Since I last blathered here:
* The Dodgers clinched the NL West, swept the Cards in the Division series, and are now 1-1 with the stupid Phillies in the NLCS. I am not interested in reruns from a year ago!
* I saw Whip It and it was awesome.
* In the post about television that I apparently didn't make despite saying so, I was going to say I was starting How I Met Your Mother. I've now completed S1, and it's good times. Selection of stuff I like about it:
- The "updated early-years Friends" feel (because I always enjoyed that show, but since hitting my own mid-late twenties the early seasons took a huge leap forward in relatability for me, so a show set in the now with that angle gets at the same thing but with cell phones)
- Lily and Robin, who are AWESOME
- The boys are amusing, too, sure
- The parade of "hey, I recognize that person!" guest starts (CTB, Danica McKellar)
Doubtful that I'll remember to post before Halloween. Current costume idea: Liz Lemon, if I can figure out how to make it more than just, "Hey, did you get new glasses?"
Sunday, October 18, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
No new movies seen; hence, linkspam
Here's some stuff I've found interesting recently:
- Dodgers pitcher is enormous Star Wars geek, talks about it.
- This LOLcat explains a lot.
- Wizarding World of Harry Potter details.
- The Merlin cast made video diaries. Gold.
The next post will probably be about television.
On Wednesday, I came home from a coworker's going away thingy to find ANTS IN MY BATHROOM. On the counter, walls, and ceiling, with no discernable origin or target. It's probably due to the dry weather.
RAGE.
I hate them and everything they stand for. They are mostly gone now, but I'm still finding stragglers on occasion. Die, die, die.
On Wednesday, I came home from a coworker's going away thingy to find ANTS IN MY BATHROOM. On the counter, walls, and ceiling, with no discernable origin or target. It's probably due to the dry weather.
RAGE.
I hate them and everything they stand for. They are mostly gone now, but I'm still finding stragglers on occasion. Die, die, die.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Fiddling
Questions about Blogger to which I do not know the answer:
- Why is font so hard to control?
Why does Read More always show twice? Sometimes with different fonts?Solved!- Where can I find a template that looks nice and doesn't make the text column skinny?
TBD.
ETA: And why are my bullets so hideous?
ETA: And why are my bullets so hideous?
Mo' movies, mo' posting
It's kind of sad that the only real posting inspiration I get is short film reviews. Oh well. Maybe next time I'll change it up with a linkspam.
The latest two are 9 and (500) Days of Summer. Behind the (woohoo!) spoiler cut...
The latest two are 9 and (500) Days of Summer. Behind the (woohoo!) spoiler cut...
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Lately: Movies
About the middle of July, I got really busy, and suddenly all the movies I'd been looking forward to finally came out. I'm still playing catch-up, and commercials tell me I have more coming down the line. This post contains MASSIVE SPOILERS for Harry Potter, District 9, and Inglourious Basterds.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Apparently, still failing as this blogging thing.
I went to Ireland! It was awesome. Here are pictures:
Here are more:
Notes that aren't contained in the captions:
* Irish people are seriously the nicest, friendliest people in the world. The harrowing drives were made less scary by politeness and waves in passing, and though our overnight stays varied, every single morning began with our host asking for our next destination or plans for the day, then providing detailed directions and recommendations. They're the kind of people who will, if you're stopped on the street reading a map, come up to you not fifteen seconds after you've paused and ask if they can help. Just lovely.
* We loved the OPW ladies! On some of your recommendations, we bought Heritage Cards at Glendalough and made them more than worth it - even found several sites we hadn't originally planned to see - and at every OPW (Office of Public Works) site, the docents and tour guides had this fantastically well-branded process and manner of speaking that despite most sites being under restoration had every air of professionalism and pleasantness.
* There were more photos taken at the stone circle. My sister is reading Outlander. They will remain unpublished.
