Forever A Fangirl

Vincent Price, Tim Burton Animated Short

We just watched the classic "The Pit and the Pendulum" the other night. I enjoyed it though son was not interested in watching any of it as he questioned how much of a movie Roger Corman could have extracted from a "two-page story." Spouse thought it was hokey. Of course it was hokey--it was played with tongue in cheek. For a Roger Corman project the production values seemed amazing. They used a real castle, I'm sure of it! Also, I noticed for the first time that Vincent Price had a very slight syllabant "s" when he spoke.

Very fun and clever! Excellent collaboration!

QotD: Happy Halloween

How are you celebrating Halloween today?

Halloween-graveyard

By leaving our sad little condo complex and walking across the street to the "rich neighbourhood" for candy.

Going to put a skeleton outfit on the dog and get a photo before she tears it off--as despite the fact that it is no more bothersome for her than a doggie sweater--she'll have that sucker in shreds in minutes.

My son bought his first costume in years--he'd been Skulltor (not Skeletor) for at least three years. This year he's a penguin. What can I say? He likes penguins. So spouse and I will walk the dog whilst son goes on his own, then we'll meet up, ditch the kid, the candy, and the dog at home and go lap swimming.

Oh, and I'm colouring my hair purple for no particular reason.

Amy Fisher's Spouse Says He Regrets Selling Sex Tape

(From the People Who Won't Go Away Files)

Amy Fisher's hubby, Lou Bellara, said he regrets selling off a sex tape he made with her. Lou sold the tape after Amy dumped him to start dating Joey Buttafuoco again.

Lou told The New York Post, "We were estranged. She was seeing Joey. I was seething about the whole thing. It just came to a point where I was hurt and embarrassed by it . . . and it pressed the wrong button. I just used that as a vehicle to strike back at her."

The couple got back together this past summer and that's when Lou told Amy he sold the tape. She said, "It's all fun and games," she said. I never thought that . . . anything like this would ever happen. I mean that's my husband, not some guy down the road."

The tape called "Amy Fisher Caught On Tape" is available from Red Light District.

Wait. What? The last time we'd heard from the Long Island Lolita as she was dubbed, she had grown up, repented from her evil past when as a teen she shot her child-abusing, disgustingly too-much-older, married ex-boyfriend's wife. In the face. And she dressed like a PTA mom and was flogging a book.

I heard vaguely that they hooked up again which I found slightly disturbing but chalked up to a publicity thing.

The Buttafuocos and Fisher, dubbed the “Long Island Lolita,” all gained instant notoriety after the shooting on May 19, 1992, and the details of the affair became public. Drew Barrymore even played Fisher in a made-for-TV movie of the events.

Joey Buttafuoco served time in jail for statutory rape, and Fisher served seven years for the assault on his wife.

Could be NSFW after jump. Amy's naughty bits are blurred out.

A Woman In The White House

It appears as if one of my blogging buddies has up and quit. She deleted her blog completely--just poof--overnight. I hope she is okay--as well as her son and her 2 four-legged friends. It's very strange when someone disappears online but I guess not so different than when someone gets out of someone else's life completely offline. It's just a weird process. In the case of the now-missing blogger, we'd exchanged private, more-personal-than-on-the-blog messages--so I thought I was a bit closer but...I guess I'll see. I haven't had this situation in a while where a one-time blogging friend just...goes.

Gunderson Bee!  Where are you?!

Here's what my Vox blog  looks like as of today (posterity). Changing backgrounds changes everything. :)

I love the blue skulls-- and that there are lots of colours and other designs! Now Vox, share with TypePad like a good sibling!

EDIT/ TypePad closed down Vox.

 

(Below) As an aging feminist, I can relate. We'd really like to see a woman in the White House in. our. lifetimes.

                     

Johnny Depp Will Be A Perfect Barnabas Collins

This is my completely impartial opinion after reading that the long-desired role of the Collinswood vampire would go to a Dark Shadows fan--Depp himself.

I watched Dark Shadows--a gothic soap opera, in it's first run every day after school and I loved every  hokey, campy,  blooper-fill minute of it.

Barnabas Collins, played by the now 82-y.o. retired Jonathan Frid, was sublime in the role of the tormented, lovelorn vampire.

I never aspired to be like him but rather the scheming witch, "Angelique."  Murderous, conniving and utterly beautiful she left me rapt every time she graced the screen. Played by Lara Parker (right) she was a delight.

Johnny Depp is pairing with Warner Bros. on a movie version of the classic supernatural soap opera Dark Shadows, with Depp playing lead vampire Barnabas Collins. Source

Depp has long counted himself among the legion of Dark Shadows devotees and has stated in past interviews that he's dreamt of playing Barnabas ever since he was a kid.

The groundbreaking Dark Shadows ran for 1,125 episodes from 1966 to 1971, chronicling the strange goings-on around the mysterious Collins family in their estate in Maine. Populated by myriad macabre characters, including vampires, witches, werewolves, ghosts and zombies, the show spawned a cult following, numerous fan conventions and various attempts to resurrect the program after the network ended it run.

You Don't Know Jack ("Photoshopped" Pumpkins)

Each year we go to Goebbert's Farm in South Barrington for our seasonal smaller gourds and then, because the large pumpkins are a bit pricey we go elsewhere for them. This year spouse found "big" pumpkins for $3 each at Meier(sp).

I'm not fond of the yucky stuff inside the pumpkins. When the kids were little I'd make myself help them scrape  the pumpkin guts out (and I did mine as well). Now that the youngest is 15 y.o., he and his dad do the carving and scraping and I do the picture-taking. It seems to suit us all fine.                     

                              

I didn't do the not- photographs--the last two with skull motifs--they are just to brighten things up. El Dia De Los Muertos celebrates life.

                                                                                                         

Spouse's jack o'lantern on the left, son's on the right.

All photos by C. McCrackan

End Of Days

Today was the final day.

It was yet another clear, crisp delight. Though temperatures did not get much higher than mid 50's F the shining sun beaming down upon us nudged each of us into a zone of comfort.

The cashier, when we tried to pay the $25.50 for  three of us to play the 18-hole course, waved us away. Today's last game would be gratis. He shook each one of our hands and thanked us, gave us our clubs and off we went.

Spouse played a bit worse than normal. I played better than I had in three weeks, younger son said he felt his game was "off" and proceeded to get the highest (worst) score he's ever gotten.

Fallen leaves clogged the water paths built into some of the greens as dry leaves fluttered about in the mild breeze. They were no bother, rather they added a bit more of a challenge to our game.

A good time was had by all. We've considered what to do next week  for "outside family time" and we've chosen to go the Crabtree Nature Preserve. Spouse can't even remember the last time we were there so it makes sense to go, weather permitting.

I'll really miss the fun family times of the past nine weeks of mini-golf  and though I do enjoy family activities a lot I'm not sure if  spouse's suggestion of bowling for the duration of winter is going to enthuse me anywhere near as much. I want to be outside though not in the cold. Would anyone in a warm clime like to take in a boarder for the duration of the western hemisphere's winter?

She'd painted her toenails different colors...

She'd painted her toenails different colors. The big toe was purple, the second green, then orange, then red. The little toe wasn't painted.

She seemed new. At least, I hadn't noticed her before. She was healthy-looking, probably young--yeah, as if the toenails didn't give that away.

