Another reason to love my county

Last night I took the back roads home from work, through the fields. It was a warm day and the air smelled like strawberries. THAT's what I'm talking about.
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After a week of running around like a chicken, I am having a very lazy day at home. Shhhh. Don't tell. I am ignoring the state of the bathroom and drinking a homemade mocha. I feel like I am playing hooky.
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I took a fairly long hiatus from watching movies and videos after my ten-DVD rental card ran out last time, but this week I have seen 3 movies, two in the theater and one on DVD. Here's the Suebobian scoop:

DaVinci Code It's hard to put a finger on, but it didn't hook me in. It felt...perfunctory. Like "We have to get from A to Z, so here we go..." The collapsed time frame (it takes place over a night and a day) that seemed almost plausible in the book felt labored in the movie. And I didn't buy Tom Hanks as the brainy professor. Two stars (out of five).

Syriana Huh? I know that there was a plot or five in there somewhere, but this movie was a tangled mess. I wanted to yell "Throw me a bone here! Let me in on the story!" but it was like a bunch of bits of movies all thrown together...Minus one star, because George Clooney made himself look unattractive, and Clooney looking hot would have been the only thing to redeem this.

The Devil Wears Prada Ok, it's kind of formulaic. Smart girl goes to the big city, where she doesn't fit in, and proves herself while struggling to maintain her integrity. I loved Meryl Streep as the Ice Queen Bitch Boss from Hell and the woman who plays Emily, her first assistant, is a great character. Anne Hathaway as the able assistant was appealing, like a young Audrey Hepburn. Funny, but not in a laugh-out-loud way. Three stars.


The Linkateria Weekend Edition: Antique Mommy meets the devil at the zoo, a woman gives birth in Wal-Mart, and why Nancy Grace needs to be fired.

Picture this

As a former newspaper reporter, I looked at this LA Times story (reg req) about fat girls wearing too-tight clothing differently than most people.

My first thought was: some poor reporter had to go out and try to interview fat women about being fat?

How do you start that line of questioning? "Excuse me, I was noticing that you are fat and your clothes are too tight..."? It makes me shudder to think of getting an assignment like that.

There were too many other terrible ones: talking to people whose kid had just died. Or whose kid had just committed murder. Or whose house had burned down...and there was no choice. You HAD to go try and get the story. Those were the days at work when you felt like the scum that got scraped off the bottom of other scum. (But then there were the days when you got to interview Rosalynn Carter and found out you had a crush on the coolest 77-year-old woman on earth).

If you read to the bottom of the article, one woman called a relative who fit the description and the girl was still pissed three days later. I'll say.

Please delurk and tell me tales of crap you had to do at work.


As usual, Linkateria is serving up a delicious meal of special links for you. You can dine in or take out.

Happy Fourth

It looks to be a glorious day here on the California coast. The sky is blue, the air is warm and the birdies are singing. I am heading over to Channel Islands Harbor for a fun run/walk with some ladies from church. In my case it will be sort of a fun waddle. Too many trips to the snack machine at work. I was ok until the snack guy stocked it with Nutter Butter Bites and then it was all over for me. Cannot resist the peanutty goodness.

I tend to be cynical about patriotism (and everything else, too). But you could carve the First Amendment on my headstone and I would be happy to rest under these beautiful words:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

I consider it my patriotic duty to tell you to get out there and appreciate the freedoms that were won for us, to complain about those we have lost, and to fight like hell to keep the ones we have.

Thank you.

Today on Linkateria - more fabulous writing and advice from all over the blogosphere, plus a fun trivia game.

Goldieversary

In honor of exactly four years since I got Goldie, the best dog in the world, from the animal shelter, here is a picture of her playing with Mr. Stapler's dog, Kelly.

She also has her own web page (who doesn't?) on Dogster.

A shot of her doing what she does best: buttsniffing:


This is what happens when you try to photograph a fast-moving pup and your digital camera has about a second delay between when you push the shutter and when the shutter closes:


Today on Linkateria - so you think politics isn't funny? Check out the incredibly dim Senator Ted Stephen's explanation of the internet and why it was late getting to him one day.