Movies

Post Dos – My Favorite Movie

This is going to be harder than I thought.  I returned home from getting my hair done, ate some supper (delicious scramby eggs rolled into a burrito with red pepper flakes, jalapeno slices, and extra sharp cheddar), watched 7 minutes of Modern Family (I don’t see what all the fuss is about), and now it’s 8:41, and I still need to write a post before retiring to bed by 9PM!  Whew, best get started.

Favorite movie.  Again, this is a tough one.  I think I can narrow it down to two this time, however.

1.  Serenity.  Tim and I had never heard of Firefly when we went to some random movie and saw the trailer for Serenity.  We thought that it looked like a cheesy movie, but it looked like it could be good.  So we saw it in the theater.  I LOVED it.  It was such a perfect mix of adventure, laughter, love, and loss.  Amazing.  I have seen the movie at least 5 times, and we’re watching it again Friday night.  One of my friends FINALLY broke down and watched all of the Firefly episodes, so I am making him come over to watch Serenity with us.  I’m going to stare at him through the whole movie to make sure he is reacting appropriately and appreciating this marvel of a movie. If he isn’t, so help me.

Soon after seeing the movie, I had my wisdom teeth removed, so Tim and I moved our mattress into the living room in front of the TV, and watched the whole season in two days while I recovered.  We capped off the weekend with Serenity, of course.  I almost regret having seen them, only because it means that I can’t watch them for the first time ever again.  They are that good.

2.  The other movie that I watch all the time, whenever I can’t figure out what I really want to watch or if I’m feeling blue or if I’m just feeling chill, is the Keira Knightley Pride and Prejudice.  Don’t get me wrong, I also love the 4 hour BBC production.  In fact, I would have called that one of my favorite movies prior to falling in love with the new version.  Actually, if I think back, when I first saw the new P&P, I wasn’t sure that it compared that favorably to the BBC version (case in point – the awkward, tacked on ending scene).  Much like Mr. Darcy, it improves upon further acquaintance. I love the setting, the beautiful English countryside, Keira’s beauty and perfect delivery, Mr. Darcy walking through the misty fields, meeting Elizabeth and realizing he still has a chance.  Ah, so good.  It’s the ultimate feel-good movie.  It’s so relaxing and peaceful to watch.  The scene where Darcy meets Elizabeth after the church service, during which Elizabeth discovers that Darcy is the reason Jane & Bingley were separated, is pure gold.  They so passionately despise each other that they can barely resist each other.  It makes my heart skip a beat every time I watch it.

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Pant Rant

Is anyone else annoyed by all the spandex in pants these days?  If spandex had a predictable effect on pants, I could handle its inclusion in almost everything.  I would buy pants one size too small, knowing that they will stretch out and fit perfectly.  However, sometimes they stretch out 2 sizes bigger; sometimes they don’t stretch out all.  Sometimes in the wash they don’t shrink; sometimes they shrink a couple of sizes.  Sometimes they don’t shrink the first few times you wash them, only to shrink inexplicably the 5th time you wash them, which leaves you wondering if they truly did shrink or if you got suddenly much fatter in the course of 2 days.  It’s very annoying.

On that note, I better go to bed, so I can wake up and go to the gym tomorrow to compensate for the unreliableness of stretchy, man-made materials.

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My Favorite Song – Post #1

I’ve decided to take my friend Laura up on her challenge to all her “bloggy” friends -the challenge is to write 30 posts in 30 days.  Her post includes a list of 30 topics, so that will help.  Oh, and “bloggy” is a really gross adjective – kinda makes the skin crawl.

Number one on the list is “Your Favorite Song.”  I love music, and I have been blessed first with 2 brothers who are fiendishly into music and now with a husband who also is a huge music lover.  So, my whole life I have had the pleasure of listening to really excellent music without putting forth any effort whatsoever.  It’s awesome.

It’s really difficult to narrow down my favorites into a single song.  Really, really hard.  I don’t like really, really hard things, so instead  I’ll narrow it down to a collection of some of my favorite bands and/or songs:

Oh yeah, and I like Evanescence.  DON’T JUDGE ME!!  Or, at least I like the lead singer’s voice.  It’s pretty.  That’s the BAD thing about being associated with with well-informed appreciators of music.  They mock me when I like Evanescence and random songs by Katy Perry.  For some reason it’s okay for them to like Robyn, but I get all sorts of eyes rolled at me if I like “Poker Face.”

Obviously, I can’t narrow it down to one, favorite song.  That’s a list of a few songs that readily come to mind however.  I tried scrolling through our music library to remind myself of others, but we have 2307 artists in our libraray and 94.5 Gee Bees of music.  I gave up before I got out of the As.  I really need to update my iPod though. I wonder if Media Monkey could make me a 15 GB random play list.  That’s the only way I’m ever going to listen to some of that obscure stuff in there.

Any music recommendations for me?  Benny, this is your turn to speak up.  I’m sure you could name 20 artists I would totally love and of whom I’ve never heard.

Books, Health & Fitness, Uncategorized

Catsup? No, Catch Up

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted anything.  Not sure why, precisely – probably a combo of being busy at work, not doing anything super exciting, and just generally being lazy.  I talked to my dad today on my way home from work.  He is 60-some years old yet somehow still finds the energy to actually get stuff done on the weekends.  I am proud of myself if, on a Saturday, I make it to the gym and read a chapter of a book not written on a 10th grade reading level.  He spends his Saturday mowing and fertilizing the yard, insulating barns, replacing basement windows, and chopping up 15-foot stacks of hardwood.  He’s fueled by copious amounts of sugar, though.  Maybe that’s his secret.  Anyway, his activity really accentuates my lack of it.

