdrop of '70s Italy, which really gives me the idea that I want a house that features a lot of that Old World charm, as I've mentioned in the past.

We got into the usual Fox animation stuff in the evening, pausing here and there to grab a little snack or beverage, the rounded out our evening with the new Mad Men basically as it happened, which was annoyingly interrupted by small bits of pixelation here and there, because why wouldn't Suddenlink's high def broadcast be plagued by that sort of thing. I swear to God we may have to look at other cable options when we finally build a new house, as these guys have just never blown my skirt up.

We called it a night shortly after that and I put the wife and Yorkie to bed, watered our apple tree out front, then settled into the Office to work on a list of things I need to do this week, most of it specifically for the wife's birthday.

I'm out kids, I have a lot of phone calls to make in the morning.

Be seeing you.

Supernatural Psychic Dinner

The wife had some oddball orientation thing for one of her non-profits that ran from 9:00 AM this morning until around 3:30 in the afternoon, so I slept in with the Yorkie until around 11:00. I got the house opened up for the day and then dressed and stepped out to pick up a sandwich for my lunch, as I was feeling a bit peckish.

When I returned with my food I made sure the dog had her own lunch available to her, then settled into the den to eat and catch up on the last couple episodes of Supernatural. I still dig this show, but knowing that it was meant to end with the 5th season finale just makes anything they're doing now (however clever it may be) feel a bit forced or out of place. Oh well, it's still enjoyable, so I get my fix each week, so I guess I'm riding it out until the bitter end.

I spent a bit of time in the Library scanning another stack of books into the Goodreads app, then started some laundry and decided to try and squeeze in a movie in the afternoon before we had to head out to an early dinner.

Psychic Killer was a little something off the To-Watch Pile that fit the bill nicely, in that it was a short 90 minutes and nothing all that heavy or requiring of my attnetion to a twisting plot. In the film we meet mama's boy Jim Hutton, who blames a group of people for the death of his mother after their inept handling of a court case lands him in a psychiatric facility for a murder he didn't commit. While he's locked away his beloved mother dies and he begins seeking vengeance via astral projection, which a fellow inmate teaches him before taking his own life. Confused yet? Well it gets better as Hutton begins to track down the people who put him away, including cops, judges, nurses and even the local butcher, because fuck that over-priced chop slinger. It's an odd little film, but I really enjoyed it for a low budget horror/thriller.

The wife returned close to the end of the film, so we visited briefly, then she grabbed a shower and started getting ready for the evening, which was to start shortly after 5:00, which kinda threw me, as we weren't going to hit the Sizzler for the early bird senior citizen special, so I was puzzled why the hell we had to be there so early. I was also slightly puzzled why the hell the wife had drug me into a dinner on a night that she'd been out for basically the entire day, but maybe I'm just grocery listing minor annoyances at this stage and need to move on to a fresh paragraph.

We both showered and dressed, then the wife put together the salad that was to be our contribution to the evening, then we headed out across town to our friends GL and NL's house, which we had yet to see even though they've been in it for a few years now. They're one of those couples that we see from time to time around town and always make noise about getting together with, but have never followed up on, so in a way this dinner was about four years in the making because we're shitty friends.

A few bumps aside with a grill that refused to light and we finally settled into some food after their two young children (girls, aged 5 and 2) had eaten and were otherwise engaged with a bit of Sleeping Beauty on the television. We ate and caught up a bit, then spent some time relaxing in their den after the kids were put to bed, finally calling it a night around 9:30 or so and pointing the car in the direction of the house to see what the Yorkie was up to. Oh and at some point the 5 yr old casually streaked the kitchen in protest of her impending bath, which isn't really something that you see every day, so I suppose it bears noting for posterity.

We spent about a half hour flipping channels to decompress a bit, then finally called it a night. I put the wife and Yorkie to bed, then got started on this post so as not to fall behind again.

Be seeing you.

Monster Death Tommy

After my late night last night, I naturally slept in until the Yorkie woke me to bitch about the Lawn Guys and pretty much everything they stand for. Man, she hates those guys.

I got dressed and then opened up the house after the Lawn Guys split, made the bed and what have you. Since the dog was finally settled back down and it was pushing towards lunchtime, I decided to step out and grab a bite to eat.

I eventually returned with a burger and chilled in the den to watch something called Monster Dog off the TiVo, because a podcast was threatening to review it and I figured what the hell, I recorded it last October. The film is largely terrible and full of Alice Cooper silliness as he portrays a rocker recording a video at his family home, which is beset by wild dogs and the promise of a possible werewolf. Or as it turned out, a werewolf puppet. It's pretty dumb, and I knew I was in for a stinker when I noticed that it was directed by the same clown that gave us Troll 2. Oh well.

The wife returned as I was wrapping the film, we caught up a bit, then she and the pup chilled in the bedroom while I spent some time in the Library reading for a bit after scanning a few more things into the Goodreads app, as I continue to try and multi-task with that sort of thing.

I decided to try to blow though another movie in the late afternoon before we had to head out to dinner, so I threw in Death Wish off the To-Watch Pile for a re-watch. The film holds up well, and is something I hadn't watched in at least 10 years or so if I'm remembering correctly. Bronson always amused me in these types of roles, as he's known as a tough guy, so seeing him cast as the quiet family man architect is a little laughable, as you're just waiting for him to flip out and start killing people at the first sign of trouble. At any rate, the film holds up well and is still a lot of fun, so I'm happy to have the sequels hanging around here for a watch on the To-Watch Pile.

The wife and I were to have dinner with Anastasia Beaverhouszen and her hubby Kno1, along with another couple before we went to the theater this evening, so I started getting dressed and cleaned up for the evening out.

