This is what I do when I'm hungover

To decompress after a semi-hectic day at work yesterday, I spent some quality time with my good friend PBR down to the Local Watering Hole last evening. I ended up closing the bar which I rarely ever do, but I hung with cool peeps so it was worth it.

The weather was quite lovely earlier, so I felt I had to leave the house. I dragged my ass out of bed at about 10:45 and plotted my day's activities. I would go to the library, eat at my regular Sketchy Panda, boogie on over to MOA to drop off my comatose iPod, pop in to say hi to D, then go see the 2:25 screening of Drag Me TO Hell.

I managed to leave my apartment at 12:30 (I get so caught up on the Internets sometimes) and get to the library at about 1:00 and not find most of the books I'd hoped to check out this weekend. I did find a couple of (hopefully) good true crime books. I got my panda on then made my way to MOA which was surprisingly (blessedly) dead. Geek Squad cutie basically told me my iPod situation might be hopeless, but he added the silver lining that if that is the case, I can get a brand-spanking new one. Sadly, the most compatible one to my current 30Gb iPod video would be a 120Gb iPod video. Or I could get an iPod touch or iPhone if I pay a little extra. Sad, right? Yeah, not at all. I'm totes hoping they can't fix it.

Got to see D briefly which was good. He thinks his schedule will be a bit less hectic soon since S will be done with work for the summer in about a week. Maybe I'll be able to drag him out for some pool someday here.

Speaking of "dragging", I totally missed the 2:25 show many moons ago (I didn't even get to the mall until about 3), but thought I might catch the next screening. That wasn't until 5 and I wasn't really feeling like hanging around the mall with no shopping money, so I called Moviefone to check other times. That is when I learned about the 5:30 show (which also happens to be the cheap show) at Block E.

So I headed down to grab the train only to discover that the trains aren't running to and from the mall because of construction or something. I had to shuttle over to the airport and catch the train there which wouldn't have been a biggy except the shuttle (actually an accordian bus) was fucking crowded and I had to sit with some dude's ass in my face. Boo.

I made it to the theatre with about 5 minutes to spare. I should have known things weren't going to be good when a chick with two smallish children walked up and decided that since they had missed their screening of Dance Flick, they should check out DMtH. I soldiered on, got my popcorn and headed in (behind a giggly teen couple). The place wasn't packed but it was fairly well-occupied leaving me few options in the 'no people next to, in front of, or behind me' department. I found a seat in a corner in the second to last row, but the teens sat behind me, so I moved into the center section, but then some other younguns came in a sat in the row in front of me. They were a few seats over, so I decided to stick it out. Just as the previews start (nothing good really), a couple comes and sits right behind me. More people were coming in and filling any other empty spots so I just stayed put. It wouldn't have mattered anyway.

Maybe it's because I go to movies alone that I don't understand why people can't STFU during a film. It's like everyone came to the theatre with a blind friend because it seemed everyone was explaining the scene we had ALL just watched right after. At a horror movie, I expect a few 'oh snap!' moments that will get people talking for a bit, but then you shut up so you can keep up with the next scene. Not this crowd. Jabberjabberjabberjabber. Ugh!

I was so annoyed. I can't just blow off that sort of thing, so it totally dampened my enjoyment of the movie. I might have felt better if I had just stood up and shouted, "All of you, SHUT YOUR GODDAMN TRAPS!" But this is Block E and it's not like people haven't been assaulted there for less, so I just stewed. I will say, it's probably gonna be a long time before I go see anything at Block E again and never again on opening weekend. Their popcorn sucks anyway.

I treated myself to a present at Target, then took a long, windy walk home. Now, I'm toying around with my present and trying to decide if I want to get a plain old new iPod (what the heck am I gonna do with 120Gb (I hadn't really done much with the 30Gb) or upgrade to the fanciness that is the iPod Touch. And well, it is about time for me to get a new celly, so maybe an iPhone isn't totally out of the question. I'm such a consumer.

More Jezebel comment insanity

Jez does this thing where they post random pictures of people now and then. Used to be they were always celebrity photos, too often they were clearly paparazzi pics snapped of celebs with their children. Anyway, one of the Snap Judgments posted today shows a woman at a protest against Obama for not releasing the new prisoner abuse photos. These photos, it is now claimed, feature images of rape of men, women, and children. Are we so desperate to make our own soldiers look bad that we would demand that photos which (allegedly) depict violent, sexual humiliation of others be made available for anyone to see? If people are really that concerned about these prisoners they will realize that sending out pixellated images of their violation to the world is probably not in their best interest. Just as I didn't think people "needed to see" the image of Rhianna's beaten face to understand what (allegedly) happened between her and Chris Brown, I don't think a photo spread is going to convince everyone that torture really did happen at Abu Ghraib.

