Minions of Habit

Another post FB is not sharing with anyone but me. Oddly, I got it from a friend's Timeline so it has gone through already at least once before.

As for the thoughts IN the piccy, it is so very true that we tend to do what we have done before. (Some sociologists/psychologists call that 'self-herding' behavior.) So, we would benefit from being more aware of what choices we are making, and which way we are trending.

Comes to mind that if a person indicates they were 'fooled' into supporting bullying once, but then you find them pushing agenda(s) on behalf of others - with one or more wanna-be 'queens' they seem to be appeasing in the background - you have identified a definite trend that equates to some quite serious flaws in character. Sure, there are some serious differences getting shared on FB about current events. Its understandable that people share their point of view, and reasonable for those who disagree - to say they disagree. However - going on to another's page and commenting at length solely for the purpose of discouraging others from expressing themselves is not cool at all. It stands out like a neon sign when this is the only comment(s) they have made to the person in weeks, months, years ...no likes, no friendliness and then ze jumpingz onze like ze tonz of brickz. (Ya vol!)  Seriously, trying to force everyone you know to share your political views is a form of bullying. Minions are only funny in cartoons (like Girl Genius)...and in Despicable Me movies

I do admit to liking Despicable Me minions... and bananas ...and DM minions with bananas

and both Despicable Me movies.  (So glad the second movie was as fun as the first :)

So - ahem - yes, back to RL (Real Life) where minioning is BAD (tm) and respecting the sincerely held opinions of others is GOOD (tm)

...and now I want a banana

Happy New Year!

Hope yours is lovely! We spent a quiet New Year's Eve. We had some nice snacks we set aside, but didn't feel like anything noisy, so regular TV was out. Haven't liked the "New Year's Eve" specials in years so we just don't bother. We did go see "Voyage of the Dawn Treader" (in 2D- matinee pricing) and it was as wonderful as we'd hoped! So that's a nice note for the transition to 2011. I was beginning to be concerned we wouldn't manage to catch it. There were a number of family films that sounded promising this year but we couldn't afford to see all of them.

They really caught the feel of that most famous image of the Dawn Treader. I loved those skies! Reminded me of realMyst for a minute, then I recalled that I had loved the sky effect in that game in part because it reminded me of the picture of the Dawn Treader, so its more like coming full circle to my original inspirations... I was disappointed more people weren't there with us, but its near the end of the rather short run. At least those with us laughed and sighed at the right moments. You can't count on that anymore.

Which brings me to what tipped me over into blogging tonight ~

**WARNING I am not advocating reading the comments beneath the story in that link. Many aren't family friendly. I am just saying I read them while thinking about the article...

I just read a long set of comments on a story about how attendance is down at the theaters during the holidays** (and generally). There seems to be some surprise that people aren't going to the movies more when they did in the Big Depression (Is this a sideways acknowledgement of where we really are?). They expect 2011 will be even worse. (hhmmm..not expecting a boom economy soon then?)


Its really not that hard to figure.

1) Discretionary spending is down. People bought the expected presents so they didn't see as many movies, especially at Christmas.

2) MANY people are disenchanted with Hollyweird's lack of family-friendliness, political leanings, and/or anti-mainstream messages... Even those who are okay with that part of it are getting burnt out by the repetitiveness and mediocrity that seems to plague most releases.

3) The only exceptions to the general public distrust are for Pixar's family films, (and those that manage to get near that standard. Dreamworks has had quite a few good ones lately.) ...and even those are hurt by the high prices of film going these days. Popcorn and drink prices have always been outrageous, compared with usual cost, but now the regular ticket prices plus concession fare could set you back as much as a cheap DVD player plus a recent DVD film...that's when you really notice.

4) ...and those high prices get even higher when you 'have' to see it in 3D. Not many good films need 3D, it makes many people queasy/headache-y, and there are warnings that its not good for the eyesight of young children ~ which discourages even more families from making the sacrifice.

My family is among the many that actively avoids full price generally and 3D showings specifically. This relates to the movies we especially wanted to see on the BIG screen, most films we're content to wait. We last endured 3D for Toy Story 3, which is a great film, but would have been better for us without that gimmick. We felt sick afterward. This doesn't make the 'great movie experience.' We have enough issues with the increasing use of 'air fresheners' in area cinemas. We'd love it if they would stop the obligatory 3D releases. 

