Ms. Alaska

Mom, I am very interested in hearing what you have to say about John McCain's running mate, Gov. Sarah Palin. When I first heard his pick I thought it was an awesome move, now I am not so sure, but can she be groomed to be a viable political force? I like that she is mold-able (she doesn't have a history, legacy, or reputation to live up to).



So what do you think?

Another Movie

Jess finally got to see it tonight, just ten short years to the day; our wedding video. I put together some video that Uncle Bob and Aunt Sandy shot, along with some pictures and a little new footage, and we now have our own official wedding video. All your DVDs are burned, and I'll be sending them out shortly. I hope you enjoy.

Brand Irony

I thought these were pretty good... from a series of photos titled "Brand Irony"

WARNING

WARNING: Do not watch the new Eagle Eye trailer if you have any desire to watch this film! That's right, if you watch the new trailer you will ruin all surprise within the film.

The original trailer left you wondering what was going to happen and how this worked into a story, the new trailer shows how the story will unfold, tells you what the plot-twist is, and hints at the resolution.

Don't watch, wait a month and see it in the theater.

Also... if you do want to see a bunch of comi-liberal's portrayal of President George W. and company, check this out | W.

FYI

You can follow the adventures of "The Tall One", "The Italian" and "The Jew" at Jon's Secret Mission blog: New York, New York


You don't even want to know how long it took me to find this painting. Franz Kline, 1953

New Crum Member

I know most of you were expecting a new member to the Crum family to come from Michal and me and to come in September. Jon, however, notified me that, to my surprise and great delight, Gerald Crum is even now celebrating the birth of his son, David Devin (sorry, I got his name wrong).

Now, I know what some of you are thinking: who the heck is Gerald? But I will remind you, his last name is Crum, that's right, Crum...

Adult male, perhaps Gerald, with alleged new born son, David (or maybe some other child). Also, an unknown hand from a third-party, perhaps the mother or a grandparent or something.

Thanks for the heads-up Jon.

TR2N

Sometimes I know I'm a Jonny-come-lately. We don't watch television and so I stumble upon news after most people think it's common knowledge. However, I would be surprised if any of you have heard of this yet:

TRON 2

A teaser trailer was released at Comic-con in California a couple days ago. It shows an older Jeff Bridges watching an updated light-bike race. Pretty cool.

More info here | light-bike race here

Movie Trailers

I was just looking through movie trailers that I hadn't yet seen (on a site that I just found, Trailer Addict). I had just finished watching the trailer for Jim Carry's new movie, Yes Man (looks pretty good), when I saw this: "The Mummy: Tomb of the Drag..." now having already seen the preview for the new Mummy movie I had to wonder if the "tomb of the drag" wouldn't actually garner better reviews than whatever the real full title is.



I have also been thinking recently, does anyone know why pre-views are sometimes called "trailer". Is it because it trails the commercials before the movie?

Preview or teaser seem to make more sense.

Peter, do you know the definitions here?

A Country Full Of Idiots

I usually don't comment on the politics, but this caught my attention; everyone seems to be up in arms about this magazine cover. Barack Obama doesn't like it and John McCain doesn't like it. I read an article on another site reporting that even the editors of The New Yorker were concerned that the average person on seeing this cover wouldn't get it, and could be offended or misunderstand the intent. My first thought upon seeing the cover was that it was funny, followed closely by how unusual it is to see such a pointed cartoon so prominently displayed. Then when I read the news story about the controversy surrounding the cover, that's when I got offended. Barack Obama, John McCain and The New Yorker all think I'm a stupid idiot. Sure, what they say is that we're a country of idiots, but I kind of take it personally and only hear myself being called an idiot. If a magazine realeases a cover making fun of all the attacks aimed at one candidate, then why would that candidate complain? If it is obviously a piece of satire, why would the opposing candidate complain? If it's funny, creative and eye-catching, why would the magazine itself distance itself from the cover? Of course I know the answer to all three of these questions, maybe asking them with such naivete is what makes me an idiot...

Hitchcock Revisited

A few months ago Vanity Fair (a magazine that I neither subscribe to nor read) ran a series of staged photographs inspired by famous scenes from Alfred Hitchcock films. Some of these are really cool, some of them are so-so, but it is certainly worth a look-see. Link

TV first, Theater later

Peter said recently in a response to the questions "is this film worth seeing in the theater or should we wait for DVD?", if a movie is worth seeing, it's worth seeing in a theater.

So Peter, I've got a question. Mark Cuban, the billionaire / media-mogul / IU Alum is planning on showing movies produced by his company Magnolia Pictures on TV before they are released in the theater.

His hope is that they will do better at the box office because of this rather than worse (as would be expected: "why pay $10 if I can watch it for free?").

What's your opinion, does this make sense or not?