Those toenails--I couldn't stop looking at them. It was hard to focus on the lecture. I didn't care at that moment about anatomy. I just wanted to know this girl's story. I wanted to know if she had been aware, as she painted her toenails, that it would be for the last time, and that she was about to die, and that her body was going to be stored in a medical school for students to look at, and that some of those students would acknowledge the human that had once inhabited that body, that leg, those colorful toes.

(This from a blog in which my brother J. chronicles his ongoing experiences as a 42-year-old first year med student.)

Battlestar Galactica~ Razor, Part 2, 3 and 4 Flashbacks, Season 4 Previews

So sorry, I've been neglecting my BSG "Razor" previews. Here are parts two, three and four. Doesn't the new customization of the video "screen" look neat?

QotD: The Fight Against Breast Cancer

It's Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  How many people do you know that have been touched by the disease? 

Sadly, too many to count.

Most personally, when I was a child my grandmother was treated for breast cancer but they did so unsuccessfully. It finally spread to her lungs and she died in an agonizing way within a couple of years of the initial breast cancer diagnosis.

My friend M. was hit with it just before I was hit with heart failure. We were both in our thirties at the time. She was treated successfully and I believe she is about to celebrate 10 years cancer-free. It's amazing what a couple of decades medical advancements can bring.

Through the years I've known many people touched by the disease but I can vouch for the fact that dozens were permanently affected when my grandmother died and about the same when M. was going through the treatment and recovery process. One never fully "recovers," IMO, because there are psychic scars aplenty. A breast cancer survivor must always behave in an extra-precautionary mode--in case it reappears. No matter how favourable the outcome is, the "in case" part makes life never again the same.

In A Box

As I was saying a bit earlier here I was feeling kind of sulky today. I cross-posted what I wrote to

my Vox and what do you know but within minutes a friend came through with what she thought could cheer me up. In her words it's her fave clip

It's actually the inspiration for many Halloween costumes this year, a  skit-song performed on Saturday Night Live about a guy who has figured out the perfect gift to give his lady-love. It features Justin Timberlake and honestly, it was the fist time I appreciated the guy. Check it out but use headphones. Depending on where you work, it may not be safe--though it was late-night network-television worthy!

Thanks, LE! You made me smile!

Far from being gruntled

If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled.
~PG Wodehouse

That pretty much sums up my mood today. Someone, please cheer me up.

On other "news"...

I added a "page-hit information meter" on my Vox and my goodness it is quite an eyeful. I've only taken a good look at it twice but I've gleaned at least one piece of information that I need to remember when attempting to ramp up my page hits: the importance of using "tags."

Here at TypePad you'll see a sort of tag only it's called "Category." As much as I love TypePad I find Categories to be time-consuming as I've first got to search for them and then one by one plug them in after choosing "multiple categories" for my intent. One totally groovy thing about Vox is that it uses the more modern version of a category-- a tag and when I use a tag at Vox I begin to write the name and the auto-fill gives me a bunch of choices which become narrower as I add letters. Instead of ahve a long list of tgs I've created on my Vox, they are kept in a central database so fairly quickly I have the tag I need. If the tag hasn't beeen used by anyone yet then my using it will create it for others and make it quick for me to use if I need it again.

So hey, TypePad, I really dig you but could you borrow your free blogging system's use of tagging at the $9 a month level of my TypePad blog? That would remove a bit of clunkiness which, on a daily basis I contend with. Remember, every little bit (of improvement) counts. Thanks!

My blog's sister

Today is Vox's first anniversary since the official launch.  What's the best experience you've had on Vox in the past year?

I've only been posting on Vox since November 6, 2006 so I can't speak about the whole past year.

I will say I cannot say enough good things about Six Apart, the parent of Vox. I just love the company to pieces and the love has been consistent since I went in search of a blog host and mistakenly thought Movable Type and TypePad were the same. They have I believe, about the same relationship that Vox and TypePad have--they are related but are different in significant ways.

Vox is very good at encouraging neighbourliness and that's been a really good experience. It's quite unlike TypePad where one is just kind of "out there." TypePad is much more for the lone blogger and this blog has turned into my monetized blog with the only people I know by name that read it being my dad,  brother, and  blogfriend Dan. Sometimes spouse does, but not often.

I was just reading through the "Home"" page (I think) that Vox had around 70,000 members a year ago. I wonder how many it has now? I realize that there are abandoned blogs aplenty but even so it seems that people are just streaming in like it's Disneyland or something. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

So the best experience, eh? I have until 11/06/07 before it's officially a year for me so I'll name my best first year experience then. Thanks for asking, though.

P.S. One quibble. When is TypePad going to learn how not to want to spellcheck Vox into "cox"? I giggle ever time that happens. And, when is Vox going to learn how to spell TypePad?

Holy...Vox has learned--it had to be within the last week--how to spell TypePad!

I'm frakking impressed!!!

For Good Or Ill

I spend a lot of time on line, more now than in years as I'm working as well as "playing."

I dunno. I suppose I feel a bit defensive about the amount of time I'm here because "people"  make assumptions about what being online means. These are often people who spend little to no time online--though they may sit at work on a computer all day doing stuff mostly offline. Or maybe I am feeling defensive about my lousy typing.

                                                                                                                                              Me! Why not build you?

Over the years, I've spent untold hours working on my TypePad blog. I wouldn't have had this kind of time if it were not for my heart failure and the resulting full disability. Let's just say life would have been a lot different in re: me and the Internet and leave it at that.

When I first got online all those years ago things were much less "cohesive," IMO than they are now.

I know there were and still are places like IRC and forums where people can connect but as most everyone online knows, the explosion  of "social interfaces"--blogs are an example-- has changed what it means to be online.

I shan't go into great detail at the moment other than to say it would not surprise me if  what "being online" means transforms again and again in at most, several year increments.

Meanwhile, being online for me means a lot of things: communication, making friends throughout the world, sometimes travelling to meet said friends for "meet-ups," learning of other cultures, having fun picking up British slang,  having a better understanding of how it must feel to have to communicate in a language foreign to you all the time, and feeling connected in a way that would otherwise be impossible. That's the fun stuff--for starters.

All I need to do to fully illustrate how integrated the Internet is into my life is to not have it. Comcast, our Internet cable provider, went down--again-- this week for 5 hours. I was just getting ready to file my final paid post for the day --it was written and proofread when out went the cable. In this case we lost everything--phone, television and cable Internet.

So when I went to check my iGoogle page to see what was happening news-wise? No go. (Tee-vee news? You've got to be kidding--unless you count Jon Stewart--but no teevee this time.) Going out? Check the local weather forecast to know whether I'd need a jacket? Nope. Email? Nothing there, either. None of this is "playtime" but all of it is online--and it's just for starters.

I suppose since I'm not a techie, per se--I can write enough code to install widgets and italicize but not a heckuva lot more--that I'm nowhere near fully integrated with the Internet way of life. I don't even play games online or otherwise. Still, whether it's considered a type of pathology to be online for hours on end or not, is really a mute point. The Internet is an established presence in my life for good or ill.

Some goofy "down time" stuff  I did yesterday (below and at top):

Stuff

Oh man, I think I just completed the most boring post evar!

I am wiped out from swimming or maybe sitting on my arse at this computer for hours and I'm not apologizing.

Anyone with a very middle tier TypePad blog knows that they have access to their visitor stats albeit at my level, $8.95 per mo., they are pretty simple. Effective enough, however.

I've been blogging at one of TypePad's (free) sister blogs --Vox--for about a year and just now realized that I can track the blog hit statistics by adding some code (now that I know a work-around).

