Josh and Kallie

something i just decided i really really love

2009-07-01T11:41:00.000-07:00

Movie titles with punctuation. Like this one.

i read Twilight so you don't have to

2009-06-29T21:22:00.000-07:00

Okay world, i read Twilight. Out of principle i waited several months until the Shasta County library's only copy became available because i refused to pay good (and short-in-supply) money for it. i did not want to read it, but enough of my friends were fans and enough people asked my opinion of it that i decided to form an educated judgment. Plus, once upon a time i refused to get into the Harry Potter fanaticism and i am now full Pottermaniac.

Twilight. Ohhhhhhhhhh Twilight. i am not a fan or a maniac. i am a detractor. And i'm deeply concerned in general. For the unfamiliar, Twilight is the story of a teenager named Bella who moves from her mom's house in Arizona to her semi-estranged father's home in Forks, WA. She is an odd-girl-out and is the new kid in school. She has no friends in Forks, no real relationship with her father, and didn't leave any friends behind in Arizona. On her first day in Biology, her desk partner, a preternaturally attractive boy named Edward, appears to loathe her with every fiber of his being. Oh, and his eyes change from topaz to black. Even though he seems to hate her and treats her with contempt, Bella becomes obsessed with him. Long story short, he is a 107 year old vampire and they become friends and then lovebirds. Edward can read minds, but not Bella's because she is special. She also has a special scent that makes him really REALLY want to drink her blood. These factors make him love her even though he has not wanted to be friends or lovers with a human in 107 years, and it's all kinds of dangerous for him to do so.

The writing is bad, not atrocious, but still bad. Stephanie Meyer writes like a juvenile in that she uses way too many adjectives all the time. Also, the plot doesn't really go anywhere but round and round and round while Edward and Bella make cutesy eyes at each other- well, scratch that- while Edward bosses Bella around, laughs at her humanity, and SNEAKS INTO HER ROOM EVERY NIGHT TO WATCH HER SLEEP EVEN BEFORE THEY ARE DATING and while Bella obssesses over a boy who seems to alternate loathing her and being amused by her. i wish i had counted how many times Edward's responses to Bella were described as 'mocking' or 'laughing'. He also physically manuevers her everywhere. He's always steering her, picking her up, etc. Meyer uses it to characterize him as a strong, romantic and chivalrous. i saw it as controlling, manipulative and moody. Frankly, i thought the guy was an ass and a sociopath. Here's a list of the qualities millions of people are swallowing as romantic and perfect and all that:
He tells Bella she is his personal brand of heroin.
He follows her around when she is out with her acqaintances, including when they take trips out of town to go shopping.
He climbs into her room at night to watch her sleep and to eavesdrop on her talking in her sleep.
He repeatedly tells her how he could kill her at any second and that he's dangerous to be around. So he continues to follow her around and watch her sleep.
He insults and chastises her for wanting to be around him.
He acts like her clumsiness in PE will kill her if he's not around to protect her.
He menaces other boys who talk to her.
He tricks her into going to the prom even though she doesn't want to (this includes choosing her dress and shoes and deciding on her hair and makeup.)
He insults her driving and insists on either taking his fancy Volvo everywhere or taking her beat up truck but only with him driving.
He isolates her from the few social connections she has.

Now, i don't know about you, but i've seen enough episodes of Oprah to know an abusive person when i read about him. The reason millions of fans find this prick perfect, romantic, etc is because he is all this.... and PRETTY. No, 'dazzling'. His vampireness evidently makes him 'marbled' and 'glittering' and 'sculpted'. (GAG) Where have America's brains gone??? The guy is a creep and the character of Bella is the sort of lonely, weak-willed void of personality that perpetuates these sorts of relationships.

i understand how the story can be addictive, light-hearted page-turning fun, but there are too many books in the world for me to spend time on these. Anne Rice did vampires already, and she did it better. Go read those. Or if you're a young adult, read Harry Potter again. It's about friendship and acceptance and education, not about how many times your blood-drinking boyfriend can treat you like an dumbass for being in love with him.

song #7

2009-06-29T16:54:00.000-07:00

So close, pudding pops, but these things can't be rushed.

