Which is Cuter?

I'm just surfing Amazon.com, trying to find a tutu for my friend's two year-old, when the image pictured below appears:

No offense to the leggy lady Santa, but the adorable little moppet astonished by her light up tutu definitely wins the Cuter? contest. LLS can have the Sexier? crown, though.

ANYWAY...

This brings me to my own question:

Which of these should I covet more?

As a lover of both books and gadgets, I really want one of those fancy electronic book readers. As a busy woman who's not been keeping up with electronics very closely, I'm not sure which would be the best choice, the Sony Reader or Amazon's Kindle.

This isn't something Santa's going to bring me, so I have plenty of time to decide (and wait for the prices to come down). Also, I'm curious about what kind of books are available for these devices. I see that Kindle has magazines and newspapers (and one of my favorite time wasters, Wikipedia),

Well, one thing is certain, the Sony Reader truly is the cuter of the two. The photo of Kindle on Amazon.com looks nice enough, but the snapshots accompanying Engadget's review remind me of printers from the late 80s. Ewww!

December Doldrums?

I'm still alive. I just don't feel like doing this lately. There are things to report, I suppose, but I'm still struggling with those blahs.

So...

At work - there are lots of changes and increased responsibilities for yours truly. I try not to dwell too much on work here, so I'll leave it at that for now.


At home - things are going well enough. I feel like I'm definitely not getting enough done for the holidays. It's a bit tough to get Bill to co-operate until the last minute, which I find nerve-wrecking, but no more so than trying to wrangle him into helping out with Christmas lists and what-not. He's willing to go into stores and pick up gifts, at least, and that's a blessing since I can't stand it.

My dad came to Memphis recently and he still seems to be doing pretty well. I guess I can take comfort in knowing that if my greatest fear is ever realized and I completely lose my mind, someone can reboot my head with some ECT, too.

I went to a party downtown last night. Saw a lot of familiar faces from the days when I lived downtown and owned a video store on South Main. I generally find that excruciating, so I wasted a lot of energy dreading the evening. It turned out to be a really great party overall, and I'm glad I went. I wish I had tried harder, used my time and the opportunity more wisely, not sabotaged myself into failing with that store - or maybe it just wasn't meant to be? I'm glad it's over, the store felt like such a cage, but well... it's the past, let's worry about the present or the future instead, right?

Had a really nice brunch at Cafe Ole - Bill & I invited Cheryl & Zoe to join us. That was a lot of fun, as always.

Tonight we're doing a neighborhood party thing, a progressive dinner, where you get to nose around all your neighbors houses and eat different courses of a meal. Well, all right, I admit it sounds a bit overwhelming to an introvert such as myself, but I want my neighbors to know that we're friendly, approachable people. I think I tend to either give people the impression that I'm not friendly/approachable or maybe no impression at all is closer to the truth. The people on this street seem to be very friendly with each other, I wouldn't mind if they were friendly with me, too.

The end of the year is weighing down on me, I have to be careful with myself.

Hey, next year (which is next month already) Bill and I are going to start trying to conceive. "We figured there was too much happiness here for just the two of us, so we figured the next logical step was to have us a critter." I've visited my doctor for health screenings and a pep talk, recently. Did great on the health screenings, and now I'm popping prenatal vitamins daily to get a head start on everything (and I guess to see what happens when you add a stool softener to an already fiber-rich diet). I am a bit apprehensive about all of this; I spent most of my life declaring that I did not intend to reproduce, so I feel somewhat unprepared. I'm sure everything will work out for the best, however.

Crossdressing Criminals in Memphis

from The Memphis Flyer
http://www.memphisflyer.com/memphis/Content?oid=oid%3A36561
When Transvestites Attack; Memphis McDonald's Undergoes Gender-fication

NOVEMBER 26, 2007 - 11:14 AM

Things got a little out of order after three hungry transvestites found their service at a Memphis McDonald's drive-thru unsatisfactory.
The three, er, men, tried to get the manager's attention by tapping on the drive-thru window, and when they were ignored, decided to grab a tire iron and go inside and throw a supersize tantrum.

That's when things got ugly.

As any good cross-dressers would, the three began to kick off stiletto boots (to better keep their balance while swinging), remove hoop earrings (no danger of having them yanked out), and take off their jackets (less restriction of movement) in order to deliver a McWhoopin' on the staff.

The manager retaliated with a pot of scalding French-fry grease. When all was said and done, one worker was sent to the hospital by ambulance, windows were smashed, and the three trannies escaped before the police arrived.

Police are still looking for the fightin' tranny trio, and we wish them good luck. Our bet is Anna Rexia looks more like Andy Rex today. And we'll resist making a joke about trans-fats.

Read more about the shenanigans at WMC.com.

Thanksgiving Break Update

I haven't posted in a while because work has been all-encompassing lately. Now that things are getting back to normal at work, I find myself a bit uncertain of how to spend my regained free time. Not so much uncertain really as uninspired. I am a little ashamed to admit that I feel like doing absolutely nothing. I've had a few days off for the holidays, and instead of really doing very much of anything interesting, I've been doing nothing.

I don't really feel motivated to go out, I don't really feel like writing, don't feel like going to the movies, don't feel like reading, like emailing, corresponding, taking a shower, having company, visiting folks, going back to work tomorrow, raking leaves... nothing really. Maybe taking a nap. I don't feel bad at all; I don't have the blues. I guess I just need some downtime.

Anyway, just because I don't feel like doing much of anything doesn't mean I haven't done anything.

Thanksgiving
A nice thing about Thanksgiving this year is that my yankee husband Bill decided to make cornbread dressing, which I love (and so does he). I have to admit that I've missed cornbread dressing at Thanksgiving. It was always such an integral part of the meal growing up. Bill's dressing was perfect, of course. We had a great time making it. It was a hit at Thanksgiving dinner. We spent the day with his family, as we always do. We had a lot of fun.

Afterwards, we went to visit our friends Cheryl & Powell, and their extra cute two year old, Zoe. They had relatives over and our mutual friend, Kim, was there, as well. We had a great time visiting everyone and playing with Zoe, who we adore.

Black Friday
Poor Bill had to work a bit. While he was at work, I kept myself busy photographing leftover items from our recent garage sale - we hope to sell some of the items on craigslist or e-bay.

