Blah Blah Blah Auld Lang Syne...

Happy New Year everyone.

Jeeze I hope so

You Passed 8th Grade Science

Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!

Could You Pass 8th Grade Science?

I am the one who dwells within!

Ultrasound
Originally uploaded by plucky punk.

Fear me!!

Oh Barf...

Wow. I don't know if you're mother has ever mentioned this, but being pregnant kind of sucks. I'm beginning to wonder when I'll enjoy eating again. Right now my favorite foods are popsicles. That's what I can eat now.

I don't want this to became a big pregnancy blog, but I've pretty much lost interest in current events. So, instead of writing about my daily pregnant annoyances (besides, babyfruit is doing a much better job of it than I would at her blog,) I will again blog about movie trailers that piss me off.

Before I do that though, I will take a moment to complain about the stupid dumbass things men at my job have started to say to me. First, there's my supervisor, who keeps feeling the need to share all the horrible things his poor wife went through when pregnant. I've heard all the stories, from her mood swings after progesterone shots, to six weeks of bedrest (which doesn't sound too bad to me right now) to how she gained 100 pounds, to that time she got toxemia. I'm sure his wife is glad he's sharing this with a stranger, but it's even nicer to be able to hear it all myself!

Then, there's the random comments from all the other men I work with, from "I'll bet your husband is glad to be away from you during the day!" to "Do you feel like throwing up right now?" to "Jeeze, I'm glad I have a penis!" I'm going to start wearing a sandwich board that says 'Yes, I'm pregnant, now just shut up!'

Anyway...

First on the chopping block is Memoirs of a Geisha. Not only does this movie look like the usual smarmy Hollywood pablum, but it casts a bunch of Hong Kong actresses as Japanese. Am I the only one annoyed by this? Do Americans realize there's a difference between Chinese people and Japanese people? These women don't look or sound remotely Japanese. It seems odd. (Not to mention that one of them has blue eyes, but that might be some sort of plot point, I don't know.)

It's not like we don't do this with other nationalities. I never really realized that most French people in American movies have English accents until I saw Luc Besson's The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (also a truly horrible film) and noticed the French people had French accents. Weird.

Next: The Hills Have Eyes. Poor New Mexico. Not only does most of the country think we speak really great English for being from Mexico, but now they're going to think we're a bunch of irradiated freaks. Maybe now they'll think twice before building another toxic waste dump here, eh? Really, though, New Mexico doesn't look like this. It looks much more like The 3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada. And I am willing to bet that if there's a gas station in the middle of nowhere it's not being run by a white guy.

Oh well. At least the annoying victim family was on their way to California instead of moving here from California.

How about Mel Gibson's new one, Apocalypto. Dude, bad title. That sounds like a third-tier Spiderman villain. But doesn't it seem to me that this trailer carries suspicious overtones of blaming the un-named South American civilization for being conquered? Am I being too liberal-sensitive? And how much do you want to bet there's a gay villain in this movie?

Last but certainly not least, there's The Da Vinci Code. This just rubs me all sorts of wrong ways. Like, how many History Channel specials debunking this bullshit book does America need to be exposed to before they let it go? What's with Tom Hanks's hairdo? And who keeps paying Ron Howard to make these horrible movies?

Lest you find me too grumpy and hormonal about all this, there are of course some movies coming out I do want to see. V for Vendetta looks cool, although it does have "from the creators of The Matrix Trilogy," written on it. And the trailer for The Fountain has me practically foaming at the mouth, desperate to see this movie. So it's not all bad.

Now, I'm off to have a popsicle.

The reason I haven't been posting...

...is because I'm trying to keep a secret, and I'm a big fat blabbermouth.

I'm pregnant again. Apparently I get pregnant every fall now.

Well, word is now out.

Hmmm...

Haymaker


You are one of life’s enjoyers, determined to get the most you can out of your brief spell on Earth. Probably what first attracted you to atheism was the prospect of liberation from the Ten Commandments, few of which are compatible with a life of pleasure. You play hard and work quite hard, have a strong sense of loyalty and a relaxed but consistent approach to your philosophy.


You can’t see the point of abstract principles and probably wouldn’t lay down your life for a concept though you might for a friend. Something of a champagne humanist, you admire George Bernard Shaw for his cheerful agnosticism and pursuit of sensual rewards and your Hollywood hero is Marlon Brando, who was beautiful, irascible and aimed for goodness in his own tortured way.


Sometimes you might be tempted to allow your own pleasures to take precedence over your ethics. But everyone is striving for that elusive balance between the good and the happy life. You’d probably open another bottle and say there’s no contest.

What kind of humanist are you? Click here to find out.

And I'm back...

