Never Let Me Go

I just got back from Never Let Me Go at The Ross. I really liked it. The main protagonist is Carey Mulligan, who is still great. Keira Knightley and Andrew Garfield are also wonderful. It is directed by Mark Romanek, mainly of music video reknown and One Hour Photo, and based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. I've previously read and watched The Remains of the Day, which I also really enjoyed (the book more than the film).

It is about three students who were created, along with their peers, for organ donation. There's a love triangle, and the emotion associated with having no control over your life (and its completion). I love the pacing of the film. We see Cathy H., Ruth, and Tommy D. at 11, 18, and 27. I found it a wonderful testament to Romanek and the casting director that the core of each character is present in the child actors and seamlessly transitions to their aged selves.

The character I marveled the most at was Tommy. He had more than innocence, more than simpleness, he had purity. I found it very easy to involve (turn with) myself with his life and emotions because of their pristine nature.

Another donor was played by Domhnall Gleeson. I've never seen that name before and I like it. And now I see I've already enjoyed his father's acting many times. Another name that caught my eye in the credits was Lloret, though I forget if there was one 't' or two.

I'm trying to read a life of Vince Lombardi right now, but the novel is definitely on my list.

In other news, I had some of those cheese buttons warmed in cream in my slow cooker with a spot of honey. The magic of heating the cream is that it thickens like a clotted cream and makes a very nice sauce. The reheated buttons also become more cheesy as the cottage cheese melts a bit.

Still here.

I just got back from watching Un prophète. It has earned a spot next to The Godfather in the pantheon of organized crime film classics. I can't think of any false steps. I was the fourth person to enter the theatre, but we ended with three when one of the guys left during/after the throat cutting scene. I'm not sure why they left then, they didn't say anything like, "That is an appalling and desensitizing depiction of violence, of which I will take no part." But their manner was a bit huffy. Their loss, there was only a couple more scenes of violence/murder, and they weren't as graphic, then again I didn't leave after the first one.

Back to the movie, it is the story of a 19 year old illiterate, Arab named Malik. He is sentenced to six years with no outside friends, or inside for that matter, which brings us to Cesar Luciani commissioning him to kill another Arab that will be testifying in a case. For doing this, Malik gets protection, and isn't killed by Cesar himself. Cesar uses Malik and his 12 hour leaves from prison to run errands for him between Arab and Corsican mafia. I really recommend this film, if you can't see it in the theatre, put it on your Netflix queue. And there is a really neat cover of Mack the Knife by Jimmy Dale Gilmore.

In other news, I had my 29th birthday the 28th of March. To celebrate,I went to the first home match of The No Coast Derby Girls this season. They are split into the Road Warriors and the Mad Maxines (JV and Varsity respectively). The most interesting/vulgar name of an opponent that first group was Queefer Sutherland. This last Saturday was their second home date, to which I won tickets with a radio contest (I'm not really sure how that should be phrased).

The 10th of April, my sister and I went to Sioux Falls to attend my uncle's induction into the SD Sports Hall of Fame. It was a wonderful time with family. One of the stories my uncle told during his speech was about an opponent he'd wrestled about six times over a three year period. The opponent was asked in an interview whom his most feared opponent was, and it was my uncle. The opponent continued to say it was like wrestling Death itself. Of course this was neat to hear, considering my uncle has never resembled Death to me in any of my own interactions with him.

Next weekend I plan to go to the Parkville Microfest just outside of Kansas City. It is a great craft beer festival that pulls brewers from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska. There's also good food vendors and live music. And being outdoors in a city park, there's plenty of dogs too.

Speaking of dogs, leaving the theatre, I saw a young lady walking two miniature/Italian greyhounds, André, 9 and Mia, 6. I'm normally not big on small dogs, but they were a fitting pair, André white with grey patches, and Mia, a fawnish-grey (as far as I could tell in the street light). I asked if he got along with her, and their owner said he only gets upset with her when she sleeps on him too much.

