Drip, drip, drip...

We came home Friday from work and were just ready for the weekend to begin. Jooj and I had both had a long week and we were ready to relax. We finally received a good amount of rain and I was outside with the dogs bringing in the trash when she frantically called my name. I ran to her in the kitchen and saw the source of her shock.

The ceiling was leaking. And it was leaking at a healthy pace. I put a bucket down and raced outside to see if I could locate where the water was coming from. My ladder wasn't tall enough to I called dad to ask for him and a ladder. He told me to see if I could tell where the leak was coming from. The dry wall was going to have to come down anyway, I reckoned, so I started tearing at the soaked ceiling.

The culprit turned out to be a pinhole leak that sprung from the cold water copper pipe. I suppose it had been going for quite some time before saturated the drywall and leaking out. I called the plumber and they came out yesterday to fix it. Now we just have to wait on the bill...

The Halloween bash was, well, a BASH!

Fun was had by all on Saturday. We celebrated Halloween with our seventh annual Halloween party. This year's theme was "A Night at the Movies" and the highlight of the evening was easily the movies being projected onto the door to the garage. I was quite impressed with the brightness and the clarity that my little projector could pump out. We started the evening off with "A Nightmare Before Christmas" and then moved onto "Ghostbusters" before settling into a colorized version of the original "Night of the Living Dead". We had a modest turnout for what turned into a very intimate party.

Thanks to all who came! I was quite buzzed by the end of the evening and very, very satisfied with another fine party under my belt.

Illness Begone!

I don't care what I have to do. Rain dances, voodoo, virgin sacrifice. I want a state of health to return to each member of my household. If not for my own mental health, for their physical well-being. The wife went back to work yesterday. The boy went back to school today. The grrrl made it to the car but then came back home with me to take another day off. We had two separate bugs hit the house at the same time and I just want everyone to feel better.

On a completely different subject, the Halloween party decorations are nearly complete and the party is this Saturday. I'm not sure the turnout will be huge but I'm looking forward to having a good time!

Sick

Julie and I were both sick over the weekend. I think that we have the same stomach bug. She stayed home from work today and that is very much not like her. Will went to bed early with a headache and body aches. He got up for school and showered but ultimately decided to stay home too. That is most definitely not like him since he had perfect attendance last year. And poor Kelsey is going back to the orthodontist today to have a piece of her new hardware reattached to her bracket. My poor family :(

We were able to drag out most of the decorations this weekend for the Halloween party though. I hung all of the lights and they look spectacular. There are still a few more I need to buy. And I still need to go to the fabric store to finish up my costume. I'd tell you what it is but that would ruin the surprise :)

Movie news...

I read a lot. I surf a lot (web, not waves, bro'). And I really like movies. So it is natural that I spend some amount of time reading about movies - future, past, and present. So I'm going to sound off (in alphabetical order) on some projects that have me interested...

The Good, The Bad, The Weird - This stylized "noodle Western" remake of the classic "The Good, The Bad, And the Ugly" is shaping up to be something special. The trailer had me interested and the buzz I'm reading really has me excited. I'm a sucker for anime and this live-action fare from the Far East looks like it can fit right in.

"Island of the Dead" - I've heard rumblings that George A. Romero (you know, creator of "Night of the Living Dead", "Dawn of the Dead", "Day of the Dead", "Land of the Dead", and "Diary of the Dead"... yeah, *that* guy) is working on a new zombie movie. This one supposedly takes place on an island. I could care less... it's freakin' George A. Romero doing another freakin' zombie movie! Woohoo!!!

Max Payne - I love movies and I love video games. But I am not really a fan of video game-inspired movies (and, besides "Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay", am an avid hater of movie-inspired video games). But this video game adaptation is looking pretty sweet. While I have never played a Max Payne video game I am familiar with the game mechanics (lots of shooting and action in bullet time). I'm not sure if this ties in with any story arc from the game, which may piss off some fanboys, but what I've seen so far looks very interesting.

RocknRolla - I'm a Guy Ritchie fan. I admit it. He wooed me with "Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels" and then swept me off my feet with "Snatch". I've lucked out and somehow missed his subsequent movies. And I say lucked out because people say they are crap. But RocknRolla looks good and people have a positive buzz so I'm getting excited. It's been a long time Guy...

Role Models - Funny. Stiffler and the heart-broken funny guy from "The 40-year Old Virgin" together in a movie together? That sounds funny enough. But have you seen the trailer? OMFG! I peed my pants (just a little squirt... nobody noticed and it dried quickly) when I saw the little kid's drawing. If you've seen it, yes, the caption on his drawing did in fact read, "Beyonce pouring sugar on my dick." Comic gold!

The Spirit - I liked Miller's and Snyder's "300" (and yes, I know that people refer to it as "war porn"). And I really like Miller's/Rodriguez's/Tarantino's "Sin City". Both were so vivid and beautiful to watch. I'm not so sure how I feel about "The Spirit" since it looks a lot like "Sin City" (hey, aren't they working on a sequel?) and I'm not as familiar with the comic as I was for "Sin City". I'll see it. I'm just not as stoked as some.

Watchmen - Holy shit. Zack Snyder could propel himself to god-like status if he pulls this off. The Watchmen is, hands down, the best comic I've ever read. It was Alan Moore's masterpiece. If you are reading this and haven't read it then just stop. Nothing I have to say is worth keeping you from going out right now and buying it. The month of March cannot come any faster.

Where the Wild Things Are - So what's going on with this movie? From what little I've seen it looks like Spike Jonze has one helluva movie. But I've heard a lot of things about the studio wanting to meddle with it. They don't like the monsters? They don't like Max? WTF? Just let Spike do his thing and count your bags of money when the movie comes out.

Zack and Miri Make a Porno - Seth Rogen and Kevin Smith? C'mon, you gotta be kidding me. I think that Kevin Smith is a bit of a hack but I like his movies. Seth Rogen is comedies Golden Child right now. A movie about making amateur porn? And the supporting cast? There is 0 chance this movie *won't* be funny.

So, there are my thoughts on future flicks. I'm ready to watch something. Maybe I'll watch "Rushmore" with the wife tonight.

Clone Wars

"The Clone Wars" animated cartoon series premieres tonight on Cartoon Network. The boy and I are very excited. We saw the movie which was, I think, composed of four episodes. I'm not sure how that all gets worked into the series. I assume that the movie will be incorporated into the series somehow. But if they are not no biggie. Will and I agree that the movie was fun but not that spectacular. We both gave it a "Meh +".

I just checked cartoonnetwork.com and it looks like we're in for a double-feature tonight. The show starts at 9pm and two episodes, "Ambush" and "Rising Malevolence", will be aired. The DVR will be ready and so will the two of us.

May the Force be with us.

It's October

It's already October? Wow.

The air is getting chilly. I need to put the top back on the Jeep. I picked up Bobby Engram in FFL. Kelsey had new hardware installed in her mouth. It hurt. She's doing better. I call her my cyborg daughter. The Halloween party is coming up. I'm getting psyched for that. I had a job interview the other day. I think I did well. The pets are all doing fine. Julie is juggling parent conferences and is tired. Biggest Loser, Grey's Anatomy, and Survivor all started their new seasons. We steam cleaned our carpet. Rented the unit from Lowe's. I'd recommend it. Kids are already tracking dirt back in the house. I want to kill them. Well, no, I don't really want to kill them. The wife and kids have Friday, Monday, and Tuesday off. I. Am. Jealous.