Okay, so the cable is finally here (I hate you, Comcast...) and the computer is hooked up. I like the new apartment (more of a townhouse, really) and almost everything is starting to come together.

The cats handled the move quite nicely. My lovely betta, though, has a nasty case of fin rot and is not looking too well. I've gotten him a clean new tank with the hope of saving him, and have dumped about a dozen different types of fishie medicine in his water, so I'm holding out hope. Our nice asparagus fern also spent a week untended to and is not doing so hot either.

I am recovering from a cold myself and dealing with some big news I will devulge later, so am completely exhaused. Brian is being the hero husband and dealing with most of the unpacking stuff. If I were Ed McMahon I'd give him ten million dollars, really.

I'm glad to be back exploring blogtopia (yes, skippy, etc., etc.) and no longer feel like such a Luddite for not having cable in the house. It will probably take me awhile to get back in the swing of things. Will begin posting mightily soon.

Do Not Disassemble Number Five!

So, computer is being taken apart now and I will have no internet until the 7th. See you then!

Moving

Moving for the next couple of weeks, so may be sporadic here as things are packed and disassembled.

Question...does anyone know if the new 1 gigabyte mmc cards are compatible with the samsung p735?

I Hate the Balloon Fiesta

Go read this post at 'Burque Babble.

To me, the jillions of balloons scattered in the air kind of look like a giant sneezed 1970's colored boogers all over the sky.

Plus, there's all of those irritating out-of-state people (mostly from California, you've heard me complain about them before,) bragging about how they got green chilie on their breakfast burrito at the Frontier, just like the locals!

Well horay for you. Meanwhile, my state continues to be exploited by companies from your state and the only job I can get is one in a call center for a company...from your state...that cripples me with carpal and cubital tunnel syndrome causing me to be in constant pain.

Enjoy your burrito.

Oh Jeeze...

Maybe if we paid the earth some money, it would stop kicking our ass all the time?

There's been a hugely devistating earthquake in Asia, with an estimated death toll in the thousands.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - A huge earthquake triggered landslides, toppled an apartment building and flattened villages of mud-brick homes Saturday, killing thousands across a mountainous swath touching Pakistan, India and Afghanistan. The worst damage was in Pakistan, where the dead included 250 girls crushed at a school and 200 soldiers on duty in the Himalayas.

The casualty toll from the 7.6-magnitude tremor stood at more than 3,000 by early Sunday and was rising as rescuers struggled to dig people from the wreckage, their work made more difficult as rain and hail turned dirt and debris into sticky muck.

Check here for how to help.

Here are some good places to donate to, always.

Internatinal Federation of Red Cross Red Crescent Societies

Doctors Without Borders

Save the Children, just because I wanted a third one

Too sick to live...

Or to do anything active anyway. I woke up this morning feeling like I had a hangover, which would have been fine if I'd had anything to drink last night...uggggghhh...hopefully my work will forgive me for calling in at the last minute.

I may blog on my ill-found day off, but it will be slowly, painfully, and without any bright lights or loud noises.

Question

So what's a good present to give your little sister who's turning 21? Tequila?

What the F...?

Is this normal? I'm the last person you'd call a civic scholar, so can someone tell me if it's terribly common for the president to nominate people to be a Supreme Court Judge who aren't even judges? Or even distinguished lawyers? Does George Bush just pick names from random out of his rolodex, or what? This seems to me to be as bad as Michael Brown the horse guy in charge of FEMA...at least Harriet Miers is in the same general field, I guess.

ADDED: Oh, I guess I should do some googling.

However, nearly a third of the 109 justices in U.S. history were not judges including Chief Justice William Rehnquist whose death led to John Roberts' elevation to the post. The justices now on the court had all been judges.

Still, this seems to be another clear example of Bush cronyism. Miers is definitely slavishly devoted to Bush.

Miers, 60, a longtime political ally of Bush's going back to his days as Texas governor, would be the third woman to serve on the Supreme Court if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. O'Connor was the first and Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been there since 1993.

Miers, a lawyer in Texas, was named by then-Gov. Bush to the state's lottery commission, and came to the White House for Bush's first term. In 2004 she was promoted to White House counsel when her predecessor Alberto Gonzales became attorney general.

So I guess Jon Stewart was right when he said Bush was just being a dick to Alberto Gonzales.

Wednesday Dolphin Blogging

Seigfried and Roy dolphins
Originally uploaded by plucky punk.

On payday I plan to finally pay for a Flickr Pro account so I can organize all the photos into nice little sets.

Meanwhile, enjoy this dolphin from the Seigfreid and Roy secret garden thingie.

Dolphins are cool. Evolution is neat.