Giving 2012 A Smutty Send Off

This being the last day of the year, I must note that I find myself annoyingly behind on a good number of self-imposed jackassery, such as this blog (just published the post for December 17th on the 31st of the month) and the various nerdlists that I maintain to keep track of viewing numbers, habits, etc., all of which remain over a month behind at this point, which agitates me because I've obviously set goals for myself that I've then completely ignored in favor of...well, nothing in particular, really.  I suppose I have a few little collages that I've finished instead, but overall the time not spent keeping up with the few things I set for myself has been pissed away on nothing tangible, which would sort of leave me more disappointed in myself if I thought that any of this bullshit actually matters.  Oh well, we'll dive into it all with both feet in the AM, see if the tide can be turned by the end of January.

After reading in bed for a bit last night (the sixth volume of Moore's Swamp Thing run), I woke this morning with the alarm at 9:30.  The wife and Yorkie greeted me and I asked her if she'd be so kind as to make me some coffee to get the sleep from my eyes, then we both settled into the Office to work on our respective computers   I got the blog updated so that I can seriously commit to the whole 'double-posting' daily schedule to get things back on track for the New Year, then since I'd made plans for us to meet an old friend, his wife and child for lunch, I suggested that we run a few errands beforehand, then head over to the restaurant.

We took a pass through the arts and crafts store, as they had a selection of art papers on sale for half off that I was keen to check out, since the wife had given me a new set of markers in my stocking at Christmas and I have yet to take them out for a spin because I want something of a heavier stock that won't allow them to bleed through.  The wife shopped in the crafts section while I made my selections, then we paid out and hit the Post Office, so I could drop off our bills, the Netfux movie we watched last night and an Amazon sale that'd popped up over the weekend.

I bumped into Brian as I was leaving, so we said hi and bye, then I drove us downtown to meet TH and his family, only to find the restaurant we'd agreed upon in the midst of renovations and most assuredly closed for the foreseeable future.  I called him and relayed this info to his voicemail, then left the same message via Facebook message just in case the number I have for him was no longer good.  I got a call back shortly afterward and gave him the name of a nearby alternate Mexican food place on the South side that I figured would be easy to get into.  They arrived about 5 minutes behind us and we had a nice meal, catching up a bit and getting to know his significant other, who we'd only met briefly at our wedding six years ago, which is just crazy to think about.  Their little girl is two and a half and very cute, really sharp and well behaved, which is always a plus when anyone has kids, right?  We said our goodbyes as the employees were starting to cut the lights off and close for the afternoon, then we went our separate ways and I drove us back to the house.

The wife and the pup chilled in the bedroom after we went through the mail, so I worked on the web nonsense for awhile, listening to a podcast while doing so, then I finally knocked off around 4:30 and moved into the Library to read while listening to some jazz on the Pandora app, just because today felt like that kind of day.

I Was Hoping For More Rene
Bond, Dammit!

After giving that an hour or so I moved into the den, grabbed a cocktail and then popped in a random Something Weird Video selection to pass the time, the double feature of Deep Jaws and The Dicktator, which was the typical mixed bag from this company. Deep Jaws is a light sex farce about a failing movie studio and their efforts to drift into 'blue' cinema to stay afloat, most of which isn't ever all that clever per se, but is so ridiculously put together that you still get a few laughs just because it's all so damned silly.

The wife joined me about midway through this one, then we moved on to The Dicktator, which is set in a world where all men have taken a pill that's made them infertile, so there's a desperate rush to locate and breed with the last few guys who haven't been dosed.  This one makes the mistake of actually trying to be sexy instead of just staying silly, like the proceeding flick, so I found myself reaching for the fast forward button a few times, because regardless of how hot anyone involved is, how long can you really sit still to watch people pretend to fuck, y'know?

Classy, Classy Smut.

The wife had expressed interest in the recently arrived Blu-ray of The Opening Of Misty Beethoven, which is an adult film from the 'Golden Age' of porn (largely considered to be the late '60s up until the mid-'80s), and one that seems to really capture the crossover appeal that a few films had during the 'porno chic' era in the late '70s.  The film is a satire of Pygmalion and sees Jamie Gillis as a sexologist trying to turn an inexperienced street hooker into a love goddess.  As with the only other Radley Metzger films I've seen, this features some really high production values, with shooting taking place in New York City, Paris and Rome, which is a helluva lot more than you can say about pretty much any porn being produced today.  Gillis and Constance Money (as Misty) are both really good actors, and the supporting cast isn't shabby either.  It was a really fun watch, as it truly stands as a movie that happens to have fucking in it, rather than being the type of thing people associate with porn nowadays, which a lot of the time seems to just consist of people choking and spitting on one another.  This movie was something that I had helped fund the restoration of via Kickstarter, which scored me a Blu-ray, two newly produced posters, some other little odds and ends and a 2 disc soundtrack, so I can honestly say having made the donation based solely on a trailer, I am very pleased to have thrown some cash at this, as it was a very worthy project.

Oh and since this is a fairly classic film, even taking the subject matter into account, I suppose you can consider it a Movie Shame Monday selection as well, eh?

We called it a night shortly after the movie, celebrating the New Year shortly before I got started on this post and the usual puttering around on the web.

Be seeing you.

Killer Bug

After reading a bit more of the WildC.A.T.S. Version 3.0 Year Two book last night, I successfully crashed out for a good long time, waking around noon to the sounds of the wife showering and the bored look of the Yorkie. I said hello to the wife, then got the house opened up for the day and fetched the newspaper.

After checking in on The Simpsons I fired up the PC and spent some time on the web polishing up another post for the afternoon, eventually joined by both the wife and the pup. We ordered some food that I agreed to go and pick up, then I dressed and drove across town to grab wait in line while a clueless counter girl got drinks for the group that ordered ahead of me.  I began to wonder if she was part goldfish as she would pour one drink, then consult her order screen, then pour another soda, then repeat the process, for all six drinks, which doesn't seem like a lot of information to keep track of, but what do I know?

Are You Itchy Too, Or Is It
Just Me?

The wife and I ate when I got home while watching a Netfux rental in the den, just because I wanted to try and rotate those out before the end of the year one last time. Bug is a William Friedkin film from 2006 in which Michael Shannon and Ashley Judd play a damaged couple of characters who come together in a cheap motel room and start to lose it as they find a strange aphid-like creature that may or may not actually be real. The lines blur as more info is slowly doled out about each of them, and there's the threat of her abusive ex-husband (played by an oily Harry Connick Jr.) turning up and exacerbating the situation at any moment.  It's a nicely unsettling film, and both leads really go for it full throttle, selling their growing paranoia and fears 100%. It's definitely good stuff, well worth a look if you're like me and have let it slip through the cracks.

Oh, Texas, You Filthy, Filthy State.