But that's not even my beef.

My beef is that a bunch of the photo's commenters are complaining because they say the image used in the photo looks too much like a black Klansman. Even when others point out that the image is actually a silloutte of a prisoner from one of the previously-released photos and that it is kind of a nod to the old iPod ads, some say it is still "bad choice". One person claims that if people (Jezzie readers) "kind of invested in knowing about this stuff" are confused by the image, then it must be bad.

I'm sorry, but IF these people are really that "invested in knowing about this stuff" then they (like me) probably would have immediately recognized the image. It says something to me about the commenters that their first thoughts were "KKK". It says they are looking for reasons to be offended. Let it go, ladies.

More movie talk (less clever blog titles)

My newest favorite site to reference and go on about, Heartless Doll, did a funny post about the evils of Nancy Grace. She's so much fun to hate on.

You know what I just realized? I toooooootally forgot to mention in my previous post about my Memorial Day weekend that I FINALLY watched Saw. I have owned that movie for at least 2 years now and had never watched. Since I was largely bed-ridden Saturday and the mailperson didn't bring my Netflix until after 2, I decided to watch that one. Surprisingly, I really liked it. Even though I knew a little bit about Jigsaw and even the basic premise, I managed to be surprised in a few spots and occasionally creeped out. Afterwards, I even took the plastic wrap off my copy of Saw II which I bought last year. I'll try to watch that one sometime in the next 6 months, so I can take my copy of Saw III out of the Target bag it's in. (Kidding on that last, although I do own Saw III and am just waiting for Saw IV to drop below $10 to buy it.)

You know what else I never told you about? I bought My Bloody Valentine 3D and watched it last Tuesday. Naturally, the disc isn't in the fancy RealD that was featured in the theater; it's the green/red stuff instead. However, it still looks pretty good. I heaping helping better than my Friday the 13th 3D disc looks. And you know what else, I still love this movie. Yeah, LOVE IT! It's no Let the Right One In, but it's a lot of fun. (BTW, LtROI might be a wee bit overrated in the horror community. Just a bit.)

Blink! Oh, look! It's Tuesday already.

A long weekend (made slightly longer because I left early on Friday) and what did I accomplish? A whole heaping pile of nothing. The laundry is still dirty, there are still dirty dishes in the sink (although this is a new batch after I washed the previous batch on Saturday), the yarn is still an explody pile in the corner, and I still have phone books from two years ago.

I had planned to go to Ari's graduation party on Saturday, but failed to plan my bus trip properly. I will admit I was a little crabby too for various reasons. I missed the 6 to go downtown which would have made me miss the 3 which only runs every hour. I was hot and moody and getting bitchier by the minute so I just went home and went back to bed and watched movies for the rest of the day.

That's about the only thing I really accomplished this weekend - movie watching. After listening to NOTLP go over "American Psycho", I watched that again this weekend. I must admit to not being nearly as enamored of that movie as many horror fans. It's a good movie. Funny in it's way, but it's not all that brilliant. Plus Christian Bale skeeves me out. Yes, he has hot-ish things about him, but there is something "wrong" with him. I say this without having even heard the rant because I have thought this for many moons. His mouth is weird (I have a thing about mouths and teeth.) It's like he could easily open his lower jaw like the creature in Alien and swallow a person whole. I've said too much.

I also watched a really good movie based on a Jack Ketchum book. After my experience with The Girl Next Door, I wasn't sure those existed. The movie is called Red, and it stars Brian Cox as an old widower who runs a general store in a small town. One day while fishing near the local lake, some punk ass kids come along to rob him and they shoot his dog for no reason. From there, the old man tries to get justice from the police and/or the kids' families. A good flick. Currently streaming on Netflix (which now can be viewed using Firefox...hurray!)

Another good movie watched was a Spanish horror movie called Shiver. It's about high school kid who is allergic to the sun, so he and his mom move to a small town where it's less sunny. Turns out the place has a little problem with a vampire or something in the mist. That's a bad summary, but I can't really tell much about it without spoiling it and it's good, so go stream it.

