In the early 80s, Kristin and I were watching HBO and happened upon one of the most memorable films of our lives.  It was a brief, animated short film which had won the 1982 Student Academy Award. 

It was called “Guess Who’s For Dinner” and in it, a spinach monster attacks a child during dinner.  It was hysterical and after 25 years is still a clear image in my head. Kristin and I have both spent hours over the years, searching for this in any form… if you stumble upon it, let us know!   The talented animator, Kathy Zielinski has gone on to career with Disney and animated the memorable character Ursula (the witch) in the Little Mermaid, in addition to others.

And then, of course, there were the midnight short film festivals at the Villa theatre where I saw some memorable, and not so memorable animated shorts. Who could forget…

Bambi vs. Godzilla?

I’ve been a fan of short films ever since. So I was delighted to find I can get the academy award nominated shorts for 2004 - 2007.   I got 2006 first (because that’s the one I noticed first) and watched them last night.   What a delightful evening.   Some were better than others, of course - but I enjoyed all of them but one.

I think my favorite live action short was  “éramos pocos” (spain).   Mom has left her slob of a husband and grown son, who are helpless without her. They liberate Gran from a nursing home to cook and clean for them.  Fun, with a twist.

West Bank Story is a love story and rivalry between Israelis and Palestinians and their fast food joints.  Made by students at USC, it actually was a musical - and won the Oscar.  It was fun.

My favorite animated short was The Danish Poet” (Canada-Norway) - which did win the Academy Award.  Simple line drawings and a sweet story. You can actually see this one on YouTube.

I’m looking forward to the other years’ collections!   Do you like short films?  Have you seen any that were memorable or that you’d recommend? 

Lot’s of articles and commentaries on the election this week. Here are my favorites:

Ability To Lead Armed Forces Pivotal In Election
by Ken Harbaugh

Republicans, Stop Calling Obama Elitist
by Bill Maher (smart-ass comedian, political commentator)

Palin and McCain’s Shotgun Marriage
by Frank Rich

Sarah Palin: George Bush in Lipstick?
by Nico Pitney

**Yes - that’s a morphed photo of George and Sarah…. pretty uncanny, don’t you think?

And my favorite….

Jon Stewart does what he does best
He hits Karl Rove, Bill O’Reilly, Dick Morris and more with damning evidence of their hypocrisy regarding Vice Presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

Happy Birthday Emily!

It was sure fun watching you open your presents over video-chat (though not as much fun as being there, of course).  

Wish I could give you a big birthday hug.

Hope you  have a great time at your party tomorrow!

Please people.  You really should know better by now.  

STOP FORWARDING POLITICAL EMAILS. 

You know the ones….  because you’ve probably received them.  You’ve probably forwarded them.  Stop it. 

Just say no.   And tell your friends to just say no!

Friends don’t let friends email lies and stupidity.

In fact, if you get one, just delete it.   They are designed to prey on your fears and biases by using half-truths, distortions or outright lies.  The authors have a specific agenda and recognize most people won’t bother to check the facts, and will simply buy into the nonsense…. and then forward to all your friends.  

And when you do forward it, it just makes you look uninformed and like a dolt (to your friends who are on top of the program)…. or you are guilty of perpetuating lies and confusing your less informed (and gullible) friends.  
  
You’re also adding to the problem of a misinformed public, and the negative, partisan divide that has plagued our country for the last several years.  Stop making things worse!   If you can vote, be responsible with that privilege and get the facts before wielding your uninformed finger in the voting booth.
 
If you simply must read these emails you receive - then before you do ANYTHING with it….

• Go straight to factcheck.org   
• Or  snopes.com
• If it quotes a speech - find and read/listen to the actual speech. 
• Look for a reputable news source (not Fox) to verify it… maybe even more than one.
• And when you find out the facts, send a link back to the person who sent you this nonsense in the first place with a request they check their facts before forwarding these to you.
• If you don’t FIND anything corraborating what you received - delete it.  Or you can email and ask me about it

Here’s a great articleabout this at FactCheck.org.  PLEASE READ IT.

That Chain E-mail Your Friend Sent to You Is (Likely) Bogus. Seriously.

Please people. Only you have the power to stop this nonsense.

Watching and listening to McCain speak is so very painful…..    uninformative speech, boring delivery…..  and peppered with misinformation.  

I can’t believe they actually put him in front of a GREEN SCREEN again….   Stephen Colbert must be giddy with possibilities….

Does anyone besides me want to slap the so-called “analysts” on the cable news networks upside the head?

