Recently in Dottles Category
1. Paul Verhoeven's Zwartboek - Dutch for Black Book - is definitely worth a look if you like WWII movie thrillers. At 2:25 I think it's a tad too long but it definitely keeps your interest. Check it out.
2. I'm got my flu shot on Friday. Anyone else getting one? My employer provides them for free to any staff member who wants one.
3. My older son, Andrew, will be in Australia during University of Maryland's January winter semester. He'll be studying international business and engineering. Sounds like a boondoggle to me. (But I wish I was the one going.)
4. Andrew didn't know what boondoggle meant. He had never heard of the word.
5. I always look forward to Thanksgiving. Every year I threaten to make sausage stuffing and never do. Maybe this is the year.
6. Deep-fried turkey is not something I would ever think to make. Or turducken for that matter; that's just gross.
7. The Maryland House of Delegates is getting very close to sending the Maryland slots legislation out to the voters of Maryland for a referendum. The referendum vote will come this week. Since they're asking me, I vote no.
8. This past Saturday was a great day in the White house, one of the best of the year, one I look forward to most eagerly. Saturday was my final lawn-mow of the season! My 25th lawn-mow this year. (And, yes, I keep a diary of the dates I mow the lawn. You got a problem with that?)
9. Does it bother you that knowledge you don't really care about - information that simply clutters your mind, almost certainly driving more important stuff out - seeps into your consciousness unbidden? The most recent case in point for me: Dog Chapman.
10. I'm thinking Allman Brothers on the way into work today.
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1. I cable surfed into Britney's MTV performance the other night not knowing it was on. In under 10 seconds I knew. Not good. Not good at all.
2. A book I'm now reading - Body of Lies - is as we speak being filmed in Maryland. Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio star.
3. I hate to think this is Lloyd Carr's final season but it probably is.
4. And speaking of defeat, I'll bet the beach house there will be no undefeated top-25 college football teams at the end of regular season.
5. Overall, my favorite cracker is Triscuit. (Aside: have you ever known anyone who baked their own crackers?)
6. I picked up 6 life birds - black-headed grosbeak, spotted towhee, juniper titmouse, rufous hummingbird, broad-tailed hummingbird, and cave swallow - during my New Mexico vacation this summer. And I only birded two hours. I might also have had a pinyon jay but I can't convince myself I wasn't seeing an interior western scrub-jay. Sure wish I could have gotten a second look at that bird.
7. OK. I'm calling it. Right now. Today. So we can all go inside. (And remember you heard it here first.) John - I'm not black or female - Edwards gets the Democratic nomination and Mitt - I'm the kind of Mormon who only has one wife - Romney gets the Republican nomination. Fred Thompson is just too damn ugly to be president. He's like Lyndon Johnson ugly.
8. Two movies I am most eagerly anticipating this fall: No Country for Old Men and Into the Wild. In that order.
9. I excoriated Brick starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt a while ago. It was the movie - which really sucked - more than his performance. He's also in The Lookout which is a much, much, much better movie. (Another aside: Hairspray in the theater was very fun. Prediction: John Travolta gets a Best Actor nod.)
10. Be honest... before about a year ago had you even heard of tilapia?
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We haven't done a Wednesday Dottles for a while, so here goes:
1. The importance of Tastykakes in my life cannot be overstated.
2. The Maryland Legislature last week issued an apology expressing "profound regret" that Maryland once "trafficked in human flesh." A lot of white folks in Maryland think the apology was unnecessary since they had nothing to do with slavery. They need to rethink.
3. It looks like I'll have to mow the lawn this weekend. My life in hell resumes.
4. Not to give the band additional grief after the suicide of Brad Delp, but I always expected more out of Boston.
5. Akeelah and the Bee is worth watching. Spelling is not my strong suit. I've always had trouble with "embarrassment", ible/able words, and ence/ance words. Stranger Than Fiction was the last movie I saw that I gave 5-stars to using the Netflix scale.
6. Sanity reigns. The FCC ruled to continue the prohibition on cell phone use in airplanes. At the risk of exposing my ageism and sexism, young people, especially young women, seem to have the most inane, pointless cell phone conversations I could ever imagine.
7. I would like to know what kind of person takes Bill O'Reilly seriously. Really. Who are these people?
8. Check out one of my favorite photo blogs: Blue Ridge blog. I could be as good a photographer as she is if I only had her material (and technique and eye for light and composition skill and...).
9. I'm sensing grilled bratwursts in the not-too-distant future. It's about time.
10. The Orioles are already breaking my heart despite a good spring. Prediction: Manager Sam Perlozzo won't last the season.
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1. The price of top-quality shuttlecocks is skyrocketing. Feathers from Chinese geese - now being slaughtered by the millions to stave off avian flu - are used in all the pro lines.
