CDS in the changer...

Quasi : Featuring "Birds"
Sly & the Family Stone : Anthology
Ol' Yeller : Penance
The Four Corners : Say You're a Scream
the Reputation : the Reputation

Val and I attended a special, private screening of a movie this weekend. It was a 9:30pm, Saturday night showing of "From Justin to Kelly", the American Idol movie, starring the first season winner and runner up from American Idol. We didn't win special passes, we didn't rent out the theater, WE WERE THE ONLY ONES WHO CAME TO SEE IT! This is a multi screen theater, right in Raleigh, and, yes, we were a bit embarrassed to be seen going in to the theater, but to be the only ones there on a Saturday night? I left my cell phone on, talked to Val throughout the movie in a loud voice, and sat up as straight as I could with out fear of repercussion. A fine time was had by all. It wasn't as bad as I expected. An updated Frankie & Annette beach movie, except with hovercrafts. Seriously.

Happy 25th birthday to Val, and Happy Father's Day to my father and fathers everywhere.

SOGGY! Thunderstorms abound! Last night we saw "Russian Ark", an 88 minute, one-continuous-shot Russian film, about what I'm not sure. I did enjoy it, but I had to remind myself that I was seeing a foreign film, and all conventional American film structure did not apply. If you enjoy any kind of foreign films, you should see it, but just kind of watch it, and don't try too hard to interpret things, just take it all in.

On the other end of the film spectrum, this morning we watched an MST3K selection entitled "The Beginning of the End", starring Peter Graves. For those of you in the know, BE FOREWARNED - the case for this DVD lists Joel Hodgeson, pictures Joel Hodgeson and makes it appear that this episode is hosted by Joel Hodgeson. This is simply not true. I like Mike Nelson just fine, but I was hoping this was a Joel episode, as that is what it appeared to be based on the cover text and art. CAVEAT EMPTOR! I guess that's what this is for:

Satellite News

Yesterday we (Katherine and Ben and I) went to Big Ed's for breakfast, today we drove up to Duke to see the archives where Val is interning this summer, and we all went ot lunch at Elmo's Diner in Durham. We saw a little bit of the Duke Gardens, very much in bloom, and we went home through Chapel Hill in order to stock up on Kinder Eggs. Katherine flys back to the Twin Cities tomorrow morning, and Ben is staying through the weekend, then traveling to the coast to soak up some history of flight. His motorcycle is staying here in our basement, so we'll see how long it takes me to get my motorcycle license and get the bike back out of the basement.

Whoa. Things were un-bloggable for the last few days for me. Not that I've been doing things I wouldn't want to post here, just that I couldn't seem to log on, or get to the area of the site with the troubleshooting info, or the contact info. That's all.

Our friends Ben and Katherine are visiting us this weekend/week. Val and I are playing tag-team host on the weekdays, with her workday from 7:30am-6pm, and my out-of-the-house workday from 3pm-??pm. This gives hosts and guests alone time, together time, and ALL together time.

We've been makin' the rounds, seein' the sights, and eating a lot of food. The midwest socializing is all about food and drink, but things aren't that different here. Especially for four people from MN hanging out here. Oh yeah, that reminds me, the other midwestern thing I have to talk about, the weather. Today looks gorgeous, but all weekend we had on and off monsoon rain as we were trying to see the sights and get from one meal to the next. Lots of rain and flash flooding, but very little thunderstorm action.

In case you haven't...

homestarrunner.com

and also:

bookofratings.com