But over the past couple of weeks, however, I have started taking some strides in the right direction.  First of all, I read a book that required some mental effort, Delta Wedding by Eudora Welty.  It’s not a deep book, really.  Or maybe it is, and I just wasn’t getting it.  But the style of writing takes a lot of focus to slog through.  Maybe the book is written in a Southern style, and what with me being born and bred inIowa and all, I just cannot comprehend  the winding, obtuse prose.  I’ve never lived on a bayou or with folks named Bluet and Pinchy and women named Jim Allen.  I just don’t get it.  I prefer precision in my language.  I get annoyed when I have to figure out what is being said.  But, I finished it!  I persevered and didn’t give up.

After finishing Delta Wedding, I jumped in on The Singularity is Near, right where I left off.  This book I also find hard to understand, but only because I’m not a futurist, not because I’m an Iowan.  The book is super interesting – all about the combined evolution of man and machine.  I can’t wait to see where that takes us.

I also did a little art last weekend – nothing fancy, just a little somethingto get back on the saddle again.  I used my favorite drawing subject again, Mr. Lucent Longoria:

I was just playing around, so it’s pretty quick and dirty, but it was also fun, which is really what counts.

While Tim was making delicious burritos for supper, I also worked on my Mom sketch:

I’m going to paint it with watercolors.  I think it will look smashing when it’s done.  I need to work on my spacing, though.  I ran out of room for Mom’s hair, but oh well.  These are really practice pieces anyway.

At least I’ve been a little productive lately.  I haven’t holed myself up to re-watch all of the Firefly episodes again or anything.  It’s been tempting to do that, too, with all this annoying rain we’ve been having.  Tim and I couldn’t bike at all weekend before last, and we only made it out on Sunday last weekend, and then only for a super quick ride to Emeis Park and back.  I was trying to show off for Tim and burnt up all my energy in one little, fast burst.  I need to start training on my own, sans Tim, so that I can keep up with him when we ride together.

Hope you all had a pleasant, fruitful weekend!

Uncategorized

Wind in the leaves

Today was a very productive day for many reasons.  As previously mentioned, I jogged.  I also did a little yoga.  I tried to find a good hatha yoga video on Youtube, but the ones I found were either too hard or too new-agey.  I found a great one 2 weeks ago, but I neglected to bookmark it, so I must start the search anew.

Before heading out to run, however, I did a little quick house cleansing.  I say “cleansing” and not “cleaning” for a reason.  I didn’t clean anything, I just went through some book shelves, closet shelves, and bins in the basement and sent Tim off to Salvation Army with about 4 bags/boxes of old board games, books, and clothes.  Lightening our material load just feels so nice – at least until we get a hankering for The Simpsons Trivia, and we cannot play it.

I also attempted to cut Tim’s hair.  As I was putting on the 1/2″ clip guard it went and broke right in half.  After lunch we headed to Sally’s to pick up a replacement guard.  Once at the store, we couldn’t remember, for sure, which kind of clippers we have.  Tim swore up and down that we have a Wahl clipper, but I was 99% certain it was an Oster.  Tim was so certain that he bet me $20 that we had a Wahl.  Ha!  I am now $20 richer with absolutely no effort.  I should gamble more often.

We also, finally, went to Michaels and ordered a frame for the awesome Aphex Twin painting that has been chilling out in our computer room for years now.  I won’t say it’s “our” painting per say.  It technically belongs to Benny, but I think we’re legally married to it under common law.  So we’re getting it framed.  It will soon be placed prominently in our computer room/guest bedroom to creep out any and all guests.

We returned home, took the Luce out for a poop-inducing walk, and then retired to the back lawn for some lounging, reading, beer-drinking (Great River Roller Dam Red), and pretzel-eating.  The weather was absolutely perfect.  Totally perfect.  It was shady, breezy, cool, and sunny, musical and peaceful.  So beautiful.  It’s hard to believe in the existence of evil, on an afternoon like that.

I am still wading through Delta Wedding.  I’m sure Eudora Welty is brilliant, but she exhausts me.  Quit dancing around the subject and speak plainly.  It’s like reading paragraphs of poetry.  I’ve never really been into poetry (unless it’s my own, because then I can actually figure out what it’s trying to say).  One big book of it is just too much.  I will finish it, however, because I am slightly interested in what is happening with these damn Fairchilds.  Why write a book about a family that is super self-absorbed?  To be fair and punish them, they should be the LAST family to write a book about.  Show them how truly uninteresting they truly are.  Man.

I also got some laundry done and 2 or 3 rows of Benny’s blanket.  I’m working on the heather grey section, and it is just really pretty.

Back to work tomorrow.  No more sunshine, lounge chairs, and mind-stretching books for me.  At least not for another 5 days.

Health & Fitness

Chocolate brownies and milk

Wow, another weekend has come and gone.  It was a great, relaxing weekend  at least.  Today I finally ran again.  I’ve been averaging once a week – not good, but better than nothing.  I actually ran for 2 miles today, which is double what I ran last Saturday.  I think Tim and I are going to do the Quad City Marathon 5k on 9/26, so I need to start logging some more miles.  I should run 3.1 miles at least once before the big day.

Hopefully work won’t be too crazy over the next couple of weeks, so I can get home at a decent hour and run after work.  I suppose I could run on the treadmill in the morning, but that is just so B O R I N G.  Ugh.

I rewarded myself for running today by indulging in a brownie and big glass of milk after supper.  I must say, I make some delicious brownies.  Tim agrees.