Fencing, Engagements, Identities

Today was something of a strangely busy day around these parts, as we had the Fencing Guys turning up to finish that little project on the side of the house, plus we had called yesterday about having someone out to look at the slow drain in the master bathroom shower. With this in mind I made sure I was up and at 'em early, since I wanted to try and hit up an estate sale that promised DVDs and CDs, but I still got a call from the Plumbers before I had even left the house. I told them any time after 11:00 was good today, then dressed and hit the bank before taking a prowl through this estate sale, where I found nothing, which is about par for the course lately.

I did find myself hungry, so I picked up an early lunch on the way back to the house, where the Fence Guys were in full swing, with the Yorkie bitching at them from the front window whenever she caught sight of them going to and fro with materials and what have you.

The wife was out and about running errands of her own, so I settled into the Office and ate while looking in on The Simpsons, then the Plumbers turned up and got us sorted out, which took all of like, 15 minutes. Bah.

Since the one thing I had needed to be home to take care of was now dealt with (the Fence Guys can come and go as they please), I decided to take a look around the local books, music and video outlet, where I turned up a few cheap Blu-rays and over-heard this little gem: "I try to read more novels, but it's just not the same as comic books." Yikes. I can sympathize with this on some level, as I've been trying to read more novels recently, but I'm pretty sure this fella just finds them too challenging all the way 'round, y'know?

Back at the house I touched base with the wife, who was in between meetings and grabbing an afternoon shower since the fucking water would actually go away now, so I spent some time reading in the Library after admiring the finished fence, which turned out great and didn't take much longer than 24 hours to complete from tear-down to brand new fence.

Sweet. Meandering, But Still
Sweet.

The wife split for her last couple of meetings, so I grabbed a cocktail and popped in A Very Long Engagement off the To-Watch Pile, because a certain show was going to review it this week and that felt like a reasonable excuse/impetus to finally give it another look. Taking place after WWI, it stars Audrey Tautou as a young lady in desperate search of any clues that her presumed dead fiance somehow survived the war and could still be returned to her. The film is simply gorgeous, and though it does kinda ramble around in spots I still dig it quite a bit; it's well worth a look if you've never seen it.

The Mother In Law dropped by for a few, delivering a birthday card that the wife is to take to the Youngest Nephew when she flies to see him for a Dallas day trip tomorrow.

The wife had returned with food towards the end of the movie, so we finished up our little dinner and moved on to some television next. Community continues to be sort of what I want it to be, and while I want to think that I', just judging it more harshly after the network ran the show's creator off, I honestly think the overall tone has changed. It's still slightly 'edgy' or whatever, but there's a certain sappy typical sit-com element that's begun to creep in and I just don't care for it. Oh well, maybe they'll find their stride, but I kind of doubt it, I fear this one may just start to slide into obscurity before it's all said and done.

Previously Known As Jackie Chan's
Who Am I?

We moved on to a new Archer next, then caught up on the last couple episodes of Comic Book Men before the wife crashed out in anticipation of her early morning departure for Dallas. I stayed up late and gave Skyfall a really wild hair re-watch (such a great film, easily my favorite Bond ever), which led into the thought that maybe I should re-visit the Bourne films as well, so I wrapped a pretty late night with The Bourne Identity, which still holds up pretty well. I started the second film with the mistaken idea in my head that it was my favorite of the three films, quickly realizing that I much prefer the events and action of the third film, so I watched about half of it before making the decision to finish it up on Friday afternoon and crash out for the night.

I'm out kids.

Messiah Of Television

As I say from time to time, this might be a shorter post, as very little happened today.

Last night saw me crashing out after reading another issue of Black Kiss 2, which I'm forcing myself to string out and savor one issue per night, since it's a finite series and I won't see anything else like this anytime soon. I turned out the lights and was almost drifting off to sleep when I became aware that the Yorkie was on the move, for the second time in as many nights. Essentially, I'm almost asleep and then suddenly the dog is up and wandering around the bedroom, which she never does unless something is wrong, so I'm unable to sleep now because I'm straining my stupid ears to see if the dog is ill, or wants more food or whatever the fuck her problem is. She finally settled and I was able to sleep, but she kinda screwed me out of at least 30-45 minutes with her weird shenanigans.

The wife and pup were up and about when I woke with the alarm this morning. I opened the house for the day and grabbed the newspaper with the dog, then I settled into the Office to work on the blog since the Maid would be here and underfoot soon. The Maid arrived and set to her tasks, then the wife split to go to a meeting while I listened to a couple podcasts and didn't really surface form the interwebs until the wife called about lunch. I put in my order and then she turned up presently with a burger and fries which I ate while watching a Family Guy re-run via Netfux Instant Watch while the wife fielded a couple phone calls.

Once the Maid finally split I'd come to a stopping point on the blogging, so I spent an hour and change in the Library reading while the wife and pup relaxed in the bedroom. The Yorkie did eventually turn up in a rage because she finally noticed the noise from some workmen who were taking down a small fence on the far side of our house, which will be re-fenced tomorrow afternoon if all goes smoothly.

Stay The Hell Out Of Small
Towns. Seriously.

As we got into the late afternoon I settled into the den to try and squeeze in something off the To-Watch Pile before my somewhat regimented television routine took over. I made myself a cocktail and watched the Code Red DVD release of Messiah Of Evil, which an online acquaintance had been talking up recently, so I figured I should finally give it a day in court. The film is really interesting in that it employs the same weird dreamy qualities that you see in a lot of foreign horror from this era, but also has the Giallo tropes of color saturated scenes that change the tone of the situation dramatically simply by casting everything in red or blue in the same manner that Argento does in his work. The film also reminded me of Gary Sherman's Dead & Buried quite a bit, in that they both feature creepy doings in a largely abandoned seaside town, and that the outsiders are made to feel uneasy and unwelcome from the first moment they arrive, right up until crazy shit starts happening to them. It's definitely a film worth tracking down, I dug it quite a bit.

The wife made a little chicken dish for our dinner and we pretty much spent the evening with the normal fare, new episodes of Arrow and Supernatural, then we wrapped up the evening with the two most recent episodes of The Soup, just to get caught up.

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

Be seeing you.

Galaxy Romance, Plus Television

This morning I woke with the alarm after ignoring the Yorkie trying to nag me awake about an hour earlier when the wife fell for it and actually got up and moving. Sucker.

I opened the house for the day and greeted the wife, who was getting ready to go and run several errands, so the Yorkie and I got the newspaper from the front walk and settled into the Office to get some writing updated. I worked on the blog for a bit, which creeps closer to being caught up to the end of January at this point, still leaving me a month behind, but at this point I'll be working with actual posts instead of the sketchy notes I was putting together back during the cruise, which means that the posts following the cruise will come together much smoother than the others I've been working on recently.

