Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?

Thou art more lovely and more temperate:

Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,

And summer's lease hath all too short a date:

Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,

And often is his gold complexion dimmed,

And every fair from fair sometime declines,

By chance, or nature's changing course untrimmed:

But thy eternal summer shall not fade,

Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow'st,

Nor shall death brag thou wander'st in his shade,

When in eternal lines to time thou grow'st,

So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,

So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

How bad is it when my excitement for the day are two shirts shipped to me by Land's End in my big ole MamaSan size...and they were purchased on sale? Whooo hooooo!

Currently I am awaiting the big ash blast from Mount Redoubt in Alaska. It's located kinda at the beginning of the Alaskian Tail, as I call it, the cat tail that swishes out into the Pacific and curls toward Sarah Palin's favorite furrin country Ruskie. I used to get on my kid's butt about being into massive destruction like earthquakes and tsunamis, but I gotta admit, a volcano erupting is exciting - you can read more on Redoubt here - http://www.avo.alaska.edu/activity/Redoubt.php.

Thankfully the holidays were survived with brains intact. I happily received copies of the Warner Brothers X-mas Vol 2, Road House, Popeye Vol 3, and a few other fine films, and a newer collection of Robot Chicken. The husband doesn't get it, but I do. That reminds me, I have to find my copies of the first two seasons for a friend at work.

I'm still following the Caylee Anthony case. I was in danger of becoming a bit obsessive with it but have decided to scale back on the net blogs and sites. Being back to work after having the holidays off helps, if only I'm too busy to be searching and reading stuff all day. I'd still flip the switch on that broad, with no regrets. Child killers and molesters forfeit their rights in my thinking.

I'm starting to get a wee bit more interested in the Oscars. I have no desire to see BB and Brad Pitt at all, it's a rental. Of course it'll grab a few awards, but I really have my hopes placed on Slumdog Millionaire. Yes, there are parts of it that can be construed as trite or overdone, as in 'sheesh we've seen that before' but the actors are so charming, the story refurbished so well, and after all, there's no crime in having a tale end as it does here. Sometimes it's good to be led by the nose and down the hall out into the yard, you are happy to take that ride. Of special note is Anil Kapoor who has been in I-don't-know-how-many Bollywood films. I'm hoping that perhaps we'll see more films from India end up being nommed for Oscars. Slumdog is not a Bollywood film by any means but perhaps it will open that door just a little wider.

Top Chef is a little over half way done. As the episodes have gone on I've enjoyed them more, and now we have a new season of Hell's Kitchen also. Now I'm to the point where I anticipate the next TC show, and have high hopes for three of the chefs that are still in contention. At first I wasn't really enjoying this season but as I suspected, when some of the dead weight was told to pack their knives and go it became more watchable.

I'd better go look for those Robot Chicken discs.

The time...where does it go?

The time...I wish I had more of it. It's been just a horrible horrible past few months. I had a grandmother and great aunt pass away, which is sad but not surprising given their ages. About a month prior to their deaths however a young teen and friend to my daughter was killed in a home fire. My husband and I had babysat and driven to/picked up from school this gal and she had been a special friend to my child while in grade school. This was not our child, and I cannot in a million years imagine what her mother is feeling, going thru, or how she is coping with this. From our years of being in her life however we had profound sadness and grief. Why someone so young and vibrant has to die at such a young age I don't know, and will never know.

So...not a fun house. I really had no desire to blog, and am just getting into the winter season for those critics end of year best movies list. I have a few ideas on what I'd like to see but I will contemplate further upon this before I post. Of course there's many many films I haven't seen but I usually got on gut feeling. I have vacation time coming up the end of this month after X-mas, and I fully intend on seeing at least three new films.