Music and Food

Egg nog is back in stores, and I got a half gallon of it, like it's going out of style. I might make the next batch myself though, that way I can put the bourbon and fresh grated nutmeg in (not that I can't add it to the store bought stuff, but then I'm just a lush). One of the grocery stores I go to has a new batch of shopping carts, and they run really smooth and clean and improve the shopping experience. The trip this evening was to gather the ingredients for the cheese buttons that were a big hit last holiday season. There is a soup lunch potluck at work on Wednesday, so I'll bring these, which aren't a soup, but they're something.

This morning was one of my favorite radio shows on Lincoln's community owned radio station KZUM 87.3, Dance Bands: When Melody Was King. It's a wonderful way to start the week. Con Good, the host, does a nice job of building shows around a year or an artist, or a band leader. Through him I've discovered or gained appreciation for a bunch of singers and songwriters I wouldn't have had the chance to otherwise. Like Lena Horne was really cool, and Bob Merrill not only wrote The Chicken Song, but Sparrow in a Treetop and If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked a Cake.

Another thing I like about the radio show, similar to Mad Men, is that it shines a light on the culture and social mores of the times, just like a radio show of our Top 40 sixty years from now would show how obsessed we were with sex and money. And then you hear old favorites like Billie Holiday sing lines like, "I love my man like a school boy loves pie, Like a Kentucky Colonel--his mint and rye." from St. Louis Blues by W.C. Handy.

But that is not why I brought up the radio show. I brought it up because the show this morning, and a listening to my soundtrack of Sweet and Lowdown last week at work, reminded me how beautifully warm the clarinet can be. Especially in contrast with the sound of water fowl being stomped on at the beginning of Jay-Z's Run This Town.

Dignangely Jimenez, Edith Coxaj

Dappled and Drowsy and Ready for Sleep

Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, Michael Jackson, Robert McNamara, Steve McNair, Karl Malden, Oscar Mayer, and I almost forgot Billy Mays.

I'm sure part of it is a heightened attention to celebrity deaths, but this seems like a lot in a fairly brief period of time. Usta be these sorts of deaths came in threes, but maybe there will be another before the end of the week which makes nine, or three sets of three.

I had Cardamom Rose Pistachio ice cream from Ivanna Cone tonight. If it were only pistachio, it would have been amazing because of the high ratio of whole pistachios, but there were also some bursts of cardamom flavor. I was also pleased that I couldn't detect any rose; I always find rose stuff to taste like a perfume.

Last weekend I watched Away We Go and Public Enemies. I enjoyed each of them. Maya Rudolph, John Krasinski, and the rest of ensemble cast performed wonderfully. It is also well written, my favorite line coming from the child in the resort hotel lobby. The writers take three or four family scenarios as a foil to the central characters of Burt and Verona. The success is that they make the fairly cliche family types interesting while furthering the development of our couple. The music by Alexi Murdoch was also nicely done.

For interesting crossover, Sam Mendes also directed Road to Perdition, another 1930s crime film with Al Capone and Frank Nitti. I love Road to Perdition. Directing, acting, score, cinematography, set design, costumes, writing, I can't think of a thing I don't really appreciate about it. But we're talking about Public Enemies (I prefer both to The Untouchables, which I found to be weak except for Sean Connery's lines.), and it was what I expected from Michael Mann, an incredibly accurate, taut film. Johnny Depp was probably not in the greatest role for his "charisma," but it works. The actor who really struck me was Stephen Lang, in the role of Agent Winstead (a fed from the Southwest requested by Melvin Purvis, who has actually been in gun fights before). There was something about him that I recognized, then I looked him up on IMDb and it came rushing back to me. He played Ike Clanton in Tombstone.

Jules Cazedessus did something for the film too. Another thing I loved was the hood ornaments on the cars. Not necessarily in the film, but appreciated by me are the Packard swan/pelican, the Nash flying man, and the 1931 Buick.

Now for something completely different. You can order a milk shake as a chocolate malted. Can you order a root beer floated? Or is it classier to order a float as root beer ala mode.

Seriously?

I copied this from the MSN article linked to from their front page, emphasis mine.

"Bo charmed the first family, a source who was there said. He sat when the girls sat, stood when the girls stood. He made no toileting errors and did not gnaw on the furniture. Bo has, after all, been receiving lessons in good behavior from the Kennedys' dog trainers. These lessons have been taking place at a secret, undisclosed location outside Washington.