I Like That The Toothy Lil' Guys
Get So Much Face Time On The
Cover Since They're Kind Of A
Throwaway Gag.

I stepped out to grab myself some lunch in advance of the full on lunch rush, leaving the wife to say her goodbyes to the Yorkie, who seemed agitated that we were both leaving at the same time. I returned to find the wife off running her errands, greeted the pup, then settled into the den to watch something off the To-Watch Pile, the Blu-ray of Galaxy Quest, which I've only seen once before if memory serves. It holds up well, if only because of the charming earnestness of the aliens who want the cast of a Star Trek-esque television show to save them from sure destruction at the hands of an evil warlord. It's a breezy little flick, and well worth a peep if you haven't seen it before.

I worked on the nerdlists in the early afternoon, then the wife returned briefly before heading out for one last meeting, so I spent an hour or so in the Library before finally settling into the den to watch a random episode of The Addams Family until the wife got home.

If I HAD To Fuck A Guy,
Absolutely HAD to...I'd
Fuck Elvis

The wife put some leftovers together for our dinner and then we ate while I re-watched True Romance out of the Tarantino 20 years boxset, which I've decided I want to check out one piece at a time over the next week or two. The movie holds up well, and I honestly don't even know if I've watched it since we've lived in this house, which could mean I haven't caught it in around 6 years or more, which is crazy to think about.

In the evening we got into last week's episode of Portlandia, then tried out a show that stars a few people from Children's Hospital, something on E! called Burning Love, which I believe started out as an online web series or something fo that nature before making the jump to television. It's a ridiculous parody of The Bachelor and shows of that ilk, and it was really amusing, I'm looking forward to seeing more in the coming weeks.

We wrapped the evening with the latest episode of Justified, which was pretty intense and casually killed off a good handful of characters, which I wasn't expecting.  Walton Goggins also had a great speech at the end of the episode telling a bunch of white collar criminals that "Now all the things you've done, the way you've built your fortunes, it might make you criminals, but it don't make you outlaws. I am the outlaw." and that there's a high cost of living in his world, which was pretty awesome, I have to admit.  That dude has a great way with words.

We called it a night and I put the wife and pup to sleep, then started working on the blog a bit in between poking around looking at a random Criterion sale that's popped up today, just to see if there was anything I couldn't live without.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Scary Movie 3? Again?!? God, I'm An Idiot...

Even Sluttier...

Last night I went to bed reading the second issue of Howard Chaykin's Black Kiss 2, which I started reading recently after acquiring a set of the six issue series off eBay. The second series is a prequel that tells the stories of the characters before we meet them in the original book, and I'm enjoying it well enough so far, though it may feel a bit breezier than I would prefer, with some of the information just kinda thrown at you for you to either accept or ignore, but away we go, y'know?

The alarm woke me this morning, but I found myself choosing to ignore it and fall back asleep after a quick trip to the bathroom, a good morning to the wife and a little cuddle of the Yorkie, as I was kinda feeling the results of about a week of 6 hours of sleep per night finally catching up to me. The wife had errands and whatnot this morning into the early afternoon, so she dressed and split as I was crashing back out, then I woke around noon to an antsy Yorkie wondering what the hell my problem was exactly. I got up and opened the house for the day, wrinkling my nose at the absolutely disgusting weather gusting around outside.

The day had begun with fucking snow flurries of all things, and had now dwindled down to a hellaciously gusting wind and a ton of dirt, leaves and tree limbs blowing around for the duration of the day. Yuck. I got a Swap A DVD trade ready to drop in the mail, then got dressed under the watchful eye of the pup, who seemed to be letting the combination of the weather (too noisy) and the food she'd just eaten for lunch give her a weird amount of nervous energy. I left her looking disappointed in the window and headed out to hit the Post Office and grab a bite to eat.

While out and about I saw several oddball things that I chalked up to the awful winds, including a downed security light pole in the parking lot of the burger place that I visited, and a group of guys blocking off a street near our house while they took apart what I can only guess was a downed tree. The really puzzling bit was an abandoned pick-up, parked dead center in the middle of a lane on a fairly busy street that myself and several other people had to move into the lane of oncoming traffic to avoid; I dunno what the story was there.

The wife turned up just behind me at the house, so we compared notes on the day thus far, then she and the Yorkie spent time in the Craft Room while I ate and watched the rest of last night's Fox animation re-runs to pass the time. After the last show I debated actually working on the blog or trying to squeeze in something for Movie Shame Monday, my on-again, off-again project to tackle some of the weird holes that I have in my film knowledge. I elected to instead read for an hour or so in the Library, then hit up the interwebs to work on the blog in the late afternoon.

When I finally surfaced I'd pretty much blown my window to squeeze in a movie before Brian joined us for dinner, so instead I spent some time enjoying a cocktail and looking in on The Simpsons, which is still up and running for the time being. I guess EA may wait until we're into March to release another update and fuck it up for everyone for an indefinite period of time. Brian turned up just after 6:00, the idea being that he'd join us for visiting and dinner, then we'd all watch the new episode of Dallas together, just for shits and giggles.

I've GOT To Stop Watching
This Dumb Fucking Movie.
Damn You, Cable!

The wife had a little chicken casserole dish that she'd been working on in the oven by this time, so we visited for a bit and eventually fell into a wild hair watch of something airing on cable, which just so happened to be that same Goddamned Scary Movie sequel (Scary Movie 3) that I'd re-watched just before we went on the cruise last month, at another time that I felt like I should've watched something more substantial instead. I have to admit, I was left feeling shamed yet again, as I should really be trying to watch stuff I haven't seen before at this point, especially in light of how sporadic the Movie Shame Monday selections have been thus far in 2013.

We caught the new Dallas over dessert, then Brian called it a night and headed home, so the wife and I would down our night with last night's episodes of House Of Lies and Californication. I put the wife to bed and then was surprised to notice that the Yorkie came back in and stuck it out with me as I watched a couple random Family Guy re-runs on Adult Swim. I eventually carried her into the Office with me since she was being so sweet, and was surprised to have her stay in her little bed in there too. I seriously hope she's just being affectionate and isn't telling me she's getting sick by acting this way, which would be somewhat typical.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

The American Poker Reunion Club

Even though it was Sunday I had set the alarm so as not to sleep the day away, so I found myself rolling out of bed at 10:00 this morning to see what the wife and Yorkie were up to in the kitchen. I touched base with them and got the house opened up for the day, taking the pup to grab the newspaper with me before I settled into the Office and finished punching up last night's post. I spent some more time with the notes from a post back during our cruise last month, then took the wife's order for an early lunch and headed out to pick up some Chinese.

