jennifer oh jenny........

this is a crappy youtube video with a little promo at the beginning, but i LOVE THIS SONG! click here to listen (and don't bother watching.) it's the only version i can find on the youtube.

jenifa...oh jenny lost her favorite penny so i gave her a dollar she kissed me and i hollered!!!

lomography

some pics from my lomography oktomat camera. dixie & griffin from 2005.

lomography emphasizes casual, snapshot photography. Characteristics such as over-saturated colors, off-kilter exposure, blurring, "happy accidents," and alternative film processing are often considered part of the "Lomographic Technique." Users are encouraged to take a lighthearted approach to their photography, and use these techniques to document everyday life, as the Lomo LC-A's small size, simple controls, and ability to shoot in low light encourages candid photography, photo reportage, and photo vérité through the much-touted "10 Rules."

crazy day.....

1. left work at my normal time. (no leaving early for contractors!) even went to the grocery store after work. was feeling awesome and telling the winter weather to bite me, then i got stuck in the driveway. my car was sticking out almost onto the road! it took us an hour to dig the car out. god knows if i'll be able to get out in the morning.

2. around 9:30pm we felt the house shake. thought maybe it was a little earthquake, or a tree falling. groundcat went to investigate and found nothing. 30 minutes later we saw breaking news that a house exploded on lakeshore, 2 cities away.

"residents in the area reported seeing a mushroom cloud of smoke and feeling the ground shake and thinking it was an earthquake."

i'm going to bed before anything else crazy happens!

Going 5 MPH

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

interesting....

it has been a year since i did the story on WKYC about my weight loss surgery. interesting times.....

movie reviews: sort of horror movies...

we watched 2 movies last night (anything to stave off the impending monday morning blues.) if you haven't seen "the wrestler" but plan on it, skip my review. i want to know what people think of the movie without my bias.

also, i'm not putting a bunch of links in my posts anymore. y'all know how to work the google & wikipedia!

"the wrestler" has been hyped for months now. it's supposed to be mickey rourke's best performance. he's won a golden globe and up for an oscar. everyone who sees the trailer is shocked by his appearance. he's bulked up huge, and his face is a mess (mostly from boxing in the 90's and some plastic surgery gone wrong.)

after all the hype, i finally watched the movie last night. it was a little bit of a let down. the story was predictable and the characters a little 2 dimensional. "the broken down piece of meat" wrestler, the stripper with kids at home and a heart of tarnished gold, the angry daughter he neglects, finds peace with, then neglects again. the trailer park, crappy job, strip club and weekend wrestling matches. it's all just a little too neat & predictable.

the performances are all good. really good. B+ good. mickey rourke is basically playing himself, & marissa tomei makes me feel a little bad for her (she seems to be nude in most films, and plays an aging stripper a little too well.) the story and dialog are also B+ good.

the subplot about the wrestler trying to contact his daughter after a heart attack totally triggered my "daddy issues" and i cried. but, as groundcat put it, "any girl with a dad would have cried during that scene!" it felt a little manipulative, like the scene was shot with the intention of bringing on the tears. dad seeks daughter, daughter tells him to fuck off. dad tries again, daughter gives him chance, dad gives heartfelt speech about his regrets. then they break into an abandoned ballroom on the NJ boardwalk and waltz together. cue tears!!!

the story continues on the generic plot of the wrestler trying to reform his ways, trying to reform the ways of the stripper he loves, the setbacks, and one really brutal scene at a deli counter that reminded me of the directors previous more brutal film, "requiem for a dream.' but then it was back to the formula and i felt a little cheated by the whole film. i think without all the hype, i would have still wanted to see the film, and might have enjoyed it a little more, if only for the surprises. by the time the credits roll and the springsteen song about "a one-legged dog" starts up, i felt a little cheated.

the other film we watched was "the brood", a late 70's horror film by david cronenberg. he's know for making films with the theme of "body horror", like "scanners", "the fly", "naked lunch" and "eXistenZ". i have always said that there's something really wrong with cronenberg, and this film proves it.