Here we are at lucky #7 and to achieve it we must travel far, far away to a land called Italy. Or to a nearby Blockbuster where we rent 'Big Night', because it's on the soundtrack. The song is "Mo Ve' la Bella Mia da la Muntagna" by Matteo Salvatore. i included it in my Top 15 because it makes me think of Italy and my time in Rome and the old men who would sit outside the shops smoking and drinking cappucinos. It makes me think of nuns too. (You see alot of nuns in Rome.) Winter introduced me to the 'Big Night' soundtrack before i'd seen or even heard of the movie. Turns out it's a very good flick, but don't watch on an empty stomach. i used one of the tracks by Gary DiMichele in my wedding, that's how much i like the music. i thought of putting the DiMichele song on my top 15 but it's just instrumental and doesn't invoke memories of Rome the way the Salvatore song does. It's in Italian, here's a rough translation of the lyrics:
It has been written in your heart
my destiny
even my own existence is poisoned (2x)
I want to stay always close to you
for that red mouth and beautiful perfume
for those I'd willingly lose my life (2x)
for the ability to say to the world that
I have kissed your mouth
if you were a queen and I had a kingdom
I would laden you with pearls from the Orient (2x)
in exchange for your fascinating love.

You can hear the song in this really random video that, believe it or not, i had nothing to do with the title of. The song is the first one in the video, the second is a good followup, but not good enough for my top 15.

And here is a clip from 'Big Night' that kind of terrifies me because i'm afraid i've unknowingly done this to some poor chef at some point in my life.

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009

2009-06-25T18:24:00.000-07:00

The music and the moves, the imagination, the fearlessness. Eccentric and troubled, yes, but if you were a public performer from the age of 6 you'd probably be a little strange too. He did things no one had ever seen before that scores of performers are trying to build on still. Here's to wondering what comes next that will hold a candle to what he produced. Here's Billie Jean, try not to dance along.

dumb alert

2009-06-21T23:57:00.000-07:00

Today at church we were introduced to a fun 'fact' about our dog's breed.

"Did you know," the person asked, "that pit bulls' brains grow too big for their skulls and it makes them bite their owners?"

We repeated this fun glob of bull to our doctor friend Gawayne who laughed at the idea that the only effect of an enlarged brain would be to make a mammal respond by biting a select group of people.

Here are more amusing myths on ferocious beasts like ours.

Moral of the story: don't be an idiot.

impressions on father's day

2009-06-21T15:08:00.000-07:00

Kallie:
When we were little and my mom was out of town or had to leave really early in the morning my dad would be in charge of getting us ready for school and would try to do my sister's and my hair. i remember being amusedly baffled that the intricacies of the ponytail seemed so thoroughly beyond him since he was in all other respects Capable of Anything. (he couldn't seem to get the ponytail in place without lumps everywhere) Whenever he was in charge of dinner he would make pancakes. And more pancakes. With a pile of pancakes on top. It was an all-or-nothing production. An entire box of Bisquick or starvation. Three children can only eat so many pancakes. i'm pretty sure we're still digesting some of those pancakes to this day. My dad, the consummate athlete, ended up with 3 sportsless kids with nary a varsity appearance between them. He somehow got 3 theater geeks, but we were competitive geeks at least.

Josh:
My dad has a cool mustache. He would let me stay up late and watch tv with him if i'd snuck out of bed, but my sisters were always sent back to bed if they tried the same trick. He always tells the same 30 jokes. When i was really little we had matching cowboy boots and belt buckles that we'd wear to church. Every Saturday for years and years he'd get up early and have breakfast with my grandpa and my uncle at my grandma's restaurant. He's always been a prankster. One time he sneakily added an extra 'meal deal' to the sign in my grandma's restaurant, a steak-and-eggs deal for $3, and she didn't realize it until a customer ordered it. He used to draw faces on our fingertips and we had little finger people to play with. It was genius, kept us entertained forever.

