They're trying to break me...

I was pretty hungry when I got off work yesterday and I was thinking of a new, exciting way to prepare yet another grilled, skinless, chicken breast. I was feeling pretty ok about that dinner until I got the mail. Of course it had to be Pizza Hut coupon day. And they don't just have one picture of a pizza...no...they have multiple pizzas. I have to admit I wavered a bit but then I remembered that I don't even like Pizza Hut much. So I'm throwing that away and what's underneath it? The frickafrackin' Black Angus dinner for two coupon! You know, the one with the Wagon Wheel Sampler platter with the fried zucchini and the loaded baked potato and the bread. Oh, the bread! The bread that I love beyond all reason. And the fudge cake at the end. Sweet chocolaty goodness with a vanilla ice cream chaser. Somehow I managed to throw that one out, too. Then, when I settled down in front of the tv with my salad and chicken breast, they played that Olive Garden commercial with the skinny guy talking about trying all the different combinations of pasta and sauces. I just had to mute it. Enough is enough.

The actor was hot, but...

I tried to watch "Prison Break" last night. I think it's a well-done show but I just didn't care much. I was really enjoying it at the beginning and then I just got more and more bored and I finally just turned it off about an hour and a half in. I don't think I'll watch it anymore, even if Wentworth Miller is kind of good-looking.

When I was doing my movie roundup I forgot to mention "Beyond Borders" (12/250). It wasn’t very good which was probably why I didn’t mention it. Still…it’s a movie that I had never seen before so it counts. Clive Owen is in it. Clive Owen is hot. That’s about the best thing I can say for the movie.

Any funny title I write seems wrong...

From CNN:
Louisiana evacuees should stay away for at least a week to avoid "a wilderness" without power or drinking water that will be infested with poisonous snakes and fire ants, state officials warned Monday.

That paragraph scares the crap out of me. If I lived in Lousiana and I read that I would probably never go home again.

This guy called in to some channel this morning and said that, during Camille, a bunch of people went to high ground to escape the flooding but then were killed because all the poisonous snakes went to high ground too. That's scary.

I'm so hungry...

Three more movies down on my 250 goal:

"Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story" (9/250) I laughed a lot at this. I felt stupid for laughing but I laughed anyway. I couldn't help it. It was funny.

"Brother's Keeper" (10/250) This was a great documentary. It was about these four weird old brothers that all lived together and one of them dies and another one is accused of his murder. It frustrated the heck out of me. I just wanted everyone to leave them alone. They were just a bunch of old men not bothering anybody.

It's sort of weird at the beginning but, if you stick with it, it's really interesting.

"The Upside of Anger" (11/250) This was pretty good. I liked the cast: Kevin Costner, Joan Allen, Keri Russell, Alicia Witt, Evan Rachel Wood & Erika Christensen. It was kind of crazy.

Here's the deal about "Upside of Anger". They eat a lot. Many scenes are of them preparing meals and then eating them. Meals that looked really good. I just got finished watching CBS Sunday Morning this morning and seeing the lobster corn dogs and sirloin burgers. I really didn't need to watch a movie where skinny, pretty women eat all the time.

I read a book, too. The book was sort of sucky but I guess I can still count it as 1 out of my 100 books I've never read before.

This is going to be hard, isn't it?...

I started a diet today. Now I'm dying for some potato chips. I don't even like potato chips that much. I don't usually eat potato chips. It's just the idea that I can't have the potato chips that's making me really, really want some. It probably isn't helping to write about potato chips. That's just making me want them more.

I really want some carrots. Lots of crunchy carroty goodness. I'm dying to eat some carrots. Mmmmmm....carrots.

Let's see if that helps.

Is there a saboteur in our midst?...

Half my office is on a diet and my boss brought four dozen doughnuts to work today. Ha! I don’t think he knows about the diet/contest. It would be kind of funny if he did though and was just messing with everyone.

Either the tests are crazy or I am...

I took the "What Classic Movie Are You?" quiz and I ended up being the coolest movie! I thought I'd be like "Plan 9 From Outer Space" or "The Blob" or something.

But, aaackkk! Look what famous leader I am:


It is true that a couple of my "enemies" at work have chosen to quit rather than get fired. I may have had something to do with that. They deserved it, though. They were doing bad things. Bad, bad things.

OK. I didn't like that leader result so I took the test a couple more times to see if I would always end up as a mass-murdering psycho. The second time I was Albert Einstein and the third time I was Abe Lincoln. Then I did the movie one again and ended up being "Apocalypse Now." Twice.

I'm so confused. WHO AM I?!?! I think I'm going to need some therapy now.

They're going to be so embarrassed later...

This fixation that the "Friendship" on BB6 has with "Cappy" is flat out crazy. He was a contestant on a tv show and he lost. He's not dead. You don't need to make a little memorial to him in the HOH room. Loons.

Go James.

