Category Archives: media madness

It’s not Wednesday…

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And I’d really like to know why.

It feels like a Wednesday.

Tonight is yoga (yay!) and grading (boo!). Oh, and also getting the Toasted Cheese newsletter out. Bad editor.

Watched last night’s Chuck, and I continue to enjoy. Haven’t watched Heroes yet, but I saw Kristen Bell on the cover of this week’s TV Guide with Hayden Panettiere and Ali Larter. Whoo!

I ordered my dress on Saturday. It’s pretty early, but I wanted to get in while the shop was still having the sale. The shop I ordered from is Bauer’s Brides and Belles in Wilcox, PA. They were very nice to me, and I’m happy to give them my business.

And that’ll do it for me. Later!

I’m Casey McCall, alongside Dan Rydell…

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So, Rand and I have been watching Sports Night on DVD. Approximately 7 people watched Sports Night when it originally aired on ABC, and I was one of them. I don’t know what made me watch it, really. I probably caught the beginning of an episode by accident, because the premise (behind the scenes at a Sportscenter-type sports show?) didn’t exactly call out to me.

But watch, I did, and I loved every minute of it. I’ve been wondering what the rest of the cast has gotten up to…I mean, Felicity Huffman is busy being a Desperate Housewife, but I haven’t seen the lovely and charming Sabrina Lloyd in anything since Ed. (a quick trip to IMDb tells me that she’s been on Numb3rs, but I’ve never seen that…and apparently, Joshua Malina’s been spotted there as well.) Josh Charles did some episodes of Six Degrees, but I’ve never seen that either.

And then, of course, there’s Peter Krause. Peter Krause was great on Six Feet Under, of course. And now he’s starring in this season’s Dirty Sexy Money. Rand heard good things about that show, and so we recorded the pilot. I didn’t want to like it.

But guess what? I liked it. I’m on board. The pilot was very well done–introducing a large cast, providing all the necessary background, and introducing the mystery that’s going to drive the show. Good stuff.

I also watched the pilot episodes of Chuck and Reaper, both of which were a lot of fun. Chuck is like a cross between Alias and…um…something funny. Reaper is like “what if Xander from Buffy got his own show.”

Good Lord, that’s a lot of TV! What are you watching? What are you excited about??

Hope you’re all having a good weekend.

Random thoughts for a Wednesday

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  • If you could direct some good vibes/positive energy in Rand’s general direction today, we’d appreciate it. Thanks! 🙂
  • For the past few weeks, Tuesday has become cheesy TV night at our place. America’s Got Talent, Beauty and the Geek, The Singing Bee. Last night, I was disappointed because the Singing Bee was on *after* the TWO HOUR finale of America’s Got Talent. I thought American Idol had the market cornered on milking an episode…anyway. I was rooting for Cas Haley, so bummer. (we’ve only caught about the last 4 episodes…) I found the “audition all stars” bit funny, especially the pogo stick guy, for some reason.
  • Beauty and the Geek amuses me. Of the girls, Jennylee seems to be the least vapid and most sincere. Cecile seems like someone I would never, ever want to know in real life. Ugh. I’m not sure if I have a favorite of the guys that are left…I think they’re all cute. 🙂
  • And The Singing Bee–what great fun! I ended up recording the 1-hour episode last night for later viewing. (as it turns out, I could have stayed up and watched it. I had trouble falling asleep.)
  • I have to go get a physical for work later this morning. Whee! Any teachers out there, feel free to send any advice my way. I’m a bit nervous about the beginning of school!
  • I have about a week’s worth of grading to do in the next, oh, day and a half. Lucky me.

A thank you to Ron Hawkins

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Just a little more than three years ago, I came across a profile in Yahoo! personals. Before I even read the whole thing, I could see that this profile was different from the others. He could spell, for one. 😉 Upon closer examination, I saw that this man and I had a couple of important things in common…among them, a love of music and a love of books.

What really grabbed my attention, though, was the mention of one of my very favorite musicians: Toronto’s Ron Hawkins, frontman for Lowest of the Low. I’m pretty sure that’s what took me from “hey, this guy looks interesting” to “hey, I’ve got to meet this guy.”

