Swing Time begins as Fred Astaire's character, Lucky, gets tricked into missing his wedding by his coworkers (performers). His future father-in-law is so upset that he refuses to let Lucky marry his daughter until he earns $25,000. Of course, as he heads to the big city, he meets a new girl, Penny, played by Ginger Rogers. She doesn't like him at all, but when he finds out that she's a dance instructor and signs up for lessons with her, there's not much she can do to avoid him.

I like that a lot of the Astaire/Rogers movies feature an older sidekick couple. This one doesn't have Edward Everett Horton, but Victor Moore fits in nicely as Pop, who flirts with Penny's dance instructor friend. The old fogie-type romance is always amusing in comparison with the younger couple's, but it's always charming as well.

There are a couple of dance sequences that particularly stand out in this movie. One, though not very politically correct in this day and age, features a song called Bojangles of Harlem and Astaire dances around the stage in blackface. The scene opens up with Astaire sitting in front of some ridiculously large prop legs that fill half the room and are carried by dancing girls. I think that kind of encapsulates the extravagance of the stage in those days. I mean, this was in a nice club - not even on Broadway, but it was so over-the-top! The other sequence is when the couple dances all over the place through a club, including up and down a flight of stairs. The moves are so fluid and complicated, that it was no surprise to learn that Rogers really damaged her feet by doing that take so many times in her dancing heels.

All in all, I'd say this was a very pleasing pairing of the famous dancing couple, with a very satisfying sense of humor and plenty of glamor for the viewer to to take in.

Have I mentioned lately how cute my cat has been in the past couple of months? He has really taken to sleeping in this position. It's rare when I can capture a picture those back paws crunched in like that, but I did it this time, and I think it's soooo frickin' cute.

So check it out! I think I've mentioned it before but when Landlord decided to put the house up for sale, he advertised "New Landscaping". Ric and I shrugged it off since we didn't see anything new popping up in the backyard, when suddenly there was a very soft soil back there. We discovered that fact one night when taking out the trash to the back alley, and our feet kept sinking into the ground. That's a creepy feeling.

Anyway, we guessed new landscape would follow, but it never did. Then came the rains, and then the weeds. And then more rains, and even taller weeds. It's hard to tell from this picture, but some of those weeds are waist high. I'll have to have Ric take a picture of me in the middle of it before we move, just for humor's sake.

Anyway, I'm not sure how, but we started calling it Little Vietnam. I took Pip exploring through it a few days ago, to his delight.

pesky'apostrophe: Give 'til it hurts

We all believe in different things, and whether you believe one book or another, well, that’s OK with me. What makes Scientology seem more acceptable to me is that even though they’re out there evangelizing and sucking people into the religion [just like any other religious group, really], they’re not out there trying to get Congress to make Ritalin illegal or deny people psychiatric care, and pharmacists who are Scientologists aren’t refusing to fill orders for anti-depressants or whatever because it violates their religious beliefs.

Leave it to Mac to put things in perspective. She's quite good at that. I think she has a good point that while Scientology has some questionable practices, at least they aren't trying to change laws and the constitution or turn our government into a theocracy. I've never heard of right-wing Scientologists bombing an psychiatry office or launching a terrorist attack. Yes, they've done their share of dubious deeds, but hasn't every religion?

    People keep asking me about my thoughts on the whole Britney thing so I figured I would do one post about it.  I honestly feel really bad for her. I think the way people and the media are treating her situation says a lot about society's tragic attitude towards mental illness and depression.  When I was going through the worst of my own problems with depression and anxiety nearly three years ago I got some of the same questions I've been hearing about Britney, such as "What do you have to be so sad about?" and "Why don't you just snap out of it already?"  This shows a gross misunderstanding of depression and mental illness.  

    Perhaps it is the unwillingness to accept the fact that fame and fortune really aren't the answers to all of life problems, as so many people would like to believe.  If Britney were suffering from some other kind of illness, would she be treated the same way?  No.  People wouldn't stand for it.  I hope she gets the help she needs soon, before it's too late.  That's all I have to say about that.

Click on the image to supersize it.

This is one of several strips in which Nemo and his friends display awareness of their existence as comic characters, make specific reference to the artist, and manipulate the page they are on. Grant Morrison and John Byrne did stuff like this in the 1980s they were praised as post-modernists. When Winsor McCay did it in 1907 such a label didn't exist yet.

