Scott Pilgrim is Trippy

Our weekend movie was Scott Pilgrim vs The World. We enjoyed it. I loved it. It's funny, fast and eye-popping. The visuals are amazing. It's one of the most original movies I've seen in a long time.

I say go rent it or we'll watch over vacay.

It's "pretty cool".

Bill the Cat

my Special Little Guy

I hope everyone can take some time (or all day) today to remember our little Billy-boy, whose young life was tragically cut short* exactly one year ago, 11 December, 2009, just a few months shy of his 19th* birthday.
  *human years

Billy loved to eat cheese and things that tasted like cheese, like Macaroni & Cheese and Cheez-Its.  He could play fetch for a while, but only with Dad and only with the little green Statue of Liberty eraser from our 1995 holiday on the east coast.  He was missing a piece from his right ear from when he had to share a cardboard box with Henry on the way to the vet once.  He never let any mouse parts go to waste.

I would like to think that Billy enjoyed his little life as much as I did.

Mmmmm...MYSTERIOUS!

Check it!: fan Q&A chat transcript with Sherlock co-creators Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat...

[w00t!!1] 

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MasterpieceModerator:  We've received numerous questions about this - Any hints for the second season of "Sherlock"? Monday November 8, 2010 1:23

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Gatiss/Moffat:  3 words, make of them what you will (and don't be obvious). Adler, Hound, Reichenbach.... Monday November 8, 2010 1:24

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Alexia :   Are either of you aware that you've practically been promoted to god status on the internet? (Gatiss often being referred to as Godtiss) Monday November 8, 2010 1:27

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Gatiss/Moffat:  Steven: Am I therefore Godfat?

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Ready Or Not

...here it comes.

Looking forward to all the mayhem and good company.

See you soon.

The Game's Afoot

The BBC update of Sherlock Holmes is literate and fun. We highly recommend that you record and enjoy.

Let me know what you think.

Are You Ready for Some (Fantasy!) Football?

not to be confused with "(Dreamboat!) Futball", a.k.a. "Worldcup (*yawn*) Soccer (...zzz)"
this is REAL football: fantasy-style! this is the kind of football where no one is good-looking and the players are covered in protective gear so no one can see their ugly mugs or raw, blinding talent.

...of course there is the rare exception - and speaking of which, last year's disputed champions, team Sparkly Unicorns, may be the ones to beat this year (although the head coach is expected to sit out most of the season due to law school complications)

anticipated 2010 contract extension for Tom Brady (above) with the Sparkly Unicorns, despite rumors of absentee
head coach Sarah Tauman (not pictured)

The Good, The Bad, The Weird (The Labor Day Weekend!)

and i quote: Sarah Tauman "the good horse/rifle stunts, the bad music, the weird haircut"

Credit Where Credit is Due

A few months ago Lauren sent me a trailer for The Good, The Bad, and the Weird. I completely forgot about it until she reminded me. So Lauren, you were right, a movie worth seeing, complete eye candy.

Koreans Love Italians Who Love American Myths

Or "Oh How We Love An Homage".

Can't get into the details because LRT asked me not to. But can recommend this to TMD because it is a crazy action flick, SAT should study anyway.

Trevor, just do it.

Fun.

Tweet from @TheOnion

Opinion: Stop Making Delicious Food I Can't Stop Eating And Go Back To
Mexico http://onion.com/d3z004

Sent from Echofon - http://www.echofon.com/

日本 に行きたい。
Sent from miPhone.

8 footer

> My new ladder and my prepped family room. We have a 12 ft ceiling.
> Ready to paint now. We're thinking slate blue. Opinions?
> Also thinking Chinese for dinner. I'm tired.
>

Totally 2080's:

This can only end up in more NDA's...

Birthday Man

Here comes Birthday Man.

With a steely gaze and a burning need to inhale all that life has to offer, he forges ahead into the future. Yes, Birthday Man... husband... father...friend...Trojan, all a man needs to be.

Happy Birthday, man.

All My Love!

i heart astronauts

Spring Planting

It was warm and sunny last week so I finally planted my basil. On a trip to Home Depot looking for a better delivery system for my weed poison, I found heirloom tomatoes on sale. I haven't had much luck with toms in containers but for big yellow heirlooms, I will give it another try. Trevor, if you any advice, I am all ears.

So I've got basil and toms poised for summer platters. If I could find a ciabatta tree, I wouldn't have to cook at all.

Lauren will be disappointed to learn that I believe making my own bread is harder than she insists it is. I'm not going to make mozzarella or olive oil either. I am thinking about making my own pasta, though. That's just a step away from bread dough, so maybe later...

Looking forward to the first caprese sandwich of the season.

a few of my favorite 'parents'...