I'm curious to know why the Vox blog, at less than a year of age, attracts a much higher ranking, especially in Google so I'm going to try to compare the two. Fascinating stuff, I know.

Here's a pretty picture, "On The Edge Of The Created" by Lisa Hatcher. Click it. :)

Here's a gift for you

My son age 15, is in a "special class" for the student who scored in the top five percent upon testing for entrance into high school. He will tell you that he "tests well," which is quite true and if one looks a bit more deeply he, like we lessor-gifted in test-taking folks, has some areas that need improvement.

Organisation is a big one and has been so since he first went in to elementary school gifted in grade 3. He tested well then too but his downfall so to speak, was remembering to do his homework and bring it to class on it's due date.

He's come a long way but he's still forgetful and he tends to put off things he doesn't really want to do--which is a very human thing to do, I get that.

Anyway, this week he needs to contact an Aerospace Engineer and interview him or her for 30-40 minutes about his/her job.

This is based on his stated desire to pursue an Engineering Degree with Aerospace coming out on top with eight other types of engineering--plus one that indicated he may be good at/enjoy optometry!?!

But when you think Aerospace Engineering what comes to mind in terms of an employer? The government. Our government. He wants someone from our government or a government contractor, whilst we are in the middle of an undeclared war (unless you count the war on terrorism) to talk...about anything?!

I'm fairly sure government employees/contractors throughout the spectrum have been told to clam up to interviews, never mind one that could skirt dangerously close to revealing war secrets and such.

So far, Northrup Grumman has politely said "no" and Boeing has said probably not. The paper is supposed to be completed by the end of this week and I just don't see how that is possible.

My gut feel is that he knew this was coming--just not when exactly and if he'd gotten started on it a while ago he-- "we"  more precisely, as I'm the official "can I bounce this idea off you/what do 'ya think of this?" person because a. I'm mom and b. I'm in proximity--if he'd started sooner this time-crunch thing wouldn't be such a big deal. For me.

Okay, I'm way too wound up about this. Ack! He's in second year high school and I've completely got my panties in a bunch.

On Fire

The"video" with Imogen Heap singing is not really a video but a photo montage of  the fires, firefighters, homes burning, and one photo in particular that just makes me so sad--a horse untethered, seemingly obviously panicked, fleeing.

There are photos of household pets too--leashed  to a bench with bowls of food & water--saved, safe.

There's an eerily end-of the -world beauty and a horrific gut-tearing feel to all of this.

Such a beautiful place... the fires in the San Diego that are more inland especially are not destroying "rich people's" homes. These people are losing everything though if you listen to what the Governator says displaced people are "happy" because they have all they need, including "yoga lessons."

Castle Kashan, a 10,500-square-foot home often used for shoots and private events, was destroyed by the fire on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported. The owner of Castle Kashan, socialite and philanthropist Lilly Lawrence, managed to escape, but a number of her belongings -- including Faberge eggs, presidential autographs and Elvis Presley memorabilia -- were lost. The house, a Malibu landmark, was built in 1978.

CBGB’s Vacant Shell To House Designer Suits (And Other Things We Can’t Afford)*

I was just a few years shy to make the 90-mile trip from the horrible backwater little town I grew up in in Connecticut into NYC on weekends when CBGB's was hosting the likes of Patti Smith, Talking Heads, The Ramones, Blondie (mmm, Debbie Harry) and many more. Other, older acts that liked that scene hung there, too. Lou Reed, think maybe Sex Pistols before a bigger US tour? Very punkish.
Older siblings of kids I knew went to CBGB's sometimes and I was so jealous. At that time, drinking age was 18 in Connecticut. I had fake ID for age 17 which worked great (other than clubbing on sme places) until I moved when I was 18, to California. Got my fake ID through Rolling Stone Magazine! lol!

I looked older, though. It wasn't that much of a stretch.

Comcast ceased service today for a nice chunk of the Chicago Northwest suburbs. We had nothing for about 5 hours.

Good thing we know how to read...and stuff.

Hope whomever is reading is having shiney day/night!

xxC./end/interim post

Magazine scan of Patti Smith, Rolling Stone Magazine, Women In Rock, 1975

* Rolling Stone Rock and Roll Daily - Up to the minute breaking news from the world of music, from the editors of Rolling Stone.

The following blog post is from an independent writer and is not connected with Reuters News. The opinions and views expressed herein are those of the author and are not endorsed by Reuters.com. 

The space that was once occupied by New York punk landmark CBGB, shuttered since its farewell run last October, will soon be filled with the designer suits and upscale fragrances of a John Varvatos boutique. The designer hopes to move into the vacant spot along the Bowery by March. If cancer hadn’t recently claimed CBGB founder Hilly Kristal, this news might have. The boutique is just the latest addition to hit the formerly dilapidated Bowery strip: Whole Foods and Starbucks were recently constructed as the street continues to morph from punky to yuppie. While we’re a bit pained picturing cash registers where Talking Heads and the Ramones once performed, New York City blog Gothamist points out that Varvatos is kind of a rock-star designer — Iggy Pop was a model in his fall 2006 ad campaign, and Alice Cooper, Slash and Ryan Adams have donned his designs. Still, we’d rather reminisce about better days at 315 Bowery.

Related Stories:

• CBGB Founder Hilly Kristal Dies After Battle With Cancer
• The CBGB Countdown: Bad Brains Opens the Final Week

An uplifting experience/Man levitating

There they go again, blaming poor Nunavut. :/

Our cottage doesn't have a real street address. It's just  a rural route number so I guess our lake neighbours with year-'round homes may have had issues.

Elections Act changes deny vote for 1 million Canadians , October 23, 2007 | 8:57 PM ET CBC News The federal government said Tuesday it will fix a problem with the newly revamped Elections Act that prevents up to a million rural voters from casting a ballot.

Four months ago, Parliament passed amendments to the Canada Elections Act that requires each voter produce proof of identity and a residential address before being allowed to cast a ballot.

However, more than one million Canadians living in rural areas don't have an address that includes a street name and number.

Rural addresses are often just post office boxes. On native reserves, a resident's address is sometimes simply the name of the reserve.

In Nunavut, more than 80 per cent of registered voters don't have a residential address.

Government House Leader Peter Van Loan told Parliament Tuesday that the problem was an oversight and called on all parties to "enthusiastically support efforts to correct this deficiency."

Van Loan also said if a snap election were to be called before the issue is resolved, the chief electoral officer has assured him that he's prepared to use "his adaptation power to ensure that no Canadian loses their right to vote" in the ensuing election.

With files from the Canadian Press

This man seems to be able to levitate. He says it is part learning and part "magic". It has to be taught (and learned), he said. Pretty incredible.

Thank you to Red Pen for sharing this.

Nuts on my keyboard

There are nutz on my keyboard.

And caramel on my mouse.

Eating caramel apples w/nutz at the computer is not good form!

Toepainting (type "messy keyboard" into iStockphoto's search) really isn't, either. (That totally looks like a fake computer.)

 

Blech!

Weather for Schaumburg, IL :            Bad...

Mon 46°F Rain Wind: N at 10 mph Humidity: 89% 59°F | 37°F Tue 59°F | 40°F

Tonight, compared to how it will be was nice . It has been grey and drizzly and gusty-windy. After I got done with lap-swimming around 8:30 tonight and made my way to the Mustang via the college parking lot it was still wet and windy. At least it was no longer grey. :p

I am so ready to escape from this place before it gets really bad. I do not like the cold. At all.

