Alien Threats, Otherworldly Or Domestic

This morning I woke with alarm at 10:00, then got the house opened up and made the bed while the wife finished showering and started getting dressed for the day. Overnight I had received an e-mail telling me that I had a book that I needed to mail via an all but forgotten membership in Paperback Swap, so I got that ready to mail and worked on the blog while the wife made us some coffee, then she split and I got things published online and dressed.

I finally headed out for the Post Office and some lunch shortly before noon.

After running my errands, I chilled back at the house with something I'd randomly TiVo'd a few months back off cable, the sci-fi action flick Battle: Los Angeles, as I found myself just morbidly curious if it was a decent film or not. The opening of the film spent a good amount of time introducing me to a ton of people whose names I promptly forgot, then they started killing them in an alien invasion, so the first, say 20 minutes or so was fairly pointless for me personally. Actually, as far as the action goes, it was a decent flick, but there's no reason it should've been nearly two Christing hours long, that was kinda pushing it.

The wife came home during the movie, so she and I caught up a bit about her day thus far and plans for the afternoon, then she and the Yorkie retreated to the bedroom for some trash TV and a possible nap. This was for the best, as the wife has had a toe bothering her for a few days and is likely better served being off of it if at all possible.

I updated the blog in the afternoon, polishing up a couple posts for later publication, then spent my standard hour in the Library reading while listening to some jazz on the Pandora app.

When I surfaced from that I popped in The Addams Family for another episode, then the wife and Yorkie made their presence known, so we discussed evening plans, as the wife had a meeting to be at, but was willing to bring home some dinner afterward.

The Yorkie and I spent time on the couch, which was nice, as it's the Yorkie's birthday today and I hadn't really had a chance to chill with her. We watched a little something off the To-Watch Pile, a MGM double feature that started with Strange Invaders. The movie was nothing really noteworthy aside from co-starring Nancy Allen and having some decent effects. The upshot is that aliens invade a small town and spend 25 years studying the human race, all of which comes to a head in the mid-'80s and involves a professor's young daughter. It was okay, but nothing all that enthralling to be perfectly honest.

I enjoyed a martini while watching the movie, then made myself a second drink before flipping the disc for Tobe Hooper's Invaders From Mars, which proved to be a little more engaging than the previous film, at least it was once the wife returned and we could compare impressions as things happened onscreen. we ate and chilled with the movie, then wrapped the evening with last night's episode of The Soup.

I put the wife and Yorkie to bed, then decided to break out the Rambo Blu-ray set, as there's a certain podcast set to cover at least the first film in the series. I re-watched First Blood for the first time in at least a decade or more, and I have to say that it hold up amazingly well, being filled as it is with tons of quotable lines and some great action bits. I was also surprised to notice that the asshole deputy Galt was played by a guy named Jack Starrett, who actually directed a couple Blaxploitation films back in the day: Slaughter and Cleopatra Jones. Who knew?

I made a final cocktail and popped in the next disc, giving Rambo: First Blood Part II a look for what I imagine to be the 3rd time in my life, and I was struck by the notion that it was possibly the first film that I saw in the series, similar to the Phantasm franchise, where I somehow managed to come across the second film first, likely on regular network television. The second outing is a decently nostalgic timewaster (for me, anyway), but it's nothing all that special and certainly edges closer to the rah-rah, America, Fuck Yeah! attitude that we get to in the later films.

I decided to save the last two films for possible viewing tomorrow afternoon, as the hour was growing ridiculously late.

I finally called it a night around 2:30 in the damned morning and moved into the Office to get this post started.

Be seeing you.

Wednesday's Fish

My late night last night afforded me only five hours or so of sleep, so I found myself kind of ignoring the alarm, though I was aware enough to tell the wife to be careful as she headed out for a walk. I finally got up around 10:30 and got the house opened up for the day, leaving the bed for the Maid, as I figured she'd be changing sheets and whatnot. I settled into the Office and started looking at e-mail and working on the blog a bit, then the doorbell rang shortly after 11:00 and I let the Maid in, to much fanfare from the Yorkie, who was finally showing signs of life now that somebody else was here.

By the time noon rolled around I was starting to feel a bit peckish, so I got my blog post published and then dressed to go and grab myself some lunch, leaving the Maid under the watchful eye of the Yorkie, who is, to be fair, somewhat piss poor with her quality control.

I picked up Thai, then chilled in the Office to watch my normal X-Files episodes while the Maid finished her routine, then the wife got home and we caught up before she chilled out in the bedroom waiting for the Maid to get out of our hair. Since today wasn't meant to be one where we could really relax, the Lawn Guys turned up to blow shit all over the yard right about the time the Maid finally split, so they agitated the Yorkie for about 45 minutes before things finally went quiet and I poked my head out to see what was up.

Things quiet at long last, I ran the trash out before the asshole neighbors behind us fill the dumpsters completely AGAIN with what I can only assume is someone cleaning out a Hoarders-style house behind us, because they have been fully packing the damned dumpster several times a week and it's maddening. I left the wife and Yorkie to nap and spent some time in the Library reading before we had to be at some kind of family dinner nonsense at 6:00 PM.

Since the family will likely all be going their separate ways for most of the summer, with the kids headed to camp, the Mother In Law and her Beau on a cruise at some point and the Older Sister and her husband likely off to their lakehouse, someone (likely my wife, given her personality) had suggested a dinner before everyone was scattered to the four winds. The real twist to this is that we'd also invited the Middle Sister and her family, who remain estranged but still together as she seems to drift back and forth from drinking or not, so the big question was whether or not they'd even bother to show up. As it turned out they did, but the MS was "too embarrassed" by her recent behavior to come into the restaurant, so the Idiot Brother In Law ended up dropping his son off and splitting, the idea being that he'd return to pick up the boy, or so we fucking hoped, y'know? We ate and visited a bit, the Niece eventually had to leave to be at a church function, and the MS's boy pretty much ignored his food (having drank a large milkshake on the way to the restaurant - genius parenting, that...) and played around with his Nintendo DS. When we were all finally ready to call it a night and the IBIL still had not returned to fetch his boy we finally hammered out a plan that he'd pick him up from our place after I grabbed a coffee from Starbuck's.

Don't get me wrong, this whole process happened very much against my will, but I've given up on life and figure what's the harm in having the kid over since we're just whistling non-chalantly and rolling our eyes about the ridiculous idea of the MS and IBIL working things out, because that whole thing just needs to be done.

