So long Harry

This must be some kind of milestone.  Last night we finished reading the Harry Potter series as a family.  We started reading it out loud at bedtime when Princess O was six years old.  She is 10 and a half now.  They are long books at at 5-10 pages a night, it takes a while.  Plus we have taken breaks from time to time.

The Princess and I have long since finished reading them ourselves, but this was the first time through for the C-man.  I’m not sure if he will ever read them on his own or not.  I suspect he will eventually.

I have read Harry Potter in emergency rooms, hospital rooms, our bedroom, the children’s bedrooms, the living room, airports, airplanes, Virginia, Michigan, Illinois, Iowa and Italy.  I have read it, Tom has read it, babysitters, grandparents and uncles have read it. Do you think that is some kind of record?

There is at least one passage in every book that I can barely get through without crying.  In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone it’s the bit where Hagrid gives Harry the photo album filled with pictures of his parents.  In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows it’s the part where (spoiler alert) Harry is walking into the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself to Voldemort.  I remember when I read it the first time, I was lying on the couch under a scratchy wool blanket in our rented Sydney house.  It was about two in the morning (it was that kind of book) and I was sobbing so hard I could barely read.  And it was all so silly because I had been convinced since the sixth book that Harry had to die.  I have never been so happy to be wrong in my life (end spoiler alert).

So you can imagine how hard it was to keep my composure reading that out loud.  I managed but only just.  And last night when we read the last pages I was all verklempt.  I can’t believe we finished them.  What on earth are we going to read now?

Odds and Ends – TV Edition

I just finally got to watch ER this afternoon before I picked up the children.  Is every episode of ER going to make me cry this season?  It would appear so.

Dr. Carter’s one good kidney is failing.  He has returned from Africa to get on the transplant list.  Oh dear.  I see two possible outcomes here.  The first is that the woman on the cardiac bypass machine dies, and Carter gets one of her kidneys.  The second option and the one I think is most likely is that Carter dies and the woman on the bypass machine gets his heart.  Oh, it’s just too horrible to contemplate.  I really don’t know if I can watch them kill Carter off.

I watched the previews after the show and it looks like Sherry Stringfield (Dr. Lewis), Eriq LaSalle (Dr. Benton) and Julianna Marguliese (Carol Hathaway) are all coming back for a curtain call.  I sincerely hope they are not coming for Dr. Carter’s funeral.

I have also heard a rumor that the lovely and talented Dr. Doug, a.k.a George Clooney will also make an appearance but that is totally unsubstantiated.

***

My little dueling piano player from Kalamazoo, Matt Giraud did not make the cut on American Idol last night.  I am so disappointed.  Now I guess I will just have to hope he gets one of the wild card slots, too bad I have no idea how that is going to work.

***

Finally, my kids love Chowder.   I believe it is on Cartoon Network.  I love that all the characters names are food names.  It really is very funny, even Tom and I like it.

 

Rada rada rada.

American Idol and other guilty pleasures

I find American Idol strangely compelling.  I don’t have any idea why.  I guess I could say I end up hearing the winner all over the radio so I might as well watch the process.  But I don’t think that begins to cover it.  Although I do like Daughtry and Carrie Underwood and even Kelly Clarkson. 

I don’t have any idea what the appeal is.  Maybe it satisfies some kind of voyeuristic side of my personality.  I do like reality TV in general, and I watch a lot of it.  Survivor, Project Runway, Dancing With the Stars, and I could go on but I won’t. 

The very first time I saw American Idol I was actually watching Australian Idol.  We were in Sydney for about a month in the summer of 2007 and I watched the beginning of their season, namely the audition shows.  But we left before things got serious.  And I knew we would be in Rome when Season 7 of American Idol started, so I didn’t give it much thought.

Then we came home from Italy and stayed with my in-laws for a week on the way home.  I watched Idol with my mother in law.  Ah ha!  It’s all her fault.  There I feel better now.  (Just kidding mother in law).  I saw one of the last shows of the season.  They already had it narrowed down to the two Davids and it was their last performance (I think).  Then when we got home I watched the end to see how it turned out.

Which brings me to this season.  First I said, “well, I’ll just watch the audition shows, since those were so funny in Australia”.  I really do admire anybody who has the cojones to stand up there in front of the judges and belt it out with no musical accompaniment at all.  I’m sure it must take nerves of steel.  I really had no inteniton of watching the entire season.  But then I got suckered in.  And now I am watching it twice a week every week.  And I have favorites!  And I voted!  Good gravy, what is happening to me? 