And there there was Calvaire (The Ordeal), a French-language vehicle about a lounge singer-type dude who breaks down in some small town and is basically kidnapped by a total nut. Once again, the French (although this might be Belgian) prove that they are really fucked in the head. The movie is a disturbing trip. Very bizarre. I still am not sure how I felt about it or even if I totally understood what the hell was going on, but honestly, I was a bit too freaked out to watch again. I would recommend it for those of you who like you flicks on the wacked-out side.

I did manage to leave the house and have some fun this weekend. Yesterday, the gang and I went to Bean's for a bbq. There were HeideBabies (but sadly, no Bree) and steak and edamame hummus which was mucho delicioso. I rocked out on the deviled eggs even more than usual. Things I like: the recipe in the Joy of Cooking (with a few tweaks of my own).

So today it's back to work where I forgot when I got dressed this morning that I was back-up at the front counter so I had to change from my comfy jeans to a wrinkled skirt I had stashed for just such an occasion since jeans are now verboten no matter how skanky the rest of one's attire is. Denim is the mark of a lazy State employee. My legs were not prepared for this.

I'm off all this week at the office because Dana's up north. Hurts my pocket book (next Monday's check will be a whopping $17.50 before taxes), but I can't say I'm too upset about not having to rush home and scarf down a Lean Cuisine in 45 minutes. I just have to figure out what to do with myself. Most of my shows have already had their season finales and I won't get new Netflix until Thursday. I still have Quarantine at home, but I'm not sure I'm in the mood for that yet. I might be moving out of my current horror phase. Time to catch up on all that dramatic fair I missed over the Oscar-grab season. I watched Milk and Doubt last weekend, both very good. The former was really good and my bias is gonna show here, but Sean Penn really did earn his Oscar this time. And not just because he played a gay guy which people seem to think was so BRAVE. God, because that's not fucking condescending. It's like when people said Charlize Theron was BRAVE for playing an ugly chick when she was in Monster or Christian Bale was BRAVE when he lost all that weight for The Machinist. That's not brave. That's just part of the gig (and in Mr. Bale's case just another check mark in the "freak" list). Anyway.

I suppose, I should do some work now that I've been here for an hour and a half. Not that I've been typing this for that long and not that I have done no work for that long either. I did some stuff (mostly cleaning my desk for our move next week), but there is actual, like, work to do now so I'm on it.

Just some stuff to keep those two of you who read this occupied temporarily

Heehee! I love this Heartless Doll post on some of the more common Law & Order tropes. I am really missing my fancy cable more and more, but I won't give in. It's not really necessary since so many of the original recipe episodes are on DVD and just about all the seasons of SVU & CI are streaming on Netflix.

So my weekend. Yeah, it was good. I went to Miss Jackie's birthday BBQ at D & S's on Saturday. Of course that was happy times because I got to see the baby who is getting really big and is super-cute. It was fun to see D too even though he wasn't there for most of the day because of his work at the LoveSac. He might have sold one just by having it in his house because Peckerwood's wife did not want to get off the big bean bag-gy one in their living room. It's is comfortable.

I spent Mom's Day shopping with Bean per usual. Had to get a new fan as one of mine had died. I know I used to rant about the evils of Wal-Mart, but dang they're cheap ($14.50 for my fan versus Target's $17.99) and they have bubble bath (and YARN!) and the one in St. Anthony isn't skanky like the one in Fridley (where Bean got a scatological surprise in the restroom once).

Shopping takes a lot out of you, so I was happy to get home just in time to watch Victor and Tammy trounce annoying Luke and his mom and that crabby cheerleader and her partner on the Amazing Race. The 2nd part of the Cold Case season finale was really crappy, but an exciting episode of The Unit made up for it. I can't believe I'm into the latter show and not even because of the hot dudes! Maybe this is some lingering effect from my brief time in the Corps (Ooh rah!).

This is some rambly blogging here, but I gots no exciting news. I was just handed a pile of work and my lunch break was over about 10 minutes ago, so I suppose I'll get to that.

What did you say against a woman?

Okay, earlier today Jezebel posted a story about a guy who murdered a woman on the Wesleyan campus. The headline read(s): Women’s Rights Advocate Murdered at Wesleyan. Now, anyone looking at that might assume that this woman was killed because of her activities in advocating for women’s rights. Turns out, that is simply a descriptor for the victim. No biggy. The post then goes on to discuss how this guy is still (as of this post) on the loose and to print newspaper speculations about why this man killed her as well as reflections from friends of the victim. No problem’s really so far (except that semi-inflammatory headline, but I’ll get to that).

