Rumblings and Rants

Whine time! I've tried not to complain, but some things are getting to me!

Netflix: Hate it. The pressure! You have to pick a title, then it comes and everyone gives you the evil eye until you've watched "your" movie so that it can be sent back for the next one in line that they are waiting for. And you never know which ones are coming in what order so if yours comes you must drop everything or face said 'evil eye'. Argh.

Food Network: I've come to realize how wicked these shows are. For one thing, you are immediately hungry for whatever they are making as nothing looks bad on them. So, instant diet wrecker. Then, whoever is watching them gets very cranky because nothing that is available to eat at home is remotely desirable compared to what they've just seen. Major cranky.

Lady Gaga: I know it's all self promotion, her way of getting attention. And that by simply complaining about her is giving her some of my attention, therefore she is getting more than her 15 minutes and the circle continues. At what point will this stop? Do people consider her a talent or a sideshow? I don't get it. And on the VMA awards ( I had to watch as my teen sons commandeered the living room), what's with Madonna's tribute to Michael Jackson that was somehow all about her?

The phrase "a slippery slope." It used to be Law & Order had the franchise on this term, but I'm hearing it everywhere. It's annoying me in the way that "a paradigm shift" and "at the end of the day" used to.

Today the guys are watching an old (1995!) western, The Quick and The Dead. Respectable cast (Hackman, DiCaprio, Crowe, Sinise) except for Sharon Stone. I'm sorry but I'm not a fan. She utters the line "I'm gonna kill you if I have to ride all the way to hell to do it" with a straight face, and then "the Law's come back to town". Worst dialogue ever. Lame. It did make me ponder, on all the scenes of gunfights that happened throughout the movie, did the townsfolk really come out to watch? You see it in all the Westerns, everyone gathers to watch the duel. Me, I'm too chicken. I'd be hiding out at home under my bed. Or conveniently out of town. Why go watch? Was that historically likely? Same with hangings...did people really go watch? WHY?

Lastly, I must gloat. Got a TON of books this week. A huge box from Perceval Press (14 books!!!! Woo hoo!), I have it stashed for the perfect quiet moment to sort through and escape. One of the books is a Scott Wannberg book of poetry Strange Movie Full of Death: can't wait to open it! If there's anything like "Agony River" I'll be in heaven. Then from Alibris, where I had to buy some textbooks for middle child, I got two old out of print Tim Winton books (Minimum of Two and Blueback) as well as The Long Green Shore (about Australia in WWII? I think?). They were cheap, it was just shipping that killed it but since I had to get the textbooks anyways (that's how I justify it, don't knock it!).

Finally, YAY to Jon and Stephen being back after hiatus. They can't ever complain about not having material! And YAY to Kanye West for inspiring so many great internet parodies. And YAY to my parents: today is their 54th anniversary. Wow.