I just watched "Sudden Impact" (8/250). I don't know why I like these Dirty Harry movies so much. They're actually pretty goofy plotwise and the acting is a little over the top. I'm loving them, though. I just have "The Enforcer" and "The Dead Pool" to go and I'm done with the series. What will I do then? I guess I'll have to start watching Clint's spaghetti westerns.

I'll be just like Molly Ringwald...

I bought my vacation shoes. Only nine more weeks until Shamu splashes water all over them. Yay!

I want my Timothy Olyphant fix...

I tried to go out shopping yesterday. There was a nail in one of our tires so we went to Big O to get that fixed first. The Big O guys didn't write us up or anything and just said to give them the keys and they'd fix it in about ten minutes. So, like an hour later, they say our car is ready and they tell us to go out into the bay and just pay the guy who fixed it ten bucks. I'm thinking there's something all kinds of fishy going on at the Big O but the nail's gone so I don't really care.

While I was waiting, I got to watch the Skate Vert finals of the Dew Action Sports Tour Vans Invitational. It was surprisingly enjoyable. I developed a little crush on Bob Burnquist because he kept laughing whenever he fell on his butt. I decided that I want to marry a pro skateboarder and get one of those houses with the skateboard pools in the backyard. Hey, there are worse ways to spend a life.

After the fishy nail pulling, I ate lunch at "Red Robin" and I think I got food poisoning or something because I ended up really clammy and dizzy and intestinally compromised. So I just came home and I didn't get to try on Nike Shox or anything. Boo! Sucky "Red Robin". I hate it when I pay people to make me sick.

On a happier note, the "Six Feet Under" finale was great. I'm glad everyone was in a nice place at the end. I don't know why I wanted good things to happen to these characters since they're really all pretty awful but I did. So, yay. And boo hoo because it's all over.

Now bring on the next season of "Deadwood".

First fajitas, then the world...

"The Motorcycle Diaries"(7/250) is a great movie. I'm completely ignorant of Che Guevara and I really only watched it because it had Gael Garcia Bernal in it and I have a little crush on him. (I mean, really...just look at him over there.)


I loved it, though. The scenery was gorgeous, the music was lovely and it was quite funny, which I wasn't expecting. Both Gael Garcia Bernal and Rodrigo de la Serna were wonderful. I highly recommend it.



It also made me want to go to Machu Picchu. Of course, I'll probably never go because I'm sort of afraid to travel outside the US.

Never say never, though. After all, I used to be afraid of fajitas and now I eat them all the time.

Another one aboot me being obsessive...

Kevin Smith, Jason Mewes & Alanis Morrissette were on "Degrassi". That makes me so happy. I love Kevin Smith & I love Degrassi and they've now merged into one big mess o'goodness. And Caitlin kissed Kevin! And Craig's off his meds and getting the crap kicked out of him in the previews for next week! And Spinner has to wear a hairnet! Even with all that good stuff, I still don't think New Degrassi is as good as Degrassi High. Degrassi High was the best. New Degrassi might be better than Degrassi Jr High, though. It's been so long since I've seen Jr High I just don't know. Jr High did have Stephanie. And Yick, right? I liked Yick.

A 34 year old American shouldn't care this much about Degrassi. I blame PBS. I also blame PBS for getting "The Bloodhound Gang" theme song stuck in my head about 25 years ago. Seriously, when's that thing going to quit rattling around my brain?

I just put Degrassi Jr High on my Netflix queue. I have 279 dvds on that queue now. I'm never going to be able to watch them all. And I can't figure out what to watch first. "Ghandi" or "Cannonball Run"? "Escape to Witch Mountain" or "Elmer Gantry"? "24" or "Columbo"? "The A-Team" or "Everwood"? And the new fall season starts next month! I'll never have time! I'll have to quit my job and sell off all my belongings on EBay to pay for cable and electricity and the monthly Netflix fee.

Two posts in an hour? How prolific...

Has anyone ever asked you a question and then, when you answered, just laughed hysterically while looking at another person in the room? That’s really rude. Although, not entirely unexpected in my case considering the source. Still...rude.

I hate the word "snarky"...

Well, number six of my 250 movies was just okay and then amazing. "Stage Beauty" stars Billy Crudup and Claire Danes. That's pretty much why I watched it. I love Billy Crudup and Claire Danes. Billy Crudup, especially. I was borderline obsessed with "Without Limits" for some time. I wasn't that into "Stage Beauty" for most of the movie. I was interested to see what happened but I didn't really care much. Then, in the last half hour or so, the Crudup and Danes characters perform the death scene from "Othello". That was incredible. It totally made up for the fact that I was kind of bored the rest of the movie.

The Big Brother 6 house is full of a bunch of sore losers that are taking the show way too seriously this year. So are the BB6 message boards. When you're talking about spitting in a contestant's face when they get out? And watching one moment over and over to see if someone cheated so that you can decide if you want to write protest letters to CBS? You might want to step back from the computer. And why would anyone constantly refer to someone named Maggie that they don't know from a tv show as Maggot. Is that funny? Oh...excuse me...is that snarky?

Even if the message boards are mental, the show is really good this year. Go James!