5) Yes, people want distraction from their current worries but there is more and cheaper competition.

When movies were king in the last 'recession,' there was no 'after-market' of DVD (formerly VHS) and color TVs at home. If you waited a few months to see the latest cool movie in the 30's, you likely wouldn't see it at all.

There were no game consoles, often with a cheap back library of greatest hits titles to play once you saved up for it. (I'm not talking the deep pockets- first adopters here, this is the masses who have to CHOOSE what to save to see.) Some people are even discovering what I've known for years, that replaying old favorite games can be fun and relaxing. For example, I have replayed "Mario Sunshine" every winter since we got it. Cheers me up a treat. Used to do the same thing each winter with my fav adventure game before 'Sunshine' came out for that 'virtual fun in the sun' experience. (The old Zelda games help too. ;)

There was no cable TV, just radio, and that had only a few channels. Even with the generally poor choices you can usually find something decent on much of the time, especially on the documentary and classic movie channels. If you can't afford cable anymore, I'm betting you've already cut movie theaters out of your budget.

There was no internet, with online places to hang with your crowd and entertain yourselves...no (or low) additional surcharge, not to mention the free public domain movies online, free uni courses, freeware games, demos, hosted documentaries and the many funny clips on youtube...and that's for the non-bibliophiles. Books are still very popular at my house. You can still buy amusing books for less than a dollar at area thrift stores ;-)

6) Movie theaters are becoming less and less comfortable in many locations. I am not picking on our area theaters, because the big megaplex tries very hard to make their place worth the money (and generally they succeed). Even the budget place has been doing much better lately, though they really need to clean the glass in front of the projection booth.

But poor or tight, a lot movie theaters are not cleaning as often as they should, many have tiny chairs, tinny worn-out speakers that produce unpleasant loud noises instead of THX-style productions and/or inconsiderate cinema experiences (much of this from other audience members, but it still impacts the results.) 3D glasses just add to the annoyances.

7)  Did I mention people are feeling broke? Gas is going up again. News stories are gloomy. Gloomy movies are the last thing most people want to see, but that is still what Hollyweird wants to make and what it honors in its artists year after year. People I know want fantasies they can lose themselves in for an hour or three, with a happy ending, or at least a ~ mostly ~ happy ending.

So ~ if Christian-tinged stories do not offend you, if you can afford it this week, and if you can find it in 2D, I can heartily recommend Dawn Treader to you, since it is more than able to fulfill such requirements. ;-)

"Tangled" is pretty good too. :)

Thunderstorm Meditation

Was given this link just before a brief, strong thunderstorm blew through. I just played part 1. It starts slow, but I was glad I hung in there when it got to the fun facts about the thunderstorm we just had.  I haven't seen the rest yet, but it seems like it will be a good evening's viewing! Praise God for all His Mighty Ways ...and for blessing us so that yet another powerful storm passed by harmlessly, after watering our plants. :-)

Avatar & Wonderland

We finally got around to seeing Avatar last week (Hurray for matinees :) For once I agree with the hype. You've probably seen pictures of the incredible backdrops & Na'vi tribe, but let me tell you...stills can NOT do them justice! It is an AMAZING movie. I don't think I have ever cared so deeply for CG creations. The plotline has been done before, but I liked some of the touches even there. Jake never lied about who or what he was, which was a nice change. Okay, he did leave out an important point, but he made up for that too. :-) What Ferngully did poorly, this movie does extremely well...and only the head of the military wasn't a full-fledged character. One of the best scenes had Na'vi Lady Neytiri holding Jake's unconscious body. Both as a CG composite AND as a dramatic moment it totally worked. I related to her distress for Jake, and that is quite an accomplishment!



Disney's 2010 live action effort, Alice in Wonderland was less successful, despite a very strong cast and the ppuurrfect Cheshire Cat. The makeup they gave Depp's Mad Hatter was a definite distraction from his otherwise strong performance. The frequently grim, Burton-esque landscapes didn't help much either, though the plotline made sense of them. I give the whole experience a B+. The CG work was very good, the 3-D aspect did add to the experience, and I enjoyed the idea of this being set after the books. I felt the narrative was pretty (un:)reasonable, though not very deep...up to the end. I find I agree with those I overheard in the departing crowd. Alice herself was great but that ending needed work! Another small nit bugged me (heh)...the character of the Knave of Hearts seemed hugely inspired by Brad Dourif's roles as Wormtongue & Saavedro. I wondered why they didn't just hire him? DD opines that he might be too old now to reasonably represent the Red Queen's interest in a 'young subordinate.' (She's not designed to look very old herself, so DD might be right.)

