Chicken Butt

Pink mist

I watched Inglourious Basterds tonight. Even though I knew it was a Tarantino film, I didn't really think about what that meant until I saw the pink mist of gun shot wounds. I only ever read about that in novels, I rarely see it in the films I watch. Movies I watch often have a lot of explosions and high bodies counts, but not the graphic goriness that Tarantino indulges in. Then I sort of forgot again until the first scalping scene. Ick! Again, I never really dwell on how gory scalping can be. I also finished up with Jubal Sackett by Louis L'Amour, the fourth book in the Sackett series. There are scalps taken throughout and I never once pictured the actual act of a knife cutting through the skin and what that would look like. Totally gross.

So once I readjusted my reference frame to include graphic bloody bloodbaths I enjoyed it. It had sat for several weeks by my TV because I read on the Netflix description "spaghetti western" and just wasn't in the mood. I liked it better than I thought I would, but I don't see this ending up in my collection. Pulp Fiction is the only QT movie I own. I can't see that changing any time soon.

Fucking hell, it's almost 1am on Monday morning. WTF am I still doing online. I am such an asshole. Really. Shit.

To be continued...

I am in a foul fucking mood because of work. I worked most of the weekend and then was too tired to do anything for the remainder. So it is Monday and shit is still going wrong and the work from this weekend was mostly time wasted due to errors completely outside my control. (Even those things which are supposed to be within my control are not because no one ever does what I ask them to do.) </rant>

Wow, that just burbled out. I'm not going to talk about that though. There have been a few things on my mind and I hope to exorcise them now. In no particular order:

• I like the Avon smooth minerals mascara better than the Maybelline Great Lashes. Thanks for the tip Karen.
• Too many Novels are actually just Volume One these days. I'm getting really tired of coming to the last 75 pages of a book and realizing there is no way the plot will be done before I run out of pages. I like series, I really do. I do not like when I read 500 pages under the impression that what I'm reading is a self-contained story and then it just ends before any plot elements are resolved. Tolkien got it right with LoTR; Three volumes that sort of have end points that make sense, but since I know there are three books I am not surprised when Fellowship ends right at Gandalf's death. These three are the only ones I can think of off the top of my head.*
  
  1. A Discover of Witches**: I finished this book this weekend and it pissed me off so much I'm not sure I'll read the concluding "novel" if it ever comes out. This is a big fucking book and I enjoyed reading it, nothing I read in the book flap told me it was just part 1. I knew I was in trouble with two new characters that seem to be important to the overall plot were introduced in about the last 75 pages. Unless the second book is spec-fucking-tacular there should have been major editing here. And if there turns out to be a third I'm boycotting the author for good.
  2. All-Clear by Willis**: I finally decided to start the second part of a book I read last year, Blackout. I really like Connie Willis, but not all of her books equally. Again, I didn't know until I was almost finished with Blackout that there was a second book. I normally would reread the first book in preparation for the second, but it was a very long first book that I didn't particularly enjoy reading the first time around. When I read the acknowledgments searching for clues I had missed about this 2 part story I saw her thanking everyone for helping her through the insanity of one book turning into two. So far I'm wishing someone had made her sit down and edit. There are too many people, plots, jumping from place to place. And so far in All-Clear it seems like it could easily have been edited into just one book if the characters hadn't decided they needed to keep important secrets from one another for no good reason. I have little patience for plots that would have been over before they began if people had just been honest from the start. It's not like she needed to bump the page count up.
  3. Leviathan by Westerfeld**: This one got me too. The first whole books ends up just introducing the main characters and getting them in place. The boom! The end. Again, I had no clue this was just part 1. At least part 2 I was prepared, but still it didn't feel like enough happened in either to really hand together as a story on it's own. Both are just beginning and middle.

• I think today's TeeFury t-shirt (will have to update this after today to get permanent link to March 28 Scooby Who design) would be much better if it showed Mickey instead of Tom Baker's doctor with K-9. ("Oh my God, I'm the tin dog!")
• I'm getting my annual urge to sew my own shirts. I bought some material over the weekend for a t-shirt pattern I've had for over a year. Also, I bought a cheap sewing machine (Singer Heavy Duty from Joanne's) so I can finally bring my Pfaff to the store for repairs. Considering it took 3 months to get a replacement foot I'm reluctant to let go of my machine to get the reverse lever fixed.)