We hit Starbuck's, then headed to the house and I got the kid set up with the Wii game he'd been playing last night, because we frankly weren't sure how long it'd take his dad to turn up. Thankfully it was only about 10 minutes or so, but the real kicker is that he's still driving around with the MS in the vehicle, who again sat in the car while he came in to get the child. Seriously? The wife walked them out and had to ask her to roll down the fucking window to even say hello to her, which is just stridently ridiculous and asinine.

Bah. Once we finally got all that shit out of our hair we compared notes on the evening, then finally got into our comfies and settled into the den to watch something off the To-Watch Pile.

We watched Fish Tank, which is a release from the Criterion collection that I've had around for awhile now. The film is a coming of age story about a 15 yr old girl and her skanky mother, living in a depressing tower block in Essex where she dreams of being a hip-hop dancer and the somewhat predictable turns that things take when mom's new boyfriend (Michael Fassbender) is introduced into this situation. The film is really well put together, and while it really never surprised me at all, it's still a really decent watch. Give it a peep if you have the time.

We called it a night after the movie, so I put the wife to bed and then hopped online to get started on this.

Be seeing you.

My Evening To Take

The alarm woke me this morning at 9:00, so I rolled over and loved on the Yorkie, who really didn't seem to be interested in getting back into what would be considered the normal schedule of the average week. The wife was out and about with yoga and then errands, so I got the house opened and the bed made, then grabbed our paper recycling, the Netfux movie that I had to mail and a check I needed to deposit, then headed out to meet the day myself.

Since I had run across more stuff at the local books music and video outlet, I had had it in the back of my mind to make another, more thorough pass through the Odessa store as well, just to see if anything else had turned up, or if I'd passed on something that I was actually interested in. I headed over there first, as I figured my other errands could wait until after lunch if need be, or if I finished early I could run them as I saw fit.

The books, music and video outlet was (as expected) worth the trip, and I came away with 12 items in their 'buy 1 used, get another for $1' deal, as well as an out of print Fred Williamson movie (Mean Johnny Barrows) that was full price and new, but still less than half the price certain Amazon vendors are asking, so I felt that the deal was good enough to justify the expenditure. I spoke to EL on the phone and confirmed lunch plans, then headed back to town, arriving with about 45 minutes to kill before lunch, so I dropped off the recycling and took a browse through Barnes & Noble, finding nothing of interest.

I met DR at our alternate Thai place, then we were joined by EL a short time later. To my surprise, he had to open with the fact that he and his wife have separated (as of last night, apparently) and let us know that he and his son are currently staying with his mother. The idea appears to be that this is a tentative move, but he's not sure if they're trying to work things out or simply on the first of several steps to dissolve their union. We spent the meal and some time afterward kicking the subject around, and I have to admit that I'm surprised and hoping that they work things out, as I've always thought they were a good 'fit' for one another, but who knows that the future holds? Very troubling news, that's for sure.

On the way home I called the wife to kinda check in and see if she wanted a coffee, then I hit Starbuck's, the bank and the Post Office in quick succession before pointing the car in the direction of the house, because I felt I'd been out forever at this point.

The wife and Yorkie were in the bedroom, as is their afternoon routine, so I caught up with them, brought her up to speed about the developments in our friends' lives, then I left them relaxing and read for a bit in the Library.

The wife was working on a country ham, which has involved it soaking in a cooler full of water for the past few days, and this afternoon found it in the oven for the final battle to see if her Alton Brown recipe would turn out better than the ham that we had for this past Easter. The wife was up fiddling around with that when I wandered back in from the Library, so she and I eventually chilled in the den with an episode of The Addams Family.

After the show I was about to start a movie when the wife starts getting these texts from the Idiot Brother In Law, who she's recently made the mistake of giving her cell number to, as he's been texting all the Goddamned time, presumably because I'm sure it bugs his estranged wife, the Middle Sister. Tonight he's texting about 'hey can you watch the Nephew, because I wanna try to have dinner with the MS and try to work things out', which of course means that we have a kid for the night (rather than like an hour or something) and any plans I had for the den go down the shitter because the IBIL is still unwilling to just bite the bullet and pull the plug on this marraige that's just staggering around and needs to be put out of our misery. That sounds harsh, but seriously, your shitty marriage is fucking up my life now and the time I wanna spend with my wife because you want to try to (quoting Trent Reznor) 'dress up this rotten carcass just to make it look alive'. Their marriage has always been tenuous as best and the best course for them is to call it quits and move on in an amicable split, which will never happen, because their life is always like a fucking carnival. This is like the Terri Schiavo of marriages, and I don't care if it can wheeze and grunt at you occasionally - it's time to check your watch, note the time and pull the fucking plug.

Game Over.

The IBIL drops the kiddo off around 6:30 or 7:00, we wish him luck and then the wife and I eat dinner, realizing immediately that the ham has defeated us and is a tasty pork flavored salt lick. The boy has some bread, as he is a rather finicky eater and eats like a bird anyway, then asks about playing our Wii, so I get him set up with that and watch as he plays for a bit, then I make myself scarce and move into the Office to work on the blog and the nerdlists a bit. The wife hangs with him and visits as he plays The Sims, while I pop in and out from time to time to see how things are going.

The IBIL finally turns up at 9:00 in the evening and doesn't collect just his child and split, what with it being a school night, he instead sits down and starts watching the game play. I grind my teeth slightly and go back into the Office, as my night has effectively been shot to hell at this point.

We finally got them on their way and compared notes on the evening, then I had to get out and grab a hamburger near 10:00 at night, as my small nibbles of ham earlier just weren't going to cut it at this point.

The wife headed to bed when I got back, while I chilled in the den with My Soul To Take, the movie I was planning on watching about 3 or 4 hours earlier. The movie had a lot of bad reviews, but I happened to see it on cable and figured what the hell. The movie actually felt overloaded with plot, leaving me to ocassionaly think I was watching the third film in a franchise rather than a stand-alone project, and there's some corny lines and moments peppered throughout. That said, the lead, Max Thieriot does some great work in portraying the personalities of several different characters, mimicking their voices and going from a shy introvert to a bellowing pitchman in one scene, it was really interesting to see his various changes. I remarked on Facebook that it felt like he had the entire film slung over his shoulder like a sack of bricks that he was determined to carry over the goal line, come hell or high water. It's an okay movie, but not as good as other things Wes Craven has done in the past.

I headed to the Office afterward to get started on this, pausing to chat with the wife on the way, as she was inexplicably still up watching Gawdawful reality programming in the bedroom, as is her recent custom. The Dance Moms are horrible people, from what I've seen in my brief glimpses.