It's a pretty cheap trick, but entertaining nonetheless. I like the way it plays with cartoon logic: as the characters move from the left to right panel in each row the letters must change to stay consistent with the "Little Nemo in Slumberland" title that stretches across the entire row. Notice how even the letters in the characters' switch back and forth to maintain that consistency.

John Edwards is dropping out of the race today. He was a good candidate and my second choice behind Obama, but he hasn't come close to winning a primary yet. The real question is who will get his supporters? His campaign says he won't be endorsing anyone today, but I suspect that he will before February 5. There's a tight two-way race between Obama and Clinton, but Edwards has a substantial amount of support, including 26 delegates, which is more than half of what Clinton has. So, Edwards can play kingmaker. If he thought the race was going to stay close, he could go ahead with February 5th, pick up some more delegates, then hold out for a brokered convention and decide who to give his delegates to. That would be risky for him because someone may emerge next Tuesday with enough delegates to secure the nomination. Then Edwards would be a lot less relevant. But, if he drops out now and throws his support behind one of the candidates, then it's probably enough to tip the balance. Why wouldn't he do this? The only way he wouldn't is if he's totally uninterested in running for Vice President again and he really doesn't have a preference between the two candidates.

But who will he support? Early on in the debates he seemed to side with Obama more, but at the last debate he was piling on Obama along with Clinton. I hope that he only did this because he knew that South Carolina was his last best chance to win a primary and Obama was the favorite there. Obama and Edwards have been splitting the true progressive vote, while Clinton has been more of a centrist. Together, Obama and Edwards would be a serious force. Even if Edwards withholds an endorsement, I suspect that most of his supporters will go to Obama. Here's hoping.

Well, Ric got super sick, and I followed suit, though not as bad. He was sick from Thursday to today, and still isn't feeling good. He threw up and had a heavy fever for a few days. I was out sick yesterday with achy joints and a small cough. But I'm back today. I thought I was getting better, but then my nose decided to act up this afternoon, so it might be a few more days until I'm rid of it.

I spent most of the weekend at home, making sure Ric was okay. I got out of the house on Sunday to join Cyndi for a preview of Kung Fu Panda. We got to give our opinions, since the film is still a work in progress. Opinions to be revealed later on, when we're allowed to talk about it on blogs!

Since I was cooped up in the house, I watched a lot of movies and started boxing more things for the move. I've been cleaning a lot, too. Hey Wendy, did you ever find anything that successfully cleaned the grout in the bathroom? It's greyish to begin with, which makes it difficult to see if you've got it clean or not, and I've been scrubbing with Clorox without making much of an impact. Anyway, now that I've finished off the whole set of Thin Man movies, a Hitchcock, and a Victorian drama, I've had a very healthy dose of mystery movies.

Up this week: cleaning, packing, and closing escrow! I'm also going to the university's opera, The Merry Wives of Windsor, which should be great fun. Oh, and how could I forget - Lost returns on Thursday!

_yungfuktoi_: Going public: PLEASE READ AND REPOST

On Saturday morning Diz flew into Dubai airport and was detained at immigration. We kind of knew he would be profiled because he has long hair and looks oriental (they are very racists against Asians in Dubai, and ultra-conservative). He knew the score going in: prescription drugs are illegal, dress conservatively and detox for a week (even trace amounts of either illegal or prescription drugs in the urine are prosecuted as 'drug smuggling'. I'm not joking). They found melatonin on him, which he bought over the counter in the US. Legally, you can even buy it over the counter in Dubai. They arrested him, anyway.

Wow. That is insane. Dubai is quickly becoming one of the top tourist destinations in the world but I don't think I would ever go there with their current drug laws. If you can get arrested and thrown in prison for having melatonin, I don't consider that tourist friendly.


Hat tip to Warren Ellis

Flash Game of the Day

I posted this in 2005. Many people did. Yesterday it was on the front page of Digg. I guess the internet is pretty cyclical. It's only a matter of time before people rediscover those Yeti Sports games and that damned Elf Bowling.

I'm testing the new podcast functionality of b2e. I made this file using vozMe, which will turn any text you write into an audio file. Hopefully this file will show up in our neglected podcast feed.

