I have to admit that Ric and I went to this movie with pretty much having intentions of mocking Al Gore. The man was the most boring candidate for President, and was the biggest sore loser of a loser I have ever seen. Ric has textbooks in which Gore predicted Florida would be underwater by now (or the next few years) due to global warming, so we thought it would be funny to see how he has adapted his predictions since then.

What was surprising was that Al Gore was actually likeable. While still being a sore loser and critical of anyone's political ideals besides his own, he was amiable, funny, and a lot more entertaining than he ever was during the presidential race. He also has some new hair plugs, which makes the back of his head a lot easier on the eyes.

The movie itself should not be completely ignored, but it definitely had potential for improvement. Categorized as a documentary, I think it fell a bit short of its potential. 90% of the movie was footage of ONE presentation Gore gives on the human race's contributions to global warming. The other 10% were close-up profile shots of Al Gore doing some deep thinking, along with a couple of pictures of his past. Yes, the presentation is an effective one, but as a documentary, I felt like there could have been a bit more real footage of locations, experts talking, etc. Another thing the movie lacked, which has been brought up by several critics, is any focus on non-human causes of global warming. How much impact will our efforts make if nature is acting against them?

In the end, I was convicted a bit because I know I can be wasteful with a lot of things. I use more electricity than necessary, I just bought a new car that gets 20mpg because it's supercharged and fun, and since I live in an unincorporated area I don't even recycle. I can do more than I currently do. And that's what I got out of this movie.

I liked it, but saw room for improvement, but at least it made me think more seriously about the subject matter than I had previously done.

The Disney Blog: Captain Jack and the Cabin Boy Rumors

Depp says he was intrigued by a scholarly work titled "Sodomy and the Pirate Tradition." "I liked the idea of [Jack] being ambiguous," he tells Mark Binelli in the new summer double issue of Rolling Stone. "Because women were thought to be bad luck on ships. And these pirates would go out for years at a time. So, you know, there is a possibility that one thing might lead to another. You're lonely. You have an extra ration of rum. 'Cabin boy!'"

Makes sense to me. But does this mean Keith Richards might be bi as well? :D

Our housewarming party on Saturday was fun, even though Grace and Jon got some things stolen. I'm still very puzzled about that and who would do that. Here's a pic of me taking a pic wearing my new t-shirt Jeri and Ric got me:

Other than that I've just been working, sleeping, and hanging out. We're hopefully getting a fridge and a washer and dryer this weekend. Things at work are very busy and we are horribly understaffed, but I'm enjoying it. It's been really hot and muggy this week. I feel like I'm back in Misery. Oh well....

(Abby, Ruth, and Amy on our day off)

I like where I work. I like spending time with the people with whom I work.

We had our annual department retreat yesterday. We have a very small budget with which to cover the costs of food and entertainment for over 20 people, so it was a bit of a struggle to come up with something we could afford this year. Last year we did the Long Beach Aquarium.

So this time around we waited until the last minute to decide and ended up going the easy route: shopping, eating, and entertainment in downtown Brea.

We met up at the Corner Bakery Cafe for breakfast. I had a lunch for breakfast because I have a weakness for tomato-mozzarella-basil sandwiches. After that we went shopping along the promenade. Seriously, there were so many good sales. Tops for $5, $12, and $11.50, skirts for $3.97, and even more stuff on sale. I spent my whole montly budget for clothing in about 2 hours and came away with a lot of good stuff.

For lunch we headed out to the Cedar Creek Inn. Yummy! I had some angel hair pasta with tomatoes, garlic, and goat cheese, along with a lot of lemonade (very refreshing on a 100 degree day). It's always fun to have lunch with all the girls from work. I had enough food for 2 more meals after I was done, but I had to let it go since I wasn't going home for a few more hours. Pity.

After lunch the whole department piled into the theater to see The Lake House. It ended up being better than we thought (review to come) and perfectly suitable for our all-ages audience.

We even finished the day early and I got to come home and relax a bit more than usual. Ric and I ended the evening talking finances at Starbucks, figuring out what we want to do with our next investment moves, if it all checks out. Overall a very fun and satisfying day!

I got my signed D-Shirt yesterday! Sorry for the bad crop job. It's hard to click "Take Picture" while holding up a tshirt in front of a webcam.

I know I can stick a DVD in the player any time, but I don't always do it because I'm lazy. So it's my fault I got stuck watching this while cleaning over the weekend.

This is possibly the worst movie I have seen in several years. It's offensive in so many more ways than I expected it to be. Don't watch it.

This weekend we covered a lot of ground.

