Not much in the mood to blog. Did watch Inception last night, and I really enjoyed it. I’m sure there are a few anal types all caught up in things that if you spend too much time thinking about probably didn’t make sense or add up, but I’m not one of them. When people say “that couldn’t happen” my response is generally “Yes it could, it was in the script.” It was a lot of fun, although I thought Juno was miscast in her role. I bet we will be seeing a lot more of the Eames fellow (Tom Hardy) in the future. He has a sort of British, more buff, Ed Burns vibe going for him. It would not surprise me to see him become a big action star.
Other than that, a lazy day with a couple dog walks and multiple games of “Vroom Vroom!” Vroom Vroom consists of me sitting in the recliner trying to read with Rosie at my feet whining for me to do something, until I lunge at her and yell “VROOM VROOM VROOM!” as loud as I can. She then gets the zooms and runs around the house in circles for a little bit, stopping to look at me every now and then, at which point I give her another “VROOM VROOM VROOM” and then she is off again for a bit. Good fun for the whole family, because Lily sits on the back of the couch and watches intently while Tunch positions himself to take swipes at Rosie as she runs by.
So, um yeah. Vacation for you.
Oh yeah. Fundraiser for Digby. I gave 20 bucks from the Balloon Juice collective, but you can give too…
Maude
Wouldn’t an air horn be easier?
Comrade Mary
So you’ve given Tunch an early Christmas present? Excellent!
p.a.
Nothing knocked over and broken? If not, maybe because she is only part JRT…
R-Jud
I’ll try this with the toddler.
I may have baked too many cookies.
Halteclere
Today is a beautiful sunny 70-degree day in Dallas. Though technically not on vacation, my boss has let me “work from home” yesterday, today and tomorrow, and I can charge my time to “overhead activities”. (I’ve worked the equivalent of 14 extra weeks in 2010, so my boss does not figure that these three days will break my company).
I’m home all alone with no honey-do’s, no toddler to keep out of trouble, and a garage with all sorts of tools ready for making sawdust.
This is a wonderful week indeed!
Paul in KY
@Maude: An environmentally friendly progressive like John has no need for your technoligical gizmos such as ‘airhorns’. They are no match for the forcefully shouted ‘vroom vroom’ (imagine previous sentence being said in Darth Vader voice).
Mudge
Vroom, vroom? Better make sure that new car is a Mazda.
Rich liberal guy
I had a thought this morning. The tax rates for us rich guys will net me about $300 more than I would have had if the Bush deficit increaser had expired.
If I make a donation of $150 to Planned Parenthood, I keep $150, and I can tell people that the tax cuts are funding abortions! Somebody get me the address of the Republican National Committee so I can share the good news.
BSR
Around here the Vroom Vroom game is called “Daddy’s gonna take your ball”, which is really me chasing a pit bull around the living room (which is setup like a circular track) signing “Daddies gonna take your ball”.
It’s good for everyone involved, I need the exercise. :D
singfoom
Vroom vroom sounds like a fun game. Much more fun than the “I’ll eat plastic and then throwup on your clothes” game one of my cats played this morning to try to wake us up to feed them.
Or the “Oh shit, he’s got a trashbag! RUN FOR YOUR LIVES! IT IS THE END!” game they play. I enjoy that game, but the cats are less enthused.
Poopyman
@R-Jud:
This is unpossible. Now, you may have fed someone too many cookies….
(aka “The cookie dwarf” in my extreme youth)
Emily L. Hauser/ellaesther
Just when I think that you and those damn dogs couldn’t get any cuter…! Vroom Vroom Ah, big smile.
Hey, you know what you folks should do? You should COME SPEND YOUR YEAR END BONUSES ON THE WORKS OF YOUR INTERNET PALS!
They’re really very talented! Check it: http://emilylhauserinmyhead.wordpress.com/2010/12/19/sunday-not-terribly-brief-dont-forget/
Reading material, photography, textiles, mosaics — it’s a veritable potpourri!
And with that I’m going to bed. This is one unpleasant cold I have. Perhaps it’s two unpleasant colds — it’s that unpleasant.
Malraux
Since it was asked yesterday (or the day before), here’s my recipe for vanilliaed whiskey. This is inspired by, ie outright stolen from, John Folse’s “Encyclopedia of Cajun & Creole Cuisine.”
You need some high quality Tahitian vanilla beans and a bottle of Jack Daniels. I recommend ordering the beans online, as grocery store prices are crazy. You’ll need 4 beans per 1 pint of JD or ~7 beans for a 750ml bottle.
