When we decided to visit Ireland, it didn't occur to us that our visit was going to coincide with St. Patrick's Day. This turned out to be a fortunate coincidence and catalyst to our newest travel brainchild: visit countries/cities that tend to be associated with a given holiday. St. Patrick's Day-Dublin, check.

We woke up fairly early (for being jet-lagged), and headed down to the breakfast room for our first taste of the "Full Irish Breakfast." This was staple fare at all the bed and breakfast we stayed at during the trip, with slight variations at each home. Marie served up a delicious feast (truly, a feast), starting with cereal and hot tea. She soon brought out a basket of toast and bread with Irish butter and 2 plates full of poached eggs, ham, sausage, potatoes, bacon, and black and white pudding. A pause here for a brief lesson on the puddings. In America, pudding is generally a dessert treat. Pudding in this sense would not be considered as such. Black pudding is otherwise known as "blood pudding." It is made from the blood of the animal and mixed with oatmeal, spices, and such to form it into a patty much resembling a sausage patty. The taste is pretty much like a meatball. Not so bad...

After our puddings, we packed up and paid Marie. We left our bags in our car at the B & B and walked to the bus stop to catch a ride into Dublin City Centre. We road in a double decker bus (on the top deck, of course) for the 25 minute ride to the city centre--smack dab in front of the route for the St. Patrick's Day Parade. The parade didn't start for another hour or so, and our destination of Trinity College didn't open until 1:00, so we ended up walking along the parade route. Along the way, we purchased our first souvenirs--Ireland scarves. So, now we weren't only warm, we were festive! We walked all the way to the start of the parade where the crowd was still thin. We found a great spot right along the barricades and settled in for a 35 minute wait before the parade began. We were close enough to hear the bands warming up, however, so we had some pre-parade entertainment. This included Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer"--the first of many non-Irish things to come. The parade began with the Irish military bands. Behind them entered...an American high school marching band, followed by more high school marching bands from such exotic locals as Alabama, Pennsylvania, Florida, Illinois, California, and Wisconsin. They played such Irish classics as "My Country Tis of Thee," "We are Family," "Celebrate," and the John Phillips Sousa marching band classic. The floats and costumes were very bright and colorful. There were also giant balloons, circus acts, fire throweres, stilt walkers, elaborate themes, and the St. Patrick's Day vampire.

We had intended to leave after a short amount of parade and head over to Trinity College, but the crowd became so thick we were boxed in--thus watching the entire parade. When it was nearly over, we made our way through the crowd and walked toward Trinity College with a slight detour to the Library....where we thought the Book of Kells was housed (it's not...it's at the Treasury). When we arrived at the Treasury, we realized that the entry fee had been waved for the day since it was a public holiday, so we just walked on in. There was an exhibit with panels telling about the history of the Book of Kells and such. In a seperate room, the Book of Kells was housed beneath a glass table. There were 2 pages on display, along with some pages from the Book of Armaugh. The Book of Kells dates from 800 AD. Upstairs, we entered a room called the Long Room, housing the oldest book collection held by Trinity College. Originally only one story, the roof was raised in order to fit more books.

We picked up some postcards and stamps at the gift shop and walked down past St. Stephen's Green to Lower Baggot Street and the Mercy International Center, where Catherine MacCauley founded the Sister's of Mercy convent (Kelly attended Mercy High School in Omaha). From there, we headed for the bus back to the B&B to pick up our car and head to Galway, on Ireland's west coast.

What would it have been without construction, missed exits, crazy drivers, and mislabeled roads? Not a trip in Ireland, that's for sure! We eventually made it into Galway and found our B&B, Petra House. Frank met us at the door, showed us to our room, and suggested a local pub, An Pucan, for dinner. We walked down to the pub and had a meal of fish and chicken, followed by our first Guiness beer, served in an Irish pub, in Ireland, on St. Patrick's Day, while listening to Irish music (well, mostly Irish tunes--throw in some country songs, Billy Ray Cyrus, and Johnny Cash, just for fun).

We were exhausted at this point, so it was back to the B&B for a much needed sleep.

Day 3--Cliffs of Moher.

Click on the picture below for photos from Day 2:

Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body by Neil Shubin

As Kelly promised, here is a post about the first day (really two days) of our trip to Ireland.

We left on Saturday, March 15 and flew from Houston to Chicago, Chicago to NYC, and NYC to Dublin, arriving on the morning of Sunday, March 16 in Ireland. The first two flights went smoothly and both were about 30 minutes early in arriving. Well, mostly smoothly. While boarding the plane from Chicago to JFK, the pilot asked Kelly if she had the week off of school, insinuating she was, oh...12 years old. Kelly told him she worked in a school and received the ever handy reply: "You'll appreciate looking young when you're older." I told her she should have asked if she could sit in the cockpit.

We got off of the plane at JFK about 7:40pm and our flight didn't leave until 9:40pm. We figured we had plenty of time, so we changed some money and checked in with Aer Lingus. While waiting in line at security, I heard on the overhead announcements the Last Call for Aer Lingus 106 - our flight! It wasn't even 9:00 yet and they were about to close the gate for boarding. I noticed our boarding passes said the gate closed at 8:55pm (thanks for the warning Aer Lingus counter agent!). We started to mildly freak out as the line did not move fast. We finally made it through, and by now Last Call had been announced 5 or 6 times. We stopped to stretch out and then sprinted for our gate, which naturally was the last one in the terminal. We made it, out of breath, and got on the plane. We were so close to missing our flight other passengers were commenting on our luck. Kelly was like "Whatever - we stretched!"