On Friday for the short day, I went to get a haircut. It looked good for about 2 hours. It looks fine now, but I just can't get my hair to do what I want it to do. I went shopping for makeup supplies, got some tofu sukiyaki, and watched soccer with Pip all afternoon. I can't remember what we did that night. Probably shopping or eating out.

Saturday I worked out with Ruth, went back to bed, got up around noon, and worked on cleaning the house for company. Becky was visiting from AZ, so we had her and Kristen over to chat. My sister came over too, and we all watched soccer and the season finale of The Office. For dinner, we went to the Olive Garden with Josh and Wendy and Connor, then we went to the Neal's house to hang out a while. After THAT, we went to Brendan's housewarming party in Anaheim. It was a fun night out. Brendan and his friends have a sweet place, but I guess some friends of their friends aren't so cool, because it turned out someone stole some of Gron's stuff. Not cool.

Sunday we went to church where we met up with Judi and Ralph. Then we did some shopping, had some KFC, and came home to veg. I watched a bunch of soccer, and then we went out to see The Inconvenient Truth (review to come).

Lots of stuff. Lots of good stuff. Anyway. That's the wrap-up. Good times.

Some you'll care about, and some you won't, but I've added tons of photos from May and a couple from June to the gallery. May includes my hairdresser's bridal shower, work birthday and graduation celebrations, a tea lunch at work, mother's day, Jon's birthday, Meat Day, the Mini, Pip, and our entire set of photos from Camp Nelson.. Phew! Loads of stuff.

Wildstorm has announced the release of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: The Black Dossier. This time around Alan Moore is has foregone the single issue installments and is instead releasing the comic as an original graphic novel. According to the release information, the volume reveals a lot about the history of the League, and includes:

A "Tijuana Bible" insert and a 3-D section complete with custom glasses, as well as additional text pieces, maps, and a stunning cutaway double-page spread of Captain Nemo's Nautilus submarine by Kevin O'Neill.

This one sounds like a lot of fun. I can’t wait until it comes out!

Last Thursday night the Fox Fullerton had another Movies at the Fox event, where the audience sets up in the parking lot behind the theater and they project a movie on the back wall of the theater. This month's selection was Jaws. This experience wasn't as good as the last couple I had going to this event because the fundraising staff just wastes way too much time. First of all, they said the show started at 8. Actually, they chose to do this on the second longest day of the year, so they had to wait for the sun to go down before they even began the pre-movie entertainment.

They started around 8:30 and showed us a documentary short on Fullerton women who went to work during WWII. Touching, yes, but a time killer since they were already half an hour behind. Then they had a raffle giveaway. Then they asked everyone to donate money. Then they babbled a bit. (By the way, a professional emcee would be a good idea for next time.) FINALLY the show was starting around 9, an hour behind schedule, and it began with a Baby Huey cartoon that was a lot funnier when I was younger. I never realized how annoying he was. It was already getting cold at nine, and those of us who came early for decent seats had already been sitting there for over an hour and a half. MEH!

On to the show. I had actually never seen Jaws, so this was a perfect way to see it, in the summer, on the "big screen", and with a responsive audience.

I really liked the movie. What really attracted me to it was the sense of humor that showed up in the middle of such a weird situation. Sometimes all people can do is laugh when faced with the absurd, the humor seemed right at home, and it also provided a lot of tension relief that made the scary moments even more effective. The only thing I thought a bit weird were the moments of unrealistic long laughs, especially from Richard Dreyfuss.

Jaws is very well paced. It doesn't hurry to give us the sensational moments, but provides us with just enough scare to keep us going all throughout. Spielberg keeps a very even flow, always quite calm, and I liked that. The famous scene where Schneider says "We're gonna need a bigger boat" is a great example of that - this massive shark rears its ugly head right at him, but the scene remains relatively quiet, and he merely backs into the cabin to tell the others. I loved that.

The movie succeeds in freaking us out by the end. The final battle with the shark was able to make me react with a few "ewwww!"s. It's impressive to me that the movie can provide that scare/grossout effect for a new audience, even 30 years after it was first released.

I did get a little bit confused with the Dreyfuss cage scene. With the blood in the water around the cage, I assumed he was wounded, so I was surprised to see him without a scratch at the end of the movie.

All in all, very entertaining and well-made, and I'm glad I finally got around to seeing it!

So, our bad luck summer continues. Let's recap:

• no internship for Lucas
• digital camera stolen
• Kelly's continued battle with her teeth is dealt a crushing blow and the dentist goes to town in her mouth
• $500 car repair only to discover another $1300 is needed (the car is far from worth it)

Yesterday, we went to get an oil change and tire rotation for the other car. It turns out that two tires were on their last legs, so they were replaced. Expected expense for oil change and tire rotation: $40. Actual cost when all was said and done: $240. Eek.