As I sat waiting for our food at the little take out window I happened to look around me and notice that I was the only fucking person (out of 3 customers) who wasn't wearing pajamas, so I kinda felt like an sap for not giving up on life completely and just going out in public wearing what the fuck ever, y'know? I'm not saying that I always put my best foot forward (because I'd be lying), but if I expect to encounter the other humans I generally tend to try and wear something that doesn't look like it's been slept in.

Marriage, Misery, High
School Friends. Plus Tits.

Back at the house the wife and I settled into the den and watched the final 'official' film in the American Pie series (there have been several films under that moniker that don't feature the main characters, but take place in the same 'universe' if you will), which was the 2012 film American Reunion. It was a step up from the last film (American Wedding), in that they kind of play down Stifler's character a bit so that he's not as cartoonishly irritating as he was the last time around, and they apparently conned the entire cast of the original film into coming back this time around to wrap things up. It was a decent little watch and kept us entertained for the early afternoon, then the wife and pup crashed out for a nap in the bedroom.

I spent an hour and change in the Library, reading and listening to some music, then I started kinda poking around the Media Closet for something to watch off the To-Watch Pile, finally settling on The Poker Club, which I believe was a Big Lots purchase awhile back, or something I'd used to pad out a Pawn Shop 'five for $10' deal.

As I was getting ready to chill for the movie I just so happened to look in on the stupid Simpsons game that's been dead in the water for the past 10 days or so and was very pleasantly surprised to actually be able to sign into it for a change, so I took a few moments to run through there and perform the silly little tasks that'd been ignored for a week plus at this point, then finally got started watching the movie.

Gambling's For Suckers.

The Poker Club is based on the Ed Gorman novel of the same name and follows four friends who accidentally kill a burglar in one of their homes on the traditional poker night, then dump the body in a panic, as they've all been drinking and at least one dude is high on coke, which they feel will reflect poorly on them in the eyes of the investigating officers, y'know? The hook is that someone begins to follow them and make strange phone calls, which makes things increasingly dangerous as they try to stay out of the spotlight and keep their stories straight. I dug this one pretty well, especially since it made a point of subverting your expectations about certain reveals made within the first act. Decent little film, give it a look if you have the chance.

The wife had prepared a chicken dish and a couple sides for our dinner, so we tucked into that shortly after 6:30 or so, watching some Fox animation re-runs to pass the time, then flipping over to catch the opening bits of the Oscars, which were hosted by Seth MacFarlane, a choice that seemed to irritate more people than it really should, but that's our whiny, nit-picking culture for you. He was more at home singing than anything else, as some of the jokes felt a bit blah, but overall I thought he was fine in what has to be something of a thankless task, in that you can't offend anyone, but you have to really put on a great show and  try to blow everyone away with your hosting duties. Who in their right mind would want this job, but how could you pass on the gig, right? Anyway, we caught the first 30+ minutes of things, then flipped over to watch The Walking Dead as it aired so no online assholes could ruin anything for me.

We moved on to the new Girls, then Enlightened before flipping back to see the end of the Oscars, which was interesting enough. I don't bother with a lot of Oscar bait stuff, but I was pleased that Tarantino and Christoph Waltz both grabbed awards for Django Unchained, which was a nice surprise.  It was also cute to see Jennifer Lawrence be as flustered as she was for winning for Silver Linings Playbook.

We called it a night after the show ended and I put the wife and pup to bed before starting this post. Oh, but before turning off the TV I happened to see some of our local newscasters talking about the Oscars, and one of these fucking idiots says that he "expects to see a lot more from Jennifer Lawrence in the future", which irritated the hell out of me, because she's like, THE star of the Hunger Games franchise, y'know? This asshole is talking as if she might be around in other stuff, as if she hasn't already made a gigantic fucking mark on pop culture already and he thinks he'll see more of her. Yeesh. What a douchenozzle.

This is why I don't watch the local news.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

American Regan

This morning I woke with the alarm around 10:00, then greeted the wife and Yorkie and got the house opened up for the day. The excited pup accompanied me to grab the newspaper fro the driveway, which has become an expected highlight of her day, then I visited with the wife around the kitchen counter as she fired up the old coffee station.

The wife made us some coffee, then started the fairly laborious process of cleaning the machine, which involves a lot of steaming and what not. I took my coffee to go and spent time in the Office working on yesterday's blog post, getting everything written out for the day and saved for later publication.

Do You Take This Flute Player,
To Be Your Lawfully Wedded
Wife?

I eventually stepped out and grabbed some deli stuff to share with the wife for a light lunch, which we ate while watching American Wedding, rounding out my re-watches of the series and freeing me up to dive into the 4th film possibly tomorrow afternoon. While the first two films manage a a decent amount of heart interspersed with the vulgarity and general assholery, this time around Seann William Scott's Stifler character is played like a mentally challenged Tourette's patient and I kinda hated it, though it was funny to see a younger January Jones as the sister of the bride to be. I mean, it wasn't like the Stifler character was very likable in the other films, but he didn't just walk around blurting out profanities every other word like he does here, which just felt a bit over the top.

We had plans to be out and about in the evening, so I figured I'd start getting ready early so I wouldn't have the wife hanging around waiting on me. I showered and dressed in the mid-afternoon, then the wife got ready as well after waking from a nap with the pup and we headed out to pick up Anastasia Beaverhouszen and Kno1 for an early dinner at a restaurant in Odessa.

We had a good meal in a crowded restaurant, surrounded by the entirety of Odessa from all appearances, then finally headed back towards town to the performing arts center that's strategically located between the two cities to see what was up with our little event.



Brian Regan is a comedian that I've always liked, and when I saw that he'd be performing locally I naturally hit the wife up about getting tickets and maybe inviting another couple, and I was very happy to see that he was every bit as funny as I'd expected. I haven't watched as much stand-up as I used to in recent years, so I wasn't sure if his style might've morphed into something different than what I remembered, but it was wonderfully refined, the same great mix of physical comedy, oddball sound effects and attention to the use of language and how we relate to it.  It was a great evening and we headed back to town afterward, stopping into the Starbucks in Barnes & Noble to grab a coffee just for the hell of it.

We dropped our guests back at their place, then we headed home to check on the Yorkie and start winding down the evening. I put the wife and pup to bed, then got started on the notes for today after finally publishing another post from around this time last month.

I'm off to bed, because I'm tired and I'm calling it.

Be seeing you.