Because of our general lack of enthusiasm for much of anything in Casa De Under A Rock I've really not watched much as of late. Wait...I take that back - a new season of Top Chef has started, there's been lots of college football, wrestling, Svengoolie, Iron Chef, and Three Stooges. I did have one afternoon where I thought to myself 'fuck it, I need to giggle' and watched Slap Shot twice. Then I put in My Man Godfrey and just drank in the Deco and Powell and Lombard. Great way to spend the afternoon, the dishes didn't get done til late but I was happy for awhile.

I'm thinking I need to get into the swing of the season and put in Come To The Stable tomorrow afternoon. Why isn't this out on dvd yet? Another film I was thinking of was Blossoms in the Dust but I found out that the film isn't available as a stand alone, it's only available out of the box set. At least there are two other films in the set that I like, so it's been added to my X-mas list.

I promise...more blogging to come. Really, I'm not kidding!

You were the one that got away

Indeed - they don't make 'em like him anymore.

I just had to watch Slap Shot the next day. No, it's hardly a movie of 'quality' in some eyes, but it features a great performance by Newman as the slightly over the hill slightly tacky hockey player/coach. And of course, the Hanson Brothers. It's terribly funny, and terribly poignant, and when you think of towns dying off, it's still the same now - maybe more so with the current economic situation.

I also picked up a copy of Road To Perdition, which oddly I'd never bought. I'm a big Connie Hall fan...I don't know, maybe I've just had other movies on my want list higher. There's nothing better lit than a scene with rain and Newman saying to Hanks "I'm glad it's you". For all that it's a gangster picture Newman has an elegance and poise in this role...his characters still tough as Cagney but tempered and weathered by his life's work.

If you can't swim, just remember the fall will kill you.

While I'm thinking of it...would it be so much to ask that our currently running for president people shut up? As in...stop being negative, pointing fingers, name calling, character assasination, he said/she said, nasty ass comment making, just shut the hell up? Present your point of view, and be nice about it. Don't label each other. It's the voters that can do the comparison shopping all on their own, thank you very much. Maybe the voters, which politicians seem to think are so stupid, could do a much better job if they didn't have to wade thru so much bullshit.

It may be time to get the hip boots out, it's getting mighty deep around here and we may need shovels before election day gets here.

Stirred, Not Shaken

Gee, I love getting my kid back to school. It's like having a second job. In fact, when a child is in school, you do have a second job...and a third...and a fourth.

Also...since we last met we have obtained (that being the polite way to put it, landed on is more likely) a new kitty - Tarzan Charlie. I will have a picture here for posterity. I'd love to get a picture of he and our other male Ringo together - one where they aren't trying to chew each other's ears up. He's so black he shines, and in the sunshine one can see where his stripes show...obviously there is a tabby in his lineage. He's gained five pounds since we got his scrawny and bowlegged bundle of yoweling fur in the house and that's a great accomplishment. He should have his own blog called Tee Pee the House with Tarzan Charlie, but alas, he cannot type yet. Someday.

Anita Page has passed on...not so much a shame since the lady was 98, but I was sure she would have made it to 100. Let's see if the Academy bothers to put her into their dead people rundown at the 2009 ceremonies. Bets anyone? My favorite role of her's is in the movie Night Court as a woman who gets caught up in the clutches of baaaaaad judge Walter Huston. Huston is a real lowdown and nasty dude in this, Philips Holmes is great as the husband who comes to the rescue. Nice little film. She was a treat in Skyscraper Souls and Our Blushing Brides also. I'm not as familiar with her silents as I should be, seen a couple but not all. I've seen Free and Easy but it's been so many dang years I don't quite remember her role. Just another on the list to see again.

Unfortunately my head is starting to split so that's all for now folks. More mediocrity later, I promise.

PS - In case Cindy Anthony reads this, which I doubt since she doesn't have the IQ of a dead grasshopper, yes your daughter is a murderer. If it was my daughter telling such whoppers and pretending not to know where she disposed of her child's body I'd chain her to the back of my van and do 85 mph down the freeway til she talked. Your daughter is a skank, you've got nobody but yourself to blame for her sociopathic behavior. I hear you like to google her name and sic your lawyers onto sites or message boards or blogs that say naughty naughty things about her. Guess what. We are right, you are wrong, and you need more help than five psychiatrists can give. That monster whore you call your daughter needs to be locked up before she ever breeds again. Now come and get me.