I felt strongly about not going shopping on the busiest shopping day of the year, but, after Bill came home around lunchtime, we did go out to look at some new logs for our gas fireplace. We didn't buy any, just looking. Then we went to buy a DVD Bill wants desperately (Night of the Living Dead 3-D), but we didn't find it on Friday. Instead, I broke down and bought a Jessie Sykes CD, which I'm listening to right now. I couldn't help myself, I suppose. I don't regret it!

Saturday
Tree trimming was my only goal for Saturday. We shopped for the tree, bought a few ornaments, and after the tree was delivered, we decorated it. Our tree came from Sam Stringer on Poplar. Antoinette was very helpful. The price was competitive with other places we'd checked, and they offered free delivery and set up. Bill and I decorated the tree on Saturday. We're really pleased with it. I was a bit worried the cats would destroy the tree, but they seem to only be interested in sleeping beneath it (so far).

It turned out very nicely. It's all blue and silver. We're happy with it.

We watched Night of Living Dead 3-D, which Bill discovered while we were shopping for tree trimmings. Umm. OK. It was kind of terrible, I guess. I'd like to say that it had its moments, but I'm really at a loss. It could have been worse.

We met our friends Carla and Charlie for dinner at Bangkok Alley in Cordova. We've eaten at the Bangkok Alley in Collierville and enjoyed it, so we expected the Cordova location to be good. At first, we were a bit disappointed because, unlike the Collierville location, there was no sushi bar and the restaurant was considerably smaller. Oh, but the food was so fucking good. I had Mixed Vegetables with Tofu. The menu described the dish as having a flavorful brown sauce - talk about an understatement! I haven't had such a yummy dish in a while. Really remarkable!

Afterwards, we went to Carla and Charlie's new house in Cordova to visit two very cute kittens they had adopted earlier that day. The kittens were extra cute. We had a great time playing with them. Everyone was kind of tired, so we made an early night of it and went home.

We watched The Reaping, which actually does have its moments. I can't say that it couldn't have been better, because it really could have been much better. That said, I enjoyed it. It was pretty creepy, and Hilary Swank did a great job, of course. Unfortunately, there were some pretty cheesy moments that took a lot away from the movie.

Today...
Well, as I said before, lately I haven't felt very motivated to do much. Today is no exception. I've done literally nothing today, with the exception of uploading snapshots of the cats and the Christmas tree to the Internet. There are a few movies showing at the Studio on the Square that I would like to see (No Country for Old Men & I'm Not There), so I could do that. There's tons of chores that need to be done, I could do that, too. I know it's probably for the best that I do something, so maybe I will. I know the best thing to do when I'm feeling this way, is to do the things I would do if I didn't feel like this, so maybe I'll see one of those movies.

And, of course, I finally have posted something on my poor ol' neglected blog now.

Boo!

Boo!

The Halloween Party went well, and it was really fun.
Not much time to post since work is so busy, but here's a link to some photos from the party. I'll add links to a few other folk's pics from the party, too.

Darjeeling Limited Now Showing... & Misc. BS

Hmmm... Good news! I didn't miss Darjeeling Ltd; it just wasn't playing in Memphis yet. So I'll be able to try and see it this weekend, although I am hosting a party and also want to try to attend the River Arts Fest back at my old stomping grounds (So Main).

Work is very intense and busy right now. If there's anything worse than doing mindless tasks for a living, it's being extremely busy with mindless tasks for a living. But, then again, I know for a fact that it's far worse to be toiling physically at mindless tasks for even less money, so maybe I shouldn't complain. Maybe, as they say, that's why they call it work!

I got even more stuff yesterday. Pretty lipsticks from my mother; I'm a sucker for lipstick... Some headphones that were on my amazon.com wishlist, but unfortunately they are way too big. I'm giving them to Bill. Now I still need headphones for work since mine are falling apart.

I'm pretty confident that I'm prepared for the Halloween party on Saturday. I hope the rain stops before tomorrow, so that we can enjoy the new chiminea at the party. I plan to take lots of photos and enjoy myself.

STUFF!!! (Materialistic Mutterings)

Wow! Lately I've been getting so much flipping STUFF through the mail! It's mainly because of my birthday, I suppose.

Check it out:

My new prized possession:
Walkuski's striking Polish poster for Rosemary's Baby. It arrived earlier this week. This is a gift from Bill for my birthday. It's currently being framed; unfortunately it won't be ready in time for the Halloween party. It's going to be so damned cool.


Other birthday items:

From my lovely long-time friend, Heather Z., a Feist CD (The Reminder)arrived last week:


Made possible by my mom's generous amazon.com gift certificate:

• A PJ Harvey CD (White Chalk)
  


• A Kelly Link book (Stranger Things Happen)
  


• Conjoined Twins, a book by Christine Quigley.
  

From the Pottery Barn, I got a HUGE wooden tray. It was on sale, and I picked the medium-sized tray, but when it I arrived, I realized I probably should have checked the dimensions before I ordered it. It's lovely though, and I can definitely find a lot of uses for it.
I have a souvenir t-shirt from the goat festival that says "You Get My Goat" and has a goat winking on it.

I'm waiting for a fancy alarm clock that wakes you to light instead of BEEP BEEP BEEP to come in the mail, too.

Zombie Party Reminder

My Birthday

I turned 34 on October 12. As birthdays go, it was not bad, although I have to admit it started out a bit shaky. There were surprises of both the pleasant and disappointing variety.

Bill's gift for me didn't arrive before time to leave, so that was kind of disappointing, for example, but it wasn't really his fault. So he decided to tell me what it was, and that was a very happy surprise for me. He ordered my favorite Walkuski poster, Rosemary's Baby, from a Polish poster dealer. Wow! I hadn't even dared to put that on my wish list; the most I asked for was the Walkuski postcards. How thrilling to be surprised with even more than you could hope or wish for! I can't wait until it finally arrives. I hope we manage to get it framed in time for the party.


I had a really cute email birthday card from my Mom, who had thoughtfully sent me a generous gift certificate for Amazon a few weeks prior to my birthday in order to give me plenty of time to order stuff so it could arrive in time for my birthday. I am just having a little trouble deciding! I'm thinking I'll stockpile books with it.

