Wet Duff

It's doggy day! And actually, it's Duffy day! The other night J gave McDuff a bath, because he has some skin irritation going on, and has a medicated shampoo to take care of it. He was getting a little red around the eyes and in a few other places, so bath time it was!

Of course, I missed the best shot, of Duff in the bathtub, with his hair shampooed up into a mohawk. D'oh! Sarah pointed this out to me, and I couldn't believe I missed it. Oh well - I'll get it next time.

Now, for pictures of a just bathed, still wet McDuff!

Isn't that a great hairdo? :)

Why do dogs feel the need to rub themselves on the furniture or rugs after a bath? I don't know, but it's pretty darn cute when they do it.


He needed a good rest after the trauma of a bath. The pillows on the futon were a great place to take a nap.

Dogs Who Aren't Duff

We had a heck of a snowstorm today. It was bad enough that I left early to make sure I'd be able to get home safely and get into the garage, and it's just all around crappy outside. So we're all hanging around the heater tonight. :)

J and I were sitting on the futon watching TV. The dogs wanted to be on the futon with us, but there isn't really enough room - well, Willow found a space behind J. :D Silly Willow.

Whoa!

I got a Christmas card from my oldest brother today. For this news to hit you the same way it hit me, you should know that said brother is 50 years old right now, turning 51 in January.

The card is nice, and he wishes me a very Merry Christmas - oh and, by the way, his new wife is pregnant, and due in May.

Whoa!

I'm going to be an Aunt. For the 14th time (17th, if you count my middle brother's three ex-step-daughters). I'm already a Great-Aunt four times, with a fifth due around the same time as this niece or nephew.

Whoa!

All I can say is, I'm happy for him, and I hope the baby is healthy and whole.

Also, better him than me. :D

Christmasy Night

It's been a Christmasy kind of night. I left work, and was just going to go to the local P&C in town to get some cat litter, a card for J for Christmas, and a few other small things, but somehow I talked myself into going to Walmart instead. I kind of hate going to Walmart, especially alone, so it took a lot of talking.

I'm glad I did it, though. J had told me not to buy him anything for Christmas, once we found out how much work my car was going to need. In fact, he didn't just tell me not to, he forbid me to. But recently he said that maybe it would be all right if I bought him this book from Walmart, about AC/DC. :) So I picked that up (after calling him to find out where he had seen it, because it wasn't in the book section), and I got a couple of small things for the person whose name I drew for the secret Santa thing at work. And I got some stocking stuffers for J, too. So it was a good thing I went.

Then I came home, and I rolled, cut and baked the sugar cookie dough that I made last night. I love these cookies (made from Sarah's Mom's recipe), but man are they a lot of work. I was in the kitchen almost an hour and a half rolling them, cutting them, baking them, making the frosting and then frosting them. It's tiring! Once the holiday season is over, this recipe is going in the file until next year. (Here's a game for you - can you find the non-Christmas shaped cookie in this picture? Can you tell what it is?)

Once I finally had them all frosted, sprinkled and put away, and had washed the flour off the counter, I came in to the living room to start to write this, and J called me into the bedroom, where he is watching TV - we caught the last five minutes of the Grinch. :) Just enough to see his heart grow three sizes and for him to find the strength of ten Grinches - plus two. I love the Grinch.

And now I'm going to ignore this mess that is now in the kitchen sink, and I'm going to relax. For 45 minutes, and then it'll be bedtime already. Sigh. Where does all my free time go? Really, it goes away much too quickly.

(p.s. Sarah, does this count as my Christmas thing to be made, for your assignment? :)

Cats!

It's cat picture day, woo! I love cat picture day. I need to get better about taking pictures during the week, though, and not just on the morning of cat (and dog) picture day. I'd get a wider variety that way.

But I didn't take them during the week for today - I took these all this morning. Which is why there aren't any pictures of Kate, because she hides in her house while I'm getting ready for work - everyone else, though, comes out for loving. So, no more talking from me - it's picture time!