The flight was 5 hours and we arrived in Ireland just before 8am. Saturday pretty much seemed to not exist. Kelly and I did not check luggage, so after customs we bought a map of Ireland and caught the Hertz shuttle to pick up our rental. The car was a Kia Rio (I thought the trip was doomed at that point) and had "scars" all along the left side of the car (US driver's side, Ireland's passenger side). All of the damage was previously noted so we began our adventures driving on the wrong side of the road.

Our bed and breakfast was only 4.9 kilometers away. 58 kilometers later, we arrived (thanks for nothing Google Maps!). It turns out Ireland is not a big fan of street names, but instead prints the road's destination (ie nearest next city). Things got slightly easier when we figured this out.

The B&B was called Glendowan and was just outside of Dublin near the airport. We dropped our bags off and headed for some sightseeing. We first drove to Bru Na Boine, the valley of the Boyne River. This is where the Newgrange passage tomb is located. The passage tomb was built between 3300 and 2900 BC. The original paleolithic stones are still present inside the structure. Builders of the tomb had to bring stones weighing up to 6 tons from 45 to 60 kilometers away. Without cars!. The tomb's entrance at some point had collapsed, thus perfectly preserving its contents until its rediscovery. The exterior was reconstructed using all original stones, leaving it looking as it must have when it was in use. The entrance stone, and many stones inside the tomb, had the original carvings still visible. Of particular note was the tri-spiral, or triskel, which has become a sort of Irish national symbol. At the entrance to the tomb is a "roof box" (read rectangular hole). You enter the tomb and when you reach the end of the narrow, short passage, you have walked vertically 8 feet. At the winter solstice (and on 3 days on either side of it), sunlight enters the roof box about 9am, casting a sliver of light across the floor of the pitch black tomb and for the next 17 minutes gradually fills the space, before leaving the tomb dark again. It is posited that the ancients thought that in this process the sun took the souls of their dead away. The phenomenon was demonstrated for us with electric light and was quite cool. The visitor center holds a raffle and winners get to come and be in the tomb on the winter solstice to witness the event themselves, provided it's not cloudy.

After Newgrange, we drove to Trim. Or tried to drive to Trim. We got lost, which came to be a common occurrence. Nevertheless, we arrived in Trim while it was still light outside. The main attraction, Trim castle, had already given it's last scheduled tour for the day, but we were still able to walk around outside and take photos and read signs. Trim castle was built by a Norman knight named Hugh de Lacy in 1176. It is the largest castle of the era in Ireland and was famously featured in Braveheart.

By now, it was early evening and we were jet lagged and exhausted. We made our way back to our B&B to freshen up and then headed out again to get some dinner. We ended up eating Indian food (which was quite fantastic) and returned to the bed and breakfast where we met the B&B owner's dogs, one of which was small, with really short legs, but was Wembley's personality doppleganger. Kelly loved him. We headed to our room, showered, and went to sleep. The next day is St. Patrick's Day!

We have uploaded Saturday and Sunday's pictures to Picasa. Click on the picture below to see them! (I think the best way to see them is with the slideshow).

I've been busy doing stuff at work that's a little too tedious to describe here, but have gotten sidetracked from posting for a couple of days. Sorry about that! I will return on Monday, hopefully, with new reviews. Stuff in the "Review Queue": In the Heat of the Night, Strange Wilderness, I Am Legend, The Scarlet Pimpernel, 12:08 East of Bucharest, The Page Turner, In Bruge, The Host, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and Moliere. Quite the international assortment, wouldn't you say?

This weekend I'm going to see The Phantom of the Opera for the first time. I'm also headed to the last hockey game for us for the season (poor Ric!) and am hoping to get more work done on the condo, as always.

Have yourselves a great weekend!

Tonight Justin and I are going to see Cold War Kids, which should be pretty sweet. Tomorrow we leave for our annual camp out at Justin's parents' farm in Paso Robles. Needless to say, posting will be sparse the next few days. Hope you all have a good weekend.

I've been letting Google pretty much run my life for some time now. Gmail contains all of my correspondences and personal contacts; Google Reader tracks all of the blogs and websites I read; Google Calendar keeps track of all my appointments for me; I even use iGoogle to bookmark all the important websites I need. Google owns me.

But for the last year I've become even more reliant on their services via Google Docs, a free online word processor. I started using it for work because it was easier than transferring files from home to work and vice versa with a flash drive. I was always dealing with multiple copies of documents on two computers and I could never remember which one was more recently updated. With Google Docs I discovered I could start writing an assignment at school, save it online, then go home and open it immediately on my personal computer, knowing that any revisions I then will show up when I access it from school the next day.

Since then I've uploaded all of the files on my school computer to Google Docs, and I'm in the process of uploading all of my home documents dating back to things I wrote in high school. It feels good to have everything I need in a single program that I can access from any computer at any time. I love that I can tag a document in multiple folders, further eliminating the need for duplicate copies. Then there's the search feature that makes all of Google's services special: I can search for a document I created five years ago, even if I don't remember the name of it, just by searching for a few keywords that I remember about it. This is especially helpful as my document account is approaching 1000.

As services like this are increasingly moving to web-based programs I'm getting to a point where a computer's actual disk storage is irrelevant: everything I do for school, including planning, creating assignments, grading, and writing IEPs, I do in a web browser. My home computer I use to store my media: music, movies, and the like, and I wouldn't be surprised if someday even these, like all information, are stored online and accessed remotely.