Bo, though he was raised elsewhere, already has a keen sense of who's in charge inside the Beltway. When the president walked across the room during the visit, Bo followed obediently.

"He's sooooo cute," the source said, referring, let us be clear, to the puppy. "It's very exciting. They had a great meeting.'"

Victory!

That is the answer to the previous post's cliffhanger. The oak branch on the dime symbolizes victory.

I was looking up the word fritter, to reduce or squander little by little, and came across frith. While it can be a woody place, or an alteration of firth, an inlet of water, the definition I gravitated to was peace, security, protection.

I really like the moral ambiguity of greys and pinks.

Last week my grocery store had like 6 varieties of pear on sale. So after trying Forelle, D'Anjou, Red D'Anjou, Comice, and Bosc pears, I have decided that my favorite was Comice.

Running dangerously low on Irish whiskey, for my Irish coffee (what can be better than alcohol, coffee, sugar, and cream?) on Sunday morning, I grabbed a bottle of Jameson. This allowed me to compare it to the other (I know they aren't the only two anymore, but really why bother with any others) Irish whiskey I already had, Bushmills. I first got Bushmills last year sometime, because it was cheaper and had been the first distillery to receive a license from England back in 1608. My main use for it has been Irish coffees. But comparing it on the rocks with the Jameson helped me to realize it is pretty solid all alone, and I prefer it to Jameson (actually Scottish distillers who moved to Ireland).

My favorite commercial right now is for Skittles. I love how the Skittles bag is appropriately reflected, and the tailor is in all three mirrors. I think from concept to execution the whole thing is brilliant.

My favorite Shepard Fairey picture is this.

Going through my "name" dictionary (the one that has lots of entries for first names), I came across Mary, from Miriam--to rebel. I like that Jesus was born of rebellion. Then I was looking up Maroon (name for group of people from escaped slaves in the Caribbean) and came across marid -- a powerful and evil djinni in Arab and Indian lore. It also comes from Aramaic -- to rebel.

Lincoln has been fortunate enough to have temps in the upper 40s and lower 50s the past few days (don't worry our projected high for the next few days is in the 20s), and I had some boxes of shirts at work sitting on the dock in the sun. It has been a while since I've worked with something that was warmed by the sun, and it is nice. Plus it helps me to remember how powerful and hot the sun's energy is.

Some more names that have caught my fancy: Linus, Olyphant (not Oliphant)

Stewart Copeland is a Tool

She had a body as hard as 9th grade Algebra.

I had always thought the meaning of "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." was that you could damage your own home. Then while driving and thinking ill of my fellow commuters, I realized it could also mean to not throw stones because you are particularly susceptible if your enemy retaliates in a similar fashion. So which is it? or is it both?

It seems like there are a bunch of Australian actors in American television right now. Rose Byrne in Damages, Anna Torv in Fringe, and Simon Baker in The Mentalist to name those that come to mind. I don't mind this, and they are generally attractive and talented, which doesn't hurt. What bothers me is that every time I see them on a late night talk show, namely Late Night with David Letterman, he insists on them performing an American accent. This usually gets an applause from the audience. My question is whether there are regional accents in Australia. Does a sheila from Sydney sound different from a bloke from Brisbane?

About ten days ago, the comic strip Pearls to Swine had a character named Frank Lloyd Rat.

Some names I like: Pendragon, Mondragon, Moncrieff, Ignatieff, Shaughnessy, Sigourney, Orson, Gascoyne.

Doch an Doris

Tonight, will be another batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and if I'm feeling really ambitious, a pumpkin mousse. I've yet to verify this, but apparently the actual 12 days of Christmas starts on the 25th, so I've got some time yet to finish my quest.

I was watching The Lady Eve, directed by Preston Burgess, starring Henry Fonda and Barbara Stanwyck. Fonda's character has a body guard type whose last name is Murgatroyd. I almost didn't catch it, because he is generally referred to as Muggy (even in the credits), but I went back to the dinner party scene and put the subtitles up, and there it was.

