Introducing Pepper

Say hello to...

Pepper!



The newest addition to this overstuffed household.

She's a blue heeler (also known as an Australian cattle dog), and it's the same breed our other dog, Holly, is.

She's nice and docile and quiet. Except around Brown-Eyes, who keeps trying to choke her. I think he likes being able to beat someone in the house up. Well, I bet she bites him before the week's out, and he'll more than deserve it.





Aww, look at that face.

Mama Mia!

I haven't really liked a musical that was made in the last forty years or so. I mean, I fucking hated Grease, really didn't care for Hairspray at all... Moulin Rouge and Chicago were dramas, which really don't appeal to me at all.

Yeah, not really a fan.

I want to see this movie so badly! So badly!





Abba! Meryl Streep dancing and singing in overalls! Lily Kane!

It just looks pretty and sweet and funny and awesome.

Want to see, so badly.

And now, "Mama Mia" will be in your heads all week too! Hah!

Oh, musics...

I was trying to describe the types of music I like the other day and completely and utterly failed. "Umm, I don't like rap... I'm sorta into folky indie rock... um, like Wilco! You don't know who Wilco is? Well, crap... um, I did really like that latest Nelly Furtado album... and Bruce Springsteen... I just love him... yeah, I know he's old."

Really, conversation went nowhere. And I'm perfectly aware that my inability to communicate like an intelligent human being was the primary cause. Irregardless, my taste in music is still pretty difficult to describe. So, "like" and "don't like" lists it is!

I tend to like: soft edges, pretty and/or soothing vocals, funky lyrics, horn parts I can sing along too (and I ALLWAYS do), hooks, and lyrics I can sing along to

I tend not to like: extensive instrumentals, discordant and or harsh sounds of any kind really, whining, and emotionally cloying garbage

Those lists should be much longer. One day, they probably will be, that's just all I could think of at the moment.

Same as it ever was.

Number of mailboxes and I nearly took out on my way home: 3.

Number of mailboxes I actually hit on my way home: 0.

Woo.

Yup, we got our first snow of the year, today. And, this being my third winter driving in snow... I still pretty much suck at it. Although I still have not gotten into an accident of any sort, although I really should have a few times.

Stupid things I've done in the past in the snow: Spun my car around ninety degrees on a traffic-filled road/bridge (twice, actually), got my car stuck in my parking space and "bumped" one of my neighbor's cars, got my car so stuck in my parking space (by stupidly attempting to turn the wheel instead of backing out straight) that the cute handyman who was trying to plow around me took pity, climbed in, and backed my car out himself, got stuck on an ice patch on a hill at the Target and had to have the three drivers behind me push me up it, and kind of maybe swerved and drove a little bit into a field.

And those were only the ones I could think of on the top of my head.

And Pennsylvania? Yeah, we have hills. Hills are new. I've pretty much gotten the hang of going slow and shifting down into my lowest gear to get through heavy snow. Hills, though? Fuck. And it's really not possible to get from work to my house without going up a hill. A rather large one too. Oh, and then down one once I do get there. (From now on, I'm definitely avoiding roads with the word "Hills" in the name when there's ice).

Ah yes. I was in the home stretch today, got to our driveway, slid right past it, nearly took out the minister's mailbox next door, and successfully skidded my way into the lower drive. (I usually park on an incline on the grass, perpendicular to the main driveway). I have now claimed the lower drive as my snow space. The rest of the traffic coming in and out of this house can suck it.


Adventures in snow. Same as they ever are, really.

It can't just be me, right? Movies suck this year, right?

Last year, I saw forty-two theatrically-released movies. Forty-two!

(With last year's ratings, the only things I would change with a year's hindsight is that Rocky Balboa would be in the "liked" category and Step Up would most definitely be in the LOVE category. Rocky Balboa is a good film and a ridiculously excellent way to cap off the whole Rocky saga, but it just doesn't stand as well alone, when you haven't just watched a Rocky marathon. And man, Step Up just gets better every time I watch it. I love that silly dance movie so much. So much.)


This year? Twenty-five. And I only loved five of them.

Stomp the Yard
Catch and Release
Smokin' Aces
Music and Lyrics
Black Snake Moan
Hot Fuzz
Waitress
28 Weeks Later
Georgia Rule
Knocked Up
Live Free or Die Hard
Transformers
Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix
Bourne Ultimatum
Stardust
The Nanny Diaries
3:10 to Yuma
Dan in Real Life
American Gangster


Rentals/Dollar Theater Picks:

Happily N'ever After (Why I saw this at the dollar theater with Chris, I have no idea)
Because I Said So (Terrible, awful, romantic comedy rental)
Breach (Vince rental. Not bad, just kinda lackluster.)
Premonition (Truly terrible airplane movie.)
Grindhouse (1/2) (Watched with Dee at AJ's... zombie gore movies just aren't my thing)
Ocean's Thirteen (Meh, not a big fan of the heist movie genre)
The Namesake (Just rented a few days ago and quite liked)


Ok, this entry is finished! More on movies later!