* As usual, there are more photos from the first half of the trip. By the time we got to Dublin, it was harder to remember to take them. We packed a lot into that day:
-- St. Stephen's Green: Green, pretty;
-- Trinity College (plus Library and Book of Kells exhibits): Interesting, historical, poor layout though;
-- National Museum (Archaeology): BOG PEOPLE!;
-- My company's Dublin office, where we had lunch with some of my coworkers;
-- Kilmainham Gaol: Rather farther from the center than the maps indicated, actually, but quite interesting in tone and message
-- Guinness Storehouse: ROTFLMAO
-- O'Connell Street and Temple Bar: Really just walked around, but especially good for people-watching
* Ireland generally failed at signage, except for Toilets. They really want you to know where the Toilets are. Road signs generally weren't visible until after you were in the intersection, and several of them were perplexing. We didn't get any shots of our favorite ones, the white arrows on blue backgrounds. We decided these signs were saying, "This is a road." They would show up in clusters of five or more, all different sizes, at what we eventually figured out were places the road-builders seemed concerned that people wouldn't be able to differentiate between the road they were aleady on and, oh, stacks of orange cones, sidewalks, other vehicles, things like that.
The other awesome sign was at the bottom of a traffic light. Maybe 100 meters earlier, we'd passed one that said "Experimental traffic controls ahead." Apparently, that was the traffic light, because the sign at the bottom said, "Stop when light is red." *dies all over again*
* I took five different planes on this trip. SFO to Newark, Newark to Dublin, and then Dublin to Newark, Newark to Houston, Houston to SFO. When booking the flights, we discovered that going through Houston on the way home would actually be faster for me than waiting for a San Francisco flight. And as long as I was going that way anyway, I decided to just hold off until the later flight out so I could have dinner near the airport with the family. The youngest two sisters now live in Houston (one with the parentals, one actually in the city), so everyone was there, and I am so glad we got to do that.
All in all, the trip was fantastic. I highly recommend Ireland as a travel destination and want to go back to see the top half.
* We loved the OPW ladies! On some of your recommendations, we bought Heritage Cards at Glendalough and made them more than worth it - even found several sites we hadn't originally planned to see - and at every OPW (Office of Public Works) site, the docents and tour guides had this fantastically well-branded process and manner of speaking that despite most sites being under restoration had every air of professionalism and pleasantness.
* There were more photos taken at the stone circle. My sister is reading Outlander. They will remain unpublished.
* As usual, there are more photos from the first half of the trip. By the time we got to Dublin, it was harder to remember to take them. We packed a lot into that day:
-- St. Stephen's Green: Green, pretty;
-- Trinity College (plus Library and Book of Kells exhibits): Interesting, historical, poor layout though;
-- National Museum (Archaeology): BOG PEOPLE!;
-- My company's Dublin office, where we had lunch with some of my coworkers;
-- Kilmainham Gaol: Rather farther from the center than the maps indicated, actually, but quite interesting in tone and message
-- Guinness Storehouse: ROTFLMAO
-- O'Connell Street and Temple Bar: Really just walked around, but especially good for people-watching
* Ireland generally failed at signage, except for Toilets. They really want you to know where the Toilets are. Road signs generally weren't visible until after you were in the intersection, and several of them were perplexing. We didn't get any shots of our favorite ones, the white arrows on blue backgrounds. We decided these signs were saying, "This is a road." They would show up in clusters of five or more, all different sizes, at what we eventually figured out were places the road-builders seemed concerned that people wouldn't be able to differentiate between the road they were aleady on and, oh, stacks of orange cones, sidewalks, other vehicles, things like that.
The other awesome sign was at the bottom of a traffic light. Maybe 100 meters earlier, we'd passed one that said "Experimental traffic controls ahead." Apparently, that was the traffic light, because the sign at the bottom said, "Stop when light is red." *dies all over again*
* I took five different planes on this trip. SFO to Newark, Newark to Dublin, and then Dublin to Newark, Newark to Houston, Houston to SFO. When booking the flights, we discovered that going through Houston on the way home would actually be faster for me than waiting for a San Francisco flight. And as long as I was going that way anyway, I decided to just hold off until the later flight out so I could have dinner near the airport with the family. The youngest two sisters now live in Houston (one with the parentals, one actually in the city), so everyone was there, and I am so glad we got to do that.
