Sunday, August 28, 2011

Not my car


Not my car
Originally uploaded by kelsokraft

Luckily things were not too bad here. No power lost, no water lost. Last night was uneventful, this morning was uneventful. It is windy right now. I did go out to look around at some damage, if any.

Here is the worst of what I've seen on my walk.

I hear buses will be running tomorrow, even before the trains. I'll take the bus to work, I can imagine the line.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Play by Play Hurricane

Well I'm bored. LOL! Can't go out.  Here is my play by play so far:

August 26th

4:15pm - Left work early because I was anxious about finding food/water in the store

5:15pm - Went to store, plenty of food and water and a whole lotta people

August 27th

8:30am - Did laundry

9:00am - Went back to store to get snacks and water

9:30am - Checked batteries in radio and matches for candles

10:30am - Started closing up windows and watched news.

Now we wait!

My mother ran to Radio Shack to get a portable radio, she said it hardly works, she has to stand by the window, but in the event of an emergency, it will be useful.  She's in evac zone C, which only evacuates during Category 3 storms, and she is on the 4th floor (the say if you are over the 10th floor you should get lower, I live on 12, and have no other bldgs to block the wind).

The shut down the mass transit system, and it will be a bear to get up and running on Monday.  Apparently they are putting the trains in the tunnels to avoid flood damage.  So it will take hours for them to move them back out.  I am hoping the bus is up and running on Monday, so I can get to work.  The buses should be easier to roll out.

Hopefully we won't lose power, water or anything like that.  I'll try to take a picture, but I might not be able to see anything out of my window.


Friday, August 26, 2011

#4 Evacuation


#4 Evacuation
Originally uploaded by kelsokraft

I did feel the earthquake, my building swayed. Our building didn’t evacuate, not like we are safer on the street. If the buildings fall, they are going to fall on top of you!! Anyway, it was just a blip, no big deal.

This hurricane is looking like it is shaping up to be something. I want to go food shopping tonight, not because of a panic, but I always go food shopping over the weekend, but I don’t plan on leaving my house this weekend. But now I’m anxious because it sound like people are clearing the shelves and there will be no food left!! Oh well, I’ll get some dried green peas and make me some pea soup, I’ll get by!

This will be a movie weekend. Maybe I’ll do my marathon over the weekend. It is a good a time as any.

Friday, August 19, 2011

Read a Thon

Bout of Books Read-a-Thon!

8/22 - 8/28 - I will try this again. This should be OK because I read on the train, so I'm hoping to get through at least one book.




Thursday, August 11, 2011

The DVR is Evil!!

I swear, one day I am just going to wake up at 8am and watch movies all day until 8pm. I could get approximately six movies in. I will do this one rainy Saturday in the fall. Knowing me, I’ll probably need to take a nap after the first 3. I really have to clean out my DVR, I’ve managed to watch everything from 2009 but one movie.

Here is the list of movies that are in need of watching before the year is over.

Pocketful of Miracles - October 20, 2009
Frankenstein Created Woman - October 29, 2010
Frankenstein Must Be Destroyed - October 30, 2010
Homicidal - October 30, 2010

The last three I will watch in October, as I taped them to watch during my Halloween Horror Fest last year, but had so many to watch, I didn’t get around to these.

This year I have already started taping my Horror movies, so far, waiting in the wings is:

Fragile
The Dunwich Horror
Dark Mirror
The Addiction
Mother of Tears
Dark House
The Stepfather
Masters of Horror (3 Episodes)

And this year I was going to watch Horror Classics mostly, we’ll see what I get to from the new list. Some of these will probably be on the DVR until next October.


And as sick as it sounds, I’ve also started taping my Holiday movies/shows.

Little House on the Prairie (2 Christmas Episodes)
    Christmas at Plum Creek
    The Christmas They Never Forgot

Absolutely Fabulous (1 Christmas Episode)
    Cold Turkey

HBO Storybook Musicals (1 Christmas Episode)
    The Little Match Girl


Eloise – Little Miss Christmas


Adam Sandler’s Eight Crazy Nights


Disney’s A Christmas Carol

This isn’t the whole of my watching. I’ve not listed my library borrows or my Netflix rentals.







Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Hey, I had a Blogiversary

I just realized that my Blogiversary was on August 6th*. It has been 2 years since this blog was up and running.  Since then I've had some heavy posting months and some light (non) posting months.  Not including this post, I've posted 338 posts since then.  My heaviest year was 2009 and it was extra heavy since I didn't start until August, however, I'm at 94 (95 plus this one) for this year, so I can easily surpass 132 by December.


*August 6th would have been my 12th year wedding anniversary to my 2nd husband.  And on that day my ex had the nerve to try to friend me on Facebook! He's an idiot...anyway...


* * *


I have only watched 174 movies this year (42 of them were Christopher Walken Movies), this has been a slow year for me, and that is pretty sad since I didn't work full time from January until the end of May, and now I can maybe get 4 movies in a week, if I'm lucky.


* * *


Read thus far = 40 books.  I'm on target to read 50 for the year, but I am behind as well as compared to previous years. However, I've read some great books this year.


The Help (the best one this year) - Kathryn Stockett
Heaven is For Real - Todd Burpo
Miles to Go - Richard Paul Evans
Room - Emma Donoghue
A Child Called 'It' - David Peltzer
Game of Thrones - George R.R. Martin
Imaginary Jesus - Matt Mikalatos

And I am planning to read some more great books before the year end.