Star of Bethlehem

DH & I caught a recent presentation of a very interesting educated guess as to what the Star of Bethlehem sign may have been. There's an indepth article here.

[Edit: the documentary is no longer available, but this teaser may give you an idea]






Nope, its not complete. Want some more? The site & DVD are here!

The Star of Bethlehem dvd is also available at Amazon.com

Updates

Wow... I let my blog languish much longer than I'd intended! This entry probably won't be very long either as I am /still/ fighting with a nasty cold. Feels like I've had it forever, but its only been a few weeks we've been host to the Genghis Kahn of cold viruses. Yucka!

That's a lot of what has kept me too busy/disinterested to do a lot of blogging. I don't like coughing on my keyboard. Its hard to clean. Also its hard to concentrate with a full load of Nyquil on. lol

So...what has been happening? Two birthdays in the family, both of which went very well. They loved their ice cream cakes & regular cakes & prezzies :D

We made a bigger deal than usual out of our son's bday. Usually its the other way around - in a way. Its not that we never tried to make his bday as big a deal to us as his sister's, its just that Becka's comes first and its always been easiest to put the decorations up for her and leave them up for his big day ~a fortnight later. It may look just as good to the family generally, but he finally let on that his birthday celebrations often felt slightly....recycled.

So this year he got his very own decorations. Took hers down and specially got a banner/ribbon/balloon pack, put on a nice tablecloth, and deliberately made a bigger deal about how much we looked forward to the day & sharing HIS cake etc. One of his presents was a small trunk with an antique map texture on it...looked very pirate-y- and we put all the presents we could inside it. The effort was well worth it! Despite still feeling pretty rotten, DS obviously had a great time.

He had two reasons to feel a bit under the weather, btw. He had the cold invading his life, yes, but he was also recovering from a small bit of oral surgery. He had the first followup visit right around his birthday, and it left his gums very sore. Thankfully we had already planned egg drop soup and some other soft Chinese dishes for the big night, and very soft cake. heh

So, yep, we're hanging in there..and trying to prepare for Thanksgiving despite the colds we're all still fighting. Turkey is thawing in the fridge and all that. Hopefully at least one or two of us will be up to cooking the lovely food we have planned.

I think the unseasonably cold weather, and rapid changes in temps are making it tougher to beat the bug completely. But soon, we will, I hope!

Seems like one or two at most manage to get completely well at any given time. Grasping this reality, I stumbled out with our son to see Madagascar 2 on a good day for him. I had this feeling he wouldn't be up to it on the big day, and I was right. Fun movie, btw, graphics, and especially pacing were much improved from the first effort. The storyline was reasonably involving, but it suffered from everyone knowing the gags already. The penguin sequences could have been longer too in my totally biased opinion. LOL They are the funniest penguins I've seen in awhile. Oh- the other really good penguin movie was the the one DS got for his birthday, "Surf's Up." That one is surprisingly good. It would have been decent even if it hadn't featured all those adorable penguins. btw - right after watching it again, we happened to play an episode from season 2 of the Muppet Show and saw Chicken Joe again! He was the sheriff in this silly little Wild West skit.


Other than that, I am working on my crochet - hoping to finish that blanket I started for Tom during all those hospital stays. I got it finished to a width and length that worked well in the hospital beds (with sides up). That's a bit small for a regular bed, so I've been crocheting all around it, slowly expanding it. Seems to take forever, but it should last well once its done. Its a dense weave. I was too tense to do anything looser. heh

Other than that, I have played a bit of the hidden object stuff, read a few cozy mysteries, and prayed often. I am craving some hot chocolate and time with my latest mystery, so I guess that's enough up time from me for now. Take care, friends.

City of Ember fun

Its another slow day, with my kitty peacefully sitting on my toes. We don't do much with Columbus Day remembrances anyway, having long had doubts about whether he was more famous or infamous. DS is still adjusting to the new braces. The black powder event was pretty empty when we went by yesterday, so we went to the library instead - which seems to be much better run these days btw. I remember ranting about how they were, but hadn't told you what happened when a necessary bathroom break sent my family in to talk to them again. So far, they've been as good as their word- and the collection is MUCH better than I remembered.