Be seeing you.

Horror Shame Express

The party last night was fun, and I spent my normal amount of time on the web putzing around after it all finally wound down, but I swear I don't know how it got to be after 3:30 AM before I even realized the time. I mean, I had a Redbull and vodka in the afternoon, but the entire evening was spent with Maker's Mark and Diet Coke, so why I was up and alert well into the wee hours of the morning is quite beyond me. I finally headed to bed, read for about 30 minutes and then bedded down to sleep.

For almost an hour. Then I was up for close to an hour couching up gross shit that my sinuses had drained into my unsuspecting, sleeping lungs. Dirty Bastards! *Shakes fist*

When I was finally able to get back to sleep I wasn't expecting to be down for very long, but when I finally surfaced from the bed it was around 10:30 and the Yorkie and I were alone. I hit the bathroom and poked my head into the Office, looking for signs of the wife. I eventually found a note on the kitchen counter indicating that she'd gone to a dive-y looking diner with the In-Laws, so we exchanged a few texts and she indicated that she'd also run into her friend Blather who I hate, and that the In-Laws were joined by the Idiot Brother In Law and his son, making for an odd group for lunch. Brunch? I don't know what meal they were shooting for, possibly breakfast since it was fairly early...at any rate, I begged off, as they'd already ordered food and I didn't feel like rushing over there just to impose on their outing and slow down the progress of the meal.

The Yorkie was chilling in the bed, so I got the house opened for the day, then moved into the Office and worked on the blog for a bit before weighing my lunch options and deciding to go and pick up some Mexican food, just because it sounded good.

Back at the house I settled in with my meal and popped in one of the Netfux rentals we've had for about a week now: Stephen King's Riding The Bullet, about a guy hitching home from college to be with his mother after she's had a minor stroke, but he starts encountering every creepy nutjob on the road, culminating in one that may very well be a dead guy. The film has a 1969 setting, but never really felt like it, as the lead just has a 'grunge' look that could have been from the mid '90s for all I know at first glance, and the way it's directed is very distracting. The effort to illustrate the typical Stephen King inner monologue is made in the form of the guy talking to another version of himself, or encountering several false set-ups as he imagines the various outcomes of certain decisions, and after awhile it just became distracting and irritating rather than stylish or interesting.

The wife returned from her outing and we caught up a bit, then she and the Yorkie chilled in the bedroom while I finished it up. Since they were crashed out anyway, I figured I would run the movie by the Post Office to ensure that it goes out tomorrow, as we've already had it too long anyway at this point. When I returned I spent my usual hour in the Library reading, then actually dozed for about a half hour, which helped to take the edge off my weird morning. I finally went in search of the wife to see what she and the pup were up to, finding them in the master bathroom where she was giving herself a little spa treatment for her feet.

I left her to that and moved back into the den to watch Horror Express off the TiVo for my Movie Shame Monday selection, as I figured it has a certain cache and classic feel to it to qualify, and it's been recorded for at least a month or more, so it felt like time. The set up is strange, with Christopher Lee bringing what he thinks is the missing link, frozen and half decayed on a train for transport, but it soon comes to red eyed life and starts killing people, eventual revealing even more sinister origins, and did I mention it co-stars both Peter Cushing and Telly Savalas, just for that extra 'ooomph' you need to really put asses in the seats? It's fun and strange, and I'm happy to have finally found out what the fuss was about.

The wife piddled around the house a bit, osrting through some mail and paying a couple bills, so I watched last week's episode of Veep, then was eventually joined by the wife for the episode that aired last night. I'm really digging that show a lot, and as funny as Julia Louis-Dreyfus is, we both agree that Anna Chlumsky is what really makes the show, as she seems the most normal and is sort of the viewer's window into that world.

We had some leftovers for our dinner and I eventually suggested the other Netfux movie we had on-hand, so we watched the recent Steven Soderbergh film Haywire, which I've heard a lot of good things about as far as action films go. I have to say that I liked, but didn't love this one on the first watch, though I expect that estimation will get better upon another viewing. The issue I had was that at times the film felt like it had two speeds: the action bits, which look great, and then the dragging arty cinematography in between, but I think that's just because I was wondering where the story was going on this first look, but if I come back to it, I'll know what to expect and be able to enjoy the disparate elements on their own. As far as a stab at an arthouse action film goes, this is a pretty decent attempt, and I dug it, but maybe not as much as I expected to, given the talent involved.

We called it something of an early night, as the wife finished her various sorting and what have you at the kitchen table and I half-assed watched an episode of American Dad on Adult Swim and picked up the den a bit, then finally retired to the Office to work on this post while the wife folded some laundry before bed.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Sledgehammer Barbecue

The wife let me sleep today while she ran to the grocery store for a last minute run for barbecue supplies, though the Yorkie roused me when she was whining at the wife's return, so I finally dragged myself from the bed and went to see what they were up to, since it was nearing noon at this point.

We visited briefly, then I ended up in the Office for a while working on the blog before I knocking off and offering to step out and grab something for lunch, as I wasn't sure if I could wait things out for the dinner with friends that the wife had planned for this evening. I hit a drive-thru for some tacos and then chilled back at the house to eat while the wife finished up her bathing routine, eventually joining me for a viewing of Sledgehammer off the To-Watch Pile.

Sledgehammer is a movie that the Outside The Cinema guys reviewed ages ago, but shortly after they talked about this puzzling shot-on-video head-scratcher it seemed like everyone in the world started talking about it, and a DVD soon followed. I picked up the DVD and tossed it onto the pile, but today seemed like a good enough time to give it a peep and we were whisked away into a world where a two story barn house is doubled inside by the director's condo and every room in the house seems to be connected to the weird lone hallway that has no decoration whatsoever, a house in which alleged adults break out into a fucking food fight for no good reason, even though the movie suggests that they are in a remote location with a finite amount of food and booze and no vehicle, since they were dropped off at the house. There's a slasher element to the story, but the slasher seems to be a weird spirit who is either a child from the past, or what would be his modern (for the time) counterpart, depending on what the scene might call for, and that makes as much sense as you can expect form this one. The film is as ridiculous as promised and well worth a look for a few laughs. The only thing that bugged me honestly was how over it the director appeared in the interview on the disc, as he seems tired and genuinely puzzled that anyone likes one of his terrible first efforts, where I would expect him to be pleasantly surprised and appreciative. Oh well, it's his career, I guess he can look back on it as he pleases, he still has my money at this point.