2. Sorry, Mel, I don't care how drunk you are. Scathing anti-Semitism (or homophobia or racism) doesn't just come pouring out of your mouth unless it was inside to begin with.
3. Another downside to this heat wave... I can't complain about it in my blog. It does no good to whine about something if everybody else in the country is having the same problem.
4. Nine days till vacation. Did I tell you I'm going on vacation? Four nights in New York City, a night each in Cooperstown and Saratoga Springs, and three nights in Lake George. We will be pushing the envelope of White family dynamics to the breaking point.
5. Quiznos smokehouse beef brisket sub isn't half bad.
6. A chance quote at InfoSpigot put me on to Raymond Chandler. I just finished Red Wind. Now I'm thinking gold mine.
7. Name one - any one - holiday in August.
8. How do you stay cool?
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Out of my mind on a Wednesday moanin':
1. When I'm Supreme Dictator of the World, "brang" will be a word but "irregardless" will not. Double negatives in anything but exaggerated, facetious speech shall be punishable by water cannon. Sound like a plan?
2. Another of my SDW decrees... all automobile operators shall be required to know calculus. No calculus, no license. Know calculus, know peace.
3. I came down to the kitchen this morning to find my kid standing in the family room, eating cereal, wearing just a t-shirt and his underwear. Where did that come from? You weren't raised in barn, were you, D-?
4. My next Netflix offering, Living in Oblivion and recommended by Dan at InfoSpigot, is sitting on my shelf right now waiting to be viewed. I hope to get to it tonight. It's been a week since I last saw a movie (which was The Matador, a movie I really enjoyed and can recommend) and I'm beginning to suffer from withdrawal.
5. Quantities sold seem to be shrinking. For instance, yogurt used to be sold in 8-ounce cups. Now it comes in 6-ounce containers. I used to buy charcoal in 10 or 20 lb. bags. Now it's coming in 9 and 18 lb. bags. When did that happen?
6. We need the business leaders of this country to expand casual Friday to include shorts. With global warming setting in, long pants in the work place are becoming just too damn hot and uncomfortable. But this must be a top down movement. Supervisors and program managers need to take the lead on this. I can't start it.
7. I just finished reading Arthur & George by Julian Barnes, a novel about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and George Edalji. The latter was falsely imprisoned in the early 1900s for horse-ripping. Sir Arthur led an effort to get Edalji's conviction pardoned. Though a big Sherlock Holmes fan, Barnes makes Edalji the more compelling character.
8. I have not listened to Thick as a Brick in a really long time. That was always one of my favorite albums. And the original LP had this way cool newspaper thing that unfolded from the cover. (Remember the girl in the goofy cover picture that was seductively lifting up her skirt? She excited my teenage libido almost as much as Carly Simon's nipples did on No Secrets.) If I had to pick one album cover I'd like to get back, it would be Thick as a Brick.
9. With CDs and downloads, album cover art is a dead art form. Too bad. Some were really creative.
10. It would be good to hear some Joe Walsh again, too. But not the Eagles Joe Walsh. I mean the James Gang Joe Walsh.
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1. I blog today from Tucson. It's just hotter than hell here. It was 102F when I got off the plane at 7PM local time last night. And don't give me that "dry heat" crap. It's too damn hot.
2. Actually I'd put up Baltimore heat against Tucson heat anytime. Though not everyday during the summer, we get 92F with 72F dewpoints a few times each year. That brings you to your knees.
3. I flew through Denver to get here. The turbulence was as bad as any I've experienced. The older I get, the more a white-knuckle flier I become. When I stood up to get off the plane, there in the seat in front of me sat someone I work with. Captain Oblivious didn't even notice him when he got on the plane.
4. What I listened to on the planes to Tucson: Abbey Road, Elgar's Violin Concerto in B minor, Dvorak's Piano Quartet in E-flat minor, Tchaikovsky's Concerto for Violin, Rossini overtures (go William Tell!), Taking the Long Way by The Dixie Chicks, some of a Van Halen, Aerosmith, and AC/DC playlist. Aren't Ipods wonderful?
5. How about those wacky Episcopalians electing a woman as Presiding Bishop? We have what's called a General Convention every three years where we conduct all sorts of business. Last time the Convention elected an openly gay bishop to the Diocese of New Hampshire. Now this. The Episcopal Church is already on thin ice with the rest of the Anglican Communion because of the gay thing. We'll see what happens. I don't think it'll be as dire as the press will make it sound.
6. I just saw Glory Road. Meh. Before that I saw a couple of classics: Breaking Away (recommended by my son) and The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. I liked both of them much more.
7. Fred and Ethel are now on their second brood. Eth is sitting on four eggs. My bluebirds are having a banner year. They already fledged four birds.
