A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Last week, I had scheduled the Salvation Army to stop by my Dad's and pick up some furniture. Of course, they give you a window of time (8-3) when they may (or may not) show up... so I raced over to the house and got all the furniture (7 pieces) out onto the front porch to make it easier when they came. I went about my business and got the hallway painted and did some odds and ends... at 3, they hadn't come yet, so I left and called them on the way home... here there was a mix up and it's next Wednesday that they are coming. So all the stuff is on the front porch still. I have to go and bring it back in tomorrow. Fortunately, it was 72 and sunny today (after 35 degree highs last week) and will be tomorrow as well, so at least it didn't get wet.

I hated to be indoors today. This is our last big load of warm weather... so I went out to Raccoon State Park and took my camera. I was probably about a week too late. Most of the trees were already changed, but I got some nice pics. I'd like to skip out tomorrow for a bit as well... I leave on Friday for the last weekend of camp. Sadly, the weather is changing to rain and colder on Friday for the weekend, so camp will probably be miserable.

Paranormal Activity Movie: Abnormally Bad

So... I'm going to give my take on this movie... and some might think thats a 'spoiler'... but, trust me, there's nothing to spoil. It's not like I could give the plot away... cause there isn't one to begin with.

Let me first say that, as a gauge to this review, I don't scare easily. The Blair Witch Project was truly the most scariest thing I have ever seen. I was petrified. And I think the thing that laid the groundwork for reaching that stage in BWP was a heightened sense of irritability... from the wobbly hand-held camera and how annoying that snotty-nosed pale girl was throughout... and shots into the darkness... you were anxious going into it. I classify horror movies in two categories... blood and guts ones where people are too stupid to run and they deserve to die... and real life like ones that are more plausible. Blair Witch nailed it... and this one tried.

It had the paranormal aspect... the wobbly camera... the irritating girl... and the unknown stalker 'thingy'. Sadly, 2 minutes into the movie, I was hoping that the 'thingy' would twist the boyfriend's neck off and then dine on the girlfriend's fat ass. At least the stoners in BWP were cool. These two get on your nerves immediately, so you really don't care about them. You find yourself rooting for the 'thingy' right out of the gate. On top of that, so little goes into the paper-thin plot and it takes so long for anything decent to happen that you wind up wondering who the dumb-fuck was that funded this movie and why it got great reviews from somewhat intelligent critics. TOTALLY disappointing... not only to Matt and me, but to everyone that was around us when the movie was through. People were laughing throughout much more than being scared. I didn't jump once through it... and pretty much no one else did either. I heard the budget was around $40k for this movie using no-name actors... "and the Oscar goes to...."... nobody in this movie...


This one's not even worth rating using the leaf bag scale... in fact, I would rate this a pile of moldy, wet leaves that you begrudgingly had to get the ladder out to scoop out of the gutters and threw on the ground... stomped on them... kicked them about a bit... let the dog pee on them and then went about your business.

Gonna Be a Bright, Bright, Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day

What a gorgeous day it is today. Night and day for me in regards to mood. Sadly, I just don't think I should be living in a city that has only 20% of the days of the year sunny. Today, I have some running around to do... and I'm going to cut grass at my Dad's to be outside. Four hours on a tractor going round and round sounds almost mouse-on-a-wheel-like for some... for me, it's therapeutic. Plus I can continue to charge my seratonin batteries. We're going to see 'Paranormal tonight', so I'll need all the bright and sunny and cheery I can get.

Not Taking the Bridge... Yet.

As I have said before, this blog is very cathartic for me. Lately, it's been a double-edged sword though. On one hand, I want/appreciate people's concern when they read something I write but, on the other hand, I don't want to feel like I can't think/say/post something because I don't want people to worry about me. I'm a Gemini. I see things from (at least) both sides... add this to a streak of crazy and some medication and I am a pretty complex, moody, broody person to begin with. Most times, I talk about something, write it down or bitch about it and I feel much better... or I get a good night sleep and feel better the next day. And while I'm not so much worried about ticking someone off, I just don't want to cause unneccesary concern.

Steam: A Turkish Bath

I enjoy all kinds of movies and most times, I'm happiest with a foreign one... different directing styles and acting techniques... and besides, how many fucking rom-coms can we watch Jennifer Anniston in anyway?

This clip is, by far, my favorite. It's from a movie called 'Steam: A Turkish Bath'. Without going too far into the plot, the guy in the black shirt travels to Turkey to look after a dead Aunt's estate and falls in love with the guy in the light blue shirt. There's a lot more that goes into it (he is recently drifting apart from his wife, etc.). The two guys have been hanging out for a few weeks now... and regardless of the backstory, you feel everything in the clip, where you see them hanging out on a dock... the light blue shirt one talking to his friend and the dark shirt one admiring him from afar. The moment when the light blue shirt one looks over at the other one, and then does a double take... and they realize the connection... is absolutely beautiful... it sends chills through me every time. I wish I could find someone to look at me that way. Also, at the end of the clip when they are lying next to each other and when the laughter stops, it is an awkward moment again. Stunning.