That guy, of course, was Rand. In one of our very first email exchanges, he asked me about the last concert I’d gone to. My last concert happened to be Lowest of the Low, and we began exchanging stories about seeing Ron/the Low in concert. Rand started using Ron’s lyrics as the subjects of our emails, and we’d go back and forth, searching for a lyric that seemed appropriate to the topic of our conversation. After a few dates, he sent a message with the subject “you nearly kissed me blind,” and I nearly swooned. 😉 I go back and read those early messages now and then, and they still make me smile.

When he took me out a couple of days before my birthday, he played his guitar and sang for me. Among other things, he played both Subversives and Black Monday. If there had been any doubt in my mind up to this point, it was gone. 😉

Now, I’m not saying that we wouldn’t have gotten together if it hadn’t been for Ron, but it sure didn’t hurt! Thanks, Ron!

And I’m still every bit as smitten now as I was three years ago. (look for a list of things I love about Rand, ala Debbie Ohi, in the near future!)

Movie geekery

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On Saturday night, Rand, John and I did a superhero double-feature at the cheap theater. We saw Spider-Man 3 followed by Fantastic 4 2.

In conversation before the movies, I said, “I don’t know anything about the Fantastic 4.”

“Well,” John said, “There’s four of them.”

Har, har…

Ahem.

I had not seen the first Fantastic 4 movie. My major complaint has been that Jessica Alba looks terrible as a blonde. More on that later.*

I had seen the other Spider-Man movies, though. I think Tobey Maguire does a good Peter Parker, and I enjoy Kirsten Dunst.

I enjoyed Spidey 3, but I thought it was a touch on the long side. The whole business with Venom could have been left out and saved for another movie. It had no real consequence and seemed kind of wedged in.

The emotional stuff, though, was fantastic. I cried through the entire third act of the movie. The hits just kept on coming. The resolution of Harry’s story was very well done. (except for one little quibble–why didn’t the butler open his mouth sooner? ah well…)

As for FF…it was fun, but mostly forgettable. The Silver Surfer looked cool. I thought the scene where the team holds up the giant ferris wheel in London was pretty convincingly done. Rand keeps saying the FF would play better as a TV show, and I think I agree. This movie would have been much better suited to the small screen.

Thus ends my movie geekery for this week.

*If you insist that Jessica Alba must play Sue Storm, for crying out loud, find a better shade of blonde for her. It just looks completely artificial and awful.

It’s too hot

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And I’ve been away from my computer a lot, hence the light posting this week…

I had a nice afternoon with Jen and Samantha yesterday.

I got my car inspected, and of course, I didn’t get away without having anything done. I can’t remember the last time my car passed inspection. This time it was the brakes, and I got off fairly cheap. I do think I need an alignment, though, because my brake pads are wearing unevenly…

Other than that, I’ve been running around like a crazy person, between teaching and various appointments and meeting with friends and yoga class…and, uh, you get the picture.

Rand and I saw The Simpsons Movie, which was enjoyable. I didn’t go into it expecting anything earth-shattering. It was funny. I laughed. 😉 I can’t stop singing “Spider-Pig.” (no he can’t, ’cause he’s a pig…)

I went to the movie website (link above) and created this avatar:

simpsons

Limited options, so it doesn’t really look all that much like me.

Anywhoo, hope you’re all managing to keep cool!

Baby fish mouth?

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This is all because of Eden…it’s a sampling of my favorite and most quoted movie quotes. I did not include any from Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, because Eden pretty well covered that one.

There are also a number of hilarious exchanges from these movies that I didn’t include, just because they were too long.

So, what does it mean that my most favorite movies were made from 1987-1989? Hmmm…

Say Anything

One question: do you need… someone, or do you need me?… Forget it, I don’t really care.

I gave her my heart, and she gave me a pen.

The rain on my car is a baptism, the new me, Ice Man, Power Lloyd, my assault on the world begins now.

I don’t want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don’t want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don’t want to do that.

Joe. She’s written 65 songs… 65. They’re all about you. They’re all about pain.

Why can’t you be in a good mood? How hard is it to decide to be in a good mood and be in a good mood once in a while?