Cats!

I went out to the kitchen to get fresh batteries for the camera. When I turned around, this is what I saw - three cats, all lined up. I'm not sure why, though - they had already gotten their morning treats.

Waiting for Heat


The cats all seem to like to sit in this little corner in the bathroom, hoping for heat to come out of the vet. Zelda was there while it was running this morning - I don't think Gracie got that lucky.

Cats Being Cute

Lucy likes to get into this laundry basket in the morning, for some poop loving of her very own.

It's so hard to get pictures of Sable that I really love. Which is a shame, because she's such a love bug, and so freaking cute.

Gracie is always around wanting loving in the morning. Here she's on the back of the dryer.


Zelda is an attention whore. While I was brushing my teeth, she was rolling around on the floor. :) She's so cute.

How Green Was My Valley

How Green Was My Valley
1941
Starring:
Walter Pidgeon
Maureen O'Hara
Anna Lee
Donald Crisp
Roddy McDowall

I loved this movie. Okay. My hormones might be a bit messed up. Am I PMSing? I have no idea. My body has no idea. But I don't think the hormones are the only reason I loved this movie, even though I did almost cry at the end (teared up, but the tears didn't fall).

This is the story of a family in a small coal mining town in Wales. They're a large family, full of men who work in the mines, plus a daughter and a young son. It follows their stories as the miners strike for a union, and then as the mine starts laying them off. It follows the daughter as she falls for the new preacher. It follows the young son as he and the mother recover from an accident, and then as he goes to school.

It's a story of relationships, of love, and of circumstance that change their lives. By the end of the movie, I loved them all. I laughed with them, I cheered them on, I cried with them. I'm so glad this was a Best Picture winner. Otherwise I might never have seen it! I highly recommend it, and I give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Happy List, 12/7-12/13

Here's some of what made me happy this week.

Sunday: I had a GREAT day with J. We went to see Quantum of Solace, and we decorated the trees, and I made sugar cookies, and we just had a lot of great time together. And woo, decorated trees!

Monday: Watching The Hulk, woo! And just having a great night with J.

Tuesday: Having a very peaceful night. Dinner with J – at the table, even! We never eat there. Then reading and watching Bones online, all while making homemade bread! Which came out perfectly, so my bread curse is officially lifted. Woo!

Wednesday: Playing the Sims, and finally getting to play the main family kids in college! It was fun. Gracie laying on my chest and purring while I petted her. Awww. :)

Thursday: Yesterday’s blog post was a best of holidailies pick! Woo! Playing the Sims and watching TV at night, and of course petting the dogs and cats at the same time.

Friday: Holding Gracie at night, as she purred on my chest. Watching Frosty with J, who was sick in bed (he has a nasty cold).

Saturday: Some good Sims time, and some good J time when he got home from work. Getting half of the car work done that it needs to pass inspection - and the rest should cost just a hair more than I had set aside for it, so while I was hoping for less, at least it wasn't a lot more, so I'm satisfied. Finding a new diner to go to in the area of my mechanic's. :)

March

I just finished my second Pulitzer Prize winning book. (And here, for some reason, I feel compelled to note that it isn't really just the second ever book I've read that has won a Pulitzer Prize - I read To Kill a Mockingbird a few years ago - it's merely the second since I decided to read 10 of them for my 101 list.)

March
by Geraldine Brooks
2006
Pulitzer Prize winner for fiction in 2006

March tells the story of the only really unknown member of the March family from Little Women - the father, who during most of the original book is away at war. Not much of his tale is told in the original book, and this is something Geraldine Brooks sets out to change in March.