8. The local cable access channels in Tucson have all these Baptist preachers who get on TV and say some really outlandish things. I listened to one last night who told me I'm going to Hell. He also told me Tom Cruise, Bill Gates, and Tiger Woods are going to Hell with me. Really. The preacher said there's no chance any of us can get into heaven. He said anyone who's at all happy or successful or good-looking or rich or has had any kind of positve outcome in their lives (even if it's the result of hard work and determination) are all going to Hell because those people haven't suffered. Really. I swear. The preacher told me this. Only downtrodden sufferers are God's elect and will make it to heaven. The souls of successful people are doomed to eternal suffering. To find out more, go here.
9. Some of my favorite singers (Thanks, Cassie-B): Mary Chapin Carpenter, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt, Nanci Griffith, Eastern Bluebird, and Wood Thrush. I suppose I have to include Brian Johnson on this list, but with him, it's more awe and amazement than anything else. How can someone sing like that every day? I like him a lot more than Bon Scott. What a second-Darren Brian Johnson is.
10. I'd like to hear The Hallelujah Chorus sung by a church choir where all the members had voices like Brian Johnson's. Same timbre and overall quality. That would sound incredible. Could it even be done? What would a female Brian Johnson even sound like? I'm laughing just thinking about it. We need to hear this.
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1. Is she gone? Is it safe to come out? Please, please, please tell me Katie Couric's group hug is now over.
2. Ninety-five yesterday. Blech... that is too damn hot. Better today... Eighty-eight.
3. The good: The jury found sniper John Allen Muhammad guilty on all six counts of murder. I guess they didn't buy his argument - he represented himself - that the police were trying to frame him.
4. The bad: the federal government signed off on the Intercounty Connector or ICC. This is an 18-mile highway planned to connect Montgomery and Prince Georges counties. Naifs and wishful thinkers in the DC Maryland suburbs think the road will help with congestion. People like me think it's a road that will be born congested and only contribute to urban sprawl. The artery will exacerbate Maryland's already bad air and water pollution.
5. The ugly: The Orioles are 4 games under .500, the pitching coach questions the team's passion for baseball, the manager is pissed off at the players, and Kevin Millar just hopped over the finger-pointing line. Who'd have thought I'd ever be jealous of the Tigers, now on top of the AL-Central?
6. I finished A Tale of Two Cities last night. It is a truly excellent story. I highly recommend it. I decided to read it because the insufferably arrogant Jeff Daniels character in The Squid and the Whale called it "minor Dickens" and I just had to know what minor Dickens was. It's not minor Dickens at all and the story is so compelling I'm surprised it hasn't been made into a movie.
7. Conversation in an elevator between me and my son, D-, last weekend while at the shore. We had just come off the beach where we had dined on the usual beach food including a box of caramel popcorn. I guess the confusion arises from my still-evident midwest accent.
Me: I really like caramel corn.
D-: Carl Macorn? Who's Carl Macorn?
8. Preferred hamburger toppings: ketchup, horseradish, and onion. Preferred hot dog toppings: mustard, jalapenos, and onions (or sauerkraut when available). I can now personally recommend guacamole as an important new hamburger topping.
9. Observation: the U.S. Constitution does not mention the bible. Consequence: groups aspiring to affect public policy are not immune to close scrutiny. "We're being attacked" just won't wash.
10. Spiderman, Superman, Batman, or X-men? What... are you crazy? Spiderman. It will always be Spiderman.
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1. Rob blogged that he was looking forward to seeing The DaVinci Code in the theater. I opined that I would see it only if it got really good reviews. Well, the movie premiered at Cannes last night and the reviews are beginning to roll in. It's not looking like I'm seeing it in the theater. And since I've already read the book, which I thought was OK but not great, I may not see the movie at all. I guess I'll be getting my Holy Grail instruction from Monty Python.
2. Hey all you people who think The DaVinci Code is blasphemous and insulting to Christianity... where have you been for the last three years when the book spent most of that time Number 1 on the New York Times bestseller list? The book didn't grab your interest but now the movie is concerning you? Pay attention why don't you?
3. Thrillers better than The DaVinci Code: The Company, The Day of the Jackal, The Guns of Navarone, The Maltese Falcon. These are off the top of my head; there are others.
4. Yo, Congress, just so you know... a law unenforced is not a law.
5. I hear the female given name "Nevaeh" is now more popular than "Amanda". Nevaeh is "heaven" spelled backwards. Well I guess it worked for Bob and Eve.
6. Been planning the family summer vacation: New York City, Cooperstown, Saratoga Springs, Lake George.
7. To the 30 percent that still approve the job W is doing as president: would you let the rest of us know exactly what it would take for you to disapprove of the job he is doing?
8. If you had to pick one classic book from literature as your favorite of all time, which one would it be? For me it's David Copperfield.
9. Could someone please help Britney Spears to the exit door of pop culture?
10. I need lunch.