I traveled to rural middle Tennessee, where I mostly grew up, to attend a fainting goats festival and visit old friends and relatives who still live in the area. I stopped by my paternal grandparent's home to visit them and my Dad on Friday. We had a Sixteen Candles kind of day there, because they had forgotten it was my birthday. I can call it a disappointing surprise, but it stopped being a surprise years ago. But they were nice and everything. I had fun playing with my dad's cat. I taught him to sit on my lap and we became buddies(the cat, not my dad). I also saw my dad's new place, then I left for my hotel room about forty miles away.

Bill had made reservations for a rather nice room in Columbia, TN with a jumbo jacuzzi that was almost as nice as the one we had in Vegas last year on my birthday. No view of mountains in the distance though, just cheesy mirrors on the ceiling. :)

I went for dinner at La Hacienda, which is a modest little Mexican restaurant that Stephen and I used to frequent. I try to go there once in a while and remember old times. The food's not bad, and it's very much the same as it was back then. Afterwards, it was time for champagne and a soak back at the room.

The next morning, I got a pretty early start because I didn't want to be late for the Fainting Goats show at the Goats, Music, and More festival in Lewisburg, TN. I think goats are adorable, so I just had to go check it out. It was basically like a livestock show, the goats were judged based on their body structure and musculature, their propensity for fainting didn't really factor into it. I did see a few goats faint, however. I also saw a goat costume contest that, oddly enough, featured at least two Elvis Presley goats. I also caught a goat impersonation contest, during which one of the contestants dressed up like Elvis Presley and performed a few of the King's standards, punctuated with "bahs" now and then. I have video of that. Maybe I'll post it here or on my web page, if I have a chance anytime soon.

I bought a souvenir tee shirt that says "You get my goat"... and there wasn't much else to do there, to be honest, so I left around noon. I went to visit my maternal grandmother and her husband. for another Sixteen Candles afternoon. My birthday is not such a memorable occasion, I suppose! But, since I was turning 34, maybe they thought I'd prefer they forget. They did have homemade ice cream, though, so that was great! After our visit, I went back to the hotel to rest a bit.

Later, I went to Nashville to check out a Halloween store for possible party decorations. I was going to visit Ricardo, but he was on call for some reality show he'd started working on the day before, so it didn't work out. Then I went to Ichiban, another one of Stephen's haunts, to have some sushi. I had a delicious meal. I had a little bit of Zipang, the sparkling sake, so it would feel celebratory. Then it was back to the jacuzzi for a nice soak.

I came back home rather early in the day. Bill and worked on cleaning up the branches from the tree he cut down earlier in the week.

That was my birthday weekend. It wasn't bad. It had some less than stellar moments, I guess, but at least I don't feel old yet! I haven't resorted to lying about my age! Maybe I should start feeling old, but I really feel like 30s are still young. Talk to me about starting to feel old when I'm in 44, or maybe 54, or... when I'm 64.

I'll try to upload goat footage soon!

Local Boy Does Good

Here's some news on that other politician from Tennessee.

Nicely done, Al!

Along with the IPCC, he's been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change".

I'm proud of him and feel he deserves recognition for many of his efforts, not the least of which would be the work he's done recently to bring attention to environmental issues. However, part of me wonders why the Peace Prize is used almost as a "do-gooder" type of award some years instead of strictly being awarded to those who promote peace. I feel that the argument can be made that protecting the environment can, in a sense, be considered "making peace" with the planet, but it seems so abstract.

According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize should be awarded "to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between the nations for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses".

Would it be more suitable to present the prize to a pacifist rather than an environmentalist? Is environmentalism a form of pacifism? Preserving the environment is crucial to all our endeavors, I understand, but does it promote peace?

No Gays in Iran...

This is the best New Yorker cover I've seen in a while.

Well, damn! I blinked and suddenly Darjeeling Limited is no longer showing in Memphis. That kinda sucks. I know the reviews haven't been great, but... I wanted to see for myself!

Eastern Promises is still showing, but I didn't see it over the weekend. We were so busy. Some of Bill's code monkeys joined us for dinner at Bosco's Friday night, then came over to our place for drinks. Saturday was filled with family events, as relatives of Bill from New York were visiting. Sunday, we concentrated on chores.

We did watch a really entertaining movie called Severance. I suppose it's sort of like The Office (UK) + Friday the 13th - the supernatural elements... I enjoyed it, but expected it to be a bit more humorous based on the trailer. It did include a quite a bit of comedy.

Bill started working on sculpting some zombie teeth for me to wear on Halloween. I seriously doubt they'll fit in my mouth, though - they're enormous!

Busy Busy

I've been extremely busy lately - especially at work. I haven't managed to do much of anything interesting, though.

I still haven't made it to the theater to see Darjeeling Limited or Eastern Promises. I hope I can do that this weekend.

Yesterday, I went to vote after work. I noticed this morning that it seems none of my choices won! I guess I just love the underdogs and commmies, what can I say?

Afterwards, I went to the Brooks to see Army of Shadows(L'Armee des Ombres). The movie was fantastic. It really had everything: torture, Nazis, the motherfucking French Resistance, ordinary people turned extraordinary, heartbreaking assassinations, striking cinematography, and a beautiful, yet restrained score. I'm really glad the Brooks shows films like this. And they're a short stroll away from our house, so that's even better.

The movie, and the fact that it's Friday, have put me in a good mood, even though the local election didn't go exactly as I had hoped.

Update

What have I been up to lately?

Well I read Cormac McCarthy's The Road last week. Let's just say I devoured it in two days, in fact. I really enjoyed it more than I expected. Now Bill's reading it, and he's just as obsessed about getting to the end as I was.

I've been working a lot. There's been no time for blogging, scriptwriting, etc. Or I've been too lazy to make time. I can be lazy sometimes. But it has been seriously busy at work. I've been working a lot of extended hours.

Friday night Bill got free schmooze tickets at work to see a band we didn't really know, Widespread Panic, at the FedEx Forum. We weren't too interested in going, but we decided we'd like to see the opening act, Bobby Blue Bland, and the tickets were for a private suite box seating. Since I like R&B and Blues and I hate crowds, this seemed like a good plan. It meant free beer, too. We went with two of Bill's co-workers, Joe and Mohan.