The wife dug the movie as much as I did, which pleased me immensely, then she crashed out for a nap, so I spent some time piddling around sorting through some DVD's until she got up and got started on the prep work for the evening's meal, which was meant to break in the Green Egg barbecue pit that she'd received for her birthday earlier this month.

Our guests arrived in this order: JH a little early, then she spent time outside watching the wife work at the grill while I greeted our other guests a short time later, which included Anastasia Beaverhouszen, her hubby Kno1 and Brian, who all arrived right at the same time. We visited and watched the wife put the last few touches on the burgers, which were supposed to be done, per the Green Egg instructions as to the timing, though we ended up having to give them a little whirl in the microwave, as they were still a bit pink on the inside. We visited over food and then enjoyed a little dessert item that Anastasia had made, then Kno1, Brian and I drifted into the den, where I had popped in the 42nd Street Forever XXX Edition for bit of dirty background noise, while the ladies chilled in the sitting area off the kitchen. Kno1 and I talked a bit about the novel he's been working on and he related the general plotting and set-ups to Brian, which was somewhat amusing to have underscored by the grotty porno images on the television, but I'm all about a weird juxtaposition, and this fit that definition to a 'T', now didn't it? Smut on the screen and a man discussing his Biblically inspired novel, interrupted occasionally by a hoot at whatever fucked up shit was happening on the television.

JH was the first to call it a night, followed about a half hour later by our other guests, then the wife and I watched both tonight's episode of Mad Men as well as Girls off HBO, just to stay current with things, then I put her to bed and got started on this post for the day.

Be seeing you.

Ups And Downs, For No Apparent Reasons

The wife had made plans for us to have brunch with The Minister and his wife this morning at 11:00 at the little place downtown, so I set the alarm last night for 9:30, as I figured it'd give us a chance to run by the little Library Thrift Store before we ate. We got dressed and the house opened up, then headed out for the morning, stopping by a garage sale along the way, which turned up nothing. The wife and I found a book apiece at the Library store, then we made our way downtown to meet our friends.

The holiday weekend seemed to work in our favor, as the place was fairly empty and we easily found seating in the main room, which has slightly better air conditioning than the rest of the place, so that was a nice turn of events. We were joined by our party and visited over a nice meal, though for some reason when the conversation turned to the alleged house we want to build the wife again kinda downplayed the idea, which rubbed me the wrong way and started a weird domino effect on the rest of the day. More on that as it develops throughout the post.

We eventually said our goodbyes and I drove us by a Starbuck's, whose drive-thru was closed because they were too shorthanded to put someone at the damned window, so I ended up at the other one across town, vowing to burn it to the ground if they too were shorthanded. We headed home, but by this time the conversation had turned to my mood, and in trying to explain that I wasn't exactly sure what was bugging me things got more agitated on both sides now, and then we get home and I find that the Yorkie has taken one of her 'spite shits' on the bedroom rug and I almost lost it completely. I yelled at the dog, then checked the mail and decided that I wanted to just get out and cool off a bit, so I told the wife I was dropping off some recycling, grabbed our plastic stuff and left before I was any more dick-ish than I had already been up to this point.

I dumped the recycling and then stepped into the nearby books, music and video outlet to see if they had a certain magazine that I was hearing had a new issue on the shelves via Facebook. I naturally couldn't find what I was actually looking for, because the day seemed to be thumbing its nose at me at almost every turn, but I did find a few other things, including (wait for it) another handful of DVD's, a couple of which turned out to be Out Of Print and quite the bargain. I seriously want to know who is selling these items, because they obviously don't seem to understand what they're worth considering that they keep letting go of things that I know they could easily pocket buckets of cash for on the web. Plus I'm really curious who the hell shares my tastes locally, as I meet so very few people who know anything about the type of films that I tend to gravitate towards.

I was fairly cooled off by this time, starting to put a few of the various annoyances into some manner of order as far as what it was that put me in such a bad mood, but then I happened to run into a guy that I used to work with back in the Florist days, which gave me an even better look at the perspective of things. This guy was on and off drugs a lot when I worked with him, and he related his current custody battle to me, as he'd had custody of his daughter, but lost it when he 'had to go to jail', which he casually mentions as if it's the sort of thing that everyone has to do, like jury duty or something. His poor daughter has been molested by his ex's former boyfriend, which is how he got custody in the first place, so now the kid stays with his mother, etc. and this whole soap opera went on for about five minutes or so and I wished him the best of luck with it when his story was over and sighed inwardly at the idea that anything seems bad in my life, y'know?

I have an amazingly simple life and I try to be thankful for that every day, but sometimes the perspective of it all just gets a little fucked up I suppose. The thing this morning was honestly a combination of me just not really wanting to be out of the house dicking around immediately after the late night previous, and that's not a dig at the company, I just didn't feel like fucking around with it. The bookstore trip was just me trying to adapt the morning to include something I was at least halfway interested in, and then there's this house we're supposedly building at some point in our lives. I know we're talking about a process that will take at least a couple years at the least to get finished up, so every time the wife kinda blows it off I see another year getting tacked onto that, which is frustrating, as this whole idea started off at a fairly good clip, then seems to have stalled out once we started talking about any realities of the project. When I discuss this the wife will bring up her concerns about doing it the right way and not rushing into anything, over-spending, etc., which again stymies me, as we're not asking for wall to wall marble imported from a forbidden quarry in Italy, we're just trying to build a nice house. I guess it doesn't occur to me that we're going to break the bank on this project, simply because I don't envision things getting too elegant for our own good, beyond the sheer size of the place.

At any rate, the wife and I finally talked all this out in the evening, which I think finally put it all to rest, but I will say that I am letting this happen at her pace, whatever that may be, just because I feel like we just end up talking in circles if we start picking at the issue too much, which just isn't worth it to me in the grand scheme of things. I mean, if we were living in a shitty house and needed to by God get out of here, it'd be a different story, but we're cool where we're at for the time being.

The wife was napping when I returned, and the Yorkie was still sheepish and didn't really seem to want to come out of the bedroom until I gave her a sign that she was back in my good graces, so I gave her a grudging scratch behind the ears and then moved into the den to watch something light and stupid to pass the time while I went through the mail.

