Holiday Post #11: Elections, Links, & Tests; Oh My... & a Happy New Year

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Holiday Post #10: Another in the Arsenal Highlights Series

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Holiday Post #9: I Got a lot of Problems w/ You People!

As a fun post-Festivus post, here's a quick airing of grievances.

1) Friends who say, "You really need to see this movie... it's fantastic," when the movie is really not so good. We watched the aptly named The Runaways last night (the rock music biopic about the band of the same name). It's a very schizophrenic film. It's like it can't decide if it wants to be an arty Doors-esque thing or a teen pop flick so it tried to do both. One or the other would have been fine, but both doesn't work. It also spent a lot of time fitting in the rock bio-film cliches @ every opportunity. The only thing it didn't do was end w/ a death which is only because it focused mainly on Cherie Currie & Joan Jett... both of whom are still alive. Had it done more w/ the others, they could have included more of Sandy West, they could have dealt w/ her struggle w/ lung cancer & added a more poignant ending. Or maybe more about Joan Jett's relationship w/ The Sex Pistols to lead up to Sid Vicious' death. On the positive side, I dig the music & might see if they have any @ the library.2) Speaking of The Sex Pistols, the second problem I have @ the moment is w/ Arsenal. FYI, John Leydon is a HUGE Arsenal fan; that's where the transition comes from. Anyway, they play Chelsea today, & their record against Chelsea is recent years sucks... SUCKS! Chelsea striker, Didier Drogba has played Arsenal 13 times during his tenure in West London & has scored 13 times. To make matters worse, Jason is a huge Chelsea fan & I'll be watching the match w/ him. The real problem here though is that we have a month long transfer window opening up after New Years, but Wenger probably won't buy anyone. They need another central defender. One great one & three mediocre ones aren't enough, especially when the great one has been hurt for most of the season. Along w/ a central defender, they need to ship out Diaby, Bendtner & Denilson. It may be time for Vela to go too. There's too much dead weight when perfectly good replacements are available. Wenger doesn't need to read this though because he's been getting this same info from all corners lately. If any of these changes actually happen though, I'll be happy to retract problem #2.(If nothing else, @ least Diaby was good for this hilarious picture.)3) My third concern is really w/ Mother Nature. I'm already done w/ cold weather. This is just ridiculous. Bring on Spring already, for crying out loud.

4) Racists, sexists, homophobes, & other narrow-minded people who choose to discrimitate rather than accept. There's our big shout-out to political correctness before moving on to problem five.

5) People who have yet to vote for your Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year. It's easy. Scroll down & read through the nominees. They may not be fantastic, but they are what we've got this year. Once you've weighed your options, post your vote in the comments section... Easy.

Holiday Post #8: At the Weekend (w/ special mention of pork products)

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Holiday Post #7: It's a Trap!

Begging your indulgences, we'd like to post another Star Wars X-Mas video, but this 1 is in the vein of sarcasm. Also, we'd like to thank the good people @ Jason Duerr for this video. Also, also, we'd like to remind you that the voting has started. I was informed yesterday that people are sandbagging to ensure a stupid outcome like last year's Sarah Michelle Geller doesn't happen again, but it's still important that people start voting because we only have a 11 days left.

Holiday Post # 6: The Holiday Special!

We've been watching a lot of X-Mas episodes 'round these parts recently: The Office, How I Met Your Mother, The Big Joe Polka Show, 30 Rock, Happy Days, Seinfeld, etc. Of course, they're all great, but we've also watched a few X-Mas films: Miracle on 34th Street, A Smokey Mountain Christmas, White Christmas, A Christmas Story, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, even Paul Blart: Mall Cop (which is sort of Die Hard meets Mallrats meets a really poorly written movie). We also have A Christmas Carol DVRed & Jingle all the Way in the queue. Of course, there's also this little piece of Christmas fun: "Christmas in Hollis" by Run-DMC! That said, the most important Christmas special can actually be watched right here on Drifting into Deep Water, so after you vote for the Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year, check out all of your favorite stars, including Bea Arthur, Art Carney, The Jefferson Starship, Harvey Koreman, & the cast of Star Wars in the one and only Star Wars Holiday Special! (This video only feature the 1st 10 minutes, but once it's over, it'll direct you to the following video, & so on, & so on, & so on.