Anastasia and Kno1 turned up here, then we hopped in their vehicle to head over to the South side for a bit of Mexican food for dinner. We met our other couple and their daughter, spent a good hour or so visiting and enjoying some good food, then said our goodbyes and headed to the theater downtown.

The show was to be the local community theater's adaption of The Who's Tommy, which featured the boyfriend of the museum's new exec director in the chorus and in a solo portion, so we met up with the museum crowd in the lobby and then settled into the back of the theater. The show wasn't bad, but it wasn't particularly good either, as the feedback from several mics kept blaring and giving us a weird queasy feeling in our stomachs, and some of the songs just weren't performed all that well. The Acid Queen number felt like a plodding dirge rather than a song with any sort of momentum, accents came and went and honestly the best part was our friend's boyfirend belting out the opening to Pinball Wizard. We had a decent enough time, but the overall experience was nothing significant enough to make this anything we'd recommend unless, like us, you know people involved and just wanna go support them.

We headed back to our place afterward and spent some time visiting and catching up, which included a story about Anastasia running into our former boss who was puzzlingly interested in what I was up to, and mentioned that she had always thought that she'd had a motherly role (???) in my life, which is fucking news to me. I mean, I was pushing 30 when I started working at her store, so I dunno how much raising she can possibly think she did, though she did eventually encourage and teach me floral design, so I guess there's that. Anyways, it just struck all of a little odd that she was so interested in my stupid life, as it was never any concern of hers when I was working for her and wanted to do less of it after I got married; she would rather I quit than work part time. Which is exactly what happened, and I never looked back.

So nyah.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Sucker Kick X

I finally woke this morning around 10:30, having ignored the alarm at 9:00 due to lack of sleep or interest. I spent some time catching up with the wife, who was just returning from errands and had the time to visit before she was to head back out to be at a couple other meetings. While we caught up I got the house opened for the day and made the bed, the usual morning routine.

Once the wife split for her lunch meetings, I got dressed and stepped out to pick up some Italian for my lunch from the little fast food Italian place across town, a process that seemed to take forever for no reason in particular. The really funny thing is that I normally go to another fast food place even further from the house, which somehow doesn't feel like as much of a slog to get to, so I don't know how that works exactly.

Back at the house I settled into the den and watched Carriers off the To-Watch Pile, just to avoid a certain podcast spoiling it entirely. I was listening to their show in the drive to and from the restaurant, and as they got further into the review it became glaringly apparent that they meant to blurt out every plot element that might matter to the viewer in the course of their review, which annoyed me, so I had to stop the damned show until I had watched the film, lest they give a blow by blow description of each and every scene, right up to the fucking credits. The movie was pretty decent, though understandably bleak, as it follows a small group of survivors of a worldwide plague as they make their way through the hostile environment that's left after society breaks down. It's watchable, but nothing I see myself re-watching over and over again.

The wife returned as I was wrapping up the movie and we visit a bit. This is when she tells me she's been making dinner plans for the weekend, which annoys me, as it's in addition to her Saturday of bullshit out, fairly well screwing me out of our usual weekend time together, as she'll be out of the house for most of the day, then we have an event in the evening. Oh well, why would we spend any time together?

My afternoon slowly becoming increasingly irritating, I go to grab a coffee at Starbuck's just to get out of the house and hopefully get my mind off things. When I came home I ended up getting even more annoyed by people in alley, as there's always some workmen or what have you parked in the alley, fucking up my ability to get into the garage. Adding insult to injury, I then proceeded to spill the coffee that I just bought and had about three sips of all over the floor in the fucking garage, because fuck my life. So that's $5 down the fucking tubes for nothing.

Since the afternoon had thoroughly agitated me at every turn, I said fuckit and poured myself a cocktail, resolving to just start drinking, because seriously, fuck my life at this point.

I settled back into the den and popped in Sucker Punch off the To-Watch Pile to pass the time while the wife relaxed with the Yorkie in the bedroom. The movie was largely divisive upon release, and I found myself enjoying it on a visual level, but would agree with most folks that the story is somewhat lacking. So yeah, pretty girls, pretty visuals, but a story that's all over the place...this is definitely something that'd make for great background noise at a party, but I don't think it'd bear multiple re-watches with the viewer hanging on their every word, as there's not all that much there to begin with.

There was a museum function in the evening that I didn't care to be involved with, so the wife eventually left to go and attend that and I decided to pop in Kick-Ass for a re-watch, as Sucker Punch had left me with something of a comic-book-y taste in my mouth and I figured that one deserved another look. It holds up well enough, and I really love Chloe Moretz as the foul-mouthed dynamo Hit-Girl, she's a lot of fun.

When the wife finally returned we watched the usual NBC comedy fare, then she headed to bed shortly after 10:00. I was well in my cups at this point, so I decided to stay up late watching X: Night Of Vengeance and enjoy my little buzz. The movie is an Australian film that stars a couple of ladies from Spartacus, speaking with their natural accents and playing hookers, which seems some how appropriate considering their behavior on Spartacus. Viva Bianca plays a retiring escort who goes on 'one final job' with an inexperienced teen runaway (fellow Spartacus player Hanna Mangan Lawrence) only to have a drug deal go bad around them, sending them on a wold dash through Sydney's underbelly in an effort to stay alive. It's pretty watchable, but possibly not as sleazy as the poster art and the general setting would imply.

I eventually called it a night and got started on this post before finally crashing out in the wee hours of the morning.

Be seeing you.

Radio Shaft

The upshot of only getting about 4 hours of sleep in one night is that you usually oversleep the next day, which is exactly what I did after going to bed around 1:00 in the morning last night.

The wife and Yorkie left to go to the Groomer this morning, an event that I was completely unaware of, then they returned around noon, which finally woke me as the wife was in the kitchen putting away groceries and the dog was bounding around the bed wondering if I was dead or something.