Independence Day was something that a podcast I listen to had mentioned awhile back, and I figured it was a decent enough choice to somewhat ignore while I caught up on the junk mail and the last two days' worth of newspapers. The movie is okay (I own it because it was a random disc in a DVD lot purchased on eBay years ago), but the most annoying thing about it is Will Smith, as his relentless bravado and quips just irritates me from start to finish, which is sort of weird, as that is what I'm sure most people like about the guy. The wife joined me for about half of the movie and we compared notes on when we first saw it, which I think we both agreed was theatrically, but I swear I can't recall who I saw it with. Part of me wants to say friends, but it might've been the soulless ex-girlfriend, who would probably be into this type of shit. I hate it when my memory totally blanks on me like that.

We stepped out to pick up some dinner around this time, finally using the drive to talk a bit and sort things out, then tucked into food back at the house while watching the final two episodes of Spartacus: Vengeance, which ended rather well if I do say so myself. There's been a character on there that I've been waiting to die for three seasons now and I actually told the wife that if they didn't give me the satisfaction of seeing him killed I might have to track down the actor and kill him myself, because he plays such a consummate asshole on the show. I know that they have at least one more season planned, so I'm kinda curious where this goes next, as the season finale could've easily put an end to the series itself, and I know this can't end well for Spartacus himself, now can it?

We called it a night and I put the wife and Yorkie to bed, filed away some movies and then got started on this post, even though I should probably be working on getting the older posts published rather than starting new half-assed posts. Oh well, everything has seemed weirdly off today, maybe I'll try to start over again tomorrow, as I can at least sleep in.

Be seeing you.

"We Already Know That!"

In spite of hearing the wife and Yorkie bumping around the house a bit, I still slept in today, finally waking to see that I had missed a call from the Mother In Law's Beau, though he left no message. Taking this as a sign he might've butt-dialed me somehow, I greeted the Yorkie and got up and made the bed. I got the house opened and headed into the Office to work on the blog a bit, then paused to go and say hello to the wife, who was getting home from her single meeting of the day.

We both spent time in the Office, then I eventually got some laundry started and grabbed a shower, as I knew that we had plans out for the evening, then I finally dressed and headed out to grab myself a late lunch and a cup of coffee. I secured coffee easily, but the first burger joint I pulled up to showed no signs of movement in their drive-thru line after I spent a good five minutes clearing out my e-mail, so I said the hell with it and moved on to a different fast food place that looked a bit more promising.

Back at the house I chilled in the den with a selection from the To-Watch Pile, a little documentary called The Sci-Fi Boys, which looks at the history of the sci-fi and fantasy mediums in relation to the influence of Forry Ackerman and his Famous Monsters Of Filmland magazine, as well as the pioneers of stop motion animation like Ray Harryhausen and those sort of folks. It's a pretty interesting watch, even though I would have to admit it's more of a history thing for me than an actual interest in the specific films or effects artists, as sci-fi is definitely something of a secondary interest for me compared to horror or things of that nature.

The wife had organized an outing this evening for us to see Carlos Mencia perform live and we'd invited Buckaroo Banzai and Pookie to attend with us, as well as have dinner in advance of the event, so they arrived while I was watching the movie and we visited a bit around finishing up the film. The wife was catching a nap so I entertained out guests until she got up, then we formulated a plan of attack as far as the evening went and headed out to grab some dinner and run a few errands. Since our chosen restaurant didn't seem to be open for dinner service quite yet we spent some time wandering around a nearby Mexican market that the MIL had mentioned to the wife, which was loaded with larger pottery and decorative items that are pretty amazing looking, but the type of things that you generally don't have anywhere to place them in your own home. I did get a few ideas for possible gifts for the wife's anniversary present, but we'll see if I pull the trigger on that or not.

We had a good meal and then decided to run by Target, as each coupel had a few small items that they were looking for. We were happy to find a space near the front of the store, but Bucky misjudged the space and gave the white car parked to our right an unfortunate red kiss across the left rear wheel well, marking up the front of his pick-up pretty significantly as well. We left him to deal with whoever would be coming out to discover the damage, heading into the store to poke around expecting him to eventually join us, but he never showed. We found a few things and eventually hit the check-out, finding Bucky as we left him, still waiting on these people to leave. They must've been doing their shopping for the week or something, as we were in the store at least 45 minutes or so. Her left his info for them and we cautiously left, watching the last few people leaving the store to see if they approached the car in question, then headed out to the performing arts center between here and Odessa.

The event appeared well attended, and we parked fairly far out, which seemed like it'd be easier on us when it was time to leave, rather than drive around forever to find a closer spot. Carlos Mencia is a comedian that I've enjoyed in the past, but hadn't really seen anything from once his television show ended several years back. I did give one of his stand-up specials a look and was a little underwhelmed within the past few months, as ti felt like it was made up of stuff that was later fleshed out on the show, so I kinda had mixed feelings about the evening. This was quickly allayed after his opening act (Momo Rodriguez) introduced him and he had me laughing with his opening bit about being thinner, which people think means he's now dying. The show was great and Pookie (who I had been slightly worried might not care for the style of humor) quickly laid my mind to rest by laugh heartily. The show booked along from subject to subject, derailed toward the end by some drunk bitch who decided that poking fun at (known drug addict) Whitney Houston's accidental death was the final straw for her. When Mencia reiterated (as part of the set-up to a joke) that she'd died in a foot of water, after doing two lines of coke, this broad bellows out that "We already know that!", as if he's just picking at old wounds to ruin everyone's night, and things proceeded to escalate, as he's not the type to let people fuck with him onstage. The upshot is that after about five minutes of being disruptive this broad was charging towards the stage and was escorted out by security, leaving me to wonder if this was the hill she wanted to die on: Whitney Houston, known drug addict, who produced an album you liked 20 years ago - THIS woman is worth getting arrested over, because someone wasn't treating her death with the reverence that it deserved?

What the fuck, over?

Things wrapped up around 10:30 or so after some after show interactions with the audience, and we had the option of hanging around to get an autograph, CD or possibly a picture, but we decided to just call it a night, as the line stretched on forever and none of us were that interested in merchandise. Bucky shepherded us home, interrupted by an aborted Starbuck's trip at my behest, whereupon we found them already closed for the night, then we said our goodbyes back at our place and they headed out for their long drive home.

We fed the Yorkie and then I put she and the wife to bed and got started on this post.

I need to be in bed soon, as the wife has made brunch plans for us tomorrow, and I need a reasonable amount of sack time to be awake and aware enough to be a part of all that nonsense.

Be seeing you.

Battle Beyond The Toy Lane Blacktop

I swear to God the gibberish title will make sense by the end of the post.

