Averygoodun's Personal File

Whelp, no date for Geoff and me today. I forgot to set up a babysitter. *headesks*

Ah well. Fortunately, "Gravity" is dominating at the box office, which means it will be there next week, too. So Geoff and I have rescheduled for Tuesday afternoon (which means I need to reschedule an appointment, but if that gets done successfully, it also means no babysitter will be needed. Yay!)

Also, this gives me a bit of time to play catch-up for psych. Since I took last weekend off completely, I have a little bit of reading to do for this week. Not too much, though.

I do wish I could take a full week off, though. That would be nice. Ah well.

http://vimeo.com/12471144

("Secret of Photo 51" - about Rosalind Franklin)

It's definitely chilly out. Not as chilly (damned cold) as the upper Midwest, mind, but I think that 3F (-16C) without factoring in the windchill (-8F/-22C) qualifies as brr-worthy. At least it's a dry cold... (But that wind is bitter!)

Fortunately, I don't have to go out into the cold today. Well, now that I've 'fixed' the storm door closer.

That damned device has closed its last time. It's one of those push-button-stay-open pneumatic closers, which is great and all -- if they actually close. I don't know what happened to this one, but every now and again it needs to be prodded into closing (open a fraction to release the button, gently twist main portion and allow to close until it reaches the next sticking point, and repeat). Sometimes it works perfectly. Since the cold's hit, it refuses to close on its own, negating the benefits of a storm door (keeping the front door open for a full minute to wrangle the storm door shut in below-freezing temps doesn't help lower the energy use, now does it?).

So, after I went out to close it from the outside this morning, I locked the damned storm door so we can't open it from the outside, dead-bolted the actual door and put a sign up reminding us to use the other door. First day it's above freezing, we're taking the closer off and getting a replacement that doesn't have the push-button stay open feature.


In more cheerful news, I was pleasantly surprised by the movie "Big Miracle." Though, really, I shouldn't have been surprised, as Drew Barrymore's adult works tend to be better than average for Hollywood. Hell, even "Charlie's Angels" was a decent movie! This one was really quite good, despite a few teeth-gritting moments of "native person's traditions cliche speech" that was, undoubtedly, necessary cultural information for the masses. I think what really impressed me about the movie was it did allow for character development for everyone. Well, all the main players. And it didn't demonize anyone. Not even the oil baron. I was also charmed by the credits showing the real players and the actual footage from the event.


And now I'd better get to my homework. (sigh) Or go back to bed. (sigh) Or do something besides procrastinate in front of the computer, anyway. *nods*

Yep.

*waves*

Brain wave! (No idea if it's a new thought or not, but it's new to me.)

What if Mr. Borgin, of Borgin and Burkes, was one of Dumbledore's spies? Talk about perfectly placed! Not to mention that would give Dumbles a very good idea of everything that was going on in HBP...

Just sayin.

(How about using Borgin as a wartime go-between after Dumbles' death?)

Re-watched GoF today. Lord, is it bad! It reminded me quite a lot of "Lair of the White Worm" - you know, that early, early Hugh Grant movie? Only GoF wasn't quite as funny. Lord, Emma Watson did a bad job! But then, she was in good company. Gambon was atrocious (YELLING!Dumbledore! Manhandling!Dumbledore! Pacing!Dumbledore!), Rickman played Snape as a caricature, and Fiennes was... well, unsubtle.

Granted, I should blame all of that on the director's shoulders. Well, director and writer's shoulders. Mike Newell and Steve Cloves, I shake my head at you. Very severely.

Right. Off to read a Superman comic of Geoff's (by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons) and then continue on with HBP. Though all that might get postponed if Page agrees to watch either Harvey or Tin Tin with us after dinner.

Oh yeah. Dinner. Better get started on that.

Ciao!

Well, it was a good summer vacation, but school starts in, ah, four hours and I still need to read the first chapter of the texts. Oops.

Oh, and I now so completely sympathize with my parents' policy of NO WHINING ALLOWED. I still think it was destructive, but boy do I sympathize.

Also, I still love Prisoner of Azkaban, the book. (Haven't re-watched the movie recently, so can't say whether I still love that.)

And I finally saw DH 2. Loved it. Will talk about that later. After school work is done. *nods determinedly*

Ciao!

And I don't like it, no I don't.

The heat has arrived with the solstice, allowing us to join in the misery of the rest of the country. It got up to 96 here (humidity of 74%) sorry, 98, with humidity of 50%, which is, really, rather nasty. Tomorrow is supposed to be a bit worse. However, at least I'm not where Geoff (still) is. There, tomorrow's high is supposed to be 100, with humidity in the 40's. *faints* Fortunately, he should be on a plane back north before it cracks 90. *fingers crossed*

I did get out this morning, though. I fed myself (Page not being hungry) and was weeding out back by 9:30. By the time I came in at 10:30, it was probably in the high 80's. However, I got the large bed as fully weeded as was possible (my arms are only so long) (even with the fork), and am now contemplating whether to mulch or not. Not today, of course, but when the weather turns reasonable again. I don't think I will, really, as a) I don't like the color of the mulch provided by the association, and it would be wasteful to buy something for a garden that's going to be obliterated in a year, b) when it rains, it stays damp back there, and I would rather not encourage the molds more than they already are, and c) it's an awful lot of work for not much aesthetic payback (see a).