(definition of body horror: fiction in which the horror is principally derived from the graphic destruction or degeneration of the body. such works may deal with disease, decay, parasitism, mutilation, or mutation.)

here's how i described the film to reynolds: "the brood is about a mean pyschic doctor who makes the anger come out of people. one guy gets covered in pox while the mean doctor screams at him, pretending to be his dad. the main character's wife is in a cabin in the woods with this doctor. she's real scary. she has puffy hair and sits on pillows. she's giving birth to little creepy blonde kids who put on snowsuits and go kill the people she's mad at. they are all deformed and have a "hump" back that they live off of, like a camel. at the end of the film, her husband shows up to trick her into thinking he loves her, trying to get her to stop being mad (and birthing the deformed evil kids.) she pulls up her white gown to show him what she's been "getting into" out in the cabin, and she has a uterus on the outside of her stomach!!! she bites into it and rips the bloody deformed baby out and licks it."

here is a clip of the last few minutes of the film, starting with the worst part. it's really horrible. really. one of the worst things i've ever seen in a movie. i wish i hadn't seen it. so now i am sharing that sorrow. enjoy!!!

p.s. the story about "the brood" is that david cronenberg was going through a bad divorce & custody fight. he refers to this film as his own "kramer vs. kramer." LMAO!!!!

ok, that's it for now. ciao peeps!!!

slideshow & my new favorite song

instead of the boring blog post with photos, i made a slide show. i love this song too. the band is called the format and i think this is a perfect pop song. i love when the tuba kicks in!

i made this in iMovie and used "the ken burns effect" for shits & giggles.

seeing pink......

lately i've been amazed at the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. of course i've snapped a ton of photos:

(sunrise makes everything pink, and road flares...)

(sunset downtown, and sunrise on the freeway....)

(crescent moon outside our window the other night....)


Message from the Universe: When in doubt, Jennifer, show up early. Think less. Feel more. Ask once. Give thanks often. Expect the best. Appreciate everything. Never give up. Make it fun. Lead. Invent. Regroup. Wink. Chill. Smile. And live as if your success was inevitable, and so it shall be.Happy global domination, The Universe

(tut. another meme i stole from T on live journal. you can sign up to get a "note from the universe" every day, or once once a week. i liked the one from today.)

also: happy birthday copax!!!!

(chris in the nook, a year ago, taking a machete to his cake.)

breaking news: everyone thinks it's funny to joke about mine & groundcat's large noggins, but per this news story, big heads are all the rage with young girls. so face on you!!!!!

some rules on fashion, food, and life, or how i became old & cranky...

i know i'm not big on following rules. i've been know to shout, "rules for for fools!!!" but sometimes in life, you need to have some boundaries. here are my rules for life:

1. a cardigan sweater should never be short-sleeved

2. fruit should never be combined with meat

3. clamato &V8 juice should not exist. it's cold vegtable soup, not something to drink.

4. ladies, do not wear white pantyhose, ever

5. when you are walking in a parking lot, stay off your cell phone. if i hit you, it's your own damn fault.

6. don't slurp your beverage, smack your lips or chew with your mouth open in public. if i snap & kill you, it's your own damn fault.

7. do not blow your nose at your desk

8. mind your business

9. when you're in line at the grocery store, be nice and put the divider down for the person behind you

10. be polite. say please and thank you. hold the door for folks. don't act like an ass.

11. ladies, do not get your hair "permed" (this is for the ladies, although if it was 70's i'd include men. remember when the brady boys all got perms in the 4th season?)

12. men, "ironic" mustaches & white man afros are only funny for a day or 2 around halloween. after that it's lame.

13. don't assume everyone believes in god

14. don't discuss child birth, religion, sex, or politics at work, on the bus, or in line at the grocery. save it for a blog or something!

15. don't ask for a bunch of exceptions when ordering from a menu. it's ok to ask for one thing, like no onions or extra cheese. if you're asking for 3 or 4 variations, then order something else from the menu! if you order a "cheesy onion chicken sandwich" and ask the waiter to hold the cheese and onions, you suck. no one has time to change an entire recipe or put 1/2 the ingredients on the side, etc...

16. do not heat fish in the microwave

17. don't tug on superman's cape, don't pee into the wind, don't pull the mask off that old lone ranger and don't mess around with jen.....

black dynamite!!!!

sick day, a running commentary....updated

6:30am- woke up with a sore throat, called in sick. coffee drinking commences....

7:00am- only 30 minutes since i got up, and i have threatened to punch the dogs in their filthy furry faces if they whine to go outside again. griffin just walked over to lick my hand and then sneeze on me, twice. it's like he doesn't take my threats seriously.

7:30am- made an egg & toast for breakfast, set a paper towel on fire. cleo seemed excited to see the flames.

a side note- there's some kind of inauguration thing going on today. i'm concerned that this will have an effect on my favorite daytime tv.

random words i keep hearing from the telly: inauguration, dolly madison, historic, glamorous, balls, bush, cash bar, youth ball, interesting balls, neighborhood balls, native washingtonians, economy, stress, brainy cabinet, sponge, poetry, expectations, race, blackberry, vamping, lemon meringue jacket, rotunda, replica abe lincoln china, hats are back.
8:15am- still in PJs, on my 2nd cup of coffee. i'm goofing around on pajiba, making comments on a thread about "your parents car" and the music we grew up with. i love talking about music!!! also trying to figure out where to put the sea monkey aquarium. they're on mars! but first must lay down for a while. my throat feels like a knife is going into the right side.