Most people I know who had Blockbuster Online accounts canceled theirs when prices were nearly doubled a few months ago. I got to keep my old rate for some reason so I decided to keep my subscription. I've been a little burnt out lately though, seeing as how I haven't even gotten a chance to watch some of the DVDs I received as Christmas gifts since I feel like I'm wasting money if I don't keep up with my Blockbuster movies. Then this morning when I went to look at my cue, I found this staring at me:

I actually have to scroll down a couple screens to see movies that are actually listed as "Available." Not to mention that many titles that are listed in my queue as "Available" have been passed over for quite some time. And let's not forget the 15+ movies that have been removed from my queue entirely and the 11 titles that have been placed in a separate "Titles Not Yet Available" section. So while Netflix has lowered their prices, increased the number of titles available, added distribution centers, and added online distribution, Blockbuster has raised their prices and has had movies removed from distribution since I've joined over a year ago. That makes perfect business sense. The whole exchange in store thing is nice but it can no longer make up for your crappy and overpriced service. Sorry guys, I'm done.

6 Endangered Species That Aren't Endangered Enough

As if a giant spider that can bring down a moderate-sized flying animal wasn't bad enough, it's one of the "hissing bastard spiders" (that's actually its full scientific name), the creepiest creature to exist outside of a horror novel. At this point, evolution clearly just started piling in everything nasty that could possibly fit: Its spit can dissolve flesh down to the bone AND it can shoot invisible hairs that cut your eyes and mouth. While the "intelligent designer" theory has lost steam of late, the "sadistic bastard creator" theory is single-handedly supported by the existence of this creature.

I totally YES'ed.

Somehow this event escaped my notice until today. Maybe I'm not reading the right blogs.

Over a week ago an event was held to give Iraq veterans an opportunity to tell about some of the atrocities they witnessed and committed during our ongoing war.

From The Nation:

While on tank patrol through the narrow streets of Abu Ghraib, just west of Baghdad, Pfc. Clifton Hicks was given an order. Abu Ghraib had become a "free-fire zone," Hicks was told, and no "friendlies" or civilians remained in the area. "Game on. All weapons free," his captain said. Upon that command, Hicks's unit opened a furious fusillade, firing wildly into cars, at people scurrying for cover, at anything that moved. Sent in to survey the damage, Hicks found the area littered with human and animal corpses, including women and children, but he saw no military gear or weapons of any kind near the bodies. In the aftermath of the massacre, Hicks was told that his unit had killed 700-800 "enemy combatants." But he knew the dead were not terrorists or insurgents; they were innocent Iraqis. "I will agree to swear to that till the day I die," he said. "I didn't see one enemy on that operation."

I think it's important to listen to them not because I think our nation's soldiers are particularly cruel or immoral, but because this is reality. Whenever reports have entered the news about American soldiers committing atrocities our national leaders have assured us that they are isolated incidents committed by a few bad seeds.

"This is not an isolated incident," the testifiers uttered over and over, to the point of liturgy, insisting that the atrocities they committed or witnessed were common. The hearings were not organized to point fingers at "bad apples" or even particular squads, several testifiers said.

The truth is that war can cause normal, decent human beings to do inhumane things. War is by nature cruel and immoral, and the Iraq war is no exception.

Being a fan of traditional Disney animated movies, I was excited the first time I saw a trailer for Enchanted. Actually, I remember that the trailer started out with all of the animated footage from the movie, and my first thought was, "Wait, Disney is making good animated movies again?!" And then it changed to live action footage, and I was a little less excited. But, hearing about its self-awareness and all of the good reviews it was receiving, I decided to give it a try.

The movie is about a cartoon girl named Giselle, who is pushed down a well by an evil queen who doesn't want her to marry the prince, Edward. The well transports her to real life (much like the episode where Homer does in that Treehouse of Horror episode), where she is a little bit out of place. The land of fairy tales runs by different rules than the land of real life, and Giselle is sometimes oblivious to that fact. She meets a man named Robert and his young daughter, and they host her while she waits for prince Edward to come rescue her. In the meantime, the evil Queen sends one of her minions over to kill Giselle, while one of Giselle's animal friends tries to thwart his efforts.

Enchanted is filled with songs, dance routines, and animated real-life acting. Amy Adams, whom I loved in Junebug, is perfect as Giselle, and rightly deserves all the talk about her acting. She is able to capture the essence of animation in her own face, and is able to play a fairytale character without overdoing it. It's a delicate balance, because she could end up being extremely annoying, but she is always charming and wins over all of the characters in the movie as well as the entire movie audience. Pleasantly surprising is the performance from James Marsden as the prince; I had no idea he could pull off that kind of comedy! Also effective are Timothy Spall and Susan Sarandon as the evildoers. Patrick Dempsey fits in well too, as a good blend of an ordinary guy with a bit of a prince-like look that can match him up well with Giselle.

By the end of the movie, I certainly felt as if I had received enough cheer for a full month. I commented to Ric as we were leaving the theater that I felt like I needed to watch something like Resevoir Dogs to balance it out. But even though I kidded, Enchanted really was full of a great fairy tale spirit. It was clever in its self-awareness and the way it recalled images from previous Disney classics, but it was also a good story in itself, and revived the fairy tale genre in a way that I didn't think was possible. Good for all ages (and even gaining a few laughs from the husband), I would pretty much recommend anyone, providing they're prepared for a massive dose of optimism.

Well, hello! We had another doctor's appointment last week and everything is going just great. We found out we're having a girl! This makes the seventh (!) girl grandchild on my side of the family (no boys at all), but the first on Steph's side. Here are some pictures of Prego Steph (new action hero, no cape) from Easter, plus one of Cedric, Steph's nephew. Laura, Steph's sister-in-law, came to visit last week and apparently Cedric likes to do dishes.

