January 26, 2012 – 5:38 am
…and that’s some of what I’ve been doing at work this week.
The other thing I’ve been doing is scaring everyone by cleaning my office. Here’s before:
And here’s after:
My colleagues have been visiting my office like it’s a pilgrimage, saying, “I heard you cleaned.” A few of them have asked me if I’m moving out, but no. It’s just that cleaning out stuff at home has been making me feel so good that I thought it might help me at work, too. And it totally has. I love all the positive reinforcement I’ve been… Read the rest
January 25, 2012 – 5:09 am
There were five previews before Sherlock Holmes.
Preview #1: Battleship
This movie doesn’t come out until May, and I’ve already seen this trailer three times. For a movie based on a board game. Based on my premature overexposure to this trailer, I have a lot of problems with this movie, both as a concept and in its execution. I am going to focus on one right now: THERE ARE NO ALIENS IN BATTLESHIP. I do not mean to imply that the game could not be improved by aliens, but it doesn’t even matter, because they aren’t there. I hope I… Read the rest
January 24, 2012 – 5:48 am
This past week, everyone in Film Club watched the documentary Brother Born Again so that, starting today, we could discuss the film. I love this idea of all of us watching the same movie and discussing it, but I’m not sure what to say about this film. I originally encountered the story on this episode of This American Life, which uses audio clips from the film to tell the same story the movie tells, but in 30 minutes and without the bad camera work and padding. It has such obvious flaws that it seems mean to go on about… Read the rest
January 23, 2012 – 7:40 pm
How excited are Jules and Camille and I about Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos winning the Newbery?
Very.
We’ve been Facebooking and emailing about it all the day long. I was so excited that I could only communicate in all caps for about an hour. You are lucky I got over that.
I haven’t read the Newbery honors, but I look forward to doing so.
The Caldecotts are all books I loved this year, but I am particularly excited about Me… Jane winning Patrick McDonnell an honor. I feel like he’s been creating extraordinary picture… Read the rest
January 22, 2012 – 5:23 am
“There was once a boy named Milo who didn’t know what to do with himself–not just sometimes, but always.”
-The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, illustrated by Jules Feiffer
January 21, 2012 – 5:11 am
When my late husband and I got married, we got a music box as a gift. I remember winding it up and listening to it for the first time, standing in the kitchen of our first apartment. We both started crying, and soon we were laughing. For the first time it hit us: we were nineteen, we’d just gotten MARRIED, we’d gotten away with this insane and wonderful thing, and we were happy. I, for one, felt free. It was then that I realized that I could make my life whatever I wanted it to be, the way I’d always… Read the rest
January 20, 2012 – 5:37 am
Here’s a spread from The Book of Vampires by James W. Hinkley and illustrated by Michael Deas, which we weeded from WPL’s collection yesterday:
I guess nobody’s perfect, but still.
January 19, 2012 – 5:42 am
Max: You can’t take away my my space game.
Me: What? I can TOTALLY take away your space game.
Max: No you can’t.
Me: Yes I can.
Max: No you can’t.
Me: Yes. I. Can.
Max: No you can’t.
Me: Can.
Max: Can’t.
Me: I’m bigger, and I’m older, and I have a car. I win.
Max: Fine. Just don’t, though.
Max: Did you know that angels are nice?
Me: As I understand it, some of them are.
Max: You know why?
Me: No, why?
Max:… Read the rest
January 18, 2012 – 5:35 am
I caused a bit of a fervor coming out as a Tree of Life hater. John kicked me out of Film Club (but then he also called my 2011 list “masculine,” so we’re cool now), Lisa declared her love for me, and Brandon seemed at least willing to let me continue to hang around, which is great because it seems that a number of Film Club members play Settlers of Catan. Clearly I have found more of my people.
Jason and I do not speak of the ToL Incident.
Anyway, I got all behind on… Read the rest
January 17, 2012 – 12:23 pm
I wanted to point out that Abby posted a nice roundup of her ongoing Fantastic Friday programs for homeschoolers. Great stuff there.
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