Liveplasma

Kelly's post of the name tool made me remember this totally wicked time-waster. Say goodbye to your afternoon.

LIVEPLASMA

Once you get a "music map", be sure to click directly on some of the "pods". It's too cool for school.

Update

Here's an update on topics I've left for dead.

--Ballroom dancing starts tonight. I'll be cuttin' a rug with my Snuffaluffagus at 7pm. Now THIS should be interesting. I hope class isn't cancelled due to the snowstorm. That would just prolong the suffering of said muppet, and give him another week to think about it. We need to get this over with.

--I have yet to find tap lessons. I'm giving up and ordering a video.

--My bedroom is not yet finished. I'm sleeping in there, but still no windows. This seemed like so much fun at first; waking up late and thinking it's still the middle of the night, only to emerge from the cave-like atmosphere completely confused, like a bear coming out of hibernation. The sleeping has been good, but now I'm starting to sleep in and I can't have that. Pics as soon as I get windows.

Villainy

OOOOH! I wanna play too! Lifted from Kelly, who found it on Mysterious Cloaked Figure, here are my top five villains of all time. Hope I'm not too late for the party!



I don't tend to go for villains that are the scariest, but the ones I find to be the most fun. So here we go...

Spike Y'all know if I didn't pick good ol' William the Bloody, something would be terribly wrong. His geeky, sad, poet-y, and tragic past made him The Big Bad, and then he got that bloody chip in his head. I adore that evil, soulless thing.

Citizen Chauvelin from The Scarlet Pimpernel. He's dark, he's French, and he's so very sad. He takes it all out by wielding Madame Guillotine and lopping the heads off of the aristocracy. What fun!

Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter He's so eeeeeevil! And he's so creepysexycool as played by the lovely Jason Isaacs. Voldemort Shmoldemort is too lame to ever show his face, while Lucius is out there, in the trenches, dredging up evil, middle-management-style. Gotta love him. Hmph. What the heck is with me and the peroxide kings? In real life, I hate that!

Magua from last of the Mohicans. Now THAT is one scary dude with some serious anger management issues. Only pure evil would try to kill noble Hawkeye. Plus, I think I'll pass on being scalped. OUCH.

The Mouth of Sauron from LOTR. OK, how totally creepy can one guy be? Like Lucius Malfoy, he's out there, doing the dirty work of a bigger evil that's too wussy or weak to show himself. Does he really think he'll ever get promoted beyong being a scabby, blind freak in serious need of an Oral-B?

I've gotta pick one runner-up, too. I didn't want to pick two Buffy characters, but one deserves mention. Glory. Because she's

SO

DAMN

FUNNY

Flicks

As I am wont to do at this time of year, I have been on a complete movie binge. I have sucked in more flickage in the last week than I care to admit. I've been watching one every night, and went out to see one yesterday. I have two more to see before the Oscars, so that I can be a real hypocrite and sit there and pretend I'm offended and uninterested in the wearings and ramblings of a bunch of self-congratulatory Hollywood pinheads.

So here they are. Less movie review and more "Kristine's visceral reactions to movies".

The Station Agent: Excellent, I thought, and very original. It's not often you see a dwarf in a serious role, and I think Peter Dinklage was very deserving of that Oscar nom last year.

Ray: Yeah, Jamie Foxx will win for best actor, unless somehow Clint Eastwood steals it away. Personally, I'm all about Clint, but I think Jamie did a very fine job as Ray Charles. I just don't think the movie itself was at all deserving of the Oscar nomination. Even with the realization that this was a true story, I think it could have been done with much more originality. As it was, it was little better than an episode of "Behind the Music, " and equally predictable. I'm awfully bored with the standard musician "my childhood was hard, I'm talented, I'm good, I'm on drugs, I'm famous, I'm SO bad, I'm on a journey of redemption, I can see clearly now, the rain is gone" charater arc. Or, as Doctor Denis Leary put it so well, when referring to the Doors Movie:

I'm drunk. I'm nobody.
I'm drunk. I'm famous.
I'm drunk. I'm fuckin' dead.

Sideways: Yeah, baby, it was all about wine, and people far wine-snobbier than myself. It was also vulgar, and extremely funny, at times. In the end, I really liked it, but it left me with a grey day depression. Whenever I watch a movie about people with totally unremarkable lives, I leave the theatre, take a good look at the bleak winter surroundings, and think, "Shit. My life is just as unremarkable. My environment is just as unremarkable. I'm unremarkable. But now Paul Giamatti is going to go to the Oscars for playing, well, me." If unremarkable makes an Oscar-winning screenplay, make way for the Willownator! I'd like to thank the academy **sniff sniff** and all the people who said a white girl from Pittsburgh would never make it.

Friday Night Lights: Football, Texas, and overzealous rednecks. What's not to love? I have to give this movie credit for not being totally tiresome, and for avoiding the Hollywood ending. I said to my spousal unit, as we started watching, "Place your bets now. Will he catch the slow-motion pass at the end?" But for once, I was sorta wrong. It ended rather unremarkably, and therefore, see above. Good acting from the football kiddies, and a good performance from Billy Ray Cyrus, or wait, Billy Bob Thornton. Whatever. It was good stuff, if you likey a football movie. Personally, I liked it better than Any Given Sunday, which was too raw for my tastes.