Another recommendation from Mr. Bell, Offside is an Iranian movie that takes place during a World Cup qualifying soccer match. Women are not allowed to go to sporting events, so if they want to see live soccer, they have to dress up like men. At first, the movie follows one young girl as she tries to sneak into the game. She is caught and is kept in a gated area with several other girls who have been caught. They bicker with the guards, try to find ways to sneak out, and rely on one guard to describe the game to them.

This is a quiet little movie that moves at a very deliberate pace. Sometimes I felt as if it were leading toward a more exciting plot, but it really was just about the experience of women who get caught sneaking into a soccer game, and the reasons behind why they can't attend. The girls have several conversations with the guards about why they can't go in, and the guards explain about how men shout obscenities that the girls shouldn't be exposed to, along with a multitude of other reasons.

Apparently a lot of the footage from the movie is footage from the actual soccer game. My guess is that these are featured in the later portion of the movie, which features street scenes after the game is won. It's very interesting to see and hear the way the Iranians celebrate. I love that one of their chants says (paraphrased) "Iran riddles its enemies with goals!"

All in all, the movie was a bit of a slow one for me. What I did like was that it gave an insight into the mindset of Iranian culture by using a soccer game setting. It's a creative idea, and I appreciated it for that.

I knew this wasn't going to be your normal PaleyFest panel when I arrived over two hours early to the Arclight only to see that the line for the Dome wrapped all the way around the theater. In contrast, I had arrived at the Apatow panel an hour and a half or so early and was at the front of the line when the doors opened. My excitement rose as they finally let us in the theater and we, the lucky ticket holders, walked past the standby line containing folks who had been waiting since the previous
evening just for a chance to get into the sold out panel. Even though I had to sit in the balcony, I knew it was going to be an unforgettable evening.

Read more »

Plain View #83 - March 6, 2008

King of Kong

The Crucible

Peak by Roland Smith

Evolution

Science vs. Ignorance

Internet Cartoon

Lent

Tumblr

subscribe
to this podcast!

I'd like to take a quick poll. Please leave a comment with your answers to these questions:

1. Who is your first choice of McCain, Clinton and Obama?
2. If it's Obama vs McCain, who will you vote for?
3. If it's Clinton vs McCain, who will you vote for?

Feel free to elaborate, but try to also give a simple answer to those three questions. If your answer is "I won't bother to vote," then say so.

My hypothesis is that Obama can get almost all of Clinton's supporters if he gets the nomination, but Clinton will get a much smaller percentage of Obama supporters if she somehow wins the nomination. My answers are

1. Obama
2. Obama
3. Clinton, but with much less enthusiasm

The Wards are back state side after a week across the pond in Ireland. To come: a series of posts chronicling our trip, complete with pictures, commentary, unwarranted opinions, and a glimpse into the Irish cuisine (black pudding included).

In other exciting news, our dog Wembley is a graduate! He has earned his first diploma in basic obedience. Sure, it was by the skin of his teeth and maybe a bit of luck and a glance the other way by the instructor, but he passed 4 out of 5 tests--even the 2 minute down stay. To celebrate, we put him in a kennel for a week while we went abroad. We will make this up to him by the purchase of a new stuffed toy for him to demolish. It is pretty pathetic watching him drag around empty shells of what used to be a penguin, dog, and whale.

We have also been a bit neglectful in posts detailing our progress on the house. I'll be working on remedying that in the near future--we are down to the final 2 rooms, friends. It has been a long haul, and I can't wait to be done!

To end--does anyone with a yard have any tips on controlling clovers and vine-like things that take over your grass? Our current solution has been hand-pull as much as possible, then mow it down so it just looks like short grass. We also have a slight problem with ants that just seem to move instead of die when the ant poison hits them. I think we are making them stronger...

~Kelly

Hi everyone!

I hope all of you had a good Easter Weekend. Mine was a bit out of the ordinary. Dominic was here from out of town to promote Gunplay, so he spent a few extra days and hung out with the gang. Thursday night, we all had a good meal at the Corner Bakery and then crossed the street to have a few sips at The Wine Stop. It was so great to see the whole gang gathered around the table, chatting as if years hadn't passed since we were all together like that. It's always great to have a big hug from Dom, and it was so great to hear about what's going on in his life.

I woke up Friday and spent some time reading Satisfy My Thirsty Soul, which I am reading through with Wendy and Sherida. It was a good time to spend focusing on God, since the rest of the day was all planned out already. In the afternoon, I caught at meal at Flame Broiler (yum!) and went to see Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day with my mom and my sister. Friday night, the boys were playing poker together for the first time in a long time. All the boys were there except Dan, but never fear, the internet hooked him up via webcam, and all were reunited. The girls were rather spread out that day, so I spent some of the evening running errands. I met up with my sister at my parents' place later on, and we headed over to Fullerton to drop off a couple things at the poker night. We ended up going to the Cheesecake Factory around 11 o'clock, and shared a nice spinach/cheese dip appetizer and a perfect lemoncello cream tart. It was a quiet girls' night, but we had a nice time dining outdoors into the late night.