Garbage truck house? Yeah, I'm actually jealous of that.

Thanks StumbleUpon.

LJWorld.com / So what if Barack Obama was a Muslim?

Barack Obama is not a Muslim.

We know this because he has told us so. We know it because there is no credible evidence to suggest otherwise.

We know it despite a campaign of lies and whispers from various bloggers, pundits and head cases.

Barack Obama is not a Muslim. But, what if he was?

I'm glad someone finally brought this up. The thing that has really sickened me about the way people are treating Obama's religious views is the way they are continuing to vilify the Muslim religion. I keep wanting to say "So what?" when people say Obama is a Muslim, waiting to hear what they're going to say next. But I'm afraid of what they will say. I think it sucks that people keep trying to say Obama is something he isn't. I think it sucks even more that in the process they are vilifying an entire people group and making Americans look like idiots. I can only hope that one day this kind of stereotyping won't exist, but somehow I doubt that. I guess the best one can do is speak out and hope for the best.

Guillermo del Toro in Talks to Direct The Hobbit - Film Junk

We know Peter Jackson is not directing The Hobbit, and despite the rumours of Sam Raimi?s involvement, it looks like Guillermo del Toro is in fact the one who will be stepping to the plate. According to The Hollywood Reporter, del Toro is currently in negotiations to direct both halves of The Hobbit feature film, moving on to the project immediately after he finishes post-production on Hellboy 2.

I'm bummed Peter Jackson isn't directing The Hobbit but the guy has a lot on his plate so I guess I can understand. I'm sure he'll still be very hands on with the project and I can't be more excited about a collaboration between these two great minds. I think if anyone else is going to direct these movies, Del Toro is the right man for the job.

It was Nobel and Pulitzer Prize winning author Toni Morrison who called Bill Clinton "the first black President" in 1998. Today she endorsed Barack Obama. Hilarious as always, Wonkette.com had this headline: Toni Morrison Wants First Real Black Contender Instead Of First First Lady of First Black President To Be Second Black President In First Black-on-Black Presidential Race.

Plain View #79 - Mid January, 2008

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Mare's B-Day

Christmas in Camelot

Vietnam Cafe

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Today is my mom's birthday! She is not 23, but she does look like it =]

Happy Birthday, Mom!

8Bit Joystick.com: Photographic Proof Of Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death Insider's Authenticity

As long time readers know, I have always been fond of Jake and his blog.  He has gone pretty legit lately breaking some major stories such as Bungie leaving Microsoft and his recent interview with an anonymous Microsoft employee about how Microsoft knowingly shipped out defective systems in order to beat Sony to market.  I just wanted to point this out and give the guy some props.  Nicely done Jake!  I have an older 360 but thankfully it is under warranty and hasn't popped up with the RROD yet.  Knock on wood.

I have been sick since Wednesday which is why I haven't been posting much.  I have a fever.  I am currently re-watching the awesomeness that is Undeclared.  Seth Rogen is fantastic.  That is all.  Hope you guys are enjoying your weekend more than I am.

Also, Melissa hating on Dexter (sorry can't find the post) made me feel like a bad person for 5 seconds then I realized she is incorrect.  Sorry :)

Ah, Fred and Ginger. I watched many of their movies repeatedly as a child, and it's been years since I have revisited them. Thanks to the power of TiVo and a marathon of their movies, I've been reliving their splendor. Of course, as an adult, I have a different perspective; for instance, I was somewhat disappointed with Shall We Dance. This mostly has to do with the fact that the famous couple don't dance together until about the one hour mark of the movie. That makes for a lot of patient indulgence on the part of the viewer, who is probably watching because he or she wants to see Astaire and Rogers dance together.

In this movie, Fred Astaire is an American dancer named Peter Peters who is well-known as a "Russian" ballet dancer named Petrov. He enjoys more traditional and fun dancing on the sly. Rogers plays Linda Keene, a famous dancer, who captures Peter's attention, and he's determined to meet and fall in love with her. Unfortunately, when someone tells her that Petrov would like to meet her, she isn't interested in an infatuated Russian ballet dancer. He overhears her saying this and decides to play the part of an exaggerated Russian, not exactly impressing her. After their meeting, he eavesdrops and learns that she's sailing to America the next day, so he follows, and is at her heels every second on the boat. When tabloid rumors fly that the two are married, it makes things difficult, especially since Linda is engaged, and needs the public to understand that she's not married to Petrov before she marries her fiance; but Peters encourages the rumors instead.