Went by the City of Ember site (deciding whether we want to see it). I've been a sucker for (non-horror) cave people stories since:
1) missing numerous field trips to area caves while growing up. I was sick every single time we were supposed to go!
2) high school study projects, where I was in one of those experimental programs that had me roaming the stacks at the local uni more weeks than not- and afterward I spent time exploring left out resources their collection happened to have. As a former homeschooler I was more than happy to educate myself far beyond scholastic requirements. [grin] Some manuscripts were quite rare and included copies of documents stored since the French Revolutionary era - (minutes of the Committee' etc). Among the more fascinating bits was a collection of reports about 'cave people' who had supposedly come up all over Europe (from France to Germany, England, Gibraltar, and even Turkey!) Some were probably recent hideouts from the Terror, but other reports were positively intriguing. None of the adults in these reports survived for long after 'returning'? to the surface - but some of the children did adapt. Oddly, several were reported as having to learn the local language - but seemed to be speaking an unknown tongue of their own. A few told stories of a now lost civilization deep within the Earth that had suffered some kind of recent disaster. Several Native American tribes also told stories of living underground for a time. Were these all fairy tales? Possibly, since none of it has been proved aside from the comparatively shallow cave cities of Turkey, but the stories inspired Jules Verne and many after him - and apparently inspired the makers of Zork & Myst too. (at least secondhand. Once images enter the public imagination they take on a life of their own.)

Millions have been enchanted by the fascinating idea of a hidden city deep underground, safe from outside troubles, but challenged by their limited land and from the darkness within the hearts of mankind. The old stories still intrigue me too, so I took a look into the latest rendition, curious to see which of the classic tales or games this one would resemble most. So far the synopsis suggests neither Zork nor Verne. Ember's storyline (as written in the official synopsis and on Wikipedia) reminds me of several Dr Who storylines, old Star Trek episodes, Wall-E, and (faintly) of Logan's Run - but without 'lastday' and other violent Huxley-ish overtones. I guess I've read and seen too much fantasy & scifi works to find it original. But who knows, it might be reasonable to watch. Still haven't decided.


At the site, I played a couple of puzzle games - one based on ye olde "Pipe Dreams" and the other on the ever popular 'flip all the Switches on' challenge - used in so many adventure, rpg, and platformer games that it'd be difficult to list them all (Spyro 2, Mario 7 Stars, Lufia, etc etc). Maybe you'll enjoy them for a few minutes. Yeah, I'm still a puzzler at heart. :)

Summer changes

These last months have felt eventful, and flown right past, but I haven't felt like talking about it outside the family much. I have uploaded some pictures from this year. Maybe soon I will get around to making & sharing some cool slide shows again. It won't be today, though.

I've been busy in the garden, reading my histories & mysteries, sewing clothes, teaching, knitting, and all that good stuff. Sorry to have neglected so many of you online, but I lose track of the days during periods like this. We've had a few household changes. We lost Greylady, the elderly Russian blue-mix kitty who delighted us for so many years. Another kitty, Sandy, never was ours, but used to like to visit occasionally. It seems he has now moved on.

My natural father, who I've hardly known at all since I was my son's age - and didn't know well even then, decided to visit near my birthday to celebrate it with us. The weather didn't entirely cooperate. It was unusually hot those weeks, with tropical systems threatening both times he planned to come by, but we did see him finally for a couple of days. Finally got him to our favorite Mexican restaurant but the planned museums will mostly have to wait for another trip. He dropped off his old laptop to the kids as well, which has been well received.

It works remarkably well for being 8 yrs old, and plays a few older excellent edutainment titles we had held on to for our son, but had trouble running on the pcs here when the time came. (one was too old, the others too new). Nice to have Stowaway and The Way Things Work running perfectly again. (TWTW ran on newer systems, but was a bit glitchy/crashy. Some of these links go to updated versions, for your convenience.) Pinball Science & the old teaching disks (Switched-On-Schoolhouse, Dinosaur Hunter, Spanish etc..) ran well already.

