I Got My Tax Refund!

I can finally get some furniture now. It only took 7 months. I'll post pictures as soon as I can. I plan to go to Wal-Mart and/or Ikea this weekend for bookcases. I'm possibly getting a couch from someone I work with at Amazon. If not, I'll be doing some shopping on Craigslist. I will be so happy to have a couch. You have no idea.

If Movie Posters Were Honest

Originally posted HERE. I copied and pasted my favorites. Check out the link for the others.

TV Guide Asks *MY* Question to Joss Whedon

Joss Whedon Answers Your Questions

2 minutes in, Matt Mitovich says "This is a good one" and then asks Joss Whedon the question I submitted which is "Who do you gush over the way your fans gush over you?"

How cool is that?

Miss Halfway

This is another "Note" that I posted on Facebook that has been going around:

1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your next answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how outrageous it sounds!
4. Post the last answer as the title of the note.


IF SOMEONE SAYS, “IS THIS OKAY?” YOU SAY?
Peel Me A Grape (Diana Krall)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
My Blue Heaven (Harry Connick, Jr)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GIRL/BOY?
An Idea For A Movie (The Vandals)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE’S PURPOSE?
They Can't Take That Away From Me (Sarah Vaughan)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
Tupthumping (Chumbawamba)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
Wild, Wild West (The Escape Club)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
A Cold Wind Blows Through Your Door (Bill Ricchini)

WHAT IS 2+2?
American Idiot (Green Day)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
You're Nobody Until Somebody Loves You (Dean Martin)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
So:Lo (Kate Havnevik)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Man From Mars (Kristen Vigard)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
On The Tower (Sondre Lerche)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
House of the Rising Sun (The Be Good Tanyas)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Sweet Home Alabama (Lynard Skynard)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Sunday Morning (No Doubt)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Diamond (Klint)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
Sparkling Diamonds (Moulon Rouge soundtrack)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Living in Sin (Bon Jovi)

WHAT’S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
You Bowed Down (Elvis Costello)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Slow Down (Natalie Imbruglia)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Baby I Love You (Aretha Franklin)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Hopeless (KT Tunstall)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Down (Stroke 9)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED (or again)?
Ya Mama (Fatboy Slim)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Poisoned Rose (Elvis Costello)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
The Story (Brandi Carlile)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
Your Cheatin' Heart (Patsy Cline)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
Indiana (Rockapella)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Miss Halfway (Anya Marina)

This Week In Netflix

"My Name Is Bruce" (2006) Description from Netflix: Mistaken for the character he plays in the Evil Dead films, B-movie icon Bruce Campbell (playing himself) is kidnapped by the citizens of a small mining town who want him to save them from a vengeful demon. At first, Campbell thinks it's all part of an elaborate prank. But when he realizes the demon is in fact real, he comes face to face with a second terrifying enemy -- his own fear. Ted Raimi co-stars in this tongue-in-cheek comedy.

Very disappointing. It had so much potential. I wish they hadn't tried to make it a B-movie since that was what they were making fun of. It was too much camp even for me. The best part of the movie was Ted Raimi. Who would have ever thought that sentence would be said? As a Bruce Campbell fan, you need to see it. However, if you are not a fan, don't bother.

"How to Lose Friends and Alienate People" (2008) Description from Netflix: Life changes drastically for alternative rag writer Sidney Young (Simon Pegg) when he takes a job at Clayton Harding's (Jeff Bridges) glossy magazine. There, he's drawn into a risky affair with a co-worker (Kirsten Dunst), and his contempt for celebrity is tested by starlet Sophie Maes (Megan Fox). Based on Toby Young's memoir, the indie comedy co-stars Gillian Anderson as the dragon-lady publicist whose power plays turn Young's life upside down.

Yet another movie that Simon Pegg is good, but the movie just falls flat. So far the best Simon Pegg movies are directed by Edgar Wright or JJ Abrams. This was just a mediocre movie much like "Run, Fatboy, Run" was. Nice seeing Gillian Anderson on screen again, though.

"Reservation Road" (2007) Description from Netflix: The lives of Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix) and his wife, Grace (Jennifer Connelly), are thrown into chaos after their 10-year-old son is killed in a hit-and-run accident. When the case stalls, Ethan makes it his mission to hunt down and punish the person responsible. Violence, revenge and justice collide head on when Ethan finally finds the man who killed his son. Mark Ruffalo co-stars.

Deeply depressing movie in which nothing good happens. Great performances make a sad movie watchable, but sadly not a good movie. It just spirals downward with nothing to lighten the movie.