The wife and I caught up on her day and spent some time putting away the last of the groceries, then she and the Yorkie retired to the bedroom to chill while I hopped online for a bit to get the blog updated and look at e-mail and that sort of silly time sink bullshit.

Since the wife and pup were in for the day I decided to run and grab myself a late lunch when I finally surfaced from the interwebs. I dressed and ran through a McDonald's drive-thru because I guess I hate my body or something, then pointed the car back toward the house to chill out with some television.

I watched the 3rd (I think) episode of that Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon that's been on the TiVo for a bit, then decided that since I had fairly well pissed away the day that I would just dive into the first thing off the TiVo that'd been on there for any real length of time, so I started watching Woody Allen's Radio Days, which I may or may not have seen, but remembered so little about that I'm just calling it a first time viewing. It's a very sweet nostalgic look at the '40s, narrated by Allen and composed of a series of vignettes that tell the overall story, which is just the author's anecdotal reminisces about the era. It was a fun, quick little watch and I enjoyed the setting quite a bit.

The wife and the Yorkie had moved into the Office and were piddling around in there, so I spoke to them briefly on my way to the Library for my customary afternoon hour of reading and jazz, a little trend that I wanna try to keep up for as long as possible, since I keep buying shit to read with no sign of stopping.

The wife had picked up some sushi for our dinner, so when we finally reconvened in the den we settled down for some food and a re-watch of the original Shaft flick from 1971, which I'd only seen once before. It's still a decent watch, but aside from the iconic music and a few sequences it's not as great as I really want it to be. There's just something about the films of Fred Williamson or Pam Grier from the same era that captured my imagination a bit more. There's nothing specific I can even put my finger on, hell, maybe I'm just not a big fan of Richard Roundtree or something.

We rounded out the evening with the last two episodes of Ringer, which ended on a decent enough note that I could sort of be satisfied if it doesn't get picked up for a second season. There were definitely a lot of 11th hour twists and turns that left me feeling like I was watching my Grandmother's soap operas with her again, which actually had a certain charm.

The wife and Yorkie headed to bed after we finished the show and I picked up the kitchen a bit and filed away a few movies in the Media Closet, then got started on this post for the day.

Be seeing you.

The Tuesdaykeepers

After being up to the wee hours of the morning last night, I woke like a schmuck at 9:00 AM having slept only four hours and possibly still slightly drunk from the night before. I honestly don't know what possessed me to have that last cocktail at 3:00 in the AM, but yeesh, I was still feeling the after-effects today. The wife and Yorkie were up and moving so I greeted them in the Office, then made the bed and spent some time picking up the kitchen a bit before settling in to work on the blog a bit in advance of the normal lunch out with the fellas.

The wife split for a couple meetings and I got a blog post published before grabbing a shower and gathering up a couple things for the errands I was planning on running. I hit a couple Pawn Shops that were near the usual Thai place that we like. I didn't really see anything all that exciting, but did come away with a $2 copy of a Shaw Brothers martial arts action flick, so that made me happy.

The meal with the guys was good, though I noticed that DR continued his weird theme of rambling about some depressing tangents about the state of the world, which actually borderline annoyed me, as I have one hour a fucking week that I specifically set aside to visit with friends, so I don't wanna have to come away from that in a depressive mood. It'd be different if this were him venting anxieties or something, but it's more a recitation of depressing conspiracy theories, which is fine for him, as that's his area of interest, but it just makes me kinda tap my foot and look at my watch sometimes. We finally got the hell out of there and I excused myself and split, as I didn't wanna get lured into further conversation in the parking lot as well, which can be a consideration if you're not careful.

The local books, music and video outlet was on my way, so I gave that a prowl and came up empty-handed, which is probably for the best, then headed to Barnes & Noble, where I was able to finally locate a copy of The Paris Review that features a lengthy interview with Bret Easton Ellis. I had actually forgotten about the damned thing, so I was happy to find it still on the shelves. I also grabbed a tea and a couple other random magazines, then headed down the parking lot to Best Buy, as they were offering their 'upgrade and save' deal again, so I was keen to trade in 2 DVD's that I was into for about a buck apiece for a total of $10 credit towards a couple things that they had on sale.

Topper for that trip was that I finally found the damned Family Guy set I was looking for, with the slipcase, so all my stupid shit will match up properly on the shelf. My anal retentive attention to detail and hope that I would find the thing at a later date did actually pay off.

When I got home I found the wife and Yorkie crashed on the bedroom, so I slipped into the Library and drank my tea while reading for about an hour or so while listening to another jazz station on the Pandora app.

UPS delivered my Blu-ray of The Innkeepers, the new film from Ti West, so I decided immediately that this would be our evening viewing, as I really dug his last film The House Of The Devil quite a bit and have heard good things about this one as well.

The wife spent some time on the computer after she and the pup finally got up and moving, so I passed the time with an episode of Nikita that I was behind on, then the wife and I stepped out briefly to pick up some dinner before strapping in for the movie.

The Innkeepers is a solidly creepy tale set in a deserted inn that promises to be haunted. The last two remaining employees spend a weekend manning the desk before the place closes its doors for good, so they start looking into the supernatural elements that might present themselves, occasionally aided or annoyed by the three remaining guests. West builds a slow, creepy vibe that I really have to admire, he's not afraid of playing around with the sheer minutiae of people's lives, which adds to the creep factor, as things are so calm and everyday, you're left on the edge of the seat waiting for something to happen. The only thing I might criticize is that there's not a whole lot of big payoff; you may know where this one is going pretty early one. That said, it's a fun ride and the everyone looks very convincing in their roles, this is definitely not the typical Hollywood cast, they look pretty convincing as the casual everyman and woman. I think that with this film and House Of The Devil, Ti West has finally allowed me to forgive him for the utterly boring The Roost, a film that drove me fucking crazy, as it looked like it was lit with a cellphone and all but obscured any relevant details that would've made it interesting. Hell, I may have to give it another look based on these last few films.