Dr Will and a dunk tank? That's good tv...

::sigh::
I love Dr Will. I thought that enough time had passed since BB2 for me to get over him. Then I watched "Battle of the Network Reality Stars" and the second he came on the screen I was back in love again. He's just so dreamy. ::sigh::


The "Battle" is some fun tv. Dr Will, Chip&Kim, The Miz, Coral, Gervase, Richard Hatch, pretty Burton...good stuff. Plus, there are clips from the original "Battle of the Network Stars"! I'm totally hooked.

It's funny this follows the dessert post...

Hmmm...let's see. What could possibly make Mondays suckier than they already are? What could I do that would make my Sunday evening stress even worse than it already is? Oh! I know! I could join my office's new Biggest Loser contest! That way, for the low low cost of the $5 start up fee, I could weigh myself every Monday in front of the WHOLE OFFICE! Whee! What fun! But, wait. There's more. As if having all of my coworkers know exactly how fat I am on a weekly basis wasn't great enough, I could be forced to pay 25 cents for every pound I gain. Wow. That sounds like it would start my week off great! YAY! I'm signing up right away!

Is it too early for dessert?...

The banana pudding at Lucille's (1/25) is so incredibly good. It's totally going onto my top three desserts list. Now there's the Chocolate Chip Calzone (I don't really know what it is except for there are a lot of gooey chocolate chips involved) from Claim Jumper, the Stairway to Heaven (Belgian waffles French toast style with ice cream and caramel) at the Kahuna Grill and now the banana pudding at Lucille's. Lucille's banana pudding just narrowly by the smidgiest, tiniest margin beat out Cozymel's banana pudding based only on presentation. At Lucille's they bring it out in this little canning jar. Very cute. If it was based on taste, they'd totally tie.

What? Jeremy Sisto is hot...

"Six Feet Under" killed me last night. The whole Brenda/Billy incest thing was maybe the creepiest scene that show has ever done. Well, except for the whole Billy trying to cut off Brenda’s tattoo scene. Or the Billy off his meds trying to get Claire to have sex with him scene. Should I be disturbed that I’ve maintained my massive Billy crush through years of him being a completely creepy whackjob?

Anyway, the last episode ever is next week. ::sniff:: I didn’t think I’d be so sad to see it go. I love those crazy Fishers and Chenowiths.

I didn’t make it to Lucille’s last night after all. The storm came back and settled in and my dog flipped some more so we stayed home and watched "Ray". (6/250) It was good, but not as great as I expected from all the hype.

I just found out, thanks to Marti's blogroll, that Dave Barry has a blog. Whee! I love Dave Barry.

Mmmmm....'nana puddin'....

My dog totally freaked out today. She's terrified of thunder and we had a storm. She actually started freaking out before the storm even started. There was major shivering and whining and I couldn't figure out what was wrong. A little later I went out on the patio to watch the rain and she kept coming out to jump up and hit me in the leg and run back in the apartment like she was saying "Are you mad, woman! There's thunder out there!"

The storm is mostly over now but she's still stuck to me like glue. Poor Maggie. I don't really know what to do when she gets so freaked. I can't make it stop storming and that seems like the only thing that would help. I just read that I'm not supposed to pet her when she's scared because then she'll think being scared is something to get rewarded for but that seems sort of stupid. It's not like she's being scared just to get attention.

On another note, I'm three more movies down on my 250 movies goal.

I watched "Napoleon Dynamite" (3/250) finally. Parts of it were sort of funny but I can't really say I enjoyed it. I like the guy who played Napoleon, though. He was pretty cool.

This morning I saw a movie called "Wide Awake" (4/250) about a little boy who searches for God so he can see if his dead grandfather is ok. It had a great cast: Dana Delany, Denis Leary, Robert Loggia, Camryn Mannheim, Rosie O'Donnell, Julia Stiles, Dan Lauria. The kids that played the little boys were adorable. I was surprised that it was written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. It was just so sweet and fairly normal.

I also saw "Spellbound", (5/250) the documentary about the 1999 National Spelling Bee. I got entirely too involved and had to cheat and check the internet to see who won that year because I couldn't handle the suspense. It was a good movie. I didn't like it as much as "Born in Brothels" but I'd recommend it, anyway.

Now I'm off to "Lucille's BBQ" to eat some fried chicken and banana pudding and knock one restaurant off my "eat at 25 restaurants I've never been to" list.

Only 248 movies to go...

I just watched the documentary "Born Into Brothels" (2/250) about these great kids that live in the red light district of Calcutta. It was pretty amazing. I watched the whole movie just dreading what the outcome would be for these children. If it was so stressful for me to be involved for about an hour and a half, it must have been a nightmare for the documentarian who was trying to help them get out and into decent schools. I just wanted to kill some of the adults in it. If I'd been doing the filming I might have been tempted to at least take a swing at this one woman in particular.

Anyway, I recommend it. If you can get it, you also need to watch the nine minute short "Reconnecting" where they catch up with all the kids.