No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on May 14, 2012

Setting up for the rest of the week

Tuesday will be Crafty Tuesday
Wednesday will be something about Conventions
The rest of the week will be what it will be.

The weekend was a little hectic but nice over all. Saturday I got all the stuff that wandered into Ariel’s room and was not Ariel’s out of Ariel’s room. Caroline and I went out for a Mommy and Daughter lunch. Sunday we went to our favorite breakfast place then up to Connecticut to visit with my in-laws. We had a nice lunch at a diner they like a lot. Caroline got to give her Grandma a dahlia plant, which Grandma Dalia felt very touched by. After that we drove to Sacred Heart to pick up Ariel from college and her stuff since she is with us for the summer. We got home in time to watch the season enders for Once Upon a Time and Desperate Housewives. Really liked the very ending of Desperate Housewives and wish the cast and crew the best in their next endeavors.

Today I have to drive Ariel to a job interview a ways away. It is for a summer camp. Caroline has Kung-Fu during which I plan to do a short shop for those things that we need at the grocery store there. It is the last night of my bowling league and we are in the middle and I would like to stay there.

Tomorrow is starting to shape up with various things and activities that need to be done. And that’s what the rest of the week looks like.

I am grateful for the minimal traffic we had to deal with coming back and the Google Map app on the iPad along with our GPS which allowed us to get around the traffic crunches that were in our path.

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Monday Musing: Here comes the rain again
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 13, 2012

Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there.

Mother’s Day is when many remember that sometimes Mom likes out of the kitchen or a meal cooked in her kitchen with clean-up of the kitchen to follow.

I am going up to Connecticut to see my in-laws and pick up Ariel from college since she will be home for the summer. So I am doing mom-things today.

Being a Mom is important to me. I want to be a good Mom. I try to set an example for my daughter by word and deed. I help her with things that I can and find ways for her to help herself in other things.

I took my examples of how to Mom from my Mom who raised four productive citizens for her country.

So hug a Mom today. They do so much for us and teach us a lot.

I am grateful that I am such a Mom

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Happy Mother’s Day 2012
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 12, 2012

There will be spoilers behind the cut and allowed in the comments.

To preface this a bit: I am a Dark Shadows Fan. Barnabas was my first vampire, as it were. I watched my way through the original series and saw the Ben Cross series. Dark Shadows was a soap opera, first and foremost, but it was a gothic soap opera which had warped a lot of little minds in its day. Many of those minds are now making the media that is warping the youth of today. I am pretty well versed in the whole Dark Shadows rather complicated universe although I get a little shaky on all the timelines towards the end. At least the characters got a happy ending kinda sorta even though it was a paralleled timeline.

Yesterday Peter, Caroline and I went to see Dark Shadows after reading the parental guides that we usually read to get an idea of why it was PG-13. Part of it had to do with the number of people smoking which, by count, would have gone R if there had been one more person lighting up. There is some swearing but nothing extreme. And some sexual content which was the sticking point, but after some more reading it was mostly innuendo and one scene with Barnabas and Angelique that is so absurd and you can’t really tell what is going on unless you know what is going on. There is also one quick scene with Julia Hoffman with an implication but again if you don’t know what is going on, nothing is going on.

Short version is that I liked it.

Longer Version

Both Tim Burton and Johnny Depp have stated that they are old school Dark Shadows fans and it shows in this film. This is like the House of Dark Shadows through the lens of Tim Burton, which makes it stranger as it goes along but it worked for me.

Casting is solid throughout. Depp is channeling Frid. It is the Barnabas that I know and love. Much care is given to the costumes for Barnabas to reflect back to the TV series. I counted about three outfits that looked right out of the TV show or the House of Dark Shadows gilm or seen on the cover of the books (which I have a complete set of). The cane is a little different but they are going for the silver and vampires don’t mix trope. That it looks scrimshaw or an ivory carving makes sense for the period that the cane is from. The famed ring on his hand is there as well.

Michelle Pheiffer , who I think is a brilliant actress, surprised me in this one with how good her performance is. Jackie Earl Haley was great fun as Willie Loomis. And Willie didn’t annoy me as much as he did in the TV series. Almost didn’t recognize Jonny Lee Miller (Eli Stone) as Roger Collins. It seems to me that Roger was the character that Burton and the screenwriter didn’t really know what to do with, which is a shame since they had such a strong actor in the role. Chloe Grace Moretz does a dynamite job as Carolyn.

