Dr. Horrible

This is such an inventive piece of work. I was lucky enough to catch it in the short window of its free availability. Neil Patrick Harris and Nathan Fillion singing and practicing their evil laughs. Very fun. Sorry for the late notice.

http://www.drhorrible.com/index.html

Joss Whedon (of Buffy and Firefly) explains his master plan here:

http://www.drhorrible.com/plan.html

Yellow Flowers

I've been driving by this field every day for the past week (well, except for while I was in Anaheim) and these flowers are crazy pretty. I risked re-injuring my ankle hiking through a field in my flip flops to get this shot. I wish I'd been brave enough to go over the fence.



Click to see it better. It's a great field, but it's not a great photograph. It was either this one, or the joy that a little white adhesive tape can bring to a street sign that should read Elk Lick Falls (I didn't do it! I don't even think elk are that limber!).

Life By the Numbers

OK, family, I don't mean to be critical, but in the most loving way I must say you are miserably bad at creating (and then linking) your own blogs.

I'm disappointed.

That said, for me:

• Projects completed: 1 (Look forward to your Christmas gifts. Or ... not.)
  
• Projects conceived: 1 million
  
• Trips in my future: 3
  
• Trips I'm looking forward to: 1 (Las Vegas)
• I love my pets this much: Henry: $304.10. (Elliot...well, I haven't had to prove it yet)

(Psst, shh, Henry below.... she's a girl)

• Work level happiness: 75% (Yay!)
• General happiness: 90% (Yeah, really! Sorry!)
  
• Things that piss me off: Downloads that fail.
  
• Things I'm excited about: 2
• Things I'm thrilled! about: 1

Guess the rest.

Movies & Other Silliness

I saw two great John Hurt movies this weekend -- not that I was looking for John Hurt movies, but that's just the way it happened.

V for Vendetta -- Four out of five stars. It's creepily appropriate to what's going on in the world today and it just makes me want to be disobedient.

Best line: "People shouldn't be afraid of the government; government should be afraid of the people."

Hellboy II - The Golden Army -- Five out of five stars. Guillermo Del Toro did an amazing job with this movie. It's really funny, it's visually spectacular, it has good action and great special effects, and -- acknowledging that it's fantasy -- the plot holds together. Moreover, the whole tone of it just feels right and I liked the way they resolved the story but left some really good teasers for another sequel. I was a little disappointed that they did not bring back David Hyde Pierce as the voice of Abe, but that's my only complaint. Go see this in a theatre.

Best line: "I'm not a baby..." (and I won't spoil the rest of that for you). ;-)

Other Silliness -- While I was on vacation the hostas ... um, passed their prime, so to speak. But I did say I would take a picture after they bloomed:




As usual, click for a better look.

What Riley Found

Riley found this in the yard.

I should probably mention that Riley is the most lovely dog. He was my sister's gift to her love when he was a puppy. He's loyal and friendly and a bit old, but he loves to fetch. Riley loves to fetch like other creatures love to breathe. He will let you throw for days while he fetches -- I'm not exaggerating. He will fetch until you fail him, and let him drop dead. It's his purpose.

On Sunday, he found this thing in the yard and he brought it to us and our initial impulse was to say, "Ew, Riley!" and throw it. But....he fetched it and brought it back.

I should also mention that the fourth of July is an amazing time for where I spend my summer vacation. The neighbors have a one bedroom trailer with a garage so they end up with about 20 people living in tents, all sharing the same bathroom. And my dad's place isn't much better because on the fourth we had seven beds sleeping a total of nine people, all sharing one bathroom.

It's typical of the neighborhood. On the fourth, it's such a GREAT place, it's heaven, we're all willing to live in a tent just to be there.

But anyway, back to what Riley found.....I think he may have found it in a tent.

(Go ahead and click if you want more detail. We took this picture after he'd already bitten off the end. But look at him! He's so eager! "Throw it!" he's thinking, "Throw it, you knuckleheads! I will bring it back!").

According to the branding on the side, it's called a "Hypertool" -- I'm afraid to google it.

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

I just got back from my semi-annual visit to Chetek. We visited my sister in the hospital, saw the fourth of July parade, went to the Rod and Gun store, we watched some fireworks, chatted with the neighbors, pooh-poohed over the state of the other neighbor's yard, we watched the Chetek Hydroflites, went to two cemetaries, I sang the National Anthem twice, and I won seven games of Rummikub (out of eighteen games I played) . We also went out on the boat a lot.

I'll try to dole out the excitement in small pieces. Here's my favorite of the week:



Please, also note that my friend Basiljaz (sis, you may remember her and the Kiwi as our gracious hosts) has combined her seriously Dickensian leanings with her love of air travel so that her new blog appears in my bloglist. Enjoy.