I was watching the most recent Spectactle: Elvis Costello with . . . James Taylor. Costello asked if there was a better term for the type of songs that are categorized as "introspective." Taylor immediately responded, "causa sui." Elvis asked for a clarification and James provided it. This will be my twist on this season's resolution making. I'm going to try and define my causa sui.

I hadn't caught it before, but in "Tears of a Clown" by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, they mention Pagliacci, the famous Italian clown. I was quite impressed that they were able to work such a tricky, kinda obscure name into a pop song like that. Then again I'd hardly noticed, so it wasn't that much of a feat.

Tonight, instead of tippling some Moet or Chandon, I'm going with Ommegang Brewery's Rare Vos.

Oclivery Jones

Sunday Ruddy Sunday

I had lunch, "burnt ends" barbecued brisket, and a flight of beers at Blind Tiger Brewery in Topeka before zipping over to Lawrence on the turnpike. Browsed the stores on the main downtown street picking up some French shaving soap and a pie bird (I'm really excited about finally finding one of these). Wasn't impressed with Urban Outfitters. Then had a light supper, achiote chicken sandwich, and some more beer at Free State Brewery before getting in line for the Willie Nelson show.

There was a Boykin Spaniel named Luke in front of Blind Tiger. The couple that became the end of the line shortly after me included a beautiful girl named Myka (pronounced Micah) with half sleeve tattoos on each arm, a jungle scene on one with a tiger at the top, and a watery scene with some fish on the other. On my walk back to the car after the show, I met a black dog named Roxi.

It is late now so I'm gonna go to bed, but I will soon have up the set list from Willie's show.

In Brief

Tonight I went to the Maine v. Nebraska wrestling dual. For 24 years Maine and Nebraska have taken turns traveling to the other's state with a select group of wrestlers. Tonight they wrestled Lincoln area wrestlers and this weekend they'll go to Kearney and wrestle another group. There were a bunch of matches and the final score was 34-31 Maine.

After, I went to Ivanna Cone, hoping to time my trip there so I could see the Friday night fireworks after the Saltdogs' game at Haymarket Park. Leashed to the railing on the platform outside The Creamery Building was a beautiful brindle bulldog type dog, but no owner was around so I couldn't ask its name. I began standing in the line for ice cream on the stairs outside in the hall. Fortunately there was a very tattooed couple standing in line ahead of me to bide the time by gazing upon.

I got a small cake cone of hot cocoa, right as they put coffee 'n' donuts on the board. Last weekend I got a chocolate soft serve cake cone from Zesto's. I kinda forgot how great a cake cone that has been marinating in ice cream for the duration tastes. It has it all, texture, taste, and interactivity.

Good news, however, as I left the building, the fireworks were going off, and the aforementioned tattooed couple were feeding a dish of ice cream to Devo, their brindle English Bulldog/Boxer mix.

Tied in Omaha

So I had a wonderful day in Omaha yesterday with Marcy.

(It is a Sunday. You're checking blogs. Please indulge me and my hyper linking.)

We started with breakfast at Dixie Quicks Magnolia Room (which a sign outside informed us was going to be part of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives on the Food Network, and by entering we were letting them use our images captured therein in "perpetuity"* Of course we read this as we were leaving.)

Marcy had the red beans and rice omelet with fresh fruit and a biscuit, and I had the asparagus and prosciutto (I spelled that correctly the first time.) omelet with grits and a biscuit. OH, we ate outside on their patio at the back of the building which we got to walk through the adjoining art gallery to reach. So it was a super way to start the day.

Then we took a quick jaunt up to Beer Corner USA where Marcy napped in the car while I wandered up and down Beertopia's aisles choosing some bottles to expand my database:

Olfabrikken's Porter (I had this on my birthday last year. I do think the "baltisk porter" style is my favorite.), Great Divide's Yeti Imperial Stout and Oak-Aged Yeti Imperial Stout (Why does their 75 IBUs go from "hefty" in the normal Imperial to "respectable" in the oak-aged?)(tried the Oak-Aged Imperial Stout last month at Yia Yia's and wanted to compare to the non-aged), Ommegang's Rare Vos (sly fox), Hitachino Nest's (translators aren't quite top notch for some fun solecisms) Red Rice Ale and XH [matured in sake (not a wine since it's made from a grain and not a fruit) casks], Theakston's Old Peculier (an old favorite I first had at a Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band concert), Schloss Eggenberg's (I really enjoy their stereotypical website.) Mac Queen's Nessie (Never been to Austria in a bottle), Baron's Black Wattle Superior, Fuller's 1845 (Haven't had a Fuller's I didn't like.)