MY PARENTS WERE AWESOME

  Definite fave so far:

  

  ( ( ( READ MORE!! ) ) )

Ooops

I forgot to mention it. Yesterday was the 38th anniversary of our first date. We went to the Greyhound Bus station to review the scene of a crime. Trying to impress me with his criminal defense chops. Dinner was Mexican food at Santiago's, the best tacos still.

Happy 38 Short Years, My Dear. Love you more.

Movies To Watch/Avoid

Last weekend we watched our requisite three films. Here are the thumbnail reviews:

Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus - What you would expect from Terry Gilliam, a mash-up with no discernible plot. Nice visuals though. Best part was the wardrobe test for Heath Ledger.

Touching the Void - A very interesting documentary/re-creation of two friends climbing a South American mountain and how it all went wrong. Overlong but the best of the three. I have no desire to climb anything other than steps to a museum.

Where the Wild Things Are - Boring, boring, boring. We could only watch 20 minutes. But we were done with it long before that.

Zombieland

I am not a fan of horror movies. With the exception of "Shaun of the Dead", I have never seen a zombie movie. We watched "Zombieland" last night and really liked it. First, you have to get through the opening gorefest. I almost turned it off only two minutes in. But once that's done, it's a very good movie. You realize by the end that the blood and guts don't bother you at all. You have become numb to it. That's weird, right?

It's clever and funny and has an odd Bill Murray cameo.

(Trevor this is not a Swedish torture porn film.)

You do have to watch through your fingers at first. With that caveat, I recommend the movie.

Note: Dad reminds me that "Night of the Comet" was a zombie movie. True dat.

Postscript:

This guy even clashes with his environment.

Pretty Awesome

Lauren and I had a brief conversation about the website "My Parents Were Awesome". I checked it out some time ago and forgot about it. I was looking today and this photo caught my attention. In my mind, this is what David Sedaris's mom looked like. Except she would have been holding a long cigarette as well. I just finished "When You Are Engulfed in Flames", so he was fresh in my mind. Yep, that's her.

I need to add that the word "awesome" is liberally interpreted for some of these people. I guess if you are related they look pretty cool but most are just lame and unattractive. It's rather reassuring that the 70's and 80's era Europeans look as stupid as the dorky Americans.

Please let's not let big plastic eyeglass frames make a comeback - pointy cat's eyes are ok, though.

Hurtling Star on a Path to Clip Solar System (!)

Hurtling star on a path to clip solar system - New Scientist, 15 March 2010

"A star is hurtling towards us. It will almost certainly clip the outskirts of the solar system and send comets towards Earth.

Vadim Bobylev of the Pulkovo Observatory in St Petersburg, Russia, modelled the paths of neighbouring stars using data from the European Space Agency's Hipparcos satellite and from ground-based measurements of the speeds of stars. He found four previously unidentified stars that will pass within roughly 9.5 light years of Earth. They will tug on the Oort cloud, a diffuse cloud of icy objects around the solar system thought to be a reservoir of comets.

However, the biggest threat comes from another star, Gliese 710, an orange dwarf now some 63 light years away but zooming our way at 14 kilometres per second. Bobylev's calculations suggest Gliese 710 has an 86 per cent chance of passing through the Oort cloud. This could scatter millions of comets into paths that cross Earth's orbit..."

17 4-Ever

Just a little incentive for SAT to check her blog.

You are never too old to be a tween.

Happy Almost Birthday.

Wait, it did what?

The Chilean earthquake that killed more than 700 people on Saturday probably shifted the Earth's axis and shortened the day, according to a NASA scientist.

Richard Gross, a geophysicist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Bloomberg that the 8.8-magnitude quake is likely to have moved the Earth's axis by 2.7 milliarcseconds - about 8 centimetres - and shorted the day by about 1.26 microseconds.

Gross used the same model to estimate the shift caused by the 2004 Sumatran earthquake that caused the Indian Ocean tsunami. That quake had a magnitude of 9.1, shifted the Earth's axis by 2.3 milliarcseconds and shortened the day by 6.8 microseconds.

Gross said the fact that the Chilean earthquake was in the Earth's mid-latitudes, instead of near the equator, meant it will have shifted the axis further despite being smaller. Plus the fault that caused the Chilean quake dips into the Earth at a slightly steeper angle, making it more effective in moving mass.

The changes caused by earthquakes are permanent, Benjamin Fong Chao, dean of Earth Sciences of the National Central University in Taiwan, toldBusiness Week.

Skate Expectations, Part III: Curling

Skate Expectations, Part II - Curling

www.colbertnation.com

What not to rent

We had three movies for the weekend: a chick flick, a black exploitation spoof, and a Ricky Gervaise comedy.

Chick flick - Coco Before Chanel, had one strike against it with Audrey Tautou, not your father's favorite. Although to be fair, he hated Amelie, not her. At least it had production value. It was beautifully filmed and the costumes were yummie. She was kind of a slut.

