I might take up this idea

you got chocolate in my peanut butter

The NBC show Parks and Recreation has been so hilarious this season, it is probably my favorite show right after the Office (and sad to admit, more consistently funny). Anyway, here is an awesome mash-up of two things that I love: the opening credits (and fun theme song) to Parks and Recreation and Star Wars.

Suprisingly sweet commercials from the Olympics

Reflections from 31 days of Oscar

When you've only really seen Robert Vaughn like this:



It's a little weird to see him like this:


(in Bullit which I saw last Friday). Looking at that scene, please notice the size of that fax machine (and the fact that the phone has to be placed on top of the fax machine). Secondly, Bullit is such a cool last name, and you pretty much have to be in law enforcement with a name like that.

Laughs in less that 140

I understand that some people are really into Twitter and I am one of those people. I don't tweet at all but I have a twitter account that I check from time to time for one reason, some people on Twitter are really hilarious. I only follow about 15 people including Rain Wilson and Jim Gaffigan. But the most consistently funny person I follow on Twitter has got to be Tim Siedell, who is a creative director living in Nebraska. Here are a few choice tweets from him:

My bad back just got me out of a meeting. I'm never fixing this thing.

Full disclosure, America. I entered us into a pact with the devil 18 years ago. But something had to be done about those California Raisins.

A panic room seems overindulgent. I can panic in any room.

The only way my sinuses could get more painful is if they suddenly started speaking dialogue written by George Lucas.

My Top Ten Lists of 2009: 1) Grocery, 2) Wine, 3) Bucket, 4) Email, 5) Bullet Point, 6) To-Do, 7) Craigs, 8) Nice, 9) Top Ten, 10) Guest.


More Funny Tweets

There and back again

Now that the holidays are over, I can recount my lovely trip to Vermont to see Rachel (and the rest) for Christmas. I flew out of Cleveland on a direct flight to Burlington (I was surprised to find a direct flight, I was afraid that I would have to have a 13-hour layoff!). I got to the airport a little earlier that just in case it was really crowed but fortunately check in was super fast (Cleveland is a Contential Hub, so there were tons of check-in terminals, including one between the actually terminal and the parking garage, which I used). And even better, going through security took about 5 minutes (seriously, there were 2 people in front of me). The flight left a little late (people on a connecting flight were a little late so we left about 15 minutes late) but we made up plenty of time in the air and I got to the Burlington airport before Trey was there. But it wasn't quite so cold on Christmas eve, so the wait wasn't bad at all. We had a lovely Christmas breakfast of egg casserole and orange rolls and slowly opened presents (with only a few children-related incidents of temper). And then everyone pitched in to make a delicious Christmas dinner (mom made an excellent crusted tenderloin). Dad, Trey, and Orrin worked on updating the laundry room (including installing a sink) while Mom, Rachel, Bridget and I traded off supervising the kids and painting Ellis's room (hopefully Rachel with post some pictures). The girls went out to King Arthur's store (and left all the kids with the boys). And despite sitting in traffic for an hour due to an accident (and some snowy weather) we had a wonderful trip (and a good conversations!). One the morning of my flight back to Cleveland, most of us went to the Ben and Jerry's factory for free ice cream (and then an additional scoop later) before Rachel and mom dropped me off the Burlington airport. And it seems that I brought the cooler weather from Vermont because it has been really cold here for the last couple days. So there is lots of tea to be drunk!

"I've dealt with this before in Montana. Nobody lick any poles!" - Peggy HIll

Looking ahead

Well, at least I will have one post for the month of December! I know I have been bad about posting, but since I don't have anecdotes about children, it is a little harder! Work is going well, it will be a little busy towards the end of the year as there is a push to get some reports out. So there will a lot of overtime available which is always good. Especially since I will be flying out to Vermont for Christmas. I am really excited about it (and I'm looking forward to lots of Holiday Inn/White Christmas reenactments). The weather is starting to get cold which means I get to scrap my car every morning but it does mean that I have a better reason so drink lots of tea (which is good because I think that I am getting sick).