During this book, Mr. March becomes so much more than an absent father. He is fleshed out into a human being, desperate to help the slaves become free, while away from his family. He has triumphs and he has failures. The reader becomes engrossed in his story, as it entwines with the lives of so many others - former slaves, mostly, plus a man trying to make his fortune in cotton on a leased farm, and a woman he first met when he was 18. A woman who was born of a white estate owner and one of his slaves. This woman is educated - a rarity during a time when it was illegal to teach blacks so much as the alphabet. And what Mr. March feels for her isn't purely friendship.

Geraldine Brooks spins her tale alongside the story told in Little Women, masterfully weaving in the life of Mr. March to make the original novel more complete. I very much enjoyed this book, from beginning to end, and can easily see why it won the Pulitzer. I highly recommend it, and give it 5 out of 5 stars.

Puppy Pictures!

It's doggy day! Woo! I love doggy day. This week I decided to give the dogs a break from the camera stalking. I took a few pictures, but that's all. Why? Because J got out Rosebud and McDuff's puppy pictures! So I scanned a few to share with you. Are you ready for adorable overload?

Today



11 and 12 Years Ago





Cute as can be, right? I wish I could have known them back then.

Willow and Bernie

I can't ignore Willow and Bernie, so here are some pictures of them, too!

To all the f**kheads of the world

Dear f**khead:

It is NOT necessary to go 35 mph in a 55 mph zone just because it's winter. If the roads are covered in snow or ice, okay. But not when they're just slightly wet. Push down harder on your gas pedal or get the f**k out of my way.

Also, if you go 30-35 for miles when I'm not able to pass you, and then you make it through a yellow light and I have to stop for it because it's turned red, then you're not only a f**khead, you're also an a**hole.

Congratulations on making me cuss you out and flip you off, even though I rarely do that. You should be proud.

Sincerely,

The girl who was trapped behind you and just wanted to get to work without being late.

Dear other f**khead:

When I e-mailed you and asked you how many copies you would need printed, it was so I could get a quote from a printer for you. When you replied, "I don't know, what are the price breaks," you also became a f**khead. Congratulations. I asked the printer, but surprise! They can't tell us a price until they know what range you're in. Do you want 50? 100? 1,000? It makes a big difference. Now tell me how many you need! F**khead.

Sincerely,

The girl who hates life today, and it's only 8:43 a.m.

Dear Holidailies:

Thank you for the kind e-mail! I'm so glad that yesterday's entry was picked as a "best of holidailies" entry. Your e-mail may just be the turning point in a day that was trying to become sh**ty. You are not f**kheads.

Sincerely,

The girl who is so happy to have a best of! Woo!

Recipe for a Relaxing Evening

Ingredients:

Bread dough
Dogs
Cats
Fiancé
Great book to read
TV online

For a truly enjoyable evening, take the ingredients for two loaves of homemade white bread, mix them together, knead them until your arms are sore, and then let them rise. Watch TV until your fiancé comes home.

When fiancé arrives, just as bread dough is ready to be punched down and shaped into loaves, greet him in the garage with the dogs, kiss him hello, and talk about your days together while he reads through his mail. Be a true multi-tasker, and while talking, put the salmon in the broiler, put together the ingredients for some instant cheesy mashed potatoes, and put them in the microwave for ten minutes. Punch down the bread dough and separate it into two loaves, then let it rest for five minutes while you sit at table with fiancé, talking to the man who is your best friend, lover and future husband all wrapped up in one.

Hear the timer go off, announcing that the potatoes are done. This also means that your bread dough is ready to be shaped, so ask your fiancé to check the salmon, while you form the bread dough into a loaf shape. Finish that and put it next to the heater to rise again, while the fiancé sets the table. Eat at the table! For the first time in months. Once you have enjoyed the salmon and potatoes, and some nice dinner conversation, clear the table and go into the living room.

At this point the fiancé will go into the bedroom to watch a DVD that he got in the mail that day, while you stay in the living room and read a great book. When you get tired of reading, watch an episode of Bones online while petting a cat. Finally, at 8:35 or so, put the bread dough in the oven, because it has finally risen enough to be baked. Continue to pet cats and dogs while watching TV online until the bread is done – take it out, declare it perfect, spread some butter on top of it, and put it on racks to cool. Salivate over the idea of warm from the oven homemade bread. Mmmm.

