Two Things

Two comments on the video below:
1. Road Trip!
2. This is exactly how PoMonkey and I are going to end up, except that she will be the one continually giving up space to my growing collection of books.

Not sure how to title this one

The Cloud Appreciation Society - "we love clouds, we’re not ashamed to say it and we’ve had enough of people moaning about them."

Be sure to check out the gallery.

Different

Turtle Man

Does this cause orchid fever or is it the result of it?

MrG's NCAA Bracket

I scored 81.

The winning score was 177.

That puts me in 270,063rd place.

Based on what I know about and how closely I follow sports, that sounds about right.

Chalk -- B

I can't remember how I became aware of this film, but I popped it into the Blockbuster queue and soon it arrived.

Think The Office, but substitute your high-school for Dunder Mifflin.

Clearly they didn't have a lot of money, but they did have great affection for teachers and teaching. And actual life experience. PoMonkey, being a former teacher, absolutely loved it.

Hot Fuzz -- C- Shaun of the Dead -- C+

Who would have thought that Shaun of the Dead is better than Hot Fuzz? The former relies heavily on "inside" jokes that are unfamiliar to US audiences, which isn't necessarily a criticism, but certainly is an observation. It definitely has its funny moments, but it drags on a bit long.

Hot Fuzz, on the other hand, has few funny moments, and also drags on too long. Other complaints: the quick-cut editing was a cheap effort to ape Madonna's husband's style, and it's a bit bloody.

Or maybe I just don't appreciate British cinema.

Waitress -- B

When watching a film that is directed by the same person who wrote it, I sometimes wonder if and how the film would have benefitted from bringing in someone else to do the directing (The Final Cut comes to mind).

Such was the case with Waitress. It's a good movie, perhaps even very good. But not great.

The longer the movie went on, the less believable I found Keri Russell's character. I believed that she would simply stand up for herself (compare her boldness with her doctor and Old Joe with her timidity with her husband).

My good friend Taran has a thoughtful review of the high and low points of the film (warning, he totally gives away the ending in the fifth paragraph, so you might want to skip over it). I agree with the points he raises, but I think I would still recommend the movie.

Built to Last?

Wednesday morning as I'm putting on my shoes one of the laces breaks. Frustrating, yes. But in the grand scheme of things not that big a deal. I wore other shoes.

Later in the day I remembered that I purchased the shoes in January 1998. Hmm. 10 years. I guess that's not so bad for a shoe lace.

Some Good Weather News

I know that I sometimes bellyache about the weather, so I thought I'd post a bit of good news. Today's Tribune reports "93% of the city's subfreezing highs typically behind us by this date."

Well, I guess that's something.


PS -- I just noticed this is my 100th post here. I'm a little surprised. I thought I had written more. Guess not.

Live Free or Die Hard -- B-

Completely preposterous yet highly entertaining.

Fracture -- D-

It's like a Lifetime movie with high production values. The big plot twist seemed pretty obvious. The relationship between Ryan Gosling's character and his boss defies logic. There were a couple of humorous lines of dialog, but otherwise just terrible.

Oh, and all of the worry in the "pulling the plug" scene was completely preposterous. Clearly the medical staff was conducting several tests to confirm that the woman met the criteria for brain death. This happens every day and is not controversial. Except in lame made-for-TV movies.

The Heartbreak Kid -- D-

Staring Ben and Jerry Stiller, this looked promising (once I determined that it was not Along Came Polly, although it may be a lamer and crasser version of the same script -- they share a few plot points). Sadly, it turned out to be, well, a lamer and crasser version of Along Came Polly.

Avoid it.

Veronica Mars -- B+

Another TV suggestion to tide you over until new stuff arrives . . .

Even I'm surprised that I enjoyed this. I don't think I exactly fit the target demographic for a show about a snarky teen detective drama. It was recommended by a good friend who is equally outside the target demo.

That said, the show is mostly successful at telling both an overarching season-long mystery as well as episode-by-episode mysteries. Much better than you might expect from a lesser known network.

Rent the first disk and see what you think.

Sports Night -- A

Although the strike is over, it will still be a few weeks before new episodes shows are back on. I have a few ideas for filling the time.

I was sad when Sports Night was canceled, and I was sad when we'd worked all the way through the DVDs and none were left. A great cast, great acting, great dialogue, great characters. The look is a little dated, but frankly that just adds a layer of enjoyment watching it now.

Juno -- A+

It's likely that you've heard quite a bit about this movie so there's little need for me to add to it. Go see it. You'll enjoy it.

Mr. Brooks -- B

And now back to our regularly scheduled topic . . .

I'm tempted to give Mr. Brooks an A based solely on the fact that a late third-act surprise made PoMonkey scream out loud.

Otherwise we both enjoyed it. Sure, Costner is in some scenes a good bit beyond his acting abilities, and a few of the plot points are quite improbable. But I couldn't figure out how it was going to end. Would he get caught? Would he get away? What?

It also didn't hurt that it was filmed in the town where I lived for 22 years, and it was fun figuring out where the various locations are.

I can't say I highly recommend it because it is a bit violent (and PoMonkey couldn't sleep after watching it). He is a serial killer, after all.

Obedience School, Week 8 -- Graduation

This could also be titled, "The World's Most Overdue Post"

As you may know, The Eliminator graduated from Obedience School in December. The actual evening was very snowy, so only Reese (Paris Hilton's Vizsla), the crazy dog (who in truth is much less crazy these days), and The Eliminator were there.

The FINAL EXAM!!!! consisted of the following:

• Watch me
  
• Sit
  
• Lay
  
• Leave it & Take it
  
• Stay
  
• Come when called
  
• Trick of your choice
  

The Eliminator went first, and succeeded at all of the tasks as Kirsten the Trainer called them out. Reese and Formerly Crazy also succeeded, and everyone got their diploma.

By far, the most noteworthy event of the night came at the very end. As a special graduation treat, Kirsten the Trainer brought in servings of safe-for-doggies ice cream (who knew?) for each graduate. Reese and The Eliminator quickly lapped theirs up, but Formerly Crazy dog simply wasn't interested. She gave the ice cream a brief sniff and walked away.

Her human unit suggested that one of the other canines might want it, and someone (Paris, perhaps) suggested that Reese and The Eliminator share it. I was a bit uncertain about having two dogs try to eat ice cream out of the same bowl, but they were both on leashes so we approached carefully.

The two dogs began lapping at the ice cream, seeming to ignore each other. Reese, who I may have mentioned is easily distracted, soon got distracted and turned away. The Eliminator promptly grabbed the edge of the bowl in her teeth and took several quick steps to the other side of the room. When she'd gotten far enough from Reese, she set the bowl down and began lapping her newly liberated ice cream. Reese turned back to find, well, nothing.

I hadn't laughed that hard in a long time.

Obedience school was a great experience. The fact that The Eliminator is only slightly more well behaved is due in large part to the fact that she was already very well behaved (which we cannot take any responsibility for -- she came that way). What we learned was how to reinforce and build on her good behavior.

I'm sure we'll take the next class, and I'm sure I'll write about it here.