The year is almost over- HALLELUJAH!!!

This year wasn't quite as bad as the second half of 2014, but it was by far from my favorite. I'm really hoping for a better 2016. Not banking on it, but I'm hoping.

Christmas was what it was. I worked, I got sick, we had the family celebration on Sunday. A few of my favorite presents:

Not much else to report. Been kind of a cruddy month. I'm looking forward to getting a few days off. I probably won't do anything special, but at least I won't have to be at work!

I couldn't resist Crimson Peak

It opened yesterday. The first showing nearest me was at 11:20. Depsite the fact that I have been suffering from a migraine all week and was dead tired; AND I'm supposed to go on Monday with some friends, I stayed up to go see it. Why?

And from the scene that has fangirls around the world screaming "She's in MY SPOT!!!"

Any Questions?!?

Because it was so early, I had a nearly private screening. It was me & two slightly weird guys, both of whom had to be discouraged from sitting next to me. Seriously. In a huge empty theater, the only place you can find to sit is next to the Amazon in the center of the top back row?!? One caught my headshake as he saw me and started up the stairs and had enough sense to stop and find a seat where he was. The other had to the threatened with being tossed back down to the bottom after saying "don't worry baby, you can cling to me if it gets too scary." He wisely decided to move a few rows down after that. AND I heard HIM screech in fright when the first bloody ghost showed up. Heh.

I won't say anything about the story other than I walked out of the theater wondering what the hell I'd just watched. Tom, is beautiful, even when his character's Loki is showing. (yeah, I went there) Jessica Chastain is wonderful as his possessive sister, and I even liked Mia as Edith despite the fact that she gets to snog Tom & I don't. Charlie Hunnam was wasted- they managed to make him look plain, and his character was boring.

The guy who had enough sense not to come near me at the beginning did linger after the credits to talk to me and ask what I thought of the movie. He turned out to be a rather nice comic book geek and we had an interesting chat. He also asked me if I wanted to go have lunch with him. I actually would have gone if I hadn't been so tired that I couldn't see straight. It was 2:45 before we left the theater- the previews were nearly 45 minutes and the movie itself was 2 hours! I did suggest meeting at the bookstore on Sunday instead and he agreed to that. It's not going to be a date, but I figured it might not hurt to make a new friend.

Three last things:

1. Guillermo del Toro lied. We DO NOT get to see "Loki's pokey stick."

2. Don't bother sitting through the credits. There's no bonus content.

3. the 2 best previews were for Victor Frankenstein (James McAvoy & Daniel Radcliffe- looked quite promising!) and the Last Witch Hunter. (Vin Diesel) Will probably wait until they both are on DVD, but they looked good!

Random thoughts from my brain

So, I've lost just enough weight (again) that my current underwear is too big, but the next size down is too small. I firmly believe that underwear - actually, all clothing - should come in half sizes, just like shoes!

I like the daily planner that I bought last year, so I thought I'd save money this year and just buy a refill for it. After going to three bookstores & two office supply stores, I *FINALLY* found one at Office Depot... and it cost just as much as buying a new planner would have. Actually more, because I would have at least gotten a 10% discount and B&N if I bought a planner there. I bought it anyway, but it really irked me. I mean, shouldn't there be some sort of eco-discount for reusing something & buying a refill for it rather than adding more junk to the landfill?!? On the other hand, the cashier was a cute little tattooed boy who lit up when he saw my Doctor Who inspired shirt. We had a good chat about our favorite Doctors and tattoos.

Here's a pic of the design on my shirt:

Tom Hiddleston & Michael Fassbender are trying to kill me. They both have several movies coming out that I desperately want to see. I may actually have to break down and set foot in a movie theater.

Nightshade is getting possessive. I think she knows I'd adopt all the feral cats if I could and she's making sure that they know I'm *HER* human and she's not sharing. Some of them have gotten brave enough to let me touch them - just for a second - before they run away. Or they'll brush against my leg when I'm filling their food bowl. Anyway, now there's an adorable little black kitten in the bunch. She looks like an even smaller version of my Shady-girl, right down to the white spot on her chest! I don't care what Shady thinks; if I can catch that little one, she's living inside with us. Period. In the meantime, Shady comes and stands by my feet while I talk to the outside kitties and hisses if they start to come over.

Tune in later for another installment of Random Thoughts...

