HOME ABOUT PUBLISHED WORK CURRENT PROJECTS THE MENAGERIE CONTACT

General News, July 2008

Action sequels suck

I am probably the only person in America who didn't love "The Dark Knight."

It was okay. It was too long. I'm sorry, but I just don't have the attention span (or bladder capacity) to sit in a theater for 2 hours and 45 minutes. That includes trailers, yes, so the movie is probably 2:20? 2:30? I don't care. I was seriously bored with a good hour left.

Bored? How can anyone be bored in that movie? All those explosions! All those stunts! All those plot twists and turns.

Yeah, what plot twists and turns? See, this is my real beef with action movie sequels. Once you've seen the first one... once you know the players and their issues (and their super powers)... you pretty much know what's going to happen. Oh, the specifics may change, but the outline is exactly the same. And I get bored.

Don't get me wrong -- I didn't hate the movie. It's probably the best Batman movie they've done, and Heath Ledger's performance is OUTSTANDING. Christian Bales is probably the best Batman so far, and I love Morgan Freeman and Michael Caine. I'm not really complaining about the story. It was fairly complex as super hero movies go. But, really, there was an hour and half of story and another solid hour of stunts.

Yawn.

Oh, and I am SOOOOO over the super hero thing. Seriously. Can we stop with the conflicted, tortured super heroes? Been there, done that. Let's just give super heroes a rest altogether for a while.

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Purple

We discovered the most wonderful little cafe and wine bar this weekend. It's called Purple. We went first to the one in downtown Seattle, but found out that there are also branches in Woodinville and Kirkland. We were shocked that we'd missed it in Woodinville, since it's a pretty small town, and it's our regular stomping grounds. But, yes, we had.

I'm not a drinker, so even though it's really a wine bar, that aspect is wasted on me. The food, however, is not -- and it's outstanding! They have cheese flights, a tasting bar (in Seattle), incredible appetizers, and salads. They also have sandwiches, pizza, pasta, and appetizers, but those are heavier. We mostly ate a variety of selections off the cheese and appetizer menus. We ate way too much food, but we are in a much better position to go in and order a reasonable amount now because we have a pretty good feel for what and how much they serve.

I highly recommend it. I can't wait to take my mom when she visits next month. We were supposed to go to The Melting Pot with friends this weekend, but Jay wants to go to Purple instead. I was kind of looking forward to The Melting Pot, but I'm okay with Purple again. It's definitely a new favorite!

The rest of the weekend was... variable. I got my hair cut and colored, and it's always great to see Garry and Melanie, my stylists. Saturday afternoon and evening I hung out with Joene, and we went to a presentation on "Everything You Want to Know About Agility Trials." Very entertaining, plus I love spending time with Joene.

Sunday during the day was less fun. Jay bought a huge weight set on Craigslist, and we had to borrow a truck and go pick it up. The process was way smoother than I expected it to be, which was good, but it was still a LOT of stuff to load -- and, of course, it was all in the basement of a basement (!), which meant carrying it a long way, all uphill! Nice weight set though -- dumbbells and barbells, bench and racks -- and I'll enjoy using it. Just wish we had a treadmill too.

We're going to put the exercise stuff on the mezzanine for now. That meant we needed to clear some space there, so we finally got around to moving the sofa and a couple of desks back into the basement. All I have to do to be officially moved back down is move my computer and chair.

I'll do it sooner or later.

Monday, July 14, 2008

My latest obsession

Where the Hell is Matt?

I cry when I watch it. It just makes me feel really, really good.

He has a Web site as well with an AMAZING journal. I accessed the archive, went to the first post (which begins before he even thought of this "dancing thing"), and have been reading it straight through. Wow! Truly amazing.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Updating the site

I'm spending this evening updating my Web site. You won't be able to tell that much is different, so don't bother prowling around looking for exciting new features. I'm updating the templates so that all the pages are two column, and so that the links on the right side are template-based instead of living on the individual pages. That way, when I archive something, I have to update only the template. (Those technical details are so thrilling, aren't they?)

I've been spending some time working with Pax, and I sent in his enrollment for an agility class. Since I'll probably be talking a lot about that, I'll put those updates on the Menagerie page where they belong.

Friday, July 11, 2008

Agility fun!

I had the BEST time today. My friend Joene and I went to an agility match in Monroe. We're both new to the sport. She has been taking classes with her Australian Shepherd for about three months, and I've never taken classes -- so though we've attended a few matches together, we're newbies.

I tell you -- agility people sure are friendly and welcoming. Everyone we spoke to was just super! They were more than happy to answer questions or talk about their dogs. Lots of different breeds of all shapes and sizes were represented -- and all different shapes, sizes, and ages of handlers as well! There were lots of handlers as overweight as I was, and many, if not most of the handlers, were over 40.

The highlight of the day was meeting Ric, the man who owns Agility A Go Go, a local (to the area) business that sells agility equipment. What a nice, generous man! He gave us lots of insider information, sat ringside with us and told us more about the dogs and handlers, AND put us to work! Joene and I both took a turn at being a timekeeper for a class. Let me tell you, that's a great way to learn more about the sport and to meet even more people.

Well, Joene finally convinced me -- I'm going to enroll Pax in an agility class. There's a place in Monroe called "The Dog Works" that was highly recommended at the show. Their next beginning agility class doesn't start until September, but they have an obedience class starting July 14. That will get me and Pax back in the swing.

I'm looking forward to it! Now I just need to figure out how to convince Jay that we NEED agility equipment....

Saturday, July 5, 2008

Archive