Holiday Post #5: The Song

Before we get to the meat & potatoes of this post, I'd like to inform everyone that my grades have been posted & I'm officially on my pseudo-vacation (pseudo in that I'm still working @ the bookstore). I'd also like to take this moment to remind everyone to Rock the Vote. We only have a couple weeks left, but as it stands, only my sister has actually voted. Some of y'all sent in nominations, but you need to actually vote now too. You can do so by scolling down or just going here.

And then while you're hanging out @ the corner of Visions of Ypsi & Memory Lane, you can wander down the snow covered path that is the Visions of Ypsi Holiday Posts. It needs a little salt, but the ice is clearing & you can enjoy your stroll.

when doing so, you'll see that a few years ago we started a little tradition that I think would transfer well to the new blog. Every holiday season, starting w/ X-Mas 2007, I write a new holiday song. Last year, we wrote "A Swingin' Christmas Time", we gave 2008 a miss, but in 2007 we wrote this little rockabilly number, "All I Want for Christmas is Cash". Without any further ado, I give y'all this year's ditty, a sort of punk number... Elvis Costello meets Hank III: "A Stocking Full of Shells." Enjoy.Last year after the office party
You puked inside my Cadillac
You spilled champagne on my new Cosby Sweater
Before I'd had the chance to take it back

So all I want for Christmas is a shotgun
A shotgun and a box of shells
All I want for Christmas is a Colt-45
So I can blow you straight to Hell!

The next day while we trimmed the tree
You bitched about my brand new decoration
It was a battle scarred Rancor from the Hallmark store
But you broke it without any hesitation

So all I want for Christmas is a shotgun
A shotgun and a box of shells
All I want for Christmas is a Colt-45
So I can blow you straight to Hell!

Then last night as I was mixing up the eggnog
What to my little eyes appeared,
But you in the corner drinking all the rum
so I had to settle for a cheap beer.

So all I want for Christmas is a shotgun
A shotgun and a box of shells
All I want for Christmas is a Colt-45
So I can blow you straight to Hell!

So all I want for Christmas is a shotgun
A shotgun and a stocking full of shells
All I want for Christmas is a AK-47
So I can send your whole family straight to Hell!

On Stranger Tides

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Holiday Post #4: And the Nominees Are...

We @ Drifting into Deep Water are proud to present the 7th Annual Celebrity M.I.L.F. of the Year Contest (AKA The Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year Contest). Before you vote, however, be sure to read the rules:
1) The nominations have been considered and narrowed down, just lunlike last year's 11, to a nice round 12 contestants.
2) Each reader of Drifting into Deep Water is allowed one (1) vote.
3) Votes are to be posted in the comments section of this post. Votes sent via e-mail or as a Facebook post will be counted if & only if we so choose.
4) Giving people shit based on who they voted for is not only accepted, but encouraged.
5) All votes posted by 12:00 AM on New Years Eve will be counted.
6) Voting is closed @ 12:01 AM New Years Day.
7) Late nominations will be considered, but discouraged.
8) Those nominated but not included on this official ballot are not eligible for late nominations.
8.1) Nominating a gay man who has recently welcomed the arrival of twins via a surrogate if awesome, but may not be quite w/in the scope of this contest (in that he would be a STILF, not a MILF). We'll include him just in case y'all disagree (in this case, the "ST" is in reference to his character, Barney Stinson]).
9) If a voter wishes to change his or her vote, she or he must petition the writers of Drifting into Deep Water.
10) Anonymously posted votes will only be accepted if the writers of Drifting into Deep Water are told who the person is who is voting anonymously. In other words, the post can be anonymous and anonymity will be protected, but we want to know who is voting to ensure true single votes.
11) We @ Drifting into Deep Water will only cast a vote to break a tie if said vote is necessary or if we don't like who won. If you don't like that, you can get your own Celebrity MILF of the Year Contest.
12) As always, nominees must not have been eligible last year so we're setting the cut-off dates @ August. Any celebrity to have given birth before 1 September 2009 is ineligible.