Well, I still need to see The Aviator, if I can look at Leonardo DiCraprio for that long without becoming ill, and Million Dollar Baby, which I actually expect to like. On Oscar night, I'll be sitting there, properly prepared, tiara-ed, and popcorn-ed, but I will turn off the TV instantly if I hear one of those delusional freaks use the phrase, "I think we made an important movie." Screw you.

Beast?

HA HA!! I LOVE it! Admittedly, I kinda wanted to be Storm, 'cause, you know, weather. But hey, BEAST!



You scored as Beast. Codename: The Beast
Full Name: Henry P. McCoy
Mutant Powers: Increased agility, strength and stamina.

Henry "Hank" McCoy is a founding member of the X-Men. Among all his original teamates, Hank had the best childhood, between loving parents, and so his temper and way of living was one of the happiest at the mansion. Beast's mutation at first was hardly noticable, but while away from the team, Hank made a terrible mistake: testing a new substance that he was using to study the x-factor. Beast tried the substance on himself. This caused a further mutation on his body, covering him with gray fur (that later became blue), fangs and great nails. He had then indeed become a "beast".

One of the only students at the mansion who took up an education beyond that of the Xavier school, Beast's studies were in the biogenetic area of his field. Possessing a quick wit, a wry sense of humour, and scholarly wisdom, he also has a penchant for quoting the classics and poetry. Despite his beastly exterior, he is possesess incredible genius, making him one of the most intellingent minds in the world.

Beast		85%
Iceman		80%
Shadowcat		80%
Banshee		70%
Cyclops		70%
Wolverine		65%
Professor X		65%
Colossus		60%
Jean Grey		60%
Rogue		55%
Nightcrawler		50%
Storm		45%
Archangel		30%

Which X-Men member are You?
created with QuizFarm.com

Blogger

Well, these "improvements" to Blogger are dubious at best. They need to make it so that avatars appear in the actual comments section. They also need to provide a spell-checker, not that anyone else cares, but that's a diffferent rant.

Tap

Ever since I was but a wee sprout, I have loved to dance. Any kind of dancing is OK by me, and I took lessons for 8 years in my youth, and then even did a little swing dancing in college. I actually got to be pretty good, on pointe and all that. In all that time, I never concentrated much on tap dancing, because then, it seemed like the least sexy of the styles, and I could only do so much. What little girl doesn't want to do ballet? I put it to ya. But I love it and I miss it.

Fast forward to me, now 36 years old. URGH. I am overweight and have never been that big an eater. Diet has never been my problem. Don't get me wrong. I do over-do it once in awhile, and my junk-food levels could use some tweaking, but still. For me it's always been about the exercise.

So, right after Christmas, I was feeling mighty fat and wondering what I could do that I would actually stick with and not hate. I decided dancing was the answer, and so I asked for a pair of tap shoes for my birthday. My mom came through, and I am now the proud owner of a pair of totally sexy tappers. Whenever the guys aren't here working, I put on the swing station on satellite radio and tap through my chores, and it is exhausting, but SO MUCH FUN. I'm totally into it. (I realize this makes me 100% dork, but it's not half as embarrassing as my singing broadway tunes in the shower and car.)

But get this. I cannot, to save my soul, find a studio in my area that gives lessons to adults. I just want some tap lessons, and I know they're out there. There's a big studio in Monroeville that I HEAR gives adult lessons, but they never pick up their phone. One studio right in my neck of the woods actually laughed when I asked. I'm starting to get really pissed off. I'm standing here, tap shoes in hand, cool urban wear ready to go, all Beavis-y, and I can't find lessons! I am completely convinced that I am a total natural (drummers usually are) but I can't find anyone to teach me. I think this is ridiculous.

On a happier note, my b&c and I start ballroom dancing lessons next week, with the other ungracefuls of Murrysville. He's all nervous about it, but I am SO excited. We'll be Fred & Ginger in no time. Well, probably more like Ginger and Snuffaluffagus, but hey, it'll be fun.

Messy

Here, we're getting nearer completion. YAY! No more stupid ceiling fan, no more cinder block walls, and no more freezing my ass off every night!



Here's my master bathroom right now. What a damned disgrace. Luckily, we have a master bath as big as the bedroom, so everything fits and I can still use the shower. We couldn't put everything in the basement because that is being concurrently remodeled by my B&C. What a mess.



Here's the fireplace in my bedroom. Note the fugly yellow brick. It's about to become natural slate. I wish I had gotten a picture of it before they started to rip it up. It didn't look as bad as all this. But still. Yellow brick. Who even invented that shit?

Remodel

I am a creature of habit, and I whine without mercy when my routine gets interrupted. So, this past week has been a whine-a-thon. My bedroom is being remodeled. This is entirely necessary and highly desirable. My bedroom is in a section of the house that was an addition, at some point before we purchased the place 9 years ago. The genius who built the addition decided to do it out of cinder block, with no insulation. For all this time, I have been freezing my ass off every winter. Finally, a roof leak caused a huge crack in the ceiling and the time for repair was at hand. You'd think I'd be happy and grateful to be getting a new bedroom. You'd think I'd be thinking of all the poor, unfortunate folks who have no decent house of their own. But no, I whine because I have to sleep on the couch for two weeks and my bed is upright in my bathroom. But still, it's getting done, and that's a very good thing. I get to pick out new paint and carpet tonight. But for the time being, I live in disarray.

This is my bedroom on Monday of this past week. Note the ceiling, now on the floor.



And this is an action shot of Jim doing something very construction-y. I think he'll be proud of the sheer manliness of this photo.