3 More Things- Entertainment Edition

3 of my favorite British actors:

1. Tom Hiddleston

2. David Tennant

3. Ben Miller


3 CD's currently in my car:

1. Keb Mo'- Blues Americana

2. Kelly Clarkson- Greatest Hits

3. Pop Evil- Onyx


3 Movies at home waiting to be watched:

1. Thor: The Dark World

2. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters

3. Safe


3 Favorite snacks while watching movies:

1. Popcorn (preferably movie theatre with butter)

2. Potato chips

3. Chocolate

The Great Cousin Visit

So, my cousins Chad & Melissa were here for Derby weekend. We didn't go to the race- I'm not setting foot at the track unless I'm getting paid lots of money and don't have to fight the crowd. Here's a look at the 4-5 days they were here:

Thursday night: After numerous airline schedule changes, they finally arrived around 11 p.m. So of course I had an officer come in with a search warrant at 10:15 that held me up until 10:45. The parents & I all met them and it was decided we'd go to Steak & Shake for their first meal here. The service was half-assed and Mom took a wrong turn leaving the airport, so she & Dad didn't get there until 30 minutes after we did. Not that we'd gotten our food, anyway.
After eating, we got to my house to discover that A: The air mattress had deflated, and B: the new pump I'd had to rush out and buy wasn't working right. Back in the car to the all-night Walmart.

Friday: Oaks day, so I HAD to work. We took them to Empress of China for lunch and Mom took them sightseeing while I worked. Mom brought over a pot of Pigs In the Blanket (stuffed cabbage or cabbage rolls to most of the world) for us to have for dinner when I got home.

Saturday: Chad & I convinced Mel that she REALLY didn't want to take the two of us into the kind of crowd you can expect at Derby. WE compromised on going out to the track on Sunday to take pictures in our Derby outfits. So what did we do instead? Krispy Kreme for breakfast (OMG, the sugar rush)and then we went to the zoo- where the half of Louisville with small children that didn't go to the track was. We spent forever hiking around (didn't think to buy tram tickets w/admittance and nobody had cash after the fact) in full sunlight. Did any of us think to put on sunscreen? Hell no. Half the animals were hiding, the other half just gazed at us like WE were the exhibits, and we paid way too much for snacks. Back to Walmart for sunburn remedies for them and a Derby hat for me. Arby's for lunch/dinner. Went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier which was amazingly good. (not my favorite Marvel Hero, but found myself being sucked in) Then we rented another movie (Now You See Me- awesome!) and called it a night.

Sunday: Got up and went to Churchill Downs for pictures. Mel & I dressed up, Chad was dressed down, but we made him coordinate with us. LOL. We tried on expensive hats in the Derby gift shop, bought some souvenirs from the clearance stalls, and headed home to change clothes. Helen next door was working in her yard, so we asked her to get a few pics of all 3 of us (one of the few times I have willingly posed for pics lately) and then hit Chili's for lunch. (yes, we eat a lot) We drove down to E-town & Ft. Knox, visited another Walmart, and had Waffle House for dinner- Mel was horrified and awed by the service and we had a good laugh at her expense. Rented another movie (Free Birds- amusing), again, called it a night.

Monday: Had BBQ for breakfast/lunch and then went looking for Gallopalooza horses. Wandered around downtown for a bit, hit Dairy Queen for a snack, and then drove to Bernheim Forest to see what we could. Found a great tree for climbing, if only I could. Chad succeeded. Then over to Mom's for Fleishkele, wrestling, and an epic battle of Hand & Foot. (our family favorite card game, but you need at least 4 people to play it well so we don't get to play it often)

Tuesday: The airline changed their departure schedule, so instead of noon, they left at 8 p.m. So Mom took us to brunch at Mimi's cafe, we stopped the bookstore for my British magazines and we went back downtown to tour the Evan Williams artisan bourbon distillery...where we learned that I still don't like bourbon, Mel REALLY doesn't like bourbon, and Chad will drink anything, but said bourbon was not his favorite form of alcohol. We did all agree that bourbon balls are the most acceptable form for us and bought some in the gift shop on our way out. Had our final meal together (sob) at Panera and then went home for them to finish packing and it was off to the airport.


It was a good time, and much more fun than my capsule description made it sound. I was amazed at how quickly my cats sold me out- Malkin loves everybody and thinks everybody should love him, so his friendliness did NOT surprise me. Nightshade, on the other hand...she spent the first 2 days hiding under my bed. Then she decided that they must be ok, and came out to be amazingly friendly. She was all over Chad (I'm attributing that to the fact that he's a male version of me) and allowed Mel to pet her, but not pick her up.

Chad & Mel texted me later that evening to let me know that they'd gotten safely back to Spokane. They're thinking about moving here if Chad can find a job, so hopefully I'll get to see more of them in the future!

My Family

I first found this show on Netflix while searching for British comedies. Sadly, only the first 4 seasons are available in the US. The first thing I did when I got an all region DVD player for my birthday last year was order the rest of the series.

The show follows the exploits of the Harper family and a few friends over the course of the series. Ben, the father, is a frustrated dentist who loves his wife and children but wants them to go away and leave him in peace. Susan, his wife, is a tour guide & rotten cook, and a control freak with a rather wicked sense of humor. Their children are Nick (useless layabout), Janey (shallow fashionista w/loose morals), and Michael (unappreciated genius).