We lasted for a while, but not really being fans of Widespread Panic, who, to their credit, seemed to be a very talented group of musicians, we left a bit early. We went to a new bar called Molly Fontaine's. We stayed there quite a while. It's in the building once occupied by Cielo, which is a Victorian era home that was re-conceptualized as a restaurant, and now has been re-conceptualized as a lounge. I must say I really liked Molly Fontaine's. Being there feels like being a laid-back party full of interesting people. It was friendly, funky, relaxing... a really nice vibe. I'd love to go back.

Here's a link to an article in the Flyer about it.

We came back to our house to watch movie trailers on the Mac Mini and listen to music for a while.

Went shopping Sunday for Halloween decor! That was fun. We've probably purchased about half of what we need to get. We also finally decided what "kind" of zombies we want to be for the party. I kept pushing for zombies that would reflect zombie-like professions: fast food worker, business person, postal employee, etc. Bill didn't find any of those suggestions very inspiring, though. I begged him for us to BOTH be lunch lady zombies, but we doubt we can find any white lunch lady shoes in size 12 for him.

Bill suggested instead that we be early 80s punk rock zombies. That sounds kind of fun to me. I'm glad to have something concrete to work with now, anyway.

What we didn't do over the weekend: Yard Work! The 100+ temps of August and early September were a great excuse to avoid weeding. After all, more than one (albeit elderly) person died in Memphis doing yard work during that heat wave. Now the weather is relatively mild and pleasant, but the weeds are thriving. I feel a bit intimidated by them, actually. I should try to tackle them before the party, at the very least.

We also didn't squeeze in any movies. A bit of a surprise because there are two that I'm very anxious to see: Eastern Promises by Cronenberg and Darjeeling Limited by Wes Anderson - two of my favorite directors. I'm sure I'll manage to see them this weekend.

Watched some great DVDs, however. I saw The Host. A Korean movie that was nearly perfect. It was a sort of humor-action-horror-comedy-family drama kind of movie. And it worked pretty well. There were some gorgeous shots.

I also watched Terrence Malick's Days of Heaven finally. I thought it was pretty good overall, but I still prefer Badlands. I just adore Badlands.

Can't remember the other DVD. Maybe it was a few episodes of The Wire. That's a really great show. HBO is solid, right? I had made a semi-conscious decision just to avoid watching The Wire. Luckily, Bill had it on his Netflix queue. I like the show a lot. Looking forward to getting the next disc.

La Sonnambula

For the ever-expanding Interesting Coincidence file:
Although far from an outright opera fan, I have been interested in hearing La Rusalka because it's referenced in Giraffe, and it's Dvorak. I turned Sirius online to the opera channel recently in hopes that they might play it. I know very little of opera, so for all I know they could play La Rusalka as often as the classic rock station plays Stairway to Heaven, right?

At the very moment I tuned to the opera channel, La Rusalka was not playing, BUT
La Sonnambula was playing! This was a surprise to me, because there are also several allusions to La Sonnambula and sleepwalking in Giraffe. Pretty strange, right?

[My Billy is a sleep-walker, but he rarely does it. The first night I slept over at his place, all those years ago, he got out of the bed and walked into the living room, where he began to repeatedly smack the dial of his tiny black and white television with the palm of his hand. At first I thought I had fallen for a total lunatic, but I realized soon enough that he was just sleepwalking.]

I finished Giraffe a few days after hearing a portion of La Sonnambula on Sirius. I cried and cried. It was so moving, particularly near the end.

---

Here's a link to Maria Callas performing in La Sonnambula in 1955, not the same performance I heard last week:

One Eyed King

Here's a mock up of an image for the Elvis movie that Bill made. It makes me giggle.

Promising Events

1. The Johnny Cash Flower Pickin' Festival - November 2-4, 2007
2. The Goats Music and More Festival - October 12 - 13, 2007
3. Clanjamfry - September 21 - 23. 2007
4. My Zombie Halloween Party, duh!

Birthday Alert - October 12!

Less Than 30 Shopping Days until 34th Annual Catherine Day!

My Flippin' Wishlist

I am notoriously hard to shop for, but I'll be thrilled if you surprise me with any of the following:

Dock N Talk(so I won't keep missing your calls)
I need the Bluetooth module, too.

Tee Shirts:

Peewee Tee

Small Female Black

Haruki Murakami Tee
Any color. Size Small (Female)

Walkuski Postcards

Books/CDs:

My Amazon.com Wish List, which includes some of the following books:

• Sputnik Sweetheart - Murakami
• Stranger Things Happen - Link
• Self - Martel
• Tree of Smoke - Denis Johnson
• Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God - Keret

Fortean Times Subscription

Work Clothes (zzzz)
But, hey, I always need them.

---

Big Money, No Whammies:

iPhone
I don't really want the phone bill that comes with it (especially since I hate talking on the phone,anyway), but it's awfully pretty.

Panasonic AG-DVX100A

Any John Robinette Delta Series Painting

Please, please, please!!!

MacBook Pro


I also wouldn't mind a Nikon D80.

---

I don't need any knick-knacks (chachkis) or soaps. I won't hate you if you give me any, though. I'll be damned grateful. I promise.


If I think of something else, I'll try to add it here.

Catherine. One Healthy Motherflipper.

We had free health screenings at work recently. My stats:

• Cholesterol - 154


• Blood Sugar - 73


• Blood Pressure - 92/60 (Took six tries to detect a pulse!)


• BMI - 23.9

They said I was the best screening that day (so far).

I'll be thirty-four in a month, so I gotta watch out for these things.

Catching Up (Supersized Post)

We saw two Memphis movies over the weekend: The Importance of Being Russell (@ Studio on the Square) and Black Snake Moan.

What can I say about them... they're both the best I've seen from each director, John Pickle and Craig Brewer. I'm sure their next movies will be even better, as well.

We watched The Importance of Being Russell mainly to see if Bill's name was in the credits, because he sculpted the "taint thumb" that was featured in the film. His name was omitted, but do you really want to be known as the "taint thumb guy" anyway? Bill doesn't mind, though. He says, "I know who sculpted the taint thumb, and that's all that matters."