(read the full Wired.com article | here)

The Movies

One of the things I enjoy about being alive, being an America, and living in Bloomington is the drive-in movies. Now, I know that the drive-in isn't really the best place to "experience" movies (or films) the way they were meant to be enjoyed, that is, on an iPod. Nevertheless, drive-in movies are a lot of fun for multiple reasons. First, you drive, park, open the trunk, pull out your lawn chairs and watch a movie or two in the great outdoors (in other words, you can smoke while watching). Second, at many drive-ins (though, regrettably not the one in Bloomington) you pay by car, not by person. Thus, an entire car-full can often watch a movie (or two) for what? $10!!! And third, something I've already mentioned twice. You often get to see TWO movies in a row, for one low price! So the sound's not great and the picture is harder to see but hey, it's good-ol' American fun.

So if you happen to be in Bloomington today, and you happen to read this. Meet me at the drive-in, tonight's double feature: Wall-e & Edward Norton in The Incredible Hulk.

I Hope I'm Not Too Late

If you want the new Weezer album than buy it off of i-tunes. The bonus songs are some of the best new Wezzer songs. Miss Sweeney is a really well done song and King may be my new favorite Weezer song, and that is saying a lot considering the fact that the "Blue" album is my favorite album of all time. (that's thanks to Peter of course)

Stop!

Ok, now that I have your attention. What are you listening to right now. Please don't comment on my spelling. Well, whatever you are listening to, I'm listening to somthing better. It's My Morning Jacket's Evil Urges. So buy it. That is unless you have a bootleg of the new Coldplay 'cause I can only imagine how good that is.

Summer Thoughts

Dear Family,
Please check out my "Summer Thoughts" post on my blog.
Thanks.
Love, Mom

p.s.--we're waiting for the next installment, Jon.

Happy Birthday Jon

Hey Jude

Does anyone (Peter?) have the video of William singing Octopuses Garden?

'Till then:



Thanks to Jim Hogue

Hooray

I don't know why I am so sentimental when it come to nostalgia. When we lived in Pennsylvania I never thought "this is the greatest state in the entire union" but now I think that. When we lived in Missouri I never made a conscious note of the slope of the hill and the curve of the drive down to the swimming pool, but it's as vivid in my mind as any road here in Bloomington.



Just looking at this picture makes me think of a few things, and I'm sure it will remind others of you of even more. The first memory I have is showing up with a bunch of people (maybe some from our church, a lot from the community), swinging a hammer, and building our Dream Park (which is the best playground, though that word really fails to capture the awesomeness of the park, ever). The second thing I see is the backstop where we played home-run-derby (I don't remember playing this too often, but I think Matt played more often that I did). There are so many other memories of this little plot (smoking in the tree, Nate finding a wallet and turning it in to the Police just up the road, and so many more).

Bad Words: Part Three

NOTE: For those of you at home (under the age of David), you may want to read this one quitly to yourself thus avoiding a possible bar-of-soap in the mouth.



PUKE (Synonyms: Barf, Upchuck, Hurl, Toss-the-cookies, Ride the Porcelain Bus, Blow Chunks, Burpin' Solid, Yack, Heave, Ralph (one of my personal favorites), Spew, Liquid Giggles, Disgorge)

As you can see, there are many ways of expressing the act of expelling ones slightly digested food. How Mom settled on one term, and why she limited our vocabulary to that term is far from clear. Let's examine, or digest if you will, the term "throw up".

First of all, "throw up" doesn't begin to describe what it is or what it feels looks or smells like. You could also use the same phrase in different contexts which creates confusion: ("Ben, can you throw up a carrot, some string, and a crutch?"). Using the word Puke, on the other hand, would have been so much more helpful and descriptive (the word Ralph, though occasionally being confused with a person or maybe a movie staring John Goodman, would be even better). Puke just sounds gross, it sounds like it would all of a sudden rack your body causing convulsions and expel itself. Not to mention the fact that words like Yack, Puke, and Barf have all been coined for one purpose, they are not sterile phrases conceived by non-offensive, non-imaginative (and probably French) women, but rather words created for the soul purpose of describing vomit (which is also a good word).

Puke, Barf, Upchuck, Hurl, Ralph, Disgorge, Earl, Cough cubes, Giggle chunks, Gargling gravy, Liberate your lunch, Liquid laughter, Paint the wall, Retch, Regurgitate, Solid scream, Bark'n up breakfast, Commode hugging, Giggle to Ralph over the porcelain intercom, Sing lunch, Technicolor yodel, Yell down the porcelain manhole, Toss a tiger, & Park the Buick. There, got it all out of my system.

Weather

When in a social setting and conversation has become difficult, start talking about the weather.

Look at this, it's the storm that's about to hit Bloomington, cool eh?



...and a shot of downtown Bloomington, Kirkwood.