Accompanying Astaire as always is Edward Everett Horton, who plays his manager. The hotel manager is played by the wonderfully funny Eric Blore, who can't quite figure out which man should have the key to Linda's room. The two spend their time running after our famous couple, and along with other supporting cast, do a fine job.

If there's one thing I remember from my childhood, it's Fred and Ginger singing "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and tap dancing on roller skates. Let me repeat that: tap dancing. on. roller skates! They were insane, as well as insanely talented. This whole segment in Central Park is wonderful, and makes the whole movie worthwhile. In case the title of the song doesn't mean anything to you, that's the one that goes, "You say po-tay-toh and I say poh-tah-toh, you say toh-may-toh and I say toh-mah-toh..." Classic music by Gershwin pervades the whole movie, but apparently people didn't learn to really appreciate it until years later, and this movie wasn't much of a success.

I think I can see why it wasn't a big hit, but think there are plenty of redeeming qualities to make Shall We Dance worth a viewing for anyone who likes the famous dancing couple and hasn't seen it.

I think I've given up the idea of scanning all the Little Nemo strips and posting each one on its 100th anniversary. I just don't want to commit to a project like that right now.

I'm still not done writing about Little Nemo, though, because I keep finding examples that show what a visionary Winsor McCay was. Here's one from January 27, 1907. Click on the image below to see a full-size version (thanks to elfortunawe for the suggestion about uploading these scans to Wikimedia Commons).

This strip isn't particularly outstanding in terms of story, but what really grabbed my attention is the three-panel sequence at the bottom. Notice how McCay uses the entire tier to create a wide view of the staircase, which the characters climb as they move across the panels. It's a technique I see often in the comics by some of my favorite characters, and I always think the effect is striking.

First of all, it allows the artist to create an impressive establishing shot without sacrificing the space he needs for story and character development. Second, it gives a feeling of continuously flowing time. Normal panel transitions, such as those in the top tier of the same page, tend to chop time up into discrete moments. By using the bottom three panels to show the same characters moving across a single landscape, it feels like a single unbroken sequence, and gives the impression of unbounded time.

Like I said, I love the effect this type of panel sequence creates and have observed its use by some of my favorite comics creators of today. It's never really occurred to me to wonder who invented it. I can't be positive that Winsor McCay was the first, but I think this makes a strong argument. I'd definitely like to know if there are any earlier examples.

I'm not sure how I haven't seen this movie until just now, but Mr. Deeds Goes to Town is definitely a film worth its while. Directed by Frank Capra and starring Gary Cooper and Jean Arthur, the story is about a man named Longfellow Deeds, who inherits millions of dollars when a distant relative passes away. Deeds is quickly brought from his small town to the big city, and is courted by numerous people who all want to share his money and fame. One of these people is a slick reporter, who poses as a lady in distress, which is his weakness. He makes her his girlfriend, unaware that on the sly, she is writing scathing stories about him in the newspaper. Of course, she actually falls in love with him, which makes things a bit complicated.

Something I've been noticing lately when watching old movies is that the media really hasn't changed all that much since the "olden" days. The tabloids seem just as bad in several of the movies I've been watching, although the focus is slightly different (more on story and less on body image). Deeds can't seem to get a break, because anything he does gets reported in the newspaper. The general public knows what he's up to at all times, and if he makes a single mistake, people have a set opinion about him. He even receives a death threat from a total stranger, which is not unlike some of the stories we hear about celebrity stalkers and restraining orders.

The beauty of this story, though, is that its main character (unlike a lot of folk in real life that we often seem to be watching self-destruct) makes a change. When confronted, he realizes he hasn't done anything truly useful with his fame and fortune, and decides to help those who are down and out.

Cooper is great as a wry but goofy guy. I like that he is able to convince us of his character's simultaneous displays of shrewdness and naivety. Arthur, too, has a great balance between a city slicker and a lovable girl. The dialog is quick and witty, and the movie moves along at a wonderful pace.