The wife was busy this morning as she usually is on Thursdays, so I slept in late, then finally got up and fed the Yorkie, made the bed and got the house opened for the day. Since I had pissed away half the day away I had naturally missed out on dropping something in the mail, so I got dressed, figuring I could run by the Post Office, gas up the car and maybe grab a bite to eat while I was out.

After hitting up the alternate Thai place for some food I headed home to see what the Yorkie was up to and chill with some television, finally finishing out the season of Supernatural, a show that I still enjoy but feel might have its best days behind it at this late date, which is frustrating on a lot of levels.

Several of the podcasts on my iPhone are covering a few things that I happen to own, so I was already planning on marathoning through at least two movies this afternoon/evening, but then I realized I've also been trying to clear out a specific shelf in the Media Closet, so I wanted to try to work in a random film from there as well, making things a bit more complicated.

The last podcast I'd listened to was something covering Something Weird Video releases, so I ended up grabbing a double feature from them featuring a couple Sexploitation flicks involving producer Harry Novak in some capacity or another. The first film is The Toy Box, in which a rich perv known as 'Uncle' hires couples to do the nasty in front of him in his remote castle home. The group is locked in for a 'special night' and when they find Uncle dead, they decide to continue their 'revels' in honor of the old pervert, only to have members of the party start to turn up dead. And then it really gets weird. It's a bizarro flick, mixing sex, horror, sci-fi elements at varying turns and I have to say I was pretty amused by it overall.

The wife got home in the middle of all this, so we visited a bit, then she moved into the Office to work on e-mail and that sort of things and I moved on to the 2nd film on the disc, which was a weird little flick called Toys Are Not For Children. I went into this one expecting another sexy flick, but instead got this weird-ass near drama about an emotionally stunted young woman who works in a toy store and pines for her father, who her mother has given her a complex over after finding out that dear old dad is a big giant whore-monger. The little gal grows up with a child-like personality and works in a toy store, still cherishing all the gifts that dad used to send her as a child, then she happens to meet a woman who is a hooker and concieves of the plan to spend time with her in hopes that she'll run across her pop while he's out trolling for whores and they'll have a happy, tearful reunion. Before you know it she's turning tricks herself, as there's more than a few freaks out there who wanna role play weird father/daughter shit, and we creep ever closer to her finally meeting daddy. It goes to some really dark places in spite of some hammy acting and odd editing choices here and there, and I actually dug it pretty well once I realized it wasn't going to be just straight up sexploitation but was going to try to have an actual plot.

The wife had one last meeting for the day, so she split for that in the late afternoon while I was making myself a cocktail, then I settled in to give Two-Lane Blacktop another look before listening to a podcast talk about it in greater depth. The movie was something I'd caught on cable way back in 2009 and had been curious to give it another look, just to see if I felt the same way about it, or if it grew in my estimation. It does indeed gain traction in my opinion, and still not being a 'car guy' I have to admit that it's a very watchable look at a lost bit of Americana, as people just don't travel this way anymore, for better or worse. There's very few times you have to wind your way through the small towns and diners, it's all about freeways and getting on down the road, not really enjoying the journey at all. Great flick, very happy to have it on hand to refer back to as needed.

The wife and I watched The Soup off the TiVo from last night, then I was annoyed to realize that there was no episodes of The Office tonight, as I was expecting, so I ended up just throwing in another movie instead.

Battle Beyond The Stars is one of those Corman's Cult Classics releases that I had yet to watch, and boy was it an amusing cash grab. Released in 1980 and starring Richard Thomas and his mole, it is a shameless Star Wars riff, with the villains ship looking as much like a Star Destroyer as it really can without having George Lucas lawyering up immediately. There's a set up about a peaceful society being threatened, then Thomas goes in search of people willing to help defend them, which eats up the first half, then the battle happens in the second half; it's a pretty simple film. Not as cheap looking as some other Corman productions, it's still an amusing little watch for some of the shoddier elements that pop through here and there.

The wife (not surprisingly) tapped out about halfway through this film, as it was nearing her bedtime and I didn't think she would give a shit about this one anyway, so I finished it on my own, then visited she and the Yorkie in the bedroom on my way to the Office to get started on this post.

Be seeing you.

Seriously Flirting With Steve Zissou, Brother

Today I woke around 10:30 to the sounds of the wife blow drying her hair in the bathroom, so I got up and got the house opened for the day after giving the Yorkie her customary belly rub at the foot of the bed.

The wife eventually joined me in the Office where I was working on the blog a bit while listening to a podcast, spending some time on her own e-mail and that sort of thing, then finally stepped out to grab a coffee before her lunch meeting. I finished what I was working on, then decided that coffee sounded pretty good, so I dressed and headed out to drop our Netfux movie back in the mail and hit up Starbuck's myself.

When I got home I fed the dog her lunch and then settled in with a half sandwich and salad leftovers from our dinner last night, watching Flirting With Disaster, a random recording off the TiVo. I could vaguely recall liking the movie from way back when on a VHS rental and happened to notice it on the cable line-up, so I figured it was time to give it another look. The story of a man looking for his birth parents (possibly at the peril of his marriage) and the various wacky situations and nut jobs that they encounter along the way, the film hold up pretty well. I could stand Ben Stiller in it (which is rare these days) and the co-stars are all fun: Patricia Arquette, Tea Leoni (looking smoking hot) and Josh Brolin, just to name a few. Fun stuff, easy way to pass 90 minutes or so.

The wife returned and we visited for a bit, then she chilled in the bedroom with her usual battery of bad television while I moved into the Office to get a blog post published and a few nerdlists updated. I spent my usual hour in the Library afterward, catching up on my reading, then drifted back into the den to watch some television. The wife popped in briefly, then spent some time making our anniversary plans in the Office, something that we'd been discussing for the past few days as we're sorta getting down to the wire for the day itself in early June.

I made a cocktail and breezed through another Addams Family episode, then popped in something that'd been on my mind after an extended Twitter conversation I'd had last night about the films of Wes Anderson. I've only seen The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou once before, and didn't recall liking it very much, so I wanted to give it another peep and see how it held up. After a full viewing I was forced to confirm my initial feelings: this is definitely the least of the man's work so far, as the wackier elements of it just don't jive for me, they feel forced and corny, whereas most of his work seems..'better' than that? I don't know if that makes sense, but this felt like it suffered from shtick, where his other films have comedic elements that flow more naturally.