And the beautiful photos ops. during winter? Snow is white. And ice is clear. And grey, now that's a pretty colour! LOL. No easy subject matter. When I lived on the Californai cost for 6 years ,  the ocean was always "a natural." I had a crappy camera, though. (In truth since I hafta tell on this blog, I got sand in it by --taking' it to the beach-- and it didn't work right after that. I was an idiot. You should see me with my camera now.)

Anyway... Whine, whine, whine.

During the severe part of winter in late January and ALL of February everything here in northeast Illinois, USA, when it isn't global warming-type weather, is tundra-like, IMO.  Bleak. Grey. And it goes on forever! it seems. (I'm not originally from here, though lots of people are.) There are just two things "wrong" with "here." The weather blows--literally. It's flat. That's it. Erm, there's no Pacific Ocean--though Lake Michigan is very pretty.  It's one of the GREAT Lakes. :) Everything else --A-OK or better!

Though not quite this bad.

(It is another email photo. Wish I could source it.)

Dirty Sexy Money, Episode 4, The Chiavennasca (Spoilers)

The Chiavennasca~  First aired: 10/17/2007   

Plot synopsis:

Tripp sends Nick to a vineyard in Italy to get information about his father's death. Nick decides to bring Lisa along to spend some time with her away from the Darlings but Freddy and Karen are following them everywhere they go. After Leticia admits she was unfaithful to him, Tripp decides to find out if all of his children are really his.

I've been pondering this show on and off-again since viewing Episode 4 yesterday (DVR'd it).

I'm pretty sure I'm finished with it. It's got a few solidly fine actors stuck in a horridly unfunny nighttime soap.

Seriously, since when did being utterly awful toward a very young child week after week become funny? And let's use as many stereotypes as we can cram into the hour by having the child bully--one more person to  pick on Brian, Jr. be a fat, unattractive girl. Great.

Maybe I'm too far removed for what passes for "good" on network television. Am I being too hard on this show? Isn't it a bad thing when I can know many of the actor's lines before they say them? This show is that contrived.

Still, Donald Sutherland soldiers on through the muck as turns in consistantly good performances, but it's such crap that he's must work with as the patriarch of the ultra-dysfunctional ultra-rich clan, the Darlings.

Side note: This is a large family with lots of money. Whythen do most of the adult children live at home? Same reason as Brother and Sisters, right? I realize that they do this so meal scenes can be shot in which sooner or later there will be throwing of silverware or food--but for real here--no adult that rich would still live with his/her parents!

I'm trying to think of anything that I liked about this episode and in honesty--nothing.

An example:

Tripp to Mrs. Tripp--who had a 40-year affair with the family's now-dead ( murdered?) attorney.

"Are all the kids mine?"

Mrs Tripp: "Yes, of course."

Mr. Tripp (paraphrasing) "I hate you. You are sounding way too slick about this."

Later Mr. Tripp goes to see to Mrs. Tripp's OB-GYN with whom she has a 30-year patient history (eww, and are we supposed to believe that all her kids are under age 30?!).

Tripp: "You sold me stolen art or you had something to do with stolen art or something. Something about it's blue paint pigment not having been invented at the time of the painting's creation." (Ripped from the headlines! Remember the most recent Jackson Pollock story of possible forgeries discovered except I think the paint colour was yellow not blue?)

OBY-GYN: Looks scared.

Tripp: That's okay. I just want you to sell your soul, I mean give me a report on all of "my" children. Now.

A short while later...

Tripp: I have your gyn reports. (ewwww) Though I haven't read them I know one kid isn't mine. Tell me which or I won't sleep with you tonight.

Mrs. Tripp: looking alarmed... or something. They are using a lot of "gauzy" effect on Jill Clayburgh's face, obscuring her face somewhat, which I realize is the point. I digress...picks up envelope containing report like she's going to open it (has she forgotten which kid is not Tripp's?) but no, she puts it down and kind of flings it across the table.

Mrs. Tripp: I'll tell you.

*crickets*

Audience: groan (not that plot contrivance again!) Wonder how long they'll keep us "guessing?"

I don't even care that they are trying to stretch this out, obviously in an effort to stoke the audience's interest. I think I'm supposed to care.

The rest of the show is still hitting it's one-note. The Twins: annoying and ridiculous, Karen Darling: former crush of the main character family attorney, Nick George, annoying and ridiculous (still loving Peter Krause--always will). Lisa George (Nicks' wife) cute, but dull.

Goebbert's Pumpkin Farm, South Barrington, IL

CLICK PHOTO to see larger photo/more albums at Google Picasa site

We go every year because it's local and it's a fun outside thing to do.
pumpkin farm website (it's cute)

The weekend weather was outstanding. Too hot for sleeves or long pants--great for the pumpkin farm and today, mini golf. I managed two holes in 1--in a row--then when back to ..not worrying about my score. :p

I'm glad to have been able to enjoy this time. Next weekend is the very last for the golf place. Thenwe are looking at the whole winter... I'm not a cold weather winter fan so I'll have to find things to keep  busy for at least part of down time.
I'll probably regret saying that. :/
Here are a few of my fave photos from today:

These were very fine-looking animals.
I used no flash on the animals, just FYI. :)
They all looked healthy and clean but either sad or ticked off (both?)

He's not a monkey folks, please pass that along to the little ones. He truly hates being called "the monkey" as in "Mom! Look at  the monkey!"--especially when the kid has  his face right in Mr. Lemur's face. Ick for the lemur. My child is much better trained and about 10 years older than the wee ones--so he behaved well, lol.

Below: Chris on the outside looking in--solved the corn "maize."

What's your cure for the common cold?

If I knew of a cure for the common cold I'd be wealthy. I guess "How do you treat the common cold," was used already?

Hydrate. Rest. I'm not allowed to take anything for "aches" besides acetaminophen so that for body aches. Rinse. Repeat.

Backlit gel capsules

Good excuse to raid the royalty-free iStockphoto photos. These two you get for "sick"

                                                                                                                                                                  Pounding Headache

OOOh "cough" (for an istockphoto search term) has better ones. Check 'em out!

Symptoms - Cough

Young blond girl sneezing in the handkerchief

sick girl

Those were for "cough"

Let's do "sneeze."

 

This one is pretty convincing./EDIT Now that I get a better look--meh. achoo

Big Sneeze 

 

Ewwwww.

 

Flu Virus

Haha. Little kids aren't that convincing.

QotD: Welcome To My Game Show

Drew Carey recently replaced Bob Barker as the host of "The Price Is Right."  What game show would you like to host?

How far we have fallen when the words Drew Carey show up in the QotD! I sense the end of the world soon coming.

I would if someone offered, like to host the original version of Hollywood Squares. At the time it was on I was too young to have a clue about the frequent sexual innuendos that flew to and fro. Paul Lynde, Charley Weaver, the host, Peter Marshall and even Rose Marie, the old broad with the bow-in-her-hair, all used as much non-profane but very-naughty-if-inferred-correctly language. I take that back. Paul Lynde especially, was getting *bleeped* all the time!

I didn't "get" much then. (I didn't even know what a homosexual was!)

I think it would be much more fun this time around with me as the hostess with the mostest.

Hollywood Squares

Newer H'wood Squares. Count how many overdosed!