Watching Mr. Deeds reminded me of my love for old movies. I hadn't seen one in a while. Since then I've kind of gone through a flurry of them. Reviews to follow! :)

Halo 3

King Dork by Frank Portman

Battlestar Galactica - Season One

I'm usually all about the latest trends and new websites but I just haven't caught the Twitter bug.  This article got me a little curious but to me the whole thing just seems like overload and another unnecessary thing for me to add to my pile of social networking sites and other junk.  Do any of you readers use Twitter and like it?  Has it really changed your life?  What's the deal?

Now that the b2e xmlrpc appears to be fixed I figured I would test out the ScribeFire Firefox extension.  While I really like the b2e back office, I think something like this makes it easier to post links and other items straight from the page you are on.  Hopefully it will work!

brendoman.com is now running on b2evolution 2.4.0. There are a few new features including podcast support, better uploading and thumbnail creation for images and lots of xmlrpc fixes (which means if you want to post from a desktop editor, it will probably work now). There are even more fixes to make things run smoothly. I contributed a fix to prevent you from getting emails notifying you that you commented on your own post. As always, if you run into any problems, please let me know.

Sweeney Todd begins with almost the same premise as that of The Count of Monte Cristo: a young man has happiness with a lovely young woman, and a jealous rival finds a way to imprison the young man and steal his woman. Both feature the return of the young hero to accomplish revenge, but from the opening scene of Sweeney Todd, it's quite clear that there's a deeper and darker tone on hand in this story. Case in point: Monte Cristo is devoted to God at the end of his story, and true love wins overall, and Sweeney Todd places himself in the Judgment seat, doling out many a slit throat and a mass of interesting delectables at Mrs. Lovett's shop.

The movie is successful in so many ways, it's hard to decide which to talk about first. The music carries it all, but the performances of that music are carried out to perfection as well. It's hard to go wrong with this cast, which is one of the best ensembles of the year (although one might say the same of Harry Potter, which featured many of the same actors). Alan Rickman, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Timothy Spall, and a surprising Sacha Baron Coen are all wonderful in their roles. Just thinking about Depp and Rickman's wonderful duet about women, Bonham Carter's daydreaming sequence, Spall's sliminess, and Coen's shaving contest scene puts a smile on my face.

Speaking of smiling, I think that's what's key to this movie. The many instances of humor relieve the darker atmosphere, and make the movie's content a lot easier to swallow. Burton has always been an expert at finding a good balance between humor and the macabre. And, when the story calls for it, he is able to transition to the darker side of things without it feeling too awkward. And trust me, the movie gets dark, if you couldn't tell!

Along with the great acting, directing, and music, the richness of the sets and costumes add quite a bit to the story. I loved the costumes, especially in Mrs. Lovett's daydream sequence, which was probably my favorite part of the movie. Her character, actually, was very interesting, because she was able to make the audience feel for her, although she was committing crimes very near equal to those of Sweeney Todd.

And that's another thing - this story is about some very twisted deeds, but still seems to have a moral center, odd though it may be. It is inevitable that those who get carried away with wickedness are doomed, and there are no exceptions made in this story. Though the ending is a bit of a shock, it is appropriate, and although I was a little worn from the mass amount of grossness leading up to the movie's climax, I appreciated it. I also found it very interesting that there was a sort of reference to the Pieta as the last image of the film, although I'm not sure if that was just my imagination.

Anyway, as you might tell, I liked Sweeney Todd. But I'm not going to recommend it to anyone, since I'm not going to take the blame for anyone who goes to see it and can't stomach it!

Paris, je'taime is a collection of short films, each written and directed by different people, each filmed in a different section of Paris, and all sharing a theme of love. The list of famous actors and directors featured in the films is long and impressive. Also, its welcome reception from many viewers has even fueled the start of a New York, I Love You project.

There are so many stories that it's too monotonous to tell what all of them are about, but I can say that some are definitely better than others. My least favorite features Elijah Wood in a sort of silent film where he is seduced by a female vampire. No joke. Surprisingly, the Coen Brothers segment, while funny, is one of the less significant stories, although Steve Buscemi is always an enjoyable watch.