Happy Father's Day to our dads and grandpas: Floy, Dan, Sam, Gary & Jerry!

recession haircut, part ii

2009-06-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

We gave in. He had too much hair and it was too kitty-soft for our clippers. It would've taken HOURS and HOURS just to get it cut short, much less beautifully bald, and he would've looked atrocious and CPS (cat protective services) would've hauled us in. So we called Melissa at Millville Vet and $30 later she was done within the morning. This time she shaved his entire tail, but left his legs and head fluffy. Behold:

And the group shot:

It is not napping, it is 'generating'.

2009-06-07T13:12:00.000-07:00

It has recently come to our attention that The Pen is not completely mammal. She is also solar powered. We have determined this because every morning she wakes herself up to go outside and go to sleep again, but always in the part of the lawn (and by lawn i mean scrub) with optimal sun and always on her right side. This must be because her solar panels are installed on her left flank. After a few hours, she wakes herself up to come inside and go back to sleep while the UV stuff formulates with her mammalian system. She does this all summer and stores the solar energy to use year round.

Mostly, she is just a blindingly white pile of Creature.

ahh, spellers...

2009-05-28T22:17:00.000-07:00

...the only 12 and 13yr old kids who list their favorite foods as 'dark chocolate' instead of 'HOT POCKETS!' and their personal heroes as 'Nupur Lala' and 'Amelia Earhart' instead of 'THE GIRL FROM TWILIGHT!!!!'.

Congrats to Kavya Shivashankar, who just won the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee with the correct spelling of "laodicean".

Song #8

2009-05-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

We're getting to the really good stuff, comrades!
Similar to how Tom Petty made the list, i knew in the earliest days of crafting The Topmost that Ben Harper should be included. Story time!
The time: Spring of 2000, freshman year of PLNU. My boyfriend had just yanked the rug out from under me and dumped my already-angsty little heart. i told my mother. Mysteriously, my older brother called the next day with the mysterious desire to take me out to lunch. Yeah. Mysterious fish, i did smell. So he picked me up at school (since i was a lowly dorm-bound freshman with no car) and off we drove into the funky heart of goofy li'l Ocean Beach. We made small talk. Then he said he 'has a song' for me, and put in a cd and chose a track. It was Ben Harper (who i'd never heard or heard of) singing 'Another Lonely Day', the first line of which is 'Yes indeed, i'm alone again. Here comes emptiness crashing in.' i was no dummy, even back then, and was pretty clear on the impetus for the lunch date. i said 'so i guess you talked to mom.' He said something like 'Yeah. Sucks. Sorry.' That was about the extent of discussion of that subject and we let the song play. He bought me a sandwich at a weird little deli and we had our lunch and he returned me to campus and probably said something like 'hang in there' but i don't remember. i really just remember him playing me the song.
A little over a year later, in the summer before junior year, Jason gave me 2 cds he'd grown tired of listening to and thought i might like. They were Ben Harper albums: 'Welcome to the Cruel World' and 'Will to Live.' i was entranced. It was a very complicated summer. My roommate was a friend who was quickly turning out to be a monster, i couldn't figure out if i really wanted to be with the boy who'd dumped me or if just didn't want to be alone, and i was about to move to Italy. i used to get overwhelmed by it all and drive to a parking lot and sit listening to the two albums (even Mama's Trippin'). Three years after that, when i married the boy who'd dumped me, we danced with our parents to Ben Harper's 'Waiting on An Angel' and our last dance of the night was to 'Forever'. His collaboration with the Blind Boys of Alabama is one of maybe 6 cds i've purchased in the last 5 years. i think his lyrics are true and i love his voice.
i chose 'Walk Away' for the top 15 list, which may be kind of odd since it's a sad break-up song, but i just love it. i think it demonstrates his vocals pretty well, but is just an excellent example of good lyric-writing. It's hard to write a break-up song that is true to the pain while resisting wallowing and camp and also containing the slightest bit of optimism. This one is wonderful. My favorite parts are 'You put the Happy in my ness' and 'Time has taken my Tomorrows and turned them into Yesterdays.' Good stuff.
Please to enjoy: Ben Harper performing my song #8, 'Walk Away.'