Lakiha Spicer: Mike Tyson has yet again impregnated a woman. This time, it's his relatively new wife. whether or not she's really a celebrity is open to debate, but he sort of is, so we'll allow it. We will refrain from all ear-biting jokes at this juncture.












Rachel Zoe: I imagine a couple of you know who this person is, but seeing as I haven't watched Bravo in years (& she hasn't been mentioned on The Soup, I'd never heard of her. Her show has been on for a couple years & she's married to some investment banker who is now famous for making a different kind of deposit.












Alanis Morissette: We here @ Drifting into Deep Water have never been huge fans of her music, but she played God in Dogma... that has to stand for something. Plus, we are able to bring you this cool picture of her pregnant belly all hennafied.












Christina Applegate: Does she have a sit-com? I think she does, but I'm not certain. Even if she doesn't, she definitely had one when I was in high school. Her real claim to fame though is her role in Don't Tell Mom the babysitter is Dead... brilliant! Apparently, her fiance, Martyn LeNoble, is the person who knocked her up. I didn't take the time to figure out who that is... you can do a little research on your own.












Stella McCartney: Just 2 days after the anniversary of Lennon's assassination, Paul's Daughter gets this nomination... He's always stealing John's thunder.The baby was actually born a couple weeks ago though, so it was a prelude to the anniversary mourning. Here's to hoping her next kid has smaller ears.










Neil Patrick Harris: He seems like a good dude. He's fantastic on How I Met Your Mother & his activism seems pretty impressive too. I have no idea who the surrogate is, nor do I think she would qualify as a celebrity even if I did know. If he wins, it would be legend... wait for it...











Mariah Carey: One of the few nominees to legitimately be considered a celebrity. I'd quote one of her songs here, but I'd have to look them up first... "don't go chasing waterfalls"? I don't think that's right. I think that was TLC. As it turns out, for someone whose songs I can't name, she's had a hell of a lot of #1s... yeah, I looked it up after all. I guess I do know her version of "All I Want for Christmas is You." Does that count?











Danica McKellar: The former Wonder Years star has claimed that the best part of pregnancy is that her "boobs are bigger".. Well, it didn;'t take a child star from the '80's to tell me that, but it doesn't hurt. We'll see if her assets add up to a victory in the competition... get it, "add up"? because she writes books about math! Nevermind....











Nina Garcia: According to some random pregnancy site, she is a judge on Project Runway. If any of you have ever seen the show, you can verify this for us. i was excited for a minute, because I thought she might be one of Jerry's daughters, but I don't think that is the case.











Pink: Here we have our 2nd rather well known pop-singer. Like Mariah Carrey, I've never listened to her music, but I won't deny that most of you love it. I guess that's not quite true; I did hear that anti-George W. Bush song she released 4 or 5 years ago. That was pretty alright, & if she wins this, she too will be able to say, "Mission Accomplished!"












Jodie Sweetin: Before you ask who this is, I'll give you a hint; she was on a really bad sit-com around the same time as The Wonder Years, & Married, w/ Children. Still not enough? OK, a really, really bad sit-com. Another hint? OK, a sit-com w/ the Olsen twins, Bob Saget, John Stamos, & Dave Coulier. her status as a celebrity was good enough for celebritypregnancy.sheknows.com, I guess it's good enough for us. I don't know who the father is, but then again, if the arc of her show is any indication, she probably doesn't either.












