Only Dogs Can Hear

Loving material from other bloggers day 2

This is hilarious. 

Giving credit to the artist?

I watched this short video today and  I will definitely be interested in the effect of any laws imposed in France on photo-retouching.  This is a topic that I find totally fascinating.  The idea that even the most 'beautiful' people on earth aren't good enough, and people of all ages are striving towards a completely impossible body image created by digitally altered photos.  It might be the best possible outcome to begin shifting perception of magazine photography from as-is-point-and-shoot to highly-processed-works-of-art.  Giving credit to the retouchers for their meticulous work. 

Waco

K and I watched Waco: The Rules of Engagement last night.  It was sort of a last minute choice.  Nothing sounded very interesting, we wanted to watch a movie, it was available.  I think it was about every 15 minutes I turned to K and said, "I had no idea...(there's been no independent review of evidence, the FBI gassed children over and over and over again, the FBI continue to say they didn't shoot, the government continues to claim that the Branch Davidians set those fires)."  I officially side with the Branch Davidian on this one.  What the fuck is wrong with the American government?  Is that question too easy or too hard? 

Inauguration commentary

I haven't said anything about the inauguration because, to be frank, I was disappointed.  I wasn't disappointed about the music (the quartet, not Aretha although she did great all things considered), even if it wasn't truly live.  I was disappointed about:

1. The swearing in.  Seriously, as chief justice, that guy has basically ONE major public appearance every four years.  Get it together.  Or maybe the Associate Chief Justice should do the honors?  He seems to have the unique ability of effectively reading what's written on the page in front of him.

2. The inaugural address.  I'm an Obama supporter, I voted for him.  I think he's the right guy at the right time.  During the campaign he seemed like a marathon runner, he just kept plugging away, he kept his head down.  He didn't go off message, he kept his cool.  His inaugural address, though, was full of aggressive messaging that granted, sounded better from him than it did from GW.  I guess I was expecting something different, more inclusive, less "shining city on a hill"?   

So, here we are, politics as usual.

Movie night

Both sets of in-laws made this Christmas one for the books.  I think we may have mentioned our somewhat lean means once too often in the past few months.  For instance, my parents paid for our rental car the whole time we were in MI.  One thing both sets did was to give the gift of movie passes.  We were so excited!  We haven't been to the movies months. 

We've seen two movies since Christmas.  The first was such a blunt tool for its agenda that it barely deserves mention.  And the effects weren't impressive.  That's all I have to say on the subject. 

Tonight we saw The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  It was the best movie I've seen in a long time.  I was riveted the entire two and a half or so hours.  We sat in the theater until the credits ended.  The music was great, the effects were amazing.  Some movies leave you feeling sad, happy, inspired...this was one of them. 

Break from baking

We have all manner of leftovers in the fridge right now.  These include cheesecake and pecan pie.  Meaning I have no reason to bake right now.  Can you imagine?  What to do with all that extra time?  Well let me tell you-30 ROCK 1st season marathon (I love DVDs).  You just know that Lorne Michaels is thinking, "dude, I'm going to retire like a king after this whole Tina Fey phenomenon?"  Does the term 'cash cow' seem somehow anti-feminist here?

Guilty pleasures

Things that I love that I think I shouldn't love (tv on the internet is a little dangerous):

Grey's Anatomy.  I want Christina and Hunt to be happy together.  I want Denny to suddenly come back to life in a bizarre sci-fi plot twist. 

Private Practice.  I like the Addison character.  She was loveable on Grey's Anatomy.  She's loveable on her very own show too.  Plus I really like Amy Brenneman.  I want Naomi and Sam to get back together. 

I cannot believe that I watch these two shows.  I guess it's even more like a love/hate thing...I love the shows and hate myself for it.

Pan's Labyrinth

We've had this movie on DVD ever since it was available...pirated in Asia.  We finally watched it tonight.  It was brutal and beautiful.  And it looked so much like Hellboy.  So much like Hellboy.  I wish I had seen this in the theater.  Although I'm not sure I could have taken the face bashing scene at full scale.  It was bad enough on the small screen.