Carter's Road Trip With Josie To Get Some American Pie In The Octagon

The wife was up and at 'em this morning as I was rolling out of bed to the alarm, so she was getting dressed while I got the house opened up for the day and took the Yorkie to grab the newspaper. The wife split for a meeting and then another trip to the grocery store to grab the odds and ends that were forgotten on the last outing. I settled into the Office and got some finally touches put on another blog post that I was readying for publication, then spent the rest of the morning cleaning up the next post in anticipation of my Saturday being a little hectic.

The wife was kind enough to take my lunch order via text as she was heading home, so after we put away groceries and she headed back out to a final meeting I moved into the den and selected a random movie off the TiVo to watch.

But ARE All The Ninja Dead?
I Say Thee Nay.

The Octagon is a Chuck Norris actioner from 1980 in which he plays a retired martial arts champion who is drawn into a confrontation between a group of terrorists with ninja training and their victim, an heiress who has some questionable involvement with a man from Norris' past, played by Lee Van Cleef. So as things unspool I was immediately struck by the echoey voiceover that Norris has, because it's just so ham-handed and silly as he says shit like "It can't be... all the Ninja are dead..." Chuck is also not much of an actor either, so the conclusion that I have to start drawing is that the man's work just may not be for me, as the most I've gotten out of any of it is that it's merely okay. I've begun to wrack my brain to see if I actually saw any of his movies in their entirety when I was a kid, or just bits and pieces here and there, because I can't honestly say that I've ever been aware of the man beyond his reputation as an action star. I have no specific memories of any of his movies from my youth like a lot of people seem to, which I think makes him a hard sell now as an adult with what I feel are more discriminating tastes.

What Was My Brother Into?

The wife returned during the end of the movie and spent time playing around in the Craft Room, so when I finished my flick I touched base with her, then retired to the Library to read for a bit and listen to some jazz via the Pandora app.

As we got into the late afternoon I made myself a cocktail and moved back into the den to watch a little something off the To-Watch Pile, selecting Sylvester Stallone's re-make of Get Carter, which I recall watching on cable numerous times back when I was still living alone in the old apartment. The movie isn't good per se, but it's still pretty watchable and I dig the camaraderie between Stallone and his niece, played by Rachael Leigh Cook. Seeing her in this film sort of started to inadvertently plan the viewing for the rest of the night, which led into several more re-watches.

Meow, Kitties.

The wife made burgers for our dinner, so we dug into food as I popped in Josie And The Pussycats for a re-watch, which was another film from the old apartment days, something that I watched as background noise countless times. I'm pretty sure it's something we've watched together before, so the wife played on her phone and drifted in and out of the movie while I watched with a bit more interest. The flick holds up well, even if some of the then-current celebrities certainly date the film to a very specific time and place, the overall message about society being easily led by mass marketing and product placement in pop culture still holding painfully true. The presence of Breckin Meyer and Paulo Costanzo in supporting roles in Josie next led me to a re-watch of Road Trip, since I was sort of in the early 2000s comedy zone by this point.

Not Every Girl Will Let You
Tape Her Having Sex...

Road Trip is one of about 10 different movies that I was in heavy rotation with when I was first single for about a year and change before meeting the woman who would end up being the wife, so I would just spend evenings watching and re-watching the same shit over and over while drawing or painting in my little apartment after work. This one is thus a good bit of 'comfort food' as far as movie viewing goes, most of the funny lines coming back to me as I'm watching. The wife called it a night towards the middle of this one, as we were creeping past the 10:00 hour and that's usually her 'go time' as it were for beddy-bye. I put she and the pup to bed, then finished out the movie and weighed my next viewing option, as I was well and truly buzzed and feeling like making a late night of it since I could play catch up on Saturday morning, then get ready for the evening in the afternoon.

Keep The Dessert, Thanks.

Since Seann William Scott was a major part of Road Trip and I was in the comedy zone at this time I moved on to a re-watch of the first American Pie film, which I think I'd re-watched about a year or so ago, breezing through the trilogy before the 4th film came out if memory serves. I went on to pick them up in a cheap three pack set, which has remained on the To-Watch Pile ever since, so I busted that out and gave the first installment a spin. The films in this series are interesting to me in that they seem a little schizophrenic in the juxtaposition of vulgarity (of which there is a lot) within the sweet moments of the film, of which there is a little bit. There are characters that you truly feel care about one another, but then there's a guy accidentally drinking semen, which kinda cheapens the sentimental stuff in comparison, doesn't it? I'm kinda conflicted, but I do enjoy these stupid movies.

I wrapped the evening with a re-watch of American Pie 2, which further cemented my conflicted feelings about the series, though this one does amp up the sentiment a bit as relationships are cemented further, and I have to say that I'm impressed with the through-line that the movies seem to have. Sexual hijinx, semen and all, they do have a bit of heart in there as well.

I headed directly to bed, leaving the blogging for Saturday morning, as I just couldn't be bothered.

Be seeing you.

Reservoir Thursday

The wife was up and getting dressed when my alarm went off this morning, so I got the house opened for the day, then the Yorkie and I grabbed the newspaper before telling the wife good morning and inquiring about her plans. There were a couple estate sales in the newspaper that sounded intriguing (I'm still entertaining the pipe dream that I'll one day magically find that retro/vintage magazine rack that I want to put in the Library bathroom), so I dressed and left the wife poking around the web looking at her e-mail. The first sale was across town past the Loop, so I made my way over there and took a pass through this crowded house, finding nothing of interest. The lesson I'm learning with these estate sales is that they're like catnip for old women, because Jesus Christ did I have to fight my way through a throng of them to get through this place and finally make my escape.

I popped into Wal-Mart since I was on the far side of town anyway, picking up a cheap Blu-ray of 3 action films just for the hell of it, then took a wander through Target since I was in the neighborhood, coming away empty-handed yet again. I've come to the conclusion that our Target kinda sucks, since the one in Odessa seems to have a much better selection in their film section. Oh well.

The final stop for me was another estate sale closer to the house, which was packed to the gills with collectibles and furniture, which made for fun browsing, but the only thing I really found that was of interest was a vintage book about the show Dallas that I was pretty sure the wife didn't already have, so I finally paid out and picked up some lunch on my way home to chill with some television or possibly a movie.

The wife was out and about, so the Yorkie greeted me enthusiastically before settling back into the bedroom to patiently wait around for the wife to return. I settled into the den and watched Whitney from last night while the wife wasn't here to shame me for doing so. Okay, she probably wouldn't shame me, but I know she doesn't like the show, and knows the only reason I care at this point is that I think Whitney herself is cute. Eventually I moved on to an older episode of Nikita, a show that I stay behind on more often than not, then I hopped on the PC and worked on getting the blog updated for the day.

The wife got home and I helped her unload and put away groceries, catching up on our day thus far, then she worked in the Craft Room for a bit while I read in the Library and listened to some jazz.