With the movie's languages being Italian and Turkish, it doesn't even matter. It's written in the language of love. And as Gloria Swanson said (as Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard)... "Words, words and more words... in my day, we didn't need words... we had faces"... proving that so much can be said without saying a word... in the gestures... your eyes...

AutumnFest at Seven Springs Ski Resort

Today, about ten of us from the local branch of the RCFAA (Roseland Campers for Alternative Activities) had our outing to Seven Springs. Being only an hour a way, it was short enough for us all not to kill each other during the car ride there and far enough away for me to threaten to throw someone out to walk home if they misbehaved. We wanted to partake in the fall foliage, but we also got a glimpse of the first snowfall of the year... apparently they got more last night, but most of it melted already.

After trying to herd everyone together like cattle (we were meeting another group of friends there), we finally got everybody together to go have Bloody Mary's in the Foggy Goggles lounge, slope side. After two drinks, we were all smashed (by 'we', I mean mostly me) and we rode the ski lift up to the top and back down again. Truly the highlight of the day (not counting my buzz, which was more than necessary to cope with my friends). It was like the school bus doors swung open and they decended upon the scene with the ferver of 5th graders... attracted to every shiny object. After that, we shopped around in the fine arts and crafts booths (mostly doilies and whittled stuff), and then had a nice... somewhat Octoberfesty... lunch.

In retrospect, it may have been better to just go with a smaller group... noone being adult enough to wait for this one while they made a sissy... or this one wanted to go here and this one didn't. I felt like a Shetland Sheepdog. I was aptly dubbed "Julie the tour director". Do I look like I do crack, have a bad perm and was thrown off a terrible Aaron Spelling show in the 80's? All in all, it was a good day. It was good to get my friends out of their quadrants to do something different.

A Beautiful Disaster (Double-click on Picture)

He is Seventeen, Going on Eighteen....

First of all, I know that I have been drawn to younger guys lately... Both Jesse and Mike being 22... But even I know when to draw the line. For 'Full Moon', Taylor Lautner packed on 26 pounds of muscle for his role, in which he's shirtless most of the time. So I won't talk about his killer abs, beautiful eyes and smile... rockin' body, great hair, soft skin, manly-muscle arms and chest... until he's eighteen (oops, too late... Guess I better register my address).

Another Dreary Day

Yuck. It's so miserable outside. 40 degrees and fizzling rain... just enough to be irritating. I went over to the other house and while my Dad pulled out carpet tacks, I started scraping the wallpaper down in the bathroom. It's weird to see remnants of the wallpaper that I grew up with underneath, but also the 10 colors underneath that as well. My Mom loved her greens. I can only explain the previous color as what Pepto-Bismol would look like moldy... almost like a nuclear reactor green. I'm sure that many of the layers were lead paint... so I'll probably start growing another ear or something.

The bathroom is so small that it will hinder the sale for sure. I'm going to do like I did in my last bathroom (below) by putting in wainscot half-way up, wallpaper the rest of the way, replace the vanity, mirror and toilet as well as the floor with new linoleum. Hopefully, if it's clean and neat, it won't be such a problem.

Working over there has been a real experience for me with regards to my Mom. Restoring the house to a neat and clean state has brought so many memories back. Since my Mom never worked or drove, she was home all the time with us and the house was always immaculate. She loved to sing along with the radio... and sometimes we'd dance in the kitchen in the middle of the afternoon.

Winter Blues...

So many of my friends have trailers down at the gay campground so we see each other every weekend, pretty much. So when camp closes, we try to get together and do things to keep busy over the winter. We'll have rotating dinners at each of our houses... movie and popcorn nights... poker night... and game night... I'm going to bring this game to the first game night... and, coincidentally, it may be the last one that we have (and the last of my friends). Who will be the last bitch standing?

Today...

Today was my day off. I went and had breakfast with Matt and ran some errands, got paint and then came home and got into bed and watched 'Management' with Jennifer Anniston. Not one of her best ones... but still entertaining. It was good to just snuggle in bed. Tomorrow, back to painting.

Keeping It Light

When I Was Your Age...

I got a chance to watch a repeat telecast of the VMA Awards on MTV the other night. I usually don't watch them, but I wanted to see the Kanye West debacle for the 150th time... as if the news didn't sensationalize it enough/to death already. Between that and Russel Brand, who was hosting, the whole show felt like a food fight at an elementary school cafeteria... everybody screaming... chaos... disruptions. At the risk of sounding like my Mother, this generation of music has very little to do with music and more to do with sensationalism.

In my day, we had some truly talented singers. Songs were about something. People could actually sing. Nowadays, it's all rapping about cutting your bitch 'cause she a ho, voice modulators to cover up that they can't sing and ripping off the words/music of someone who could and rapping overtop of it. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure it's not easy to be a rapper, especially for a gay, whiteboy like me... but isn't rap just 'poetry'? Isn't it just a big long haiku mindfuck? You don't see every legitimate poet up on stage with bling and a gold tooth banging out their work. And they can't sing at all. Isn't that a requirement? That you have to be able to sing to be a singer? When did that change? Isn't rap just a new medium for slackers to celebrate not striving to be better? Almost like Ebonics was for speaking. 'Ahhh... English is too hard to learn so let's just take the easy way out and make up our own shit and call it something'.