We also saw Rob Zombie's Halloween. I'm glad that's over with. There's little nice to say about it. There was a shot I liked a lot, of a young Michael Myers in the back of a police cruiser. The camera was panning left to right and there were policemen, paramedics, and onlookers all frozen in time. The police lights were flashing red and blue. It looked sort of three-dimensional, like a life-sized diorama. Very effective. The best part of the movie, by far, and probably about five seconds long. They use a bit of it near the very beginning of the trailer. Rob Zombie's kinda got it made, though, he gets to spend his time making scary movies with his little wifey. Good for him, not always good for us, unfortunately. What's the point in remaking Halloween, anyway?

---

Bill made a cool little "save the date" kind of thing for our Zombie Party.

---

I've nearly finished Giraffe. The more I read, the more I just love it. It's seems more like poetry to me than a novel, and good poetry at that. There is a water motif, interestingly enough, that includes references to Slavic mythological figures rusalkas and vodniks.

Creepy water spirits... . I want to know more...

---

What else is new... we've been shopping for cameras and working on an outline for the Elvis movie reshoot. That's coming along pretty well. We intend to have the camera before Halloween. We're looking at the Panasonic AG-DVX100A.

---

A lot of our spare time is spent visiting my dad, who is surprising everyone lately. He started ECT about two weeks ago. He's getting around three treatments a week. I wasn't sure what to expect, honestly. I mean, I knew that the procedure has come a long way since Cuckoo's Nest. I had seen a documentary about ECT about maybe ten years ago that showed how much it had changed. Also I had heard last year Kitty Dukakis talking on NPR about how ECT made such a huge difference for her.

But did I expect it to work for my dad, the most stubborn person in the whole wide world? Let's just say I didn't have high hopes. So it's really remarkable to me that he seems to be doing so much better. He's not one hundred percent recovered, but for the first time in years, I'm seeing glimpses of his old "normal" personality, my *real* dad, who I honestly thought was gone forever.

I hope he continues to improve, otherwise I'm afraid I'll have to go through losing him all over again. In fact, after spending some time with him behaving more like his "old self", it was twice as painful to hear him suddenly matter-of-factly explain that he had sometimes "turned into air" recently. For this reason, I am trying to temper my optimism. He still has a few more weeks of treatments left. I am hoping for the best, but bracing myself for ... not the best. Besides, even if he makes a great recovery, it will still just be the beginning.

Well, I'm sure there's work to be done around here, so I'll click the Publish Post button and get to it.

Shh

Don't tell anyone, but it's really a bit slow at work so far today.


I guess I don't feel like posting anything here, even though I have the opportunity.

Here's some stuff:
I'm reading Giraffe. It's a really beautiful debut novel by J.M. Ledgard. I suppose I picked it up because giraffes are my favorite animal at the zoo. So far, so good.

I recently saw a comedy called The Ten. It had its moments, but overall it was a disappointment.

thankyouverymuch

The King & Eye - Trailer

Add to My Profile | More Videos

Zombelvis!!!

OKAY!

Save the date: Oct 27, 2007 Zombie Party at the Dawg House!

Now I feel so full of purpose. I have two projects cooking... a zombie party for Halloween AND the Elvis movie rewrite/reshoot.

Labor Day weekend we've promised to go back to the lake and work on the treehouse some more.

I'm nervous about returning to work now that I suspect my boss knows I applied for a different position. I'll feel guilty about leaving them, if things work out that way.

What else is new? My dad is coming to Memphis to be hospitalized for a while. I'm hopeful that he will get better, but nothing seems to work.

'Member how I said I was gonna apply for a marketing job at work? Well, I did that on Monday. By Friday, I think my boss figured it out because I'm suddenly getting a lot of special treatment at work, and out of the blue.

Interesting. To me, anyhow.

What's new? Staying very busy at work. Space tab tab click click.

Went to see one of the Best of Indie Memphis Short Films shows at the Brooks on Thursday. That was fun, but I had seen all of them already at Indie Memphis. I'm not complaining.

Here are links to the films I watched that are available online:

The Morning Ritual
Central Garden - I can only find information about it online, not the movie itself.
Elvis Meets the Beatles

Here's a review from a Memphian film critic's blog:
http://blogs.commercialappeal.com/beifuss/archives/2007/08/a_night_at_the.html

I enjoyed myself. It was rather nostalgic.

Between you and me, I've decided to reshoot *my* Elvis movie. But I have to replace my broken camera first. My Elvis movie was great, especially for something that was shot in a matter of hours after having my purse stolen the same day. I continue to be really amazed by the performances of my friends in the movie. Bill made such a perfect Elvis, too.

Abracadabra

I've spent the evening updating my resume and poring over the job posting, trying to find new points, subtly hidden within the job description, to worry me. I've decided to work up a really nice electronic portfolio, with darling Bill's assistance, of course (so it will truly be really nice) over the weekend. How I wish I had known about this job posting a bit earlier, but then I've been too busy to work on it anyway.

Prior to that task, I watched a movie I had intended to avoid: The Prestige. I had no interest in seeing it, because it was one of those unfortunate movies that came out around the same time as another movie that seemed, on the surface, indiscernible from it. Some examples are Dante's Peak and that other volcano movie, and Tombstone and that other Wyatt Earp movie, and so on. Something about these pairings always offends me in a way that I cannot quite express. And it annoys me, too. I usually prefer to avoid seeing either of the doppelganger films.

Oddly enough, the film I watched tonight, I felt, was a really effective exploration of the doppelganger concept, in a way. And I enjoyed it more than I've enjoyed a movie in a while, partly because I didn't have high expectations. Bill had picked it out, as he had its cinematic double, The Illusionist, a few weeks earlier. I watched out of compromise, as wifies (not wifis) and hubbies must resign themselves to do from time to time. I didn't realize that it was a Christopher Nolan film, or maybe I would have made more of an effort to see it earlier; I loved Memento and Batman Begins. I think perhaps his scriptwriting may surpass his directing skills. I thought this script was sublime. I recommend the movie, but maybe I praise it too much, and you won't get the same awe-fueled surprise I experienced watching it with lower expectations.

