Julie and Julia

I believe "Julie" comes first in the title of this film, and I suppose the front story is about the contemporary woman who cooks her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a year(and blogging about it). But the bigger, more compelling story is the one about the author of that cookbook, Julia Child. If you haven't seen this movie, I recommend that you go and see it--or put it at the top of your Netflix queue if you don't have the money.

The love story between Julia and her husband is tender, refreshing, and affectionate.
Dan Ackryod's SNL sketch is an hilarious charicature; Meryl Streep's performance is an affectionate, realistic portrayal of a large woman whose personality was also larger than life." (I don't know why Peter's affectionate "Cooking Julia" sketch of cooking baby fish food was not also included in this movie--it must have been lost on the cutting room floor.)

I saw this movie with Aunt Beth, Elisabeth and Jordan the day before my surgery. Everyone in the theater laughed at all the funny parts, although I believe I was laughing loudest. Pop went to see it by himself about a week later and also enjoyed it.

WIUX - Pure Student Radio

Some of you may remember plugging in those giant stereo headphones of Pops and listening to your favorite tape. I know I spent many an afternoon with those cups on my ears listening to the pure stereo sound of Toto, Genesis, Amy Grant and Michael Jackson. Now that I'm all grown up and am past caring what I look like with headphones, I own my own pair of stereo cups (though, not as big as the ones Pop had). I may be the biggest dork at work, but I love the great sound I get at my desk.

This brings me to the high quality online stream of WIUX. The local, student radio station, WIUX, plays all kinds of weird crap. Actually, most of it is junk, but sometimes you hit a run of Band of Horses, Arcade Fire, Andrew Bird, Beck, Radiohead and other bands that they don't play anywhere else. If you're local you can tune in to 99.1 FM, if not local, check the stream here.

New Music Monday - USoE

I know, this track has been out for a while, but the album is still a day away.

Matt sent me a link the other day to the Muse site where they were offering a free listen to the new album in it's entirety (for logged-in members, which I quickly became). In my opinion (and I know I will get a lot of flack for this), United States of Euroasia (+Collateral Damage) is the best track on this new album. I have always liked Muse for including classical piano interludes in their songs. Chopin's Nocturne in E-Flat Major works so well here that it almost sounds as if it were written for this song (I might also get shot for saying that too).

Anyhow, take a listen, compare it to Queen, and tell me what you think. Also, enjoy the album here } http://muse.mu/media-player/albums/47/the-resistance/# (once again, thanks Matt).

It's finally here!

The kids and I put together a little video in celebration of the release of The Beatles Rock Band game. I tried to get this up yesterday, but had some technical difficulties. Anyways, head over to Jude's blog to see the video, we hope you enjoy... http://judesmonkeyblog.blogspot.com

Monopoly - City Streets

Today is the first day of the largest Monopoly game in history [if it ever starts to work that is].

A new online game from Hasboro, Monopoly City Streets, goes online today and the registration process has been a pain. I have been hitting the refresh button over and over and when I finally got through, it played a little flash intro and stopped, I couldn't do anything (I think the navigation was hidden and I couldn't scroll to it).

Anyhow, the game is based in Google Maps and allows users to purchase any real estate (any street) in the world and then charge rent. You start off with 3 million Monopoly Bucks and, from what I've read, the game goes 'till January, making it not only the largest game (most players) but one of the longest (though, I think the board game averages 2 months to play and I personally have played one game that lasted 1 and a half years).

How many people will sign up? How many will play? That, obviously is yet to be seen, but one thing's for sure... if any of you are planning on building on any street that we have ever lived on... better think again... you'll be paying me rent! Bookbinder here I come!

Beck on Tuesday

Beck is, and has been for a long time, one of my favorite musicians. I remember Nate getting in trouble for a Beck track I included on a mix tape and I remember, just when it seemed Beck had hit the top, done everything, nothing new to add, he released Sea Change and started all over again. Sea Change is still my most listened to album by Beck, though Guero is close behind. I just ran across this version of the Loser video, adds a whole new meaning to the song:

Zombie Kid

check out my blog for some more funny and cool videos!!

