Gently, gently...
I can only take so much paperchasing in one day before the scope of what I'm trying to do hits with the force of a Category 5 hurricane.
Then I calm down and go at it again, for a little while.
I fired up the old VAIO for the first time this year, I believe, in order to find a file that is essential to my mental well-being. The file was not found, but it was nice to note that the computer still works. If I can figure out a way to replace the erratic CPU fan without breaking the bank, I could very likely wipe the hard drive, reinstall Windoze, and give Galina her own laptop to use for her own nefarious purposes.
As the refinance closing approaches, so does the tempo of phone calls from the title company increase, highlighting the myriad little details that must be addressed for the deal to go through. It turns out that my durable power of attorney (executed in Colorado) isn't very durable in Texas; if we were to close in Texas, I would have to appear in person to help accomplish the deed. So, it looks like the paperwork will be shipped up to Colorado, and we'll strain our wrists to the fatigue point downtown.
* * * Attentive readers will recall that I mentioned having rented Starship Troopers 2 a little while ago. Obviously, I watched the thing before giving back the DVD, and didn't think enough of the movie to even mention my reaction to it at the time.
In my arrogant opinion, the movie was terrible, and an affront to the book that inspired it and its predecessor.
In truth, there's not a heck of a lot you can do with the basic premise (humans vs bugs) that wasn't covered in the first movie, except possibly to try to gross out the audience with new and imaginative ways of dealing with human body parts.
No, actually, there is also the mixing of so many metaphors, cliches, and bromides, as to make men and women of good will sicken deep within themselves in confusion. In the end, we were treated to a film that gave the bugs a voice for the first time (sentiments along the lines of: "You individualist humans are a cancer and must be destroyed"), while plodding onward with the ridiculously over-the-top militaristic mini-scenes whose voiceover invariably ended with the phrase "Do you want to know more?"
Was this an attempt to equate the motivations of the humans with those of the bugs (sort of in the same way that some parties equate Bush with Hitler or the West vs. fundamentalist Islam)? I wouldn't be surprised.
* * * When Galina and I found ourselves in the mood for a comedy, I ended up renting 2 Brothers and a Bride from our local emporium. Maybe it's a comedy if you don't know any Russian, or if you're not a union consisting of an American man and a Russian woman, but I found parts of this movie acutely uncomfortable to watch.
The story basically revolves around two farm-bound brothers whose mother dies, leaving them with no female to take care of them. They hatch a scheme to go to Russia and bring back a mail-order bride who'll cook and clean for them (sex not being part of the plan), at least until ostensibly gaining her freedom by getting a green card.
One brother (Tim Blake Nelson) is depicted as a cold, calculating bumpkin who reduces the whole process (getting a wife for his brother, as part of a tour with an outfit called "A Foreign Affair") to a data-mining project followed by intensive interviews. His younger brother (David Arquette) is the crybaby mama's boy who, despite his departures from his brother's carefully laid plans, ends up hitched at the end.
The best part of the movie, IMHO, was the performance by Emily Mortimer, who plays a journalist writing a story about mail-order brides. She has much of Demi Moore about the eyes and speaks fairly good Russian (as opposed to, say, Nicole Kidman's efforts in Birthday Girl). I enjoyed her performance, even if it didn't make much sense, as things go.
Anyway, it's time to go rejoin the human race. I've been in front of this computer for more time than I care to admit.
Cheers...
Then I calm down and go at it again, for a little while.
I fired up the old VAIO for the first time this year, I believe, in order to find a file that is essential to my mental well-being. The file was not found, but it was nice to note that the computer still works. If I can figure out a way to replace the erratic CPU fan without breaking the bank, I could very likely wipe the hard drive, reinstall Windoze, and give Galina her own laptop to use for her own nefarious purposes.
As the refinance closing approaches, so does the tempo of phone calls from the title company increase, highlighting the myriad little details that must be addressed for the deal to go through. It turns out that my durable power of attorney (executed in Colorado) isn't very durable in Texas; if we were to close in Texas, I would have to appear in person to help accomplish the deed. So, it looks like the paperwork will be shipped up to Colorado, and we'll strain our wrists to the fatigue point downtown.
In my arrogant opinion, the movie was terrible, and an affront to the book that inspired it and its predecessor.
In truth, there's not a heck of a lot you can do with the basic premise (humans vs bugs) that wasn't covered in the first movie, except possibly to try to gross out the audience with new and imaginative ways of dealing with human body parts.
No, actually, there is also the mixing of so many metaphors, cliches, and bromides, as to make men and women of good will sicken deep within themselves in confusion. In the end, we were treated to a film that gave the bugs a voice for the first time (sentiments along the lines of: "You individualist humans are a cancer and must be destroyed"), while plodding onward with the ridiculously over-the-top militaristic mini-scenes whose voiceover invariably ended with the phrase "Do you want to know more?"
Was this an attempt to equate the motivations of the humans with those of the bugs (sort of in the same way that some parties equate Bush with Hitler or the West vs. fundamentalist Islam)? I wouldn't be surprised.
The story basically revolves around two farm-bound brothers whose mother dies, leaving them with no female to take care of them. They hatch a scheme to go to Russia and bring back a mail-order bride who'll cook and clean for them (sex not being part of the plan), at least until ostensibly gaining her freedom by getting a green card.
One brother (Tim Blake Nelson) is depicted as a cold, calculating bumpkin who reduces the whole process (getting a wife for his brother, as part of a tour with an outfit called "A Foreign Affair") to a data-mining project followed by intensive interviews. His younger brother (David Arquette) is the crybaby mama's boy who, despite his departures from his brother's carefully laid plans, ends up hitched at the end.
The best part of the movie, IMHO, was the performance by Emily Mortimer, who plays a journalist writing a story about mail-order brides. She has much of Demi Moore about the eyes and speaks fairly good Russian (as opposed to, say, Nicole Kidman's efforts in Birthday Girl). I enjoyed her performance, even if it didn't make much sense, as things go.
Anyway, it's time to go rejoin the human race. I've been in front of this computer for more time than I care to admit.
Cheers...