Also, if you'll remember, Kelly went to Omaha two weeks ago, a couple of days before I headed out there. We have been going to the gym everyday, so I went by myself on that Thursday and played basketball instead of lifting weights. In pick-up game #2, my knee decided that it would retire after a scant 25 years on the job. I crashed to the ground after a rebound. There was a bit of yelling, paramedics came, and the knee ballooned up good. I saw a doctor the next day who gave me crutches, a brace, and crazy huge ibuprofren pills. I checked back in a week after some swelling had gone down and there was no new news. On Monday I saw an orthopedist at the university. The verdict? Torn ACL, sprained MCL, undecided on if there was any meniscus injury. Physical therapy begins tomorrow and I will hopefully get the full range of motion back so that I don't wince every time my leg bends too far. Surgery looks likely, but it doesn't look fun. What was fun, aside from the underarm chafing, was crutches (which I'm off of now). Because of them I was able to rock the electric cart at the airport and had an excuse to not move from the couch during the World Cup.

So, we are hoping that to trade in Bad Luck June 2006 (BLJ06) for an awesome June in 2007, seeing as how I will be needing a job and such.

Here's to a better July!



P.S. If there is one sport I feel that I could truly excel at, it's kickball. Yet, because of the knee, I've been placed on the DL for the remainder of our summer league season. Instead, I've taken on the task of training Kelly, who will undoubtedly emerge as a star.

So OSU won the Baseball National championship. It was awesome.

The end.

The Sparrow has Landed! Scenes from the ride/film premiere - www.ezboard.com

These are definitely the best pics of the new Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbosa audio animatronic figures I've seen. Check them out if you want to be spoiled!

Aggro Me: Friday Humor: Motivate Me

Here's another good link from Les. This one is my fave:

The Un-Funny Truth About Scientology

This isn't for the faint of heart since it contains autopsy photos and such but it's worth a look if you've only heard the jokes about Scientology and haven't heard about all the other things going on. Found via Stupid Evil Bastard.

A brief update on my fundraising effort for the Ulman Cancer Fund for Young Adults through the Ryka Iron Girl 5-mile race:

It is going great so far! I have raised about half of my goal ($500). In addition, I am on target for my training for the race. After a week off in Omaha while visiting my family, I have stepped it up and should be ready to go August 4th.

I will continue to post updates on my progress here, as well as on my fundraising site http://www.active.com/donate/UCF/kellyward.

~Kelly

Ok, so Oregon State is in the college world series, and I have been casually observing them all year. They play UNC tomorrow in the final Championship game. So on that note go read this aritcle, and go Beavs.

This one's a video from WoW featuring an original song called "Big Blue Dress." Pretty cool.

Kevin Smith has re-launched his entertainment news site moviepoopshoot.com as Quick Stop Entertainment. So far there's a lot of great content up there. Check out this little promo Kevin and Mewes made for the site:

And don't forget, Clerks 2 hits theaters on July 21st.

Sometimes when I’m watching TV and I see a commercial for the latest network sitcom or reality show, I think, "There are scores of highly talented, unemployed writers and actors in this country; why are we still subjected to this garbage?" But I already know the answer: Ratings. Network television is paid for mostly by advertising, which means their profits are in direct correlation with the number of viewers their programs have. And the way to attract the greatest number of viewers possible is to appeal to the lowest common denominator, which translates into: garbage.

A few years ago, when HBO had several popular and critically-acclaimed series (The Sopranos, Sex & The City, Six Feet Under, etc) I heard an interviewer ask someone at HBO how they were able to come up with so many great programs. I was surprised to hear the person say it’s because it doesn't matter how many people watch the shows. HBO has no commercials, so they make all of their money through subscriptions (the complete opposite of network television). They way they get people to sign up is by generating buzz through positive reviews, so their shows’ success actually depends on what the critics think, rather than the number of people who actually watch.

Read more »

Lately I've been listening to Danielson (aka The Danielson Famile, aka Tri-Danielson), which is a loose, constantly shifting musical group led by Daniel Smith (aka Brother Danielson). I first heard about them in connection with their sometimes collaborator, Sufjan Stevens. Like Sufjan, Danielson makes quirky, eclectic Christian folk music. While Br. Danielson's falsetto singing voice takes some getting used to, the music is very interesting.