All in all, the trip was fantastic. I highly recommend Ireland as a travel destination and want to go back to see the top half.
Saturday, June 27, 2009
Virtuality & Moon (Spoilers)
Virtuality
My favorites so far are Jimmy and Billie, and the guy with the dead son (too many characters to remember by name this early). Wanna-be Starbuck made me cringe, but that's probably my irrational dislike of Clea DuVall talking, and she redeemed herself by becoming Billie's buddycop at the end. I could get into that.
I know, I know. It's Fox, don't even go there.
Moon
It's the kind of beastly weekend here where my apartment stays boiling until way late, so I escaped at seven to go see Moon.
It was very good, but not quite as good as I wanted it to be. To be honest, I think I set my expectations a little too high. Sam Rockwell was fantastic, but the plot was kind of predictable in a movie that felt like it shouldn't have been. I felt like I was always a few steps ahead, and I find it frustrating waiting for the character(s) in a film to catch up. Guessing correctly ahead didn't ruin the rest like it did The Sixth Sense, though. Conceptually, it also drew from the classic sci-fi pool, making my weekend a very nerdy one, indeed, despite a couple points of science fail.
Bottom line: If an arty theatre near you is showing Moon, I would recommend getting on that.
It was very good, but not quite as good as I wanted it to be. To be honest, I think I set my expectations a little too high. Sam Rockwell was fantastic, but the plot was kind of predictable in a movie that felt like it shouldn't have been. I felt like I was always a few steps ahead, and I find it frustrating waiting for the character(s) in a film to catch up. Guessing correctly ahead didn't ruin the rest like it did The Sixth Sense, though. Conceptually, it also drew from the classic sci-fi pool, making my weekend a very nerdy one, indeed, despite a couple points of science fail.
Bottom line: If an arty theatre near you is showing Moon, I would recommend getting on that.
Thursday, June 25, 2009
This is not what I wanted to post about more
I kind of hate doing the deathwatch thing in a blog because it's not like I'm sharing breaking news here, but man, what a weird week, huh? After Ed McMahon, I was already kind of sad in a distant way about Farrah Fawcet this morning - more for her family and all that, but she was on a steep decline and it wasn't unexpected.
The Michael Jackson news, though, caused a stir at work, much like Heath Ledger did last year - a distinct rise in chatter volume, and a whole lot of browsers clicking away from whatever they were doing over to news sites. I was telling one of my coworkers that I think he was the first real singer/performer identity that I could associate with songs; the oldies permanently on my parents' radio were all a blur of "the dudes that sound like that" and "the girls that sound like that", and the rest was Disney and Muppets. But I have clear memories of being at our next door neighbors' house and listening to "Bad" on the radio. I'm about average age for my coworkers, so that or something like it is true for a lot of us. Even though he's been a tired punchline for years now, it's still kind of strange to be at that end.
And then I got home and saw on the flist that Lorena Gale also passed away, and really, that's enough, universe.
The Michael Jackson news, though, caused a stir at work, much like Heath Ledger did last year - a distinct rise in chatter volume, and a whole lot of browsers clicking away from whatever they were doing over to news sites. I was telling one of my coworkers that I think he was the first real singer/performer identity that I could associate with songs; the oldies permanently on my parents' radio were all a blur of "the dudes that sound like that" and "the girls that sound like that", and the rest was Disney and Muppets. But I have clear memories of being at our next door neighbors' house and listening to "Bad" on the radio. I'm about average age for my coworkers, so that or something like it is true for a lot of us. Even though he's been a tired punchline for years now, it's still kind of strange to be at that end.
And then I got home and saw on the flist that Lorena Gale also passed away, and really, that's enough, universe.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Stuff, nonsense - trying to post more about the mundane
The past three nights, I've had bizarre, vivid dreams each involving groups of people I know placed in the wrong context. The past three nights, I had pepperoni, olive, and pineapple pizza for dinner. I dearly hope these things aren't related! That was the end of the pizza, though, so we shall see what happens tonight.
