So, all the Mountain Laurels are in now - they are teeny little things now (nothing but small glossy green leaves on a twig), but one of these days they'll grow up to look like this:


We just have the fruit trees and flower bulbs to tackle next. However, today is cold, overcast, and windy (even more so than yesterday) so we're taking today off from planting and going to Wal-Mart instead - which we've been bumping back day after day to get other more important things done (not that Wal-Mart on a Sunday afternoon is so much better than planting in the cold, lol).

My mom is back up in the hospital again. The ambulance took her away at about 2.30 am on Saturday morning. But supposedly they'll let her come home tomorrow.

Other than that, not much else to say for myself - been reading a lot lately. Got "Night" in the mail (via paperspine) on Thursday afternoon - couldn't put it down it was so good (in an obviously deeply depressing sort of way). And last night (because there's never anything on tv on Saturdays) we watched "There Will Be Blood" (my mother had no interest in seeing it so last night was the perfect opportunity to watch it). It was really good - but really odd at the same time. A strange little movie populated by quirky and/or insane characters. But I did like it!

Labels: books, Family, I make myself yawn, in the garden, movies

So, as you know I'm trying to do the NaNoWriMo this year. I've gotten almost 5,000 words into it (4,753 if you want to be technical about it), which isn't much at all when you're aiming for 50,000 by the end of the month. And now I'm stuck - I haven't written a word in three days!

I'm warding off a panic attack by telling myself that this is just a silly exercise that I entered into voluntarily, and that finishing a certain number of words by a certain date is not a big deal. What is a big deal, to me, is that after months of putting writing on the back burner, I've gotten back into it. So, if I don't finish this novel in November - that's ok (or so I tell myself), so long as I finish it. But despite that terribly Zen attitude, I'm very annoyed that I'm stuck at the moment.

I'm also annoyed with blogger (still no response regarding the thievery of my old blog). But I have determined that the thief seems to be some kind of automated soulless "bot" - and some of the permalinks for the old posts now re-direct to ads for things like cellphone ringtones - UGH! My friend K-Dragon is in the process of moving his blog over to wordpress, and is totally in love with the services they offer there. He thinks I should jump ship as well, and I just might.

But, on the brighter side, I finished Between the Bridge and the River earlier this week (it was can't-stand-to-put-it-down good, though it is a bit R-rated, lol), watched The Number 23 (it was pretty good, but not fabulous .. lots of twists and turns, all of which you could see coming from a mile off), and I finally got my butt over to the library to find out what's going wrong with my orchid fledgling. I picked up two books on orchids (think I have the situation figured out now), two books on bonsai (it's amazing), and went looking in fiction for a copy of Love in the Time of Cholera, but they were all checked out so I picked up a copy of Ulysses . I got to page four before I developed a headache, so I think it's going back without any further reading. I like to give it a try periodically - thinking that someday it will make sense and I will enjoy it, but so far, it just makes me feel stupid and grumpy. I think I will start the book Yen recommended instead :)

I also ordered my new cellphone yesterday - can't wait - it's so spiffy, but I digress :)

Labels: a random rant, books, movies, Writing

Cute, but not fabulous. If I had a kid who made me watch it 53,000 times, as kids do - I would gut myself on the living room floor.

3 stars from me.

Labels: movies

I thought this was ok, but not as good as The Guys - not fair to compare probably, but still I liked The Guys better as far as 9/11 movies go. Plus it takes a lot for me to overlook the fact that I can't stand Nicolas Cage.

3 stars

Labels: movies

I wanted to like this film. I love anything that says Hollywood 1940-1960, I like a crime/drama/mystery-thangy, I think the actual Black Dahlia case is fascinating (in that really cringe inducing way) - but I'm sorry, the movie just sucked big-time, IMHO. Unless you're harboring a fantasy crush on one of the cast members (and therefore will enjoy simply staring at them on screen), I wouldn't bother with this one.

2 stars :(

Labels: movies

I thought this movie was OK - but considering the cast, director, and budget I expected more. Unfair? Perhaps, but that's how I felt.