We wrapped the evening with another episode of Ringer, which is getting increasingly unhinged as it finally get's close to the end of this first season.

I'm out folks.

Be seeing you.

Movie Shame Double Feature

I slept until 10:30 this morning to catch up on my sleep from last night, then saw the wife off on her daily errands before getting the house opened for the day and the bed made.

The Yorkie trailed me into the Office, where I worked on the blog for a couple hours, getting the last few days polished up and ready to publish, then I decided to step out and grab a bit to eat before getting into whatever I would select for Movie Shame Monday.

When I returned with some chicken for my lunch I settled into the den with a little something on the TiVo that you may've heard of, a little thriller from the '60s called Cape Fear. I figured it was time to give it a go, as I've been digging Robert Mitchum a lot in the past several months, and I haven't seen him as a villain all that often, so I really enjoyed the creepy menace he exuded in this one, lurking around after Gregory Peck and his family. Oh, and it was amusing to see what had to be the genesis of the 'Out Of Shape In Shape Guy From The '50s' routine that Family Guy did in their early seasons, as Mitchum is stripped to his shorts and has to be sucking in his gut for the entire time his shirt's off, there's just no way that he was that barrel-chested. It's pretty amusing.

The wife came in while I was watching the movie and we caught up a bit, then she settled into the bedroom for some trash television with the Yorkie while I finished things up. I gave the Library an hour of my time with some jazz and a couple magazines to peruse, then the Yorkie started rousting the wife out of bed and we all ended up back in the den.

I decided to try for a double feature for the Movie Shame theme, so I popped in Scorsese's Mean Streets, which the wife was less than thrilled with after about an hour. She stepped out to grab some dinner while I finished the movie and I have to say that I enjoyed it, but it's not as engaging as something like Taxi Driver, which came along three years later.

We spent the evening rotating through some of the various shows that've stacked up over the past few months, blowing through an episode apiece of Ringer, Hawaii Five-O and Spartacus: Vengeance before the wife called it a night.

I had been nursing several cocktails over the course of the evening, so I got a really wild hair to finally tackle that X-Men Blu-ray set that I had grabbed when it got cheap. I proceeded to marathon my way through all three of the original X-Men trilogy, which kept me up until 5:00 or so in the AM, at which point I finally stumbled to bed and crashed out for what I was sure wouldn't be enough sleep, but there you go: I did it to my own damned self.

Be seeing you.

Tanya's Delinquent Dream

The wife and I both slept in this morning, though she was nagged awake by the Yorkie around 10:00 or so. I was actually just waking up at 11:30 when she was coming back to bed, as the sinus issues that she's been fighting have taken a toll on the amount of rest she's actually getting at night. She had just had some kind of weird exchange with the Middle Sister who was going to drop by an pick up a key to her house that we have for some reason and I didn't even want to address the idea of why she didn't have a key to her own home, so I said cool and let the wife crash out for a nap while I moved into the Office to work on the stupid blog some more, as I feel as though I've been slowly gaining on the amount of days that it is behind, though not by much.

Honestly, I think I could live with things being a solid week behind, as that would give me time to decompress from anything that might normally serve to be an issue further down the line, IE; any harsh venting that I might do int he heat of the moment can sit for a week and then be polished up to possibly be less aggressively assholish if I so choose, rather than going straight from my brain and out there into the ether with no real filter of any kind.

After I got another post published and the following one polished up for later, I decided to dress and get out and pick up some lunch for myself. I whispered to the wife about this plan, but she seemed more interested in sleep than food, so I left her crashed out and hit a drive-thru for a late Mexican meal for myself.

Since the wife was still out of the picture when I returned, I settled into the den to watch a random selection off the To-Watch Pile while I ate, as I figured I might be able to sneak in at least a couple movies this afternoon before the normal television fare took over.

Tanya's Island is a movie that I've always heard about in various genre circles, particularly because it's something of an oddity in that it features an early pre-Prince appearance of Vanity playing a woman on a deserted island who finds herself in a weird love triangle between herself, her somewhat assholish boyfriend...and an ape that lives on the island. The movie is pretty ridiculous, and all three characters are somewhat annoying, but if you've even been keen to see Vanity naked, break out the Jergen's and clear your schedule, because even when she's not onscreen they still sneak in nude pics of her in an overlay as her idiot boyfriend stalks around the island looking for the ape's lair. It's like she's scared of clothing or something, it's hilarious. Oh, but I can't stress enough that it IS a terrible movie, it's more of interest to have on in the background while you do other shit; I read today's newspaper, for example.

Since the wife was still crashed out I stepped into the nedroom to make sure that she was still alive, then spent about an hour and change in the Library reading a bit and listening to the Miles Davis station on my Pandora app on the iPhone. I've happily made a bit of headway on the perpetual stack of periodicals on my nightstand. I would say that I will always support print media until we simply run the fuck out of trees, and if you'll publish it, I will buy and enjoy it. That said, it just may be several years after the fact, but you just want the money anyway, right? No one cares about the eventualities, just making sure that rent gets paid on Friday, right?

When I finally heard the wife stirring in the kitchen I made my way back into the world and we visited a bit, then I did some poking around on the TiVo while she dealt with a phone call. As it happened with our normal television scheduling, the Fox 25th Anniversary programming meant that while they celebrated their company's longevity they wouldn't be airing any of the shows we'd normally be watching, and ABC also seemed to be taking the night off, so I asked if the wife would mind a double feature off the To-Watch Pile to pass the time until Mad Men and the new episode of Girls recorded off HBO.