Saturday, only a few hours after Ryan dropped off Ric, we got up early and started disassembling our kitchen things. The microwave was removed from the cabinets, the gas range detached, and Ric uninstalled the dishwasher. We got to rest a couple of hours before the delivery guys arrived. Unfortunately for them, it was a hot weekend, and our kitchen and laundry are located upstairs, so they had to work hard for their money. One of them was also allergic to cats. Oops. Anyway, our stuff got delivered safely. Ric rested a while before tackling installation, and I went out and did some grocery shopping and errand running. He spent all day working, and I spent most of the day reading up on how to use all of our new and technologically advanced appliances. We had a late dinner at Pick Up Stix and then drove to Fullerton to pick up Ric's car from Jon's house.

Oh, and before I forget - Saturday, we got the AWESOME news that Colin has returned home safely from Iraq! This was his third deployment, a voluntary one, and I can't say enough how proud I am to be his friend and how grateful I am for his service and for God's protection of him. It's so amazing to know that he is home with his wife and baby girl. What a wonderful Easter gift for the family!

On Easter Sunday, we went to church at the late service. It was a good service. I always appreciate our pastor so much. Unfortunately, that was the only thing Easter-related we did on Sunday. My family was rather lackluster about getting something together, and Ric's parents were sick, so we had nothing to do except enjoy the church service we attended. After church, we went to Lowe's to buy more supplies (I think some of their employees recognize us now) for installing the appliances, and then spent the afternoon working. Ric worked on the dishwasher while I unloaded all of our boxes of books. It was a productive day, and we got to relax with some tv towards the end.

Up this week: re-scheduled dinner with Judi, movies with the Agadonis, a screening of Expelled with Ben Stein in person or a hockey game on Thursday, and Phantom of the Opera (just me and Jenny). Hopefully I'll have some time to get things done at home!

Warren Ellis » Moved

My last conversation with Dreamhost having convinced me once and for all that they're a gang of chimps. Note for the future, guys - when you send someone a nastygram telling them they're overusing system resources, and that person writes back to ask what system resources, replying with the equivalent of "I dunno. Stuff" really just makes you look like wankers.

It appears that beloved comic scribe Warren Ellis received the same treatment that we did from the Dreamhost folks. We never did quite figure out what was wrong on our end but I think we're much better off these days.

CBS Cancels JERICHO!! Again!! -- Ain't It Cool News: The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.

Producers created two endings for Jericho's second-season finale: a cliffhanger and a not-cliffhanger, and it looks like they'll be using the not-cliffhanger on Tuesday.

Ratings for season two are even lower than the season one ratings that precipitated the show's first cancellation.

I think it's for real this time. I really enjoyed this brief second season and I'm glad we got it. I think it would have been much worse for the show to end on the Season One cliffhanger. I'm sad that folks didn't embrace the show when it came back. I think this will have a negative impact on the idea of resurrecting a show, which is a bummer.

Robots: Man Designs a Robot to Kill Him -- And Succeeds

It begins....

An elderly man in Australia who didn't want to be placed in a home for assisted living built a robot to end his misery. He downloaded the specs for a robot that could point and shoot a gun, built it himself, then took it out to his driveway. There, the robot shot him down and killed him.

This is something right out of I, Robot. I'm almost more freaked out that someone actually designed a robot that could point and shoot a gun for personal, non -military use.

Google announced their new AJAX Language API today. I thought a translator that worked as you type would be cool and I was able to put one together in just a few minutes:

Instant translation

Now I wonder how hard it would be to make an iPhone optimized version . . .

One of my recent work-out listens was Heidi. I grew up watching the Shirley Temple movie adaptation of this story, but never read the actual story. For a good while, the movie is a very straightforward retelling of the story, which is about a young girl who is sent to live with her gruff grandfather in the mountains of Switzerland and then sent to Frankfurt to be a companion to an invalid girl.

Written by Johanna Spyri, the novel is perfect for children, but can easily be enjoyed by an adult as well. Switzerland's beauty is declared throughout the whole story in such a way that I felt like taking another trip. At first we learn about life on the mountain, including the rearing of goats and the simple joys of food and admiring nature.

What I appreciated most about this book was that it teaches a great lesson to kids about how getting what one wants immediately isn't always a good thing. Heidi is unhappy in her life at Frankfurt and prays and prays for God to find a way to send her back to the mountain. When He doesn't send her there immediately, she stops praying. But later, when she does return, she realizes that He had many reasons for delaying her return. She reflects on these thoughts and almost gives mini-sermons, which sound a tiny bit too forced, but for a children's novel, I think it works. And it's a good message, one even I need to think about sometimes.

This little book was full of joy, beauty, and good old-fashioned morals. The characters are diverse, the telling is crisp but touching, and its simplicity is refreshing. I loved it.

Tina Fey & Christopher Guest Want In on Ricky Gervais' 'Truth'! - Cinematical

Who could that mean for casting? Well, there's a short little blip that says Tina Fey and Christopher Guest have signed on, along with Jeffrey Tambor and John Hodgman (The Daily Show). This flick sounded good, but now it's downright irresistible! While I would rather have Guest do more mockuwonders, I won't pass up the chance to see him reunite with Gervais, with a helping of Fey, Tambor, and Hodgman. And, we can't forget the already-cast players -- Louis CK, Rob Lowe, Jonah Hill, and Jennifer Garner.

I'll admit I let out a squee of delight when I found out Tina Fey and Christopher Guest will share the screen with Ricky Gervais. Not to mention Jeffrey Tambor, John Hodgman, Louis CK, and the rest of the already announced cast. Speaking of Gervais, if you haven't checked out the podcast he was doing with Stephen Merchant and their friend Kyle, you're missing out.

March Madness

Be sure to sign up if you haven't yet!