"Brideshead Re-Visited" (2008) Description from Netflix: Matthew Goode, alongside Michael Gambon and Oscar winner Emma Thompson, stars as Capt. Charles Ryder, an officer stationed at England's Brideshead Castle during World War II, in this big-screen adaptation of the classic novel by Evelyn Waugh. The suspenseful drama builds as Captain Ryder becomes infatuated with the castle's owners, the aristocratic Marchmain family -- particularly their grown son, Sebastian Flyte, and his elegant sister, Julia.

I hadn't read the book nor seen the TV series so I didn't know much about it. I liked it very much a heavy period movie about inappropriate love and it's consequences. If you like Merchant Ivory movies, you will like this. Great performances and beautiful locations.

"From Hell" (2001) Description from Netflix: A movie that posits the true identity of Jack the Ripper, From Hell stars Johnny Depp as an opium-huffing inspector from Scotland Yard who falls for one of the Ripper's prostitute targets (Heather Graham). The directing Hughes brothers laudably attempt to break out of their pigeonhole as "black directors" and demonstrate (like Ang Lee) that they can genre-bend with the best of them. Not for the squeamish!

I haven't read the graphic novel this was based on, but knew the premise. I thought it was just okay. There was nothing spectacular to keep me interested. I ended up working on other stuff while I half watched it. The acting was fine, but the script dragged.

On Netflix Instant:

Netflix Instant lets you watch some TV shows and Movies on your computer and doesn't count toward the DVD you already have. This is how I watched "MI-5" and I just recently finished over a period of a few weeks:

"Doctor Who: Season 1" (2005) Description from Netflix: More than 15 years after "Doctor Who" went off the air, the venerable sci-fi series got a well-received 21st-century makeover, complete with younger actors, modern editing and CGI animation. In the revamped show's first season, the Doctor (Christopher Eccleston) meets his new sidekick, a department store clerk named Rose (British pop star Billie Piper); then, the duo travels to Victorian England to help a beleaguered Charles Dickens.

"Doctor Who: Season 2" (2006) Description from Netflix: David Tennant steps into the role of the mysterious Doctor Who in the second season of this popular sci-fi adventure series. The Doctor and Rose bounce back in time to battle a menacing force that threatens 18th-century Versailles, and defend Queen Victoria from a terrible creature in the Scottish Highlands. Billie Piper (Much Ado About Nothing) returns as the Doctor's charming counterpart Rose Tyler.

"Doctor Who: Season 3" (2007) Description from Netflix: The BBC's hit sci-fi series returns starring David Tennant as the time-traveling Doctor, with Freema Agyeman as Martha Jones, a medical student who joins him on his journeys as they traverse the centuries to solve mysteries and right wrongs. In the show's third season, the adventurous Doctor and Martha cross paths with William Shakespeare, get trapped in the past and take on their most formidable adversaries, the Daleks.

Going back and re-watching the episodes was fun. Amazing how they were setting things up to have payoffs later or even in the spinoff series "Torchwood." This is just a great series for the whole family. Season 4 is just brilliant as well, but not on Netflix Instant yet. It will be sad to see David Tennant go before Season 5, but I thought the same thing about Christopher Eccleston left and David turned out to do an amazing job. I'll fo a full post about Doctor Who later.

Feeling Nostalgic...

This Week In Netflix

I actually haven't had a chance to watch anything this week.

I would like to note my previous Netflix ranking was 12,852, which was a bit disappointing because it had gone down some from when they first posted them.

However, my current rank is 8,606! That's up 4,246 points. Woo hoo!

Conference Call Haiku

Business calls are dull
Facts and figures are not great
Falling asleep here

Monotone voice drones
Percentages and pie charts
My mind wanders away

Staring at clip art
Crazy wipes and bullet points
All set to music

Always be selling
Ignore the economy
Denial in action

I could be working
Is this really productive?
Clients are waiting

Organization
Solutions Orientated
Seriously stop

They asked questions
This only makes it longer
What is wrong with them?

Click to continue
Power point presentations
Torture defined

Economy bleak
Happy to have a good job
This meeting's still dull

People are clapping
Surprised they are still awake
Why aren't we done yet?

Trying to focus
"Relationships are key"
It is not working

I have a pencil
Scribbling little figures
I wish I could draw

This is what happens when I have to be on a conference call for 3 hours.