Bang.

This morning I'd started listening to a podcast covering Reservoir Dogs, which kinda got me in the mood to finally crack open the Tarantino Blu-ray boxset that the wife got me for Christmas and give it another go, so when I finally surfaced I popped that in and watched it in the den while the wife and pup napped in the bedroom. As expected, the movie holds up amazingly well even with at least a year or more away from a viewing, and I was wrapping that up as the wife and pup came in to see what was going on.

The wife and I got some sushi that she'd picked up earlier arranged for our dinner, then we got into the normal NBC comedy stuff, then moved on to a new Person Of Interest that was really interesting in that it was told predominantly from the point of view of government agents who are actually using The Machine that Finch and Reese have a backdoor entry to, so we see a bit of how 'the man' uses the numbers that come up to act against terrorism instead of our normal stories about how they have to stop a wife from killing her husband or whatever. Definitely an interesting approach to the normal routines, and nice to see that they find the show strong enough to support an episode that barely features the two leads.

We wrapped the evening with a new episode of Archer, then I put the wife and pup to bed before getting started on this post.

Be seeing you.

Supernatural Grotesque Place

Wacky, Wacky Times...

Because I'm something of an idiot, I started reading through yet another book last night, though this one is much breezier, as it's largely a photo-essay on the VHS phenomenon. VHS: Absurd, Odd And Ridiculous Relics From The Videotape Era collects a ton of crazy covers from forgotten weird videos from the past, broken up by sections such as workout tapes, kids stuff, etc. It's accompanied by snarky little commentary below each video, though to honest a lot of it is just as clever as saying "really?" or poking fun at the silly '80s clothing, stuff like that. I will say that people have certainly made some puzzling, bizarrely specific cassettes over the years.

The wife split early this morning to run the Yorkie to the Groomer and then hit a couple meetings, so I woke with my alarm at 9:00 and got the hose opened for the day, then dressed and ran down my little list of errands I'd lined out for the morning before heading out. I popped into the little Library Thrift Store, found nothing, then stopped by a Pawn Shop on the South side that I'd never set foot in just to see what was up. They did have a smattering of movies, but absolutely nothing I wanted, so I made my way to Wal-Mart next to make that pass I'd considered yesterday.  Nothing caught my eye (see a theme developing here?), so I headed back towards the house, diverting to the Salvation Army in desperation to see if I could turn up a vintage magazine rack or anything else. The Salvation Army building reeked noticeably of either cats or urine, or a combination of both, so I guess all their furniture has been doused in cats and piss before it's dropped off for donation.

Leaving empty-handed, I made a couple other stops, picking up hamburger buns so that we could make sandwiches with last night's meatloaf and then grabbing myself some Thai for lunch because yesterday's meal was so tasty I decided to revisit it a scant 24 hours later.

More Sleaze, Please.

Back at the house I settled into the den to eat and watched Peyton Place for the first time off the TiVo, which I'd recorded off TCM. The film was basically something I was only aware of by name and reputation, as the title is synonymous with scandal and soap opera-styled drama, so I gave it a spin and was pretty impressed with it. Taking place in a small New England town of the same name, it follows a graduating class as the world braces itself for WWII, focusing on a handful of women and their various travails as young ladies coming of age or raising their children. The movie never particularly went anywhere I wasn't expecting, but I suppose for its time it was fairly shocking. The interwebs tell me that the author of the source material wasn't very keen on the film, which she felt pulled a lot of punches in spite of having twists involving gossip ruining lives, sexual abuse/rape, suicide and even murder, so I have to wonder what the hell the novel had going for it that she was so pissed off about it being left out? Were there Satanic orgies with children and small animals on the courthouse lawn or what?  It seemed as seedy as I'd expect a big budget movie from that era to ever feel comfortable getting.

The wife returned with the pup from the Groomer, so we got her fed and caught up on the day thus far while I cut up a box that I wanted to salvage the cardboard for a possible art project at a later date. The wife spent some time in the Office, then the Craft Room working on this or that, so I ended up in the Library reading for a bit in the late afternoon, then drifted back into the den to watch a little something off the To-Watch Pile.

Off To A Fun, Grotesque Start
With This Collection...

Grotesque is a film from one of the Roger Corman sets from Shout! Factory that I just hadn't gotten around to yet, so I gave that a spin and was pretty amused by it, even if a lot of that was out of pity for the piss-poor production values. There a disfigured character who has what look like a blood pressure cuff bulb hanging off the side of his face, which is both horrific and downright silly looking at the same time, so that was amusing. The upshot is that Linda Blair and a friend go to her family's cabin in the mountains, then a group of punkers turn up looking to rob them, whereupon the disfigured guy enters the fray and who the fuck knows whose side this guy is on? It was pretty crazy, and I enjoyed it for what it is, even if it's not that great of a film. I took particular relish in the fact that a 'manhunt' by the local cops didn't even involve bloodhounds as you might expect, but instead consisted of a black Labrador, a Doberman Pinscher and a particularly bored looking Husky, leaving me feeling like they asked everyone in the cast to bring their dog to work that day.

The wife and I had leftovers for our dinner while watching the new episode of Arrow, then I ended up marathoning my way through the last three episodes of Supernatural, just to try and get that current instead of being behind for the rest of the season. I put the wife and pup to bed, then got started on this post.

Be seeing you.

Tuesday Train

My bedtime reading last night consisted of another couple stories in the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge collection I've been enjoying, then I crashed out to try and catch at least 6 hours of sleep. The wife had an early morning meeting on the other side of Odessa, so she was long gone when I woke with the alarm today. The Yorkie was pleased to finally see me stir, so I gave her a little love, then got up and made the bed and looked in on The Simpsons game, which confirmed that it was still completely fucked, and that EA Games just doesn't care about the users at all, as they've still given no acknowledgement of the situation whatsoever.

I started listening to a podcast and got the bed made, then took the pup on a field trip to grab the newspaper, which seems to be a ritual that she's really come to look forward to, so that's kinda cute how she eyes me until I head towards the front door. I started a load of towels in the laundry room, the settled in the Office to get the blog updated for the morning. When that bit of rat-killing was taken care of I got a couple of Swap A DVD trades ready to mail and then gathered up the recycling to drop off while I was out and about. The Yorkie had a back yard ramble while I loaded up the car, then I finalized lunch plans to meet EL, DR and even BS, who I hadn't seen since possibly November of last year. I'd randomly reached out to BS yesterday afternoon and he'd suggested lunch today, which just so happened to work out for everyone.