Split and scrape the beans and drop both the beans and the scrapings into the bottle of JD. Let steep for 1-6 months, where longer will equal stronger, in a cool dark place, shaking once in a while. After that, drain and strain the contents through a coffee filter. I personally like to rinse the bottle of JD and then add the strained fluid back. It’ll keep for as long as you want it too.
Of course, you can use a good vodka for this if you want to make normal vanilla as well.
gogol's wife
I love that drive-by swiping cats do. My cats do it to each other. Big old Louis will ineffectually swipe at Sasha or Masha as they zip by him. It’s almost a point of honor.
jinxtigr
Here’s a vroom vroom :)
Vroom Vroom
Walker
When’s that vacation starting again?
Cheryl from Maryland
Let’s hear it for American enginuity!
The “squirrel-proof” bird feeders from China are not squirrel proof, but the lovely hand made copper one purchased for much more at a craft fair is. You get what you pay for — including a squirrel falling on its ass. Priceless.
You Don't Say
Call your senators to encourage them to vote to break the filibuster of the 9/11 responders bill.
TomG
John, how do you like Cataclysm so far ?
My wife and a friend don’t seem as enthusiastic about it as I had thought they would be, and I’ve pretty much given up on WoW completely. But I’m still a little curious to hear from those still in thrall to it (Thrall, get it ? bad inside joke).
Poopyman
@Cheryl from Maryland: Better watch out. Down here in Calvert County we’re breeding better Birdfeeder Attack Squirrels. And the cats still can’t catch the fat sumbitches.
change
So here’s a question that liberals can’t seem to answer:
Won’t having our military officially condone homosexuality cost lives as Muslims in Afghanistan and Iraq become enraged at us?
What about those on the fence between the west and the Islamits? This will probably push them towards the Islamists as they just can’t respect a society that condones degenerate sexual behavior.
Punchy
Local Petsmart selling giant dog bones 50% off simply because they’re “seasonal” simply because they have a red ribbon tied around them. Remove the ribbon, and they’re suddenly common dog bone stock, necessitating normal prices, bringing in higher profits. Somebody needs to hire my ass as a consultant.
Cat Lady
Just enough snow fell last night so that from the 52nd floor of the Hancock Tower in Back Bay, the Frog Pond looks exactly like in the pic. Wish I had my skates instead of a laptop. It’s a pretty one out there.
Anoniminous
@Cheryl from Maryland:
The “Squirrel Proof Feeders” are providing ever greater challenges to the squirrels, creating the evolutionary necessity for developing higher cognitive functioning. As these smarter squirrels breed with other smarter squirrels even more smarter squirrels will be born.
It can only end in the destruction of the human race by our Squirrel Overlords.
freelancer
@change:
No, dipshit. The British already allowed gays in the military and they’ve been alongside us in Af/Pak from the start. Also, in the mindset of the tribal Afghani, it doesn’t matter whether you discover that the pilot who targeted a Hellfire missile at your cousin’s house was ghey or not, you’re still going to be just as pissed off that this group of offensive foreign fighters killed him.
Poopyman
@change: Yeah, it really pisses them off when they get blowed up by Teh Gey.
Chyron HR
@change:
If you like Iran so much, move there.
R-Jud
@Poopyman:
20 dozen cookies may have been somewhat overkill. Most of them will be given away, however.
The problem is that Ms Bean seems to find them no matter where I put them. And when I put them in tins on a high shelf before I went out this morning, she did some fairly ingenious dragging of furniture to try to get to them, according to my husband.
He was so impressed that he… gave her a cookie.
change
@freelancer:
Britain is not the main leader of the coalition nor do they have the most combat troops.
I’m afraid that this hasty decision will not only cost lives on the battlefield, but also at home in further terrorist attacks, as this is recruitment fodder for Al Qaeda. We will risk the lives of our soldiers and civilians here at home just to please the 1% of people who are homosexual and those who defend their radical agenda.
Malraux
@change:
Newsflash, moron. Our society already “condones” degenerate sexual behavior. But more seriously, if your argument is that we need to stone adulterous women to death otherwise we might anger someone, you really need a better argument. You should also stop being an asshole and bigot.
Jewish Steel
Cisco and I have a game called “Bitey Baby.” I ask him, “Are you a bitey baby?” whereupon he falls to the floor and scratches at his face with both paws in unison as though he is trying to force Satan out of his body via his nose. I also spin him around breakdance style and he tries to bite me. Also good times although I’m not totally clear on all the rules. You’d have to ask Cisco.