Peter is a nerd!

While looking around at interesting stuff I stumbled across this and realized right away how excited Peter probably is...



By the way, if you want to read something truly interesting, head over to my blog right now.

Taken from the H-T

Emily recently visited the Teacher's Warehouse before school started this year to stock up on supplies for the year. The above video and her picture appeared in the paper and online, with the following caption.

Emily Crum, a speech and language pathologist at Childs and Summit elementary schools, looks for books Tuesday at Teachers Warehouse that might help students with sounds. Teachers Warehouse, at 1364 W. Second St., offers donated classroom supplies from which local teachers can draw.

Jowles

and also this, I dug this up from the family archive. I can't believe that I had never seen this before but I do remember some of these moves...

A New Episode of the Dlog (starring Jill)

So Far

I was pretty excited about getting to spend some time with my sister Jill and brother Jesse. William and Jesse were born after I moved away from home and Jill was only a baby at the time. This has already been a great two weeks, and I'm looking forward to the time we still have together. I took Jude and Jesse up to Buena Vista a few days ago, and while we were up there we did a little hiking at the Continental Divide. We took some footage of Jesse on the East Coast and Jude on the West. Here's just a couple seconds of us up on top of the world watching the Sun come up...

a book

This is a kinda weird thing for ME to be writing about. But, I have been reading an amazing book, and I am not yet finished, but it's a story that isn't over, so I guess I feel as though I am just catching up. It is Don't Ignore My Mind by Bob Kaplowitz. In our culture today we look up so much to celebrities or old dead people, but I have never been witness to a more amazing story then the one I am reading right now. So, if you like to read (not me) or you don't (me), then at least read this book. It is worth so much more then reading about General Lee or Brad Pitt.

This One's for Ben

Apparently Ben is amused by the pictures I am posting, so this one's for him.

Coming Soon

When we lived on Camp Pendleton I vaguely remember watching parts of a TV series called 'V' about green, lizard-like aliens. With the growing popularity of re-releasing TV shows on DVD I recently looked up this show and thought it might be interesting to watch. Now ABC is coming out with a whole new series, following the same premise, and under the same name... it's the return of 'V'. Looks OK.

Strawberry Swing

Not sure if you all have seen this, but the new Coldplay video is pretty cool:

What's New?

Answer: Back in May Emily and I closed on our first home, a nice three bedroom ranch style home located on Bloomington's south side. We, with the help of Nate, spent several days painting before moving our things, with the help of a lot of our friends, from our apartment into our home. I have been enjoying the larger space, the un-ending number of design changes, and like that I now have a lawn to mow. Grandmother and Grandfather have stopped by, as have the B-town brothers, and we're looking forward to William's visit. He will probably be more interested in our puppy, Chipper. For Emily's birthday I decided to get her a little Rat Terrier. When we got him he was about 8 weeks old and weighed 4-5 pounds. He seems to be growing bigger every day and already weighs 10 lbs. He loves learning new tricks, looks forward to his meals, and especially loves playing tug with his cousin Coach Suhr. We will be sad to leave Chipper behind for a few days next week as we will be headed to the Barrow family vacation in Door County, Wisconsin - Emily's mom's family.
Emily has instructed me to bring my video camera, so be looking for a new video soon.

Wired Podcast

Here's a podcast of some new-ish music for summer listening from Wired.com:

Playlist Podcast: Episode 11

Some of the Asian Pop is a little odd, but some cool beats.

This year has been full of surprise when it comes to music. Both Dave Matthews and Wilco have just put out their best albums ever.

If you like anything by Wilco than go out and get this album. In fact, if you like anything about good music, than go out and get this album.

Transparency

Apparently "Openness" and "Transparency" mean something different in the Obama White House. The video below is from a press conference in which Chip Reid (with the help of Helen Thomas) debate the legitimacy of an upcoming 'Town Hall' meeting in which the audience is pre-screened (invited) and the tech-savvy questions (twitter and facebook) come through a screening process before they reach the President.