Over the Top!

Wow, I've really been a lazy blogger lately. Got this lovely and challenging award from Smiling Sally, and it's taken me a week to get it posted. Sal has passed along the Over the Top award to Joysweb, and it's challenging because it comes along with a survey to fill out, and the rule that you can only use one-word answers. Well, if you know anything about Joysweb, you'll know how extremely difficult that's going to be for me. But I'll try (almost) anything once – so here goes:

The Rules: 1. Use only one word! 2. Pass this along to six other bloggers. 3. Alert them that you have given them this award. 4. Have Fun!

1. Where is your cell phone? hidden
2. Your hair? messy
3. Your mother? short
4. Your father? tall
5. Your favorite food? fattening
6. Your dream last night? chaotic
7. Your favorite drink? coffee
8. Your dream/goal? longevity
9. What room are you in? bedroom
10. Your hobby? weird
11. Your fear? cancer
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? alive
13. Where were you last night? home
14. Something that you aren’t? male
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. Wish list item? liposuction
17. Where did you grow up? Texas
18. Last thing you did? breakfast
19. What are you wearing? nightie
20. Your TV? off
21. Your pets? gone
22. Friends?! nice
23. Your life? smooth
24. Your mood? sleepy
25. Missing someone? sometimes
26. Vehicle? Ford
27. Something you’re not wearing? earrings
28. Your favorite store? many
29. Your favorite color? green
30. When was the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? hmmmm?
32. Your best friend? hubby
33. One place that you go to over and over? bookstore
34. One person who emails me regularly? Vicki
35. Favorite place to eat? out

Now the other rule is to pass the award along to six other bloggers, and I'll have to work on that one. But if it looks like fun, feel free to go right ahead and try this one yourself.

Gratuitous Sunday Photo

Sea Monster at Loch Ness?
Or tennis-ball retrieving Labrador at Marble Falls TX?
Hmmmmm.
(Click on photo to enlarge.)

Outdoor Wednesday: Street Scenes in Williamsburg

Outdoor Wednesday is hosted by Susan at A Southern Daydreamer. To see many, many more outdoor photos or to post some of your own, please visit her blog.

I've been doing a little photo organizing, and happened to find some shots we took in October two years ago on a trip to Colonial Williamsburg. It's really a fascinating place and I'm almost ready to do it again. Almost. The year we were there, it was unseasonably hot - seemed more like August than October. Still, it was a lot of fun and not exactly what I expected. But if you go, be prepared for the crowds. And wear comfortable shoes! (Click on photos to enlarge.)

A friendly greeting at the post office. The printer's and
book binder's workshops are behind the P.O.

Carriage ride. Nice horsies and a lot of the stuff nice horsies
leave behind.

Out for a stroll.

A colonial conversation. Wonder if they're discussing
the tax on tea?

Outside the shoemaker's shop.

And the shoemaker's shop window.

And the Williamsburg windmill.

Related post: Back in Time

Weekend at the Movies and Monday Movie Meme

This is the first time I've participated in the Monday Movie Meme hosted by The Bumbles. The topic this week is "all about Dads" and one of the movies I saw over the weekend had a very moving portrait of the relationship between a dad and his son, and the lengths to which a parent will go to ensure his child's safety.

Thanks to Netflix, I'm slowly catching up on the films of Nicolas Cage – for some inexplicable reason, he's one of my favorites. I've been a fan since seeing him in Raising Arizona back in the '80s. Knowing is one of his recent films – released in late 2008, I believe. I missed it when it was in theaters (these days, I miss just about all films when they're in theaters), but after viewing the DVD, I think seeing it on the really big screen, with that too-enveloping surround-sound, might have been just a bit too intense for my fragile nerves.

Knowing

USA, 2008

MPAA Rating: Rated PG-13 for disaster sequences, disturbing images and brief strong language.

Written by Ryne Douglas Pearson, Juliet Snowden, and Stiles White

Directed by Alex Proyas

Cast: Nicolas Cage, Chandler Canterbury, Rose Byrne, Lara Robinson

Synopsis (from About.com):

In 1958 [actually, I think it was 1959], as part of the dedication ceremony for a new elementary school, a group of students is asked to draw pictures to be stored in a time capsule. But one of the students, a mysterious girl who seems to hear whispered voices, fills her sheet of paper with rows of apparently random numbers instead. Fast forward 50 years to the present: A new generation of students examines the contents of the time capsule and the girl's cryptic message ends up in the hands of young Caleb [played by Chandler Canterbury]. But it is Caleb's father, professor Ted Myles [played by Nicolas Cage], who makes the startling discovery that the encoded message predicts with pinpoint accuracy the dates, death tolls and coordinates of every major disaster of the past 50 years. As Ted further unravels the document's secrets, he realizes it foretells three additional events – the last of which hints at destruction on a global scale and seems to somehow involve Ted and his son.

My Thoughts:

Very confused and confusing film. I thought the first half or so was excellent – nice texture, interesting story line, well-built suspense with a slightly creepy feel. Reminded me a little (the general feel – not the plot) of The Mothman Prophecies (a much better movie). However, the second half of the show deteriorated into pretty standard apocalyptic sci-fi – not one of my favorite genres. It relied much too heavily on special effects, enigmatic "presences," and unexplained goings-on (I'm still not sure what was up with all those smooth black rocks that kept showing up everywhere). Another one of those movies where you end up hoping Fox Mulder will finally show up out of the shadows and explain everything for you ("Yes, Scully – I've seen this before. It's probably just a manifestation of yada yada yada.")

I think I'd only recommend this one to other Nicolas Cage fans. Probably not for everyone. The movie is rated PG-13, but I have to say if I were the parent of a very young child, I'd be very wary of letting them see this one. A lot of the special effects are disturbingly realistic. And the whole end of the world scenario is scary and depressing, and might very easily inspire nightmares for some more sensitive youngsters – not to mention some more sensitive oldsters such as moi.

Did you see any interesting movies last week or over the weekend? If you've got anything to recommend, just leave me a comment or a link to your post. And if it was about Dads, you might want to head on over to The Bumbles, and leave a comment there.