I was watching those tropical systems very carefully indeed especially TS Bertha, since the last Bertha in 1996 prompted one of our evacuations because, when it came toward us, our son was still little and endangered by any lengthy power outages. Taking the road north, I encountered numerous little tornadoes on either side of the highway...for miles. We arrived to our haven safely, but you never forget stuff like that, especially given its proximity to my birthday both times. Becka says she will never forget it either! Ironically Bertha did no damage at all in our county in '96, not even lost power (which back then seemed to happen every time a butterfly sneezed.) The old Bertha was supposed to have 120mph winds, but the meteorologists said afterward that these high winds were not on the ground, which explained why it was such a non-event outside of that tornado zone I drove through. I was surprised they never retired the name given the official strength of the storm, but apparently this is tied only to damage. The new Bertha strengthened & weakened & strengthened & weakened, but never made land, so one supposes there will be another Bertha years from now. Hope she's as polite as the last two, especially if she wants to celebrate with me again.

My presents were pretty cool. I got some comfy clothes, some fancy clothes, Crosswords DS, and one of those Nifty Knitter doohickeys. Its actually fun! Will probably go back to handwork in fall, as the weave is pretty open with the big loom set I have, but am working on a dandy summer throw right now. When my natural father was here we saw Journey to the Center of the Earth with him, which proved to be a decent choice for a Verne fan like me. The kids and I also went to see Wall-E (Pixar makes yet another instant children's classic!) & Space Chimps in July, which wasn't bad either.

Hubby and I went out to our favorite hole-in-the-wall restaurant. We've been going there since we first dated and the place never changes - which is a good thing, because the people are nice & the food is excellent.

The biggest event of all was the passing of my hubby's eldest brother, which I guess is why its the hardest to talk about - maybe later.

The yard continues to recover, with effort. Still haven't replaced all the plants lost after Hurricane Isabel, but there are some new azaleas in the ground & amazingly the fig tree came back from the dead yet again. This is the third time! Seriously, its the phoenix of fruit trees!

Hubby continues to heal and managed to fix the old family tiller, and though it was a little late by then to get in everything, we did get a garden going this year. It is doing us some good. Its been great having one to work on again - and the fresh veggies were right on time when they started all those recall concerns in the news. We're still more cucumber heavy, than tomato-ish supplied, but that should change soon. The peppers produced well earlier, but we may have lost them to the extreme conditions. The extreme storms skipped us every time, but the heat and tropical-style cloudbursts seemed to be too much for the hot peppers. How ironic is that?

Fav Actors & Actresses

Inspired by a thread, I decided to list some of my favorite actors & actresses here, along with a few of their best known productions. I figured these might good suggestions when it comes time to figure out which golden oldies might be worth your time to rent.

Note:: I define 'favorite' as a performer whose name on a production would immediately cause me to consider watching it...

hombres::
-------------

Will Smith (Independence Day, Men In Black)

Johnny Depp (Pirates of the Carribbean movies, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory)

Sean Connery (Bond films, The Man Who Would Be King, The Wind and the Lion)

Orlando Bloom (LotR, Pirates of the Carribbean films, Troy)

Elijah Wood (Deep Impact, LotR)

Sir Alec Guinness (Star Wars, Lawrence of Arabia, Murder by Death, Doctor Zhivago)

Harrison Ford (Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Witness, Frisco Kid)

David Tennant (Dr Who, Harry Potter/Goblet)

Peter Ustinov - (Evil Under the Sun, Thief of Baghdad, Blackbeard's Ghost)

James Earl Jones (Conan, Star Wars, Lion King)

Kenny Baker (Star Wars, Time Bandits, Amadeus)

Billy Barty (Willow, UHF, Foul Play, Rumpelstiltskin)

Roddy McDowell (My Friend Flicka, Martian Chronicles, Planet of the Apes)

Jim Dale (Disney- Hot Lead & Cold Feet, Pete's Dragon, Harry Potter audiobooks)

Jimmy Stewart (Harvey, Its a Wonderful Life, Rear Window)

Peter Sellers - (Pink Panther, Dr Strangelove, Being There)

Peter Davidson - (Dr Who, Campion, All Creatures Great & Small)

Derek Jacobi (Cadfael, I Claudius, Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Donald O'Conner (Singing in the Rain, Francis series, The Buster Keaton Story)

Peter O'Toole (Man of La Mancha, High Spirits, Masada)

David Warner (Hogfather, Time Bandits, Masada, Tron, Time After Time)

Patrick Troughton (Dr Who, Sinbad & the Eye of the Tiger, The Six Wives of Henry VIII )

Tom Baker (Golden Voyage of Sinbad, Rasputin, Dr Who)