After the movie I decided to move on to another Friedkin flick that I've been really keen to see, his most recent film Killer Joe, in which Matthew McConaughey plays a police detective who takes on contract hits on the side.  He's hired by the son of a white trash family to kill his mother so that the guy's jail-bait looking sister can inherit the insurance money, but soon starts banging the sister as a 'retainer' against the eventual payout, since these white trash idiots don't have his fee up front. There's a good bit of sleazy sexy stuff, double crosses and dark humor peppered throughout and I would say that I really enjoyed it quite a bit.  Oh, and there's yet another Juno Temple performance as a sexy unkempt piece of jailbait, which is both hot and creepy. I'm starting to feel like Chris Hansen should be keeping tabs on people who follow her career too closely, even if that might include me at this point. *shivers*

The wife and I both grabbed some lunch leftovers for our dinner, then we got into the evening with some Fox animation re-runs, including a Bob's Burgers that aired about two weeks ago, which just seems like a helluva excessive way to run something into the ground, but I suppose they didn't have anything else new to round out the year with.

We wrapped the evening with an episode of Hawaii Five-O from earlier in the month, which might just catch us up on all television save for Fringe, which I feel I'm just no saving up for a start to finish re-watch at this point, what with having 10 episodes on the TiVo at this point.

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

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Ted List

It's Unsettling Because It's True.

Last night I finally got back into the My Dark Places book after at least a week or more away, then crashed out with the alarm set for 10:00 to allow for almost 7:00 hours sleep.  I managed to find myself wide awake about 20 freaking minutes before the alarm was to go off, so I sighed inwardly and turned it off to go see what the wife was up to in the kitchen.

The wife and the Yorkie were in the sitting area chilling on the couch while the wife fielded a few calls to the Sisters and the Mother In Law, so I got the house opened, then looked in on The Simpsons before I got dressed to run a couple errands.  I loaded up the recycling on the off-chance that the bins weren't completely Goddamned overflowing after the holidays, a Netfux movie to drop in the mail and a couple magazines that I was planning on dropping off at the MIL's place, just to see if they were of any interest to the Beau.

Weird side note: Spin Magazine revamped their publication back in the Summer and I decided to subscribe because it was ridiculously cheap.  They put out a few issues, then apparently folded entirely, so now the company handling that subscription has decided that I get Car And Driver as a consolation prize, which is about as far as alternative music news and reviews as you can get.  I can send them a letter saying I want a refund, which will likely mean that in 6 months I might get a $3 check in the mail, or I can just let them send this other magazine for a few more months and ride things out.  I figure the Beau might be interested, as he and the MIL have their share of cars, y'know?

I hit the recycling bins, which were naturally full, so I cursed and drove to the Post Office to drop off the Netfux movie, then I made my way over to Best Buy, where I was keen to use a Reward Zone coupon to score 20% off an iTunes giftcard, just to have the credit when I wanna buy something and take advantage of the deal.  I took a browse around but saw nothing else of any interest, then I grabbed breakfast for the wife and myself on the way back home.

We ate at the counter in the kitchen, the Yorkie diligent in her cuteness campaign at our feet, vying to catch our eye in case we had a little bite of tortilla to slip her.  We all settled into the Office after we ate and the wife and I worked on our respective computers while the Yorkie gnawed on one of her new Christmas toys that was in the floor waiting for her.

I'd made tentative plans to have Buckaroo Banzai and Pookie drop by this afternoon, as there were some movies I wanted to try to get back to him and he had stuff for me as well, so I eventually got the call from him as I was finishing up the blogging and invited them on over.  We visited for a bit in the den, then the wife wrapped up her interweb travels and joined us, so I ended up popping in the Trailer War thing for background noise, which we kind of drifted in and out of.  The wife typically fell asleep in the mid-afternoon, so our guests and I paused about halfway through the film and stepped out to grab Starbuck's, then returned home and finished out the disc, which wrapped just after the wife finally woke up and re-joined us.

It's Scary Because It's So Vague
About What The Hell Just
Happened.

We finally broke the seal on Bucky's copy of Kill List, a film that we'd both heard great things about independently of one another, then kind of decided to 'save' it for a viewing together if at all possible.  I've only been aware if it via vague reviews on various podcasts, so I knew that it opened with two hitmen taking on a job, then slowly finding out that they are out of their depth as the film goes from a crime drama into a horror film by the final reel.  The movie is a slow burn, punctuated by brutal spates of violence, and while I honestly don't think the ending really ties any of what went before into a truly satisfying ending, I really enjoyed the ride a great deal.  I think both Bucky and I enjoyed it, though the wives tuned out at a certain point, which is always something of a concern, as I hate to think that they're both playing Tetris or something and waiting for it to just be over, y'know?

It's Funny Because It's Vulgar.

Our guests stepped out to pick up burgers for dinner, then we all reconvened in the den for a viewing of Ted, the Seth MacFarlane co-written and directed live action feature in which Mark Wahlberg lives with his magically brought to life teddy bear, whose boorish behavior tends to ruin his chances to keep his hot girlfriend Mila Kunis around for very much longer.  It's a funny movie overall, though I wold take slight issue with the fact that essentially nothing changes by the time the film ends, but I guess if you want a lesson or a moral you've likely come to the wrong film.  It's light fun, though if you're not a Family Guy fan, this will do nothing to endear MacFarlane and his type of humor to you.

Our guests split after the movie and I put the wife to bed, then got started on this post in between dicking around wasting time on the web, as is the habit.

Be seeing you.

Me, Who Slept At Home

Morris headed home early this morning and we had the Lawn Guys doing their thing and irritating the hell out of the Yorkie, so I had a few things rousing me from sleep here and there, but I successfully ignored all of this and slept in, catching up on the week of 5-6 hours of sleep each night and sleeping in until about 1:00 in the afternoon.

I finally got up and moving, opening the house for the day and feeding the Yorkie some lunch, then texted to see where the wife might be.  I picked up a bit in the kitchen and then the wife turned up, as I'd apparently texted her as she was mere blocks away from the house.

We caught up on her day, which had consisted of lunch with The Lobbyist and Brian, which I kinda felt bad for missing out on, but what can you do?  The wife and the Yorkie (who seemed fully recovered from her droopy afternoon yesterday) retired to the bedroom to chill with bad TV, so I settled into the Office to work on the blog for a bit and go through a stack of Blu-rays to download the various digital copies that I'll likely never watch, but would like the option of having.

By the time I got stuff published and surfaced from the interwebs it was around 3:30 in the damned afternoon (the day goes fast when you sleep half of it away) so I heated up some pizza leftovers and watched an episode of The Addams Family to pass the time, then looked around for a movie to watch.

More Bad Movies Than You
Can Shake A Stick At!

Trailer War is a recently released Blu-ray from the Drafthouse Films people which collects a series of B-Movie trailers in much the same manner as the Synapse Films series of 42nd St. Forever discs, though from the trailer for the collection I sort of had the impression that perhaps this was edited into one large mixtape of clips, whereas it's just pretty much the same as any trailer comp, though there is a Drafthouse commentary for the stuff included.  I dunno, I guess I might've expected that they'd take a different approach to this, as they've already done an Alamo Drafthouse edition for the Synapse folks, so to just turn around and throw out a product that's almost exactly like what Synapse has been doing seems a little...douche-y, y'know?  Like they were basically lifting their shtick and acting as if it's no big deal.  I dunno, maybe I'm reading too much into things, but if someone participated in a project I have going, then went and did the same type of thing almost immediately I might feel like they'd screwed me slightly, that's all I'm saying.  As to the trailers themselves, I will admit that they turned up some truly obscure stuff that I will be tracking down later, so it was cool for that purpose.