And Christian Bale is just fantastic in it. His talent and range, although not really his style, remind me of Robert Deniro. He's in the Robert Deniro/Marlon Brando/Chow Yun Fat league as far as I'm concerned, which is high praise coming from me. I review his roles, American Psycho; Empire of the Sun (especially Empire of the Sun); The Machinist; and Rescue Dawn, most recently, and I have to admit he's reliably excellent.

Treehouse Update Pics

Bill was able to work on the treehouse a few weekends ago. I didn't participate because I was working, but the pics of the treehouse and our adorable sobrinos are here:

http://www.buzzkitty.com/TreeFortWeb/index.htm

Since You Asked...

I haven't posted for a while because I've been extra super busy at work. Near the end of the summer, I find myself working extended hours and lots of Saturdays. I get tired and lazy in the little time I have off, too.

That's not to say, I don't sit in front of the computer any at all, because I do. I just tend to sit here passively clicking links for those WWW tidbits I cannot live without: mainly strange news stories and lolcats.

Anyway, I have truly been lazy about my little blog here, and I was reprimanded for it! That almost made me feel like a real blogger, so thanks to my dear friend Lindsey for calling me out on that.

I have not been doing much to write about here. I am surviving the heat wave that is tormenting the city. I'm working a lot.

Ah at work I'm considering applying for a job in the marketing dept. I'm really struggling about whether or not to apply for it because it would mean a pay decrease, but I think it would be a job I would enjoy more. Mainly it seems like a no-brainer... I'm sure they'd hire me and thankfully I don't really have to worry about the pay difference, which is minor anyway.

I guess part of me feels like maybe I should work on an academic career instead, if I'm going to focus completely on just having a job I enjoy, but the pay difference with that kind of move would be major, at first anyway.

Anyway... I have until Monday to apply for the job. Naturally, getting a new job would be something I would post about here, so I guess I'll we can all just wait and see.

I'm kind of excited about it, though. That's the truth.

Hmm I saw my dad tonight. That's always fun. Not really. Never mind. My grandparents were around, too. They all talk at the same time, about different things. It's always stories they've already told about five or six times. I tell you the whole thing makes me dizzy and tired.

I have recently seen some movies. I watched Hot Rod, which was goofy, but not quite the kind of goofy I really really like. There's worse things to do during a heat wave though than sit in a cool, dark room and watch a goofy movie. And eat popcorn.

My Billy is getting slim! He's lost forty pounds so far. A very trim 220, which looks nice on his 6'4" frame. Hubba hubba. I'm proud of him.

fruits of my recent labors:





and nothing else is here because i'm lazy right now!

i do plan to check out Ms. Honea's blog soon, in spite of my laziness, because I know her to be an exceptionally bright, remarkably sweet, and very kind person, and I've known her practically all her life. She's family.

Back to Work...

It's not easy to return to work after vacation, but here I am.

Bill found a free entree coupon in the Flyer for Rio Loco, which gave us a great excuse to visit our friends there, eat too much, and drink beer and sangria.

It was also nice to see what the old neighborhood looks like. We moved from downtown just in time, because an Italian restaurant is opening across the street from our old condo. If we were still living there, we'd be eating far too much! Good for downtown though, a new Italian restaurant was needed there. I used to complain about it often when we were living there.

Bill's working on the Roomba in his lab (the basement). I am not sure what the outcome is going to be... You can hack a Roomba (http://www.gorobotics.net/The-News/Hobbyiest/iRobot-Releases-Roomba-Serial-Port-Interface/), you know. I'm pretty excited about Bill's project because I love robots. We're still in the brainstorming stage, but we hope to have something together in time for Halloween.

Check out some Roomba hacks compiled by Techblog.

Sunday

Started the day with a yummy breakfast, and we watched Tideland. I really love Terry Gilliam movies. I enjoyed it.

We went hiking today at Shelby Forest on the 3 mile Woodland Trail. It's a nice trail, not too challenging, but no cakewalk, either. I swear something growled at us, though. That part was a little scary.

I also saw a snakeskin kind of tangled in the roots of a huge overturned tree.

I had to remove a tick from Bill after lunch, when we first noticed it.

After the hike, we went to see You Kill Me, which was not bad.

Other than that, not doing much, been reading Murakami's short stories: After the Quake.

I honestly don't want to go back to work tomorrow.

Vacation

Vacation was nice. I'll post some photos on buzzkitty.com soon. We spent part of our vacation starting the tree house. There are photos at http://www.buzzkitty.com/treehouse.


Since I've been back home, we've mainly been taking it easy. We made sushi for dinner Friday night.

We walked to Bosco's for dinner and Studio on the Square last night to watch Eagle vs Shark. Very sweet little movie. We enjoyed it.

Meet Higgins

Yesterday morning, after returning home from delivering Bill to work, I saw Higgins sitting in the middle of the street crying. Poor kitty. I know he's Higgins because his name tag says so. There is a phone number on the name tag as well, but when I call it I only get voicemail. I've put some food out for poor Higgins, he's skin and bones and has this nasty green gunk inside his ears. He wants desparately to come inside the house, but my cats wouldn't hear of it. He's been hanging out on my front porch. Puyi enjoys hissing at him through the screen door.

Some other people on my street have been calling Higgins' house also without any luck. Googling the phone number has given me the name and address of Higgins' mistress, who lives just around the corner. I hope she checks her voicemail soon and rescues Higgins. The picture is kinda cute, right?

I'm off to the lake in a few hours. Time to pack!

Vacation Starts Tomorrow!

At last! My vacation begins in about six hours. I can't wait! Work is driving me insane!

All I've been up to lately is reading Dance, Dance, Dance (Murakami) and watching Deadwood (Season 3) on DVD with Bill.

Also I've been doing quite a bit of after hours and weekend work. I'm pretty sure that project has come to an end, though. I have earned some extra cash, I hope to get my check soon. I'm not sure what I'll buy with it. Maybe furniture.

Starting tomorrow I hope to be more productive and more relaxed. Next week, I'll be on the banks of Greer's Ferry lake in Heber Springs, AR. I'll help, as well as I can, Bill with building the treehouse. We're also going to try out the nicest restaurant the area has to offer, or so we've been told, Cafe Klaser. Mostly we just intend to relax. Boating, swimming, dozing, not working, etc.