The wife and I ordered in food and then chilled for the latest Netfux arrival: The Coen Brothers film A Serious Man, which surprisingly left both of us fairly cold. The film is essentially the story of Job, with a put-upon teacher in '60s era Minnesota and his fairly shitty family. With no one to really attach your feelings to beyond a lead who somehow doesn't snap when confronted by maddening circumstances at every turn, it's hard to sit through the squirm-inducing moments of people constantly shitting on the poor bastard. It ends on such an open-ended note that I immediately decided to give another Coens film a re-watch, just to cleanse the palate.

The wife headed to bed about a half hour into my re-watch of O Brother, Where Art Thou? and I paused the movie long enough to tuck her in and yell at the Goddamned Yorkie who had seen fit to take a dump on the rug after being really good for about three days or more. I swear that dog is just fucking with me most of the time. So irritating. I finally finished my movie in peace, which held up amazingly well considering it's been years since I've seen it. The music, the story, everything about it really speaks to me on a lot of levels.

I headed to the Office late in the evening, figuring I needed to at least get this post roughed out before calling it a night.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Notorious Peep Tuesday

The wife had errands and the like this morning, and was already out of the house when I woke with the alarm, so I said to hell with it and slept in a bit longer, waking around 11:30 feeling fairly refreshed after my last few late nights. I got up and greeted the Yorkie, then fed her some lunch and got the house opened and the bed made for the day before I dressed and confirmed lunch plans with EL at our usual Thai place.

Since we've been pretty good lately about keeping the kitchen picked up I gathered the small amount of recycling stuff that was hanging around and figured I could drop it off on the way to lunch. I left the Yorkie chilling and hit the recycle bins, then arrived ahead of everyone else to the restaurant in spite of my best intentions. DR turned up next and we visited about his various clay projects that he'd wrapped up for the semester, then we were joined by EL and his buddy MR, who is now working with him. We had a good meal, visiting about this and that, including the art festival over this past weekend, which felt somewhat poorly attended in spite of valiant efforts by those involved. We eventually went our separate ways around 2:00 in the afternoon, as the fellas had to get back to work and I figured I needed to head home and try to get some writing done for this stupid blog thing I seem to occasionally work on.

The wife and the dog were relaxing, so I said hello, caught up on the day, then left them to it and fetched the mail and the newspaper from the driveway. The interwebs beckoned, so I got the blog updated, then spent an hour in the Library reading while listening to some jazz, as is my habit of late.

When I drifted back into the den I popped in The Notorious Bettie Page off the To-Watch Pile for a second look. I'm trying to make room on a certain shelf in the Media Closet for more unwatched items, so I've been picking films out of that area, and this one just happened to catch my eye this afternoon. The movie is great, held up really well and gives a great look at the life of the pin up queen, though it is slightly sad to think that the puritanical assholes who went after the 'smut peddlers' do eventually seem to win, regardless of how smutty things are these days. The court case was a joke, basically saying that these prurient photos are going to ruin the youth of America, which is fucking silly, as they weren't marketed to kids, for fuck's sake, but to horny fetishistic men who didn't really seem to be doing anyone any harm. Ah well, now we have all the porn anyone could want on the web, so fuck 'em and feed 'em fish-heads, y'know?

The wife stepped out to pick up some deli stuff for us while I finished up the movie, then we ate and watched another episode of Spartacus: Vengeance, which we're getting perilously close to actually finishing up with only two episodes left now.

I suggested our 2nd Netfux rental that has been here for awhile to kinda get that whole thing rotating again, so we watched Peep World, which was a random film that I caught a trailer for on another DVD and added to the queue. The basic gist is that a family meets for the dinner of the patriarch's birthday even though they don't particularly care for one another immediately after the release of a fictionalized version of their lives is published by one of the brothers. Only it's really not all that fictionalized, so now in addition to the usual family drama, they've been outed to the world as a bunch of dysfunctional misanthropes, which is a helluva way to kick off a family dinner. The wife and I both got quite a kick out of it, it has several truly laugh out loud moments even if there are a few plot threads that really go nowhere in the grand scheme of things, this is just a more of a wacky day in the life of a really fractured family.

Since I still had a second disc worth of Henry Rollins spoken word stuff to watch off the To-Watch Pile I popped that in, as I figured the wife would bail soon enough, which she did. I paused the DVD and put she and the Yorkie to bed, then finished up Henry Rollins Goes To London, another show that I hadn't watched since seeing it on VHS 18+ years ago. The material was more polished than his previous show, but still has more of a meandering quality than I recalled, which is weird to me. I suppose my tastes might have been less discriminating in the past, or perhaps I'd just forgotten how rough some of the delivery of the material can be on occasion. Oh well, it's still has some great moments peppered throughout, and is definitely a big part of who I am today.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

De Palma Shame Monday

After being up late last night reading I decided to ignore the alarm this morning, though I was finally rousted from the bed when I heard the wife returning from her morning meeting. She and the Yorkie joined me in the bed and we visited and cuddled for a bit, then she hopped on the computer while I got the house opened up for the day and spent some time picking up the bedroom, gathering some books to be filed away in the library, things like that.

I eventually joined the wife in the Office and got another Amazon sale ready to mail, then dressed and thought about heading out to run my errands before the day was completely pissed away. The wife was about to leave anyway, so I gave both she and the Yorkie a quick kiss and then split for the Post Office. That and Big Lots were fairly painless, then I completely hit a wall while trying to grab a bite to eat on the way home. I pull up to a KFC and ask for a chicken strip meal, then the order box broad says that they currently don't have chicken strips.

The fuck? I must've said "Oookay.." out loud at this point, because she follows this up with the fact that they're out of them right now, but they'll have them later. Like, maybe in an hour or two. I assure her that this will be well beyond my threshold of willingness to for wait for chicken and simply drove away, lest she try to up-sell me to some gross Taco Bell items next. I stopped at a different chicken place (because the bird was now something of a principal thing) and got myself some food, then headed home to see what the Yorkie was doing with her life.

The Yorkie was happy to see me home again, then settled into her little bed in the den as if anticipating my next move. I ate my lunch while watching this past Sunday's episode of Ultimate Spider-Man, which made me smile by having Thor guest star and be turned into a frog, as happened in the '80s era storyline by Walt Simonson, so that seemed like a funky reference for them to make. I feel like the show has a decent blend of nostalgia and modern influences, acknowledging that their audience isn't just kids, but the nerds who grew up with this stuff too.