As much as I loved the Pushing Daisies panel on Saturday, the Judd Apatow panel on Monday night fulfilled some of my wildest fanboy dreams. Even though I briefly got to meet Apatow and some of the gang at the There Will Be Blood screening, this was their own deal and Apatow got to really do whatever he felt like. Read on for the rundown of the evening.

Read more »

For a couple years I've been meaning to attend a panel at PaleyFest. If you're a TV fan you may have seen a panel without knowing what it was from. Many of them end up as special features on DVDs. With the announcement of this year's panels I decided I couldn't let another year go by without going.

The first panel I attended was Saturday's Pushing Daisies panel. This year they moved the panels to the Cinerama Dome at the Arclight, which is a fabulous venue. They started things off by showing a clip package highlighting the characters and main storylines of the show. They often will show a new episode of the show but since they aren't coming back until the fall and don't start production until June that wasn't possible. Watching the clips reminded me how amazing this show is and how much I miss it. I'm so glad ABC picked it up for next season!

Read more »

A little bird recommended this one in his 2007 list, so I decided to give it a try. One of his other choices sent me to dreamland every time I tried to watch it (which doesn't mean it's a bad film), so I approached this one with some trepidation. In French, the movie is actually called Hearts, and the story follows a small group of characters as their lives intertwine while each one of them is looking for love in different places. While that synopsis might constitute a comedy in America, this movie does has many humorous moments, but they are fairly balanced by the disappointments one experiences when looking for love. The mood of the stories is captured well by the bright colors in the middle of a snow-covered Paris.

This was a pleasant film, despite its sad moments. I was instantly drawn into its little world, which seems limited to just a few settings and a few characters. One can definitely sense that it was adapted from a play, but it still works. Depending on the character, the search is for the feeling of being loved, looking for a new person to love, parting from old loves, remembering old loves, and the sensations that accompany love relationships. My favorite story is that of a man who separates from his fiancee and meets up with a girl from a personal ad. I think his character is more flushed out than the rest, and as a result is more significant than some of the others.

While I admired the style and movement of the movie (loved the architectural details and emphasis on walls) and some of its stories, I wouldn't say that it resonated at a deep level. It's still a very good movie, but I sense that some limitations must have presented it from being a greater one. I would place it in the upper half of my 2007 list, but not in the top 15.

Comic Book Resources - CBR News: Marvel to Adapt Stephen King's "The Stand"

This is pretty sweet news:

"I did go to Marvel and ask them if they would have any interest in adapting 'The Stand' as a graphic novel and they are going to do that," King told Talk of the Nation. "Marvel is going to do 'The Stand' as a graphic novel."

A Marvel spokesperson simply offered "no comment" Sunday afternoon when asked for further details including creative teams, format and when this may see release.

As some of you may know, I'm a Stephen King nut. The Stand is probably one of my favorite books. I've been very pleased so far with The Dark Tower comics Marvel has put out so I think this will be great too. I'll be happy if it's a straight up adaptation of the book but would be even more happy if it were a continuation or even a prequel to the original story or perhaps expanded further on the events that occur in the book. Maybe a series of vignettes on individual characters, seeing as there are so many captivating characters in the book and we, the readers, got to know some better than others. I really like how the comic book format offers limitless possibilities for this sort of thing and I'm glad King has embraced that.

Blogthings - How's Your Spelling?

Just a fun little test to pass the time. I got a perfect score. I need to do write-ups for the Pushing Daisies and Judd Apatow PaleyFest panels but I'm feeling a little lazy. What else is new, right? Hope you all had a fun St. Patrick's Day. Since I was at the Judd Apatow panel I didn't do anything particularly Irish. I was tempted to walk over to the Cat and Fiddle but I knew it would be a total mob scene and it was getting late so I just went home.

Boston Dynamics, a small DARPA-funded robotics company is designing the robot in the video for the US military. The video shows the bot, called BigDog, maintaining balance while being kicked, slipping on ice, climbing over rubble and leaping. It can carry more than 300 pounds.

(via io9)

Boston Dynamics, a small DARPA-funded robotics company is designing the robot in the video for the US military. The video shows the bot, called BigDog, maintaining balance while being kicked, slipping on ice, climbing over rubble and leaping. It can carry more than 300 pounds.

(via io9)

Another in the line of Kieslowsky movies I have been watching, Camera Buff is about Filip Mosz, a man of modest means who saves up and buys the first video camera his town has seen so he can take videos of his newborn daughter. Filip's first use of the camera is much like anyone else's, but when his company orders him to film a significant business event, his focus turns from home movies to all the possibilities of movie making.

Filip starts out with a very tranquil life, in love with his wife and with his newborn. He is happy to document family life. His opportunity at work excites him too, and he soon starts documenting the big event as well as a few other things, to his wife's dismay. The company film is sent to a local competition, and he gains a small amount of notoriety for his work. Soon he starts a film club at his work, and continues to make commissioned documentaries as well as pieces that interest them (none of which feature his own family). In one review I read, a person noted that this movie is meant to be partially autobiographical. The drive and obsession of an artist can change his perspective and priorities, and they can leave that person alone, too, when those who love them are driven away. The same reviewer suggested that Kieslowski changed interests to fictional stories because one can make an impact by resonating with an audience from a safer distance. I thought that was an interesting idea.

The movie also contains a commentary on the communist regime, which often limited what Filip was allowed to film. His boss often told him what he could or could not focus on, which stifled his creativity as well as necessitated a biased point of view through censorship. Here, Kieslowski shows that a documentary may present truth, but it is through a filtered lens, which means that the truth being told is always told from a particular perspective, and thus is always biased.