You invade my soul.

“YOU MUST CHILL!! YOU MUST CHILL!! I HAVE HIDDEN YOUR KEYS!! CHILL!!

555-1342, that’s 5..5..5..1..3..4..2. 555-1342.

I don’t know, I can’t figure it all out tonight sir, right now I’m just gonna hang with your daughter.

I want to get hurt!

When Harry Met Sally

I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible.

Oh, but “baby fish mouth” is sweeping the nation?

You’re right, you’re right. I know you’re right.

You’re the worst kind. You’re high maintenance but you think you’re low maintenance.

No you didn’t. A Sheldon can do your income taxes. If you need a root canal, Sheldon’s your man… but humpin’ and pumpin’ is not Sheldon’s strong suit. It’s the name. ‘Do it to me Sheldon, you’re an animal Sheldon, ride me big Shel-don.’ Doesn’t work.

All I’m saying is that somewhere out there is the man you are supposed to marry. And if you don’t get him first, somebody else will, and you’ll have to spend the rest of your life knowing that somebody else is married to your husband.

Is one of us supposed to be a DOG in this scenario?

The fact that you’re not answering leads me to believe you’re either (a) not at home, (b) home but don’t want to talk to me, or (c) home, desperately want to talk to me, but trapped under something heavy. If it’s either (a) or (c), please call me back.

That’s it? Some faceless guy rips off all your clothes, and THAT’S the sex fantasy you’ve been having since you were twelve?

She’s supposed to be his transitional person, she’s not supposed to be the ONE. All this time I thought he didn’t want to get married. But, the truth is, he didn’t want to marry me.

And then one day I was taking Alice’s little girl for the afternoon because I’d promised to take her to the circus, and we were in the cab playing “I Spy” – I spy a mailbox, I spy a lamp-post – and she looked out the window and she saw this man and this woman with these two little kids. And the man had one of the little kids on his shoulders, and she said, “I spy a family.” And I started to cry

The Princess Bride

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.

Vizzini: No more rhymes now, I mean it.
Fezzik: Anybody want a peanut?

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Never go in against a Sicilian when death is on the line! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha! Ha ha ha… [thud]

Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who says differently is selling something.

I’m not a witch, I’m your wife. But after what you just said, I’m not even sure I want to be that any more.

Have fun stormin’ da castle!

Let me ‘splain. [pause] No, there is too much. Let me sum up.

Mawage. Mawage is wot bwings us togevah tooday. Mawage, that bwessed awangment, that dweam wiffin a dweam…

Death cannot stop true love. All it can do is delay it for a while.

Bull Durham

Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You’ll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes.

Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers?
Skip: Lollygaggers.

Well, fuck this fucking game!

*I also love the exchange when Crash yells at Nuke for getting the words wrong, but I think I’m misquoting it, and I didn’t want to get it wrong. I poked around online a bit, but I couldn’t find it (at least, not with any assurance that it was accurate). If anyone has it at their fingertips, please share!*

Weekend update

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Got my hair cut. I’m going to try and get some decent pictures up later. I went to Samantha’s stylist, and she was wonderful!

I didn’t get anything major done to the length or style–the first thing the stylist said to me was “Oh, I love this cut on you!” So, we just did some shaping and molding, and I really love the way it looks now. She also colored it, and I think the color looks great. Then she offered to do my brows, and since I was planning on getting them done soon anyway, I agreed. She was a pro at this, too–it was a quick and relatively painless experience.

And the best part was that it was very reasonably priced. Yay!

Thanks to everyone who commented and voted in my poll.

We saw Ratatouille over the weekend, which was great fun. The moment when Ego the restaurant critic (voiced by Peter O’Toole) eats the ratatouille takes the movie from “fun” to “brilliant.” Really. I got a little misty…

Speaking of misty, we finished watching Season 5 of Scrubs, and I cried a lot.

We also attended a graduation party for one of Rand’s cousins. It was nice, except that my allergies were in full flare-up. Ick.

So, that’s me. Hope you all had a lovely weekend. Happy Monday!

Reading, watching, listening

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I’m going to try and keep this brief–there’s a lot!