The group recently released the album Ships, which I took to almost immediately. The song "Did I Step On Your Trumpet?" is extremely catchy, and is probably my favorite song of 2006 (so far). When I first listened to it with Erika, its joyous melody inspired us to dance around the house. We were still singing the song hours later.

As luck would have it, you can now download "Did I Step On Your Trumpet?" for free at Danielson's official website (for some reason, b2evolution isn't letting me just make a link, so here's the whole url: http://www.danielson.info/site/index.php/ships). If you want to know more about this Br. Danielson guy, read this very entertaining interview.

Well, the United States was eliminated from the World Cup on Thursday. They deserved it for not playing well. Since the U.S. is gone, I've had to find a new team to cheer for. I choose England because of the man Peter Crouch. If you pasted my head on him, you would know what I look like playing soccer. He is 6'6" and one scrawny dude. Plus, he sometimes does the robot when he scores.

In other news, I stopped the TV on TLC's The Baby Story the other day. This woman was giving birth (one of those water births) and not having any fun whatsoever. At one point, she has a terrified look on her face and screams "Oh God! What is that?!" One of the nurses calmly replied, "That's the baby's head."

There was an attempt on Kelly's life the other day - by a glass of water. Unfortunately, I could probably be charged as an accomplice. You see, I thought she was looking out the window as her back was turned to me. She had actually turned to drink from a glass of water. I put my hand on her head and startled her, prompted inhalation of a mouthful of water. There was much coughing, but she's ok. I just have to live knowing I almost drowned my wife.

The Watchmen film is back in production with a new director. This time it's Zack Snyder, best known for the remake of Dawn of the Dead.

I can't help but feel that the prospects of a truly great adaptation are lost. After reading the reviews for United 93, I am convinced that Paul Greengrass (the previous director attached to Watchmen) would have handled the film with all the realism and subtle political nuance that it requires. I can't imagine Zack Snyder bringing the same kind of sensitivity to the project.

But I could be wrong. I certainly would never have chosen the director of The Frighteners to take on The Lord of the Rings, and that turned out pretty well. All I know is that, like Lord of the Rings, if Watchmen isn't adapted absolutely perfectly, there are going to be a lot of angry nerds to deal with.

Flying At Night : Poems 1965-1985 (Pitt Poetry Series) by Ted Kooser

H. P. Lovecraft : Tales (Library of America) Edited by Peter Straub

On Wednesday, I returned after spending a week in Omaha with my family. Lucas was on a different flight, so he came back on Tuesday night. Here is a rundown of our trip:

• Vistited my brother's apartment in downtown Omaha, which we hadn't seen. He moved in the first week of January or so, but we hadn't been back before last week. My mom and I had dinner with him at a little restaurant called La Buvette on Wednesday night, where the owner bears a strong resemblance to Albert Einstein.
• Thursday was spent relaxing and shopping for wedding presents.
• Friday, I got to meet my cousin's new baby, Jacob. Friday was also the rehearsal dinner for my friends Laura and Brett. After rehearsal at the church, the dinner was at a restaurant called Mr. C's. I hadn't been there since I was in junior high, so it was fun to go back.
• Saturday morning, Lucas' flight arrived. My mom picked him up while I was with the other bridesmaids getting our hair done. The wedding was beautiful. The reception was held at the University of Nebraska-Omaha's alumni center.
• Sunday, my brother and I took my dad frisbee golfing for father's day. My brother has been doing frisbee golf for several years now, so he was really good. My dad also picked it up pretty quick. As Lucas mentioned in a previous post, I just recently learned how to throw a frisbee. This was duly noted in my score of +40 over par.
• Monday, Lucas and I went to a College World Series game--Oregon State v. Rice. We also went down to my brother's apartment and cooked dinner with him. Dinner was followed by a necessary trip to an Omaha landmark--Ted and Wally's icecream. Jeff lives just 2 blocks away. I recommend the cinnamon icecream, although Jeff says the Cherry Almond is good, too.
• Tuesday, Lucas flew back to Denver. But, before he left we ate dinner at a new restaurant addition in the Omaha area (Kristy, get ready...): Maid Rite! I also visited a friend from gradeschool that just moved into a new home.
• Wednesday, my mom and I went shopping for some plants and a new rock for her garden. Then, after lunch, she took me to the airport.

It was a good trip, and good to see family and friends.

~Kelly

Big Brain Academy

Gnarls Barkley - St. Elsewhere

Buffy the Vampire Slayer - The Chosen Collection (40 Disc DVD Set) (Seasons 1-7)

Happy B-day to my second favorite director/writer/comic book author.