The first night featured my coworkers at my high school (where the great crisis was my total inability to remember my class schedule hahaha). I forget the second, but it was along the same lines with different people/situations. Last night there was one with coworkers, and one with the Az crew, which started as a site visit or something and morphed into snorkeling somewhere tropical. GG and I got chased by a water snake. :-(
We're training up a new person at work. This is very exciting, as she will help relieve the pressure we've been under lately. Also excellent - it's been lovely and warm here, but not stifling hot in my apartment! High 70s/low 80s is my happy place.
The first night featured my coworkers at my high school (where the great crisis was my total inability to remember my class schedule hahaha). I forget the second, but it was along the same lines with different people/situations. Last night there was one with coworkers, and one with the Az crew, which started as a site visit or something and morphed into snorkeling somewhere tropical. GG and I got chased by a water snake. :-(
We're training up a new person at work. This is very exciting, as she will help relieve the pressure we've been under lately. Also excellent - it's been lovely and warm here, but not stifling hot in my apartment! High 70s/low 80s is my happy place.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Notes from the last week...
(Not even going to try to backdate this time. *waves hands*)
* Stadium gift cards meant endless food and drink, including hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps (omg).
* Walking through the middle of what almost turned into a fight (and watching that instead of the game - oh, bleachers).
* Smug satisfaction at staying through the end, unlike some people who left and missed a near-comeback.
SF Trip the First:
* On the occasion of friend in town!
* Wandering GG Park is always a good, if circular, time
* Random LOL: The kids yelling "I'M ON A BOAT!" while in fact on boats on Stow Lake
* Haight-Ashbury Street Fair was kind of hilarious
* Crazy Hamlet is crazy! Also, there was pie.
SF Trip the Second:
* On the occasion of a work off-site to a baseball game!
* Giants vs. Angels. I refrained from wearing my Dodgers hat but had fun rooting for the winning SoCal team.
* Teaching an Irish coworker about the game, only to have her miss the seventh inning stretch during a bathroom breaks, and getting vacation tips in return.
* Scoreboard fun: LOLtastic "announcement" of our group as a manager's 21st birthday (hah); later, a proposal (aw).* Stadium gift cards meant endless food and drink, including hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps (omg).
* Walking through the middle of what almost turned into a fight (and watching that instead of the game - oh, bleachers).
* Smug satisfaction at staying through the end, unlike some people who left and missed a near-comeback.
SF Trip the Third:
* On the occasion of co-workers' birthdays!
* Garden party on the patio was lovely
* Sunny day, but unfortunately windy :-(
* Somehow still had energy on getting home to go out for Mexican food, yum
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Need pie.
Ugh, I just watched the final episode of Pushing Daisies, and the end was Farscape all over again. Sigh. SIGH. Why does this happen to all the really creative shows? (Rhetorical.) More about what would have been.
I should try harder not go get attached to these things (looking at you, Glee). They'll all end up the same, canned right after they've wrapped a climactic cliffhanger of an episode, with no way to edit or change things for a respectable conclusion.
I should try harder not go get attached to these things (looking at you, Glee). They'll all end up the same, canned right after they've wrapped a climactic cliffhanger of an episode, with no way to edit or change things for a respectable conclusion.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
I will never see mustard the same way again
My company organizes big community service outings every year at this time, and today was the one I and a whole lot of people I work with signed up to do. We went to Half Moon Bay to do beach landscape recovery work. I spent about three hours whacking away at mustard and hemlock with a hoe and ripping ice plant out of the sand. I liked the second part better, although I fear for my back tomorrow.
One part of the day was kind of a bummer. During the hoeing portion, a group discovered a burrow of teeeeeeeeeeeeny baby bunnies! So cute! So were were all jazzed about that, and when three of us (IL, SP, me) were working around a different bush and heard squeaking, we got excited for more cute things. We couldn't see it under the thick growth but were really curious, so we started lifting up branches from different sides to try and figure it out. And, well:
IL: I see it! I think it's a bunny...or a mouse?
Me: Oh yeah! Looks like a bunny.
IL (looking into the darkness at wiggly, twitchy baby bunny): What's it doing?