My Movie Shame Monday selection turned out to be something off the TiVo, which was Brian De Palma's comedy/horror/musical Phantom Of The Paradise, which is something a lot of my web pals have been talking about in the past year or so, so I figured I should grab it when it turned up on one of the movie channels in the last month or so, finally give it a day in court. As it turned out, the story of a musician who ends up in a Faustian bargain with a crooked music producer and bargaining to have the woman he loves pushed to the forefront of their current rock-opera isn't the tale that was going to displace any other musicals in my personal top five, but it was a decent watch. I suppose it's just a case of liking, but not loving the film, as none of the musical numbers really spoke to me, nor did the characters on this initial viewing. I liked Jessica Harper as the female lead, but aside from the look of the Phantom I wasn't all that blown away by Brian De Palma's work here. I've found other films by the man far more engaging or interesting, concept-wise, so maybe this is just one that I don't 'get'. I could see giving it another day in court at some point in the future, but I won't be running around trying to find a copy of this on DVD, which I don't think exists in a legit form in the States anyway.

The wife returned while I was watching Phantom, so we visited briefly, then she chilled with the Yorkie and some trash TV in the bedroom, as she found herself in between meetings for the afternoon. After I finished the movie I spent a bit of time in the Office, got a blog post polished up and published, in spite of fighting with Photobucket about whether or not my account actually existed, but I was finally able to get some pics for the post uploaded, then I grabbed a beverage and headed to the Library side of the house to read for a bit and file away books, as is my weird pleasure in life. That's gotta be a sickness of a sort, right? Taking pleasure in organizing stacks of shit and filing it away? Oh well, at least it's nothing too over the top, I guess I could be counting toothpicks or something like that to pass the time.

The late afternoon brought an episode of The Addams Family and a cocktail as has been my recent custom, then the wife split for her final meeting of the day and I finished up some laundry before I popped in another sadly neglected De Palma film off the To-Watch Pile.

Blow Out stars John Travolta as a sound engineer who happens upon a mystery when he witnesses a car that has a blow out and goes into a river, forcing him to save Nancy Allen, the young woman who is trapped in the car. It's soon revealed that the driver was a presidential candidate and that no one wants the young lady's involvement brought to light, then the plot thickens as Travolta realizes that the crash may not have been as innocent as a simple tire blow out, and more sinister elements may be at play. This was definitely more in lie with what I enjoy from De Palma, from the somewhat twisty storyline down to the stylish, measured style of shooting, occasionally from afar to allow the viewer to see what was happening at several points within a building, the split screens and the vivid use of color. Oh and a little vintage Nancy Allen doesn't hurt at all, but I have to wonder why he kept casting his wife of the time as a whore in at least two films that I know of, seems like he's trying to tell her something...

The wife returned from her evening thing with dinner, so after I finished the movie we watched Girls off the TiVo, an episode of Spartacus: Vengeance (since I feel like we've been really ignoring the last series for too long), then wrapped the evening with a couple episodes of Veep, which I really enjoy and the wife seems to be fairly middle of the road on.

I put the wife and the Yorkie to bed, then watched Henry Rollins: Talking From The Box off the To-Watch Pile, which is a spoken word performance that I had grabbed the last time we were in Austin, which was at least a year ago. The show was something I used to own back in the VHS days, but had never picked up on DVD, so I'm happy to have a double feature version to enjoy: this show as well as Henry Rollins Goes To London, another casualty of my DVD upgrading back in the day. I was very curious how it held up, as I watched this originally as a much different person, a younger, lonelier, hell, angrier man, and I wasn't sure if it'd ring quite as true for me now. The show is still interesting, but it definitely shows how rough around the edges his early spoken word material was when first presented, as the more recent shows have been borderline stand-up comedy. I finally called it a night shortly before midnight and got started on this post, saving the second show for tomorrow afternoon or evening.

Be seeing you.

A Dirty Warrior Shame

The wife and Yorkie got up somewhat early today, or at least early for a Sunday when none of us had anywhere in particular to be, so as I was finally waking up around 9:30 she and the pup were actually coming back to bed to go back to sleep. We visited briefly, then I crashed out again, finally shaking off the bed around 11:30 or so and getting the house opened for the day. I fetched the newspaper and then the wife joined me, pretty much at the insistence of the Yorkie, offering to make some coffee for the two of us if I was interested.

The coffee process proved to be something of a pain in her ass, as the grind wasn't what it needed to be, so while she fought the machine to a standstill I got a movie cued up, as I wanted to try and finally watch the Netfux rental that's been laying around here for far too long.

We watched Warrior, which is a film from last year that sees Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton as estranged brothers who, through completely different circumstances, pitted against one another in a mixed martial arts tournament that will change both of their lives. Edgerton is a family man who is trying to secure his family's future in the wake of the financial crisis, whereas Hardy has left their abusive home years earlier with their mother, who has since passed away, leaving him to a stint in the military and his own demons. Their father is played by Nick Nolte and he's a reformed alcoholic who is desperate to try and make it up to his kids for what he put them through as children, but neither are interested in having it. The film never goes anywhere you wouldn't expect it to go, but the performance are great, and I particularly enjoyed Hardy, as he has a freaky animal ferocity to his fighting that's really something to see, constantly surprising opponents who underestimate him. It's worth a look for sure, but only if you are into the idea of the average underdog sports film.

I decided to get out of the house and drop this in the mail after we finished it, so I left with the wife heading to the bedroom to catch a nap and headed out for a quick little errand. I debated Starbuck's while I was out, finally deciding against it in favor of spending some time in the Library reading instead. I headed home, grabbed a beverage and a magazine and spent my late afternoon reading and enjoying some music.

Since we were creeping ever closer to the typical Sunday evening at this point I hopped online and published a blog post, then selected a short 90 minute film to pop in to pass the time until our Fox animation stuff began.

I re-watched A Dirty Shame, which is a more recent John Waters film that I had caught a few years back, but in a censored form on cable, so I was finally able to track down the original NC-17 version that I figure is more of the man's vision. Tracey Ullman plays an uptight housewife who is concussed and suddenly becomes a ravening sex maniac, which aligns her with a local group of deviants who proudly rebel against the 'neuter' culture that proliferates in the area. It's pretty amusing that in Waters world there are either freaks who want to get turned on by having food poured over their genitals, or the neuters, who abhor any sort of sexuality at all; there's no sense of normalcy whatsoever.

We spent the evening with some leftovers for our dinner and the usual Fox animation stuff, wrapping the evening with the new Mad Men, saving our HBO shows for later in the week, as we have increasingly less and less television to watch these days.

I picked up the den a bit, then put the wife and Yorkie to bed before I got started on this post.

Be seeing you.