Poopyman
@change: … And who was it used to say that if we change our ways just to accommodate them the terrorists will have won?
(FYWP for not letting me edit #26. Will somebody please fix that?)
TomG
“change” @ 21 and 29 is a failed troll. Just ignore it, perhaps it will go away.
Comrade Mary
Seriously, folks: the troll’s posts are laughable. Ignore.
patrick II
Nice surmise on Tom Hardy, we will be seeing a lot more of him. I didn’t remember which character he was so I looked him up in IMDB and he is in preproduction or filming on five movies — The Dark Knight Rises; The Wettest County In the World; Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; The Means War; and the Warrior.
Perhaps you should consider being an agent or casting director.
The Other Ian
INCEPTION SPOILERS
The peculiar thing is that you don’t need to know the plot of Inception to understand the movie because in the end the main character has given up on following the plot. At the end, Cobb simply does not care whether he is in the real world or not. I find that profoundly disturbing whether he’s awake or asleep.
Of course, it’s still fun to speculate about the plot. My favorite guess at the plot: in reality (not seen in the film) Ariadne and the rest of the team are performing an inception on Cobb. What idea are they trying to plant? “You’re just a shade of my real wife, not the woman I married,” etc. They’re planting the idea that he should divorce Mal, who is quite alive in reality.
Amir_Khalid
@change:
The US has allies, which allow gay people to serve openly in their military, and which also sent troops to Afghanistan. Do you happen to have any evidence of an increased rate of attacks on these allies’ troops, or of higher casualty rates among suchtroops, specifically attributable to the presence of gays among these troops?
The Other Ian
Won’t kicking out highly qualified soldiers cost lives?
This is why I favour laws against adultery and the prohibition of alcohol.
Ha! Wow.
and the Canadian Forces as well. Ask for them in Kandahar.
Responding is fun because they are laughable.
Malraux
@Amir_Khalid: There are a lot of things I would imagine would offend radical religious followers as much as homosexuality. We let women drive and fly vehicles in the military, for example.
TaMara (BHF)
@Rich liberal guy: I think I’m a little in love with you right now.
rdldot
@Rich liberal guy: I’m giving mine to the ACLU.
TaMara (BHF)
Oh and Vroom, Vroom sounds hard. We just yell “squirrel” at our house for loads of Great Dane crashing fun.
eemom
yesterday JC said he was going on VACAY and wasn’t going to post for a week and, by Jupiter, this time he really MEANS it.
I think it’s hilarious that nobody even bothers to point this out anymore.
Jay in Oregon
I just chase my dog around with a hunched-over pose resembling one of the zombies from Thriller. Good times…
Amir_Khalid
Alas, I have no dog to play “vroom vroom” games with. Just a cat who likes to decide, at random moments, that my scalp needs a tongue bath RIGHT NOW; and that I must therefore drop whatever I’m doing and go sit on the sofa with my head tilted back, so that Bianca can perch on the wooden chest behind it and do the needful.
R-Jud
@Amir_Khalid:
I have a cat who’s kind of like that. She’s standing on my back, kneading my shoulders right now. Fortunately, this thick sweater means I’m getting a nice massage rather than amateur acupuncture.
ruemara
@TomG:
Healing suxs now. Spirit stacks and ooming are mandatory. You have to know your class and your timing.
Leveling is easier. way easier. rep gains are easier.
WTF? why is cooking now so damn hard to level? other professions, not so much.
New game mechanics are fun, cut scenes are better integrated to gameplay, gets sort of annoying after the first 20. No, I am not kidding.
Gear. gear. gear. gear. that is annoying too. But we are all BC elite now. My druid has 95k hp and still can’t take down 2 regular mobs without actual tactics.
kdaug
“gets the zooms”?
I am so stealing this.
KevinD
He’s slated to be the next Mad Max
CaptainFwiffo
What about the last three fucking hours of the movie where everyone was running around in snow-suits so you had no idea who was who or why they were running around in snowsuits with guns and grenades inside a dream that they designed? I don’t know how anyone could have enjoyed watching that sequence.
Never once in the movie did I go “oh, wow, that’s exactly what dreams are like”, which is the kinda what I expected, given that it was a movie about dreaming.
Ked
Only thing badly wrong with Inception was the soundtrack. The music was just fine, but you couldn’t hear the dialogue over it.
