Off the top of my head

Movie preview 5/16

Thu, 16 May 2013 15:23:40 -0400

There’s only one movie opening this weekend, but for Star Trek fans, even if a dozen movies were opening this weekend there would be only one movie opening this weekend.

Make sense?

What I’m saying is, Star Trek Into Darkness has opened with a midnight showing, and all indications are it’s going to be SRO at any movie theater that carries it.

The review on Wired calls it “a disposable summer movie,” but I’d see it if it ere just the phone book being read backward because I like Benedict Cumberbatch so much (yes, I basically like his name. And his Sherlock Holmes).

I do have to admit, I can’t tell the actors who play Spock and Kirk apart in real life (thank heavens for pointy ears).

One viewer is upset because this Star Trek leaves out the philosophy that made the TV series and some of the movies stand out.

Me, I’m in it just for the Tribbles.

End of The Office

Thu, 16 May 2013 10:58:00 -0400

There was a time when The Office was must-see TV for me. Never. Missed. An. Episode.

In fact, when it started airing on cable, I would spend a whole evening watching three hours of The Office in a row.

But I gave it up several years ago when I just didn’t enjoy it anymore. Story lines were repetitious, Michael was gone, characters like Gabe didn’t interest me.

To be honest, it was Pam and Jim’s relationship that I relished for so many years. I didn’t mind that they got married (it would have been ridiculous to keep them apart forever), but as they settled into married life and had a baby and Pam became a saleswoman, well, yawn, have a good rest of your life, but without me (plus, I worried The Office would break them up, at least temporarily, and if I want real life I’ll go look at my own divorce papers thank you very much).

So I’m not going to watch tonight’s finale. I think. There really would be no purpose to it since I’m so out of touch with what has happened. I’ve read a few things on social media (am I right that Dwight is finally office manager?), but it’s basically a muddle.

Still.

I’d kind of like to say an official goodbye.

Maybe watching this clip of The Office farewells will be enough.

Star Trek quiz

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:09:06 -0400

There’s no point in me taking this AP quiz about Star Trek unless every quiestion is about Tribbles.

But you might enjoy it.

Virtual choir

Wed, 15 May 2013 17:15:00 -0400

In just 50 minutes (or 5 p.m. CDT for those of us who don’t like math), the South Dakota Music Education Association will release a video of a virtual choir.

It is, the SDMEA page assures me, the “world premier.” (I’m just being snarky because I would assume that of all people to know the difference between premiere and premier, it would be artsy folks who HAVE premieres.)

Anyway, what is a virtual choir? “The SDMEA Virtual Choir is a state-wide project to create a user-generated online middle school choir. From October 29th, 2012, you have until 12:00am on January 15th, 2013 to record yourself singing your part of the track “Stand Together” by Jim Papoulis and upload it to YouTube.”

You can hear the bass* portion, for example, here.

Wait, the basses are boring. Try the alto version instead.

*Middle school choirs have basses? Who knew?

A diaper change at Starbucks

Tue, 14 May 2013 11:23:25 -0400

OK, have at me, parents, but I see absolutely no reason why you would need to change a baby’s diaper on a restaurant’s seating. You couldn’t go out to the car?

I surf the net

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:29:52 -0400

So you don’t have to. Thereby saving you time and angst. No need to thank me.

* Here’s a story on how Hollywood dresses women in movies. (It reminds me of a TV commercial I heard today where the designer kept talking about how he creates wedding dresses for girls.)

* Don’t just listen to Angelina Jolie’s words filtered through TV. Read what she wrote for herself. I’m not a big fan, but I wouldn’t wish that decision on anyone.

*Saluting teachers who make a difference: A story about Sioux Falls woman Julie Ashworth and a boy named Colton.

* And I’m seeing quotes from the book The Afterlife of Billy Fingers all over Facebook. Someone needs to read it and tell me if it’s any good.

An Armour story. With dinosaurs

Tue, 14 May 2013 09:07:33 -0400

A Twitter friend shared this link.

It’s about graduation day at Armour High School, a tradition and a salute to a former grad.

AND it involves dinosaurs.

Another longtime educator

Thu, 09 May 2013 12:47:00 -0400

I wrote today about Delores Vondrak, who is retiring next week after 55 years as an educator in the Elk Point-Jefferson School District.

When I tweeted a link to the story, I said Vondrak’s record was likely to last a long time.

A reply tweet advised me to check out Patty Stoner, who teaches sixth grade at Gettysburg.

“My 5th grade teacher, I’m retiring next year she’s still going,” the tweet said.

So I checked, but Stoner hasn’t topped Vondrak’s record.

Yet.

Gettysburg Superintendent Tim Hagedorn says at 77, Stoner has no plans to retire. She has logged 51 years as a teacher, beginning in a one-room country schoolhouse.

“She has more energy than a lot of my younger teachers,” Hagedorn said.

I’d promise Stoner to do a story on her if she tops Vondrak’s record, but I’m not sure I have the energy either.

Bear crawling

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:49:00 -0400

I find this article on people who walk on all fours both bizarre and fascinating.

And, yes, when I go home for lunch I’m giving it a try.

Movie previews 5/9

Thu, 09 May 2013 10:22:33 -0400

I’d never heard of Mud until I watched the trailer and started looking for reviews, and now I’m excited to see it. Matthew McConaughey plays a wanted man hiding out on a Mississippi River island.His presence there is discovered by two young boys, who become drawn into his story. It also stars Reese Witherspoon and Sam Shepard. Not a movie I’d take Mom to for Mother’s Day, but she’ll be sick of me by Sunday evening anyway.

