Getting Back to Work is Hard

[lydamorehouse]

Getting back to work is hard, and, what's up with this day light savings time change thing? Everyone I know (including myself) is getting their butt kicked by the time change. As I told Shawn this morning when we woke up (late, AGAIN,) it's not like my body isn't getting the same amount of sleep. My brain is somehow still wired to think I'm getting up at 5:30 am, even though the clock says 6:30 am.

Another reason to hate the former president, I say.

Today I got a lot of non-writing work done: collected our tax forms (whoot! Getting a refund!) and corrected a proposal I sent my agent that still had [troubled love interest] instead of a real name in the text and returned it to her. But otherwise, it's gray and rainy and hard to focus.

Squirrel!

Did you watch the Academy Awards? True confessions: I LOVE red carpet banter. It's so lame and stupid, but I find the whole glittery dress stuff vaguely amusing. It's my inner gay man, I suspect. At any rate, they had these little faux interviews with the characters from the various movies up for best animated feature, and the one for "Up" (which I still haven't seen) was so awesome, I'm still thinking about it. The Ed Asner character is sitting in one of those director chairs and the dog comes bounding up right into the camera while he's trying to talk. The dog says, something like, "What is this thing? Is it food?" A big tongue covers the screen, and then a disappointed, "It is *not* food!" Then someone yells, "squirrel" and the whole thing ends in chaos.

But lately that's been my new catch phrase, "It is NOT food!" I don't know why that amuses me so.

I suspect I should go/rent the movie. Instead, Shawn and I have been watching episodes of the first season of "Burn Notice" which isn't science fiction, but is a kind of serious/parody of the spy genre. And made of awesome. I think my favorite character is the crazy-ex-girlfriend (and ex-IRA soldier) Fi (Fiona). Our hero, Michael, is inscrutable in the way of James Bond, but gives these lovely voice-overs about the spy business which are often both hillarious and informative. Interestingly, they're very in character, because he's kind of a nerd spy. He likes to explain to the villians why they're being idiots (a prime example, he's waving a lighter near a pile of money he's soaked with gasoline, and he reminds the bad guys that "it's the fumes that ignite!") I've been enjoying the show tremendously.

How's by you?

Comments

[auriaephiala.livejournal.com]

I "taped" (actually stored the bits on a hard drive) the Academy Awards, but I've only watched about 15 minutes. The initial call-outs from the hosts about the nominees was SO lame that I couldn't watch much more yet. Maybe I'll watch the rest with my finger on the fast-forward button.

Up really is worth watching -- it's well done w/o any cringe-inducing sections. And I think Mason would really like it, too. No dinosaurs, but lots of other interesting creatures.

[(Anonymous)]

UP is sublime. Beware the opening 30 minutes. Sadness.

jpj

[(Anonymous)]

I second the Burn Notice love. I particularly like the way Michael Weston (the blacklisted spy/hero) is most animated and likable when he's being someone else, playing a role in one of their schemes. He's so incredibly closed up, guarded when he's being himself. Oh, and the Spycraft 101 voiceover bits rock as well. Oddly, they remind me of the British series Lovejoy, where Ian MacShane gave tips on recognizing--or in some cases, faking--antiques...

And Up is made of very much win. Denise got me the DVD for birthday, and we used many tissues during the early montage...

Frank

[lydamorehouse]

Oh, yeah. I find it so interesting that entertainment types said that Martin and Baldwin did "a good job" hosting the Oscars. I was so embarrassed for the painful banter that I had to switch away from it and come back to see who won the awards.

[lydamorehouse]

You know I hadn't noticed that, Frank, but you're totally right. I was actually disappointed by my first "Burn Notice" last night. We watched the one where Lucy Lawless guest stars and it very much had the feel of "quick write an episode to feature Xena!" (and what an opportunity missed not to have Bruce Campbell and Lucy Lawless appear together again!) But the episode lacked a lot of the nifty spy bits and the tight characterization -- I'm going to write it off as a one-off off ep, and trust that it'll return to its usual glory.