She was game for this, so she ordered in some deli food for our dinner and we strapped in for a little something called Psychotronica Vol. 1, which features a double feature of the films Delinquent School Girls and Dream No Evil. Not to tip my hand on a 'review' of this disc, but this films should definitely have been presented in a reverse order, as Delinquent is definitely the stronger film.

Delinquent School Girls is about a group of three sleazeballs breaking out of a mental institution and running amuck in a reform school for wayward girls that has been reduced to a skeleton staff and student population for a weekend. The real weird confusing, water muddying twist here is that the 3 guys are real bumblers most of the time, and the girls are all kinda slutty types who are into being taken advantage of, so you get a ton of scenes in which women are sexually molested until they naturally start to get into it and let the guys do what they want, because aren't all women just gagging for it, when it comes right down to it? It's a weird message, but I suppose the '70s were a different time as far as all that sort of thing goes.

The food arrived and we tucked into that as we got into the 2nd film on the disc, which was something of a stinker, even if they sort of (and I truly mean SORT OF) make all of the pieces fit by the time the credits finally roll. The movie is about a young orphan gal who goes in search of her father while she's employed by a huckster tent revival preacher type, whose brother she's in a relationship with. At a certain point in the film she has a break with reality and begins a relationship with her rediscovered pop after the local pimp/mortician (yes, you read that right) brings them together. Pop starts killing people after her mere presence returns him from the dead and the movie gets more complicated and weird from there. If you can imagine that would be possible. It's a largely stupid movie, but we got a few laughs out of it over the sheer weirdness of it all, and not to sound crass, but after the last film's abundant nudity and frisky females, this could've definitely used a few boobs to distract from how asinine the story was. Oh well, you can't win 'em all.

We watched the new Mad Men pretty much as it happened, recording the two HBO shows for later, then I paused things toward the end of the program to hope online and try to bid on a couple auctions that were ending on eBay. I was able to get one of the sets of comics I was eyeing, but was outbid at the 11th hour (hell, almost the 12th hour) by some sniping asshole, who outbid me by one dollar. Oh well, I'm now watching a better auction, which is for the same books, plus the next set in the series, so I guess I'll be keeping tabs on that for the next week or so, as it has about 5 days to go. Sigh.

We wrapped the night with the 2nd episode of Girls off HBO, then I saved the series premiere of Veep, the new series starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus as the vice-president who has a hard time getting the man himself on the phone. I was on the fence until I saw a few clips and realized that the writer behind In The Loop was involved, so I figure I'll give it a shot. I honestly don't know if the wife will be into this one or not.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Martha, Mystery, More Maniac

Ah, alliteration, the lowest form of writing, comedy, or sign of humanity in general. Fuck me.

The wife and I were both up and down at weird hours last night, as our allergies went apeshit crazy when we got home from our friends' house. I can only assume that the cat dander had a hand in things in my case, but my poor wife had been instructed not to take her normal allergy pill because she's supposed to have an allergy test on Monday, but her sneezing, snotting fit finally drove her to say to hell with it and take one anyway, just to try to calm things down enough for her to be able to sleep.

I found myself fighting the usual on again, off again sinus drainage, so I was up until around 5:00 in the AM reading and bullshitting with a buddy in Los Angeles on Twitter, then I finally tried to get some rest myself.

When I surfaced again it was near 11:30 and the wife had been up for about an hour at the Yorkie's nagging. Since the wife was about to step out to grab a bite to eat, I offered to drive her if she'd give me a few minutes to get the sleep out of my eyes. I took some time to shake off my drowsiness and then we headed out to grab a bit of lunch at a drive-thru.

Back at the house we settled into the den and watched the season premiere of The Ricky Gervais Show while we ate, which was a lot of fun, then I popped in one of the Netfux rentals we have laying around.

Martha Marcy May Marlene is a film that I had only heard a few vague reviews of, as no one wanted to spoil anything about this arthouse flick in which a young woman leaves a cult and reconnects with her older sister, then we spend the rest of the film flipping from her current life attempting to reintegrate into a normal living condition and her time while still in the cult, neither of which paint a very happy picture. The rather abrupt ending aside, the movie was pretty watchable, and Elizabeth Olsen (the younger sister of those Olsen Twins) puts in a good performance as this damaged young woman. The wife actually surprised me by staying awake for this one, as it's kinda slow moving and I fully expected her to check out at some point.

After the movie I decided to go and drop it in the mail and run by the liquor store, so the wife and Yorkie moved into the bedroom for a nap while I ran those errands. I ran into a friend of the wife's at the liquor store and we compared notes about the area that she lives in, as it's adjacent to the area that I'm kinda pulling for, then I headed back home.

The wife and pup were still snoozing, so I spent some time in the Library with some jazz on the iPhone and a magazine, then scanned a few more things into the Goodreads app before I went to see if the wife and dog were up and about yet. They joined me in the den and I popped in another 'M' film, as I thought I'd try to be cute with today's viewing in a play on the title of the film from earlier.

Mystery Team was a wild hair purchase to pad out a 'buy one, get one' deal from that books, music and video outlet that I mention from time to time, and I figured now was as good a time as any to give it a day in court. The idea is that a group of three guys were little junior sleuths, but as they're about to graduate high school they've still not grown out of it, which pretty much annoys the hell out of most of the town, who now regret encouraging them when they were young. They get ensnared in an actual murder mystery, which forces them to actually think and act like adults rather than overgrown children. It's got some pretty amusing moments, including a great sequence in a strip club that I would hate to spoil for anyone; suffice to say, they don't react well to their first trip into a 'gentleman's club'.