Tasting notes to come.

Then we went to the first of many College World Series baseball games. After hitting a three run homer to tie the game in the bottom of the 8th inning, Florida State gave up 11 runs in the top of the 9th to lose the game 16-5. It got so bad that they even had their star catcher Buster Posey pitch for them, to no avail. So with such an offensive outburst at the end of the game, it was the third-longest CWS game ever, at 4 hours and 11 minutes. This meant that Marcy and my's (never been comfortable with that construction) SPF 30 that we applied at 12:15 was of little effect at 5:15.

One of the great parts of being at Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium was enjoying the tremendous "organizer" by the name of Lambert Bartak. He was such a good organizer that he could play a song from the "Great American Songbook" and I would immediately recognize it yet still take one or two verses to identify it.

Then we stopped at Sur la Table, where I very quickly looked at some chef knives before they closed. I did have the opportunity to hold them which was what I was looking for at this point. I'm leaning toward Wusthof and Shun. I also held the Global and a Henckels but wasn't compelled by either. Separate and related, I have moved the La Creuset piece down on my shopping list and up on my wish/dream list.

Our loverly day in Omaha ended with a super meal at Taste in Rockbrook Village. Marcy had the seared mahi mahi with asparagus risotto, and I had the mussels in wine butter sauce. She also got the chocolate lava cake for dessert.

Part of my reason for doing so much in Omaha on one trip was to justify driving the 120 miles when all was said and done.

*Perpetuity is a magnificent word to say aloud.

Watching The Soup last night, I noticed two names from a dance competition TV show: Kherington (girl), Thayne (boy)

. . . Jiggity Jig.

So Marcy and I made it back safely from the Black Hills.

We left Friday, stayed in a poor Super 8 in Hot Springs that night, did the Volksmarch at Crazy Horse Saturday, then the half-marathon on the Deadwood Mickelson Trail Sunday.

I finished the half-marathon in 1:47:31 for an average of 8:12 a mile.

We took Nebraska Highway 2 up to Alliance from Grand Island. This is the "Sandhills Journey" as the occasional signs along the way politely informed us. It is a very nice trip and much preferable to taking I-80 west to Ogallala. Amongst the many "unincorporated" towns between Broken Bow and Alliance is Mullen, "The Biggest Little Town in Hooker County." (Everybody's got a pitch.)

Now, for everyone's favorite time of my event blogs: the Dog Name List

Hannah, Golden Retriever
Sunshine, small perky blonde mutt (23 months)
Tori, Black Laborador
Millie
Isabel, Border Collie
Ranger, Golden Retriever
Rosey, Golden Laborador (after the Los Angeles Ram defensive lineman)
Armstrong, German Shepherd
Payton, Golden Retriever (same owner as Armstrong)
Husker, Beagle (owner graduated from Doland and had a daughter that went to UNL)
Lucy Collins, Black Lab (brand new pup, we met in the parking lot of Menard's as the owners were purchasing a crate for her. she was supposed to be picked up on Wednesday, but the folks surprised the kids.)
Fifi, English Bulldog (She was my favorite of the weekend. After I was introduced to the 2 year 4 month dog, I reached down to pet her, and she promptly turned around and sat on my feet. I can't begin to express how great it is to have a 40 pound bulldog named Fifi sitting on your feet.)

Pretty Amazing Grace -- Eventually

Neil Diamond has a new album that drops today. The first single off of it is titled "Pretty Amazing Grace." (the amazon site has a video of the song apparently.)

Anne Lamott was on The Colbert Report pimping her latest book Grace Eventually.

Grace is the new Hope.

I ran my half-marathon in 1:53:29, which I'm very happy with. It helps to set your expectations low, and I reached them.