I did the recycling, then debated running by Wal-Mart to browse their movies, deciding against it since I wasn't sure how long that might take and I didn't want to be late for lunch with the fellas. Instead I killed some time in a couple Pawn Shops and the local books, music and video outlet, where I turned up a few of the usual periodicals before heading to lunch.

We visited over some good Thai food, catching up a bit and also kinda tempering the typically obsessive jags that DR can get off on if you let him, so that was a good way to work things out. I hit the Post Office afterward, then stopped into the grocery store to pick up some tulips as a little surprise for the wife, as she seemed to really like the ones I got her Valentine's week. I finally headed home and arranged the flowers after checking in with the wife, who was napping after her early morning.

Not The Most Effective Mode
Of Travel, Plus There's All
The Terror...

The late afternoon found me in the Library reading for a bit, then my sweet wife made us some coffee and piddled with a few little projects in the Craft Room. I settled in the den with a cocktail in the early evening and popped in the Scream Factory Blu-ray of Terror Train off the To-Watch Pile, as I'd sort of had a hankering for some old school horror the past few days. The film overall is a basic slasher that I've only seen once before, but the interesting hook here is the unique setting of the train, and the fact that the killer keeps changing outfits and masks while on the train to remain anonymous and cover his tracks as the bodies start to pile up. The film is pretty basic, in that it all stems from a prank gone wrong, then cue vengeance a few years later, but it's a fun little ride and I dug it.

The wife made a nice meatloaf and French fries for our dinner, so we ate while watching Sunday's House Of Lies, last night's Hawaii Five-O and then finally moving on to the new Justified to wrap up the evening. I put the wife and pup to bed before getting started on this post.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Movie Shame Fou

Last night I crashed out at the usual time after reading a bit more of the Avengers Assemble book I've been slowly picking my way through, which is sort of the first time I've really devoted any real time to that particular team aside from a handful of issues back in the late '80s maybe? It's just one of those Marvel team books that I never gravitated towards for whatever reason (likely my allowance at the time was eaten up with the myriad Spider-Man and X-Men titles), but this run kicked off by writer Kurt Busiek and artist George Perez has been an interesting read, if only to see how the accommodate for various stuff that I've only been vaguely aware of over the years, specific villains, returning heroes, etc.

I woke this morning about 20 minutes before my alarm was set to go off, with the sounds of the wife in the shower kind of stirring me from my slumber. I cuddled with the Yorkie for a few, then got the house opened up for the day and made the bed before taking the pup to grab the newspaper from the driveway, which she was expecting now that it's become part of the morning ritual. I settled into the Office and looked in on The Simpsons: Tapped Out game, which continues to be well and truly fucked, so I guess the EA Games people just can't be bothered to work on things, as the game has been MIA for over 24 hours with no updates about the status what-so-fucking-ever. Needless to say, it's very frustrating and makes me glad that I've never bothered to spend even one thin dime on their bonus content, because if I'd wasted money on this stupid thing to have it become unplayable, I'd probably have smashed the iPad out of irritation by now.

The wife piddled around with a few phone calls while I worked on a couple of blog posts so that I can start getting caught up a bit more instead of just treading water as I have been doing, staying about a month behind. The wife and I ordered in a pizza for lunch, which we ate in the den while watching the first episode of the new season of Comic Book Men, which was the same as it ever was: the rest of the nerds picking on the Ming guy. Yawn.

Ah, The Divine Anna Karina... 

The wife chilled in the bedroom with some trash TV in the afternoon, so I decided to make my Movie Shame Monday selection and see what was up. I popped in the apparently out of print Criterion Blu-ray of Pierrot le Fou, which is a Jean-Luc Godard film that I'd never seen and a fairly well known piece of the French New Wave movement. Jean-Paul Belmondo and Anna Karina star, Belmondo is a bored husband who runs away with Karina, a former lover who turns up in his life as a babysitter, a turn that he seizes on as his way out of his boring married life among the bourgeois of Paris. They go on the run with hit-men pursuing them after Karina's involvement with gun runners, casually turning to a life of crime along the way. The film has some oddball stream of consciousness bits peppered throughout, though it kinda skips around the political and stylistic excesses that Godard's later work fell into, which consequently lost me entirely (I'm looking at you, La Chinoise), and I dug this one quite a bit. I'll be curious to see how it holds up on the eventual re-watch, because I really dig Belmondo and Karina's rapport in this one.

When the movie was over I decided to step out and grab a coffee from Starbucks, only to have the wife text me that she was on the way to the grocery store even though I had left her napping. I can only guess that the Yorkie started bugging her the moment I stepped out the back door. When I got back home I spent some time in the front living room reading while the Yorkie watched me like a hawk, as this was new behavior for her and she wasn't sure what the hell I was up to. The wife texted that she'd be home soon with groceries, which I helped her unload and put away before she headed back out to go to a couple of meetings that would keep her out until after 8:00 in the evening.

I Dunno If You Sweep This
Much Bad Behavior Under The
Rug So Easily Kids...

I finished my magazine and finally settled into the den to re-watch a random selection off the To-Watch Pile, the teen black comedy Teaching Mrs. Tingle, which I hadn't seen since the VHS days. Helen Mirren is an icy bitch-goddess as the titular teacher, who takes no small pleasure in ruining her students lives by being as dismissive and hateful as possible, then when three of them are implicated in a cheating scam, they take her hostage in her home in an escalating battle of wills to see who will finally be triumphant and get out of school alive. It's an okay movie, but ultimately the ending is a bit too easy, because there's a lot of crazy shit that went down in this film that wouldn't just glossed over quiet so simply as they do in the last five minutes of this flick. Oh well, it's an okay time-waster, but I doubt I'll be back to it any time soon.

The wife picked up burgers on her way home and we wrapped the evening with the new episode of Dallas and last night's ep of Californication.

I put the wife and pup to bed, then got started on this post, working around my usual interweb travels.

Be seeing you.

Sunday Calls

Rich Old Bastard!

After heading to bed earlier than usual last night I was able to squeeze in a little reading in two of the four (?) books I'm currently pecking away at on the night stand, which amounted to more of the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge book as well as another couple chapters in Don't Stand So Close by Eric Red, which is a novel about a kid whose teacher gets into a relationship with him, then encourages what I can only assume is bad behavior once he's under her 'spell' and charms. I think I'd be digging the book a little bit more than I am had I not noticed a couple different typos in it, because it's an actual book from a supposed publisher, not something someone threw together on Lulu for a self-publishing experiment in their spare time.

I woke without the alarm around 11:30 this morning, which the Yorkie seized on as her opportunity to catch my attention when I rolled over. We snuggled for a bit and I realized that the wife was still in the bed, though I sort of suspected that she and the pup had already been up for some time earlier before they'd crashed out again. I got up and moving, though the dog stayed behind in the bed to nag the wife awake, so I got the house opened for the day and took the pup to fetch the newspaper from the driveway. 