Alicia Keys: Yet another pop singer, but this time, 1 who was name checked in "Thunder on the Mountain" by Bob Dylan on his 2007 release, Modern Times. The lyrics go thusly: "I was thinkin' 'bout Alicia Keys, couldn't keep from crying / When she was born in Hell's Kitchen, I was living down the line / I'm wondering where in the world Alicia Keys could be / I been looking for her even clear through Tennessee." This all I know about her so I can't really comment on anything else... except that she was hanging out on a yaught w/ Queen Latifah after her wedding... I kind of dig Queen Latifah, but her 1st album isn't really as good as all the fuss suggests. I've seen it listed on a bunch of top album lists lately, but when it came out, it didn't impress me at all.











...dary.

Holiday Post #3: The Kids

As I'm sure you're aware, Solstice is in the Christmas performance @ their church. She performs as part of the children's choir for a few songs @ the end of the 1st act. They have 10 shows over the course of 2 weekends; I went on Saturday & was blown away. The production is fantastic. The 1st act is basicaly a series of traditional mid-20th century X-mas tunes. The 2nd act is an overview of the X-mas story. She's been working so hard, & they did so well.When we got home, I took Aiden & Isaiah up to the super-cheesy tree lighting ceremony in Depot Town. They had free cookies & cocoa, plus a bunch of ridiculous, bougie, 50somethings singing carols. Aiden was bored out of his mind, but Isaiah enjoyed getting to meet a couple dogs & eat a couple cookies.

Yesterday, while Stephanie & Solstice were at Solstice's evening performance, I took the boys to see the free showing of A Christmas Story @ The Michigan Theater. Aiden had been looking forward to it, but Isaiah had no idea what was going on. As it turns out, he loved it. He even laughed @ the appropriate spots. Later in the evening, I even caught him saying, "Meatloaf, meatloaf." That was pretty sweet. I think we may need to take a road trip to Cleveland to check out the Christmas Story House Museum. If we go, I suppose we could hit Tony Packo's for a coney on the way home... this idea is starting to sound better & better. Watch this space... you may get updates about an awesome day trip. In the mean time, keep submitting the nominations for The Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year Contest!

Holiday Post #2: The Tree & the Contest

Last weekend, after we watched Arsenal ascend to the top of the Premier League for a couple hours, putting up the holiday lights outside, & finishing the raking of the front yard, we headed down to Ida w/ Elizabeth, Dan, Sam, & my Mom to get the X-Mas tree. As per usual, we went to the Matthes Tree Farm which comes complete w/ a natural beard Santa, a petting zoo, free coffee/hot chocolate/pop corn, & a little local arts & crafts area from which I scored a bottle of super hot hot sauce to add to my collection. We pulled in & had the tree down & on the car in 15 minutes. It was a new record. Plus, we got the tree from the economy area which, as the name suggests, scored us a cut-rate price.Elizabeth & Dan took a little longer, but they're newbies so it's understandable that they would lose the race. Afterwards, we hit the petting zoo, let Isaiah sit on Santa's lap (where he completely forgot what he wanted, but loved sitting w/ him none-the-less), grabbed some of the free snacks while enjoying the clarinet ensemble, & then let Isaiah take a pony ride... during which he shouted, "I NEED A PONY NOWWW, MOMMY!!!"

When we got home, Elizabeth went to get beer, & by the time she got back, the tee was up & I had the lights on it while Stephanie quickly made cornbread to go w/ the chili & hot dogs we ate while watching Christmas Vacation. I'm not a huge fan of the film, but Dan stands behind Cousin Eddie the way I stand behind Arsene Wenger. Afterwards, we watched Miracle on 34th Street about which Aiden stated, "It's black & white, but it's actually not bad." I'll take that as a positive review.
And speaking of giving back, we're now nominations for the Visions of Ypsi Memorial Celebrity MILF of the Year Contest. Next week, we'll compile a list of the nominees, post the mini-bios, & start the voting. The nominating rules are thus: 1) The nominee must embody some semblance of celebrity, 2) The nominee must have either gotten knocked up or dropped a kidlet this year (celebs who adopted are eligible also), 3) the celeb was not nominated for the same child last year, & 4) the celeb is a MILF. Here is the winning post from last year when it was simply The Visions of Ypsi Celebrity MILF of the Year Contest.