The Economic Recovery Re-investment Act

I came across this list of how the money will be distributed it. I found it pretty interesting and thought you might as well:

$2 billion for renewable-energy research ($400 million for global-warming research)
$2 billion for a “clean coal” power plant in Illinois
$6.2 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program
$3.5 billion for energy-efficiency and conservation block grants
$3.4 billion for the State Energy Program
$200 million for state and local electric-transport projects
$300 million for energy-efficient-appliance rebate programs
$400 million for hybrid cars for state and local governments
$1 billion for the manufacturing of advanced batteries
$1.5 billion for green-technology loan guarantees
$8 billion for innovative-technology loan-guarantee program
$2.4 billion for carbon-capture demonstration projects
$4.5 billion for electricity g
$4.5 billion for U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
$850 million for Amtrak
$87 million for a polar icebreaking ship
$1.7 billion for the National Park System
$55 million for Historic Preservation Fund
$7.6 billion for “rural community advancement programs”
$150 million for agricultural-commodity purchases
$150 million for “producers of livestock, honeybees, and farm-raised fish”
$89 billion for Medicaid
$30 billion for COBRA insurance extension
$36 billion for expanded unemployment benefits
$20 billion for food stamps
$150 million for the Smithsonian
$34 million to renovate the Department of Commerce headquarters
$500 million for improvement projects for National Institutes of Health facilities
$44 million for repairs to Department of Agriculture headquarters
$350 million for Agriculture Department computers
$88 million to help move the Public Health Service into a new building
$448 million for constructing a new Homeland Security Department headquarters
$600 million to convert the federal auto fleet to hybrids
$450 million for NASA (carve-out for “climate-research missions”)
$600 million for NOAA (carve-out for “climate modeling”)
$1 billion for the Census Bureau
$15 billion for business-loss carry-backs
$145 billion for “Making Work Pay” tax credits
$83 billion for the earned income credit
$50 million for the National Endowment for the Arts
$380 million in the Senate bill for the Women, Infants and Children program
$300 million for grants to combat violence against women
$2 billion for federal child-care block grants
$6 billion for university building projects
$15 billion for boosting Pell Grant college scholarships
$4 billion for job-training programs, including $1.2 billion for “youths” up to the age of 24
$1 billion for community-development block grants
$4.2 billion for “neighborhood stabilization activities”
$650 million for digital-TV coupons; $90 million to educate “vulnerable populations"
$79 billion for State Fiscal Stabilization Fund

Happy President's Day!

Happy Friday the 13th!

BBC Big List of Books

Apparently, the BBC reckons most people will have only read 6 of the 100 books here.

I bolded the books I have read and italicized the ones I've at least seen the movies.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. Harry Potter series - JK Rowling
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (a good chunk at least)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25. The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Alborn
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Things That I Have Learned

10 things that you have learned personally or directly from someone else. This was originally posted as a note on Facebook.

1. Putting out a candle with compressed air doesn't have the desired effect.

2. Never Pledge a hardwood floor.

3. Putting towels in a pillow case to use as a battering ram works well...except in a pool.

4. Never try to unclog a toilet with Drano.

5. Exercise balls can and will pop.

6. Using black garbage bags in lieu of a slip'n'slide does not work...and hurts.

7. Just because you have three meat thermometers doesn't mean they all work.

8. Leaving the lid on Tupperware in the microwave with lasagna in it will melt the lid.

9. There is a difference between baking powder and baking soda.

10. Despite how it sounds, garlic ice cream is very good and sweet.

This Week In Netflix

"MI-5 aka Spooks: Season/Series 5" Description from Netflix: Known across the pond under its original title, "Spooks," this British espionage drama follows a covert team of MI-5 officers tasked with protecting the world from terrorist threats. In the wake of a fourth-season stunner that found the team being held hostage by an ex-colleague with an ax to grind, the show's fifth season unfolds with a series of terrorist attacks that prompts the government to tighten national security.

This series as always just gets better and better. I watched the first four seasons on Netflix Instant and just switched to DVD for Season 5. You can read more about This series HERE.

"Quantum Leap: Season 2" Description from Netflix: Time is elastic in this gripping sci-fi series about Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), a physicist who travels from one era to the next to correct past mistakes by taking over different identities. His only help is wisecracking sidekick Al (Dean Stockwell). This season, he visits 1960 to help newlyweds get on the right path, 1979 to inspire an actor playing Don Quixote, 1957 to defend an African American woman wrongly accused of a crime and much more.

It has been nice taking a break from new shows and movies and visiting with an old friend like Quantum Leap. It still stands up and I remember a good chunk of it, but it is nice to re-watch these. I think I'm going to take a break and watch a few more movies before I finish watching the rest of the series, though.