So I got to go on Pirates of the Caribbean tonight after my shift. It was great. I won't spoil anything, but I will say that the new special effects are amazing, the new animatronics look great, the chase scenes ARE back (but in a new way), the new music is cool, and everything that you love about the attraction is pretty much still there (with a digital soundtrack to boot!).

I still don't understand the naysayers who say things like "Walt wouldn't do this, blah blah blah." Walt made more changes, additions, and updates in the 10+ years he ran the park than were made in the entire remaining 40 years. My favorite quote of his goes something like, "As long as there is imagination left in the world, Disneyland will always be changing..." Walt personally added multiple scenes to pet attractions of his such as the Jungle Cruise and the Disneyland Railroad. I didn't hear anyone complaining about the updates to the Jungle Cruise they made this year, and that attraction has been around since the park opened. Not to mention the cool new scenes in The Haunted Mansion that just opened. I seriously think that the bulk of the naysayers will be silenced once they get on the ride.

For those folks out there wanting to ride on Monday when it opens to the public, either get there at the crack of dawn or get ready to wait. The lines will probably be insane for a few days and then they should start calming down. Thankfully Pirates is a true "people eating" attraction so even when it's super busy I think the lines won't be too out of control once the hype dies down a little bit. The best times I've witnessed to ride are usually during Fantasmic and during the Fireworks. Oh, and I would highly discourage any of you Annual Passholders from coming to the park this Saturday. We're hosting the World Premiere of the new movie and the park is closing at 5 PM. The park will be full of angry tourists and autograph hounds. There's your little Disneyland tip of the day. On that note, I'm off to bed!

I just had to tell you guys this thing that happened to my roommate Chris because it's still kind of freaking me out. This morning I got a text from Chris saying his car got broken into. It turned out someone broke into his locked car, stole some checkbooks from the glove compartment and an old clicker for a car Chris doesn't have anymore from the trunk. The car was locked when Chris found it. He only knew stuff was missing because his glove box was open as well as the opening in the back seat to the trunk. Nothing else was missing. Chris got back around noon from school at Fullerton college and was all freaked out. He had gone back to his car, which was locked, at the Fullerton College parking lot and found his checks and the clicker sitting on the front seat! How freaking insane is that??? Let's just review the facts:

1. Chris' car was locked at all times. There was no evidence of a break in.
2. No other cars (including mine, which was parked right next to Chris' car) were broken into.
3. Fullerton college is like 15 miles from our apartments!

The only explanation I have is that someone is messing with Chris. But he has no idea who would be able to pull this off or why they would do it. Our only other explanation is that someone grabbed the checks and stuff planning to use them, noticed all of Chris' army medals and patches and stuff in his car, felt bad later, noticed he had a Fullerton college sticker on his car, went over there, broke in his car again, and put the stuff back. But who in the world would do that? So the whole thing is just bizarre.

No matter how this movie is being marketed, please note that it is not a romantic comedy. There are romance elements and comedic elements, but The Break-Up doesn't give you the warm and fuzzies.

If you can take it for what it is, the movie isn't all that bad, actually. As Brooke and Gary, played by Aniston and Vaughn, have a relationship that starts to go sour, the scenes we watch are representatives of arguments that have taken place in homes all across the world. While I could see where their communication skills were a bit lacking, I couldn't help but laugh a little at a few familiar moments during the scene where Brooke is preparing a dinner and Gary wants to relax instead of help her get things ready.

As the movie progresses, things get uglier because this couple just don't have any common sense and don't know how to talk to each other. The stunts they try certainly aren't based in any reality I know, but they do entertain.

Some of the most worthwhile moments of the movie were actually the conversations Gary has with his friend, played by a thicker version of Jon Favreau than we're used to seeing. He is both the voice of reason ("here's a key to my place") and the giver of bad advice (strip poker night), and I liked that even though his character wasn't consistent, he was the one who provided some actual good advice and funny moments.

The Break-Up was a weird one for me. It was sincere in some parts, and a bit contrived in others. It was also enjoyable at times and headache-inducing at others. If I were looking at one of those horizontal scales where one has to check the bubble of their choice, I'd probably choose one somewhere in the middle, next to the phrase, "Enjoyed Somewhat".

William Shakespeare is apparently not the only writer shocking and offending audiences this year. According to The Guardian, a play based on Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales has been barred from a planned performance at a Spanish monastery. That's hardly surprising. Aside from the sex and fart jokes, Canterbury Tales contains scathingly satirical depictions of Catholic clergy that, if written today, would surely be met with widespread controversy and organized boycotts. I would like to point out that this is a 600-year-old work of classic English literature I'm talking about.