Wait for a whole five minutes before you cut into it and eat two slices, generously topped with margarine. Declare your bread baking curse to officially be over, because you have now made two different recipes in the last three weeks, and they both came out perfect. Yum.

Fiancé, who fell asleep watching his DVD comes out of the bedroom. Hug fiancé. Get ready for bed, and hit the hay, happy to have spent a relaxing evening at home.

Cat Pictures Old and New

Tuesday is kitty picture day here on my blog, woo! I have some good ones to show you today, too.

Gracie has a little bit of a cold, so she's been hanging out at the heater even more than usual. Bernie doesn't have a cold, but he loves sleeping next to it anyway. :)

Zelda is a good sister to Gracie, awww. "You don't feel good? Here, let me wash your head while you soak in the heat."

Okay, this picture of Sable kind of sucks. I owe her better next week.

Can you believe these cats...




Used to be this little?

This is Kate when she was a wee little kitten. I don't know how old she was - maybe five or six weeks? Look how little and cute!

This is Lucy and Kate's Mom, feeding her three kittens. That's Kate on the left, Lucy on the right, and their brother in the middle (he went to a different home, obviously). Doesn't Lucy look just like her mother? Aww.

The Life of Emile Zola

A quick explanation for anyone who's coming here from holidailies and isn't a regular reader: I'm watching all of the Best Picture Academy Award winning movies (well, all that are available on DVD - there are a couple that aren't). When I watch one, I post a bit of a review here, which is what this entry is.

And without further ado:

The Life of Emile Zola
1937
Starring:
Paul Muni
Joseph Schildkraut
Vladimir Sokoloff

This is a movie about Emile Zola, a writer and political activist from the 1800s (who also happens to be best friends with Paul Cezanne). It starts out when he and Cezanne are young and poor, sharing a small apartment with holes in the windows. He sees injustices and writes books about them, which actually get printed, and he becomes rather famous for these. After a while he has gotten so rich and famous (and older) that he feels like he has done his time as an activist, and wants no more to do with it. Until...

Captain Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of treason (this all takes place in France, by the way), but he's innocent. The French government needed someone to take the fall for the crime, and he was the one chosen. He was sentenced to an isolated island, trapped in a one room cell, with hardly even the necessities to stay alive (ha! I'm listening to Staying Alive as I write that. Funny, yes? :). Even after proof comes to light that shows his innocence and another man's guilt, they refuse to set him free, because if they admit they were wrong, it will look bad for them.

So Emile ends up fighting for him - landing him in trouble with the government, and ending up on trial himself for slander.

This movie started our really slowly, and I was afraid this was going to be the first Oscar winning movie that I wouldn't like at all. But of course, it got better. I mean, all of these movies won Best Picture, it's not like they're going to suck. Once the things started happening with Dreyfus, it got much better.

I won't give away the whole ending, in case you want to watch it for yourselves. :)

I give this movie 4 stars out of 5. It could have started off less boring, but otherwise it was very good.

(By the way - I love old movies, I really do, but I'm thinking I'm going to need to watch some newer movies soon, because I'm kind of wearing thin on the black and white movies full of actors who are now dead. It's a good thing we have the new Hulk movie at home to watch.)

(Also, on a non-movie related note, it's freaking cold here today (3 degrees when I got to work), and it's very cold in my office, and I'm sick of being cold. It either needs to be spring now, or I need to move south again.)

(Asides over. Thanks. :)

Happy List, 11/30-12/6

Here's this week's happy list! These are some of the things that made me smile and made me happy this last week.

Sunday: Spending Sunday evening with J, woo! Getting our tree up, and the lights on – the decorations will be added soon.