Families Tend To Suck, I've
Noticed.

The wife spent some time in the Office in the early evening, working on syncing some stuff on her iPad, then she eventually joined me and we watched a little something that had been onhand from Netfux for awhile now: Jeff, Who Lives At Home.  The story of a day in the life of a stoner looking for the meaning or destiny in his life, Jason Segel ends up running around with his brother Ed Helms as they spy on his brother's wife, who appears to be having an affair.  There's also a side story about their mother Susan Sarandon, who finds herself with a budding romance in her workplace, but mostly we're in the lives of the two guys.  The movie is fairly light and amusing in the face of the subject matter and we both enjoyed it quite a bit.

We wrapped the evening with the last couple episodes of The Soup, then the wife headed to bed.  I spent a bit longer in the den, scanning the recently bought/gifted DVD and Blu-rays into the iPhone app while listening to part of Scream 4 on cable, then I moved into the Office to work on this post.

Be seeing you. 

Ocean's Girl Enlightenment

After being up until the wee hours reading more of The Invisibles Omnibus, then fell asleep for about a half hour before sinus drainage woke me as I was sort of strangling to death on my own phlegm.  Since I knew we'd have the garage door people calling about the door this morning I had set the alarm for 9:00 to try and squeeze in about 5 hours of sleep, but with the drainage I only slept soundly for about an hour and a half, waking every thirty minute to an hour to go on a coughing jag that lasted for anywhere from a minute to a half hour.  So annoying.

I woke with the alarm this morning, which in turn woke the wife, and she and I lay in bed chatting for a bit, then I forced myself to get up and open the house for the day before I fell asleep again out of utter exhaustion.  Our houseguest was still snoozing, so the wife got started on coffee for the two of us and I settled into the Office to fire up the PC and work on the blog a bit, as the holiday has completely hosed my double posting plans entirely the past few days.

Morris eventually stirred and hung out with the wife in the kitchen as she picked up and they compared notes about last night, as well as whether or not he was feeling any better.  The upshot seemed to be that he was blowing off his travel plans until Friday, which we'd sort of expected from the get go, though we hadn't expected that he'd be sick to do it.  The garage door guy turned up and got the door sorted out in about an hour or less, asking if it was under warranty.  I said yes, because that seems like info he should already have, and if it's not, they can just bill us, right?

Is This The One Where They
Get Away With Everything?
Oh, That's In ALL Of Them?
Cool.

As we started to get into the early afternoon I called in a food order and picked up Thai food at Morris' suggestion, as the hot and sour soup seemed like a good idea for his cold/allergies/whatever that had struck him down.  When I returned with food I popped in Ocean's Twelve for a re-watch since I'm currently breezing through the Blu-ray box set.  The movie holds up well, and I do enjoy the addition of Vincent Cassel to the ensemble, as he's always so slick and cool.

Morris and the wife both ended up crashing in the bedroom after they ate lunch, chilling with bad TV and possibly napping if possible.  Dumbass that I am, I ignored the nap option and finished out the movie, then moved on to Ocean's Thirteen, which I think I've only seen twice before, so some of the little twists felt somewhat new to me in spite of it all.

Morris joined me toward the middle of the third film and then the wife finally drifted in as well, though the Yorkie (who has been acting sickly today) didn't seem very keen to join us.  As the early evening came on the wife and Morris ordered pizza and went to pick it up, so I spent some time with Girl Walk // All Day, which is an epic music video set to the ridiculously over sampled work of Girltalk, following a series of characters as they dance their way through NYC.  The music is great and the whole project just really put me in a great mood as the various background people start to get fished into the weird artiness of it all, it's a ton of fun and well worth checking out, even if the only version I can find right now is in multiple chapters.

We spent the evening with a couple episodes of Girls, the first season of which was one of the wife's Christmas gifts, so she could see if Morris enjoyed it or not. I have to say that after the first couple eps I still don't know what Morris was thinking about it, and it sort of dredged up my feelings about the early episodes as well, where EVERY decision these characters make seems like the wrong one, but I at least know that things start to even out a bit towards the end of the season, so there's a light at the end of the tunnel.

We checked out Enlightened afterward, then Morris called it a night an headed to bed so that he can be fresh in the AM for that drive back to Dallas.  The wife and I caught the season finale of Dave's Old Porn, then I stayed up a bit watching a couple re-runs on Adult Swim before heading to the Office to work on this post before finally stumbling into bed.  The Yorkie came through to check on me at one point, so I gave her a bit of fresh food, just to see if she'd give it a try before going back to bed, and freshened her water so that she'd have it if she wanted.

I'm out kids, off to read for a bit and then sleep in tomorrow, as I'm just exhausted at this stage of the week.

Be seeing you.

And On The Day After Christmas...

Utter Horseshit.

After doing the blogging nonsense last night I stayed up a bit late reading a bit of the intro to Seduction Of The Innocent, which was one of my Christmas gifts from the wife.  I woke without the alarm around 10:00 this morning, loved on the Yorkie for a few, guessing that the wife and Morris had gone to run errands or something.  I opened up the house for the day, then spent time listening to the Dead Lantern Splattercast while picking up the kitchen a bit, then found out that Morris had slept in as well, as he surfaced from the Guest Side of the house and said good morning.

He and I visited a bit while I texted with the wife to see where the hell she was (visiting the family some more, as it turned out), then she eventually made her way home around noon and we headed out to grab a bite to eat at a nearby Mexican food place.  We actually had to take Morris' vehicle, as our Goddamned garage door was acting weird and dropping back down as soon as it went up.  I fiddled with it a bit, then a piece of plastic snapped off of it completely, which of course doesn't bode well for anything, so we went to lunch resolved to get the stupid garage dealt with later.

Lunch was fairly painless, then we stopped on the way back home at a drugstore to look for some medication for Morris, who was feeling a bit under the weather.  When we got home he dosed up with his meds while I made a call to the garage door people, who unsurprisingly wouldn't be able to get out to see us until tomorrow at some point.

The wife caught a nap after making Morris and I some coffee, then he and I chilled in the den with a fire and watched Die Hard, which Morris had never seen in its entirety, which kind of surprised me.  It's another not quite Christmas movie that takes place at Christmas, so it felt appropriate.

Just Let It Wash Over You...

After the movie Morris headed to his room for a nap, so I stoked the fire and decided to break out the Qatsi Trilogy on Blu-ray, which was recently released by Criterion.  The first film in the set is Koyaanisqatsi, which I'd heard great things about from EL in the past few months, which is what piqued my interest in the first place.  The film is great, and the wife actually caught the end of it, getting fished in rather quickly, which pleased me, as I wasn't sure if she'd get into it or not.  