South Park did a wonderful sendup of this last season. Kyle and others got a dream intervention after the discovery they suffered the dread malady of hoarding – half the cast winds up connected to the dream, including the fire department and the pizza guy. And every time the therapist tries to explain what’s going on a second scientist-type character starts adlibbing a rhythm track (thump-chukka-WAAAAAH-thumpthump) which makes it hard to understand the details. Though not so hard as it is in the actual movie.
The whole is-he-still-dreaming thing was about as lame as is-he-a-replicant was in Blade Runner. Open-ended internal questions about how meta the story is need to be entirely implicit. (The Thirteenth Level is an interesting study in how to do that, if you want to dig up that really-obscure 90’s film. The Matrix (trilogy) could be as well, if you want to take a radical reading of the setting.) Asking the question directly as Inception does at the end is just a throwaway gesture towards greater meaning which diminishes everything that comes before.
TomG
@47 ruemara –
I was never about the gear. I enjoyed the game but never got into hardcore raiding much after the Molten Core days. Unfortunately I doubt I will return….it’s been 5 years and fun times but they are over. Right now, I’m checking out Lord of the Rings Online, I have a Premium account there. The lack of PvP discussion is quite refreshing.
Cain
Y’all should be monitoring steam for all the cool discounts on games.. best time of the year for getting sub $10 games!
cain
John Cole
@TomG: I love it. My favorite expansion so far.
Blue Neponset
John Scalzi posts a pretty interesting Christmas interview. link
Woodrow L. Goode, IV
My only complaint about Inception is really an issue with the large number of dummies who watch it. I went with five people– three of whom were in tears at the end of the movie.
What are you crying about? “It was so nice to see the father and son finally make up.”
I pointed out (How do I do this without spoiling too much?) that they were crying over an act of industrial espionage– one that, for all we know (the movie doesn’t address it) might be a case of the bad guys defeating the ‘not quite as bad’ guys.
I’ve had that conversation with people who want to talk up the ‘dual moral redemption’ during the climax. Boggles the mind. Folks, Leonardo DiCaprio is not Dr. Phil– he’s Hudson Hawk.
Which is not to say that the movie isn’t entertaining– or amazing to look at– or that I regret going. I don’t think I’d want to watch it a second time, because I’m pretty sure I’d notice all the holes I missed the first time.
But I’m amazed that Chris Nolan has managed to con so many people into thinking he made something more than a caper movie.
Tom
Hardy’s also rumored to be one of the villains in The Dark Knight Rises.
digby
John,
You are a prince. Thank you very much.
cheers,
digby
And Happy Holidays to all of you Balloon Juicers, too. (Balloon Juicites?)
Mark S.
@digby:
We prefer the more dignified balloonbaggers.
Pongo
‘Of course it’s possible, it’s in the script,’ makes me think of the line from the opening song in Mystery Science Theater 3000 (a show about a janitor and some robots who accidentally get shot into space and are forced to watch terrible movies–don’t ask, it’s in the script):
‘If you’re wondering how he eats and breathes and other science facts,
(la-la-la)
repeat to yourself it’s just a show, I should really just relax.’
tomvox1
If you like Tom Hardy, Netflix “Bronson”–it’s on my queue and I hear it’s an absolute tour de force. Always good to watch really good actors before they become celebrities. For example: Watch The Deer Hunter and then watch pretty much any movie DeNiro’s made since Once Upon A Time in America. Shudder…
Cliff
@Cain:
I’ve never seen so many things on sale at once.:
http://www.steamgamesales.com/
liberal
@change:
OK…let’s see whatcha got…
The answer is simple: no.
asiangrrlMN
@R-Jud: That’s too cute! I can just picture the Bean determined to get her cookies and her father rewarding her for her ingenuity!
Cole, videos the next time you play, please. Especially of Tunch. TUNCHIE!
Happy Solstice, everyone.
Carl Nyberg
Inception suffered from the “good guys” being not better in a moral sense than the “bad guys”.
Tom
Midnight Run! Goodfellas! This Boy’s Life! Casino! Heat!
And DeNiro was a pretty big when Deer Hunter came out (Godfather II and Taxi Driver were his big breakout). Mean Streets or Bang the Drum Slowly would be better examples of early works when he was lesser known.
KevinD
@tomvox1: “Bronson” is very good, and “RocknRolla” is not bad also, if you like those Guy Ritchie-style British gangster movies.
bago
@Carl Nyberg: Most heist movies suffer in that way.