Monday: Spending a great evening with J. :) Having an appointment to get something personal scheduled, which I really want done.

Tuesday: Getting my date for the above thing (sorry for the cryptic). Relaxing and watching House at night, and reading a book during commercials (March, my next Pulitzer Prize winning book).

Wednesdsay: One of my credit cards will be paid off in just three months! Woo!

Thursday: I figured out more plot for the future of my Sims legacy! I’m very excited about it. J came home to me, even though he had to leave 2 hours later to go back to work. Aww. :) Spending two hours with him, eating a nice dinner and then just hugging and watching TV together. Also, Michelle called to thank me for the blanket I made for her daughter. :) I didn’t even hear the phone, because we were watching TV in the bedroom, but I appreciated the call a lot. I don’t think anyone has ever called to thank me for something I’ve made for them before!

Friday: I found some great Sims 2 downloads online, woo! A nice evening with J.

Saturday: Getting a bit of Sims time in. Sable on my shoulder, purring into my ear.

Don't look too long at the picture if you're squeamish

Cats are predators. We've domesticated them (and their canine counterparts), but we haven't bred that instinct to hunt out of them. I'm reminded of that fact every once in a while when I find a dead mouse in my house in the morning - today I was reminded of it in a much more immediate way.

See that picture? That is a live mouse in Zelda's mouth. She caught it behind my desk, where I was sitting at the time. Fun! Not. I have no problem with mice - when they're outside. I like them, I think they're cute, they can live in the fields all they want. But inside they're destructive, so I applaud the cats' instincts to kill them. I just have a little bit of a problem with them killing mice while I'm home (and awake). Ick.

She hasn't killed this one, yet. I tried to rescue it - I grabbed its tail (with a paper towel, so I didn't actually touch it), and when Zelda let go, I was going to put it in an empty cereal box and take it outside. But it wriggled and fell on the floor, and Zelda went after it again. Only she did what cats do - she let go of it, because aparently half of the fun of hunting is playing with your prey - if you're a cat, that is. And it ran across the living room, and disappeared. Zelda and Sable have been on the hunt for it, but it hasn't turned back up yet. I really hope it didn't go under the door into our bedroom. Excuse me while I shudder at the thought.

If it did, I'm pretty sure it can find its way out - pretty much the same way it found its way in. I'm not sure how long it will live though - I don't know if the wounds Zelda gave it were surface wounds or deeper. We'll see.

Anyway. I was going to do an Oscar movie post today - I watched The Life of Emile Zola the other night. I'm going to hold that until Monday, though. This mouse post is good enough for today, don't you think?

Okay, I'm going to go back to cheering Zelda and Sable on. Find that mouse, cats! Hunt!

Dogs, Dogs and More Dogs!

Yay, holidailies starts today! For anyone who is coming here for the first time from that site, Fridays on my blog are Doggy Picture Day - my own dogs, of course (and my fiance's). Although I could post other people's dogs, too. I just don't have many pictures of other people's dogs. :) Anyway, enough of me rambling. The dogs are the stars of the show today!

This Morning

Rosie: "Oh no, she's got that stupid camera out again."

Duff: "She does? It must be doggy day!"

Rosie: "I guess I better look at her then, so that she'll go away. I'm not smiling, though."

Bernie: "I was just in the bathroom with you while you were getting ready. Then I followed you in here. Are you going somewhere else now? Cuz I'll follow you there, too."

Willow: "Zzzzzzzz." (For the record, Bernie followed me to the living room, too.)

Heater Worship is Going Strong

This shot kind of sucks, but I had to take it, because I had never seen Rosie sitting that close to Bernie before. She was leaning right up against him! Awww. Now if only Willow wasn't a bitch to the other dogs, maybe they'd all love each other! Sigh.

Heater worship is open to dogs AND cats (and humans, although they're not pictured by it as frequently - okay, ever).