Forbidden: Planets & Plants

I was going get through the week blogging about neither Nielsen nor Nelson, but then the perfect title presented itself, & ass we learned w/ Die Another Day, Shaft in Africa, & Judge Dredd, when one has a perfect title, one doesn't let the little fact that one has absolutely nothing to say get in his or her way.

The thing w/ Leslie Nielsen is that other than the Airplanes & the 1st Naked Gun movie, his career is pretty forgettable... except for Forbidden Planet. Of all the B Sci/Fi movies from the 1950's, it could be argued that this one was the most significant. It leads directly to 3 of the greatest Sci/Fi moments in the history of Sci/Fi moments. Of course, its influence on Star Wars is obvious... just check out the opening crawl in the trailer... or the way the door melts @ the end just like Qui Gon cutting through the blast door in The Phantom Menace!It is also a prime influence on The Rocky Horror Picture Show... & no one better be denying Rocky's awesomeness! Here's the opening track from Rocky for y'all to enjoy... God said, "Let there be lips, & there were, & they were good:Thirdly, I think that the argument could be made that w/o Forbidden Planet, there would never have been MST3K. I spent the summer of 1994 watching back to back episodes of that sweet, sweet show every morning, often w/ Jason, but occasionally on my own. It was such a good show. And I think that had Forbidden Planet not been as absurdly popular as it was, the B Movie Sci/Fi cult following wouldn't have been as big which means the post-modern desire to spoof it, dub over it, & just simply laugh all the way to Hell in our proverbial hand basket might not have happened. So before you call someone Shirley again, remember that his influence goes way, way back... of course, you can also enjoy the fact that somewhere someone is watching him ask Priscilla Presley how hot & wet she likes it.

In other news of the forbidden, Drifting into Deep Water's love for Willie Nelson came to the fore again this week as his X-Mas Cd, Hill Country Christmas, finally arrived. It's not as great as Dylan's but it's Willie so we'll listen to it all month anyway. That's obviously not the forbidden part though. We were just about to go get out X-Mas tree when the news of his arrest appeared on my phone. It seems like they would just leave him alone about this. If they aren't going to legalize it, they could still turn a blind eye to Willie. Maybe this will lead to a reworking of "Me & Paul"

Nearly busted in El Paso
For reasons that I'd rather not discuss
But when you're cruisin' through the border patrol there and stop
Don't leave no 6 ounces on your bus

If not, you can at least enjoy the original version here:

Arsenal Highlights Part ?

Holiday Post #1: Robin Hood, Whitey, & Christmas Songs

I watched the Ridley Scott/Russell Crowe Robin Hood the other night. I'd been wanting to see is since it came out, but for one reason or another, I'd put it off a while. Before I go further, it must be known that I'm a fanatic for Robin Hood films. I've posted before about Zorro, Pirates, Sci/Fi, well, here's the obligatory Robin Hood post... because the people asked for it... don't ask which people; those who asked, know who they are.

As far as Robin Hood movies go, the new one is pretty good. I still stand behind the Kevin Costner one though. He does a ridiculous job, but the writing is good, & that cast is fantastic. The worst part of the Costner one is that shit song by Bryan Adams, Rod Stewart & Sting. Of course, the Errol Flynn one is the best, the Daffy Duck one is good, but let's not forget the Disney one w/ the fox. The BBC did a new series a few years ago which was fun, but no one would ever mistake it for something w/ any semblance of period accuracy. The emo hair was silly & the black leather trench coats made the Columbine shooters more than a tad envious.