The problems start with a post asked the “Men of the World” not to pick up a gun and kill when a break-up happens. I mentioned that after seeing Dear Zachary (and knowing about other violent acts committed by women the name of love), the commenter might want to broaden that to the “People of the World”. Whoops! What was I thinking? Suddenly I (and another commenter who also pointed out that violence isn’t merely the domain of men) were under attack for belittling domestic violence and violence against women; victim blaming, and hating women. Statistics were thrown at us and sarcastic comments “thanking” us for pointing out that women commit violent acts too.

Okay, here’s my issue. Jezebel commentors were quick to make this an issue about domestic violence. Granted, a NYDN article gave that impression, but even after it was pointed out that this was not the issue, some still insisted on arguing about whether or not it’s appropriate to talk about women’s violent actions when men hurt women. For me, the original comment implied that all men have the potential for this kind of violence and that men are the only ones who do. Someone actually said that bringing up women’s acts of domestic abuse is used by people who “hate women” and that it’s a form of “victim blaming”.

And then I got completely baffled because Jezebel later posted an article about a woman who thought she’d teach her misbehaving daughters a lesson by leaving them on the side of the road for a bit. Depending on which account you believe one of the kids was able to run to the car and hop back in while the other was left there and later found by a stranger who called police; or Mom drove around the block and came back to find the kids gone. She found one, but had to call the cops to help find the other.

The number of commentors saying “This is no big deal” and “Cut this woman some slack” is astounding. I’m avoiding even posting my own feelings because I don’t want to be accused of trolling or flaming or whatever it is people who disagree with Jezebel posters are generally accused of so I'll say it here. Would these same people feel the same if this had been done by the father? When others say, “They could have been hit by a car or taken by a stranger” the response is “Well, they weren’t so whatever”. Others talk about how kids catch buses by themselves and claim the kids are old enough to know not to talk to strangers. I missed the part where the mother dropped the kids off at a bus stop with fare and said “Find your own way home” and again, depending on which account you believe, one kid DID talk to a stranger who luckily was one of the good guys. Others say we are too protective now. I’m not of the “that’ll learn ‘im” school of raising children. Yeah, many lessons are learned after the fact, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to teach a kid why smoking’s bad by making her/him smoke a whole pack and I don’t believe that a kid learns to behave by being dumped in the middle of town.

And no I don’t have kids and haven’t had to raise kids and I know that they can be a real pain in the ass and that parents can barely discipline their child without SOME busybody saying they are doing things wrong. I think my ultimate gripe here is the implication that MOTHERS shouldn’t be criticized for “losing it” a little and “making bad decisions” because “kids are tough”. Women can make shitty parenting decisions just like men can. You get no slack from me just because you were the one to carry around or because it is assumed that you are the primary caregiver. And one crazy broad who kills her ex-boyfriends will get no slack just because 10 crazy dudes killed their ex-girlfriends.

Shows I can't wait to fall in love with and rave about

Apparently, the folks behind HBO's best show EVER, The Wire, are making a new show set in New Orleans called Treme. How awesome is that? Jezebel wants to know which folks from The Wire would people like to see on the new show. Any excuse to cast Michael K. Williams (Omar) and Idris Elba (Stringer Bell) in something sounds good to me. Frankly, I heart Mr. Elba so much I almost contemplated seeing Obsessed last weekend. Then I picked up those marbles I almost lost and just watched Iron Chef on YouTube some more. Back to Treme. Khandi Alexander will be on the show which is pretty boss in and of itself. So nice to see that she has left that asstastic CSI: Miami. Also, Wendell "The Bunk" Pierce is also on board. Everyone loves The Bunk. It's news like this that makes me want to get super-duper fancy cable again. Frankly, I still miss my fancy cable. But I learned that without the cable box connected I can watch Turner Classic Movies. It's fuzzy as hell, but it doesn't matter. Even watching a grainy Elvis get punched in the throat is still better than yet another episode of That 70s Show. By the way, I am following Ashton Kutcher now on Twitter. Don't ask me why, I just am. He links to some interesting stories like this one about a 13-year-old possibly going to prison for 21 to 45 years for armed robbery...because that'll learn 'im. And that story isn't even out of Florida! Not that Illinois hasn't had its share of justice system shenanigans.