Black exploitation - Black Dynamite (not dy-NO-mite), it had it's moments, way over the top and not a genre I'm familiar with. Had a couple of laugh out loud scenes and the graphics were creative and fun. Rather like Airplane with huge afros and boobs.

Ricky Gervaise - The Invention of Lying, completely unwatchable. We invested anywhere form 30 minutes to several hours depending on who you ask. Had to turn it off, just couldn't take it anymore. No laughs and preachy for pete's sake. Dozens of high profile cameos couldn't make it entertaining. It was like an SNL skit that wouldn't end.

So nothing I can recommend. Rent the LeBron doc, more drama for the money and much more fun.

More Than a Game

This is a great movie. The director started this as a ten minute project for a college class. He soon realized it was much more.

I knew nothing about LeBron James before this. I've always liked him, now I know why.

I say rent it!

Modern Family

We just watched "Modern Family", here is my favorite exchange...

The kids are collecting bottles to raise money, the youngest askes his dad:

“What’s Jägermiester?”

“Well, um, you know when in a fairy tale there’s always a potion that makes the princess fall asleep and then the guys start kissing her? This is like that, except you don’t wake up in a castle, you wake up in a frat house with a bad reputation.”

Skate Expectations, Part II: Bobsled

Bobsled

www.colbertnation.com

Revelations

Over the holiday LRT uploaded all of her music and left cd's like so many bones in a pile. I was perusing and found something interesting, a disc with lots of titles written in her singular style. I popped it in to see if it would appeal to me. Yes, mostly it did. I express surprise at some of the choices - Neil Diamond, John Denver and Barry Manilow. Did she make this in high school, college? Did she include this disc on her iPod? Evidence is evidence, Lauren has a mushy side. But I knew that.

Thanks, I do love me a good Kermit ballad.

Techie Heaven

I'm sure you are aware of the new iPad announced today. I wanted to post the video of Steve Jobs demonstrating his new must-have gadget but, sigh, I lack the tech ability. It's a giant iPhone and looks cool. I heard that he had some difficulties with the keyboard, so ha, not so perfect. Go get 'em, Lauren.

Skate Expectations, Part I: Skeleton

www.colbertnation.com

Pancakes from Heaven

Believe it or not, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, is a very good movie. We didn't know what to expect but we very much enjoyed it. It's funny and pays homage to lots of movies and tv shows. I believe the giant gummy bears were my favorite part.

It's very entertaining and it's got Bill Hader as the nerdy science geek (redundant?).

Really, it's fun.

Dickensian to the Max

We have been watching Little Dorrit, a beautiful BBC production. We were both unfamiliar with the story so it's been fun trying to figure out just who gets rewarded and who dies badly. There are multiple nominees for both categories. Andy Serkis (Gollum) is quite demented as a serial killer and almost unrecognizable. I think he's wearing a fake nose but not sure. It's done with the usual Masterpiece Theater panache, great writing and well acted. It looks authentic and ever so depressing, as only Dickens's London can.

I know you won't rent it, but someday you'll think "I have 9 hours to kill, what was that great BBC thing that Mom and Dad liked?"

Then you'll thank me.

Fierce

(That's my favorite part)

..."Fierce?"

Not Good

Mmmm, hope I remembered to bring my umbrella...and hovercraft

"It may be cruel, but as long as Scalia is on the Supreme Court, it will never be unusual"

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

(or if it's easier, you can watch it on hulu here:

http://www.hulu.com/watch/119483/the-colbert-report-fatal-subtraction-barry-scheck#x-4,vclip,2,0 )

The Thinker

In the misty morning rain he stands, comtemplating the nature of Justice, World Peace, and why would anyone put dill into a perfectly good egg salad. Ah, lunch with the family.

The Hurt Locker

Well, it has garnered praise for its realism and intensity. I can attest to both. I stuck with if for almost an hour. I had to leave the room as the testosterone meter was deep in the red zone.

LKT says: good movie, intense!

Stuff blowed up, blowed up good.

Moon Man

We watched Moon tonight. Dad enjoyed it, I liked it a lot. I think "enjoyed" means it was ok. I hope Sam Rockwell gets some recognition for it. I'm recommending it for Trevor, not sure about S or L. One of us thought it was too slow, one of us didn't notice because she found it absorbing. It has the tone of 2001, but is more interesting because it has a plot and, you know, Sam Rockwell. Very good sci-fi.

with regard to this week's poll

how can i add a write-in? "the time for asking questions has passed; kick him the shins"

The Ball Drops at Midnight

To recap: before we were dragged into the new decade to use the new technology to share our new ideas, we celebrated a low tech New Year's Eve together.

Happy New Year!

Love you all.

best use of blog:

Our new endeavor.

I've always wanted to be a published author.

Taumans Move Into the 21st Century

& just in time, too (right on the cusp of this century ver. 21.2)