*Keira Knightly made a tv Disney one called Princess of Thieves... news flash: it sucks.
*I watched a few scenes from Boobs in the Woods on youtube. It's not bad. It's a fun pantomime stage show w/ some pretty silly bits.
*Men in Tights is funny, but I have to admit, I'm not a huge Mel Brooks fan.
*The same year as the Mel Brooks and the Kevin Costner, there was a version w/ Patrick Bergen & Uma Thurman. Sip it.
*Robin of Sherwood was a period-accurate BBC series in the mid-1980s. My biggest problems w/ it is its picture quality. It needs a nice restoration to brighten up the colors a bit. Maybe it's just the reality of filming in England that makes things look constantly rainy.
*Robin & Marion is a fun little movie w/ Sean Connery & Katherine Hepburn. If you haven't seen it, check it out.
*Robin & the Seven Hoods: You get the Chairman of the Board as a 1930s style gangster version of Robin Hood in Chicago... complete w/ musical numbers. don't check it out.
*A 1950s TV version from the BBC is alright. The sets/budget/acting/writing suck, but that's the fun.
*Ivanhoe w/ Robert Taylor & Elizabeth Taylor is fun. I saw it as a kid & still watch it whenever it's on.
*The Douglass Fairbanks silent one is good, but it's not often that one watches a silent movie.

So there you go. Those are the ones I've seen. There are plenty of other, some that I am putting in my queue tonight. I doubt I'll get to them any time soon, but I'm sure I'll get to them some time.

Moving on, The Whitey Morgan & the 78's show in Ypsi on Saturday has become the Whitey Morgan & the 78's show in Maumee, OH on Saturday. That means we won't be able to make it. They'll be in Detroit in a couple weeks though, so check them out there if you too can't make it south of the border.

what's this all have to do w/ Christmas? I'm glad you asked. We're going out to Matthes Evergreen Farm tomorrow to get a tree. In order to get ready, I brought the decorations up & Stephanie started decorating today. This also mean that we got the holiday CDs out, including Dylan's Christmas in the Heart. This also means that I started writing this year's new tune. keep coming back to see the new song soon. Spoiler alert: it deals w/ guns... lots & lots of guns!I still don't get the wig... weird

Some Local Music (Deep Space & Whitey Morgan)

The other night @ The Elbow Room, I treated myself to a couple scotches & a few PBRs. I think the only other PBR I'd ever had was @ a Whitey Morgan show a few years ago when Jean talked me into a "race." It didn't get any better over the last few years, but it was cheap. I got there just in time to see Mr. Shiz finish their cover of Allen Toussaint's "Get Out of My Life." It's an alright song, but there's something about Toussaint that I just don't get. I know there are people out there (Phish, The band & Jerry Gacia included) who really dig (or dug as the case may be) his stuff... maybe I just need to hear more of it. I don't know.

I do know that a fun Dylan cover is always a good time, & as Deep Space took the stage, it was w/ 1 of those that they started. From there they went into "Jump for Joy," an unfortunately lesser known tune by Kingfish. It rocks. After a few more 1st set standards, Sean played 1 of his originals, "Somewhere." It's a cool song, & it shows they should be writing more originals. "Sugar Mags" morphedd into a cool, spacey jam as the sax player from Mr. Shiz joined for a little impromptu jamming that flowed into a fantastic "Other One." Unfortunately, I've never gotten a proper "Other One" though... @ some point it always seems to end. A proper 1 should go all night & maybe into the next day... just like a proper "Dark Star." I'm afraid the bands always feel they need to play other songs too to make people happy, when we all know 1 long, weird 1 is really all we need. A boy can dream. I couldn't remember if they ever actually played the end of "Sugar Mags" until they came around to it out of a fun "Cumberland Blues." They finaly finishedd around 2:30 which is the latest I've ever seen a band go @ a local bar. That was fun, but it seemed that by that point they should have just kept going... a 20 minute "Slipknot" or a happy little "Eleven" would have been fine. Here's the entire set-list:

Set 1: Masterpiece, Jump For Joy, Watching The Wheels > Big R.R. Blues, Ramble On Rose, Tennessee Jed, Just A Little Light, Somewhere >Sugar Magnolia > The Other One > Goin' Down The Road.
Set 2: Not Fade Away > Touch Of Grey, Standing On The Moon > Bertha > Cumberland Blues, Sunshine Daydream >The Last Time

This coming weekend (Friday @ that roadhouse in Chelsea & Saturday @ The Savoy) whitey Morgan & the 78's will be marking their return to the area w/ a couple smoking gigs. I don't think we'll make it out on Friday (babysitting issues), but Saturday in Ypsi for sure. Join us for some good old country tunes, some whiskey & maybe a few more PBRs.

Plum No More

Jean told me yesterday that I nee to post more on here, which was nice to hear because I was beginning to fear that the blog might be dying. Which is also the subject of a panel-discussion on which I'm taking part in a few months @ Purdue... that should be fun. After my talk w/ my brother, I decided to add a tracker to the side-bar to see who is reading & a couple links on bigger blog sites to see if the traffic increases. Time will tell. We don't have to wait for time to tell about the end of my time @ Plum Market though... just read on.I've worked my last shift @ Plum Market. The hours just weren't working out for us so I had to call it a day @ that place. I was almost laid off a few weeks ago, but I talked the assistant manager out of it by thinking quickly & talking even more quickly. As it turns out though, the only thing I could come up w/ was always-already doomed to fail. My plan was that I would work closing shifts on Saturdays, but Saturdays are my only day off. I need some time w/ the wife & kids. I spoke w/ Nicola about it @ the bookstore & she said she could bump me up a little before the holidays, & it looks like I'll be running some sort of writing lab @ EMU-Detroit in the winter. That's still in the planning stages, but it sounds pretty good. If it doesn't pan out, I'll just keep the extra hours @ Nicola's I guess.

When I started @ Plum, I hated it, bu over time, I realized it was a fine, mindless job. The little discount on groceries almost made it affordable, & the food quality is always top-notch. I actually kind of wish it'd worked out for me to stay on, but this will be fine too. Plus, I get to have a story about talking someone out of firing me. That doesn't happen very often. Then again, I thought I was going to be let-go a few times over the course of my 2 year tenure there, so even if I hadn't quit now, the writing was definitely on the wall. And... I got to leave on good terms which was a nice bonus. I wanted to do the storming out thing, but there was really no one on whom to storm out. Aside from the possible mafia ties w/ the owners, they're actually pretty decent people to work for, & it's locally owned. Even though I'm not there any more, y'all should still support the local grocery stores. If not Plum, then Hiller's, Bushe's or Von's.

I've been shopping @ Von's lately. It's a shady-ass place, they have no high-end stuff, but the prices are fantastic. I highly recommend it. Plus, rather than some fancy new-fangled sale/membership card, they have the old-school stamp cards. You literally get stamps to place on a card & when the card is full, you can use it to get extra discounts like this week w/ the 10cents Faygo 2 liter or the 95cents apple juice. Pretty sweet!

Movies w/ the kids

We've given up on Kevin Spacey. After watching 25 of his 47 of his films, we realized we just couldn't watch any more. We'd had enough. We even had Working Girl for a few weeks but never watched it. It was just no longer fun. Once we realized it was more of a chore than a silly pass-time, we found a new movie game to play: watching music bio-pics w/ the kids (perhaps we could have just gotten hooked on Sarah Palin's new reality show instead... we'll see).So far, we've watched Coal Miner's Daughter, La Bamaba, & Walk the Line (plus a doc. about The Highwaymen, a Waylon Jennings Austin City Limits video, & Footloose [not a bio-pic but a music movie none-the-less]). Aiden is only 1/2 watching them, but Solstice seems to really be liking them. She said, "it's like you're trying to coerce me into liking this old music... & it's working." I'd never seen Coal Miner's Daughter before. It's fantastic. In fact, I'm kind of embarassed about the fact that I'd never seen it. Walk the Line is obviously good, but I always have a hard time w/ the circular saw/dead brother issues. It seems so forced, like they're trying to play w/ our emotions.