* See how I set your expectations there? I'm going to talk about three books that are not properly novels, but should be labeled as parts of a larger whole. Just think how you'd feel if I said five books and then just stopped at two or three with no explanation.

** I'm too pissed off right now to even do proper notation and like to amazon. Take that bitches!

exorcise

CCSVI Treatment before video

My nephew made a before video with a neighbor who is going for CCSVI treatment for his MS. Mark talks briefly about his symptoms and treatments he has tried. He is going to Albany, NY for the treatment. He has tried many other treatments, including a trip to Germany. In this video, Mark demonstrates how he walks and his range of motion.

The plan is to make an after video when he gets back. They worked hard on this to get it right. Mark said he couldn't find much information on the web about the treatment and he thinks it is important to contribute. 

I hope we see an amazing improvement in the after video.

Ooh, pretty vases

Karen was so right! I love Whip It! What a fun film. It's been on "Very long wait" status for months. Ever since Karen recommended it. (Blog or Facebook, not sure which) I think I need to buy it. I think it will hold up to repeated watching. All the actors are fantastic and while a tad predictable, I don't think I'd want it to end differently. The dad is adorable, Juliette Lewis is one of my favs, and the soundtrack is lovely.

I totally want to take up roller derby now.*

*Except for the bruises. I prefer my violence to be virtual.

Avatar -- Possible spoilers

Just finished watching Avatar for the first time. I'm going to talk about it. Not sure yet what I'm going to write, so here is warning to anyone who hasn't watched. 

Beyond here be dragons.

Swing away

I'm watching Against the Ropes, Meg Ryan's boxing manager movie, and got so uncomfortable with the bitchy character arch I started surfing the internet too. Now Ryan's character has swung back to the good (as it inevitable would) and I more interested in online stuff. 

My furnace does not have a humidifier. (Should that be an humidifier? I hear people adding the n before h.) I've been simmering water to add moisture all week. Of course I couldn't leave it as just water. Finding I had no cinnamon or cloves in the cupboards, I used some dried fruit "tea" that was too boring to drink. After a trip to the store I learned that a teaspoon of whole cloves is more than enough to perfume my place. I mean wow! So what the hell do you care, right? Right.

I have no idea how much gas I'm using to simmer moisture into my home. Several times I've had visions of putting containers of water with large surface areas in all my rooms. Then I flash to M. Night Shyamalan's Signs and laugh at myself before shelving the idea.

I thought of added Signs to my Netflix queue before remembering Mel Gibson is in it. Blech. I cannot stand Gibson or Cruise's politics and it spoils movies for me. Eventually I'll be able to enjoy Minority Report and Lethal Weapon again. Right?

Back to my movie. Wonder if Luther will miraculously be ready for his shot at the title in three weeks.

Are you suggesting that coconuts migrate?

It must be time to watch Holy Grail again. The phrase “unladen swallow” has been buzzing in my head since last night. I think the DVD is in my possession. On my birthday I got a box full of movies I loaned out three years ago. All very good movies I recommended to a friend for a solo trip to Hawaii. They were stolen during a flight between islands. I was thrilled to have them back and have watched all except Crash, Elf and The Ref since their return*. I had lamented their absence on many occasions. I was especially happy to rewatch The Station Agent, Four Feathers and The Fifth Element. Should I admit something? (We’re all friends here right?) I now have two copies of XXX (with Vin Diesel)**. It was on sale and I needed it. Would someone like my extra copy?

In other news, a co-worker has discovered the joy that is xkcd. I saw him walking down the hall with a printout and he was itching to share. There is something joyful in xkcd, even at it’s most cynical.