I’ve been watching much of the Democratic National Convention this week and am thoroughly disgusted by the truly deranged commentary.    Rather than journalism, they are all about creating conflict and drama - even if it isn’t there.

The MSNBC team turned into mind readers…  especially Pat Buchanan who apparently knows Hillary better than she knows herself.    He told us what Hillary was really thinking while giving her speech - and the journatlists who should KNOW BETTER did the same, or asking everyone they interviewed to take a shot at reading her mind.  Never mind what she actually SAID in her speech - they know better what she’s thinking.

And Fox is the worst of them.  I was swtiching through all of the news channels to get a feel for the coverage after the speeches, and was shocked by the nonsense I heard there.  Were they watching the same speeches?????  

If FOX news would come out and admit it they are simply a mouth piece for the GOP I could accept that - but their ABSURD moniker of being “Fair and Balanced” makes me want to throw up. Or take a gun and shoot myself.  No, take it to the studio and shoot all of them. 

Anyone who would hire Karl Rove (evil incarnate) to be a news analyst should be shot.  OK, maybe I’m taking that too far.  Should be sent to an assylum for the truly deluded and deranged.  But Karl Rove should be shot, or imprisoned and tortured for all his crimes he’ll never pay for on this earth. It never ceases to amaze me how many people turn off their brains and believe the partisan crap on this not-news station.  I can only figure they like hearing stuff that feeds into their existing world veiw - rather than the way things are.

What has happened to real, objective journalism???

Thank heaven for PBS and C-SPAN.   I watched Bill’s speech last night (which was incredible, by the way) on CSPAN - and when I turned to PBS afterward, I heard intelligent analysis without all the invented drama.

Frankly, the only sources I trust for news are NPR and PBS - and of course Jon Stewart (one of the most trusted journalists in America, by the way) thrown in for a comedic take.  Viewers of his “fake” news show actually get more accurate information than on those who watch Fox).

Who do you think are the worst (or best) journalists/analysts and commentators?

I had such a great time traveling around the Northwest with Brandon and family. 

We enjoyed some great activites and saw beautiful sites.  One of the favorite activites was exploring the tidepools at Salt Creek.   

We had previously been to the Seattle Aquarium and and saw fabulous sea life - but there’s nothing like experiencing it out in the natural setting.

Tidepools are cool - and we all had fun touching the anenomes and finding the hermit crabs.   

The girls LOVED it…

I was a bit surprised (but delighted) that Emily wanted to hold the little, recently deceased, crab I found.

I think if we hadn’t had to run to catch the ferry to Victoria, we could have spent hours here.

Come visit again and let’s go see more tidepools!

Yes, apparently banana slugs CAN chew a hole in the plastic bag you’ve imprisoned them in….   leading to a mass escape of 7 giant slugs and 2 snails.

Fortunately, if you notice they’re making an escape soon enough, they’re not hard to catch.

On a happier note, this cute little garden snake slithered across my patio the other day (about 8″ long).  (Sorry Michelle).

I hope he eats lots of spiders for me.    I wonder if he’ll scare away the slugs…

With a roadtrip planned to the Olympic Peninsula with Brandon (my son) and his family this past weekend, it seemed like the perfect time to finally start reading the Twilight Saga.  So I ordered the first two books from Amazon and they arrived the day before we left. 

My brief review:  I really enjoyed it.  I, like Michelle, wish it had been written as an adult novel rather than for teens - would have enjoyed more depth and less filler.  Neverthertheless, I think Stephanie Meyer has crafted an original and compelling story.  And reading it in the book’s setting made it come even more alive for me, so to speak. 

I finished up Twighlight while lying in bed at the Forks Motel on Sunday night, after a visit to the Hoh rain forest.  Started New Moon the next day and stayed up til 4:30am Tuesday night to finish it - just couldn’t put it down even though I was exhausted.  Ordered Eclipse and Breaking Dawn from Amazon today…

Of course I took my camera with me and captured a few images of this breathtaking country.  I created a special page for you to view them.  I think I live in the most beautiful state in the nation… 
 

then come back and share your thoughts.  Do you recognize any scenery described in the the book?  Can you spot any vampires?

*The page may take a few moments to load.

OK, so I’ve been seeing these Bluefly commercials for awhile now - you know the ones…. where the woman is looking in her closet for something to wear to the dinner party downstairs and just decides to go nude.   Or the newest one where some gal wearing nothing but shoes and carrying a magazine goes through airport security, while the announcer says,…

 ”Bluefly - Always there when you have nothing to wear.”

These commercial makes no sense to me. If Bluefly is always there, why didn’t she go to bluefly.com and get some clothes???