I Loved This One

I happened to have the camera with me when Willow was sitting on the futon like this. Ha! She makes me laugh so much.

Stuff I love

I'm feeling kind of down today. I don't have any reason to feel down, though - I'm blaming hormones, because my hormones are all effed up, so they're likely the reason. Stupid effing hormones.

Anyway, in an effort to turn this mood around, I'm posting today with a list of things I love - in no particular order, other than how they come to mind.

J. Willow, Bernie, McDuff, Rosie. Lucy, Kate, Zelda, Gracie, Sable. My friends. Some of my family (okay all of them, even though they don't all deserve it). J's family (especially his parents, because they love me). The pets of all the people I know. All animals everywhere, really - large, small, furry or otherwise. Pandora's new quickmix station, that takes songs from all of my stations, making the best mix, it's great. Bob Seger's music. Sandra Bullock's movies. Books. My 101 list, for making me start watching so many Oscar winning movies, and for making me start to read some great Pulitzer Prize winning novels. My eyes. My engagement ring. Chocolate, especially brownies, chocolate cake, chocolate cookies, candy bars - okay, that's pretty much all chocolate (ooh, and hot chocolate). Sugar cookies. Diet Pepsi. Spending time with J. Chatting online with Sarah all day between work things. Having lunch with Jamie and Jen everyday at work. Vacations. Long holiday weekends. Regular weekends. The Sims 2. The Internet. My down comforter and flannel duvet. Laying in bed, on my side, with J spooned up behind me, his arm around my belly. Kisses from McDuff. Hugs from Bernie. Willow's beautiful brown eyes. Rosie jumping up and giving me hugs. Zelda sitting in front of me on my desk, while I hug her close. Gracie sitting on my desk with her lower half, her upper half on my belly. Cat purrs. Sable on my shoulder, rubbing her head into my ear. Lucy coming to me for loving when I'm peeing (they all love poop loving, whether I'm pooping or not). Kate bitching at me until I finally pick her up and hold her. Netflix. Netflix's online movies. TV online. My DVR. Getting cards in the mail. Getting one of my credit cards paid off (woo!).

J hugs.

Some of the great animal pictures I've taken since I started posting dog and cat picture days (which I really need to organize on my hard drives, so that I can find them for posts like this). Pictures of J, which show off his blue eyes and his great smile. That picture I took of myself with Zelda.

This video:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

All of you who read this. Thank you.

And lots more stuff, but I think this is long enough now.

Christmas is Coming

Sunday when J came home from work, he brought me two great gifts - Christmas presents, but he gave them to me early. Why? Because one was a Grinch t-shirt (he got himself a matching one), and the other was Grinch and Max pajamas! Those are the coolest pajamas, you have no idea. I love pajamas.

So, that picture is of our tree, with the dolphin next to it, all lit up. Pretty, right? We still need to put the ornaments on the tree, but at least it's up and has lights on it. I love Christmas decorations. They're fun. I'm so glad that J likes to decorate for the holidays - all of them, not just Christmas.

I made these sugar cookies on Saturday or Sunday - I don't remember now. It's in my happy list for last week, but I'm too lazy to look to see what day it was. :D Anyway, they were amazing, and now they're gone, and I want more of them. Thanks for the recipe, Sarah! J asked me to make more, too - I wasn't the only one who loved them. I may have to make a double batch next time, so that they last longer than three or four days. :)

I'm happy about Christmas this year. Even though I am broke because of my car (stupid cars). I'm hoping I can get it fixed for less than I have saved for it, so that I can still buy presents for J. He doesn't want any from me, because he knows I need to fix my car (and then pay taxes in January on my house), but how can I not buy him something? It feels wrong. I love him so much, and I love giving him things.

Of course, I am doing something on New Year's Eve that is for him as much as for me, so that can be my present to him, I guess, if I can't afford to buy him something. (I don't really want to say what it is on here, I don't know why. But it's something that we both want, and it's a good thing.)