Mandy Patinkin (Princess Bride, Alien Nation, Yentl)

Billy Crystal (Princess Bride, Monsters Inc, Howl's Moving Castle)

Ian Holm (LotR, Brazil, Madness of King George)

David Suchet (Hercule Poirot, Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Gene Wilder (Blazing Saddles, the Frisco Kid, Haunted Honeymoon, Young Frankenstein)

John Rhys-Davies (Indiana Jones, LotR, Shogun)

Jeremy Brett (Sherlock Holmes, My Fair Lady)

Michael York (Logan's Run, 3 & 4 Musketeers, Romeo & Juliet)

Oliver Reed (3 & 4 Musketeers, Oliver, Adventures of Baron Munchausen)

Jonathan Pryce (Brazil, Something Wicked This Way Comes, Haunted Honeymoon, Pirates of the Carribbean movies)

Mel Gibson (Chicken Run, Air America, Braveheart)


Ladies
--------

Maggie Smith (Harry Potter, Evil Under the Sun, Sister Act)

Julie Andrews (Mary Poppins, Sound of Music, Shrek 2)

Angela Lansbury (Pirates of Penzance, Sweeney Todd, Murder She Wrote, Bedknobs & Broomsticks)

Emma Thompson (Sense & Sensibility, Harry Potter, Much Ado About Nothing)

Kate Winslet (Sense & Sensibility, Titanic, Finding Neverland)

Eileen Brennan (Clue, Murder By Death, Private Benjamin)

Goldie Hawn (Foul Play, Private Benjamin, Overboard)

Faye Dunaway (3 & 4 Musketeers, Chinatown)

Katherine Helmond (Time Bandits, Brazil, Overboard)

Jennifer Ehle (Pride & Prejudice)

Katherine Hepburn (Rooster Cogburn, African Queen, Lion in Winter)

Audrey Hepburn (My Fair Lady, Roman Holiday, Breakfast at Tiffany's)

Lesley-Anne Down (Sphinx, Hunchback of Notre Dame)

Helena Bonham Carter (Harry Potter/Phoenix, Wallace & Grommit/Wererabbit, Hamlet, Corpse Bride, Twelfth Night)

Happy Memorial Day!

Free Orkut Memorial Day Graphics

Hope your remembrance celebrations were blessed! Ours were of the peaceful variety - home prayers & small fireworks and dinner. Prayers went up - not only for our soldiers but all those who suffered loss on the day - for the everyday folks of Iraq being victimized by their extremist neighbors, and for the victims of the tornadoes & quakes. We grilled Nathan's hot dogs & burgers, added potato salad, cole slaw, water melon to the picnic table and ate outside in the screen tent, watching the aggravated mosquitoes ping off the netting as dusk deepened into a peaceful night. Becka (DD) filmed the fireworks, so maybe a she'll post images before long.

Talking about faith & fighting for what you believe in, we had seen Prince Caspian a few days before so we spent part of our weekend talking about its imagery, and what we liked & didn't. Overall, we thought it was pretty good. Too bad the reviewers were so unkind. I was (and am still) hoping to see their version of the Dawn Treader with the new guy. Somehow I never pictured Prince Caspian (and the Telmarines) as conquistador-Spanish type pirates, but it works! I found it interesting the way they stressed a pre-romantic situation between Queen Susan & Caspian. The movie was fairly faithful, even in this, but sometimes things seem different when you see them. As a kid, especially after having read the whole series, I felt this was a misstep by Lewis. Aslan would not have lost his 'own' - and would not have forbidden a course that would have ensured saving his dear one - in favor of outcomes that were much more miserable for both followers. I felt Lucy's visions of Aslan could have been handled a little better. It would have been nice if the audience, at least, had a glimpse. Also the time spent on the wrong track seemed so brief, and so necessary that Lucy's questions about it make little sense. A few more scenes made more sense if you had read the book, like when Aslan roars in Trumpkin's (the brave, grumpy dwarf) face at the end. If you knew that Trumpkin had said that he'd believe in Aslan when the great lion appeared and roared in his face, then you understood the humor. Likewise, Reepicheep's gentle correction would have made more sense had more of his pompous 'knightly' speeches been retained. Hoping these scenes are waiting to be restored in an extended cut edition? Like the Fellowship films, this movie seems to be begging for this lengthier treatment.