Farmers sue DEA for right to grow industrial hemp

Wish I could submit to my "quote" group at Vox.
It's always interesting to take a look at the  news and see big, colourful photographs of hemp and marijuana, side by side, kind of like milk (hemp) and chocolate milk (the other stuff).
I'm not around too many folks  that debate "Legalization" but it's my opinion that the hemp issue should have been settled long ago. Like other issues that effect the public at large the US is way behind :cough: Canada:cough: again.--Cyn

"There's probably more arsenic in your red wine, there's more mercury in your water and there's definitely more opiates in the poppy seed bagel you ate this morning," ~Shaun Crew, president of Hemp Oil Canada Inc.,  praising Canada's foresight in differentiating between hemp and marijuana. Marijuana THC levels can range between 3 and 20 percent, Canada demands its hemp contain no more than 0.3 percent.

Story Link   

Love some of the sloganeering here. This is priceless:
"This is actually an anti-drug. It's a healthy food," Adam Eidinger of the Washington advocacy group Vote Hemp.

Story Highlights

• Fast-growing hemp used for food, paper, textiles and car parts
• Hemp and marijuana have tetrahydrocannabinol, but the level in hemp is lower
• North Dakota is one of seven states that have OK'd production or research
• The DEA will not approve permits for two farmers in that state

                                        

Industrial hemp, left, looks a lot like its cousin in the cannabis family, marijuana.

And finally~
"I've got a state Legislature saying they aren't and the entire world saying they aren't. This is about a crop that is a legitimate crop every place else in the world," Johnson said. "It's not a crusade thing. It's a crop. Let farmers grow it. We don't want anyone to be growing drugs." North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson is backing the farmers and has proposed modeling North Dakota's hemp laws after Canada's strict regulations.

QotD: A Little Something To Start With

What's your favorite appetizer to order at a restaurant?

Depends on the restaurant.

To be specific, holy cow this is hard!

How about what I get every year when we take me out for the "family" portion of my birthday *coughonNovember29cough* to Gino's East In Rolling Meadows?

Stuffed Mushrooms!~

Fresh mushroom caps stuffed with a blend of proscuitto ham, cheeses, fresh herbs and butter.

I'm a simple girl w/simple tastes and I like to scribble on walls! mwahahaha

No Internets?! How Will We Survive?

There were _really_ high winds today here in the Northwest (of)Chicago suburbs. It's completely flat here. There are no natural barriers to the wind like say, some good-sized hills. Hills would help a bit. We happen to live in an area where a lot of trees were planted about 35 years ago and they are rather big and seemingly, coming to the end of their life-cycles--at least that's the visual cues I pick up after a big, windy day like today.

I had the window to the house open as it was again balmy.  Papers were blowing about and the dog did not like it but it's hard for me to say goodbye to windows-open weather. I was just getting started on what is known as a "paid op" when I heard a loud crack followed almost immediately by the complete loss of power to the house.

After a couple hours the power came back up though I didn't think we'd be so lucky and was about to set out to the nearest wifi place (which turned out to be Panera Baking Company--maybe it wouldn't have been so bad). But now that I've seen the badly damaged tree that cut our electricity--it's down the street a bit--but still in front of the condo complex--I'm wondering how they got the power back on because the tree branch which is as big in circumference of some of the newer trees in the area, is still resting across on the the power line making the power line droop in an ominous-looking way. Plus, one of the "support" cables that keeps the telephone--looking pole uh, standing, is snapped right off and it's dangling. I'm a bit freaked but I was more so when I lost the Internets.

Anyway, I need to go write another op.  I got behind today due to the forces of nature.

Wired: "Watch the Film That Inspired It All: C'était un Rendez-vous"

I'm glad watching this is not illegal. It's too much fun! Come to think of it though, what the driver is doing in his circa 1976 Mercedes (the sound of an "Alpine or Ferrari engine added later," according to a commenter) is for sure illegal. There's an explanation (in the comments within this post but before reading look closely--at the sky, and lights--or not--as visual clues as to the times of day and even year this was filmed. It's very fun, I  promise. Most guys will love it but if you're a chica with a need for speed, it's also a blast (though sometimes the buses across intersections were a bit unsettling).

Watch the Film That Inspired It All: C'était un Rendez-vous

From Wired Online: By Charles Graeber 10.16.07 | 12:00 AM

Alex Roy's Cannonball dreams started with a movie, but it didn't star Burt Reynolds. The film was C'était un Rendez-vous. Made in 1976, it's a dashing precursor to every Jackass-inspired digicam stunt ever posted on YouTube — nine heart-pounding minutes choreographed to a screaming drivetrain. Through a bumper-mounted camera, the viewer becomes the car — traveling more than 80 mph as the anonymous driver revs into the enormous traffic circle around Paris' Arc de Triomphe, steers hammer-down from the Champs Élysées to Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre (through 16 red lights, wrong-way one-ways, stunned pedestrians, garbage trucks, and median strips (edit/ and many pidgeons--C.) to meet up with a beautiful blonde waiting patiently in the park at the Montmartre church.

Below~ Some comments not my own (including the answer to the type of car  this is. Hint: It's more than one!):

Shameless

http://crom74.vox.com/library/post/a-...

quote/It's Tuesday and I am bored, so here you go... I propose a best VOX member contest - with categories. Why? See my first sentence. The Contest*: You will vote on your favourite HOOD member for each of several categories. You will do this by Private Messaging me. I will then compile the votes and we.../end quote

How wrong is it that I want to vote for myself in one of these categories? lol.

1. 1.Best Damn Blogger Ever
2. 2.Best Comments                                                                                             
3. 3.Most Reliable
4. 4.Most Influential
5. 5.Best Pictures/Video/Books/Etc...(media)
6. Most Humouristic(sic) Blogger
7. Best Stalker (for those of you into that, I know there are some)
8. Most likely to Blog until the Nets is no more
9. Most likely to fizzle out before long
10. Just Because...

Which category do you want to get my vote for?

If you tell me yours, I'll tell you mine.

This is all hypothetical, of course.

I already know pretty much who goes where.

That's why I want the one category.

Yes.

As I was reminded many times growing up and in the years since, I am indeed Shameless.--Cyn

Do you have a regular workout routine? What's your favorite form of exercise?

This is where I'd be each day if I could. I'd wear sunscreen.

I swim for fun. I swim for exercise. Year 'round. The swimming for exercise comes in when the good weather goes out. Swimming for fun is something I could do every day for the rest of my life. Exercise--not keen on it.

I walk the dog each night. It's walking for what that's worth. I've had years of yoga practice but it has fallen by the wayside at the mo. I need to get back to it as I'm feeling really stiff and um, less mellow than I would if I were doing it.

[this is peace] Huntington Beach at night

(Show us peace.)

Night shot of a Huntington Beach tower with the city lights as a backlight.

toptenpictures.blogspot.com

This is a very familiar scene to me.

Life was not easy when I lived 2 blocks in from the ocean, on 2nd St. in Huntington Beach. I had hooked up with the wrong man and it was quite awful, actually. A close second for the worst time in my life-- the Mother of all learning experiences (and I'm not even counting the heart thing in the running). Sooo back then after the beach closed, the sun was long down and the moon out, I'd walk down to the beach, sit on the stairs and inhale the sea air. Life. And then I would let my thoughts go. I cast the negative energy out to sea and in it's place was if only for a while, peace.

Raven looking sulky...