Now, don't get me wrong... the fabulous Miss Barbra Streisand can be equally annoying. Although her voice, at her age, is starting to sound more like margarine than butter, how many times and ways can we hear her churn out Smoke Gets In My Eyes or Cry Me A River. But at least the bitch has talent and a voice and the largest piece of bling on her is her nose... and she pokes it into every political cause going. Yesterday, I was painting at my Dad's and had some 70's station on... Karen Carpenter came on... it took me back. Sure, she was a skinny, homely bitch and she needed to eat a bucket of chicken or two, but she had chops. I miss real talent. And when we do get someone who can sing, they are overshadowed by someone like Lady Gaga... WTF? And if I hear Taylor Swift one more time... who seriously, although cute, can't sing either, I will poke her eyes out. Although I can't stand Kanye West, I wish he pushed her off the stage altogether. Beyonce should have won... she's fresh, can sing, killer legs, looks great in a leotard and knows how to brand herself. Props to Lady Gaga for at least being the modern day Madonna.

What is this world coming to? When we were young, after walking 8 miles from school in a foot of snow with no shoes on, it was nice to sit in front of the hearth and listen on our new-fangled radio to someone with talent... at least we had the 'warm fuzzies' to keep us toasty.

Progress?

Not too much going on this past week... I've just been painting over at my Dad's house, trying to get it ready for sale. I finished 2 bedrooms, the living room and some of the hallway... and I'm almost done with the diningroom as well. The transformation is amazing... it looks like a whole different house. It continues to remind me of my Mom and my childhood there. It's like transporting through time. I keep on expecting my Mom to walk in from the other room.

I installed a new stereo in my truck this weekend. I'm trying to get things ready for a garage sale on Saturday. We were able to clear a bunch of things out of my Dad's house... Somehow my Dad got pink eye... and he doesn't really get how contagious it is. Sunday, a bunch of us are going to Fallingwater and Kentuck Knob as a day trip. Hopefully, the leaves haven't fallen off.

Fred

This kid is hilarious... he's fifteen... and started doing this video blog... he has 650,000 followers... making it the most followed YouTube blog ever. He speeds up his voice which makes it so high pitched. He started it to make fun of people who do self-promoting video blogs... he received a Teen Choice Award... was on Tyra Banks, etc... it's really hilarious.

OBAMA WINS NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

OSLO – President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday in a stunning decision designed to encourage his initiatives to reduce nuclear arms, ease tensions with the Muslim world and stress diplomacy and cooperation rather than unilateralism.

The Nobel Committee lauded the change in global mood wrought by Obama's calls for peace and cooperation but recognized initiatives that have yet to bear fruit: reducing the world stock of nuclear arms, easing American conflicts with Muslim nations and strengthening the U.S. role in combating climate change.

Obama's election and foreign policy moves caused a dramatic improvement in the image of the U.S. around the world. A 25-nation poll of 27,000 people released in July by the Pew Global Attitudes Project found double-digit boosts to the percentage of people viewing the U.S. favorably in countries around the world. That indicator had plunged across the world under President George W. Bush. The award appeared to be a slap at Bush from a committee that harshly criticized Obama's predecessor for his largely unilateral military action in the wake of the Sept. 11 terror attacks. The Nobel committee praised Obama's creation of "a new climate in international politics" and said he had returned multilateral diplomacy and institutions like the U.N. to the center of the world stage.

(A stark difference from Bush's accomplishments (haha)... 'here's your stimulus check and here's your M-16 rifle'... and of course winning "most likely to become president and fuck up the whole entire world" in high school. Enough said)

What??? (Fun With Signage)

STD's React Well To Politeness, I Guess?

For The Occupant Who Can Get To The Door And Open It, But Who Just Can't Work Up The Energy To Evacuate

If You've Got It, Flaunt It. Can Only Be Good For Business.

If You've Ever Been To One, Enough Said

Once You Make Up Your Mind, There's No Turning Back

On This Phone, You're Shit Out Of Luck If You Need Help

In The Event Of An Emergency, Please Beat Your Life Vest To Death, Then Put It On

Equal Rights For Trees... You Might Hurt Their Branches and/or Their Feelings

I Love This One... I'm Going To Put This In All My Landscaping Beds... No Mincing Words Here... And No Loopholes Either!

Easy Does It...

Day two with the new truck and I'm already putting it to work... My Aunt needed some branches cut down and what I would have gotten in one truck load with my Dad's truck (piled high), took four loads with the new truck. Carefully placing each twig so as not to scratch the paint, it took a little longer than expected. Sure looks puuurrrty, though.

You Gotta Get a Porcelain Fountain...

A reprise of the original... You gotta get a chandelier...

New Truck

I picked up my new truck today...