funniest. digital. short. ever.

While some have said that Saturday Night Live has lost some of it's steam in the last few years, I have to admit that Andy Samberg and his digital shorts are hilarious. If you missed last nights offering, then you missed "I Ran".

adventures in parenting

So the title of this post is a reference to the 80's movie Adventures in Babysitting. However, when I told co-worker Peter that I was babysitting this weekend, he corrected me and said, "No Dave.....you're parenting." (Pete's a blunt kinda fellow). Hence the edit.

You see, we were hit with two wedding to attend, two weekends in a row. This weekend, it was Tam's cousin. Next weekend, my sister. So rather than subject Alex to excessive travel or a lengthy stay away from home, it was decided the wife would fly solo this weekend and I would stay home with the young'un and the critters.

Things so far (knocks wood) have been pretty good. There was a brief episode last night, where she woke up crying, but she eventually went back to sleep. (Whew!) This morning she woke up roughly her normal time, and the morning routine seemed to be falling into place. Until it was time for her nap. Apparently, she was having none of it. So, I bundled her up and we hit the road. It allowed the opportunity for her to have a short nap in the van, and then we had some quality daddy/daughter shopping time. We hit Future Shop, the suit store, Wal*Mart and I even took the little one for her first visit to the comic book store so she could get her baby geek on. Early exposure is the key. After all that activity and excitement, we returned home, I plugged a bottle in her mouth, and she was out for the count for a few hours.

Oh wait. Correction. That last part was what I envisioned happening. In reality, she was not ready for a nap (like I was). So....it was playtime. For a couple hours. Then we watched a little tube and she zonked out on me for about 1/2 hour. The rest of the evening was pretty standard. Feeding...webcam....skipped the bath, bottle and bed. She went down just after 7pm. It's 10:30 now....I've had a chance to watch a bit of t.v. and even a movie (The Queen, which was very good, and yet another illustration in my changing movie tastes). So far....so good.

Let's hope it stays that way. And we'll see what tomorrow brings.


(Editor's Note: I neglected to mention one exciting bit during our shopping excursion. While taking lunch at McDonald's in Wal*Mart, a ginormous wasp perched itself on Alex's cheek, just below her eye. It was a tense couple seconds, but I managed to flick it.....flick it good......and send it on it's way. Crisis averted. That is all.)

the dark side of hollywood

A few days ago, for no reason in particular, I found myself musing about George Lucas. More specifically, I was trying to figure out how the original Star Wars series could have been so good, and the second series so god-awful. I came to the ultimate conclusion that it was in large part due to the fact that when creating Episodes IV through VI, Lucas was a filmmaker. When creating Episodes Ridiculous through Lame, he was a businessman.

I think part of what I love about the first trilogy is that despite the lasers and spaceships and alien muppets, there is a gritty, tactile realism to the whole thing. You can suspend your disbelief about the story, because the components of the story exist in the real world. With the second trilogy (a.k.a. crapfest) there is such a reliance on computer graphics that I have difficulty suspending that disbelief. It lacks that human element which I believe the story needs. I liken it to a stage magician, doing the trick where he taps two metal rings together and links them. The illusion works, assuming you believe the metal rings to be solid. If you doubt the reality of the rings, the illusion fails. Jar Jar Binks makes me doubt the reality of the rings.

Anyway, the reason that I bring all this up is that yesterday while flicking though the channels, I happened upon an A&E special on Lucas and Star Wars. It made me remember everything I loved about Star Wars, and everything I hated about Revenge of the Sith. Lucas has said that the remastered first trilogy and the second are more in keeping with his vision of the story. I find that sad, since I think the original production is the one that stands the test of time. In the interviews, Lucas himself admitted that when he made the first films, he was a staunch supporter of independent filmmaking and loathed corporate interference in the creative process. At the same time, he admitted that over the years, he has become the corporate head that he used to rally against, much like Anakin Skywalker's spectacular fall to the Dark Side, where he becomes Darth Vader (who used to be the greatest villain of all time). It's nice to know that he at least acknowledges the fact....even though he somehow seems to think the Dark Side is where it's at, these days.

I'm curious what other people think about the subject, and given Lucas' recent track record, I'm wondering if there's anyone who actually is looking forward to the new Indiana Jones film.

Also.....THIS.

that was painful

Someone please....please....PLEASE remind me not to collect 3 months worth of pictures (mostly of Alex) before deciding to upload them to Flickr. Updating was not fun. At all.

With that said, I've upgraded to a Flickr pro account, so now all the older pictures are once again accessible.....and I don't have a monthly limit.

With that done, I guess I'll have to tackle the numerous video tapes. *sigh*

And maybe...just maybe....I'll try to start blogging again.

(this doesn't count)

non-nerd

More geeky, really........