My favorite stars a lesser-known but always good American actress, Margo Martindale, who is pictured above. Hers is the last film, directed by Alexander Payne, and is narrated by her in stilted French. Her name is Carol, and she has studied French and went on a vacation to Paris. When she got there and admired the city, she wished she had someone to turn to, just to tell how beautiful the sights were; soon she realized that though she had no loved one to share Paris with, she was in love with Paris itself. I don't know why, but this film really struck a chord with me - maybe it's because her French was slow enough for me to understand, and maybe because it captured the emotions of one's first European travels.

When I finished watching the whole thing, I thought I didn't care much for it overall. But now, thinking back to some of the individual stories, it actually does have some stories that are able to move the viewer in very little time, and all of them are a testament to the spirit of Paris. I think that, in the future, if I see this one airing on tv, I'll watch it again, but I just might change the channel every once in a while.

I don't know if I'm ever going to catch up with my movie reviews. The list of "to be reviewed" movies is now 17 movies long and growing longer. I guess the writer's strike has got me watching a lot of movies on Netlflix and TiVo.

Well, I saw at least one movie per day over the weekend. It started off with the short Friday. My sister and I drove out to Orange to see The Savages. If you can deal with cursing and are anywhere near the age of when you'll have to start dealing with parents or grandparents and nursing homes, I would definitely recommend this one. Funny we should see that on the same night that we celebrated my grandma's birthday. We all went to the Cheesecake Factory and then had cake at my grandma's place. It was a nice time. I would have to say, though, that my (maternal) grandma is probably in better physical and mental condition than my dad, and she's eleven months older than he is. Dialysis is rough on him, although he's following all doctor instructions well. We have to talk to him like a kid a lot. Not sure if I mentioned it on here, but he hit another car recently, with no injuries. His car had to be given up, since insurance called it a total loss. We think he may finally be giving up his driving privileges when his license expires. He's stubborn, though, so it's too soon to say for sure.

Saturday we met up with our realtor in the morning to sign some paperwork. Everything's on time so far, assuming that the seller's bank completes all of its paperwork on time. So far it's been smooth sailing. Ric went off to work, so I sat at home watching a couple of Fred Astaire and Ginger Roger movies. I went over to my parents' to do laundry and played Wii with my sister. Later on, we walked a couple miles each way to have some Chinese for dinner and to get out of the house and get some exercise. That night, Ric joined us at the cheap theater to see Beowulf, which was a lot better than I had expected (but then again, my hopes hadn't been very high).

Sunday I got up early and met up with Liz for the first service at church. The music was so much better, but it certainly was early! I think I'll try going early a few more times and see if I can't make a habit out of it. I spent the morning watching tv and working on finances with Ric, and then in the afternoon we went to see There Will Be Blood. We watched a little bit of tv together until I went to take a nap and ended up sleeping for 15 hours. Guess I was tired!

Monday I slept in. I had plans to go to the cheap theater, but when I got there, the line was so long that I decided to skip it. So then I went to the park to go jogging, and after just one lap it started raining. Strike two! I ended up grocery shopping and getting home early. Since I had so much extra time with my day, I made up for the missed workout by playing Wii sports for over an hour. Boxing and tennis are great for cardio, if you do them right. Then I folded laundry, deep cleaned the bathroom, and scrubbed the kitchen floor while listening to the second half of the Brit Box, which is like living my youth all over again via CD. So much fun. It made me want to share with Erika, so I gave her a call and we chatted for a long time. After that, Ric and I went out to coffee, and when we came back I finally finished watching the first Thin Man movie (I TiVoed all of them), which I started about a month ago and kept getting distracted from. Oh, and I watched more of the Sarah Connor Chronicles, which was about 0.5% better this week, but still a mess.

Up this week: more cleaning of the house in preparation for leaving it! We're moving in a couple of weeks, so I'm trying to start ahead so I don't have to work as hard later on. We're selling our fridge to the landlord, since the new place comes with a fridge. I emailed him and he's going to discount our prorated February rent. I know he doesn't legally owe me anything, but I personally think he has nerve to charge us any rent for February, considering how much money he has put us in the hole. Oh well. No other big plans for the week, which is just what Ric wants.

Holy. Crap. Police are saying it's a possible drug overdose. This is just sad, especially in the wake of Brad Renfro's death. People die of drug overdoses every day but somehow it still doesn't get through to folks. I guess they think it won't happen to them or they just don't care. This definitely will make the release of The Dark Knight bittersweet.