The wife busied herself in the Craft Room for a bit and I spent some time getting another blog post ready to publish in the Office. The wife stepped out to pick up some lunch for us shortly after noon, so I gave her my order and took advantage of her absence to get the blog updated so that I could be content to chill in the afternoon and maybe catch a movie off the TiVo or something.

Wacky Scouting Fun.

When she returned we both settled into the den to eat, watching the last episode of Hawaii Five-O that we'd stacked up for the past month or so, then I suggested a comedy that I'd grabbed off the HDNet Movies channel awhile back. Nature Calls stars Patton Oswalt as a scout leader whose troop is in danger of being dissolved due to the dwindling interest by the small handful of kids he has in his charge. His invalid father, who started the troop in the first place suggests a last ditch effort into actual camping in the woods, rather than the back of some parking lot, which is what they've been reduced to due to over-protective parents and various rules and regulations, so Oswalt essentially kidnaps the kids from a sleepover birthday party for his nephew and heads for the mountains, with his agitated brother (Johnny Knoxville) in angry pursuit with his friend/employee (a largely annoying Rob Riggle) and another parent (the late Patrice O'Neal) of one of the kids. It's a funny movie overall, but the film ends on a note that doesn't indicate that anyone gets arrested or fucking sued over the gross negligence in this one, but I guess it is a comedy, so you have to kinda suspend that disbelief, eh?

The wife and pup napped in the late afternoon so I spent some time on the Guest Side of the house, filing away a few movies in the Media Closet, then read for a bit in the Library before finally surfacing just before 6:00 in the evening. I made myself a cocktail, said hey to the wife and Yorkie in the Craft Room, then hopped online for a few to Google a few things that'd come up as questions while I was reading. We soon settled into the den to watch the normal Fox animation stuff, with the wife stepping away at some point to cook a little stir-fry dish for our dinner.

We blew through the usual cartoons and a new episode of The Walking Dead, so the web can't spoil it for me, then moved on to Girls and Enlightened. Enlightened continues to frustrate me, but I think that's just how it's going to be until the end of the show, whenever that happens to be.

I put the wife and dog to bed, then got started on this post while listening to a couple podcasts and occasionally checking in on The Simpsons Tapped Out game, which has been completely fucked since this morning, an irritating turn of events, let me assure you.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Beyond The Black Excision

Last night I spent a little time reading the first couple stories in the Uncle Scrooge collection Only A Poor Old Man, which is the second volume of the Fantagraphics library of Carl Barks' duck stuff and made remember that I have to grab the next one that's already out. I certainly don't want to sleep on these and manage to let them go out of print on me, just because it's some of my favorite nostalgia material.

The wife and Yorkie were up and about when I finally woke up this morning, as I could hear the wife on the phone in the craft room while she piddled with projects in between fielding calls. I looked in on The Simpsons and then got the house opened up for the day, taking the Yorkie for the little walk to the driveway to grab the newspaper. I spent some time on the web looking at e-mail and getting another blog post published, then I started thinking about my lunch. The wife wasn't interested in anything, so I dressed to get out and hit a drive-thru, pausing to yell at the stupid dog for apparently dropping a deuce on the bedroom rug in the middle of the night.

I grabbed a burger from a place across town that left me cooling my heels in their drive-thru for a good 15+ minutes before I was finally able to head home and relax in the den with the wife. I popped in a Netfux Rental that we've had on hand forever in an effort to try and start rotating those out again. Sigh.

Arty, Beautiful, Brutal.

Excision is a recent horror film starring Annalynne McCord as an awkward teen whose delusions and daydreams include bizarrely artsy surgery tableau, peopled with half nude characters who writhe about in sexual ecstasy as she operates on them, which kinda sets the tone for what you're getting into right from the first scene. She clashes with her domineering mother (Traci Lords), who is hellbent on raising nice normal kids in spite of how obviously troubled her oldest is. The younger sister suffers cystic fibrosis, a condition that comes into play later in the film. McCord is a gorgeous girl (and apparently a star of that 90210 re-boot) who plays it extremely low key, uglied up with bad hair, zits, cold sores - the works. She really sells her character as an unhinged being, but you still root for her because there's a dark humor to the film that keeps you engaged even as you become increasingly aware of just how unsettled she might actually be. I really dug the film the more that I think about it, and I will definitely be owning for a future revisit.

After the movie the wife caught a nap in the bedroom and I read for awhile in the den, since I was already ensconced and comfy. I finally stepped back out to drop the movie in the mail and hit the liquor store for some Maker's Mark since I'd kinda hit that hard this week and needed to replenish for the coming week.

Strap In, It's Gonna Get Weird.

I chilled back in the den with a cocktail and popped in a movie that Buckaroo Banzai loaned me ages ago, at least a month or so before they moved: Beyond The Black Rainbow. Directed by Panos Cosmatos, the film was made in 2010, is set in 1983 and looks like it takes place in the disused sets from a Kubrick film of the late '60s. The basic set-up is that a mute girl with largely unknown powers is held and interrogated in a sterile facility by a doctor, so we sit through a bit of their weird cat and mouse as he tries to bait her into exhibiting her powers, all of which is presented in a very washed out '70s looking color saturation and set to a ominous prog rock score that really sets a tone for the film. I have to say that I really enjoyed this, though it was definitely a matter of me just committing to a couple 'style over substance' films for the afternoon and just going with it. There's likely a few things that could be trimmed down, but overall I really enjoyed this one and would recommend it if you can deal with a slow moving, trippy journey that may not end with any real answers.

The wife popped in towards the end of the movie and inquired about dinner, which she was so kind as to fetch while I wrapped the flick, then we ate while watching a handful of Hawaii Five-O episode that were stacked up on the TiVo, wrapping the evening with this past Thursday's episode of Elementary.

I put the wife and pup to bed, then got started on this post along with the usual evening rat-killing that I trump up for myself.

Be seeing you.

Savage Sisters, Dinners And Television

This morning I woke without the alarm around 10:30, then snuggled with the excitable Yorkie for a few and looked at my e-mail before opening the house for the day and going to see what the wife was up to. She was in the process of getting dressed for a little outing that included a meeting and then lunch with a girlfriend so we visited briefly, then I took the pup to grab the newspaper before settling into the Office to poke around the web for a bit. The wife split to run her various errands and I listened to a podcast while cleaning up a month-old blog post for publication, then got a second one ready to roll for the weekend before coming to a stopping point and getting dressed to step out and grab myself a little burger or whatever for lunch.