Reading: Lisey’s Story by Stephen King. Loved it. My favorite King in a long time. Elsewhere (YA), which I will post on the other blog soon. Buffy the Vampire Slayer Omnibus vol. 1, My Faith in Frankie, Bloom County collected strips, Joss Whedon’s Astonishing X-Men (not very astonished so far, Joss…). The Android’s Dream by John Scalzi (fun read). The first book in Of Darkness, Light and Fire by Tanya Huff (Gate of Darkness, Circle of Light).

This puts me at about 40 books for the year so far. I’m probably missing stuff, but moving on…

Watching: My Name is Earl, Season 1. I had watched an episode here and there, and found it amusing but didn’t quite “get” it. Watching the entire first season from the beginning, though…yeah, I get it. 🙂

Entourage, Season 1.  Oh, my. I hate these guys so much. But Ari is funny, and Eric seems like a good guy. Even Drama begins to grow on me. (Turtle, however? Needs to be slapped.)

Remember the Titans. One of those movies that teachers are fond of showing in class, so I had seen the same 40 minutes of it several times. I finally sat down and watched the whole thing. I liked it. It’s what you’d expect from a Disney sports movie. Little Hayden Panettiere was great in it!

Knocked Up. Very cute. Very funny. And I admit, I fall into the half of women who would think the empty box proposal was cute rather than lame.

We just started watching season 5 of Scrubs. We’d caught a bunch of the episodes in syndication, and are finding that a lot of really funny scenes were cut. Here’s one that made me laugh:

Carla: …and then he walked away singing Safety Dance.

Elliot: I thought you learned your lesson that time you told him the Kommissar was in town.

Hee. I know there’s more here, but again…moving on…

Listening: Seanan McGuire, Stars Fall Home. As I said, Seanan is a brilliant songwriter. I’ve been enjoying this quite a bit.

Steve Martin, Pure Drivel. If it’s an audiobook, does it count as reading or listening? Hmmm…

Jill Sobule, Pink Pearl.

My “favorites” and “walking” lists on my iPod, and my “Great Big Sea radio” station on Pandora.

Busy (but fun!) weekend

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Rand and I had another busy weekend…first, our friend Randy came into town Friday night for a wedding on Saturday morning. We took him out to one of our favorite restaurants: Woo Chon Korea House. (We refer to it as Korean barbecue)

korean barbecue

All the tables along one side of the restaurant have grills set into them, and you cook the food right on the table! We always order the same thing: bulgogi (marinated beef) and duk bulgogi (marinated chicken). They’re served with big leaves of lettuce and rice. You wrap the meat in the lettuce (with some rice, if you like) and enjoy. It’s not graceful, but it is delicious!

You also get a variety of side dishes:

side dishes

This usually includes several types of kimchi, and various things I can’t name. 😉 Some of them, I like…others, not so much.

Yum, yum, yum.

After dinner, we exposed Randy to the wonder that is Patton Oswalt. Patton is hilarious. His standup is fresh and original, and I never get tired of watching/listening to him.

In the morning, I made a quick run over to the new farmer’s market in Williamsville, and picked up these:

fresh berries!

Mmm…perfect for the strawberry shortcake I’d promised for Samantha’s get-together.

We went out for breakfast, and then Randy headed off to the wedding. (I don’t know if they’ll see this, but congrats to the happy couple!)

I finished reading the Buffy Omnibus that Rand brought home for me last week, then got busy cleaning strawberries and making shortcake.

Around dinnertime, we headed over to Samantha’s. It was a nice, relaxing party with good food and good music. Dinner was hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill (with various side dishes), with several dessert options. John made yummy brownies, someone brought an ice cream cake, and then there was my strawberry shortcake.

shortcake fixin's

shortcake!

It’s my opinion that “real” strawberry shortcake is made with a biscuit, not a cake. (I use Bisquick.) And I whipped the cream myself! I used to be lazy and do Cool Whip, but there’s nothing like fresh whipped cream. *drool*

You can see more photos from the party at Samantha’s blog (the post I linked above!).

Oh, and a happy (belated) Canada Day to all my friends up north. 🙂