The story itself had to be written for those who haven’t a clue what Dark Shadows is and those who know it too well and, for the most part, it succeeds. The characters are introduced, the situation is wound up and we are taken through the narrative. But this is a Tim Burton movie so there are some weird touches that work yet also remind you that this is Tim Burton’s world that is being played in.

The commercials make it look like a campy laugh riot. Not in the least. There is humor and that macabre sense of the weird that is so Burton. But there is a story being told and it is not pretty at times. So yet again the commercials and the film are two different animals.

So overall good film both as the Burton film and Dan Curtis’ Dark Shadows. Would see again without regret.

(more…)

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Casting A Little Light on the Dark Shadows: A Review of the Tim Burton Film
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 11, 2012

Well the plans for the weekend seem to be set now I have to fit everything else in those little cracks of time I have to get everything done along with all the usual stuff. I can do it but it is going to be a bit of a pain along the way.

Today I swear my house is attacking me. I have opened up three cabinets and stuff has leaped out at me. Along with the cats doing their level best to knock things over today. Right now they are all napping but I think that they are revving up for round 2. Except for Stalin who is curled up at my hip, they have all found patches of sunlight to bask in.

Well I should get to what needs to be done before Sunday.

I am grateful for my genetic ability for being able to see spatial relations.

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on Drive By Blogging
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on May 10, 2012

For the new readers, RTBTCKI is Random Thoughts Before the Coffee Kicks In and is a series of entries that is what it says

Caroline was home from school yesterday with a fever. I think I poked the evil eye on that one having commented last week when I pointed out to her that she hadn’t been sick this school year. I think she picked it up at the convention over the weekend. The point between exposure and symptoms is about right.

My tinnitus is acting up which means I have to watch myself and not clench my jaw, which happens when my ears are ringing. So I consciously have to relax my jaw. My ears are hurting too. I am trying my usual over the counter medicine to see if maybe it is sinus related but doggone they hurt.

The rain is ending and the skies are showing signs of lighting so I am figuring that the clouds are on the way out. It is shaping up to be a nice day.

Most of my day will be at Caroline’s school. They are having their annual plant sale right before Mother’s Day and I am helping this afternoon.

Ariel comes home this weekend. She is still job searching. Trying to find something for the summer and just the summer is hard these days. She doesn’t drive so that adds some complications to the matter.

The Mets have won more than two in a row. Last year we called two in a row a streak. They seem to be doing a little better than that this year. A number of teams are doing better than their projected place in the sports pundits’ lists. It is shaping up to be an interesting season.

The Rangers and the Capitals are going for a game 7 for all the marbles. The Stanley Cup Playoffs have been exciting this year. No real lopsided matches and a lot of overtime.

Someone asked my opinion as an Equity Stage Manager how realistic did I think Smash is. Pretty realistic including all the drama. I think after the season is over I am going to do a review from a stage manager’s point of view. I can say that I have known in my career someone who can be matched to each character in the show.

It looks very green outside this morning.

Here is what I said on Facebook yesterday after hearing about President Obama speaking up for marriage equality.

I went to George and Brad Takei’s wedding. The skies didn’t open up and rain fire. Cat and Dogs are still not living together. They had been together for 21 years before they were allowed to get married. Their relationship was old enough to drink. And they are still married and still silly in love with each other. I don’t think what they did that day affected anyone else’s marriage. Good for President Obama to say something he said on his Senate questionnaire oh so many years ago.

And to me that is what it is. Marriage Equality. I have had too many friends unable to visit their loved ones in the hospital or have any say in their partner’s care because they aren’t a blood relative to the person. And in some cases that leave the person in the hospital totally alone because their family doesn’t want anything to do with them. The amount of legal documentation that has to be done so that their wills can’t be contested and they can have close to the rights that I got the moment Peter and I and the minister signed and filed a single piece of paper is absurd.

So on the line up of projects behind the gun. A set of Victorian Paper Dolls for a swap and a doll that is going to be passed around. Those I need to do this weekend along with double checking on Ariel’s room as she is moving in for Caroline’s stray toys. I think that is Friday. I also need to unearth Doctor #10 from the room of requirement.

Sherlock is back on my PBS stations. So review on that shortly.

I am grateful for such a lovely day before the leaf blowers start up.

Category: Uncategorized | Comments Off on RTBTCKI: The Clouds are Parting Edition
Tags: