Thank You For Smoking

Paul and I went to see Thank You For Smoking last night. It's brilliant. Clever, funny, and it was ok to hate Katie Holmes! OK, well not really, we must pity her for getting knocked up "by" Tom Cruise. But I did feel like her character would have been cast differently had the movie been produced in the 90s. They introduce her character by going on and on about how great her "tits" are, and quite frankly, I just don't see it. She does have that perpetually young look to her. Plucky young reporter with big doe-eyes who can seem naïve while still exuding the go-getter, altruist, and slightly twisted qualities that they were going for. But I think, had this movie been made in the 90s, they would have cast this character with someone just a bit sleeker, less round (not that round is necessarily a bad thing!), and little edgier. But overall Katie did a great job.

I've never seen any of Aaron Eckhart's other movies so I don't know what he's generally known for (Or if he's not really known for anything) but I think he did a fabulous job as the main character. I think the stars (the celestial ones) were aligned in terms of him being cast, the writer and screenwriter, and the directing to let him pull off such a likeable asshole. The people from House need to take notes.

I broke the build...

*sigh*

My manager's position was to chuckle and tell me it happens to everyone. I guess I looked pathetic enough about it that everyone felt pity for me, so I got a lot of sympathetic looks and consoling words. Damn. I know it happens to everyone, but that doesn't make me any less embarrassed and mortified about it.

I need a giant ugly zucchini dressed up in sunglasses to sit on my desk. I wish I could remember which software book that came from...

The good news is that it was quickly fixed and set to rights... but I felt bad about asking the buildroom for anything else all day. Oh and I owe them $1. Apparently that's the going rate for ignorant neglect of the build process these days.

Turn Off Your TV

I want to invite everyone to observe TV-turnoff week with me next week.

OK, just ignore the really bad graphics on that website for a minute. Now I'm not saying tv is evil, because if that were true I'd be such a hypocrit. I can't seem to go a week without my House fix. And we all know that I wouldn't have nearly as big a penchant for home improvement if it weren't for Norm and the gang on This Old House.

BUT, it is a time sucking waste. That's right, how many hours a week do we all lose by channel surfing because it's only 30 minutes before the next half-way decent show? I know I've watched far too many episodes of Seinfeld waiting for the Simpsons to come on. And it's just sad. And what makes it even worse is the shows that I watch even though I've seen the episode before, or the shows that I watch because it's what's on and I need to numb my brain for a while so I don't have to think about my own problems. And then midnight rolls around (or even 1AM) and I haven't actually gotten anything done. All night.

I grew up in a house where the tv was always on. There was after-school crap and Star Trek with Dinner (which was sort of OK because episodes of the Next Generation still soothe what ails me, no matter how ridiculous the plot-line was...) and then more junk after dinner until it was way past my bedtime.

I gave up TV in college. I made an agreement with my roommates that we wouldn't have one. When I moved to Boston after graduating I lived alone without cable/antenna/etc. It was a good time. I got a lot of other stuff done. Then Paul and I moved in together and we got broadband cable, and that's when it started. At first is was just a show or 2, then it was the ST Next Gen marathons. Then for a little while once we moved we no longer had cable again, and all was good. And then the day Comcast called me up at work and said that I would save $2 on my service if I added basic. "Um, so you're telling me that I will pay less and get more?" Yup. I will get more crap and less sleep. I will discover Gilmore Girls and form an addiction which only eases when House got the same time slot and even I had to admit the Gilmores just weren't who they used to be. If I want someone annoying, I'll watch House, because at least he's supposed to be annoying. And he's good at it :)

But right now in my life there's far too many sub-par shows that I seem to get sucked into watching anyway, so I'll be happy to say goodbye for the week. I may cheat for House, but he's the only one. Oh, except maybe Numb3rs... though I have a feeling I'll be getting it on DVD someday, so maybe I can wait and watch it without all those annoying commercials that are subsidizing my broadband internet connection.

Cats with Huevos

Who knew that Mick would love a purple plastic Easter Egg so much? Someone at Trader Joe's was hiding Easter eggs among the groceries and Paul found one with a fruit leather inside while he was working the dairy box. He brought it home, I ate the fruit leather, and the egg got tossed onto a table or something and then we didn't think about it again until the next morning when we came down to find Mick zinging around the house chasing it! He was having a grand ole time, too. Now, just for a little perspective, our cats tend to knock things off of horizontal surfaces in order to see them fall and then get bored and move onto the next thing. But I guess the egg has just the right amount of slipperiness and lightness to make it Really Fun (TM). And of course it got him into a crazy, wild-eyed, rolling around on the floor like he's been hitting the 'nip just a bit too hard thing going on.

Here's a pic of Mr Mick McMickleson sleeping in "Chickenwing pose"... it's a new yoga asana for cats ;-)

First Post!

I've been debating the creation of a blog for a while. I really enjoy reading certain blogs but I'm not sure I have the time to dedicate to it, and then there's the whole concept of theme, and since I'm so all over the map in my interests I wasn't sure how it would work. And then my niece got one and I needed a username to login and post to hers, so here I go, stepping off the edge into darkness. Wish me luck!