Raven busted through the doggy barrier in the den and bounded upstairs so she could commence barking to no end. The end came eventually though when she woke me up from a very good sleep--the kind I only have when I wear myself out (in a good way) physically. We have the same routine every morning which I must have blogged about before but in case not, it's this. When she was new to us. I would get up in the morning--pre-coffee, still in my jammies,and let her outside on her long leash because she had issues with confusing the carpet for the grass.

Often, I'd put her on her leash and she sat there on the deck and stared at me, not budging.

Having had two children I knew very well of the powers of "treats," so I bought a package of bite-sized ones and after I put her on the leash and opened the door--she'd be out in the grass before I could wing the thing outside. It worked like a charm. But today, since she knew she'd woken mommy up--a very big no-no, she was sulky going outside. She still wanted the treat mind you, but when she saw that I was on her heels (as the weather is still balmy) she refused to look at me. She has this thing where if she's in trouble she won't look at the person who is mad at her. I think she figures that if she doesn't look that she can't be seen. Impeccable logic, lol.

So here are a couple shots knocked off of our flowers in the back of the house and of Raven looking ...sulky.

Ifidontlookatyoumaybeuwontseeme

Oct17

Notlooking

Oct17.2

I'm up to Oct 13...

...in catching up with the neighbourhood.

Hope you all are well. :) :) :)

Went on what will probably be one of the last nice evening walks before it gets too cold for me to consider it "nice" Nice is when I can go after evening lap swimming with wet hair and not freeze my @*&%#@! off, lol.

/EDIT. It's nice again. It's actually balmy! I swam in my brand new Speedo tonight. Noy sexy but  I got it half price and it is functional! See:

Back --------------------------------------------------> Cobalt Blue Stream Splice.

Didn't quite know what went where on the suit so I just pulled it on and it all fell into place. :)

Frustrated

I'm about 4 days behind in some of my email and I can't seem to catch up--and blogging--what is that? I even stayed home on Saturday night --missing my in-laws 50th anniversary celebration at the Warsaw Inn in McHenry.

I've had a number of dizzy spells since I've been taking both a generic form of Metoprolol and a supplement--L-Carnitine. I don't know which one or both even are doing this--wasn't my choice to go all cheap on the pharmceuticals --it was Humana's. I don't know how long it may last. It could be a matter of getting used to the symptoms but regardless, I see my *new cardiac heart failure guy next month so hopefully things will get no worse.

Gloomy post, no?

*The old one was fine--good, even. He moved to the east coast near my parents. Had to get a new one.

QotD: Halloween Costume Prep

Have you figured out what your (or your kids') Halloween costume will be this year?  What's it going to be?

 

If I were going to do anything to honour the tradition it would be more in line with the:

"many European cultural traditions that hold that Halloween is one of the liminal times of the year when spirits can make contact with the physical world, and when magic is most potent (according to, for example, Catalan mythology about witches and Irish tales of the Sídhe)."

I think I could dig the whole commune-with-the-spirits- Samhain/Pagan festival celebration.

Snap-Apple Night, painted by Irish artist Daniel Maclise in 1833. It was inspired by a Halloween party he attended in Blarney, Ireland, in 1832. The caption in the first exhibit catalogue:

 

There Peggy was dancing with Dan
While Maureen the lead was melting,
To prove how their fortunes ran
With the Cards ould Nancy dealt in;
There was Kate, and her sweet-heart Will,
In nuts their true-love burning,
And poor Norah, though smiling still
She'd missed the snap-apple turning.

On the Festival of Hallow Eve.

That looks and sounds like way-more-fun than anything I've seen or heard of going on now.

However, this is where Hallowe'en as it is celebrated here, loses me completely--C.:

Halloween is now the United States' second most popular holiday (after Christmas) for decorating; the sale of candy and costumes are also extremely common during the holiday, which is marketed to children and adults alike. According to the National Retail Federation, the most popular Halloween costume themes for adults are, in order: witch, pirate, vampire, cat and clown. On many college campuses, Halloween is a major celebration, with the Friday and Saturday nearest October 31, hosting many costume parties./endquote

Like Christmas, Halloween, instead of being what it was meant to be has morphed into a way for retailers to make big bucks--which means that consumers are spending big bucks. Consumers, you are very stupid! Halloween though inclusive of adults and children was celebrated differently, depending on the age of the individual. Not so now--the lines are so blurred that they just look like a black and orange smudge. I'm afraid I've become so curmudgeonly due to the vast quantities of Hallowe'en goods being proffered from July onward that my attitude, if I had to chose from just one country, is much like the Australians--C.:

A visitor from overseas expecting to enjoy an Australian or New Zealand Halloween will need to prepare in advance, since most events are private parties. Trick-or-treaters are usually supervised by adults and remain in their own neighbourhoods for safety reasons, a practice often prearranged with neighbours. "Tricks" are not played in Australia, and "treats" of wrapped/sealed lollies (for safety and hygiene purposes) are generally given only by known neighbours and friends; strangers providing treats may be greeted with suspicion or hostility among parents, and discouragement among Australian law enforcement.

If trick-or-treaters venture beyond these culturally accepted norms, it is mainly in the form of antisocial behaviours by small groups to cause havoc, similar to that which occurs on Halloween in the United States, and, more recently, the United Kingdom. Destructive acts have little to do with the community spirit of Halloween, and perhaps reflect unpleasant societal realities such as unemployment, boredom or lack of social responsibility. Antisocial behaviour associated with Halloween have fomented hostility among some Australians, who see "trick-or-treating" as the mindless imitation of American customs, and a tool of an American cultural neo-imperialism conveyed by popular media. Their aversion to Halloween reflects a wider refusal to accept "senseless or commercial Americanisms."

More history of Hallowe'en courtesy Wikipedia

Scotland, having a shared Gaelic culture and language with Ireland, has celebrated the festival of Samhain robustly for centuries. Robert Burns portrayed the varied customs in his poem "Hallowe'en" (1785).

Halloween, known in Scottish Gaelic as "Oidhche Shamhna", consists chiefly of children going door to door "guising", i.e., dressed in a disguise (often as a witch or ghost) and offering entertainment of various sorts. If the entertainment is enjoyed, the children are rewarded with gifts of sweets, fruits or money. There is no Scottish 'trick or treat' tradition; on the contrary, 'trick or treat' may have its origins in the guising customs.

In Scotland a lot of folklore, including that of Halloween, revolves around the belief in faeries. Children dress up in costumes and carry around a "Neepy Candle" a devil face carved into a hollowed out Neep, lit from inside, to frighten away the evil faeries.

Popular children's games played on the holiday include "dookin" for apples (i.e., retrieving an apple from a bucket of water using only one's mouth). In places, the game has been replaced (because of fears of contracting saliva-borne illnesses in the water) by standing over the bowl holding a fork in one's mouth, and releasing it in an attempt to skewer an apple using only gravity. Another popular game is attempting to eat, while blindfolded, a treacle-coated scone on a piece of string hanging from the ceiling.

Casa Loma, Toronto Summer~ 2007

This was fun--though quite a challenge as on this day my son and spouse went to Casa Loma in Toronto but due to the Hotel policy of not leaving your dog alone for more than 10 minutes, plus it was quite muggy and warm so the state of the car even if  we could manage to find shade may have been too much for the dog, I stayed back at our hotel and dog sat. I requested that spouse and son take "lots of shots." Armed with a camera each they did and I've been putting off trying to do justice to them ever since. The day was very overcast--grey castle against a grey sky--plus-- there were renovations  with great chunks of the castle in  a "pardon our dust" state.