As we got into the early evening we ordered in some pizza and I popped in another 'M' choice off the To-Watch Pile. We watched the documentary More Brains! A Return To The Living Dead, which leaves really no stone unturned when talking about the making of the 1988 comedy/horror film that spawned a largely awful series of sequels. What I found especially interesting about this one was that these people had a lot of shitty things to say about one another, which is a refreshing change of pace considering most interview stuff just tells you how wonderful everyone was to work with. This felt a lot more real, agitations with the director, people hating the effects work that was being done and being vocal about it, things like that paint a much more realistic image of what I imagine a film production being like. The wife called it a night after this one, so I put her and the pup to bed, then watched a few of the special features, which also included short looks at the first couple of sequels, then I decided to try to squeeze in a final movie before I got started on the blogging crapola.

I ended up popping in the Blu-ray of Maniac Cop, which I had grabbed cheap awhile back. The movie is okay on its own, but I think I might enjoy it more for the NYC in the '80s setting, as you see a world that doesn't really exist anymore. When I finished that I moved into the Office to get started on this post, as I'd like to try and get my sleep straightened out tonight if at all possible.

Be seeing you.

Man's Favorite Dinner?

The wife had errands and meetings this morning, so she was gone when I woke around 9:30, so I made the bed and got the house opened up for business while listening to a podcast, then moved into the Office to see what the world had been up to in my absence.

In my efforts to catch things up a bit, I piddled with the blog for quite some time, as Blogger has decided that they need to monkey around with the back end on their software, making the process of adding photos to a post something of a pain in the ass, so I fought a certain post to a standstill, then finally got it edited and posted properly before I decided to pause and go grab a sandwich or something for my lunch.

I spent the typical amount of time in a drive-thru, then arrived home to find the wife already in the garage, finishing up a phone call, so we walked in together and caught up on her day, then I settled into the den to eat my sandwich and she caught me up on some family gossip, which continues to up the ante of 'what the fuck'-ness in some big, bad ways. These people are fucking nuts.

The wife and the Yorkie headed to the Office to work on e-mail and the like, so I started watching something off the TiVo, as I feel like I've been making a decent amount of progress on clearing it out a bit.

Man's Favorite Sport? is a movie that I recorded because of the involvement of the always lovely Paula Prentiss, who I'd seen in a couple films over the last year or so and I've always been struck by how cute she was and how she brought a lot of personality to whatever role she had. Here she's paired with Rock Hudson, who is a fishing expert who has built a career by simply passing on the comments of others, which has been taken as his own advice, culminating in a book on the subject. When he's goaded into a fishing competition, Prentiss tries to teach him how to fish properly, but more often than not he ends up falling ass-backwards into good luck, and falling for her along the way. It's a cute movie, and I really enjoyed her in it as expected, and for this being my first exposure to Hudson, I'd have to say that I can definitely see why he's had such a lasting impression as a male lead, though he didn't grab me as much as Cary Grant or someone like that. It was a good little flick, worth a rental if you've not seen it. Plus the lovely Prentiss. So cute...

The wife and the pup caught a nap in the afternoon, disturbed briefly by the Lawn Guys who turned up for about a half hour. After the movie I moved into the Library and filed away some bills, then spent about an hour reading and listening to some jazz on the Pandora app on the iPhone, then eventually went to see what the wife was up to, as we had plans for the evening.

The original plan was that we'd have dinner with Anastasia Beaverhouszen and Kno1, then go and check out an art opening at the university in Odessa. As things turned out, my buddy DR, who is a student at the school and will be displaying art in the show was mistaken about the date of the damned opening, so we ended up just meeting our friends and going to Odessa for dinner at a restaurant that we don't have in our town, just for the hell of it. Afterward we headed back to town and I ran us by the area that we've been eyeing land in, just to get another opinion on things, then we grabbed a coffee before finally making our way to their house to chill and visit a bit more.

We finally called it a night a little after 10:00 and headed home, then I put the wife to bed and got started on this post.

Be seeing you.

Dead Or Teacher

Since the clowns who are supposed to be repairing the ice maker didn't bother to call yesterday, I wasn't really thinking about the ice maker when I went to sleep last night and didn't set an alarm. Naturally I woke this morning to the phone buzzing on the nightstand and the ice maker guys saying that they could be here in 30 minutes, so I desperately shook off my drowsiness and got up and moving to get the house opened up and the bed head tamed down a bit before I had these dudes working the doorbell out front.

The wife was still getting ready for her day, so I sequestered the Yorkie on our side of the house with her and met the two guys at the door to let them in, then helped them clean up the leftover water after they got the machine out of the cabinet and loaded onto their trailer. None of this pleased the dog, who I released shortly afterward to give the house the all-clear.

The wife left for her meetings and I spent time on the computer updating the blog a bit, then decided to call in an order for some food and have an early-ish lunch to try to squeeze in a movie before the wife and I were to tour another house that we were probably not interested in at all at 3:00 in the afternoon. I dressed after calling in an order for some Chinese food, then grabbed the Netfux movie that I wanted to drop back in the mail and headed out to greet the world.

I dropped the movie in a mailbox, then made my way to the restaurant to grab my lunch. I was walking up to the restaurant and slipping my car keys into my pocket when I noticed that something was missing. I'd managed to leave my Goddamned wallet at the house, so I had to drive back home to grab that (and thoroughly confuse the dog, because I came in through the front door), then drive all they way back to the place to get the food. Piss on my 'quick early lunch' idea entirely. Bah.

The Yorkie was happy to see me when I returned, so I gave her a small bite of my steamed rice, as it seemed like a harmless treat that she could eat without getting deathly ill. I got my food situated, then settled into the den to eat and watch something off the To-Watch Pile.

Dead Or Alive: Final is the third part of the Dead Or Alive Trilogy, so I gave it a second look to finish up my re-watch of that series. This film is likely my favorite of the three, set in a cyberpunk future populated with replicants and taking place in a depressed, destroyed city where a homosexual mayor is forcing the populace to consume a drug that inhibits their heterosexual desires in an effort to control the population. There's some great fight sequences, and the film stars the same two leads who were in the first two movies, culminating in a strange series of flashbacks that seem to acknowledge the earlier films, even though each is a self contained entity unto itself. Good stuff, and a nice weird note to end the series on.

