game one of the playoffs goes to...

The Blues!!!

Yes, this just happened.



Hoo-leee Jumpin!

Kelly gets the quote of the night, tho. "Good bye. Good night.  Game over!!"

Cheers!

and the home of the brave

It's been a terrible week, but we're strong.

For (and from) Boston:



Pray for Boston, and for Texas.

bohemian rhapsody - classically

OR!Sue sent me this....it's pretty cool!



I hope everyone had a nice holiday - tonight's a busy sports night for St. Louis fans, as the Blues are playing the Stars right now and the Rams play the Seahawks in primetime (!!) at 7:15.

I have yarn to photograph and review, a living room to attempt to reorganize, and a scarf to finish :)

Enjoy the vid, and cheers!

moviesign - deathly hallows (movie spoilers ahoy)

Well.

It's Saturday night, I'm flipping back and forth between the football Tigers playing Iowa State and the Blues/Devils game (Mizzou is leading, Blues are tied). The house smells like oregano and butter (the cloverleaf roll experiment/dry run for Thanksgiving was a success).  The pup is hunting squirrels in her sleep (her nose is twitching something fierce).

I'm recovering from 8 hours of sleep in the last 2 days.

Paula and I went to the midnight show of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part One after dinner on Thursday, and I have to say, for the most part, I was impressed. More on that in a few.

The crowd at the Regal was fairly young and loud - I was surprised that there were so many older teens there, as it was a November Thursday, with school in session. Lots of costumes.  I saw a gal dressed in gold with wings on her head (she was a Snitch), many many Gryffindors, witches, wizards, and a guy in a dress.  I'm not sure if he was dressed as Fleur-as-Harry, or if he lost a bet, but he was a SCARY woman. LOL! Whoever dressed him had him in red (!!) heels, and after the third or fourth time he came and went (he was in the row behind us), the shoes were off. I think Paula was traumatized.

We actually got to sit for about 2 hours in the theatre before the movie, and they didn't start the 'in-betweens' until 11:30.  At first we were all happy to have something to look at, except they ran the same 'quizzes' about 10 times.  We were shouting out the answers to the questions as the pages were displayed.  Yeah, we were a little impatient. THEN previews.  TRON was first, everyone thought that was cool...but every preview afterwards was greeted with grumbles, and by the time we got to the Yogi Bear preview, there were chants of "Harry, Harry, Harry" rumbling through the theatre. Again, impatient!

I won't go into details about the movie - I'm sure that there are enough blow-by-blow reviews out there to satisfy everyone.  I will give my highlights, tho ;D LOTS of skipping around here.

• I missed Dudley saying thank you to Harry.
• "I was afraid you'd lost your way..." made me go 'ooooh...nice double meaning!'
• Where the hell did Harry get the mirror??
• The cupboard under the stairs made me tear up.
• Hermione with Harry's eyebrows.  *diez*
• Thought Harry was going to keel over ... Oh, Ginny! lol
• Could Ron be any more smitten?
• YOU HAVE ONE HOUR! (to fix my office)
• Churchyard. *weeps*
• Snake. *jumps* Good god, Bathilda was perfectly creepy.
• Harry Potter, newest member of the polar bear club
• Harry and Hermione look a little...blue....and....nekkid....
• THEY LEFT OUT MY FAVORITE LINES.  WAH!!!
• Ron is such a suck-up lol
• The DH story art was cool
• *sob*

The chase from the Snatchers made me almost queasy, since the camera was all over the freaking place.  It was really hard to follow what we were supposed to follow.  I'd imagine it was one heck of a job to edit. Hey, Academy! Award for Editing needs a nomination...I nominate DH1!!

I should also say that many of my notes were used for the PFW podcast review and were written down the SECOND time I saw the movie on Friday.  Yes, I saw it twice in 14 hours. Yes, I did that for HBP too. yes, I'm a fan!  lol The Snatcher scene wasn't as bad the second time, as I sat further back in the theatre and center instead of closer and to the right. I can't imagine trying to watch that from the front rows. Ugh.