Also opening is The Great Gatsby. Call me deeply shallow, but I can’t get enthused about this. Never cared for the book (again, deeply shallow), hated the Robert Redford-Mia Farrow movie and don’t want to sit through a 2-hour-24-minute revision, no matter how pretty it looks.

Your third choice of a new film this weekend is, sorry, not much of a choice at all. Tyler Perry has cranked out another movie with Tyler Perry Presents We the Peeples. Even the title makes me clench my jaw. The difficult part is, I like the cast: Craig Robinson and David Alln Grier and I’d particularly like to see S. Epatha Merkerson (Lt. Anita Van Buren on Law & Order) do comedy.I But it will be on TBS in about nine months, so I’ll wait.

Handing out an umbrella

Thu, 09 May 2013 09:38:21 -0400

This was posted on Facebook this morning by a Sioux Falls man. I wish I wasn’t so amazed by this gesture, but I am:

just saw a lady in a minivan pull over and get out and walk up to the bus stop bench and give an umbrella to a man waiting for the bus in the rain.

Can I get an AMEN to that! Wow! Thanks for the inspiration today amazing lady!

Silly Putty eating a magnet

Tue, 07 May 2013 16:37:12 -0400

OK, so maybe I have a low threshold for entertaining (maybe? you should see the list of men I’ve dated), but I’ve watching this video of Silly Putty eating a magnet three times and been amused each time.

Foundling tokens

Tue, 07 May 2013 15:52:37 -0400

I had never heard of foundling tokens before I read this article from Slate.

They were small items left with babies dropped off at orphanages as a way of identifying them.

It’s very touching, especially the more humble objects like a heart cut out of cloth.

Movie previews 5/2

Thu, 02 May 2013 18:21:00 -0400

Actually, the title could be Movie Preview 5/2, preview in the singular, because only Iron Man 3 is opening in the big theaters. (SOMM will show Sunday at the Icon Lounge, courtesy of Cinema Falls, and tickets have gone fast.)

But Iron Man 3 promises to be a good ‘un. I have liked the Iron Man series, in no small part because I have a thing for Robert Downey Jr. But it’s also because it’s been a good, fast-paced, exhilarating pair of movies, and Part 3 promises more of the same plus.

Vietnam MIA

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 12:46:02 -0400

Remember wearing MIA bracelets after and during the Vietnam War? If you had one, you might be interested in this story about an American MIA found in a Vietnamese village 44 years ago.

I really, really want to see the documentary.

Kids say the creepiest things

Tue, 30 Apr 2013 11:43:33 -0400

This was shared by a friend on Twitter. It’s a list of some of the creepiest things kids have ever said to their parents or other adults. Trust me, you’ll wish for “I see dead people” after a child tells you she wants to peel off your skin.

Sandra Day O'Connor speaks

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 16:22:14 -0400

Stories like this one, with retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor saying “oops” on the 504 decision to give the 2000 election to George Bush rather than Al Gore give me a headache.

Here’s her best quote ever: “It turned out the election authorities in Florida hadn’t done a real good job there and kind of messed it up. And probably the Supreme Court added to the problem at the end of the day.”

Hindsight 13 years later doesn’t do much to change things.

A small bag of flour contains, what, five pound? Ten...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 15:43:38 -0400

A small bag of flour contains, what, five pound? Ten pounds?
I’m here to tell you, in the jaws of a young dog, it covers multiple square feet.

This is how my Monday started. The car’s not blocking my...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 10:44:00 -0400

This is how my Monday started.

The car’s not blocking my driveway, not exactly. But it’s close enough to make it uncomfortable when backing up.

It happens often since I live next to an in-home day care, and parents park their cars in a hurry to drop off their kids.

The car owner came out before I’d maneuvered my way out (no idea who she is, only that based on her bumper sticker she loves her mastiff) and cheerfully apologized.

And it was ridiculous to be as cranky as I was about the situation. I acknowledge that. But I’m still cranked.

Wanna help a film get made?

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 15:18:00 -0400

Julie Anderson Friesen, mayor of Cinema Falls, sent out an email today, alerting film fans about the chance to help a movie get made.

According to her information, “Lee” will be shot in May on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Funds are being raised on Kickstarter. You can find the link here.

With 12 days to go, less than half of the $80,000 needed has been raised.

Anderson Friesen explains, “Kickstarter is a simple way to support indie film efforts, with fun rewards built in, but also is easy to support via Amazon payments if you so choose.”

Producer Angela Lee has been in email contact with Anderson Friesen over the last month or so from her home in New York.

Anderson Friesen says “I do know that they just signed a pretty amazing cinematographer (Robbie Ryan of FISH TANK and WUTHERING HEIGHTS).”

Here’s the plot of “Lee”:
Lee is a 17-year-old Lakota boy who idly spends his days in young love with his kind and ambitious girlfriend, Aurelia, his nights carousing with his loyal and wayward best friend, Evan, and avoiding anything to do with his broken home life. When his sister dies and his home is taken away from him, Lee is driven to keep his family together at all costs, but his risky actions have consequences that forever alter his most cherished relationships. Filled with vitality and unexpected humor, LEE is the story of one young man’s winding path to self-discovery.