Dogs I met on my run Sunday:

Roy, old black lab
Vega, Boxer Staffordshire mix
Lily, golden lab
Cooper, Golden Retriever

"Saturday In the Park"

Perfunctorily, I had my last run tonight before Sunday's half-Marathon. I ran 9 miles in 88 minutes. I'm expecting to have my slowest time yet. This is disappointing to me because I've always finished under two hours and probably won't this year.

Saturday I went to Parkville, MO, right next to Kansas City, for their Parkville Microbrew Festival. They had 24 different microbreweries from Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska sampling their wares.

My day started, however, with breakfast with Brett Toay at Dixie Quick's Magnolia Room in Omaha. My apple and brie omelet with grits and English muffin was very tasty.

From 1 PM to 5 PM I sampled 31 different beers. All the attendees were given a souvenir tasting glass (I'm guessing it was 4 oz.). A quick tip if you're going to a similar event: Start asking for a half glass from the beginning. Two ounces is plenty to taste everything you need to, plus you can always get another sample if you find something you like. I started getting my half glass samples about halfway through the event so I would venture that I consumed around 90 ounces of beer in the four hours. This works out to 7.5 beers. This was a lot, but don't worry; I waited three hours including supper and dessert before I took to the road.

I won't bore you in this space with each beer that I tasted, but I'll mention a few that stood out to me. There were a lot of IPAs (India Pale Ales) and other Pale Ales, a few fruit accented wheats, a smattering of maibocks, with the rest being filled in with stouts, porters, and ales.

Coming in at 60 IBU [International Bittering Units (Budweiser is less than 10)], my favorite IPA was from 23rd Street Brewery in Lawrence. I tasted something in Blind Tiger's IPA that I couldn't pinpoint, but still enjoyed. 75th Street Brewery from KC, MO had a Double IPA with 103 IBUs, which is crazy--crazy good.

Free State Brewing Company [which created maybe my favorite beer: their Blackjack Porter (Baltic)] came through again with a Blue Sky Rye ale.

Of the four maibocks at the event, I enjoyed Boulevard's the most with its strong banana accents; Blind Tiger came in second, but surprised me. They were very consistent with the Java Porter and its tremendous nose very deserving of a Gold (2004) and a Silver (2007) at the Great American Beer Fest.

There were enough fruity beers with two peach, a raspberry, and a blackberry offering. O'Fallon's Wheach was the winner for a great peachy nose and taste. McCoy's had a Ginger Shandy that was also very tasty.

At the Microbrew Festival, I also met a lot of dogs:

Wylie, German Shepherd Husky mix (first dog I met, friendly owner's name was Dale)
Chinook, Siberian [all white and undersized for the breed standard (41 lbs. instead of a minimum 45)
Bam Bam, Pug (his owner created the website for the event)
Cessna, Black Lab ("father" is a pilot)
Duke, Viszla & Georgia, Yellow Lab (belong to the same couple)
Gertie, Bassett
Cappuccino and McLovin, Daschunds (not siblings just acquired near in time to each other)
Mini Cooper [full name (not certain of nickname), Yorkshire Terrier
Remington, Puggle
Mango, Black Mutt
Kaya, Chow Australian Shepherd mix (really neat coloring with a Chow-like pumpkin base with black tigery markings)

Can't Stop Bad Telegraph Pun Stop

I wanted to be cool like the Hartman Sisters (Ellen and Leah) and have a clever format like their interview or press release, but I don't know enough about telegraphs to pull it off. Just know it would have been rife with sentences ending in "stop stop."

I ran again Tuesday night, which makes four times since the 15th (23 miles in all). The last two outings I've averaged 8:30 for my three miles out and then three miles back from my place to 39th and Normal. I've always enjoyed a street sign on the path at Sumner and Capitol Parkway. On the top it has an arrow going forward to Holmes Park, and underneath that is an arrow to the left for Bryan Hospital. I like the dichotomy and choice I get to make each time I pass it. Either a romping frolick to city organized nature, or a hobbled limp to help at Bryan.

Oh, and I saw a dog named Winston.

Back in the Saddle Again

So the 1st of March was a very beautiful day and I ran.

Fast forward six weeks. I ran again last night for the first time since then. We'll see if I am ready for the Lincoln Half-marathon on May 3. I'll keep you updated.