Gave it 3 stars.

Labels: movies

Wonderful movie in a strange/quirky way. I love movies that do things I don't expect - I didn't expect this movie's ending :)

3 stars from me

Labels: movies

If you haven't seen this yet - SEE IT SOON - it's great!!


4 stars from me.

Labels: movies

Watched Hollywoodland - it was GREAT - despite Ben Affleck's strange attempt at mimicking George Reeves' speech patterns.

Gave it 4 stars

Labels: movies

Watched That Funny Feeling.
Really cute. Gave it 3 stars.

Labels: movies

Watched Who Killed the Electric Car?. If you haven't seen it you should - it's amazingly good!!
Gave it 4 stars.

Labels: movies

Watched The Devil Wears Prada. It was cute - Meryl Streep is magnifico (duh!).
Gave it 3 stars.

Labels: movies

Watched A Moon for the Misbegotten. I love this play (always have), and the movie didn't let me down :)

Gave it 4 stars

Labels: movies

Watched Poseidon. It was ok.
Gave it 3 stars.

Labels: movies

Watched Inside Man - really good - gave it 4 stars @ Netflix

Labels: movies

Saw this a couple weeks ago on the cable company's On Demand channel (free, courtesy of Sundance Channel, bless them), thought it was pretty good.
Giving it 3 stars at Netflix.

Labels: movies

Watched RV over the weekend. I was in the mood for light fluffy entertainment, and this film fit the bill perfectly. Not to say that it's a great film, but it was greatly needed for the purposes of mental vegatation and general unwinding.

I gave it 3 stars at Netflix.

Labels: movies

Despite being wrapped up in getting ready to move I have managed to watch a couple movies during the last week. One of them was The Separation. Now you know me and the French films - it's hard to find one I don't love, but this one - while very good, wasn't quite to the level of hearts-and-flowers-love.
I gave it 3 stars at Netflix.

Labels: movies

Actually managed to watch a movie this week (first movie in a while!).

It was: Aeon Flux and I thought it was really pretty good!

Gave it 3 stars at Netflix

Labels: movies

Well, it took a couple nights to get all the way through it (it's 174 mins long), but last night I finished watching Long Day's Journey Into Night. I read the play, the first time, years and years ago, and have always liked it tremendously - but I hadn't seen the whole movie. I know, at some point in the past, I saw part of this movie, but I'd never seen the entire thing. It's really good!! The play has long been one of my favorites, but now the movie is too! 5 stars at Netflix :)

I should have known it would be great since it was directed by Sidney Lumet. How could the man responsible for 12 Angry Men and Network not do right by Eugene O'Neill?


I thought I remembered reading, somwhere along the line, that the play was a very autobiographical work (or more accurately, that all O'Neill's plays were very autobiographical). Thinking that I remembered that, I wanted to look it up and see if it was true (sometimes the grey matter imagines it remembers things I cannot for the life of me source). So I Googled it. I found this, at Wikipedia (so take with a grain of salt, if you wish, since Wikipedia is occasionally inaccurate):

Upon its completion in 1942, O'Neill had a sealed copy of the play placed in the vault of publisher Random House, and instructed that it not be published until 25 years after his death, and never performed. A formal contract to that effect was drawn up in 1945. However, O'Neill's third wife Carlotta Monterey transferred the rights of the play to Yale University, skirting the agreement. It was first produced on Broadway and published in 1956, three years after its author's death.

O'Neill presented the manuscript of the play to his wife Carlotta on their twelfth wedding anniversary in 1941, with a dedication that read:

"I give you the original script of this play of old sorrow, written in tears and blood. A sadly inappropriate gift, it would seem, for a day celebrating happiness. But you will understand. I mean it as a tribute to your love and tenderness which gave me the faith in love that enabled me to face my dead at last and write this play--write it with deep pity and understanding and forgiveness for all the four haunted Tyrones.

These twelve years, Beloved One, have been a Jou