The wife returned as I was wrapping the movie and we caught up a bit, then she returned a few e-mails in the Office while I sorted through some DVD's in the den to pass the time. We finally headed out to take a look at this house that the Realtor had called about showing us, even though it didn't seem like what we're particularly in the market for. This is something we keep running into with this woman: we wanna buy land, build an 'estate home' that'll remove us at least a little bit from the neighbors with a custom built house catered to our tastes, while she seems to think that we just want a new house, and why won't we buy the nice ones she keeps showing us? It's getting frustrating, but we keep seeing some nice pads, so if nothing else maybe we'll get some interesting ideas for our own place, right?

The house was actually somewhat deceptive in its size, given what you see from the street. The landscaping is very well conceived and the established neighborhood has grown to cover/surround the home rather well, which I appreciate, as I know we'll be hurting for landscaping anywhere we actually build. The house may actually be smaller than the one we're in, but has decent sized rooms, a pool and a detached garage, art studio and workout room. These are obviously all appealing amenities, but as always, NONE of this is set in the configuration that we'd prefer at all, which makes this a no-go, no matter how nice it all looks. We ooh'd and aah'd appropriately, then split to grab some coffee and discuss the house, which we were both on the same page about. As with the last place she'd shown us, this was much more than we'd like to spend, especially when we'd be buying it knowing there's going to be tons of renovations right off the bat.

When we got home I took the time to trim up a shrub near the garage that the Lawn Guys had given a cut yesterday, but they did it with all the artistry of a blind man, as there were several spots that had been left with nothing but a fucking branch sticking out to poke you or snag clothing as you walk by. It just makes you wonder how people look at shit like that and say "Oh, yeah, that's okay, that looks fine." I tidied that up a bit, then headed inside to see what the wife was up to. Since she was working on a few things in the Office to wrap up her afternoon, I drifted into the Library and spent some time scanning a few things into the Goodreads app. Eventually we both settled into the den and watched Bad Teacher off the TiVo to pass the time until the NBC comedy line-up started for the evening.

The hook of a foul-mouthed teacher who finds herself vying for the attentions of a 'nice guy' who is a better person than she is was a decent enough one to fish us in, and I was surprised that the movie was as entertaining as all that. The basic hook of Cameron Diaz saying inappropriate things in front of kids seemed like it'd lose steam, but Jason Segel kept things interesting. It's an okay watch, definitely a decent choice for cable viewing.

We spent the evening with the usual NBC fare, including the returning Parks & Recreation, then wrapped up our night with last night's episode of The Soup.

I put the wife and Yorkie to bed, then got started on this, which has somehow taken longer than I figured it would, in spite of the obvious lack of interesting writing or artistry to any of the language, which I can only assume means that I'm losing both skill and vocabulary as I continue to write this stupid shit each night.

Be seeing you.

The Wednesday I Live In

The alarm woke me this morning at 9:00, then the wife and I cuddled with the Yorkie for a bit, as she seemed antsy about us both rising at the same hour. I guess the only reason we would be up at this hour together in her mind is because we're about to go on a trip or something.

The wife spent some time in the Office on her computer and I got the house opened up for business, then dressed and headed out to run by the local library thrift store to see if I could grab a couple things cheap. The two Parker novels I had seen on Saturday were still there, and the sale they had running brought them down to $6 for the pair, which was about what they seemed to be worth. Don't get me wrong, that's not a dig at the material, but whoever had owned these had evidently folded them in half as they read them, ruining the spine completely, so I wasn't keen to buy them for the normal half price, but figured a 'reading' copy was worth the $3 apiece.

I headed back to the house and spent some time in the Office with the wife, each of us working on our own computers, then the Maid arrived and got started on her routine and the wife paused to make us some coffee in the kitchen. We spent a bit more time in the Office, then the wife split to go to a meeting and I paused my blog nonsense and made myself some lunch.

As is my normal custom when the Maid is underfoot, I spent some time watching an episode of The X-Files, finally wrapping up the 3rd season of that show, then got the nerdlists updated a bit. The wife returned, then relaxed in the bedroom once the Maid finally started wrapping things up, so I moved into the den myself to see what was on the old TiVo.

I had barely started watching the big fat two hour season finale of Alcatraz when the Goddamned Lawn Guys showed up to stand in front of the house with leafblowers, which is usually a sign that they're about to hang out until they can ride the clock down until 5:00, which is just maddening.

They finally split around thirty minutes later, which naturally felt much longer, so I was able to finish out the show, which ended on an interesting note, but if they don't renew it I'll definitely feel hosed, as it's very much a cliff-hanger. Oh well, it was an intriguing show, hopefully they give it another go next season.

The wife eventually joined me after the show and we visited a bit about dinner options, then she made a little stir fry dish before we watched a couple episodes of Ringer, which is finally limping towards the season finale, or rather, the finale aired this week and we're finally limping towards it ourselves, as we're about 5 episodes behind. I like the show, but Jesus Christ, I feel like I've been watching it for YEARS now and we're not even through the first season. It's way too convoluted for its own good, and I really hope that they streamline their storytelling if it gets a second season.

We wrapped our evening with a little something that arrived today from Netfux, the latest from Pedro Almodóvar on glorious Blu-ray: The Skin I Live In. The film stars Antonio Banderas as a famous plastic surgeon who is holding a strange young woman prisoner in his home, where he is working to perfect a new type of skin and deal with the tragedies of his past. The movie is very much in Almodovar's wheelhouse, as it looks amazing and is filled with odd twists that really kept us guessing as to what the hell is going on in this crazy house. The villa that the guy lives in is really pretty, and the interior belies the Old World exterior, which really appeals to both the wife and myself as far as what we'd like to see in our new dream home. But I digress...the movie was really good, looks great, well put together, very much worth a rental.