Morris joined us eventually and kid of made our evening plans, which would include JH dropping my for a visit, so we watched the second film in the trilogy while we waited.  Powaqqatsi is a bit different from the first film, in that it features a lot of the same type of footage, but this time around more of it is slowed down instead of the faster version that we saw in the previous film, this time focusing on smaller 3rd world countries instead of the United States.

JH and the wife picked up Italian food and we ate while finishing up the movie, though Morris wasn't really interested in dinner and called it an early night to try to shake off whatever is bugging him, as he needs to try to drive home tomorrow.  

After we finished the movie I decided to move away from the artiness of it all and popped in To Catch A Thief, which I figured JH would appreciate and was something that I wanted to watch with the wife.  They both loved the movie and we visited and caught up in between scenes as I made myself a few cocktails and took time to stoke the fire a bit more to make sure that it hung around until I was ready for it to be dying down.

The wife and JH chatted at length about JH's budding romance, which I was quizzed on here and there for the male perspective, and since I wasn't sure how long JH would be with us, I decided to pop in Steven Soderbergh's  Ocean's Eleven for a re-watch on Blu-ray, as I was in the mood for more clever thieves after the Alfred Hitchcock film.  JH split shortly after the movie started, but I figured what the hell and put the wife to bed before finishing it out, happy that it holds up as well as it does even after numerous viewings over the years.

I finally drifted into the Office to get this blog post started before crashing out with a book.

Be seeing you.

Christmas Unchained

I had set the alarm for 9:00 this morning, as I didn't want to piss the entire day away after being up so late, but I woke to find the wife and Yorkie already up and about, chatting with Morris in the kitchen. We visited a bit after I got the house opened up for the day, then I put the finishing touches on the wife's stocking and we all gathered around the kitchen counter to go through the various and sundry treats, then we chilled for a bit in the sitting area off the kitchen area to introduce the Yorkie to her new toys and treats out of her stocking, because we're one of those couples that does a stocking for the dog to mask the emptiness of not squeezing out a litter of children.

The pup did her usual bit of ignoring most of the new stuff and focusing on one or two toys, then scampered off with a rather hard chew that we're pretty sure hurt her little mouth, because she started yelping from the bedroom where she'd settled with it, but still wanted it and actually snarled and growled at the wife or I if we tried to approach it.  Ditto for a little catnip filled cat toy, which is just a perfect size for her given her smallish size. While it was kind of amusing to watch her guard these new treasures so ardently, it also kinda made me sad that she just wanted to lay in the bedroom and keep an eye on them instead of hanging out with us.  Oh well, I guess she'll get over it in the next day or so.

We spent an hour or so in the front living area around the Christmas tree, going through the various gifts that we'd gotten one another, and the wife seemed very pleased with her haul, which made me very happy, as there were a few surprises in there that I wasn't sure she'd be into.  Morris watched over it all and we eventually broke from the gifting to start getting ready to head over to the Mother In Law's place.

The wife and I loaded up food and stuff to take over, as we were supposed to do gifts before the meal, so we arrived around 1:00 to get that process on the road.  After getting the last few food items going in the oven we all convened in the den to do the gift exchange, which was generous and varied for everyone, and the kids seemed to enjoy themselves, which is naturally a top priority.  Morris joined us toward the end of things and was even gifted with a new coat as well, which was the standard present that the Mother In Law and the Beau gave out this year; I myself ended up with a rather nice lined Calvin Klein raincoat, so that'll come in handy in the future.

We had a nice meal in the new dining room after finally giving up on the Aunt, Uncle and Grandmother, who arrived about a half hour late, so we were already seated by the time they trickled in.  We all gathered around the new table in the new room for the meal and I was kinda surprised that it was still a bit on the tight side even with the new set-up; there's just too Goddamned many of us, y'know?  After the meal everyone pitched in with various chores, getting things rinsed, washed or simply put away, divvying up leftovers, all the usual rituals.  The Niece split for a visit to her boyfriend's parent's house, which set off the Older Brother In Law a bit, but that aside, there weren't any big blow-ups or hurt feelings, making for one of the most relaxed holidays I can recall during my tour of duty with the family. God bless us everyone?

Props For Using The Original
Theme Song.

We finally went our separate ways around 4:00 or thereabouts, heading home to relax for a bit before we were to meet Buckaroo Banzai and Pookie at the movie theater to catch the 6:30 showing of Django Unchained.  As it turned out, both Morris and the wife tried to squeeze in a few winks while we were at home, so I dummied up the notes for yesterday's post a bit, then we headed out to the theater, which proved to be a crowded nightmare of quasi-order, where our friends were holding a place in line until we arrived with the tickets.  Pookie's Brother and his family had ended up joining us, so they were supposed to try and save seats for us since they were ahead of us in line, but as we got into the theater we didn't seen them at first and had settled in two different areas before finally spotting them and moving up to the section they were seated in.  The seating process ended up with Pookie sitting by herself across the aisle, but she seemed fine with this turn of events, so we settled in for a crowded opening night showing of a movie that had attracted a rather diverse crowd, including a tiny woman and what looked like a 6 month old baby, which seems amazingly appropriate, let me tell you.  I gotta be honest with you, the crowd wasn't bad, except the kid did eventually start yowling a bit, prompting one audience member to bark at it to "shut the fuck up", which is a sentiment that I can identify with, but c'mon, are you really telling a baby to shut the fuck up?  Evidently someone stepped out and bitched, because a theater worker turned up, spoke to someone in the general area of the child for a bit, then mother and child left and did not return, which is something I've absolutely NEVER seen happen before.  Oh, and there was also a blind guy in the theater, who walked out while taking a cell phone call, plus some lady and her kids who were up and down almost constantly in a steady stream of trips to the snack bar or bathroom, so it was like seeing the movie in a zoo, but I still loved every minute of it.

As to the film itself:  It was a helluva lot of fun from start to finish, with a great deal more humor than I would have expected given the grim nature of the subject matter, and I had a hard time wiping the smile from my face when it was finally all over.  There are a few bits that feel like they may slow things down here and there, but there's enough fun stuff to kind of white-wash all that in my mind at this point.  I may even try to squeeze in another theatrical viewing if at all possible, which I don't really do anymore because I hate the general public and mixing with the great unwashed so much.

Run Santa, Run! It's From The
Producers Of 'Pieces'!

We headed back home afterward ( I was actually a little proud of myself for getting out of the overfilled theater parking lot without running into anyone) and got into the pajamas, settling in the den after I made a fire in the fireplace and we snacked on some leftovers from our earlier Christmas dinner.  I popped in Don't Open Till Christmas, which I'd had hanging around since roughly this time last year waiting to be re-watched and Morris and I had a cocktail and chilled with the movie to wind down the day.  The wife eventually retired to the bedroom to crash with the Yorkie, who had spent the day back there anyway, first guarding her new toys, then doing her normal fire-related freakout.

We finished the movie and I flipped around cable for a bit, settling into the last half of a D.L. Hughley comedy special, then Morris crashed as well and I moved into the Office to work on this post after finishing the show and giving the fire one final poke to let it burn down for good.