Congratulations, Cat!

My good friend, Cat Humphris (pictured above) has started her new job today working on

She will be an "Executive Story Editor" which is a level or so up from a staff writer and will also be writing one of the episodes in the third season. I am so excited for her and so glad she is working on such a great show.

More on my views of this awesome series HERE.

Why I Never Got Into Politics...

When I was a senior in high school, I was one of a handful of people in my history class who didn't do model UN. Since those people got extra credit, the teacher offered to give us an extra credit project. I made the suggestion of comparing the electoral college to one man-one vote. We would have the whole school vote by homeroom and each homeroom would be weighted. I thought the best way to do this so as not to ruffle any feathers would be voting for a color. Red and Blue would be the main party with White as the independent party or the Ross Perot as it were. Red and Blue would have multiple people helping while White would be alone to show the power of having support from the parties.

I ran the White campaign. This was announced right before spring break so I spent my entire break making slogans and posters to go on every persons locker and then made buttons to pass out plus posters for the wall. I figured that since it was just me I needed to do a lot more work.

I got into school about 2 hours early the first day back from back and did my decorating. This was about 450-500 lockers or so to get to. I had 4 different slogans one for each class. I don't really remember any of them now. I think one was for the seniors "The future is bright. Vote White!"

Apparently, out history teacher didn't think anyone would really go above and beyond on this and never mentioned it to the principal, but more on that later.

So the campaign lasted two weeks. I campaigned my heart out and all the other teams did was one poster saying "Don't be blinded by the White. Vote Red." Clever, but nearly close to the nuclear level I took my attack.

I started talking to people and realized no matter what I was screwed. They weren't deciding on the level of the campaign. They said stuff like "My favorite color is blue so that is who I am voting for." I was pissed. I realized that no matter what I did there was no way to win people over to vote for a non-color in a color campaign.

When we totaled the votes, I did win...barely. Red and Blue were close and I squeaked past on both the electoral college and the individuals. I realized that I could never get into politics because people would vote for whomever they wanted despite have no good reason for voting for them.

It wasn't until years later I realized why the principal was pissed. It didn't occur to me that "voting white" might be taken the wrong way if you don't know there is a mock election over what color to to vote for. Reminds me of what Stephen Colbert says "I'm color blind. I don't see race. People tell me I'm white and I believe them because I put mayo on everything."

Hulu.com

I'm not sure if you are aware of a website called hulu.com, but you should check it out. You can watch full episodes of television or a handful of movies for free. They have full episodes or clips. You can to sit through :15 to :30 second commercials, but that is the only way they can afford to show them to you for free. I have found this incredibly helpful since I am cable and tivo-less at the moment. Here is a commerical for hulu that explains more:



I've been watching it for a while now and you should too!

Star Trek Movie

I'm so there.

This Week In Netflix

"Fiddler on the Roof" (1971) Description from Netflix: Filmed on location in Eastern Europe, this beloved musical based on Sholem Aleichem's stories was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three. Director Norman Jewison chronicles the trials of Jewish peasant Tevye the milkman (Israeli actor Topol), humble father of three strong-willed daughters and husband to oft-objecting wife, Golde (Norma Crane), in pre-revolutionary Russia. Violinist Isaac Stern provides the haunting music of the fiddler.

I liked this musical a lot. I had seen bits and pieces of it over the years, but never actually watched it all the way through. Unlike "Hello, Dolly!" I did not find myself fast forwarding through the musical numbers. It is very easy to get the music stuck in your head. I also learned a bit of trivia watching this. John Williams did the orchestrations. It's the only musical he ever worked on.

"Quantum Leap: Season 1" (1989) Description from Netflix: In this popular NBC TV series from the early '90s, Scott Bakula plays Sam Beckett, a physicist from the future who's figured out a way to travel back through time, fixing other people's mistakes. The only problem? The process left him with no memories of his own. Every week, with only the assistance of his wise-cracking friend Al (Dean Stockwell), Sam leaps into a new life and faces new challenges -- always hoping that someday he'll leap home.

I haven't seen this in many years and I realized I only saw one episode from season 1 when it aired. I have to say it hold up pretty well. The effects aren't the best and Al's outfits of what is supposed to be futuristic are a bit trippy. However, the plots and pacing still hold up. They didn't have the opening credits done quite right and there was a lot more voiceover from Sam then I remember. Overall, I recommend going back and re-watching or watching for the first time if you never did.

Happy Groundhog Day!