Speaking of the podcast, I have no idea when the review will be up, but when it is you can download it via iTunes (search PotterFicWeekly in Podcasts) or off the PFW site, which I think is linked on the right.

My favorite section of dialogue from THE ENTIRE BOOK was left out. It was the part after Ron has destroyed the Horcrux in the locket (yes, the audience cheered at both showings) and before they go back to Hermione. To quote JKR:

"After you left," he said in a low voice, grateful for the fact that Ron's face was hidden, "she cried for a week. Probably longer, only she didn't want me to see. There were loads of nights when we never even spoke to each other. With you gone..."

He could not finish; it was now that Ron was here again that Harry fully realized how much his absence had cost them.

"She's like my sister," he went on. "I love her like a sister and I reckon that she feels the same way about me. It's always been like that. I thought you knew."

Ron did not respond, but turned his face away from Harry and wiped his nose noisily on his sleeve. Harry got to his feet again and walked to where Ron's enormous rucksack lay yards away, discarded as Ron had run toward the pool to save Harry from drowning. He hoisted it onto his own back and walked back to Ron, who clambered to his feet as Harry approached, eyes bloodshot but otherwise composed.

"I'm sorry," he said in a thick voice. "I'm sorry I left. I know I was a -- a --"

He looked around at the darkness, as if hoping a bad enough word would swoop down upon him and claim him.

"You've sort of made up for it tonight," said Harry. "Getting the sword. Finishing off the Horcrux. Saving my life."

I listen to the audiobooks and Jim Dale reading the US version of this scene is one of my all-time favorite parts.  I was put out that it wasn't included when so much of other dialogue was lifted directly from the book. It's so heartfelt from Harry. :(

If you have read the books, or have seen all of the movies (and yes, this one is not a stand-alone; you need to see ALL of them), go see this one.  I may go see it in the HD or IMAX (is there a difference?) the first weekend of December. No 3D this time - not that I mind, since I don't like 3D anyway.

I've been working on Christmas presents - I've made two Rodekool brioche lace scarves and am about 2/3 into a third one.  I *may* make one more before I work on fingerless mitts.  I didn't get the Ravenclaw shrug finished before the movie due to the fact that I should have stopped what I was working on a week before I did.  Meh.  It needs to have the sleeves seamed and the body ribbing knitted, and it's done.  Almost 6 feet of stockinette!  I did one entire half from Saturday to Wednesday and grafted the two sleeves together. 110 stitches of mid-back grafting. Ugh... I do like the Patons wool.  Nice stitch definition, pretty drape, and good even fabric.

Mizzou is leading 14-0 with 3 minutes left in the game, and the Blues are tied up 2-2 at the start of the third period, and I think I'm out of gas. I may also be out of parentheses.

Have a nice Thanksgiving, US peoples!

Cheers!

new tv spot for hbp

Been a few days....

First up, new TV spot for HBP! It makes it look like a teen movie! Ack. LOL!



66 days to go. Sigh.

We may go see Star Trek tonight - it depends on PK. Actually, I may go see it by myself, as sometimes it's hard to pry her out of the house. And I thought I was bad. Biggest issue is that Faire starts next week. I have no idea if I'm working (probably not as it looks) but we'll see.

Rick Ankiel went onto the DL this week - I'm thinking it was retroactive to the 5th of May - due to the crash on Tuesday. Nothing broken, thank god, but he's got a deep 'contusion' on his right shoulder and a case of whiplash. I'm sure he's pretty body sore! I'm just really glad he's okay. He even thought that he'd broken his neck. Phew.

We're still in first in the Central, but we need to exact some revenge on the Reds today. I also want to know what the heck is going on with other teams plunking our players!! We apparently lead the NL in the hit-by-pitch (HBP? hehehe) category with 17 - 5 times in the 2 games we played the Phillies, and twice in the second Pirates game. Seven times in four games. What's up with that?? It's not like they're standing over the plate - these are usually after 3-4 pitches into the count. Weird.