Iegor Phetis
Aelita Miratztchijska
Drupatie Seepersaud
Monestime

Spear Ritual

It is the artist, not the audience, who should be doing the suffering.

Ivanna Cone's peanut buttered ice creams are great because they use crunchy peanut butter.

Nyx and Niles are a black and grey cat respectively. Nyx is the goddess of night, but Nyx the cat is actually a boy.

Katie, Jesse, Kayla, Tamara, Cassie, Spenser, Amanda, Jemaine, Bret

There was a recent study released by Penn State University that concluded that satisfactory sex can be achieved between 3 and 13 minutes. I first heard this on a sports talk radio show The Herd with Colin Cowherd. Colin said he was happy to hear this because he's already half way there.

The following night Conan O'Brien relayed the same study in his monologue, and his funniest moment of his entire monologue that night was when he said that the 13 minutes for him even includes the apology.

Craig Ferguson was answering viewer email and a rabbit or bunny was mentioned. Craig said he always thought Warren would be a good name for a rabbit. I thought this was brilliant.

I've been sold on Herman as a name for my next pet for a while now, but Norman made some headway today. I don't know if Amy would mind if I used Fred too.

What does Sophonia mean? Can it mean "knowing sound," with double duty from the "ph" or is it one or the other?

Stennett Brooks

New Mexico

This last weekend I went to the movies No Country for Old Men, Superbad, and 3:10 to Yuma. I enjoyed each of them on their own terms. My favorite of the three was the first.

No Country for Old Men is an adaptation of the book by Cormac McCarthy. I've only read a bit of McCarthy in a 20th Century Writers literature class and wasn't that excited about him (then again I wasn't that excited about any school work at that stage in my studies). According to Ebert's review and an interview with the Coen brothers, directors, the book has Tommy Lee Jones' character, the sheriff, providing monologues every other chapter. The movie uses him effectively as a chorus while including him in its fabric. If you're familiar with the Coen Brothers' work, you'll be used to exemplary work from the character actors and this film is no exception. One nice touch I noticed was that there was a pharmacy in the film named Mike Zoss Pharmacy. Which just so happens to be the name of one of the producers.

Superbad is a fun character based teen comedy.

3:10 to Yuma is a solid Western. It is a remake, of which I haven't seen the original. Most interesting to me was comparing the acting ability of Russell Crowe and Christian Bale (how do two non-Americans get cast in this Western? see Colin Farrell as Jesse James). I've been impressed by both previously, but Crowe wins the head to head matchup. Each has taken on challenging roles, physically (see Gladiator, The Insider; American Psycho, The Machinist) and emotionally (see Romper Stomper; Empire of the Sun), but the Aussie seems to have more arrows in his quiver compared to the Welshman.

The reason for this post's title is because No Country for Old Men takes place in Texas and 3:10 to Yuma is in Arizona, but they were both filmed in New Mexico. I think the NM film board is doing a bang up job of getting people to film there.

Mary Zophres is the costume designer for No Country for Old Men.


Ruaidhri Conroy is an actor in the movie Moondance (any hints on pronouncing his first name would be appreciated).

Two Names

Noygel Massop

Greator Tshuma

Martin Mulling

Kosmo. I think I want to name something or someone this. Maybe a son, but not the first. (Other son names are Solomon [Sol] and Dean Henry Ellis.)

There was a last name in the credits of Across the Universe: Cazedessus. I really like it. There is a Jules Cazedessus that has a couple IMDb credits (the connection to all three movies: Frida, Titus and Across the Universe is Julie Taymor) and a Camille Cazedessus Jr. (which means there is a Sr.) that has a connection to editing stuff. I like this name mainly because it is reminiscent of caduceus.

Another dog name: A dachshund named Oscar, not after the weiner, but after the boxer De La Hoya.

As for Across the Universe, I liked it, not as much as Once, but more than some other movie I didn't like as much--the Romeo + Juliet with Claire Danes will suffice. Some of Taymor's set pieces didn't work for me, and I didn't appreciate all the musical performances, but there was enough of both in the 133 minutes that I found plenty of each to please. I agree with Katie, that if you like The Beatles and you like musicals, you'll like this movie.