Free MySpace Memorial Day Graphics

Pirates of Penzance

I had been looking for a decent recording of Penzance (off and on) for YEARS when a friendly acquaintance got a line on an old VHS for me. While waiting, the discussion inspired me to go looking for the '83 movie version done with Kevin Kline, Linda Ronstadt, Angela Lansbury et al online - and I found that some of it is on Youtube broken into 4-10 minute intervals.

I have loved G&S operettas so long I can't remember my first introduction to them. I saw quite a few musicals when I was young, think it must have been then. My life has never been that easy. Little wonder that I love to laugh - and they make me laugh, so I love them. :))

Gilbert and Sullivan operettas are what I think of as painless education. They count as classics AND they are STILL hilarious! "Pirates of Penzance" & "The Mikado" are my favorite Gilbert & Sullivan operettas of all time. It helps even more if you've ever participated in one of them personally in community theater. Though as a young maid, I made a reasonable Pitti Sing, I never played in a Penzance production. I received my favorite recording of "The Mikado" for Christmas one year (Stratford festival - 1980's), but Penzance has continued to evade. Mind you, I wouldn't mind finding this '92 version of the Mikado...










So there you go! You can now answer a few more Jeopardy clues with confidence.

Stuff -

So - its been a busy spring

Life here is STILL busy, but things are looking up.

For the first time in four years we are NOT planning another major medical procedure, set of tests, or surgery. We are scaled back to seeing ONE doctor every few weeks. Tom isn't entirely healed up from the last one - but we're starting to believe that this trying chapter in our lives may finally be coming to an end, Praise God. We have now heard we will have help with the remaining bills from it all too. BIG relief there! Tom still needs a lot of pricey meds but these too have been covered thus far. Praise God for His daily blessings! We depend on Him so very much! Praise God even for the trials that made us focus so much on our walk with Him, and so much more concerned on what is pleasing to Him and what isn't. His Peace has made many days that should have been rough, comparatively easy. He has weeded out of our lives many things that evidently needed to go - and we've found that life is a lot more peaceful choosing to live Jesus' way. Praise God that as we have committed more and more to Him in prayer He has been faithful to come through for us, and so our faith has only grown in these times - and so we trust Him for tomorrow, and that He will lead us in good paths as the next chapter of our lives begins. We thank God also for all those daily blessings that have made our existence more pleasant of late. Even the septic system & well repairs have improved our daily life more than we would have thought. Our yard finally has its azaleas again, though they are still pretty small. We just put some new-to-us chairs around ye olde picnic table, because the weather has been so nice we've been outside rather a lot. We didn't really have a winter this year. Its been mild temps most days since early last fall. That doesn't always happen.

& No, we were not especially affected by storm that did all that tornado damage in Suffolk, though we appreciate the concern from family & friends who checked on us. Suffolk is wwaayy on the other side of the metroplex. We didn't even lose power for more than 20 minutes. Worst reports from our area from that overly energetic storm affected a rich guy who had his barn roof fly away, another reasonably well-off dude that had 3 classic cars damaged by a collapsing carport, and a lady who had tree damage on her house. Even in Suffolk, most had good insurance, though this is a traumatic event just the same. May God have mercy on all those who suffered loss.

Praying God's help for all those affected by the continuing storms that have slapped at one state after another in the center of our country. This was the first time one of those really strong storms reached our part of the coast. Definitely praying for some relief for those who have gone through one string of tornadoes & flooding rain storm after another. Praying also that these storms at least break the drought that has plagued so many places in our country.

I was disappointed that Huckabee didn't get farther, but maybe we can see him as VP? Whether I'd vote for McCain still depends on that and - whether Obama gets his chance to run against him - and - now -I'd like to hear some solid assurances from Obama now that he respects the rights of people of faith, including those relating to homeschooling. I guess if Obama really feels that gun rights & religious convictions are merely a fallback for the down & out, it was good he slipped up in those comments in Pennsylvania, but I was sorely disappointed by that- and by the way he equated these positions with small town xenophobias. The continuing coverage on the ungracious views of his long time religious leader haven't helped either. Glenn Beck is right. There's no way Obama knew this guy for 20 years and didn't know where Rev. Wright was coming from. Just the same, there are so many good things he has had to say- even in his bad speech, Obama was addressing a real need. We DO need jobs to come back to all these little towns...