Sorry, I've been away from the compy for quite a bit. I saw Cloverfield this weekend. I thought it was really good. Lots of people seem to be complaining about the hand held camera. This makes no sense to me because the trailer made it pretty clear that the movie would be filmed in this style so I don't know what these people were expecting.

Not much else going on. I've been hanging out with my friend Matt who is visiting from New York and is planning on moving out here. I had my first class of the Spring semester on Thursday. I think I'm going to have my work cut out for me this semester but I'm confident that I can handle it. I'm also working on my first web application using PHP and mySQL. It's sort of slow going because I've been so busy at work these days and now school is starting. Hopefully I will get it done sometime in the near future. I just thought it might be a good idea to do a project on my own to show to future employers and to demonstrate my abilities as a web developer.

Hope you folks all had a good weekend.

I have a few moments to myself tonight and I thought I'd write a bit here (a novel idea, I know!)

My media fast is still going. I have to admit that I don't really miss all the blog posts and podcasts. Once in a while I'll think, "I haven't read anything by ________ in a while" and then I remember that I'm on a fast. Most days I don't even think of it because I don't have the podcasts on my iPod and I don't have Google Reader showing up on my homepage anymore. Seeing how little I miss it all, perhaps when I go back to those things I'll try to cut down on the number I subscribe to.

So how have I been filling my time? I'm actually not sure. I suppose I'm spending more time just playing with Daniel or talking to Erika, without the constant background noise. I've also been quite busy at work, but I've discovered other ways to procrastinate.

I've also realized that I have gradully been losing interest in blogging lately. I just rarely have anything I feel is worth saying. I'm not sure if that's because I have so many other things going on or because I'm just bored with it.

I mentioned a fleeting interest in starting a new blog devoted wholly to publishing scans of Winsor McCay's Little Nemo strips exactly 100 years after their original printing dates, but I've decided against it. I'm gung-ho about McCay now, but that will probably fade by the time I finish reading the collection I have. I think that's why I've never found a consistent style or content for this blog: it's hard for me to sustain interest in just one thing for a long time. In the meantime I may scan the best pages of Little Nemo I find and post them here with some commentary on why they're so great. If you're not a fan of early American comics, tough luck for you.

And on a final note partly related to this media fast of mine (and partly in keeping with the hodge-podge nature of this post) I have made it my personal goal this year to not view or hear a single campaign ad. I think I can actually do it: I listen to no commercial radio and I have no TV service in my home (what few shows I watch I download). The more election cycles I see the more I realize that campaign ads (and most television reporting, for that matter) pretty much do the exact opposite of informing and educating the public on who candidates are. My best advice for anyone this election year is this: whatever you're listening to watching, just turn it off and you will be a much better informed voter.

I'm sorry for the curmudgeonly tone. I think reading and watching 100-year-old artifacts may be making me feel old beyond my years. I'll try to be in a better mood next time you hear from me.

Emma and I made this video today:

She made all of the models except for the white fish. iStopMotion is a really nice app for doing this. You can even use your Apple Remote to trigger frame captures.

Here's a video showing how to install and use my Weather plugin for b2evolution.

Shadows of Forgotten Ancestors by Carl Sagan, Ann Druyan

The Science of Sleep

Thank You for Smoking

The Ex

The house we live in happens to have a Meyer lemon tree growing in the backyard. We currently have a crop of about 30 lemons nearly ripe for the picking.

I have gradually been acquiring lemon recipes so as not to waste our home grown citrus harvest. We tried a Lemon Cajun Shrimp recipe a few nights ago. Shrimp is plentiful and cheap here near the Gulf, so I am always up for different shrimp recipes. This one was super spicy, but tasty. Of course, since it was so spicy we had to have a cool and refreshing beverage to accompany it and what goes better with Lemon Cajun Shrimp than fresh squeezed lemonade?? Nothing, friends. Nothing. We have also made a lemon poppyseed bread with lemon glaze. Mmmmmm.
Now, your assignment is to send any suggestions for recipes using lemons! If we make your recipe, we will picture it here and credit you with the delicious idea. Thanks in advance!

~Kelly

I made the video below to show how to install b2evolution in under 5 minutes.

If you have ideas for other video tutorials, please leave a comment.