9:30am- shopping for boots online. i want the tall, black leather boots to wear with skirts. but i'm clumsy and need a nice, low heel. do they make sexy black boots in orthopedic models?

side note- switched from coffee to ramen noodle soup and and orange. it's the cure!

the orange didn't seem to help......

holy shit: barak does not drink coffee or alcohol. he prefers spiderman to batman. he does not drink coffee. (did you hear me????)

9:35am- cleo grumbles and asks to go out for the 40th time since i got up. she says i'm exaggerating, but really, not so much.

side note- inhaling incense does not help a sore throat. dog farts are also not helpful. time to go play with the new wooden spice box thing i got at world market.

11:00am- huh? what happened? it's 11am and i am still in pjs??? i need to drop off an RX, get my mullet trimmed if i can...but the couch looks so comfy...

12:00pm- showered and back on the computer. pajiba is addictive. going to go to the grocery soon. too bad i left my now boots at work.

more inauguration: i should have just gone to work. sigh......i know i "should" care, and obama seems potentially amazing, but i got burned on politics at a young age, and just don't know if anyone elected to the oval office can help but suck. also, why is aretha franklin a big deal? yawn..... time to walk the dogs!

note to self: dogs suck. you'd think they'd be appreciative of someone with a sore throat taking them for a walk in 3 feet of snow. again, not so much. instead, they took my weakened state as a chance to go diving for deer shit. cleo ran off into the woods and hit paydirt (and by paydirt i mean deer crap.) she wouldn't come when i called, and when i finally caught up with her (griffin in tow) she took off running in the other direction. and i swear, she was laughing at me. when i turned to head back to the house, griffin dove head first into a pile of snow and scored himself some deer poop before i could drag him away.

(this is where the prime deer crap is located, just east of the old chicken coop, near the mexican graves, fyi..)

2:30pm- home from the grocery store. i got a big mac for lunch and listened to the obama coverage on NPR. something finally got to my icy little heart and i got all happy about him winning and cried. then i ate 2 bites of the big mac, remembered why i never get them, threw it out, and did the grocery shopping. had 1/2 a roll of peppermint mentos (the freshmaker!) for lunch instead. making some tea and taking a giant dose of midol now. sore throat and cramps? yeah!!!!

crying update: yesterday i cried at the doctor's office over "witchita lineman", a sure sign of PMS as a friend in california pointed out. so far today it's obama (seeing his wife and kids & thinking about them living in the white house) and then a tim russert tribute.

newsflash: " The Online Communications Advisory Panel" has asked me for my feedback on the internets!!! do you think they heard about this blog?

about blogs: i know most people don't care about this blog, or blogs in general. they say blogs are self indulgent, masturbatory, no one cares. i just like blogging as a way to be creative, to make myself or my friends laugh, and a way to keep a sort of online scrapbook of my life. i go back to find recipes, to see what i was doing a year ago, to find photos of events...

3pm- real newsflash: something happened at the inauguration, someone screamed, ted kennedy might have fallen ill. i'm a nervous wreck watching this coverage, waiting for something bad to happen. time to turn off the tv and look out the window.

we have a ton of icicles, real big ones. and i love seeing deer tracks in the snow. there's pair of deer that come out most evenings and walk around the yard. (i'm never going to get over having deer in my yard, fyi...)

3:30pm- time for dinner: lasagna pie!

4pm- ok, i'm ready to go back to work tomorrow. i've run out of things to do on the internet and found myself looking at paparazzi pics of julia roberts. kill me now. i've had the tv on NBC all damn day.

an actual quote i just heard on tv: "it's cool to be smart, the rappers think it's cool." unless the leftover lasagna and double dose of midol has made me hallucinate, i think i heard lester holt just say that. and tom brokaw chimed in with, "obama is just a cool dude. they like the way he moves, the way he handles himself..." now al roker is screaming at the crowd. dear lord....we're doomed. i should have turned the tv off at 3pm and looked out the damn window.

griffin watches al roker lose his mind, while cleo ignores the president and first lady...


5pm: congratulations sea-monkeys!!!! they done been hatched!



i'm gonna call it a day on the all day blog. peace out, suckers!!!

albums...and a contest!

i really miss albums. the artwork was always part of the excitement of buying an album. especially the gatefolds! here's a collection of some albums covers i've saved to my desktop over the last few months.

(this whole post started with me looking up wichita lineman, then stumbling onto bobby gentry videos. she was great!

contest: dan owns 2 of these albums. if anyone can guess which 2, you'll win something.