Oh! Spoons! Can I assume the potatoes will be mashed tonight? - Bobby Hill

Bad Dubbing

A few months ago, I got this movie from Netflix called "Memories of Murder". It's this really interesting South Korean movie about one the first modern serial killers in South Korea. The movie is very dark (both visually and content-wise) and very atmospheric. And the atmosphere is totally destroyed by really horrible dubbing. Really generic Americanized voices were used which was really distracting (as I told my mother, it was very weird to hear a voice like Harrison Ford's coming out of the mouth of a South Korean). Now I am watching another foriegn movie (from Sweden) called "Let the Right One In". Like "Memories of Murder", it is very dark and atmospheric. And ruined by dubbing. The voices that were used for dubbing aren't too bad, but the dialog doesn't match up with the movement of the actor's mouth. I would much rather read subtitles that be distracted by poor dubbing.

Warning this post might be boring

I know that the title is not the best one, but it may be accurate. I am in process of re-watching the excellent BBC adaptation of Bleak House. And when I mentioned this to my mother, she asked if I like being depressed. Now, to be honest, much of Dickens is depressing. But, I do enjoy watching/reading Dickens. I do enjoy Jane Austen a great deal but much of her books take place in a bubble of the middle class. Very little is written about the struggle to survive (with the possible exception of parts of Mansfield Park). And no one dies in a Jane Austen novel (except for the very beginning of Sense and Sensibility when Mr. Dashwood dies). Dickens, on the other hand, pulls no punches. He writes of the brutality of survival in London during the Industrial Revolution. And more often than not, once some ones falls ill, they aren't long for this world (which is kind of true for Elizabeth Gaskill as well). But despite that, I do think that there is a side of Dickens that is optimistic. There is great evil in his world (and in the hearts of Dickens characters) but at the same time there is goodness and kindness and possibility of redemption. And as the reader, we should recognize this and strive to posses those characteristics.

Bad blogger

I know that I have been really bad about blogging for the past couple months. But in the defense, for the month of November, I have been really busy at work which does not make a conducive environment for interesting blog posts. But I will try to do better. One good things from the past couple week is that Law and Order is now airing at a time when I can watch at least episode every night. This may sound silly and unimportant, but I do like to unwind after a day at work by watching an episode of L and O. And there is something so clean and balanced about an episode of L and O. The story gets wrapped up (and lets be honest, usually the DA gets a conviction which make you want to believe the that justice system works).

I've noticed that I also fell behind on adding King of the Hill quotes, so I am going to try to keep that up as well.

"20 years. If your marriage was a murderer it would be out by now." - Dale Gribble

Creepy house = Creepy Owner

On Friday night, I watched a movie called Dragonwyck, which starred Gene Tierny and Vincent Price as well as a super young Jessica Tandy, Anne Revere, and Spring Byington (I recognized Anne Revere and Spring Byington immediately). The movie is about a young woman (Gene Tierny) that leaves her family in Connecticut to stay with her married distant cousin (Vincent Price). The two eventually fall in love. The plot is kind of similar to Jane Eyre (there is a daughter and so Gene Tierny becomes her governess) complete with a huge old Gothic house called Dragonwyck. And Rebecca was aired right after, which also features an old Gothic house called Manderly. This got me thinking to all sorts of movies or books that feature a homeowner and house and how often the house reflects the traits of the homeowner. Dragonwyck? Creepy house that is haunted by ancestor. Owner? Creepy with a crazy emphasis on familial responsibility (and he is basically driven crazy by the desire for a son). Thornfield? Dark house with a secret wing that no one is allowed to enter. Owner? Dark and gruff man keeping secrets. Manderly? Beautiful old house that is strangled by the memory of the first Mrs. De Winter. Owner? Handsome (in the movie at least, Laurence Oliver is handsome) man that is still affected by his dead wife. Which is why Pemberly and Mr. Darcy are both awesome!

It's a macguffin!

About 2 years ago, I decided to watch a lot of Hitchcock movies to celebrate the month of October (I think that I saw almost all of them). And there were some that I enjoyed and there were some that I preferred to think never happened (like Frenzy and Marnie). So, I am going to watch and then write about some of my favorite Hitchcock movies for the month of October. I haven't decided what I am going to watch first, but it will probably be either Shadow of a Doubt or Saboteur.

Really...

Does anyone else miss Amy Poehler on SNL? Although she is pretty funny on Parks and Recreation.

Final Countdown

Only 3 more hours until a new season of The Office starts!!!!

Just for Fun

This clip makes me laugh so much:



I love that he has a little rolly suitcase. And the way he says "I am leaving" is pretty hilarious.

Am I overly excited about this?