You didn't expect a picture of Denzel, did you? Not on this site! Did you know that he just topped a list of America's favorite movie stars? What on Earth is wrong with America?

My Denzel dislike being as it is, I decided not to see American Gangster. That is, I decided not to see it, and then all the critics fawned over it. So I resolved to only pay $1.50 to see it. That way I could walk out if I felt so inclined. Surprisingly, I didn't feel so inclined; American Gangster was actually a good movie. (No, I didn't say it was great.)

The movie shows us the stories of Frank Lucas and Richie Roberts, Lucas the emerging leader of a black crime organization, and Roberts the cop trying to find enough evidence to put him behind bars. Lucas rises from chauffeur to crime boss, and his story pretty much parallels any you've seen like the Godfather series, or even Scarface to a certain extent.

It's Roberts, who is also studying at night school to become a lawyer even though he has a fear of public speaking, and who is despised by his fellow policemen because he does his job by the books, that emerges as the more interesting character. Unfortunately, he is also the less-featured character. The movie spends a lot of time on Lucas, and (a flaw in the writing, in my opinion) even provides many scenes that make him look like a caring family man. I suppose that's more of the Godfather influence coming through - showing us how these guys can be such family men while doling out death on a regular basis.

Perhaps the filmmakers are trying to provide us with an interesting contrast. Lucas is the family man and killer, while Roberts is a philanderer and a good cop. Woo. That contrast didn't do much for me, besides filling the story with a lot of cliches. I think it's the weakest aspect of the movie. But, stylistically, the directing is tight, the costuming and sets are perfect, and it's an overall well-made film. It's entertaining, although it doesn't contribute anything particularly new to its own genre. So take that for what it's worth. Maybe all I'm trying to say is "go ahead and watch it when it's on tv."

As for Denzel, well, he succeeded at being Denzel in a movie, again: too self-assured and sometimes overexaggerated. What else could one expect?

Of Michael Haneke's volume of work, I had only previously seen Cache, so when I heard that a remake was being made of his movie Funny Games, I decided to watch the original. If this and Cache are any indication of what's in store for me when I watch the rest of his movies, then I think I'll be spreading them far apart rather than watching all of them at once. It's all very intense.

In case you haven't seen the previews for the remake, this is about a family who drives out to their vacation home on a lake. When they arrive, a couple of young men drop by and say they are staying with the neighbors, who sent them over to borrow some eggs. They test the wife's patience when they drop the eggs she gave them and accidentally shove her phone into the sink. While they are always polite, they get under her skin, and soon she is confronting them, and her husband as well. Crushed eggs and a disabled (by a golf club) husband later, a game of torture begins, and the young men have the family captive in their living room. The family's worst imaginings couldn't possibly prepare them for when the young men bet them that they won't be alive by the next morning.

Watching this movie was a very unpleasant experience, and that's what assures me that I'm not as desensitized to movie violence as I had thought. It also assures me that Michael Haneke knows how to provoke, both emotionally and intellectually.

I don't want to talk about the plot in case anyone wants to see this, but I will say that Haneke knows how to gradually build tension and misery in such a way that I felt terrible after finishing this movie. But, the questions Haneke poses about why we as moviewatchers choose to entertain ourselves with violence, make going through this experience worthwhile, in a sense. It's a hard one for me to recommend to anyone in particular, although I would recommend watching it with more than one person, and taking the time to discuss it afterwards.

Now, all I need to decide is whether or not I'll choose to live through it again in English..

FreeRice appears to be the real deal. From the FAQ:

If FreeRice has the rice to give, why not give it all away right now?

FreeRice is not sitting on a pile of rice―you are earning it 20 grains at a time. Here is how it works. When you play the game, advertisements appear on the bottom of your screen. The money generated by these advertisements is then used to buy the rice. So by playing, you generate the money that pays for the rice donated to hungry people.

Give it a whirl if you're like me and a little bored at work. It's a tad more productive than a Flash game.

Unintentional Humor in the "Acts of Thomas"

My brother-in-law, Lucas, did two tours in Iraq and now one of my very good friends is in the process of being deployed. He's keeping friends and family up to date at http://brian-in-iraq.blogspot.com/. (As I'm writing this, I typed in http://brianiniraq.blogspot.com/ to see if I remembered his url correctly. I was wrong, but it's a real site, too. Tha