It’s a busy TV night tonight.  The DVR will be smoking.  Survivor is on tonight, and so is The Office.  I am hoping I can watch Survivor online tomorrow.  I think I can on the CBS website.  I can only record one thing at a time on the DVR and I simply must watch the Idol results show to see if my favorite made it through.

ER is on tonight too.  I started watching that again since this is the last season the last season.  I used to watch it all the time.  During the first season I used to sit in my London apartment and weep every time they showed location shots around Chicago because I was so homesick.  But I gave it up when Anthony Edwards left.  I have watched off and on ever since, but not with the same devotion.  Now Dr. Carter is back and clearly unwell.  I don’t think I can watch if they are going to kill off Dr. Carter.  Why is ER always so sad when Noah Wyle comes back? 

So if you want to find me tonight I will be in front of the TV, with a puddle of melted brain cells at my feet.

Top 50 movies

My brother started this meme on Facebook, and over at his blog.  It’s pretty cool so I am blatantly stealing it (but isn’t that the point with memes anyway?)

This is the top 50 movies from Empire Magazines top 500 Greatest Movies of All Time (compiled from polling 10,000 readers, 150 Hollywood insiders, and 50 critics).

Instructions:

 

• Look at the list and put an ‘x’ after those you have seen.
• Add a ‘+’ to the ones you LOVE.
• Star ‘*’ those you plan on seeing.
•  Tally your total at the bottom.

 

1. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972) x
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg, 1981) x+
3.  Star Wars Episode V: Empire Strikes Back (Irvin Kershner,1980) x+
4.  Shawsank Redemption (Frank Darabont, 1994) x+
5.  Jaws (Steven Spielberg, 1975) x
6.  GoodFellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990) x
7.  Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
8.  Singin’ in the Rain (Stanley Donen, Gene Kelly, 1952) x
9.  Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994) x
10.  Fight Club (David Fincher, 1999)
11. Raging Bull (Martin Scorsese, 1980)
12. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)
13. Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974) x
14.  Once Upon A Time In The West (Sergio Leone, 1968)
15. The Dark Knight (Christopher Nolan, 2007) *
16.  2001: A Space Odyssey (Stanley Kubrick, 1968) x
17. Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese, 1976)
18. Casablanca (Michael Curtiz) x+
19. The Godfather Part II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974) x
20.  Blade Runner (Ridley Scott, 1982) x
21.  The Third Man (Carol Reed, 1949)
22.  Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope (George Lucas, 1977) x+
23. Back to the Future (Robert Zemeckis, 1985) x
24. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Peter Jackson, 2001)
25. The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly (Sergio Leone, 1967)
26. Dr. Strangelove (Stanley Kubrick, 1964)
27. Some Like It Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959) x
28. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941) x
29. Die Hard (John McTiernan 1988) x+
30. Aliens (James Cameron, 1986) x++
31. Gone with The Wind (Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood, 1939) x (HATED it, hated the book too.)
32. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid (George Roy Hill, 1969) x
33.  Alien (Ridley Scott, 1979) x +
34. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Peter Jackson, 2003)
35. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (James Cameron, 1991) x+
36. Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1969)
37.  A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971)
38.  Heat (Michael Mann, 1995)
39.  The Matrix (The Wachowski Brothers, 1999) x
40.  Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958) x
41. The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
42.  Kind Hearts And Coronets (Robert Hamer, 1949)
43. The Big Lebowski (The Coen Brothers, 1998) x
44. Schindler’s List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)
45. Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock, 1960) x
46. On The Waterfront (Elia Kazan 1954)x
47. E.T. (Steven Spielberg, 1982) x
48.  This Is Spinal Tap (Rob Reiner, 1984) x
49. Evil Dead 2 (Sam Raimi, 1987)
50.  Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa, 1954)

I think that’s 28

Link back and share your results.  

 

USF1- it’s official!

Wow, from high fashion and the Oscars to Formula One in the space of 24 hours.  This blog changes direction with neck-snapping speeds.  You should be careful.  Maybe you should wear a H.A.N.S. Device.

So today was the day we had been waiting for.  The day Peter Windsor and Ken Anderson would announce their plans for an all-new all-American Formula One team.  They had a press conference on Speed TV this morning, and we didn’t learn anything new.  Or at least, not anything anybody who could Google USF1 couldn’t have found out on their own.