Filip doesn't understand that what he thinks is just a bit of documentary can make a larger impact than he expects. Besides the struggles he faces with family life, he unintentionally hurts other townspeople by submitting a bit of an exposé on certain renovations that were done in the town. He believes he is simply showing a truth, but that truth is a cause that has an effect - one that he does not expect.

Filip's obsession, despite the consequences, is very interesting to me. Even when he sees the error of the ways, he seems unable to stop himself from looking at everything with a filmmaker's eye. The scene at the train station with his wife was wonderful. There are several other ideas regarding filming others and filming oneself and artistry and politics, all displayed subtly throughout Filip's story. I thought Camera Buff was both enjoyable for its humor and touching in how one feels while watching Filip's personal demise and artistic success.

So, I haven't posted in nearly three months. I have been busier than a son-of-a-gun. Most of my days were spent working, then school, then officiating, then sleeping. I wanted to blog, but when I sat down to do it, I had neither energy, nor motivation. However now I have some time because it is finals week and I have nothing to do today, well nothing that has to be done today. So what is going on.

One class I am taking this term is Medieval History. It is a pretty good class, except that it is very hard for me to stay awake during. That is beside the point. The major project in the class was to either do a presentation or do an artistic representation of something Medieval. Well I did the artistic representation because I couldn't pick a topic in time to get a presentation scheduled. My topic was the trebuchet.

A word to the wise. If you do not have the ability to cut angular notches into your wood, do not make a trebuchet, or at least use different instructions than I did. It became apparent, while I have decent woodworking skills, that I did not have the ability to make the trebuchet as the plans suggested. I was scaling it down, but still it was very difficult. I had a very difficult time trying to nail 3/4 inch wood. For some reason it did not work well. However after a few short 6 hours of frustration I completed my trebuchet and when I had it in class, my professor walked in looked at it and said "cool." I hope I get an "A".

Writing class has been an adventure. I have done well, but there was a lot of tension in my class between a veteran and a group of four very opinionated students. Why this is important is that I sat right in between those people the whole term. While most of the discussion was from the group of four, who didn't understand the language that the veteran, who is about my age, used. He exaggerated his points in order make them. So he believed that the best course of action in the middle east was military action. However, when you have a controversial opinion you should probably put it better than he did. His exaggeration was that we needed to go there and blow the whole place up. Now, I understood this exaggeration. I think he did as well, however the group of four took it that he wanted to commit genocide against the people who live in the middle east. While that happened at the beginning of the semester and while things never really escalated too greatly, the group would disagree with any opinion that he had. So the last day we were to share what the main idea of our final paper was. I believe that the group was going to disagree with whatever he said. His argument could have been the sky is blue. They would argue that it was really sky blue. His topic was that as Americans we should not buy Chinese products, or products made in China, but we should only buy American, if possible. He said that would keep money in America, and benefit all Americans. Also, American products are better quality than Chinese so any extra you pay is worth it. However he put it in his exaggerated controversial terms and certain people in the class thought that he hated all Chinese people. Idiots. Anyways, there I was sitting in between these two groups hearing them fight, neither one would move an inch, no one was really trying to understand each other, and everything became ad hominem. I had to share my topic next.

I really don't like my philosophy professor. He used a false dilemma, oversimplification, and he took things out of context when he tried to talk about religious ethics. However when I asked questions in class, specifically about his false dilemma, where I brought up a third option, he said after holding his mouth slightly agape for a second "I'll have to think about that." That led to a nice discussion where the other religious people in the class jumped on him and never once got over emotional or angry. I will graciously accept two points for that.

I am doing well at work. I got a sweatshirt last week and a hat this week for how well I have been working. I think I am the greatest ever.

I am thinking about taking a golf class next term. I need a P.E. class just to stay active and that might be good. If it is full though what should I take?

I think it would be cool to make a movie where people randomly drop kicked people from awesome places. I always think that when I stand on the top level of the academic center and look down at the courtyard below. I usually seem some moron walk by that I want so badly just to see someone dropkick. Maybe I should.

I think Barack Obama will win the Democratic nomination. I really do not like Hilary. I think also it would be smart of the Republican party to have a minority VP candidate(Condi?). This way it will stave off the accusations that the Republican party is a glorified country club. Rich, white, old males who hate everyone who is not like them.

However my brother put it the best on this years election. You are either going to vote for big government democrats or big government republicans. I think I will go for the ones who will cut taxes.

Anyways ordering pizza on the internet may be the greatest thing that has ever happened to mankind.

Later

On Friday night Ric and I took it kind of easy.

Saturday, the violinist, Midori, was playing a free concert of new material (kind of as a warm-up before a tour) at the university, so my sister and I went to see her play. It was all music from the 1990s, which is sometimes enjoyable and sometimes not to me, but there was one particular piece that was, in her own words, "an epic". It was great to see her play. I had always heard of her but never been to see her. She seemed very grounded and I loved watching how meticulous she was, as well as how she used her entire body to play.

After the concert, Jenny and I drove down to South Coast plaza to get some shopping done. After a good lunch at Boudin (San Francisco-inspired food) we hit up Bloomingdale's, Sephora, H&M, Macy's, and Banana Republic at the mall, then The Container Store, Nordstrom Rack, and Macy's Home store across the street. That took about seven hours. I ended up hitting the jackpot at H&M. I'm glad I don't live near one, or I'd probably be broke. They have great clothes, and most regular shirts are $20 or less. I bought a lot. I got some replacement makeup at Sephora and Bloomingdale's, a $118 shirt for $15 at Macy's, and drawer dividers (because a narrow silverware tray does NOT exist) at The Container Store. Ric was given a massive gift card to Nordstrom from the head of his company for Christmas, so I bought a lot of miscellaneous stuff at the Rack. Also, we had to return a couple of things I was given for my birthday that I already had or didn't fit quite right, so I was able to buy some new canisters and a cutting board for the kitchen. So really, I didn't pay for about half the stuff I bought on Saturday. I think that's pretty good.