The first few seasons focus on getting to know the family. Ben wants useless lump Nick OUT of the house and self-supporting. Susan wants everything to be perfect and will use any means necessary to preserve the illusion that it is. Janey wants her parents to just endow her with a trust fund and quietly disappear, and Michael wants respect, power, a girlfriend, and for people to stop picking on him for being a geeky little dork.

Janey goes off to university, leaving a void, so the character of Abi is brought in. She's the daughter of Ben's cousin. Also joining the series is Roger Bailey, a not-so-succesful dentist who happens the be the son of Ben's old mentor. Both characters are naive, cheerful, and irritate Ben no end. And he's STILL trying to get rid of Nick. Then Janey comes home with her unplanned baby boy, Kenzo...

Nick leaves, but is replaced by his friend Alfie. Michael is still a geek, but having slightly better success with girls. Abi & Roger have fallen in love and married, Janey refuses to tell her parents who Kenzo's father is until he makes a surprising appearance, Susan's mother becomes a semi-regular and the whole family goes on the Weakest Link...

Alfie leaves, Nick is mentioned in passing, Abi leaves Roger to become a nun, Susan & Ben try a separation, Roger tries dating, and Janey becomes a surprisingly responsible adult, working and caring for her son, but still sponging off her parents. Michael graduates college but doesn't manage to get/hold a job, following in Nick's footsteps, but does succeed in surprising his family when he comes out to them. After years of bitter sniping, the series ends with the family in a somewhat good place, showing odd moments of love and affection for each other.

Lots of fun to be had here. Some of the more amusing moments are Nick's brief foray into drag, Ben's solo dance in the living room after losing a dance contest, and the aforementioned Weakest Link episode.

Men In Black III

I *LOVED* the first Men In Black. It's one of those movies that I sporadically quote from, watch every time I catch it on TV, and even occasionally attempt to do the dance Will Smith does in the video for the theme song. (You're welcome for the mental image that probably just left you, and no, I won't come clean the drink you just snorted through your nose off your monitor)

The second movie? Eh. It had some funny moments, but just didn't live up to the first one.

Then, many moons later, they announced part 3 was being made. Part of me got giddy, part of me wanted to crawl into a hole and cry. The longer a series goes between sequels, the worse the movies seem to get. See Red Dwarf, the Star Wars series, and the Indiana Jones movies for proof of the depressing decline. (Digressing, I do have to admit I joined the rest of the theater in whooping wildly when the shadow of the hat rolled across the screen and you got to see that Indiana WAS back) I couldn't bring myself to go see it when it was finally released, just in case it really was bad.

Then, I was walking past a Redbox at the grocery store. Most of the time, getting a new release at that box is a no go. On a whim, I pulled MIB3 up and was startled to see it was in. So I rented it, went home, picked up an ornament I was cross stitching and settled in expecting the worst.

A couple of hours later, the ornament was forgotten, I was laughing and crying, and my fears were gone. This was a good movie. Not as humorous as the first, but very well done. The premise is that Agent J (Will Smith) has to go back in time to prevent the death of his partner, K. (Tommy Lee Jones) He meets the younger K (Josh Brolin) and the 2 don't see eye to eye, but wind up getting along and saving the world, just like they do in the future. Brolin is amazing as a younger K. He gets so many of Jones' quirky mannerisms down that you'd almost think it was him.

I suspected I knew what one of the plot twists was going to be, and I was partially right. Then, once I figured out the rest of the twist and it was played out onscreen, I cried like a baby. Won't tell what it was in case you haven't seen it yet, but I will say it explains a lot about a lot of things, especially the relationship between J & K. And despite the sadness of the plot twist, the movie ends with a smile (pretty much literally) and hope for the future.

Will they make a 4th movie? Probably not. I almost hope not, because they left it in a really good place with this installment.

One very minor gripe- I was totally bummed that there wasn't an extra scene thrown in at the end, during or after the credits. There also weren't any bloopers- you just KNOW there had to be some terrific ones from this bunch!

Happy Halloween

                                                     

                                          Picture from google images, not my own work. Many thanks to the original source.

No review this week, just a couple of stories from my past for your amusement.

I am a classic chicken. Not that most people ever guess that from my bad-ass, take no prisoners attitude. But put a horror movie on and watch me lose my shit faster than a goose that's been given ex-lax.

Many of my friends love horror movies. I actually like the idea of them, it's the sounds & some of the over the top gory visuals that I have a problem with. I usually wind up watching them, giving my friends a good laugh at my reactions, and then having nightmares for the next 3 days that often result in me prowling through the house with my sword (What? Doesn't everybody have a sword for defense? Kept right beside the bed? No? Moving on...) and swinging at shadows.

So, going back a number of years, here are 2 stories featuring my former BFF Susan, from the Garth Brooks concert story.

