My first run in with the local drug dealer

1. Did you know that Paul Feig, the creater of Freaks and Geeks (best TV show ever) wrote a young adult novel? And that it is coming out in September? Neither did I, until the publisher sent me an advance reader's copy. Ignatius McFarland: Frequenaut. I'm about 100 pages in. If you haven't seen Freaks and Geeks, please put it on your netflix account. It is my all time favorite tv show.

2. It was 97 degrees on Sunday. I don't do that well in the heat.

3. My family and I were swimming in the Colorado river, when a nice young man, holding his backpack over his head, swam past us to the other side, and hid his backpack in a clump of weeds.
For the next hour, teenage girls swam across the river, went into the weeds with him for ten seconds, and then swam back across the river. Girl after girl after girl. The teenage boys hung out on our side of the river until the girls came back.
After a half hour, Melissa whispered, "I bet he's selling drugs."
That thought hadn't accured to me. I'm not sure why I hadn't thought that. It seems obvious looking back.
But at the time I just thought, "Hm. That guy's popular in a weird way."
I'm a bit thick.

4. Movies I saw recently that I liked:
Dan in Real Life
The Ruins
Pickup on South Street

Didn't like:
Street Kings

5. Book I absolutely fell in love with - Everlost by Neil Shusterman. It's been awhile since I've fallen so hard for a book. I think the last one was American Gods by Neil Gaiman or Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke. Before that it was Empire Falls by Richard Russo.

I'm back to blogging

I’ve decided to start blogging again. So those of you who have stopped checking my blog hourly and gone to checking it daily, go back to checking it hourly, because I am about to start posting at least once a week.

“So why should I check hourly?” you ask.

Cause you don’t know which hour I’m going to post.

It would probably be most efficient if you got a group of friends and each took turns checking my blog in shifts. Maybe four hour shifts. That way you only have to check four hours a day. And then if I post early in the week – congrats guys, vacation. For the rest of the week.

Or you can get my blog on RSS feed. I think. Can you? Actually I don’t know. Get together with your group that monitors my blog and try to find a way to get my blog on RSS feed. Good luck.

Also, go to Heather Tanner’s new blog http://hopscotchlemonade.blogspot.com . She’s got nice pictures of Portland. She’s only had the blog since the 20th of March but she’s already got a bunch of posts and somehow she’s rigged it so that her blog plays a bunch of great songs.

How does she do that? I suggest if you are reading my blog, open a second page with Heather’s blog so that you can listen to her music while reading my blog. Or if you want, you can play your own CD (in the CD-Rom thing) and listen to it while reading my blog.

In the talk-back lets discuss your favorite music to listen to while reading my blog.

I'll start: 1. Glory soundtrack. 2. You're Simply the Best by Tina Turner. 3. That song from the montage of test taking in Mark Harmon's Summer School (thanks to Brett Meyers for bringing that song to my attention.)

Just a quick post

1. I love Arizona and I love my job. Why didn't I become a librarian earlier? This job is heaven. More on that in another post.

2. We will probably be getting all of our dental and medical work done in Mexico because it is cheaper. I'm not kidding. We will. It is much cheaper and everbody here swears by it. And it is covered by Yuma County insurance. So it's pretty much a no-brainer.

3. I saw Charlie Wilson's War today. I loved it. I thought I'd only sort of like it and sort of be annoyed by it. But nope, the politics were intelligent, thought provoking and really spot on. And it's funny.

4. My top 10 movies of 2007 (Really twelve since there is a three way tie for ten.)

I liked all of these movies about the same. But this is more or less my order of preference. I've seen Ratatouille three times and it keeps getting better and better. I've also seen Zodiac three times also. The rest I've only seen once.

1. Ratatouille
2. The Lives of Others
3. No Country For Old Men
4. Zodiac
5. Sweeny Todd
6. Charlie Wilson's War
7. Amazing Grace
8. Superbad
9. The Host
10. 300
10. Knocked Up
10. 28 Weeks Later

Movies of 2007 that I haven't seen yet but want to are: Once, Grindhouse, There Will be Blood and Juno.

Moving to AZ and I saw Sweeny Todd and loved it

Moving to Yuma Arizona this week. Won't blog for another couple of weeks.

I saw Sweeny Todd. Loved it.

(Proof reading will start after I move to Yuma.)

Yikes

Just re-read some of the old blog posts. Yikes. I need to work on spelling, punctuation, flow and clarity of thought. My new year's resolution is to proof read all of my posts. Starting next post.

what I saw and read December 3 - 9

Books

1. Boychicks in the Hood by Robert Eisenberg
A very interesting and informative book about the Haasidic Jews.
2. Prayer for Rain by Dennis Lehane
Probably my favorite mystery writer right now.
3. Nature Girl by Carl Hiassen
Pretty good.


Movies:

1. The Big Store
This is probably the worst Marx Brothers movie I've seen. The jokes weren't as snappy. But it was still great.
2. Underdog
3. Nancy Drew
This is a great movie. I'm glad I saw this. Eli really liked it to.
4. Paris Je T'amie
A bunch of short films about Paris, France. Like all collections of short films, I liked some and I wasn't crazy about others. Made me want to visit Paris though.
5. The Santa Clause 3
6. Intolerable Cruelty
The first 30 minutes of this movie are shrill. By far the worst thing the Coen Brothers have ever done. (Movie-wise. I'm not sure what bad things they've done in their personal lives.) I liked the Weezy Joe part.
7. O Brother Where Art Thou
8. The Christmas Carol (1938)


TV:

1. The Soup
2. The Soup presents
3. Meet the Press

What I saw and read November 26 - Dec 1

Books:


1. Celebrity Detox by Rosie O'Donell
Like sitting in a room with someone who can't stop talking about how nice they are and how mean everyone else is. I simplify but not much.

2. What do Jews Believe? by Edward Kessler


Movies:

1. Enchantment
I really enjoyed this. Gave me a smile.
2. American Gangster
Scientifically, I recognize that this is a great movie. Good acting, interesting story, several great scenes. But overall it didn't do much for me.
3. Gold Rush
This is a great movie.


TV:


1. A Shot at Love with Tila Taquila
A bunch of twenty somethings telling Tila that she really deserves to be happy. (I see no evidence that she does.) She went to each of the contestants houses to have dinner with the family. At each house she acted very boorishly. The families didn't seem to mind.
2. CNN/Youtube Debate
I like McCain and Hucklebee
3. The Office
4. The Soup
5. The Grinch that Stole Christmas
6. Shrek the Halls
I won't be watching this next year.