Hot lead

Finally saw "All The President's Men" -- now THAT'S a journalism movie!!! Hell yeah, makes me want to go back to the night shift!! Well, maybe not that. But yeah! Go journalists! Go people bringing down the crooked government! Go young cub reporters getting the trust of the publisher! Go people doing all kinds of shady, twisted questioning to get the truth! Yeehaw!

There was so much clacking of typewriter keys in that movie that my fingers are twitching to move. How great. I absolutely adored the scene right toward the end when Woodward goes to Bernstein's house to tell him Deep Throat told him everything -- and that their lives were in danger and they were being bugged. Woodward (a quite nice looking young Robert Redford, now I understand the hype) cranks up Bernstein's stereo to blast trumpet-laden classical music, then goes to the typewriter, unwilling to speak. He types, Bernstein types, the clacking of keys and the booming of brass, and the power of that cinematography is fabulous.

And the age of the film was fabulous. Bernstein smoking everywhere, rotary phones, an ancient Xerox machine, all the manual typewriters that didn't even do automatic return at the end of a line. And the decor at the Post: flourescent lights, tacky carpet, horrible desks and filing cabinets, whitewashed pillars -- all brand new in the 70s, and all somehow still the decor at my old paper ... Shana, it's like deja vu, only no swastikas in the ventilation screens.

And I love how you have absolutely no clue who Deep Throat was. Now I see how it was such a mystery.

Woo-hoo, so glad I saw that! So glad, also, that I didn't read the book. That cast of characters would have been mind-boggling and the various crimes confusing. But a great movie.

On the half shell

Does anyone know what "Oyster Attire" might mean in relation to a society wedding rehersal party? I tried to google it, but all that came up was a Michigan swingers site, and given the people this party is for, I really doubt that's applicable here ...

Otherwise, it's ridiculous how fascinated I am by this whole society wedding concept. Thanks to a., I have an appropriate cocktail dress, though my last dress that even came close was my prom dress. My rather self-righteous, formerly poor self absolutely can't wait for this people watching!

Buy war bonds

Does anyone remember learning "You're a Grand Old Flag" in preschool? I sure don't, but Abigail knows all the words, complete with a little chest thumping at "Every heart beats true for the red, white and blue ..." Really quite strange.

I really wasn't going to do this

I generally avoid politics here, since some of my dearest friends are of the opposite political persuasion, but since Rumsfeld just got replaced ...

Wheeeee! Join me in the partisan dance of glee! Now I'm just holding my breath for the senate.

Of course, now the Democrats have to actually accomplish a reasonable agenda, something I'm not holding my breath for. Sadly, politics is politics, though I do honestly believe it will be better for the country not to have one party in control of both branches. Plus I can celebrate that I will now be able to buy a glass of wine if I go out to dinner on a Sunday in my humble little town. Here's to progress!

Hardcore Backyard Wrestling

My brother-in-law may be a Dunce, but he has a knack for finding entertaining sites. Acronym Finder is a highly entertaining waste of time, where you can enter your initials and see all the corresponding abbreviations, initializations and acronyms. For me, my favorite was the title of this post, though my maiden name also came up with Hybrid Fluidized Bed. Not bad. I know my sister is just pleased there are other responses to her old initials other than the elementary school bully favorite, "Your initials backwards spell bra!"

Yours truly, Hartree Fock Bogoliubov

Ca, c'est bon

Brad found the most wonderful site last night. Frankly, there could be no better site for me: an artist obsessed with Paris and chocolate. Fellow chocoholics, enjoy.

Celtic notions

Has anyone ever noticed that the letter verification on Blogger often looks like Welsh? Just a thought ...

Anyway, we had a successful celebration of everyone's favorite Celtic holiday on Tuesday. That night was actually Abigail's third go-round with candy: Sunday at church, Monday at school, and Tuesday in the in-laws neighborhood. And surprisingly, not too much of a constant sugar buzz! Abbey was, of course, Ariel the Little Mermaid, which she is on a daily basis, but Halloween had the added treat of getting to spray her hair red. Too bad color never shows on dark hair! She got a decent haul, and I've managed to keep my candy raiding to a minimum. What she really loved, though, was giving out candy after we finished our rounds. She would say "Trick or treat!" to the children when she opened the door, and carefully doled out exactly one piece per child, saying things like "Aren't you beautfiul?" and "You'll like this flavor." My favorite, when she told two middle school girls, "You're trick-or-treating so well!"

I didn't see any amazing costumes this year, though we went home early in the night, but my favorite non-Abigail moment came from a group of middle school boys. They were obviously way too cool/self-conscious to actually dress up, but they still wanted the candy. I almost told Abigail not to give them anything! But then I felt bad for the third boy: After his friends got their candy and turned to leave, he came up, said, "Trick or treat," got his candy and then shoved a tract at Abigail, mumbling, "God loves you." Obviously the only way he could convince his parents to let him go trick-or-treating! At least he went to the trouble of putting on a hockey jersey ...