Also Christmas Day is the one year anniversary of J proposing to me. :) That still makes me so happy. I'm kind of looking forward to some day calling him my husband, instead of my fiance.

I somehow love the holidays this year. It's a good feeling.

Lucy!

Lucy is my 11 1/2 year old calico cat. She's named after Lucy Eleanor Moderatz, Sandra Bullock's character from my favorite chick flick of all time, While You Were Sleeping. She's a super sweet cat, and she almost never gets on my lap - almost never. When she does, the house would pretty much have to be burning down for me to kick her off - I won't put her down for much of anything, because her jumping up on me for loving is so rare. She actually used to get on my lap a lot, until I adopted Gracie and Zelda, and then she stopped. Not that she holds their presence against them in any way - she acts like she's their mother, and has since right after I brought them home.

Lucy's pictures don't do her justice, but here are a few anyway.


Lucy likes to sit under furniture.

J bought this Dolphin last year, and this year he has it set up in the living room. Only I bring it into the bathroom at night, to make sure the cats don't accidentally knock it over while they're playing in the living room when we're sleeping. Lucy, meet J's dolphin. :)

Christmas themed pictures, woo! I was following her around with the camera, and she climbed up the stairs and sat in front of these stockings. :) (Please ignore the dust on the stair edges, okay? Okay.)

Cats who aren't Lucy

Kate was hiding in her house when I took pictures, so here's one from the past - it's demon eyed Kate on the stairs, agh! :)

Sable is such a love bug. This is her asking me to pet her face, this morning, while I was getting ready for work.

Heater worship has begun! We got some kerosene for the heater, and J started it up this weekend. The animals loved it. Here are Gracie and Zelda hanging out next to it.

Movie and Book Update

Two of the items on my 101 list are to watch all the Best Picture Academy Award winners and to read 10 Pulitzer Prize winning novels. I knocked one of each off my list this weekend.

The Movie

The Great Ziegfeld
1936
William Powell
Myrna Loy
Frank Morgan
Luise Rainer

This was the story of Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr., a famous Broadway producer. You've heard of Ziegfeld's Follies, right? That's the guy. It showcased his personal and professional life, from when he was managing a "world's strongest man" exhibit at the world's fare to his death.

It was an enjoyable movie. The only real fault I had with it was that they showed too much of the stage shows he put on. It was over 3 hours long, and could have been a lot shorter if they had cut that. Which they could have, without hurting the story at all. But then, it was 1936, so audiences were very different. Maybe they liked watching that stuff then.

The other exciting thing about it were that the Wizard from the Wizard of Oz was in it, and so was the scarecrow! Well, that excited me, anyway.

So. Very good performances by all involved, and very enjoyable if you like classic movies and you have three hours free. You might want to go to the bathroom or go get snacks during the show scenes, though.

I gave this movie 4 out of 5 stars.

The Book

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao
by Junot Diaz
2008 Pulitzer Prize Winner (Fiction)

This book tells the tale of the life of Oscar Wao, a true blue geek. He's fat, he loves sci-fi, comic books and role playing games. He has never been kissed, and may just die a virgin. But he loves women, and yearns to have one of his own. His story is told through the eyes of a friend, and covers not only Oscar's story, but also his mother's and some of his sister's, as well. The story is very engaging, and once I got into it, I couldn't put it down. I sat at home yesterday and read probably the last half of the book, not going to bed until I finished.

My only complaint about this book isn't really a complaint, it's just something that made it hard for me to get into the book at first. Oscar and his family are Dominican, and that culture is basically a character in the story. I come from a world very different from that, so it was hard at first for me to get involved in it, or to understand it. Of course, it might have been easier if the author didn't keep using Spanish phrases without giving a translation for those of us who don't speak Spanish.

Still, once I got used to the language, and learned a bit more about the culture that was so important to the story, it was very easy to get involved in Oscar's life, and it really was an engaging read. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.