* I still feel a bit of a twat for agreeing to replacements, but it was ~ 13 movies. Only one they could not locate and I said not to bother was History of Violence. Of course I saw it at B&N last week and now have an itch to see it again. I’ll have to Netflix it. (Possible future post: Why is it that LoTR actors are stunning in LoTR and never quite so good in other films? Is it the story? The cinematography? The director? Viggo is lovely as Aragorn and okay in everything else. I do adore Karl Urban in Star Trek though. He is such a good Bones.)

** How can I love a movie with such horrid dialog? Memorable Quotes page on Monty Python movie makes me chuckle and want to watch again right now. The Memorable Quotes on XXX makes me uncomfortable and ashamed of how much I enjoy it.

I'm not a Trekie, but...

Man I love the new Star Trek movie! It delighted me. I clapped with joy when McCoy showed up bitching about space. Oh crap! I'm not writing a review or anything, but may spoil a bit. Stop reading if you haven't seen it yet!

Okay. Love it. Not going to get into plot points or bad science or anything here. There is plenty 'o that elsewhere. If you have affection for the ST universe, especially the original series, this movie is lovely. I saw the IMAX version at 1pm Friday afternoon. I took a comp day off to balance out some major unpaid overtime I've done this spring. The theater wasn't full, but all the good center seating was full. I think I was the only woman there unaccompanied by a man. There was a full age spread weighted heavily toward men in their 60s. I was also a racially diverse crowd.

When the movie was over I seriously considered buying a ticket to the next showing. (One advantage of being single. I don't often react that strongly. I watched Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog twice in a row when I belatedly watched it. I saw at least one LotR movie twice in the theater, but I can't think of any others. I was so tempted to see it again Friday night but not a fan of very full theaters.

I took Nephew the Third to see it Saturday afternoon. He knew nothing of ST. I gave him some very basic info about the main characters beforehand (i.e., Vulcans have pointed ears, green blood and are stoic). When the first vulcan salute is given he tried to make the V with his fingers. It was so cute. He'd never seen it before and really could not do it. At home he showed sis and she could totally do it, but she said, "Na-nu na-nu." I asked why she could do it so well, she said she practiced and taped her fingers together to learn it. But she honestly thought it was only from Mork and Mindy.

So N3 liked it but was confused by the plot. Which when I tried to answer his questions I realized that I was too if I really thought about it. But who watches ST for the plots? The casting was perfect. Simon Pegg is a lovely Scotty, Bones is my favorite, Kirk was charming. Spock kept freaking me out though. Even with the Vulcan makeup I mostly saw Sylar and evilness. (Run away! RUn away!)

I watched the original series with my dad as a kid. I watched most of ST:TNG. I liked Voyager and loved Enterprise. I had not seen all the movies, but I watched 1-6 recently. I'll probably see ST again in the theater. I just really enjoyed the ride and would love it if more movies were made with this cast.

Still kickin'

I got sick the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and I've been out of it since then. I've still got a cough, but my brain is mostly unfogged. I'm tired and watching a lot of TV on DVDs. Finished the seven seasons of Buffy that I started while making Halloween costumes. I wasn't quite ready to leave Joss Whedon land so I'm currently on season two of Angel. Since I never bought past two of Angel, I'm not sure if I'll be going on. I'm quite enjoying it. And yes, I started this Whedonfest with Firefly and Serenity, so Angel is all I've got left.

Yes, life is thrilling here at CB. Um, yeah. That's all I got.

If JKR kills any Weasley I'll be so pissed*

I'm re-reading book six right now. I've re-read HP1-5 already. I'm planning to pick up HP7 with my college roommate ksl and her boys. Part of me thinks I should just go on my own locally or just pick it up Saturday morning, but I'm sure it will be fun even with the hour+ drive home. I plan to self-isolate until I've finished HP7. I will not tolerate spoilers.

I saw HP5 the movie on Saturday. It was okay. Probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if I hadn't just finished the book on Friday morning. I could not let go of the differences. I was distracted by the stilted dialog and lack of motivation left in the plot. They hit most of the action from the book, but left out stunning amounts of backstory. I think I pissed off the noisy group of young women sitting in front of us when I booed at the end.

*Percy wouldn't bother me much, but the rest are off limits! I have a bad feeling about Ron and Ginny.