Monday, August 8, 2011

New Hair, Movies, TV, Books, et al


021
Originally uploaded by kelsokraft

Before we start, let me show off my daughters new hair style. OK moving on.


Movies

This weekend I went to see “The Rise of the Planet of the Apes”. When I was a child, my parents used to watch the older movies on TV. What a far cry from those days. This is the prequel, so we get to see how they became super intelligent. The special effects were great, and I was surprised that this wasn’t in 3D, not that it needed it, but I could see how this movie would work.
I recommend it, it is a good time. I won’t give away the storyline. It was also nice to see Tom Felton (Harry Potter) doing something different and with an American accent to boot.

I finally watched “Spartacus” this weekend. The 1960 one with Kirk Douglas. Can you believe I’ve never seen it, I wonder how I get through life sometimes. It was good for its day. One the same line as all the other epics of the era. I have on my DVR “Cleopatra” with Elizabeth Taylor. That’s going to be a rainy day movie, as it is 4 ½ hours long. I’m slowly getting thru them all. I don’t know if I have any more to watch, I think I’ve seen them all now.

I saw “Source Code” this weekend. It of course reminds me of “Ground Hog Day” with the situation repeating itself, of course it was more action packed. I do have a problem with the whole Time Space Continuum thing. Didn’t these people see “Back to the Future” or “The Butterfly Effect” ??? You can’t change things, it will mess everything up.



TV

“True Blood” is insane this season, in a good way. Last season was good, but it didn’t have me at the edge of my seat every week. They are being very creative, I’ll give them an A for effort. They are sure keeping their fans loyal.

“Design Star” is on again tonight. That annoying woman Karen is still there, she needs to go! I don’t like her at all. Her attitude sucks.

“Project Runway” has just concluded its 2nd week. The last show was the unconventional items challenge, they used supplies from a Pet Store. This is the challenge where skill and imagination meet. I think this week, they were spot on, although I liked the aquarium rocks shirt a lot.

* The aquarium rocks shirt was a shirt with the aquarium rocks glued to the muslin. The pattern was amazing, it looked like beadwork.

I don’t seem to be watching much stuff this summer. I’m tired of the reality shows, and will only watch “America’s Got Talent” during the finale. It all just bores me. I am looking forward to “THE X FACTOR” though, something new.


Books

Yes, I’m still reading! LOL! Currently reading a lot of books about Angels, sub conscious mind and other books along those lines. I get in my moods, just like with movies. So not much fiction reading going on at the moment.


THE REST

As far as life:
1) Mark goes back to school next week, he’s a Junior now.
2) Still working at the Temp job, I like it.
3) Still in Guitar, I’m taking Blues Guitar Basics
4) Still working on my fall décor crochet

Friday, August 5, 2011

Angels in My Hair - Review

Angels in my Hair by Lorna Byrne is a Memoir that talks about Lorna's life as a person who has seen angels all of her life.  It starts with her childhood in Ireland and her days in school where the teachers and her parents all thought she was 'retarded'.  It moves quite slowly through her childhood, but this works because the build up was necessary to explain how she came to talk to angels.

This was a very sad book.  It was also inspirational, but reading her story makes one think of how many awful things happen in the world.

I was captivated by this story, I did enjoy it.  However, I didn't think the writing was very good.  It is readable, but it reads like a term paper.  Overall, I could get past that and enjoy it.  I give this 3.5 out of 5 stars.

This book is not for everyone.  You have to believe in Angels, otherwise it will read like a fantasy.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

Gearing Up for my Horror Fest

If you have been following me for at least a year, you know that during the holiday’s I like to watch certain types of movies. For example, during the Easter season, I usually watch a lot of religious films, this year, I didn’t, because I’ve seen just about everything I wanted to. This includes all the Epics like Quo Vadis?, King of Kings, The Ten Commandments, Ben Hur…etc.


During October, I watch Horror films in honor of Halloween. Some years I try to watch more of one type of the genre than others. I think last year I watched a lot of foreign horror, and one year I watched a lot of Vincent Price horror movies. This year is no different. I’m going to concentrate on Old horror films. The year ranges will be from about 1932 – 1970. Of course, this isn’t to say I won’t watch a silent or a more current film. I will probably watch some recent stuff that I missed if I can catch it on cable or get the disc from Netflix.


I will most likely get most of these films from the channel TCM. I’ve gone through the October schedule and found quite a few. Among these gems are:


Repulsion (1965)
The Curse of the Mummy’s Tomb (1964)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1932)
A Bucket of Blood (1959)
Dementia 13 (1963)
The Devil’s Bride (1968)
The Black Room (1935)
Dead Men Walk (1943)
Bedlam (1946)
The Seventh Victim (1943)


Don’t fret, if your favorite isn’t here, I’ve probably seen it. I have watched ALL of the Vincent Price horror films, most of the well known films from the 1940s as well.


I still have 3 movies on my DVR from last October, that I saved for this October. I don’t watch horror films during the rest of the year unless it is something current (“Insidious” comes to mind). I hope to watch all of them in that month, I only give myself a few days grace into November to finish, then it is on to Holiday Movies (Thanksgiving, Christmas)