Their to-do list seems to read; get sponsors, find a facility, find an engine supplier, build a chassis (please pass the carbon fiber) and get some drivers.

They didn’t mention a single sponsor by name, which leads me to believe they don’t have any yet.  They are going to need some.  Even with all the new cost-cutting measures Max Mosley has put in place you can’t finance an F1 team with the change you find in the couch cushions.  So, unless either Peter or Ken has a money tree in their backyard, they are going to need cash, and a lot of it. 

I have been trying to think of possible US sponsors.  They would have to be American companies, but companies who want to reach a global market.  And they have to have a lot of money floating around.  Apple, McDonalds, and Coca Cola all spring to mind.   I am assuming that airlines and US car manufacturers are not options.

Then there is the question of drivers.  Peter said they definitely want American drivers.  He mentioned the following drivers by name:

Alex Rossi, Conor Daly, Josef Newgarde and Gabby Chavez.  I believe they are all in the Formula BMW series now.  He also mentioned Jonathan Summerton from A1GP  And then of course there is Marco Andretti, whose grandfather Mario made quite the sales pitch for young Marco during today’s festivities. 

And let’s not forget Scott Speed, a veteran of 20 F1 races, he is currently in NASCAR.  Peter also mentioned Kyle Busch, Danica Patrick, and Graham Rahal.  So it looks like they have plenty to choose from.  The question will be how many of them want the job.

As far as engines are concerned, I am guessing they will buy engines from BMW.  America is a huge chunk of BMW’s market, and they don’t sell customer engines to any other teams yet. 

They still have a lot to do, but they sounded serious as a heart attack about being ready for the 2010 season.  I really hope they can put it together.  And then maybe we can get the US Grand Prix back.

You can read the transcript of the press conference here.

USF1’s official website is here. 

Ooh, this is all so exciting.

The Oscars

Well, I did it.  I managed to stay awake for the whole Oscar show. 

 

I liked Hugh Jackman much more than I thought I would.  Loved the Billy Crystal style opening number.  But wasn’t Anne Hathaway wearing a different dress on the Red Carpet?  Oh, yes she was, she changed back into that one again after the opening number.    She looked beautiful, and I loved the dress, but it seems like we get the same look from her every time.  Here it is:

 

I loved the montage reels of past winners saying thank you, those were pretty cool.

I did not like the way they presented the nominees for the actor’s awards.  It was like listening to what people wrote in their high school yearbooks.  Bring me clips!  I haven’t seen any of these movies, and I probably won’t see any of them.  Slumdog Millionaire?  Too violent.  The Reader?  Too bleak.  The Wrestler?  Yuk.  A few clips would have gone a long way  And you wouldn’t have had to watch the nominees sitting there listening to the presenters gush.  It was just uncomfortable.

 Oh, Miley Cyrus, what are you wearing?  Once again she just gets it all wrong.  Her hair and makeup were cute, but that dress is way too much dress for her.

 

Angelina Jolie looked like she actually made an effort tonight.  She was not nearly as frumpy as she was at the Golden Globes.  But she does look a little like the Wicked Witch of the West.  I personally always liked her, but other people might not feel the same way.

I thought Penelope Cruz looked beautiful. 

And she was cute when she won and asked if anybody had ever fainted during their acceptance speech. Later when I saw Sarah Jessica Parker I thought their dresses looked pretty similar.  I wonder if either of them were ticked off about that.

Kate Winslet’s dress was just okay.  I liked the back much better than the front.  But I hated her hair.  It was so stiff, it looked like molded plastic.  It was a hair helmet, and that is never a good look.

I seem to be complaining a lot, but I really did enjoy the show.  Maybe I was just still tired and cranky.

Here is my favorite dress of the evening:  Marion Cotillard.  I may be in the minority here but I thought she looked gorgeous.  She looked like a movie star.  I will admit I think the dress looked better on TV than it does in this picture:

Sean Penn’s speech was very good.  And I’m sure I wasn’t the only viewer with teary eyes when Heath Ledger’s family accepted his award.  Like that was a big surprise. 

So there you go.  Those are my thoughts on the Oscars this year.  I hope they get Jon Steward to host again in 2010.

 

All images are from E!online except Marion Cotillard’s.  That one is from Just Jared.