After shopping, Jenny and I ate at Octopus in Brea (love their food) and met up with Ric. We all went to see In Bruges, which is my favorite movie of the year so far.

I'd just like to say that I really love living somewhere where I can see an internationally famous Japanese violinist for free, eat San Franciscan food, shop massive department stores, eat Japanese fusion food, and watch an Irish-in-Belgium movie, all in some of the most beautiful weather in the world.

Sunday, Ric and I went to church and saw Judi and Ralph, then went out to breakfast at Ruby's with Liz. We went home to rest, do finances, and do some online research about appliances. We finally went to Lowe's and ordered a bunch of appliances: washer, dryer, dishwasher, gas range, and above-range microwave. Stainless steel, here we come! Thankfully, we had a coupon for 10% off, plus there was a promotion that ended yesterday that will end up giving us a few hundred dollars back! AND we're going to get rebates from the water and gas companies for a couple of the appliances as well, which will be about $200 more back! So, even though we did spend a lot, we're getting a good amount back. That feels good. This will be the first time I've had nice appliances. I grew up with whatever was the cheapest, so it's a new thing to me to be looking at these shiny new appliances and realizing they can be mine. I feel a little bit guilty, but I guess it's just the reward of saving our pennies.

After Lowe's, we went to Wicke's to see if any of their out-of-business furniture was any good. Meh. We went back home, where I put the drawer dividers (which are awesome!) into my silverware drawer for an hour and worked on more finances. We went out to eat and work on our taxes a little, then came home and watched a few episodes of News Radio.

I didn't do anything besides the silverware drawer for the house this weekend, but I guess I was productive in other ways. Up this week: a dinner with Judi, small work on the house, and some time with Dom, hopefully!

DSC03700

Originally uploaded by brendoman

Check out all my photos here. I learned that once you've been to San Diego, every con pales in comparison. Still, I was surprised at how small the con was. Marvel and Top Cow were the only big comic companies there. No DC/Vertigo, Image, or Dark Horse. Not even IDW. There were a few big name artists and writers but not that many. Silvestri was the guest of honor and Jeph Loeb was there. The highlights for me were the Robot Chicken panel and meeting Summer Glau. The bummer of that was her handler guy was keeping people moving along so quickly that I couldn't get my picture taken with her. Other than that stuff, there wasn't much going on. I'm glad I went, but I don't know if I would go back next year unless they have some guests or panels I absolutely have to see.

My next big con stop is the New York Comic Con. Since I didn't get to go to Scotland I picked another destination I've always wanted to go to and planned my trip to coincide with one of the bigger conventions in the U.S.. I'm crashing at a friend's place and I got some cheap tickets on Virgin America so it's a pretty inexpensive trip. I managed to snag a ticket to Neil Gaiman's reading so that should be fantastic. Frank Miller, Alex Ross, Mike Mignola, and Guillermo Del Toro are also going to be there. I'm really looking forward to it.

Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon by Daniel C. Dennett

It's time.

Go here.

Group ID: 78027
Password: votefordanny

I apologize - it's been so long since I saw or read the movies and books I'm reviewing that my memory of them is already fading. So forgive me if this is short!

I read the Wilkie Collins novel The Woman in White when I took a class called Dickens and Friends in college. That was one of the most awesome classes ever offered. Apparently Collins stood represented "Friends". Victorian melodrama is my cup of tea, even though it is often outrageously melodramatic. The Woman in White is no exception.

The movie revolves around a set of characters residing at an English mansion. One of them is a young painter who has come to teach a young lady named Marian and her cousin, Laura, a bit about painting. On his way to the mansion, he meets a woman in white upon the road, who seems to be in a lot of distress. He points her in the direction she's looking for, and thinks nothing of it until he finds out that her story may be linked to the people with whom he has come to stay. He falls in love with Laura, but unfortunately she is already engaged to a rather sinister-type guy. As the movie progresses, the young painter and Marian try to uncover the mystery behind the elusive woman in white.

I loved this atmospheric little movie. It definitely adapts the book a little bit differently, but it is still effective. I really enjoyed the entire cast and the wonderful settings - especially the opening sequence on the road to the mansion. It had been a long time since I read the book, so I had forgotten the details of the mystery. It was great to revisit the story, and to find this movie, which I didn't even know existed until I was browsing through TiVo listings one day.

It's not available on DVD, so if you like this type of story, keep an eye out for it at Turner Classics. It'll probably show up again one day.

Because today is Pi Day (3.14) I decided to try something different: In my iTunes search bar I typed the word pi so that I would see only the tracks that have those two letters together in either the song title, artist name, or album title. I then set iTunes to random and hit play to see what popped up.

Sunship Balloons - The Flaming Lips (from Ego Tripping at the Gates of Hell EP)
Like Spinning Plates - Radiohead
The First Full Moon - Sufjan Stevens (from To Spirit Back The Mews)
Cassiel's Song - Nick Cave (from Faraway, So Close: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
My Dark Life - Elvis Costello and Brian Eno (from Songs in the Key of X : Music from and Inspired by The X-Files)
In