Seriously, the best part comes at the end.

We have come to an awful point of decision. And the preachers may well be waiting in the wings, preparing sermons to carry on vehement spittle all manner of condemnations of consumerism. But I must tell the truth.

We are going to spend some time looking at other churches.

Some may think this akin to telling your wife, "I am going to spend some time looking at other women." You can't expect you wife to supportively make your lunch, send you on your way, and be happy for you whether you end up back home or not. While I don't expect enthusiastic support from anyone--let alone the leaders in my church--I would like to spend some time over these next few weeks thinking about what makes a community of people Christian. What is the church, and how do you find your place within it?

No, I do not believe I am possessed by the Church Shopping demon, and I have no goal to undermine the unity of the church, nor to derail the gospel in America. My goals for this quest are not so lofty. I simply want to find an environment in which I can receive God's grace, and a community to whom my gifts can be given.

It may seem like a strange time to be thinking of making a move, because it has been a year since I was on staff and got shown the door. Well, I don't know if "shown the door" is the best term, but then we never decided on one. I wasn't being "fired," I was told. Neither was I being "let go," "laid off," or anything else, apparently. I knew I wasn't quitting, but I also wasn't going to keep working there. In the end, it was called a "transition" and was linked to my graduation.

Somewhere between not being let go and not being held on to, the paychecks stopped, and all I know is that from now on I have to check the yes box on applications that ask if I have ever been involuntarily terminated.

So it's been a year now, and we have continued to attend the church. Haven't we gotten over it? Actually, no. The trust that was severed has not been repaired in the slightest, and there are indications that our experience was neither the first, nor the last of its kind. We continued to go to the church because we were in a state of such financial uncertainty that we did not know from one month to the next whether we would need to move out of our apartment, or borrow money and move across the country. For every month of this whole year, we have wondered whether we would be moving away.

So we decided to stick it out with the friends that we had, for months explaining to people that we had not moved out of state, as many had been told. But now that I have signed a year long contract to teach high school, we are finally finding that we have the time to build more than a superficial connection to a new church.

So we have finally come to this awful point of decision, seeing that in many ways it would have just been easier for everyone if we had moved away. Then, at least, it would have been a passive process and the break could have been easily blamed on the changing circumstance rather than on the real issues.

I don't yet know if we will choose a new church or continue to attend the one we've been at for more than three years now. I hope that this quest will not only illuminate the possiblities that await us in other communities, but also bring clarity to our involvement in our church now and whether or not we have been called to stick it out.

Man I love making cookies.

So the other day I bought vegetables. I saw this receipe in the Betty Crocker Cook Book which is currently in my possesion, and I thought it would be really good. It was to be slow cooked in a crock pot, which of course I have. I was really hoping it would be good, it turned out to be not so. What I have learned is that I don't give details very well, and I don't like beans.

I really want to go out on a date, yet I know no one who is 23 years old and available.

I've only heard one Futureheads song on the radio, but Erika wanted to go and it was only $15, so I couldn't refuse.

The French Kicks were good. At first I didn't see what Erika saw in them, but they grew on me. I like how some of their songs develop slowly and grow more complicated as they move along.

The Futureheads play a tight set. They can really get a crowd going. My only problem is that they have one sound and use it for every single song, and all of the songs are very upbeat. There's only so much I can take of that. It was fun to watch, but I wouldn't buy a CD.

Anyway, my actual story about this night takes place during the French Kicks' set. This annoying couple decided to shove their way through the crowd and stop right next to me (of course). They started dancing like goofs on purpose, bumping into everyone around them, so most people shifted away from them. I decided they could dance all they wanted and bump into me all they wanted, but I wasn't moving, so I decided they could dance and bump into my elbow. I stuck my thumb in the belt loop of my jeans and let my elbow stick out. The girl ran into it I don't know how many times, but enough times to hurt a little. ...

So after the opening band ended, we decided to go up to the balcony to sit. I took my thumb out of my belt loop and noticed it was asleep. Weird, but understandable. It stayed asleep the whole night. It slept through the day yesterday. It is STILL sleeping two days later!! Creepy. I think the feeling is just starting to come back a little today. We'll see how long it takes to finish coming back!!

I just learned that there is another way to multiply numbers on paper. In school I learned this method:

US Mulitplication

  39
 x25
-------
 195
+78 
------
 975

That works fine, but it requires you to know your multiplication table well, which I never did until . . . ok, I confess I used a calculator to multiply 39 x 5 and 39 x 2, so I still don't multiply very well.