I really enjoy spending time at "Camp Hazel" because it's very remote, you can't get a cell phone signal, and it's beautiful. Something about being there makes me feel very content and relaxed.

Busy as a Bee!

It's not CCD that's been keeping me away...

I've just been working a lot lately. Extra work is keeping me busy in the evenings, and it's busier than usual at work now as well. I just have to mention, though, I wasn't too busy to send Fortean Times another link... I sent in a link about the man who attacked a peacock, which is strange enough (and SAD!), but what makes it perfectly fortean, is that the man claims the peacock was a ... vampire! Why he is the Peter Cushing of Peacocks!!!


I had a nice Fourth of July, too. Spent it with good friends, and I watched Mary Poppins with one of my favorite two year-olds. Also, at home with Bill, I watched more Dr. Who and an episode of Deadwood, which is a pretty strange combination. Take a moment and imagine the Tardis landing in Deadwood...




Now, admit it, that was fun!

Well it's beyond bedtime, and I'm not even going to have time to read a few pages of Dance, Dance, Dance tonight before I doze off...

Don't worry if the hive empties out next week. Bill and I are going on vacation soon. I'll be relaxing at the family compound, which is very remote (no phones, no Internet, barely even cellular signal there), for a while. I can't wait! We might even work on the treehouse, or maybe just float around on the lake and kind of do nothing...

Dr. Who?

As a prepubescent girl, I would sleep over at my beloved granny's house nearly every Saturday night. Sunday mornings, we'd have pancakes for breakfast, and Saturday night, I'd watch my favorite TV show at the time, Dr. Who, on Nashville's PBS affiliate, Channel 8. This was during the mid-80s, I guess, but the episodes I watched were mainly from the late 60s and early 70s, so maybe that's why Jon Pertwee and Tom Baker are my favorite actors who've played the Doctor. Or maybe it's because they're the best!

My memories of it are starting to get a bit hazy now, actually. But it was my weekend ritual for a while, and the show never failed to entertain me.

About a year ago, I was visiting a friend who said, "Oh you've got to see this new show from England, it's so cool! It's called Dr. Who!"

And so I was introduced to a new Doctor Who! I was almost afraid to watch it, I'm such a cynic sometimes, I really expected it to be awful. The cynicism dissapated as soon as I started watching the show. I could write at length, comparing the old show I remember with the new show I've been watching (I'm watching the show on DVDs, borrowed from the same friend who re-introduced me to Dr. Who.), but essentially I felt that the new show had everything I loved about the old show and lots of improvements.

However, the episode I saw last night, reminded me that something was missing...K-9!!!

Hmmm time for lunch, I'll finish up later.Maybe...

Article about the episode (This is old news since I'm watching the show two years after it aired...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/4179702.stm

Bill has made some really delicious meals in the last few days. One of the code monkeys gave him a lot of yellow squash from his family's farm in Arkansas. I like squash well-enough, but I have to admit that I never really get excited about eating it. I guess that's because when I think of squash the squash of my youth comes to mind: Plucked from the garden all pretty and yellow, then fried up 'til it's limp and greasy, sitting mostly unnoticed at the edge of the table. Of course, I enjoy raw squash occasionally on a vegetable platter at party, but of course that kind of squash is really just an edible vegetable dip ladle, right?

Bee on a zucchini squash blossom.

Not so with the squash Bill cooked up on Wednesday night. He made a sautee with the squash, crushed tomatoes, lots of basil from our garden, onions, some fresh tomatoes from our garden, I'm sure I'm forgetting something (I should check with the chef). We had it with brown rice. Maybe he had chicken and I had fish, I'm having trouble remembering anything except how damn good it was. When I really enjoy the food I'm eating, I start swearing. Wednesday night I could have made a sailor blush.

Last night's meal rivaled the squash sautee, though. I had brought about two hours of work home, so Bill was in the kitchen on his own as I worked. He made the best pico de gallo I've ever tasted, although it was a bit on the mild side. It was composed almost completely of ingredients from our garden: tomatoes, jalapenos, and cilantro. He used a red onion we bought at Easy Way in there too. He topped grilled tilapia for me (and some sort of steak for himself, I believe) with the pico. We had black beans and Mexican-style rice as side dishes. There were some whole wheat tortillas on the table, too. Best fish tacos EVER!

I had plums ready for dessert, but I forgot them until breakfast today.

All this food talk is making me hungry, and it's only 10:15!

Nothing to report

Nothing much going on right now. I found out that the Young Avenue Deli delivers, so I had a Deathrow Pimiento Cheese Sandwich and some fries for lunch. The ladies in the office ordered lunch, too. It was great, but we felt a bit ripped off when we noticed (after the deliveryman left with our generous tips) that we had each been charged a $2 delivery fee.

I mean, that's OK. I want to be sure the person delivering my food is fairly compensated. But this guy was definitely over-compensated. I should have paid closer attention to my receipt, but someone at some point should have mentioned that there was a delivery fee. All I was told was that there was a $10 minimum order, so I ordered extra food just to go over $10 (I'll be having a garden salad from Young Ave along with my dinner this evening, or for lunch tomorrow).

Nonetheless, we all loved the food. There are several things on the menu at Young Avenue Deli that I like a lot. I'm really glad they deliver.

And why did I order lunch out today? I normally bring my lunch or go home for lunch, each day. I had intended to go home for lunch today, so I didn't bring anything to eat. Unfortunately, Bill's car (the one we "fixed" (again!) yesterday) isn't actually fixed after all. He came by and picked up my car so he can get to work and his doctor appointment. So I am stranded at work, with no walking shoes. I can't leave here until he can come get me.

Yuck!

Harakiri & Murakami & the Dolphin Hotel

Started the day with a nice brunch. I had told Bill a few days ago that some of our tomatoes would be ripe for BLTs by the weekend, and I was right! We decided to watch our only remaining Netflix DVD, Harakiri, as we ate. I loved it. It was so perfectly constructed. The cinematography was absolutely sublime, too.