I hit up McDonald's for a second time this week because I obviously have some kind of deathwish, but I also scored another Transformers Happy Meal toy to eventually hand off to Buckaroo Banzai, so that's fun, right? I headed back to the house and popped in a little something form the To-Watch Pile to pass the time, as I wanted to try and squeeze in a movie before I had to head back out to get a much-needed haircut.

More Like Beware: This Movie
Isn't As Sleazy As It Pretends
To Be...

Savage Sisters is a film that I picked up ages ago from Cinema De Bizarre, who deal in 'grey market' titles that are largely out of print or unavailable in other forms. The film is in the mold of a lot of the films that were made on the cheap in the Philippines, and this one is from the director of the largely superior Black Mama, White Mama, co-stars Sid Haig in a fairly racist sounding role as a Mexican guy with one of those cartoonish "we don' need no steenkin' batches" kinda accents and features absolutely no nudity what-so-fucking-ever, which is something of a slap in the face considering that it's a Goddamned Exploitation Movie. It has a few somewhat entertaining moments, but overall I would've rather watched one of its sleazier counterparts, just because those ring a bit more true in the face of this prick tease of a movie, sorry. I just hate it when my enjoyment of a film is somewhat hamstrung by my initial expectations, but I feel like that was very much the case here. Maybe knowing how milquetoast it actually is in advance will allow me to enjoy it more on an eventual re-watch, but that won't be happening any time soon.

The wife returned during the movie and chilled in the bedroom with the pup, so after I finished the movie I told them goodbye and went to visit the Hairdressers to get my hair cut. After catching up with them I headed home, stopping to gas up the car along the way since I knew I had to drive us to dinner tonight and didn't want to be worried about having to stop in the likely colder weather. Back at the house I killed some time poking around in The Simpsons game on the iPad, then dressed for the evening in advance of the wife joining me to run over to the South side to meet friends for dinner at a favorite Mexican place. We were joined by Brian, as well as Anastasia Beaverhouszen and Kno1, so we all caught up a bit and even ran into Kno1's mother and step-father/business partner, who treated the table to dinner. This is a nice gesture, but was apparently more borne out of guilt than anything else, as there'd been some more family drama going down on their side of the street this week.

We went our separate ways after the meal, though Brian did come by for a visit at the house since it was fairly early. We chilled in the den and I spent some time getting the TiVo updated so that various stuff doesn't start deleting itself, then we watched tonight's episode of Portlandia. Brian seemed at least vaguely amused by the show, so I showed him the first episode via Netfux Instant Watch, just to give him more of a taste of the series. He split shortly after the show ended and I put the wife to bed before getting started on this post so that I can crash soon myself.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.

Valentine's Day And Warm Bodies

The wife and Yorkie were up and about when I woke up this morning, so I lay in bed poking around with e-mail (which included a mea culpa from Best Buy after I wrote them an e-mail about their lousy service this past Tuesday, so that's kinda cool - they even offered a gift card to make things right), then I greeted the wife as she was doing her hair and said good morning. The Yorkie and I fetched the newspaper from the front of the house, then I offered to step out and grab a little breakfast for us, which would give me a decent excuse to grab the wife's final gift from the trunk of the car, where I'd honestly forgotten that I'd left it after my shopping excursion on Tuesday.

When I returned the wife and I exchanged gifts, hers being the cute little ring that I selected for her, which she seemed pleased with, so I was happy with my choice. The wife in turn gifted me with a couple books from the Amazon wishlist as well as a little thing of candy and a Family Guy Valentine's themed giftset that included a travel mug and a little stuffed Stewie. Cute stuff.

An estate sale caught my eye, so I asked the wife if she'd be willing to go on a little outing and we dressed for the day and headed out to bargain hunt. As we rounded the corner I noticed that there was a familiar vehicle in our driveway so I stopped so that we could say hello to Anastasia Beaverhouszen, who was out spreading Valentine's Day cheer and dropping of some little homemade cupcakes on our doorstep. We thanked her and chatted briefly, then headed out to follow some Google Map directions that took us to a house with nothing really priced to be worth the purchase, but the mention of 'Simpsons collectibles' had caught my eye and I just had to check it out.

We stopped into a little junk store I'd been wanting to prowl through for awhile now, as I'm sort of in the market for a vintage magazine rack for the library bathroom, but I'm not particularly interested in buying a new one for a ton of cash and it feels like the sort of thing I can find kinda cheap if I bide my time and just do some casual legwork here and there. As it turned out I found no real furniture of any kind in this place, but I did (ironically) turn up a little hardcover Simpsons/Futurama crossover collection in a slipcase, so that was kinda cool.

We had lunch at a little cafe across town, which is located in side a greenhouse for kind of a breezy atmosphere that makes you think you're out in nature even though you're indoors, which is actually pretty nice considering our shitty local weather and blowing dust makes eating outdoors something of a dicey proposition more often than not; this is a nice alternative. We had a decent meal (even if the waitress was 'in the weeds' and spent half the time running around like a headless chicken), then browsed the little shop adjacent on our way out. We hit the Loop and headed to the theater, where we'd decided to take in a matinee and just kind of make a day of it with our little 'date'.

That's One Charismatic
Zombie...

Warm Bodies is a 'rom-zom-com' from Jonathan Levine, which stars Nicholas Hoult as a zombie who retains a certain amount of his humanity, which begins to change him for the better after he falls for a girl and saves her from his fellow ghouls (but only after eating her boyfriend), which then transitions into a cute little love story. I've naturally heard a bunch of horror types bitching about this movie and how the zombies 'don't look like zombies', etc., but honestly, it's not the same old zombie movie, it's a love story narrated from the point of view of the lead zombie, who's desperate to be around this girl, which in turn begins to heal him from the inside out. It's not the same kinda zombie movie you might expect, but it was a ton of fun and kinda reminded me of certain criticisms of The Fifth Element, with people saying that only a French director would say that love is what must save all of existence. It's worth a look and fit in with the light tone for our day, even down to a chill audience that sat down and just watched the film, nary a cellphone in sight. Wonders never cease.

We headed home and piddled around the house, then the wife finally started the dinner we'd planned (a beef tenderloin, baked potato and salad) and I had a drink and watched an episode of Animaniacs off The Hub channel. We ate while digging into tonight's new episode of Community, which was okay but still had a really sappy ending that left me feeling like it's going to get uglier before it's all over with. We caught the rest of the NBC comedy fare, including another episode of The Office that had me gritting my teeth as the writers seem to want to make the characters as unlikable as possible before it all ends; the Andy guy was annoying before, now he's just an asshole that I'd like to punch.

The wife bailed for bed after a new Person Of Interest then I stayed up a little later watching the new Archer before getting started on this post.

I'm out kids.

Be seeing you.