I'm out kids, it's been a really nice, relatively stress-free Christmas, which hasn't always been the case, so that's a win in my book.

Be seeing you.

Silent Night, Go Night

Today I woke at 10:00 to the sound of the alarm, then forced myself from the bed and found the wife already cooking and puttering around in kitchen, pausing here and there to wrap a last few gifts.  I greeted both she and the Yorkie, then had a Redbull to try and wake up a bit while we made plans for the afternoon, most of which would see the wife doing stuff at the house.

I dressed for my errands and then hit the bank to make a deposit, then ran by the movie theater to see what the hell the deal was with the online ticket purchasing.  The guy I was in line behind had the same issue that I did, where he was told that the movie was simply sold out, but the girl at the ticket booth said that this was typical of holiday sales, in that they take down the site to prevent from overselling the theater on days that they anticipate will be busier than usual.  Presumably it's easier to turn people away online instead of having them furious with you in person because they don't have a seat.  Pleased to have secured the tickets that we needed, I picked up lunch for the wife and myself and headed back to the house.

Garbage Day!

We ate and then I updated the blog while she put the final touches on the various food items before settling back in the den to watch Silent Night, Deadly Night Part 2 for the first time off the To-Watch Pile.

Morris was driving in from Dallas today and turned up as we were about 10 minutes into the movie, so I paused and we visited for awhile, then eventually dug back into the film, which was largely terrible. The film is about the younger brother of the killer in the original, but spends about 45 minutes of its running time using clips from the first movie! It's pretty ridiculous, and was something that had quite the reputation as being one of those so bad it's good kinda flicks that you've just got to check out.

In the late afternoon we finally loaded up the various dishes and headed over to the Mother In Law's house where we were to spend time with the family and have some dinner. The meal was good, though slightly crowded as we all hunched together around the small kitchen table to eat, perched on a variety of chairs cobbled from around the room and the nearby closet's supply of folding chairs.  I can also happily note that things felt much more normal and relaxed this evening, in that people actually talked to one another and engaged a bit more, so maybe we just need a larger group of people to interact with.

The wife had driven over ahead of Morris and I arriving in his vehicle, so Morris eventually split to visit his pal ST out at his place and presumably do their little gift exchange, so the wife and I loaded into her car a short time later and came back to the house to get comfy and relax for the evening.

Did You Go?

The wife eventually crashed out as I settled into the den with a re-watch of Go, a late '90s film from Doug Liman (post Swingers and pre-Bourne Identity) which stars an ensemble cast (in a very '90s feeling film) that I really loved when it first hit DVD back in the day.  The flick holds up really well, and it takes place over the Christmas holiday, so I figured it was a worthy alternative Christmas movie selection.

I was getting into the last half hour of that as Morris got home, so he and I visited over cocktails and finished out the movie, then spent almost a couple hours watching Underworld videos on YouTube and visiting about the holiday festivities and what have you, just general catching up.

I finally crashed around 3:00 in the AM, leaving the blogging for later, as I just didn't feel like messing with it at this late hour.

Be seeing you.

Well, THAT Was Fairly Abysmal (Or: Do We REALLY Have To Do The Big Family Push Yet Again?)

Get It Together Sir.

Last night I stayed up to finish out the Scene Of The Crime collection from Ed Brubaker, Michael Lark and Sean Phillips, which was a decent read if something of a surprise as far as how occasionally hapless the lead seemed.  I'm not saying that all private detectives I read need to be supermen, but he seemed pretty easily overwhelmed physically in a lot of situations, then has his aunt (of all people) suggest a different approach to a case that he'd never thought of.  I guess I was expecting him to be a bit more resourceful considering how world-weary the character is written.

The alarm woke me at 10:00 this morning to the sounds of the wife piddling around in the kitchen area, wrapping gifts and getting stuff ready to take over to the Mother In Law's place later in the day.  She and the Yorkie had apparently woke around 9:00 and got a jump on the day with all this, so I finally dragged myself out of bed and got the house opened up for the day, then looked in on The Simpsons to see what they'd been up to overnight.

I spent time on the web working on getting a couple more blog posts ready to publish in my efforts to get things caught up, then finally decided to step out and grab a few things for the wife's stocking, just little sweets and that kind of thing, filler items.  I was also planning to grab myself a burger for lunch, so I took the wife's order and then headed out to hit up a drug store before picking up lunch.

Back at the house I delivered the wife's sandwich, then settled into the den to finally finish out Neon Genesis Evangelion, at least in its original episodic format.  The last couple episodes took an odd turn, going into a much different 'talking heads' mode as the characters were quizzed about their motivations, with things taking an interesting existential turn in the 11th hour of the show.  I enjoyed it overall, though I am still mulling over the series as a whole and interested to see where it all goes in the various installments that followed the main series.  I'm looking forward to getting into those as time allows over the next week if possible.

Who Is The User?

I squeezed in another episode of Serial Experiments: Lain before we were supposed to head over to the MIL's place with dinner, then the wife and I loaded up a bunch of gifts and headed across town to take the easy way out and grab another family pack of barbecue.  On the way to the MIL's place I dropped the wife off to pick up her own car, as she was going to possibly stay later after dinner to let the Middle Sister (who's in town for the holiday with her family and staying at the MIL's place) practice some kind of eyelash extension or whatever on her.  I arrive and ring the bell, then get the door opened for me by the Younger Nephew, who I greet and who looks through me and walks away, sort of setting the tone for  my evening in a lot of ways.  Next up the MIL calls me by the Idiot Brother In Law's name, then asks the kid if he greeted me, to which I reply that it doesn't matter anymore, because I'm kinda over it altogether.

The boy did eventually give me some kinda half-assed hello, but I'm very much on my way to not caring about this poor kid, even if I know that 75% of his weird social retardation can be chalked up to his poor parenting, just because I don't have a lot of strength to put myself out there for anyone, especially those that ignore it entirely.  I got the gifts and food brought in, said hello to the IBIL, who barely looked up from his iPad, then greeted the MIL's Beau, who looked understandably tired from dealing with house guests for the past 24 hours or so.  The Middle Sister was nowhere to be seen, so I started to set up the food in the kitchen and visit with the MIL, then the wife arrived and we eventually got the MS up and about (she was apparently napping after a long afternoon of last minute shopping),  then we had dinner and visited for a bit.

I must also note that I was thankful that the Beau offered a cocktail, because I found myself feeling edgy for no good reason.

The ladies eventually started in on their eyelash regimen, so I drifted into the den, where the Beau, the IBIL and the Younger Nephew were all ignoring the television and one another, playing around on their respective handheld devices.  I chitchatted with the Beau for a bit while he flipped channels, eventually settling on a program that he's mentioned before: Storage Wars.  We watched that for a bit and I eventually realized that the IBIL had gotten up and and fucking left without a word, presumably to their room upstairs?  When the show ended I finally said to hell with this noise and left for home, dropping off a couple things at a house along the wife at the wife's behest, though I did have to call the MIL's house when I pulled up to the address that she'd given me and was pretty convinced that she'd told me the wrong address.  As it turned out she'd sent me a block away from where I needed to be, so I was able to find the right house without disturbing any strangers in the middle of their dinner, then I headed home, made another cocktail and settled into the den with a fire and the evening's Fox animation block, which was pretty much all that was airing tonight that interested me.