Weekend of the Almighty Asterisk

2009-05-27T21:43:00.000-07:00

Jason and Winter came and visited us for Memorial Day weekend! They didn't stop by on their way to or from somewhere, they came TO US, FOR US. We are special peeps. Here is what we did with our timity-time-time:

-Saw the bastard hybrid of Jim Krasinksi & Michael Phelps*
-Had the best gutful of In N Out EVER**
-Made Penny look like a rabbit
-Wandered through the Arboretum and visited The World's Largest Sundial***
-Just about killed Jason
-Went grocery shopping (no really, it was fun)
-Made the kickest-ass meal ever crafted at 1142 Walnut****
-Played Settlers of Catan*****
-Watched 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon'******
-Went Aqua Golfing (the balls float)
-Visted the winery and got harassed by a drunk rancher
-Saw the Largest Privately-Owned Waterfall*******
-Baked some souffles********
-Watched all the best episodes of Arrested Development*********
-Smelled and saw Shasta Dam**********
-Visited the Baker Country Club for a swim, steak dinner, and outdoor fireplace sit-around
-Saw Sue!***********
-Met a gorgeous barn owl
-Observed masterful uses of Legos
-Discussed iphones************

As you can see, it was a weekend of spectacle, intrigue, and giggles. Thanks for coming to visit us! We really do feel honored and hope to return the favor soon.
___
*he wasn't what you would call 'classically good-looking'
**Thanks to Charles in Woodland for delivering the savory
***That Is Also A Bridge
****Any previous meals prepared by the previous owners and ibvolving Special Herbs do not count
*****Two times!
******Three times! We heart Jimmy.
*******In The State Of California
********Two times! (oops)
*********And the worst Arrested Development episodes are still better than the best thing on tv right now
**********The spillway of which is the largest man-made waterfall in the WORLD!
***********The largest and most complete T. Rex skeleton in the WORLD!
************Eleventy-billion times!

Recession Haircut

2009-05-17T23:52:00.000-07:00

Every summer (for the past 2 summers, at least) we have dropped Cosmo off at the vet and returned a matter of hours later to a terrified, freakish version of his former self. He is so, SO big, with such long hair and such affection for stickers and all sorts of ghastly things a cat can roll around in, that to maintain a proper humans-to-plant-and-insect ratio inside the home we have to do some feline deforestation. Well, this year there is an economic decline- maybe you've heard a thing or two about it, i dunno, EVERYWHERE- so we thought we'd give the DIY try and shave the poor guy ourselves. For the record, this is what he looks like normally:

This is how he turns out when the professionals do it:

And this is what he looks like after 3 of us screw around with the electric razor for 10 minutes before realizing it's 11pm and this will have to take at least an hour:

friends in high places

2009-05-14T21:38:00.000-07:00

Here is why i like being friends with Jesse and Lyn: They are nice. They like beer and funny tv. They are not necessarily better than me at Settlers of Catan. Also? They give me writing jobs. Tonight i am writing scripts for radio spots and the 'vibe' i was instructed to use was something along the lines of 'cool and smart, with a touch of smirk. Think Brad Pitt in Ocean's Eleven.' So poor, poor me has to sit at my computer and listen to funky-sly music and look at this dastardly image all evening.