SP: OMG a snake is eating it!
All of us: WAH! *drop branches and leap back*
Everyone else: WTF?
Me: Yeah, it's a bunny being eaten by a snake.
Everyone else: :-(
Aside from that, we made a good dent in the brush, and it was more fun - mostly - than sitting at my desk.
One part of the day was kind of a bummer. During the hoeing portion, a group discovered a burrow of teeeeeeeeeeeeny baby bunnies! So cute! So were were all jazzed about that, and when three of us (IL, SP, me) were working around a different bush and heard squeaking, we got excited for more cute things. We couldn't see it under the thick growth but were really curious, so we started lifting up branches from different sides to try and figure it out. And, well:
IL: I see it! I think it's a bunny...or a mouse?
Me: Oh yeah! Looks like a bunny.
IL (looking into the darkness at wiggly, twitchy baby bunny): What's it doing?
SP: OMG a snake is eating it!
All of us: WAH! *drop branches and leap back*
Everyone else: WTF?
Me: Yeah, it's a bunny being eaten by a snake.
Everyone else: :-(
Aside from that, we made a good dent in the brush, and it was more fun - mostly - than sitting at my desk.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Maker Faire 2009
LK and I went up to San Mateo on Saturday for Maker Faire, where we saw lots of cool stuff and got really sunburned (who knew a geek faire would be outside?).
Pictures below. Highlights included life-size Moustrap, Coke + Mentos = 'splodey, giant cupcake cars (do want!), and the near-fulfillment of my dream to have a Lego room.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
Up! (Spoilers)
LK and I took our sunburned selves to see Up today, and it was fantastic! You should see it.
Six months ago, I was very "meh" on this movie, because the concept wasn't appealing and it was Yet Another Boy Movie from Pixar. Then con season started up, and I saw extended clips, and WOW, they were hilarious! So it was with high anticipation that I went into the theatre, and even though I was battling a pretty crappy physical state, it did not disappoint!
Up is both laugh-out-loud funny and boy-I'm-glad-this-theatre-is-dark tear-jerky, with a lot more of the former than the latter. If the previews made you smile or giggle, you'll really enjoy the full thing. And yeah, the movie is almost entirely boys, but I enjoyed it so much - and the female characters that did exist were so awesome - that I could forgive it. (Although next time, please Pixar, give us a female protagonist?)
Other things! Everything about the kid is funny. Almost everything about the dog is funny. Actually, Dug is kind of a brilliant concept. He's not really anthropomorphic in the classic Disney way; everything he "says" really is a translation of simple dog thought. Stylistically, the film is gorgeous, of course. And if the battle at the end is a little less great than the rest, as I have seen said elsewhere, I was so into it that I couldn't bring myself to care.
Due to me mis-reading the schedule, we didn't see it in 3-D, but I would absolutely go again to get the full experience.
Six months ago, I was very "meh" on this movie, because the concept wasn't appealing and it was Yet Another Boy Movie from Pixar. Then con season started up, and I saw extended clips, and WOW, they were hilarious! So it was with high anticipation that I went into the theatre, and even though I was battling a pretty crappy physical state, it did not disappoint!
Up is both laugh-out-loud funny and boy-I'm-glad-this-theatre-is-dark tear-jerky, with a lot more of the former than the latter. If the previews made you smile or giggle, you'll really enjoy the full thing. And yeah, the movie is almost entirely boys, but I enjoyed it so much - and the female characters that did exist were so awesome - that I could forgive it. (Although next time, please Pixar, give us a female protagonist?)
Other things! Everything about the kid is funny. Almost everything about the dog is funny. Actually, Dug is kind of a brilliant concept. He's not really anthropomorphic in the classic Disney way; everything he "says" really is a translation of simple dog thought. Stylistically, the film is gorgeous, of course. And if the battle at the end is a little less great than the rest, as I have seen said elsewhere, I was so into it that I couldn't bring myself to care.