The wife returned shortly afterward and I expressed my overall distaste for the evening, which put her on the defensive, so we danced around an argument for about an hour, because Merry Fucking Christmas, right?

I was finally able to talk her down a bit and dial things down, because the upshot is just that I want to spend time with one person (her) and the dumb Yorkie if she'll have me, so anyone else who wants to see me is gravy, but spending time when people don't really seem to care if you're even in the fucking room (the Younger Nephew and the IBIL in particular)...well, that shit really kinda galls me, because I've got less important things to do with my time, y'know?  I just have this sinking feeling that the whole Christmas shebang will end up feeling a lot like last years, with all the various baggage of previous issues carrying over as far as how people deal with one another, and the overall vibe being one of obligation to get together as a family rather than actual enjoyment of one another's company, which to me makes the whole Goddamned thing a moot point.

At any rate, things kinda calmed down between the wife and I and we ended the evening with another episode of Enlightened, a show that I continue to wonder about, as our protagonist is such a fucking pain in the ass, I just don't know if we're supposed to be on her side or not.

I put the wife and Yorkie to bed and then hopped online to buy tickets to Django Unchained on Fandango, only to find that they 'don't have enough tickets to fulfill my request' at any of the showtimes I tried, even trying for Odessa out of desperation.  This is irritating as hell, as seeing this stupid movie was the ONLY thing I really wanted to do on Christmas besides spend time with the wife, so I'm going to run by the theater tomorrow morning to see if this was just some weird glitch, or if a modern day Blaxploitation western has somehow sold the fuck out on opening day in West Texas, because that just seems IMPOSSIBLE to me on every level.

Bah.  Merry Fucking Christmas, indeed.

Be seeing you.

Books, Lunch, Anime, Dinner And Lights

As always, I was up late reading, this time bouncing back to somewhat lighter superhero fare with my continuing read of The Ultimates Volume 2, which is a hardcover collection of the entire second run of the book and new to me.  It's been interesting how much of this book influenced last summer's Avengers movie, as well as what isn't used, as a lot of the characters have much darker sides than the normal Marvel Universe version of The Avengers that one might be familiar with.

I'd set the alarm for 10:00 this morning, but the wife and Yorkie still managed to be up and running by 9:00, so I ignored them and desperately tried to squeeze in that last hour just to take the edge off the cumulative fatigue of a week of 5 hours a night sleep.

Our friend The Lobbyist has been in town for 24 hours or so, and the wife had made plans to have lunch with her, so I suggested maybe hitting up the little library book store either beforehand, or even inviting her to join us.  As it turned out we could never get her on the phone, so we went and poked around ourselves, each turning up a book apiece, then we picked her up and headed downtown to grab some brunch.

We ate and visited in the hustle and bustle of the main room of the restaurant/bar, then eventually headed out to run a few errands, including a trip to the grocery store for various odds and ends, the liquor store, and even the cemetery to drop off a plant at Morris' behest at his parents' grave.  Once all this running around was finished we dropped TL back off at her mother's house, saying our goodbyes and holiday wishes, as they leave in the AM to travel to visit relatives in another state.

The wife and I headed home and I spent the afternoon working on the blog a bit and poking around the web, then I settled into the den and tried to catch up on Neon Genesis Evangelion, which has a scant 4 episodes left before I finish the original show, so I'm getting a bit antsy about how things will wrap up.  I decided to do two of them today, then dig into the final two tomorrow afternoon if at all possible.

We were supposed to do the wife's Christmas exchange with Brian this evening, then have dinner and (I was surprised to find out) go look at Christmas lights.  I say I was surprised because I really hadn't heard about anything beyond dinner, but what else am I doing with my life, y'know?  Let's go see the fucking pretty lights.

I was able to squeeze in an episode of Serial Experiments: Lain before we had to go, then I got dressed quickly and we headed across town to have Chinese at a favorite spot of Brian and the wife's, which was thankfully somewhat empty and quiet.  I guess our restaurant experience last night has left me a little gun-shy about being able to get into anywhere with relative ease these days.  We hit up the nearby Starbuck's afterward, then spent about and hour and change cruising around the usual neighborhoods that are known to decorate, though I have to be honest and say that only one or two places really looked all that impressive to me, most of this stuff just starts to blend into the same shit in my head after awhile.

Oh, The Wacky, Hairy '80s - What A
Bizarre Time.

We finally headed home and chilled out while watching the last couple episodes of Dave's Old Porn, which were pretty amusing and one featured Christy Canyon, a gal who was big in the '80s and '90s and is still pretty gorgeous for an older gal.  She kinda surprised me by having thicker legs and calves, reminding me of a Robert Crumb pin-up or something, it was kinda unexpected even if she's always been curvy.

We caught the last half of an episode of Gigolos, which was (as always) amazingly skeevy, then finally called it a night.

Brian split and I put the wife and Yorkie to bed before getting started on this post.

Be seeing you.

A Blogger's Carol

Freeze, Cockbag!

Last night I was up reading as usual, digging further into the Scene Of The Crime collection that I treated myself to from Amazon when doing the last bit of shopping for the wife's Christmas.  It's an early Ed Brubaker crime story that evidently came out around the time that I dropped out of monthly comic reading altogether and I'm digging it quite a bit.  The book is interesting in that the way the chapters have been broken up because I honestly don't feel the issue breaks, which is somewhat unique in a compilation, as you usually have a definite climax to a certain story element that makes way for the next month's issue, and here it's more of a smooth transition.

The alarm woke me today at 9:30 and I got up and opened the house for the day, then started planning out my day while the wife made herself some coffee and piddled around the house.  I'd already decided to just replace the mouse on the off-chance that it was what was defective, so I got my little Best Buy shopping list together and dressed for my outing while the wife settled into the Office to check e-mail and what have you, then she had plans to run to the grocery store to get ready for the coming holiday meals.

Best Buy was pretty busy but not the baffling ordeal that I actually feared it could be, so I was able to find the mouse pretty easily with an employee's advise about brands and that kind of thing, then I spent a good long time browsing the movie section, ending up with a fairly sizable stack of stuff, a few new releases as well as a couple impulse times and a few of the HBO shows I had gone in looking for since they were on sale for 50% off.

I hit up a Starbuck's afterward for a beverage and a giftcard for the wife's stocking, taking the time in the drive-thru to call in an order from the usual Thai place.  I grabbed my lunch on the way back to the house, then settled in to try and squeeze in my meal before the wife got home and wanted help with the groceries, just because I wanted to try and eat while the food was still hot instead of letting it sit around while carrying shit in from the garage.  I was able to catch up on an episode of Nikita while I did this, then the wife got home and the Yorkie and I greeted her and helped carry stuff in.  Well, I helped, the Yorkie is a real slacker in that regard.

The wife chilled in the bedroom after we got everything put away and I pretty much spent the afternoon cleaning up a good handful of blog posts and still fighting with the old mouse, as I was hoping to 'save' the installation of the new one until the evening, when I would have more time to see what it could do.  I knew that we had plans for the evening with the Niece and Nephew, so I just made do with the old mouse and then finally wrapped that up so that I could wrap the last few presents for the wife and stencil her initial on them.

The wife and I got cleaned up for the evening, which was to involve dinner out with the Nephew, the Niece and her boyfriend, then we'd take in the local community theater production of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, which the wife has taken the kids to before, actually freaking out the Niece when she was younger, but she thankfully didn't remember any of this previous trauma.  The original plan was to meet at an Italian place downtown that I'm not a huge fan of, but when we arrived just shy of 6:00 to get a table we were told that they were 'booked' and couldn't accommodate our party because the fire marshal wouldn't allow them to seat someone on the end of a table in the aisle between tables.  I find this laughable, because the entryway is a ridiculous bottleneck where people trying to come in are trapped in the doorway by people sitting waiting for a fucking table, and that's not a fucking fire hazard?  Oh, and the broad at the counter also said that they had people reserve a table from this time last year, which made me snort with derisive laughter, because this restaurant just isn't that fucking good, people.  It's just not, and if you reserved a table in December of 2011 for this evening in 2012, you're a fucking idiot.  But more likely she was just making shit up because the wife was getting edgy and she needed a better excuse than we don't wanna seat you in the walkway.

I suggested a nearby Mexican place and we told the kids to meet us there, where we got in immediately and had a nice meal just ahead of the place filling up to the brim as well, so that made for some great timing and served our needs well.

The theater was fun, and the production of A Christmas Carol was well put together for a small local set-up, I have to admit.  The only thing that kinda shook me out of Dickensian London was noticing a few of the 'urchins' in the chorus were sporting braces, which doesn't do a lot for the illusion, y'know?

We went our separate ways after the show, debated coffee on the drive home and then decided to just head back to the house and see what the Yorkie was up to.  I started dicking around with installing the new mouse, which involved a single USB plug in and not much else, which seems to have fixed all my issues, so that's a load off my mind.  The wife spent some time in the Office with me working on her continuing Cricut issues, then finally called it a night as I got this post put together and saved for later publication.

Oh, and the whole Mayan calendar/apocalypse thing didn't happen, which is sort of a relief. I'd hate to have paid all those bills this month for no reason.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

The Shoppening (Or: Don't You People Know That The WORLD Is Ending?!?)

The wife had a meeting with the Older Sister and a lawyer regarding various and sundry family fuckery this morning, so she was up and about pretty early to go and get started on that whole process.  I must shamefacedly admit that my series of late nights and somewhat early mornings finally caught up with me, because I pissed half the day away in bed, only waking when the wife returned home and was greeting the Yorkie, who had previously been content to snooze with me in the bedroom.

The wife and I compared notes on the day thus far (though she clearly had more to add to this than I did, what with the BED and all), then I started formulating my plan for the rest of the afternoon.  The wife didn't have anything going on until the late afternoon, so I figured I could run the last of my Christmas related errands while she chilled at home with the pup.

I got dressed and grabbed my little list of goodies that I wanted to pick up, then pointed the car towards the Mall, where I usually grab a seasonal ornament from a certain jeweler.  The idea is that we'll eventually have a tree with just ornaments from this place, so it'll be something we can put together in our fucking golden years at the rate we're going.  The Mall was the madhouse nightmare that I feared it would be, but thank you Christ this jeweler has a storefront that you can get into from the outside and I didn't have to enter the Mall proper, saving me an enraged fit and jail time for the holidays.  Getting out of the parking lot took actually longer than I was in the store, which just proves that I need to do every last bit of my shopping on the web and just be done with it.  I headed across the street to another shopping center and hit up an arts and crafts store for a few stocking stuffer type ideas, turning up a few odds and ends before heading down the Loop to Barnes & Noble to see if anything caught my eye.

That little trip turned up more shit for me than it did for the wife, but I did find a little stocking item, so that's cool.  I hit up a final jewelers for another little bauble for her Pandora bracelet and then decided to grab some late lunch for myself on the way home, saving one final errand for tomorrow when I have to hit Best Buy and grab a couple new releases that're being put out on a Friday due to the timing of Christmas falling on next Tuesday.  I grabbed some Mexican takeout and headed back home to see what the wife and pup were up to, unsurprised to find them catching a nap in the bedroom.

I settled in the den and ate while watching an episode of Nikita off the TiVo, then saw the wife off to her late afternoon meeting with the idea being that she'd swing by afterward and we'd go make an appearance at a Christmas party, then grab a bite to eat.

What Does It All Mean?

When the wife split I seized the opportunity to get a couple of her gifts wrapped, as well as retrieve the stuff I'd left hidden in the trunk of the car, lest she see it as I was walking it in.  I used the little stencil that I'd made to put her initial onto the packages once they were wrapped, then left the paint drying and got ready to try to squeeze in a couple episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, but when I popped in the next disc I realized that there were two versions of certain episodes, the original that aired when the series was first released, then a director's cut version that was tinkered with later.  I decided to reach out to Buckaroo Banzai to see if I should watch the original version, then the director's cut version, or watch the originals and come back for the director's version later - essentially he told me that the 2nd versions  were covered in a later movie anyway, so I could likely save myself some time and just watch the reworked versions when I got to the movie later.  Problem solved.  We also made tentative plans to see a movie on Christmas Day, but I lost him when the call started breaking up (they were in the middle of nowhere), so we made plans for him to call me back when he was in a better reception area and I hung up and dug into the show.

The wife returned early, having bailed on a second meeting, so she piddled on the interwebs while I finished up my second episode of Evangelion, then we headed over to this 'Tacky Christmas Sweater' party, which neither of us dressed for, because I can appreciate your festive theme but I'll be Goddamned if I'm going out of my way to buy a goofy outfit I'm never going to wear again, y'know?

The party was originally intended to be one of those 'make an appearance' sort of things, but since we actually ran into several couples we hadn't seen in awhile we ended up staying about an hour and a half, visiting and catching up with several people.

The hour growing late, we picked up burgers on the way home just because it seemed simple, then ate while watching an episode of Hawaii Five-O before calling it a night.  I put the wife to bed, then spent about a half hour wrapping a couple more things, specifically something that'd turned up in today's mail so that I could just toss it under the tree.

I finally headed to the web to get started on this post in between doing more research about the weird mouse double clicking issue, as I'm starting to wonder if it could simply be the mouse itself, after testing a few other browsers with the same results.  At first I thought Chrome might have a bug of some sort, now I'm just hoping it's a $40 mouse and not a virus or something like that.  I'll find out tomorrow, as I have that little Best Buy run planned.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Silent Night, Niece Night

The Maid was on tap today, so I did my level best to squeeze in a quick six hours of sleep before waking at 10:00 with the alarm this morning.  The wife had already split to run the Yorkie to the Groomer, then attend an early morning meeting, so I got the house opened with no fanfare, looking in on The Simpsons with blurry eyes before finally settling into the Office to work on more blog stuff.

Naturally the Maid was a complete no-show, because it truly is hard to get good help these days, so I finally said the hell with it around 11:30 and hopped in the shower, not caring if I somehow managed to miss her ringing the doorbell.  I made plans to meet EL at our normal Thai place, even though he'd spaced out and already had a sandwich at home about 20 minutes before I contacted him.  He figured he'd just turn up and have some tea and visit while I ate, so I showered and dressed out to hit up a couple Pawn Shops beforehand.  I turned up a few items that seemed cheap enough to be worth the cash, then finally headed over to the restaurant to meet EL.

On the way back to the house I popped into the local books, music and video outlet to see if anything caught my eye, ending up with a couple magazines and a few movies since I was able to grab enough stuff to qualify for their 'buy 2, get one for a buck' deal, so that was cool.  I did have to leave somewhat hastily, as a small cluster of teenage girls kept blathering and giggling at full volume about every Goddamned thing that came into their heads, which was about to drive me nuts, so I hit the checkout line and got the hell out of their before I threw something at them.

I did the recycling, then headed back to the house, where I was in the garage about to lower the Goddamned door when I realized that I'd forgotten to drop the stupid Netfux movie in the mail, so I headed back out to do that, stopping to grab a beverage along the way just to make the dumb drive worth my time, y'know?

The wife was still out running errands, including fetching the Yorkie home, so I was piddling around the house for a few before she got home, then we spent time comparing our days thus far before settling in the Office where we each had things to do on the interwebs.

I eventually re-settled into the den after getting bills paid and fired up the Blu-ray player with another episode of Neon Genesis Evangelion, then the wife mentioned that the Niece might be stopping by, as she and her parents where in the middle of some big blow up and she wanted to get out and decompress a bit.

Sure enough, the Niece turned up a short time later and she and the wife talked in the Office while I stoked the fire in the fireplace and made myself a cocktail before jumping back into the show.  I had moved on to a second episode when there's a knock at the door and the Mother In Law has turned up to talk to the Niece as well, so I show her in and then finished my show, moving on to tonight's episodes of Serial Experiments: Lain afterward.  The MIL split after a time and then the Niece chatted briefly with both the wife and I before heading out again.  She's a sweet girl, so I hope she makes it through this time in her life unscathed.

The wife and I had ordered in deli stuff that arrived while everyone was having their big pow-wow in the Office, so we kinda snacked on the last little bit of that while I finished up my second episode of Lain, then we moved on to the evening's real entertainment.

Ho, Ho, Death.

We gave Silent Night, Deadly Night the usual seasonal re-watch, which always holds up well.  The poor kid who loses it does make me feel kinda sorry for him, as he's dicked around at every turn until he's finally of age to be working, then is driven over the edge by his worldly co-workers and deep seated issues.  The flick is also part of a two disc set, so we have the sequel to look forward to, perhaps tomorrow evening if at all possible.

I put the wife and Yorkie to bed after the movie, then got started on this post while listening to some comedy on Pandora, just for a change of pace for my evenings.

Be seeing you.

Anime Savages In Hawaii

Not Your Father's Avengers...

The ever rotating pile of books and graphic novels on the night stand turned up the collection of The Ultimates Volume 2 last night, so I breezed through the first three issues before finally crashing out late last night, affording me about 6 hours of sleep by the time that the alarm went off this morning.

The wife and I cuddled with the Yorkie for a bit, then the wife made us coffee while I got the house opened up for the day and retrieved the newspaper from the driveway.  I settled into the Office after taking a pass at the current collage in the kitchen, diving into the blogging updates with both feet and getting several posts updated before noon, which is always a great way to start the day and feel as if I'm making headway on this whole dumbass project.

The wife pretty much had the day 'off', with no meetings or anything of that nature, so she piddled around with laundry and eventually made plans to go shopping in the mid-afternoon with the Mother In Law.  When I finally wrapped my web stuff I moved into the den with a salad for my lunch and watched a month old episode of Nikita, because I'm endlessly behind on several television shows at this point.

The wife split with the MIL, who came in for a brief visit, so I layered in some more stuff on the collage, then wrapped another one of the wife's gifts before I popped in Neon Genesis Evangelion for another couple episodes.  It's getting interesting to see how things start to ramp up a helluva lot int he latter half of the show, as a lot of plot seems to be coming at you hard and heavy.

We were getting into the late afternoon at this point, so I made myself a martini and moved on to the next two episodes of Serial Experiments: Lain, finally moving into territory that I hadn't seen before in my initial viewings of the show.  It continues to impress as well, I'm really digging it, though I have the impression from an online acquaintance that it may end on a downer note.

The wife returned a little while later and spent some time working on some Christmas shopping online, as she'd exhausted her local options for a certain item that the Youngest Nephew wants for Christmas.  She eventually stepped back out to grab us some dinner as I finished up my show, then worked on the collage some more until she returned.

Not As Savage As I'd Hoped.

We tucked into dinner over a Netfux rental that turned up in today's mail: Savages, from director Oliver Stone, which I'd heard a ton of mixed things about, most leaning towards it being a bit shit, but my curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a go.  The set-up is gloriously California sounding: two drug dealers in a poly-amorous relationship with a single girl must fight to get her back when a Mexican drug cartel kidnaps their girl to strong-arm them into growing their super-strong weed for them.  The film looks decent enough, but for whatever reason I just wasn't ever fully fished into their story, I dunno if it was a disconnect with the actors or what (granted there's some pretty corny fucking voiceovers that don't help one bit) but I just breezed through it without ever really caring what happened to anyone.  Blake Lively is dull and pretty as their leading lady, and Benicio Del Toro and Salma Hayek chew scenery with the best of them, but it just never paid off for me.  Oh and there's an element of bullshit to the ending that irritated me as well, so maybe overall this would be a pass if you're asking me, or maybe a 'wait for cable' kinda viewing.

We watched another month old Hawaii Five-O episode afterward and I felt as connected to this one hour television procedural as I did to the Hollywood movie we'd just watched, so that's no great endorsement of the film, let me assure you.

The wife expressed interest in any more Enlightened that might've turned up, so we blew through episodes 3 and 4 of that series, which I continue to puzzle over.  There's funny bits, but overall the story of a woman who has a rather public breakdown at work, goes into treatment and then returns with a sunny attitude and is puzzled by the fact that her company seems put off by having to deal with her...well, let's just say I can identify too much with the company to really root for her as much as I feel the show wants me to.  I feel like Laura Dern's character probably means well, but her sense of entitlement is stunning as she's so Goddamned baffled that her company is uncomfortable to have her back; it's like she can't grasp the concept that throwing a weird fit in front of God and everybody is the type of shit you lose a job over, y'know?  Oh well, the wife is digging it, so we'll stick it out, I know she humors me about a lot of shit, so this is one I'm willing to see what the season is all about.

The wife headed to bed and I drifted into the Office to get started on this post.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.