Hey ho.

My gardens are growing fairly merrily, though. I hope that the orange daylilies (and yellow rocket ligularia) out back will be forced into bloom by this heat so that we have flowers on Sunday when our friends come over. If not, the red astilbe should be in full bloom by then, anyway. And the yellow loose strife is blooming away merrily.

I suppose my task for tomorrow, besides weeding the smaller bed out back, is setting the soaking hose up in the front garden. The lawn doesn't need as much water these days, but the poor little flowers sure do. They aren't so fond of this heat. *shakes head*

Of course, that's assuming I can get up early enough to do anything before my acupuncture appointment. There will be no gardening after the appointment thanks to the heat.

So, in pursuit of that early rising, I will need to go to bed on time tonight. Last night I stayed up far too late watching RDJ's Sherlock Holmes, which I enjoyed quite a bit. (Did BBC rip off the movie's score? It's very similar.) Again, Irene Adler's character was assassinated, but at least there was something akin to motive behind her actions. (A woman smart enough to outwit the likes of Sherlock Holmes just can't be anything but a career criminal, can she? Sheesh!) Nevertheless, I actually did enjoy how she was played by McAdams. And I would like to see the sequel. I don't think the library has it in stock yet, though, so I'll have to be patient.

Ach well. I have loads of library books to get me by, as well as a few birthday movies (Raiders of the Lost Ark, Little Women, and Ever After, which I enjoyed watching yesterday as I sorted papers). I am well on my way to crossing off the reading task from my summer to do list, even when counting books of the same series as one book together. The reading bug seems to have bit again. :-)

But now I should go do something. What, I'm not sure. The heat is getting to the point where my brain starts melting, so I probably won't manage to think of anything till it's time to go out. Aw. shucks, right?

The last set of clues to the last three un-guessed movies are up. I went all obvious this time.

If no one guesses them by tomorrow, I will give the answers. :-)

It was making the rounds again, and I have a couple new movies to add to my favorites collection, so here goes:

1. Pick 10 of your favourite movies.
2. Go to IMDb and find a quote from each movie.
3. Post them here for everyone to guess.
4. Fill in the film title once it's guessed.
5. NO GOOGLING/using IMDb search functions.

( Read more... )

Went to see Deathly Hallows with Geoff this afternoon. I actually enjoyed it in a good way. The other recent movies I've enjoyed, mostly, but in the it's-so-bad-I-love-it kinda way.

( Impressions that probably won't be spoilery as I can't be arsed to be thorough )

I know I have more thoughts, but the movie wore me out. Sensory overload, ya'know. (I was verklempt in the opening sequence just because it was so loud and it was so overwhelming. I did adjust, but it took its toll.)

So, I'm off to bed.

And has been for more than 24 hours. A nice, soft, steady rain - the kind that soaks into the earth and nourishes rather than running off in great gushes and destroys.

I am happy. Even though it is a tiny, itsy bit clammy. It's still wonderful.


I just finished reading a very enjoyable ball of fluff called "The Princess of the Midnight Ball." It was recommended by ashfae, who is one of many founts of bookly knowledge I know and love, and was totally taken in.

How could I resist when she said that the hero saves the day by knitting?

It's a retelling of the fairy tale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, and a fairly straight retelling, too. Except it puts the girls in a WAY better light than the fairy tale ever did.

And Galen, the hero, rocks. One of the most likable heroes I've come across in a fair while.

So thank you, Ash. And if you have any other recommendations while I wait for your story to be published (I'm patient. Sort of. Jealous as all get out at the people who get to read it now, even though I know I'm not any good as a critic except in the copy editing department, but patient), I would welcome more awesome balls of fluff.

:-)


Last night Geoff and I finished watching the third series of Dr. Who. I was really impressed with "Blink" from that season. It wasn't quite as creepy as the gas mask episode from first series, but it was close and so very well done! I am continually astonished at how well they do at making the cheesiest, corniest villains scary. 'Cause those statues were Scary!

( Spoilers for those who are later than me to watch Third Series Doctor )

I'll be going to the library later today for the Christmas special and first disc of the fourth series.


This weekend we also watched Fly Away Home. You know, the movie about the Canada geese? It really was a little gem of a movie, if a little unbelievable here and there. They managed to keep the preciousness to a surprising minimum, and for that alone I would applaud them, even if the rest of the movie weren't delightful.

Babe told us he didn't like it, though. He didn't say so (or cry or show anything, the little Scorpio), but I think the mom dying at the start was too upsetting to him. But even so, he did watch it peacefully for an hour and a half! It is SO nice to be able to pick a wider range of movies to watch, now!


And this week... is school prep week. Need to go out and get Babe a new outfit (where, I haven't decided, since Target and Walmart are out), get his hair cut, and get him one box of 25 crayons. That and a backpack (which he already has) is all he needs for school this year.

Orientation is on the 31st, and first day is on the 2nd, with the 3rd and 6th off for Labor Day weekend. So, still two more weeks until he's in school full time, but the time is racing by.