I have yarn to review at some point (I sound like a broken record) and I've started the "Charade" socks again, this time cuff-down, two at a time on magic loop. I need a longer needle, as the 32" is starting to drive me bonkers. I think I need a 40" or so. The shop that I'd go to on the way home from work on Saturday has closed its doors now, I think (Chris' Craft on Olive, very sad) so I'll have to wait till Monday or call Thi and see if she has any long US1s in stock. Haven't been there in a while!

Did I mention that the Canucks swept the Blues right out of the playoffs? I didn't think so. Ang was a happy bunny *rolls eyes* but she's been tearing at her hair over round two. Payback is hell, yeah?

Discovered Kirstie Alley and Melissa Gilbert on Twitter - Kristie is totally addicted and posts several HUNDRED times a day. I knew she was awake this morning when my Chirpr (which was fairly quiet up till then) started tweeting at me every thirty seconds or so. She's yakky! Yesterday was Melissa's birthday, so she wasn't online, but apparently she's pretty yakky too. I remember talking to her (a lot!) in the old AOL Eclipse Cafe. She was a self-proclaimed chat addict, and I think she's going to be just as 'bad' on Twitter. LOL!

Back to work. Cheers!

tweeting and other news

Yes, I have succumbed to Twitter. I don't have much on it yet - no access to it from the work computer (as expected) - but I can text in Tweets. I only signed up for it two days ago and I've already got two followers who I totally don't recognize. I DO have a few that I did recognize - and one of them is making me laugh and laugh! I followed him, and he followed me back. See if you can figure out who it is. ;)

Anyway, I think I'll search for some more once the "Find" function comes back. Apparently Twitter had a meltdown right after I signed up (coincidence? hmmm) and the 'Search for Others' functionality went poof.

This will be more fun once I get the smartphone. Heh heh heh.

I guess I didn't mention in the last post that I never made it to Kansas City over the weekend. No way was I driving through sleet, freezing rain, ice, and snow. KS!D said that they were closing stores on Saturday due to the weather. I'm glad I stayed at home. We got 2 inches here between 3AM and 5 AM - it snowed sideways for a while! - and it was all melted by 8AM. Why can't we have snow like that for Christmas?

My DNBY order arrived, and so I need to shoot, post, review, and stash the yarn. I got two colorways that are very similar! Ah well. NE!Sue, they're in 'my colors'. You'll know what I mean!

Baseball in 6 days. w00t!!! The Blues may make the playoffs this year, too. I know. Cue "*GASP*". They're in Chicago tonight, playing the Blackhawks. Go Blues!

Happy 63rd anniversary, Oma & Opa! I love you.

Happy April Fool's Day, everyone else!! Cheers!

road trip and yarn haul

Hi again!

Well, last weekend was rather busy. DG and I went to the Blues game vs. the Philadelphia Flyers, and the guys won, 4-0! w00t! Too bad that last goal was close to the end of the game...the chant of "We Want Blizzards" only got a workout for about 5 minutes. Alas! We had a good time, tho.

Sunday morning, I got up before the crack of dawn, packed the car and the dog and took off for Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Yes, I can hear you scratching your collective heads. The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, which was damaged last June (2008) by flooding from the Cedar River, still has not reopened its permanent exhibits. The two exhibitions that were open, however, were the The Year of the River: Flood Photography from The Gazette, and the one I went to see: Mary GrandPré: Harry Potter and Beyond. This was her first exhibit in years, and as a HP fan, I thought it was very, very cool.

I hadn't realized that she'd provided the models for the humans in Ice Age, and she has quite a few children's books under her belt, as well. I particularly liked the program covers she did for Aida - I cannot remember what orchestra/philharmonic they were commissioned for (ARGH!), but they were very good.

The main draw for me, though, were the Potter sketches.