But there's a method called Peasant Multiplication that only requires that you know how to double and halve numbers. With this method you put the two numbers you want to multiply at the top of two columns. Then, for the first column you halve the number over and over (discarding any fractions) until you get to one. For the second column you double it the same number of times as you were able to halve the first number. Next, strike out any rows where the number in the first column is even and add up the remaining numbers in the second column:

Peasant Multiplication

  39  X  25
  19     50
   9     100
   4     200
   2     400
   1     800
        -------
         975

This method is more common in European classrooms than in the US, but I like it, despite its disparaging title.

Three law professors have published a comic book that explains United States laws regarding copyrighted material and fair use. Despite the cover and some of the quotes praising it, the comic does NOT exploit tired superhero cliches to present its message; rather, it is framed as a dialogue between two experts and a young documentary filmmaker. It's actually very well done, and makes effective use of the comics medium to clarify potentially confusing, abstract ideas.

The best part is that James Boyle, one of the authors, serves on the Board of Creative Commons; consequently, the comic book is offered in free digital formats. Check it out.

So I haven't played WoW in over a week thanks to the move and the fact that I've been working a lot. Now that I can play for awhile there is a big patch to download and Blizzard's servers are getting slammed. We do have quite a few other diversions here at our place. Duncan's X-Box is modded like crazy and he has a bunch of games on the hard drive as well as emulators and roms galore. It's pretty sweet. Not to mention I've got my new DS Lite. I was sitting on the fence about getting one right away since I couldn't afford to just buy a new one right now. Then Gamestop offered an extra $20 to the trade in price of a regular DS and I quickly made the switch. It's really stinking cool and waaaay brighter. I also like the new stylus and button layout. Phil and Janelle got me a copy of Big Brain Academy for my birthday. I guess I'll crack that open right now.

This movie turned out to be a lot sweeter than I expected it to be. Rated at just a PG, there are no curse words, there isn't an overload of fart jokes, and it actually has a better outlook on religious faith than I've seen in a mainstream movie in a long while.

Nacho is Ignacio, played by Jack Black, who serves food to orphans in a Mexican monastery. He dreams of the fame of being a wrestler, and joins forces with Esqueleto, a skinny sidekick with a grin that cracked me up, to begin amateur wrestling.

What more is there to say? The movie is cute. I didn't laugh out loud a lot, but I liked it. I doubt older adults will enjoy it because it seems targeted at an audience that will understand its little quirks. I hated Napoleon Dynamite, which was brought to us by the same director, but Nacho has one thing going for it that Napoleon never did: likeable characters.

Not enough time in the day to do everything a person wants to do!

This weekend was busy.

Friday night after I watched some soccer, Ric and I went to Fresca's for dinner. Don't eat there (see Ric's blog). Then we went to see Nacho Libre. Review to come.

Saturday I worked out in the morning, Ric and I went out to eat with my family at the Spaghetti Factory for father's day (actually it was pretty much so my grandma could see us since we don't traditionally do Father's day because my dad always forgets our birthdays--fun family!), I did laundry at the parents' place, watched some soccer, tried to go to Brendan's new place but couldn't find parking, and ended up at the ghetto La Habra theatre to see The Breakup. Review to come. What's with parents who let their 13-year-olds go to 10pm movies, and then let them call on their cell phones during the movie to check in?!

Sunday we accidentally slept in and missed church. I really need to set my alarm more often. We went shopping for father's day, bought some vonage phones, did laundry at Ric's parents' place, went out to eat at Outbacks with the in-laws, opened gifts, ate ice cream cake, and washed cars while we did more laundry, then came home to hook up the vonage. Vonage is pretty cool. Of course, I watched more soccer after that was taken care of.

Today I'm going to see the Futureheads with Erika at the Henry Fonda. I think I've heard one of their songs. Oh well. Should be fun! I wonder if Henry ever thought bands like these would be playing at a theatre named after him..

This graphic novel was praised by many critics as one of the greatest comics of 2005. I avoided buying it, though, because at the time I was getting burned out on autobiographical comics (I'm beginning to think that the autobiography is to independent comics as the superhero genre is to mainstream comics--although there are some great stories, reading just one genre all the time gets a little old). I noticed this book at the University library's new comics section, though, and decided it's worth checking out. After reading it, I'm sorry I prejudged it last year. It is one of the most interesting, original, and exciting comics I have read in a long time.

On a basic level, the graphic novel is about the author's relationship with his epileptic brother. It begins with them as children in France and continues to their adulthood. At the same time, Epileptic is about far more than that. It reveals a lot of the author's personal, internal life, and the struggles he had at the time. It's very difficult to explain in words because it is the kind of story that really can only be told in the visual comics format. That's because the events of the story are not nearly as important as how they are told.