Afterwards, Bill decided to tinker with his car a bit. I assisted because my small hands can fit perfectly into tight spots to unscrew hard-to-reach bolts. Also, I replaced my windshield wipers and swept Mimosa tree debris from the carport. We took a ride to the bookstore to test Bill's car repairs (he's been having some serious cooling system woes) and to get my long-awaited new Haruki Murakami novel, After Dark.

The car made it there and back with no problems. Before I opened the book, I told myself I wasn't going to be obsessive about reading it. I was going to just read one chapter a day, to make it last, and to leave time for the other things in life...

I have no self-discipline sometimes. I read the entire thing. In my defense, it's a very brief 191 pages. It couldn't be helped. But now I need another book!

---

I saw 1408 yesterday, as expected. The movie was pretty good. I didn't have the highest of expectactions, otherwise I may have been disappointed with what I saw. I expected it to be better than average, and on the whole it was. The beginning of the movie was very good and very spooky; I thought, for a moment, it was going to exceed my expectations and be a really great horror movie. Unfortunately, it went on to falter in a few places, so it turned out to be... a better than average horror movie, just as I expected.

I used to read a lot of Stephen King when I was in middle school and junior high. I have read a few of his novels since then, and I do enjoy reading Stephen King, but I was pretty sure I had not read the short story he wrote that inspired the film. I began to second-guess myself at one point during the movie, a certain scene seemed very familiar. There was also something familiar about the name of the hotel: the Dolphin Hotel.

So naturally I googled a bit today and verified that I had not read the story. The familiar scene may have been inspired by an older Stephen King story I read, or it may have seemed familiar because it's a kind of common movie convention (someone walking on a ledge outside a tall building). I'm afraid of heights, anyway, so those "inching across the ledge" movie moments always wrench my guts.

The neat thing was I also saw that King named the hotel after a hotel mentioned in two Murakami books! It's kind of funny. In my Ghosties post, I felt that declaring my plans to buy After Dark were a bit out of place, seeing as how the post was mostly about finishing Will Storr's book and planning to see 1408. But, hey, Murakami was connected after all.

AND... now I know what my next book might as well be, one of the two Murakami books I haven't read, which mention the Dolphin Hotel. I also wonder if it's not mentioned in some of his other books or stories, since it sounded familiar to me. But I've stayed at the Dauphin in New Orleans, so maybe it's that, or it stuck in my head from reading book reviews for Dance, Dance, Dance and Wild Sheep Chase.

I LOVE coincidences!

You know what? I have to do laundry now.

Stop the Presses! CrossCat mentioned in FT!!!

I am a Fortean Times Newshound Today!

How cool is that?

OK. It's not that big of a deal. All I did was submit a link to a strange headline. And it is strange! The Missing: Large lake in southern Chile headline is the one I submitted. I felt that definitely belongs in FT. The remote lake disappeared in a matter of only a few months!!!
Maybe some thirsty aliens stole that lake?

Ghosties!

TGIF, right?

I've finished the Will Storr vs. the Supernatural paperback. I was anxious to see if Will was going to believe in ghosts or not after his paranormal adventures and investigations, so I sort of neglected the laundry and mostly ignored the DVD Bill put in after dinner (Death of a President).

I won't spoil the ending, but I really enjoyed the book. At the beginning, he's a skeptic. He interviews a litany of "experts": ghost hunters, demonologists, victims of demonic possession, an exorcist, a philosopher, a psychiatrist, a quantum physicist. He also goes on some spooky field trips, visiting (and sleeping over) at various haunted locations. His skepticism, which he argues is a form of faith in itself, is tried early in the book, and he flip-flops from skeptic to not-so-skeptic throughout the book. Of course, best of all, is that he's a talented storyteller, with a great voice. It's fun to read, very humorous, andscary.

Now that I've finished with it, I intend to buy the latest Murakami novel (novella?), After Dark, this evening or at some point during the weekend. I'm very excited to read it. He's quickly becoming my favorite, I think.

---

And, if you're wondering, yes, I do believe in ghosts. Maybe I'll share some of personal experiences at some point in the future. I love to trade ghost stories. I used to enjoy reading and posting them on some Usenet groups.

---

Speaking of ghosts...

Bill wants to see 1408 this weekend. It's based on a Stephen King story that I've not read. John Cusack plays a travel writer who arranges to stay in a haunted hotel room. Actually, Cusack's character, based on the little I learned about him during the trailer, reminds me of one of Storr's ghost hunters, Maurice Grosse. Cusack's character, like Grosse, becomes obsessed with ghosts after the tragic death of his own daughter.

I love horror movies, especially if they deal with ghosts, hauntings, or (shiver) demonic possession. When I think of movies that really have scared me, they mostly fall within those categories: The Exorcist, The Eye, Rosemary's Baby, The Devil's Backbone, The Ring, Ju-on, and so on...

I watched the trailer for this one, and it looked pretty surreal and spooky. Even if the movie is terrible, it will be fun to munch on some popcorn and hold Bill's hand.

sssssnakessssss~~

Snakes

Yesterday evening, as Bill and I were embarking on our after dinner stroll, we encountered a snake (!!!) in our driveway. It was only a small snake, but I wasn't sure which kind of snake it was.

Our reptilian visitor had left by the time we returned. I was disappointed, because I wanted to take a photo and identify it. I found a nice site (http://frogsandsnakes.homestead.com/snakes.html) that has images and information about the snakes of Tennessee. I believe it was a small brownsnake hanging out in our driveway, but I have to rely on my memory, which isn't perfect.

Anyway...

A Google search of +Memphis +snakes also revealed this little gem, which is news to me:

Perhaps almost as strange was the rain of living snakes that fell over the southern part of Memphis, Tennessee in 1877. These creatures reportedly ranged from about a foot to 18 inches in length and were presumed by the people of Memphis to have been swept into the air by a hurricane. Although even Scientific American asked where so many snakes would exist “in such abundance” (they fell by the thousands) “is yet a mystery.”
-from http://www.prairieghosts.com/falls_sky.html

FREAKY! How could I, a relatively faithful Fortean Times reader, be unaware of this bizarre phenomenon, which ostensibly took place in my very own hometown??? I'll try to find out more about it.

Just a Test

Just testing the bl-bl-blah blah blog out.

See some photos of the house and the tomato plants.

---

I don't know if I can use HTML tags in this area...