1.  As I mentioned in Concert Tales 1, our birthdays were only a few days apart. One year, there was a new Friday the 13th movie (Jason Goes to Hell) out right around then. We were on the road with our wrestling buddies and in Charlotte NC. Sue really wanted to go see the movie, so we got a group together and went. Now Sue LOVED horror movies, and almost nothing fazed her. She was one of those people who could happily drink cherry soda and eat anything while watching the most gruesome of scenes.

I, on the other hand, cannot. We used to do weekend movie marathons at her house with her Mom, sister, and whatever friends/cousins were about. We usually started off with comedies or action flicks, but everyone knew what to do when it was time for the horror flicks. Move all drinks away from me, put the popcorn somewhere I couldn't knock it over, and hand me the cushion known as "Mickey's scream pillow." During the worst scenes, I'd bury my face in the pillow and have my fingers in my ears. Hearing the gross sound effects is actually worse for me than seeing heads go flying. The sounds linger in my imagination and then I start imagining things way worse than what was actually onscreen. This practice works well at home, not so good in public.

Anyway, we were at the theater and the guys had been warned that I would most likely wind up burrowing into someone's shoulder and shrieking like a loon. The movie (for those who may not have seen it) started with Jason being blown into a zillion pieces. Then, during the autopsy of the remains, his heart starts beating...the entranced doctor doctor picks it up...I realize what is about to happen and slide off my seat onto the floor. Around me, a theater full of people are shrieking/gagging "He ate the heart!" I look to my left and what do I see but SUSAN crouched on the floor beside me. We finally found something that was too gross even for her. I was less than sympathetic. "YOU wanted to see this movie, bitch, now get back up there and watch it!" I don't remember much after that. I do know that the guys ribbed us about that for months.

2. Weekend movie marathon at Sue's. (Her mom had cable & a VCR- Yes, I'm old- at the time & I didn't, which is why we always did these at their house. But I would cook for whoever was there and always brought snacks/drinks/desserts, and helped clean up afterward, so her mom was totally fine with it) One weekend it wound up just being the 2 of us. Her mom, little sister, and the gaggle of gigglers were going to a dance at the Community Center. My BF at the time said he might drop by later after he got off from work.

Well, this was the perfect night for anyone but me to watch horror movies. It was dark & stormy, and spooky as hell. Their place was at the end of a row with a slightly overgrown wooded area to the side & rear, so the branches of trees & bushes would sometimes scrape the house when the wind gusted. Sue, knowing that my nerves were on edge, took pity on me and we watched comedies most of the evening, until it was time for Tales From The Crypt. She was dying (heh) to see this episode for some reason because Morton Downey Jr  (bonus points if you remember him) was in it. If I remember correctly, he was a skeptical journalist investigating a haunted house. It was more suspenseful than gory, and even got me interested. As we neared the end of the show, the real life storm started getting REALLY bad, and just as all hell broke loose on the tv show, it broke loose at the house. There was a terrific flash of lightning (we found out later it had hit the transformer half a block down from us) and a horrendous clap of thunder and everything went black.

Naturally, we were a bit taken aback by this. Ok, really, we freaked the fuck out. We're both shrieking and then hear a pounding on the door. We are beyond rational thought at this point. Sue screamed something to the effect of "Oh shit, something's trying to get us, RUN!" And we did. Now it's too bad that nobody had a night vision camera there to film what happened next, because I'm sure it was comedy gold.

Still screaming, flailing around in the dark, we both tried to run for the back door. In the dark, in a small living room crowded with furniture. After falling over things several times, still screaming, with the pounding continuing, we made it to the hall by the kitchen, leading to the back door. With my usual grace, I tripped over an air molecule and went SPLAT, face down. Sue trampled me, still trying to get out. The problem here was that the backdoor had a deadbolt lock...and we didn't have the key.

The front door flew open with a resounding BANG. Sue screamed "Kill her first!" and began alternately throwing her weight against the back door and kicking/pushing me toward the hooded figures in the front door.

Any guesses? Yep. My boyfriend & her mom. Her little sister got sent back to the car when we started screaming, just in case something was going down. (other than me) Chris had gotten there just as the power blew- that was the first pounding we'd heard. Mama C joined him at the door, heard our screams, dropped the keys, and that's why he kept pounding. He was trying to alert the fictitious killer that help was at hand. They finally got the door open, pointed Chris's flashlight in, and once they realized we weren't actually being murdered, laughed their asses off at us. The laughter stopped for a minute or two when I went for Sue's throat for trying to sacrifice me to the potential killers, but they pulled us apart and it was pretty funny once everyone calmed down.

5 for Sunday

5 movies I have watched with my father repeatedly (much to Mom's dismay)

Silly Sunday

Last one for the month! Today we look at....

5 of My Favorite Movies