Mostly new or redone~

Dead Canadian Soldier

I was hoping that the photograph explained how I feel about the war in Iraq but a little birdie has taken issue with that stance so I shall gladly spell it out.

See those Canadain soldiers in the photograph?  The ones carrying the coffin draped in the Canadian flag? Not many Canadian men and women die in Iraq but this one in fact  did. This soldier is someone's loved one. He's the comrade to these other young men. See the grief on their faces. This does not need to continue happening!

"After more than four years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism." LT. GEN. RICARDO S. SANCHEZ, the retired former top commander of American forces in Iraq.

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This is not Sponsored.

Museum of Science and Industry "Reworked" with Commentary

As a Motorola family member,  I had to snap of pic of the founder's display. You should see the Motorola Museum at headquarters in Schaumburg. It's free but you have to call ahead. I've heard it was given a much-needed facelift--sort of like this exhibit and It's A Small World at Disneyland, need too, heh.

Click the white or green "box" on the lower left part of the album to see--or not see --the accompanying text.

Oy, this took some time to put together. I need to go watch "Dexter." Stat!

There is a post's worth of  just-written commentary on this "field trip" we took as a family earlier in 2007.

Museum of Science And Industry, Chicago~2007, Includes: Chris as Mannequin, Estee Lauder~ Inventor of the free cosmetic sample, The airplane is a clue! (Boeing), CJ Walker~ Daughter of slaves and First Woman Millionaire in USA, Sears advsior responsible for Sears empire, and Johnson of the Chicago-based publishing empire,reat Men and Woman Businesspeople, Museum of Science and Industry~ 2007 ~Roberto C. Goizueta (Coca-Cola), Mary Kay Ash~(built cosmetics empire), Ray Kroc, McD's~Great American Businessmen and Businesswomen exhibit at The Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago~.

This is an Interim Post.

This is not a sponsored post.

Gore Wins!...Peace Prize for Climate Change Work

I was wondering what this would mean to the presidential election months ago--when to me it seemed a no-brainer that Gore would win a Nobel Peace Prize. It  now seems mute that he's denied planning a run for Presidency when  Obama said so outright--and then did a 180 and Hillary just wouldn't ever say and no one minds that they waited to tell us 'cos they're the two front runners.

Could Gore win it again and this time keep the mantle of Presidency of this great country? Stay tuned.--C.

Gore Shares Peace Prize for Climate Change Work By WALTER GIBBS and SARAH LYALL

QotD: Don't Bother Watching

What's the worst new television show to premiere this season?

From a local reviewer, Maureen Ryan a/k/a The Watcher -who has almost precisely my television tastes--though she does watch quite a bit more than I do*... I wouldn't hate her job, though. ;)

'Big Shots,' please go away

What is there to be said about "Big Shots" (9 p.m. Thursday, WLS-Ch. 7) really? It’s just awful. Four actors who really should know better (Michael Vartan, Dylan McDermott, Joshua Malina and Christopher Titus) play drink-swilling, skirt-chasing, bawdy-joke-telling, golf-playing Masters of the Universe. They’re all top executives in various fields, and they’re generally about as boorish as can be. Think crude frat boys on spring break — but in $5,000 suits. Good times! Vartan’s character is the most tolerable of the quartet, but that’s not saying much. These men treat women, underlings and the servants at their country club like dirt, and only appear to care about money, prestige, promotions and their own massive egos. If that sounds like fun to you, then by all means, tune in. But enjoy this show, such as it is, while you can. If the TV gods listen to my fervent prayers, these crass creeps won’t befoul ABC’s Thursday lineup for long.

*I'm currently watching Weeds (SHO), Dirty Sexy Money (ABC) Survivor (watch it with the kid--old habits die hard), Heroes (ABC), Torchwood (BBC America), and my fave of all right now, Dexter (SHO).

Anxiously awaiting: Lost (ABC) and Battlestar Galactica (SCI-FI). Have to wait until next year for both. Boo.

--C.

Dirty Sexy Money~ Episode 3, Season One *Spoilers*

"The Italian Banker"

First aired: 10/10/2007  Synopsis: Nick tries to fix things when the Darlings are blackmailed over a sex tape starring a family member. Patrick is upset over being forced to end things with Carmelita. Brian's wife gets suspicious over the Swedish orphan he brought home. Jeremy tries to keep it quiet about him and Natalie, but when they all show up at a fundraiser for Patrick things get out of control.

Here we are at the third episode and I'm still torn though I'm feeling a bit more sure of the reasons I both like and don't like Dirty Sexy Money.

(Candis Cayne at right, as "Carmelita.")

On the big plus side is Donald Sutherland, former movie powerhouse, star of films such as MASH (right), Klute (left, with Jane Fonda) and 40 years ago, the classic, The Dirty Dozen. Though I was waffling in Episode 2 about whether Sutherland as Tripp Darling, the patriarch of this much-monied clan was in fact as he insisted, a truth teller, he was caught by the lead character Nick George (Peter Krause) in a whopper this time around. As I opined before, I believe that the ambiguity--is Tripp good, is Tripp evil? is fun to watch. Donald Sutherland is such a great asset to this series. I :heart: the Tripp character--with this great Canadian-born actor playing him :) but Tripp Darling has more to do with Sutherland's acting chops  and ability to inhabit his characters than the quality of the scripts please. I'm asking nicely. Please hired some writers who can do justice to what these actors bring to the table.

There really wasn't much more for me in this episode, "The Italian Banker." I'm finding the references--outright ripping off actually, to utterances made by the real life celebutante Paris Hilton becoming tiresome already. If there are many more I'm going to have to hunt down the writers and clock them over the head because I get it already, okay? The Juliet Darling character (the female half of the Darling twins) is not written; she's just cribbed from the lives of several tedious, spoiled celebutantes and semi-celebrities. Her brother, he of the perpetual flushed red face (he's got um, bad habits) is kind of pitiful. I like that they don't overly glorify his drug-taking though he though he's pretty much impaired all the time-- just totally messed up 24/7. Their much-married sibling, Karen Darling is another one note character. For the life of me I cannot figure out why this actress was cast as she holds no appeal in her appearance or acting skills.

The character in the running for who I like least, is yet another Darling sib, Brian Darling, a married priest with an illegitimate son whom he's recently reluctantly taken custody of. I know I'm supposed to hate this character but I'm hating the script even more. There's nothing redeeming or humorous about his behaviour towards his previously unacknowledged son--he is simply unkind. The character played by Glenn Fitzgerald. is striking one note--mean--and I'm not digging him at all.

Finally, in terms of  some decent screen time, where hypothetically some character development might occur, we have Billy Baldwin. I dunno, maybe I'm just not a fan of all things Baldwin---but he leaves me cold. However, his character Patrick Darling's, girlfriend --Carmelita is resonating a bit more if only for the fact that actor Candis Cayne is a transgender woman who plays a transgender woman with whom he is having an affair. It's actually one of the more authentic aspects of this series besides Sutherland, Clayburgh and a couple others. ;)

I'm still undecided about the show as a whole but I will tune in next week if only because Lost has not yet come back from hiatus.

Dom and Evie Break up '07/Did Dom Monaghan and Evangeline Lilly Tie The Knot In Summer '07?

Update: January, 2009 Dom Monaghan ("Charlie Pace" on LOST and Evangeline Lilly ("Kate Austen") also on LOST ring in the New Yearin snowy togetherness.