From Wikipedia I learned that Epileptic is a poor translation of the book's title. In French, it is L'ascension du haut mal, which has multiple meanings:

haut mal is an archaic term for epilepsy meaning literally "high evil" or "great sickness" (formerly used as a medical term in English, now replaced by grand mal), and ascension can mean either rise or climbing, as seen in a recurring image of the family climbing a steep slope into unknown terrain.

Such a title is understandably difficult to translate into English, but it says a lot about the nature of the novel. David B expresses abstract ideas and emotions through visual symbols, such as a serpentine monster (for his brother's illness) and ancient armor (for his own emotional detachment).

The symbols are clearly explained when they are first introduced, but David continues to use them throughout the book, creating his own kind of visual shorthand of symbolic language. As a result, the style becomes less realistic and more symbolic and expressive as the story goes on. It's a style of storytelling like nothing else I've seen before (the closest comparison I can make is to some of Art Spiegelman's earlier work).

The writing of the novel is very dense, but never feels obtuse or unnecessarily confusing. David B isn't using this symbolic storytelling style just to be unusual or pretentious--everything he draws is for a very clear purpose, and expresses what he is saying more clearly and effectively than he could with only words. For me, this makes Epileptic a true masterpiece of the comics medium.

I felt bad for George Bush when I saw this clip. It could have happened to anyone. Yet, somehow I can't help posting it. Bush did apologize later that day and Peter Wallsten, the reporter, was very gracious. His only complaint about the whole matter was that the President didn't give a straight answer to his question in the press conference.

Bush reportedly waved at Stevie Wonder a few years ago (though Snopes says it didn't happen).

Happy Fathers Day to all the dads out there!

I had a fantastic father's day. My son (at the age of 20 months) picked out for me a pretty sweet Johnny Cash "Man in Black" t-shirt. To make the gift more awesome, he also got a Cash shirt of his own. When we can coordinate wearing them on the same day, we'll pose together so I can get a photo up.

We celebrated Father's Day today at a Chicago Cubs game. If you saw the game or heard the score, then hopefully you have pity for the poor display we witnessed. Even so, we had an awesome time because my mother-in-law's boyfriend got skybox tickets through work. Mel and I were able to take Aidan, and Mel's sister and her husband came also. Aidan had a great time with his grandma, since she is incredible patient with him.

Originally, we were told the tickets were only for the seats, and did not include the food package. But when we arrived, there were hot gods, nachos, beer and soda available, as well as some other snacks like a veggie tray. The only thing we had to spring for was a slice of pizza that Mel was craving. We even got free parking across the street from Wrigley! So, two skybox tickets (plus a toddler), 5 hot dogs, 1 beer, 2 sodas, 1 water, more than one order of nachos, and that slice of pizza later, and we only shelled out $4. Not too shabby!!

So today I finally got my computer hooked up and now I have internet. We had to do it MacGyver style and throw a cable out the upstairs window and down to my window. We were going to do WiFi but it looks like the access point we have isn't working.

Last night we saw one of the most jacked up movies I've ever seen. Justin brought it over. It was called Cannibal Holocaust. It was about a profesor who is searching for 4 people who were making a documentary about rival cannibal tribes in the Amazon jungle. He finds their footage and shows it to a group of executives. It's totally insane and The Blair Witch Project borrowed heavily from it. It's actually on Entertainment Weekly's 25 Most Controversial Films of All Time List because Italian authorities thought it was a snuff film. The director actually had to present the actors to the police to show that they were still alive. We had fun watching it.

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

I don't make it a habit to read political blogs, but I do check in with the Huffington Post somewhat regularly. And, I have to say that the people that leave comments on that site are some kind of hateful. Take for instance this comment thread about an argument between the lone conservative on The View and guest Sandra Bernhard.


Here is a sample:

People only need to look at Hasselback to understand how dimwitted Republicans are.

It will be interesting to see how Rosie shuts Elizabitch up.

Elizabeth is perfectly representative of a stupid Republican bitch

What has Laura Bush done for childhood education other than teaching little George W. how to read "My Pet Goat"?

...and those are only from the first 6 comments. The comments on the blog are routinely this negative, but really, we're talking about The View here. Does it really necessitate such hostility?

Request: Does anyone know of a conservative blog with a readership comparable to the Huffington Post? I know there's the Drudge Report, but I'm looking for something more bloggy, with comments.

Tomorrow + me = rock Omaha. (Kelly's already there).