Due to me mis-reading the schedule, we didn't see it in 3-D, but I would absolutely go again to get the full experience.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
THINGS I HAVE LEARNED TODAY
ITEM: Expired soda doesn't just taste gross; it also pops holes in the aluminum and leaks out all the frell over your cabinet.
Next time someone who's moving asks me to take their party stash, remind me to say HELL TO THE NO. Ugh. I am sticky, and quite sure the old-ass, crappy wood cabinet will never be the same.
I guess it was motivational. Not like I had anything else to do tonight, like Az stuff, Ireland reservations, or work I'm pretending I'm not doing at home. Asphyxiating on cleaning fumes is a much better use of my time.
*squelches back to it*
Next time someone who's moving asks me to take their party stash, remind me to say HELL TO THE NO. Ugh. I am sticky, and quite sure the old-ass, crappy wood cabinet will never be the same.
I guess it was motivational. Not like I had anything else to do tonight, like Az stuff, Ireland reservations, or work I'm pretending I'm not doing at home. Asphyxiating on cleaning fumes is a much better use of my time.
*squelches back to it*
Sunday, May 24, 2009
A friend and I emerged from our respective homes today (success!) to go see Angels & Demons. I read the book but had forgotten all but a few plot points, but even if I hadn't, I think I still would've been almost literally on the edge of my seat. I caught myself with tense fists a number of times. They did a really nice job of driving the show forward, even with all the exposition dumping necessary in these movies. And! They got rid of the most ridiculous plot point, so yay for that. Random Carmen Argenziano made us giggle (she knew he was in it, I did not). The spectacle was quite well done, too, so despite a few idiot character moments, I enjoyed it.
Also, Ewan McGregor was hot. :-D
I was in severe danger of spending the entire weekend on my couch, so I am extra glad we went. I've got plans this evening, too, so maybe I'll just watch one movie today, instead of the (oh god) four? five? plus some regular television I did yesterday. Activity fail, slugginess win.
I tried to come up with a list of movies to see this summer, but it turns out a lot of the ones I'm interested in don't come out till the fall. Up is next up - my months-ago mehness about this movie was totally dispelled by the clips I've seen at cons. It is some damn fine comedy, and I will see it opening weekend.
Also, Ewan McGregor was hot. :-D
I was in severe danger of spending the entire weekend on my couch, so I am extra glad we went. I've got plans this evening, too, so maybe I'll just watch one movie today, instead of the (oh god) four? five? plus some regular television I did yesterday. Activity fail, slugginess win.
I tried to come up with a list of movies to see this summer, but it turns out a lot of the ones I'm interested in don't come out till the fall. Up is next up - my months-ago mehness about this movie was totally dispelled by the clips I've seen at cons. It is some damn fine comedy, and I will see it opening weekend.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
I did theatre, not choir, but...
GLEE BRINGS ME GLEE.
...which probably means it's going to get cancelled halfway through the season. Sorry.
IN THE MEANTIME. GLEE.
...which probably means it's going to get cancelled halfway through the season. Sorry.
IN THE MEANTIME. GLEE.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Niffler
This weekend, I contributed to our struggling economy by supporting small business. Or, in other words, I went to the local craft fair event three times and bought a bunch of stuf. Three of those purchases were in the interest of not dying, as it hit the 90s this week (smoothie, water, shaved ice).
I also bought a necklace.
I also bought a necklace.
 |
| From Drop Box |
The picture doesn't do the color justice, but eh. I don't wear much jewelry, but I really like looking at it. I like shells, and I felt my relatively meager necklace collection was lacking green. Along with the purchase is a promise to start wearing them more; it's not like I get dressed up with any regularity, and it's kind of a waste to have shiny, dangly things sitting in a box all the time.
Then today, I got bookmark jewelry!
Then today, I got bookmark jewelry!
 |
| From Drop Box |
How cool is that? Except that I got seven. -_- I wanted one, and I thought my sister and mom would like them, and also my other sister, and my dad might think they're nifty, and well, I couldn't just leave the last sister out, right? The seventh is because they had a "buy six, get one free" deal. Would that it had been one less!
Darn it. I'm usually so good at not buying things.
Darn it. I'm usually so good at not buying things.
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