I am an Oscarholic

The Oscars are on tonight.  I love the Oscars, and I don’t even care about who has been nominated.   I don’t think I have seen a single movie that’s been nominated.  No wait, I lied.  I saw Kung Fu Panda.  So that’s one movie.  I haven’t even seen Wall*E because I was afraid I would feel too sorry for the robot and it would make me sad.  No, for me it’s all about the clothes baby.

And tonight, for the first time ever, I get to watch the whole spectacle in HD.  Cool.  I will be able to see every hair extension, every wrinkle, and every bead on every dress.  This is going to be great.  I might even watch some of the red carpet pre-game show.  I plan to stay up and watch the whole thing.

I just hope I can stay awake long enough.  It was a rough night around here last night. The C-Man has the Croup.  I didn’t even know an almost nine-year old could get the Croup, but apparently it is possible if you try really really hard.

So, I did not sleep well last night because I was tending to the Boy, and then I was sleeping on the floor in his room.  This is not the best place to sleep because it is

• Hard
• Cold  and
• Sharp

Hard and cold explain themselves.  The floor is sharp because it is littered with Hot Wheels, Bionicles in various stages of construction, alien action figures and Tech Decks.  I did the best I could to brush them out of the way, but I was not entirely successful.  After he fell asleep I went back to my room, only to be re-awakened for an encore performance about an hour later. 

When the C-Man asked why I had left his room I told him my bed was more comfy than his floor.  After our second trip to the steamy bathroom I took him back to bed and he laid out one of his blankets for me on the floor so I would be more comfortable.  He also gave me a teddy bear to keep me company.  What a sweetie.

Here’s hoping we get through the night Croup free and that I stay awake long enough to watch the show.  I at least want to see the Best Supporting Actor award.  It’s so obvious Heath Ledger is going to win, I don’t know why they even bothered to nominate anybody else.

More food that can kill you

My latest discovery is the Meat Ship.

Here is a video of the assembly process.

Remember, don’t try this at home.

Success!

As of this writing at 3:50pm central standard time, I am still in the Virtual Waiting Room on Cubs.com.  I have been there since 9:30 this morning.  This is so frustrating.

I am a happy happy girl right now.  I have been successful in my quest for Cubs tickets.  But only because my sister, she of the Awesome Ticket Karma helped me out.

Here is a run-down of my day:

8:15 – take the children to school

8:30 – eat the ceremonial sacrificial hot dog for breakfast

8:40 – listen to the “baseball” mix on my IPod to get myself fired up

9:15 – talk to my sister on the phone. 

9:30 – the virtual waiting room opens, but tickets do not go on sale for another half hour

9:49 – get another Diet Coke from the fridge

And then all heck broke loose.  I was watching my Virtual Waiting Room screen refresh every 15 seconds.  I was dialing the out of state ticket number on my cell phone and my landline.

10:15 – realized that the cable guy would not be able to call me if I was calling out constantly.  Called the cable company and told them to call my cell phone instead of the landline

10:24 – nothing is sold out yet, and it’s been almost half an hour.  Wow.  Push these buttons:  talk, redial, and end.  Talk, redial, end. Talk, redial, end.  Repeat, repeat, repeat.

10:34 – I am getting a headache

10:35 – hand is cramping, switch to other hand

10:44 – cable guy arrives.  Start dialing landline with one hand and cell phone with the other

11:00 – wow, all games still available, and it’s been an hour.  Amazing.  Both hands cramping now.

11:06 – have to stop dialing so I can talk to the cable guy.

11:15ish – my sister calls.  Says she got tickets, do I want her to use her Super Ticket Powers and keep trying for me?  YES YES YES!

11:20 – cable guy has gone.  New digital cable is installed.  Still dialing

11:51 – SUCCESS!  S just called to say she got through again and got tickets for me.  I love my sister.  And not just because she has such excellent luck with Cubs tickets either. 

My family is now the proud owner of four upper deck tickets to Wrigley Field on June 19.  We will be seeing the Cubs play the Cleveland Indians.  Normally I am not a big fan of interleague play, (I hate it) but I am excited to see Mark DeRosa and maybe Kerry Wood as Indians.  Although if we see Kerry Wood it means the Cubs are losing and that’s a bad thing.

I should probably go ahead and close the Virtual Waiting Room window now.  

Cubs tickets go on sale in 6 minutes

I’m so excited. Wish me luck.