It was amazing to see the uncolored images - most were done on tracing paper with lead pencil, and it was just cool to be able to see the light reflect from the layers of lead on the paper making up the image. Yes, I am a geek! It was also interesting to see that the original title for the first book was Harry Potter and the School of Magic! I wasn't able to take shots of the art - tsk, tsk to those who have!! - but it was worth the trip. I'd thought that the exhibit went through the month of February, and discovered that it actually closed on February 1, so that sealed the deal.

Oh!! The museum has a video tour! Check it out:



See how neat that was!!??!!

I did detour on the way north - I drove right past Riverside, Iowa. Those of you who are Star Trek fans may recognize the name of the town - yes, this is the 'future birthplace of James T. Kirk'! I had to stop and get a picture of the USS Riverside - this is the 'float' that is used in the TrekFest parade every year in June. See the snow?? They didn't get snow when we did (last week) but they've had no melt weather for a while and so they have big piles everywhere.

I did find an unofficial crest marker - I parked across the street from the museum in a parking garage, and this was painted at the base of the stairwell. The museum lost everything that was in storage in the basement as well as some of the items on the first floor. They are the home of the Grant Wood Collection; you may know this artist as the one who painted "American Gothic".

I spent the night in Cedar Rapids - missed the Super Bowl (slept through it!) and Plu had his own bed. Got up the next morning before the crack of dawn (again) and drove to my all-time favorite dairy to buy cheese. I was too close not to go!

It was a picturesque drive through eastern Iowa and southwestern Wisconsin - rendered even more so because the GPS took me on the 'shortest route' which were barely-paved, unmarked country roads in Wisconsin! Remember I said that there were piles of snow? I was driving down roads that had snowdrifts taller than my car piled down their route. Some of the sights I saw were a monastery between Cedar Rapids and Dubuque, lovely rolling hills, a rather dramatic rock cut just east of Dubuque, and the Sinsinawa Mound in southwestern Wisconsin.

I bought all sorts of mild cheeses from Decatur: Havarti, Muenster, lace Swiss (Stettler Swiss), butter kasse, cheese curds (YUM!!!) and some mozzarella. The first time I visited this dairy, the silly dog tried to eat the curds on the way home while I was fuelling up the car! Bad dog! Decatur has awards for their Havarti and Muenster cheeses. If you're ever in south central Wisconsin, I'd recommend visiting them. It'll be worth your drive.

I then drove down through Rockford, IL to a yarn shop called Unique Yarns. The staff was friendly, and they have a nice, open layout. I bought some souvenir yarn, natch. More on that in a bit. I also picked up Mason-Dixon Knitting.

Back on the road, we headed home. I did stop at Dixie Trucker's Home in McLean, IL for scrambled eggs and biscuits and gravy. Yum!

Okay, yarn time! The first four I bought from DBNY, and the last three from Unique Yarns.

• 10 50g balls Plymouth Yarns "Eros" (100% nylon) in colorway Leaded Glass (silver grey).
• 6 50g balls Plymouth Yarns "Eros" (100% nylon) in colorway Tapestry (red, gold, blue, lime, black)
• 1 4oz hank Cherry Tree Hill "Supersock Solids" (100% merino superwash) in colorway Cherry (rich red)
• 1 100g hank Fire Lizard Yarns "Joy" (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon) in colorway Love (gold, burgundy, purple, yellow-brown). Picture #2
• 1 100g ball Tofutsies "Limited Edition" (50% superwash wool, 25% SoySilk, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% Chitin*) in colorway #872 August 2008 (cream, sky blue, bronze, grey)
• 1 100g ball Berroco Yarns "Sox" (75% superwash, 25% nylon) in colorway Geilgud (cream, tan, black)
• 1 100g hank Misti Alpaca "Hand-Painted Sock Yarn" (50% alpaca, 30% merino wool, 10% silk, 10% nylon) in colorway Seattle (olive, rust, brown, burgundy, gold, teal, orange)

Phew! That's enough. Time for a dog walkies.

Cheers!