Late Night with the H-Bomb

2009-05-14T13:39:00.000-07:00

Every once in a while i cruise through the television schedule to see if anyone interesting will be on the late night circuit (Leno, Letterman, Fallon, etc) and then i set the DVR to record to whatever catches my fancy. (ahhh, that crazy Fancy. So elusive that few things can ever catch it. And what is done with the Fancy once it is caught? NO IDEA. But it somehow manages to escape every time. Good old Fancy. Elusive like a fox.) Right now i'm watching last night's Letterman, which i recorded because it said Tom Hanks and The Killers would be on. i figured that was a pretty good lineup and David Letterman is my 3rd favorite late night host.

So now i'm watching and i just keep thinking 'DEAR GOD, HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE I SAW TOM HANKS?? AND HOW HAVE I LIVED WITHOUT HIM ALL THIS TIME???' A quick imdb search verifies that the most recent Tom Hanks movie i've seen was The Terminal, which was in 2004. Granted, i've caught bits of Cast Away and Philadelphia on tv now and then, but i haven't seen The DaVinci Code or Charlie Wilson's War, his most recent big-time projects. Now Angels & Demons is coming out so he's peddling it around. Maybe it was fatigue, maybe delirium from only leaving the 4 walls of our home office twice in 10 hours, maybe he's actually Beelzebub and has evil powers of influence, but as soon as Tom Hanks started palling around with Dave, i felt like everything in the world would be okay. The recession, the war, the environment, etc. It would all be resolved or something or other...i'm not sure how, but having Tom Hanks around will make it okay. Here's what's odd about this whole burst of Hanks-love: i was never exactly over the moon for the guy in the first place. i think Forrest Gump was wildly overrated. i mean, sure, i liked him and thought he was a fun actor to watch, but i always thought he was just a glorified Everyman. Now i know: HE IS A GLORIOUS EVERYMAN. i have officially added him to the esteemed list of 'People I Would Pay To Listen To While They Read The Phone Book Or Something Equally Boring Like The Stimulus Package Paperwork Or Maybe Something Really Lame Like 'Twilight', Yeah, I Said It'. (other dignitaries include Eartha Kitt and Harry Shearer) i can't really explain it, but charisma and familiarity came together and i experienced a renewed affection for America's Favorite.

Also, since we're talking about Late Night telly, how great is Jimmy Fallon? The answer is 'really great!' His time on SNL was fun, but not exceptional. The talk show is his true vehicle. His boyish enthusiasm makes for authentic affection between the host and his guests. And i love Max Weinberg as much as the next person, but Fallon has The Roots doing his music. THE ROOTS! He must have sold his soul to Tom Hanks for that privilege. Good times.

Twitter addicts be warned

2009-05-12T17:11:00.000-07:00

Someone has put a great deal of time and effort into mocking you, and i'm rewarding their decision by passing that mock along to this blog's enormous, rabid throng of fans.

The Rarely-Seen Jekyll to his Hyde

2009-05-06T12:39:00.000-07:00

This must seem like when the production crew on the Planet Earth documentary finally got footage of the elusive snow leopard. In actuality, our Vicious Monster can actually be quite the cuddler. It's much like he's embarrassed of his love for us and can therefore only show affection when no one is around. Another apt metaphor would be that of your standard abusive relationship. He abuses us- attacks our ankles, jumps on our faces while we sleep, bosses us around- and then just when we're ready to pack up and leave in the night, there he is with flowers and apologies and toasty, soft fur, and we're puddy in his paws.

Song #9

2009-05-04T17:51:00.000-07:00

GAH! i'm upset at the internet. i wanted to post an mp3 or a video of my #9 song for you to examine and subsequently completely love (because i have super taste and because you are impressionable) but i cannot make it happen. i could embed a subpar live version or a cover, but it's not the same. i'm upset. i need to watch THIS again because i'm irrationally bothered that i cannot snap my fingers and put this song on my bliggityblog.
Sigh.

So, my #9 song is 'Square One' by Tom Petty. When i first started crafting my Top 15 list i began with a handful of artists who i loved and who have formed me into the supreme being you want to live and shop with. Tom Petty was one of the first i listed. i can remember his Wildflowers album coming out when i was in junior high, and how the song 'You Don't Know How It Feels' became my personal anthem for a while. That song, coupled with the title track, made me believe that even if i was a weird-looking, dorky, confused kid for the rest of my life, Tom Petty would still care about me. It was one of the first cds i ever bought (and i don't buy very many cds) and i had the entire album memorized. Front-runners for the 'Tom Petty Representational Song on Kallie's Top 15' included 'Don't Fade on Me' and 'Higher Ground' as well as 'Wildflowers'. There are other songs worthy of being called his best, but i eventually settled on 'Square One', off the more recent 'Highway Companion' album that John bought while we were housemates. (John bought a new cd at least every week and i would dutifully steal them, upload them into my iTunes, and return them). i chose this song because i felt it best represents Tom Petty's optimism, lyricism, and musicality, my three favorite things about his work. Since i can't embed the song, here are the lyrics and you are hereby assigned to buy it from iTunes and listen to it in its entirety. Then repeat.

Had to find some higher ground
Had some fear to get around
You can't say what you don't know
Later on won’t work no more

Last time though I hid my tracks
So well I could not get back
Yeah my way was hard to find
Can't sell your soul for peace of mind

Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head and meet my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here

Try so hard to stand alone
Struggle to see past my nose
Always had more dogs than bones
I could never wear those clothes
It's a dark victory
You won and you are so lost
Told her you were satisfied
But it never came across

Square one, my slate is clear
Rest your head on me my dear
It took a world of trouble, it took a world of tears
It took a long time to get back here

Faceyspacies

2009-05-01T20:06:00.000-07:00

Glee

2009-04-30T22:23:00.000-07:00

Just saw this extended trailer for a new show called 'Glee' coming to Fox. i laughed out loud several times watching this, the writing seems really great. i did (non-musical) theater in high school and can identify with some of these seemingly-exaggerated-but-are-frighteningly-true characters (ahem, gold-star girl). Plus, Jane Lynch. Can i get an 'enough said'? You know her from Best In Show, A Mighty Wind, The 40 Year Old Virgin, and 1,089,345,345 other things she was brilliant in. Plus, i'm a sucker for a good musical, but only because i firmly believe that 90% of the 'good musicals' out there are actually rubbish. Plus, i like saying 'Glee'.

(plus)

hipster 101

2009-04-29T00:28:00.000-07:00

i've been labeled a hipster. This is incorrect. The problem is the occasional convergence of Actual Fashion (which i casually follow) with Hipster Garb. Certain elements of Actual Fashion, such as the reimagining of some 80s and early 90s staples, have found their way into Hipster Garb. This has resulted in the lay person's confusion of Hipster Garb with Actual Fashion. This is an understandable, yet grave, mistake: hipsters do not follow fashion trends (according to them) and are generally immune to labels like 'trendy' (according to them). To imply that they are guided by even the most respectable fashion mores would be to imply they are not 100% autonomously, edgily creative and is therefore insulting. Here is a list of identifying characteristics of hipsters:

The female hipster only wears flat-soled shoes: pointy-toe flats, throwback sneakers like Keds or deck shoes, or short, slouchy 80s boots.
The male hipster only wears heeled shoes, most often dapper boots that barely fit under their very skinny pants. On off-days they may wear crusty old Vans.

Both male and female hipsters only wear skinny pants. Only. Whereas the female fashionista wears her skinny jeans with tall boots or heels to appear long and thin like a runway model, the female hipster wears her skinny jeans with lumpy moccasins or slouchy boots to look stumpy and anti-fashion.

Hipsters only wash their hair once every 5.7 days. Their hairstyles range between 'complicated rat's nest' and 'complicated bed head'. Natural dirt, oil, and grease are always a styling factor. This results in a generally dull sheen because they are contrary to traditional social structures of Dick-and-Jane cleanliness.

When they are not drinking espresso or coffee they made in their French press, hipsters drink beer. Most are committed to the most obscure microbrews they can find; the more ironic hipster subsets drink Natty Ice or other canned varieties to indicate they are not bound by quaint conventions of Quality or Independence.

Hipsters wear thick-rimmed glasses, a la Ryan Adams, but that's not where they got the idea. Even though most of them worship Ryan Adams.

All hipsters are either in a band, dating someone who is in a band, or live with someone who is either in a band or is dating someone in a band. They are committed to their art, or to the art of the person they are dating.

Hipsters name their babies Roscoe and Clementine.

Hipster males are likely to sport fungal mustaches. Hipster females may have sleeve tattoos.

Now you may be able to spot the hipsters in your neighborhood! For further reference, see these quality indexes of observation. If there are an alarming number of hipsters congregating at your local coffee shop, a purebred dog released into the group will disperse them promptly. If you are confronted by one, using the term 'hipster' will render the same effect as thrusting a crucifix at a vampire. If you're afraid you're in danger of becoming a hipster, immediately stop finding ways to be ironic. Inject generalities of all kinds into your life. Wear cargo shorts. Examine your pictures and journals from junior high when being awkward and nerdy was actually real and horrible and not a cheeky way to be an individual.

And here in their glory are The Hipster Olympics:

it grooooooooows!

2009-04-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

things with which i am indeed on board

2009-04-22T17:12:00.000-07:00

My cat hunting crane flies in the yard

Schedules

The ending of the Stop Loss program

Eyeliner

Fictional time travel

My friends having healthy, happy babies

Kirk Douglas movies

Granola and yogurt being the new peanut butter and jelly

Reversible clothing

Ceiling fans

Rosemary as a garnish

When my dog looks goofily naked because she's not wearing her collar

All things Dyson

Parmesan cheese dipped in honey

Song #10

2009-04-20T17:24:00.000-07:00

Getting back to the countdown of my recently created Top 15 Songs, we are finally cracking the top 10. Coming on the heels of Mr. Ray and his immortal ode to Georgia, we have David Grey and my favorite of his many contributions to Life As We Know It. Here we have 'This Year's Love'. i love the way this one rocks back and forth, and even though the lyrics are kind of standard love song fare, i think they're quality all the same and a great fit to the melody. i really dislike the video and find it a terrible distraction from the song, but i don't know how to embed just the song into a blog post, so i recommend starting the clip yet not watching the cheesy video.

full sun

2009-04-13T10:05:00.000-07:00

We are attempting to grow stuff! Alarmingly, it's kind of our first attempt in almost 5 years of marriage. You could say that we 'grew' Cosmo, but since he started out as a tiny, happy kitty with short hair and is now an angry behemoth swamp thing that frightens small children, i'd say we failed at that. Penny was already full grown when we adopted her, and thank Jebus because we probably would've screwed her up. i killed some cacti that we tried to grow in the house and that's been about it. Frankencat viciously stalks and attacks any flowers we put in vases, so plants around the house is kind of a lost cause. Now we're turning over a new leaf (if we can get a single leaf). We bought some seeds, bought some dirt, and are on our way to veggies! (hopefully) Come back for the harvest; it should be ....unique.

things with which i am just not on board

2009-04-08T18:47:00.000-07:00

Commercials that try to combine beer and exercise into one lifestyle

Those platform flip-flops made of foam

Anne Hathaway

Using ellipses instead of real punctuation to communicate your hipster thoughtfulness...

Twitter

The canine version of racial profiling

The return of scrunchies

Flooding

Judd Apatow movies and their revolving casts.

People talking about 'times like these'

That sedan across the street from our house that NEVER MOVES and makes it impossible for us to U-turn

Leggings

Reality tv shows featuring competing chefs. What is the draw??? you can't taste what they made!!

Noisy frogs

Pretty much anything pertaining to Jane Austen

Churches that only ever teach on 'scandalous', 'controversial' topics. They're like celebrities who blab on and on about being 'real' or supermodels who crow about being ugly in 7th grade

Daggers

Cat dreadlocks