Same ole story, same ole song and dance

Damn it, I think I've got one of those summer colds coming on.

I've had the most interesting experiences with FedEx and a manufacturer from NY. More like heart attack inducing to be honest. I had ordered a microwave stand in early July. The manufacturer even called me to say that the order would be delayed. Not long after I get a tracking number and excitedly track my package with the eagerness of an astronomy student tracking a new planet. However, it was not to be. The Chicago hub of FedEx didn't want to deliver it, since it was heavy, and decided instead to consider it 'refused'. Niiiiiiceeeeee. So then, it went all the way back to NY. Because I'm occasionally a smart gal I had kept the manufacturer updated with all the doings, as well as keeping in constant contact with FedEx.

Finally, to make the long story short, after many delays they couriered the package back to me and I opened a box that looked like it had been thru several world wars and conflicts. Of course with my luck about a third of the pieces were damaged. One piece was broken, the rest are scratched up to all hell. Now, if a couple of pieces were scratched and they wouldn't have been noticed on the inside I'd have no problem. However, not my lucky day.

Today however, was my lucky day. After stressing out about what I was going to do with these pieces of stand adorning my front porch I had a lengthy conversation with the manufacturer who are sending me another stand, and they are filing a claim with FedEx. They are also NOT using FedEx to ship me the new stand. I rather tentatively asked if they wanted me to try and send it back myself and they said nothing doing, that FedEx effed this up so let FedEx be the picker uppers.

In the midst of all this fun I did remember to tape some great Marie Dressler films yesterday. I got a silent in the morning, and taped a couple in the afternoon with her and Polly Moran. Well you know my luck by now - we had a hell of a storm here in the Chicagoland area last night, a real whopper with torrents of rain and lightning and ear splitting thunder. Some areas got hit pretty bad and the Cubs game got called. All this wonderful weather had an adverse effect on our Sat receiver upstairs so when I went to tape the one damn movie I really wanted, Emma, I missed such a chunk of it I called it a night. Damn damn damn! I know it'll show again. At least I didn't forget, it was the weather that held me back this time. Honestly, there isn't a lot going on with TCM's Summer Under The Stars to really attract my attention. I think the only other day is featuring Peter Lorre.

Last episode of Flipping Out tonight for this season - boo hiss. Now if only Project Runway would start sizzling, I'd feel okay.

I am a naughty naughty gal

Okay, I've been really busy! And I'm in a bad 70's music mood - right now I've got Claire playing by Gilbert O'Sullivan. It's a new low everyday people!

Rented and watched In Bruges this weekend...when Colin Farrell puts his mind to it he can act, and act really well. Brendan Gleeson is his usual great self, and it's nice to see Ralph Fiennes be a rather nasty man, but with a small touch of honor. Dunno what I'd rate the film, I'm still thinking about that - I would recommend it but only if you like quirk.

Thank the TCM Gods a thousand times - September has Kay Francis as the featured actor! I've got a whole list of films to tape and watch ready, and I have a pretty good Kay library as it is. There's some really good stuff here for the first time Kay viewer, including Man Wanted, One Way Passage (very under rated film, great love story), and Doctor Monica. Then we have Carole Lombard in October which is a treat, a lot of her pre-codes I don't have yet. The one film I would like to see that isn't on the schedule is Supernatural, the poster for which is all sorts of awesome. Enough of that though, Kay is first and foremost my Pre-Code Queen, and she has the flicks to back that up.

I was watching Westward The Women this afternoon...I love that line where the one cowpoke says to the other after hearing about how the women will shoot the men if they get to close "They must be great!" Hell yeah, they must be - thank you Mr Wellman, and if they re-make that film I'll shoot somebody...it's perfect as it is.