Hubby doesn't understand why Hilary has done so well so far. Everybody ought to know what she has stood for, right? Moore's latest film "Sicko" reminded us of some of the good & bad of her health plans. Certainly something needs to be done and she's got a rep for trying to do something about it. Just the same, her latest comments about (en)forcing everyone into universal coverage concerned many folks. But not everybody remembers, or followed the scandals all that closely back in the day. All anybody mentions now is Lewinski- which is Bill alone. To be fair, if I hadn't read so much about the Clintons during their reign, and hadn't been so shocked by the Vince Foster's death and the shredding of documents she was accused of having done right afterward (even the official answer, which could be real, didn't make her look good) - and also about the Whitewater scandals - Well, she might sound pretty good to me too. She certainly knows how to present herself. She might answer that none of her competitors is any better - and she might be right, or not. All we poor voters can do is make a limited choice and hope for the best candidate to represent our current concerns and let us keep our cherished freedoms. At this point it isn't incredibly clear who that would be. Guess we'll just keep following developments.

On a slightly lighter note. We DID get to see "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed." Hubby saw it twice, as my Mom wanted to go after hearing our report and he volunteered to drive seeing as the movie theater was a new one. It took a little finding for those unfamiliar with the new development. Its a very good movie! We'll be sure to get the dvd when it comes available. Ben Stein was about as fair-minded as he could be, but its an awful thing when one clique becomes so intolerant of any theory or worldview not their own that they will persecute the 'heretics' - as Stein's documentary clearly shows them doing - and still claims to be open to all truth. The hypocrisy was just stunning. None of this was news to me, as my earlier blogs can attest, but its different to see it on film. The hope is that this will curb the mindless animosity that has plagued the dialogue process thus far. Hearing Dawkins admit that he could accept a 'seeded'/terraformed Earth - or some other form of ID was a bigger opening than I had hoped to hear at this juncture.

You see, the Intelligent Design paradigm doesn't get into WHO put the completed forms on Earth or WHEN - just that that the primordial- soup- to- dinosaur evolution insisted upon by the establishment hasn't truly been supported by the evidence - at least on THIS planet. Many ID scientists are not Christians, nor are they Creation Scientists. The big scape-goating thing is to say that only people of faith would argue the world view enshrined in museums, and then imply that faith destroys their thinking process. Actually only people who have strong convictions of some kind would take the risk of arguing with Powers That Be. Not many people dared to argue with the Nazis to their face either. There were consequences for that kind of courage long before the death camps were built. This is what people need to understand.

Now, I DO believe in God as the Maker of all things. I am a Creationist, but I've known from the beginning that God Himself hasn't been big on making our faith pointless by proving His Might & Power & Glory to all men - just yet. Just getting a fair playing field where people can believe what they want but understand that our faith isn't DISproved by the evidence is a major step forward - and all I ever asked to see until Christ's return. That may sound minimalist, but I think I understand why God hasn't removed more of the wool off evolutionist eyes. He wants them to want Him for His own sake.

God imputed much righteousness to Abraham for his faith in God - that gift of salvation, purchased by Christ, has been available to all those on Earth who would love to believe in doing right, and who want to know Him. Once all is known beyond a shadow of any doubt, what value would our acquiescence to God's Omnipotence and Omniscience grant us? Not much.


On a MUCH lighter note, I just have to show you the worst purchase I have made in awhile - half price or not. This is the new 'Intuition" razor - whose writeup- in French & English said something about wetting the razor and then 'pushing the buttons' while you shaved to release a gentle lather...

The buttons on it don't do anything. The big handle, which does look like it was designed to be a reservoir, is empty. Instead the 'shaving soap' consists of a small cut-out bar that surrounds the cartridge. The single backup cartridge also has its own soap bar. I tried it and found that the soap didn't lather, but the whole process did make me rinse the tested area several times to get all the residue off. I felt very clean afterward... So it does work - after a fashion.

& Delightful Nonsense

The second SkyOne adaptation of Pratchett's terrifically funny Discworld novels came out this Easter and its absolutely wonderful! Sadly, we in the states will have to wait to see its full glory on our tvs and on dvd (but thank you very much to the folks who slipped us unofficial previews)

"The Colour of Magic" Movie


Before SkyOne made Hogfather & Colour of Magic, the best effort was a cartoon version of Wyrd Sisters

Ben Stein & RC Sproul

Stein interviews Dawkins