We called it a night shortly afterward and I got started on this, but soon lost an hour or two to internet jackassery, so now I'm finishing it up much later than I first intended. Bah.

Be seeing you.

Bronson Prophet

The wife had a medical test scheduled for early this morning, so she was long gone when I woke with the alarm at 9:00. I got the bed made and the house opened up for business, then hopped in the shower to get cleaned up before meeting the fellas for lunch.

When I got out of the shower I noticed that I'd missed a call, which I guessed was the guy who was supposed to take another look at the ice maker in the kitchen. It actually turned out to be the Dentist, who was looking to try and re-schedule me for the cleaning that we'd had to cancel during our Dallas trip. I returned the call and found out that they could get me in within the hour due to a similar cancellation, so I dressed quickly and headed that way, just to get it all over with, as I really don't relish the bone shivering tooth scraping that the cleaning entails.

They got me right in and the dental assistant started in with the torture, all of which culminated in the Dentist himself telling me that the new x-rays they'd taken indicate that I may have another cavity, an issue with a previous filling (that he did, FFS! or possibly an issue of something happening between two certain back teeth, so he wants to have me back in early May to drill on it some more. So that's fucking great. I swear to God, I went like a decade without doing anything beyond brushing my teeth, and I ended up with two cavities. I have a ton of orthodontic work and started seeing a Dentist regularly and I suddenly get a fucking cavity once a year or some shit. It's very frustrating, that's all I'm saying.

The whole ordeal didn't do a damned bit of good at far as killing enough time before lunch, so I had a solid hour to kill when I left the Dentist's office. I also noticed that I had a headache and a pain in my shoulders, which I think was due to the way I was pressing my hands together on my chest as this broad scraped viciously at my teeth. What a frigging ordeal, it was like outtakes from Hostel.

I tried to kill some time rooting around in Barnes & Noble, then picked up a coffee and a small snack on the thought that maybe the head was either blood sugar or caffeine related, then took a wander through a pawn shop before finally making my way to the Mexican place that we'd agree'd upon. The food was good, though to be perfectly honest DR managed to end the meal on a weird downer note in relation to humanity and its inability to do anything decent for one another about 9 times out of 10, which just wasn't what I was in the mood the hear with a headache and my teeth still slightly tender from their earlier abuse. I guess I was already in a bad mood and the last thing I needed to hear was how we're all doomed or some shit.

Since the day was pretty much annoying me from start to finish already, it was at this point that I realized that I had missed the call from the guy who was supposed to check out the ice maker while we were eating, so I called him back and got his voicemail, which I had a sinking feeling meant that this whole song and dance would be pushed back yet another day. I headed home, speaking briefly with the wife to see if the guy had managed to get her on the phone, but I had trouble connecting, then dropped the damned call as I was getting near the house, so I said fuckit and put the phone away, lest I throw it out the window in a fit of rage.

The wife and I caught up a bit, then I left she and the dog chilling and retired to the Library to read, as I hoped that it would take the edge of the morning I'd been having and let me relax a little. I listened to some music on Pandora on the iPhone and read about half of a magazine that's been collecting dust on the nightstand for God knows how long, then got a call from the ice maker guy. Since he was on his way I turned the machine on to let him see what it was doing, then put up the little dog gate to sequester the dog to our side of the house so that the dude could work in peace.

He turned up and declared that the water wasn't cooling in the slightest, so the next step is to have their delivery guy pick it up (hopefully tomorrow) and investigate it at their shop, to see if it's worth repairing, or if we should just drop the bucks to replace it entirely. I sent him on his way, then drifted into the Office, ostensibly to get a blog post published, but then I got caught up in the idea of making certain that the router extender was still working, as the connection in the den has been hit or miss since we've been back from Dallas. The next thing I know I've lost an hour fucking around with that and haven't gotten the damned thing to recognize that the extender even exists, so I finally said the hell with it, resolving to deal with it tomorrow, when the Maid is doing her routine and I will presumably have the guy here to pick up the ice maker.

Bah.

Giving up on accomplishing anything, I settled into the den and started watching a movie off the TiVo, which had been on there for quite some time. A Prophet is a French film about a young man who is thrown in prison for 6 years, but without anyone to look out for him, he finds himself put in a position to commit a murder for one of the large factions, which sets him on his way to a life of crime and puts him in an unenviable position, torn between loyalty to these Corsicans who look out for him but treat him like a lackey and the Muslims in the prison, who he shares an ethnic background with but lacks their religious convictions. It's a very engrossing film, though the 2 hour and 35 minute running time threw me slightly, having tackled a fairly 'epic' film yesterday as well.

The wife had a short meeting in the evening, so she split for that and even returned with food before this film had finished; it was something of a commitment.

We watched Bronson off the To-Watch Pile, Nicolas Winding Refn's look at the life of British criminal Charlie Bronson, who has served 34 years in the British penal system, 30 of it in solitary confinement due to his crazed, violent behavior. Tom Hardy does a great job of delivering the guy's wacky monologues in a charming and clever manner, and bulked up quite a bit for the role, so he looks as imposing as you'd imagine a guy would have to when he takes on an entire group of prison guards, armed only with his fists wrapped in rags. Oh, and he likes to strip naked for these altercations, which is both freaky and weird. Seriously, the guy's cock should have gotten second billing, you see it on screen so often...

We called it a night shortly after the movie finished, as the wife has things to do in the morning and I would like to get a solid 8 hours before dealing with the Maid in the AM.

Be seeing you.