Today when I got home from work, there was a package at my door containing this:

I had this book as a textbook for a class in high school and I really liked the class since it was the first class I remember taking that was about more "recent" history. And the teacher of the class was really excellent. We used this book a lot in the class and I really enjoyed everything that we read out of it. And I have been meaning to get a copy of this book and read the whole thing so I am hoping to be able to work my way through the book (I looked through the book briefly and recognized a few of the people and remember quite a few names!).

Your plan was flawed from the start

One of the things we did during the family vacation last month was sing around the fire. One song that Rachel and Trey often sing/play is Cold Missouri Waters (the most popular version is by the group Cry, Cry, Cry) and the song is really sad and I cry every time that they play it. I thought that maybe if I learned all the words than when I hear the song I would be so focused on remembering the words that I wouldn't cry. But the plan hasn't worked so far because I still cry every time (except one time because I listened to the song on repeat). But I am learning most of the words. Anyway, here is a YouTube video of the song:

I'm driving the hell out of this truck!

On my way to the post office after work, I notice that my alternator wasn't charging the battery and the car was getting really hot. I pulled into the Dairy Queen, popped the hood, and discovered that the fan belt was broken. So after a short chat with my dad (just to check how easy or hard it would be to get the right fan belt), I took the broken belt and walk down to the NAPA store (which was about 1.5 blocks away) and bought a new belt. After another call to my dad to figure out what tools I needed and to make sure I knew all the pulleys that the belt went around, I went to work. I was able to get the belt around almost all the pulleys except for the last one which required moving the spring loaded idler and getting the belt around the last pulley. Unfortunately, I couldn't move the idler and put the belt around the last pulley. So, I walked across the street to the fire house and asked a fire fighter to help me with the last little bit. With his help, I was able to get the belt around the last pulley and now my car is running back to normal (alternator charging and car staying cool). And I was super proud of myself for getting most of the belt on by myself. And I only got a little dirty (grease all over my hands and on my forearms) and hardly any on my shirt (which is currently soaking in the sink).

Back to form

I like to relax by reading a good book but the last book I got from Paperspine was Never Let Me Go which was such a slow read because it took so long for there to be any action. And the book was about 80% narration rather than conversation between 2 characters (which is why I have no problem rereading Jane Austen!). But right before vacation, I stayed up late on Friday night finishing the Raw Shark Text by Steven Hall. That book was really fantastic and wonderfully paced. With some books, it seems this the plot is chugging along and the author thinks "Uh-uh this is running to almost 300 pages, I better wrap this up in the next 20 pages" and so the end feels rushed (and I think that climax of the book is less satisfying). But the Raw Shark Text did not have that problem at all. The basic plot is a guy named Eric Sanderson wakes up in an apartment with no memory of who he is but keeps getting messages from the "First Eric Sanderson". Oh and he is being stalked by a conceptual shark. There is a perfect mix of action and heavy cerebral lifting (like wrapping your head around the idea of conceptual fish that come in all sizes). And there are some places with nontraditional text (like a shark made out of letters). I highly recommend it to everyone (and the 400+ pages really fly by, I think that I read it in about 1.5 weeks).

How's tricks?

For the past couple of days, I've been watching the BBC adaptation (written by Andrew Davies) of Charles Dickens' "Little Dorrit". I enjoyed it a lot when is ran on PBS earlier this year, but I felt that some subplots were not completely explained/examined. But watching the original version, I like it even more. Plus, now that I know the general story, I can pay attention to the subplots much easier and understand how they (the subplots) help drive the main plot. And, I've figured out who the heck everyone is! I feel the same way about Robert Altman's "Gosford Park". The first time I saw it, I liked it but it was hard to understand the relationship between all the characters. But by the third time, I know who everyone is and what their relationship and interactions are with everyone else. That is what I love best about well written movies, the more that you see them, the more you understand and enjoy the movie. And you can appreciate other aspects of the movie like the score, the costumes, or the cinematography (try it with a Hitchcock movie, those are some of the best). And the other thing I enjoyed about Little Dorrit is playing my favorite game of "ID that Brit!". I love in BBC/PBS shows, that some of the same actor pop up again and again making imdb my friend in figuring out why I recognize an actor (like when I was watching an episode of Doctor Who and I figured out that one of the actors was in Little Dorrit).



Oh yeah, BBC's Bleak House is equally good!