Quote of the Week
“Did you at least get their presents?”
-Howard Stern, interviewing teenage porn star Nikki Norwood, whose two sisters, aged 2 and 12, died as a result of a Christmas tree fire when Nikki was 9. Her manager is her father.
Category: words mean things (Page 68 of 223)
Happy Mother’s Day
Since Amanda told some stories about her mom in honor of Mother’s Day, I thought I would do the same. Many people who know me already know this story, but it’s a good story, and it’s my site (see below), so here goes.
My mother spent much of her life traveling – car trips, cruises, and lots and lots of flying all around the world. But for some reason, when I was a teenager, she developed a crippling fear of flying, to the point of having to be given oxygen to calm her down. This was a serious problem, since she loved traveling.
In her own inimitable way, my mother decided that the only way she could cure herself of her fear was to learn to fly herself. She figured that if she knew what was going on with the plane, she wouldn’t be afraid. (I myself look at a 747 and am sometimes baffled that the giant metal thing flies through the air, thousands of feet up.)
So she started taking flying lessons. I remember her coming home with reams of weather charts that she had to learn to interpret. I think flying is cool, but the complexity (and danger, for that matter) is daunting to me. But my mother kept on.
And not only did she learn to fly and get her pilot’s license, but even more amazingly, it cured her of her fear of commercial flying forever.
My mother is a flat-out amazing woman – this story is just the tip of the iceberg. I love you, Mom.
“MY BLOG, MY GODDAMN RULES!”
Andrea’s still mad. And she’s not going to take it anymore.
Lately I feel like Dian Fossey, having stumbled on a particularly fascinating species in the wild that I can’t stop examining. (Of course, we all know what happened to her. So it’s not good to get too obsessed. But for now, I’m having fun.)
Incongruous advertisement of the week
“Happy Mother’s Day from Hooters”
-sign in front of local wings-and-boobs emporium
For some reason, this year seems littered with big-budget, big-name movies that I have no interest in seeing. In fact, these are movies that I want to actively avoid. A partial list includes:
-Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle
-Bruce Almighty
-The Hulk
-Cat in the Hat
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-Dumb and Dumberer
The ones I am looking forward to?
-Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions
-Finding Nemo
-LOTR: Return of the King
That’s about it. A strange movie year. Although if all four of those are great movies, it will be better than some years past.
I received in the mail today the three prints I ordered from Mike Clarke of Hunkabutta. They’re fantastic – all hyper-colorful street scenes. I can’t wait to find a place on my walls for them. If you haven’t visited Mike’s site, or haven’t visited in a while, you should go there now. Great stuff.
The first step is to admit you have a problem
Hi. My name is Adam.
[Hello, Adam.]
It started slowly, like these things do. I followed a link, and started reading. And then I made a few comments. Just a few. And nothing mean, just some observations – I swear! And then everybody started shouting. It was crazy. But instead of turning away, I couldn’t stop going back. And back and back and back. Just to see what would happen next!
I know it’s a sickness. I know it’s bad for me. I know that I’m not welcome there. But sometimes I just can’t help myself – you know? People say things and I can’t stop myself from commenting.
I just need to take it one day at a time. One day at a time.
Identity
John Cusack is a great actor. I didn’t think much about him in the past, even though his parts in “Say Anything” and “The Sure Thing” were fantastic. Lately it seems like he’s been imprisoned in stuff like “America’s Sweethearts,” where his blandness takes over and only emphasizes the surrounding dreck. And unlike the rest of the civilized world, I thought “High Fidelity” was just OK.
But proof of Cusack’s talent comes in “Identity,” where he makes his ex-cop/limo driver character interesting, even in the midst of a middling horror/mystery setup. The rest of the cast is certainly better than your garden-variety horror film (Ray Liotta, Alfred Molina, Clea DuVall from “13 Conversations”), and the “shocking twists” are at least entertaining. But without Cusack, the whole thing would barely register.
Recommended, if you’re looking for something to while away a rainy afternoon.
Celebrity Quote of the Day
“No, I’m not dating him. And it’s such a shame because everyone should be dating George Clooney.”
-Renee Zellweger
I agree.
Becky not only told me that Molly Ivins had been here in Madison, she also pointed me to the above story. I’m severely disappointed I didn’t get to see her, especially now. I’m despairing a little.
Molly Ivins kicks ass.