*NEW* Evie and Dom together March 2008

Update/11.08.07***Below I was afraid of this given the "uncertain" way Charlie's last scenes were on LOST the last time we saw Dominic Monaghan  playing him. Oh well. I'm sure someone's happier now. It doesn't sound like it's Dominic.

When does Lost come back on, anyway? Is it in November or am I thinking of the Battlestar Galactica mini on the SciFi Channel?<squee> Inquiring minds need the scoop!

Dom Monaghan and Eve Lilly of LOST. I don't have a credit--a magazine is the source I believe....maybe, not sure. Sorry. Did they get married this past summer (2007) like they were 'spose to before...

SPOILER ALERT!!!

I love to write in ALL CAPS. heh.

So yeah... Dominick Monaghan, according to what I Google, is makin' a movie about a serial killer--Dom's the serial killer. Bound to be more fun than Lost --they never gave him enough screen time,  IMO.

Updates: 11.08.07

UPDATE II /(Source is gossip but less rag-like)

" LOST stars Dominic Monaghan and Evangeline Lilly are apparently done according to Page Six . Dom was spotted at El Coyote in Los Angeles "crying, holding and kissing" another woman. Are they sure that other woman wasn't Elijah Wood?

Nelson Aspen reports, "They were right in the middle of the room, they weren't interested in privacy. They looked very intimate. They were nursing margaritas, leaning in, chain-smoking, having intense conversation."

Update/11.08.07

UPDATE/ (The source is a gossip rag)

LOST co-stars Evangeline Lilly and Dominic Monaghan have reportedly castaway their love and split up.

The handsome pair began dating over two years' ago after meeting on the set of the desert island drama.

The British actor - whose rocker character Charlie was killed off in the show - was spotted crying in the arms of another woman at a LA restaurant last week.

Onlookers at the El Coyote eatery also said the pair spent a lot of time kissing and cuddling.

A source told the New York Post newspaper: "They were right in the middle of the room, they weren't interested in privacy.

"They looked very intimate. They were nursing margaritas, leaning in, chain-smoking, having an intense conversation."

Evangeline and Dominic got engaged earlier this year after the Lord of the Rings star proposed during a holiday in Hawaii.

A Treat For Me? Unheard Of!

It finally happened. I was blogging about a great coupon place and--dang!--I saw a great coupon (surprise!) and it went for something that I've been needing (avert your eyes guys, if you don't wanna know)-- bras--ten dollars off each and plus another 20% from the site itself. That takes care of shipping, tax and still saves me $20!

And while I was there I had to take a peek at the cozy sleepwear as it has gone from Marathon runner-killing heat to brrrrrr windy-wet-cold in matter of days and besides I live work in my lounge-wear.

It still was ridiculously inexpensive. I'm sure my spouse will agree. 

Secret shopping

*NOT a Sponsored piece.

Shiny, Happy People...I'm Going To Strangle Them!

Okay, it's official. All the shiny, happy people  in the Vox Kingdom are bringing me down with their lovey-dovey, ever-after blissful in love-ness. I cannot stand it any longer. I'm happy that you are happy but holy crap your happiness is rubbing my nose in my utter miserableness, okay? I can't take it any more! I'm writing over here because I don't want to harsh anyone's mellow but I'd really appreciate you all stopping being so utterly and completely joyful. Just for a few minutes? Argh!

This  song is for you...

Razr Reconsidered

After thoroughly dissing my Motorola Razr phone I found that I still had some photos on there from July when my brother and sil moved and from the summer vacation trip to Maple Lake. I'm still not thrilled with the quality nor am I willing or able to plunk down whatever it takes to get a mega-pixel cameraphone but here's what I've got:

Bro and sil's former courtyard. That's Spanish tile but you cannot tell in b&w. This is an ancient building in Evanston, IL.

This pic gives an idea how ancient. I believe this is called a utility entrance.

My chair.

Sail-ing takes me away to where I  something something...

I'd love to have a sailboat, 'course I'd have to learn to sail.

One can see where spouse trimmed the lower branches on the tree in the foreground.
When we go to the Lake spouse stacks rocks to build up the beach wall and slashes a bunch overgrowth. Go spouse!

This is some not-great-for-you joint we stopped at for lunch. Don't know if it's Canada. The pic is illustrative of the fact that at 6'3" my son is dwarfing his father. They are at the counter. Son is in black tee.

The Right Brain vs Left Brain test

The Right Brain vs. Left Brain test ... do you see the dancer turning clockwise or anti-clockwise?

If clockwise, then you use more of the right side of the brain and vice versa.

Most of us would see the dancer turning anti-clockwise though you can try to focus and change the direction; see if you can do it.

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
"big picture" oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can "get it" (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

link

QotD: Honors & Scandals

 

Despite the scandal of his recent arrest, Sen. Larry Craig is being inducted into the Idaho Hall of Fame.  Should his legal troubles have any impact on the award?   

Okay, first of all I don't pay attention to State senators as individuals unless what they are doing is affecting he country at large.   

I'd never even heard of this Larry Craig person until Jon Stewart made fun of him on the teevee.

I couldn't care less about him or his legal troubles. Should he be in the Idaho Hall of Fame? I dunno. What does being in the Idaho Hall of Fame actually entail? Will Craig get prizes, a cash award? A plaque for his wall?   

What being "put" (voted?) into the hall of fame entails and what he did to have the honour bestowed upon him would impact my answer.

Idaho has really no relevance to my life as far as I know. In fact, I'm slightly chagrined to say that Idaho and Iowa were interchangeable in my mind up until just now when I Googled them and then checked out their state propaganda government information pages. Guess I'm more like an average American than I thought. :p

Razr Camera Makes A Great Phone (Sarcasm Intended)

Grrr. I hate my camera phone. It's worse than my very first camera which was super-cheap plastic. To think when these phones first came out that they sold for $400. I would poke my own eye out if I'd paid that much. This I got for FREE-- my Motorola Powder Pink, horrible keypad, bad camera, Razr. Phooey.

Here, have a look at some Verizon Pix Flix goodness taken with the Razr:

Plus the user interface for storage, "Pix Flix"  online is something Verizon should be ashamed of. I'm amazed at the poor quality and clunkiness that consumers will put up with. I wonder if it's because the consumers sending pics are mostly under age 25, living in the moment, and the pics are "disposable"?

I snapped the pic at left 'cos I forgot my camera on the day my bro and sil moved out west. They had a very cool courtyard but you cannot really tell as the pics did not come out.

This is the view out my bedroom window of our condo parking lot. I want to move and so does spouse.

Vox Hunt: I'm a True Fan

Show us what makes you a die-hard fan.

Battlestar Galactica : Razor - Flashback 1

My favourite television show, Battlestar Galactica.

What makes me a die-hard fan?

Battlestar Galactica is an hour of escape, adventure, controversy, science fiction, war, death, destruction, chaos, bad-ass acting, love stories...and more.

Almost every episode is worth discussing and deconstructing after it's viewed. How many television dramas really do that? I don't mean talking about who's hooking up with whom or the disease of the week or how hawt some beefcake actor is. I'm talking real conversation about characters that have taken on a life of their own because they are both written and acted so well. And much like Star Trek was for the generation before me Battlestar Galactica draws unblinking parallels to our society. BSG is relevant, controversial, thought-provoking and entertaining. That's why I'm a "true fan."

Season Four Battlestar Galactica Opening Video