Of course, Footloose is 1 of the few films that always, w/o question, makes me squeeze out a few tears (the others being Casablanca... the French National Anthem scene, The Sound of Music... the Edelwise scene @ the end, & Toy Story 2... the Jessie song about her pevious owner). The scene that does it for me in Footloose comes @ the end as Dianne Wiest's & John Lithgow's characters are outside of the dance. I guess it's the whole "child growing up & finally being allowed to find her own way in the world" thing. That's also the issue w/ Toy Story 2. Of course, I've also been known to get a tad verklempt during the Footloose book burning scene. I'm pretty sure I didn't cry during the other movies though. We've got Honeysuckle Rose for this week & I just put the new Jeff Bridges movie, Crazy Heart, in the queue. I don't think Sid & Nancy or The Doors will go over well yet though. I may need to give it a couple more years on those.What about Ray? Is that ok for the kids? Maybe Beyond the Sea would be alright too. The problem w/ that one is that it's a Spacey so I might needd to hold off on it for a while. That said, if you can think of any other good music related films to watch w/ the kids, leave 'em in the comments.

RIP: Dino de Laurentis

We here @ Drifting have a love/hate relationship w/ shitty movies. We love them, but we know we should hate them. At least that's the case w/ old ones. We have little time for the newer ones, but the older ones are often top-notch. One of the people responsible for many of these films, Dino de Laurentis, died today. It turns out, I haven't seen nearly as many of his films as I thought, or in other words, he got his grubby paws into a shit-ton of b-flicks (& a few really good ones). As far as his good films are concerned, I'd say La Strada & Serpico are his best, but let's focus on the less-the-good ones. In honor of his long, illustrious career, here's my top 5 Dino de Laurentis films (then you can go over his career & let us know how Army of Darkness & Dune are actually the better films):
5) King Kong (1976)
4) Conan the Barbarian (1982)
3) Mandingo (1975)
2) Conan the Destroyer (1984)
1) Flash Gordon (1980)

Arsenal Highlights on the New Blog... Enjoy

Dream Journal #1

I think I have more than the common number of strange dreams, & I love talking about them. These 2 points got me thinking that they would make for a nice change of pace on the blog & get us away from the regularly scheduled soccer posts (except for the fact that one of these dreams is oddly soccer related.

To set up the first one, you must understand that we've been talking about moving next spring to save some cash & get a bit of a more rural lifestyle. W/ that in mind, here's dream #1.

I found a cheap apartment in a complex near campus devoted solely to hardcore Arsenal fans. It had a weird floorplan, but had 3 bedrooms & wasn't too expensive. I moved our stuff in & Stephanie & the kids were going to join me the next day. I'd had a hard time meeting the credentials, but we got the apartment none-the-less. It was then that I was laying in bed (right near the front door) w/ Nick Hornby all snuggled under the covers and looking @ old family photos. Arsene Wenger came in & demanded I fill out extra paperwork for the apartment. I was kind of surprised by his close involvement, but Hornby & I accepted it & I filled out the forms. He read them over & flipped out about the fact that I have kids. He said kids weren't allowed in the complex (equal housing codes aside). I explained that we'd already been approved & that he couldn't make me move out. He also seemed rather interested in the homoerotic moment I shared w/ Nick Hornby (which didn't surprise me as much as the news that broke yesterday linking him w/ a 39 year old female French hip-hop artist).

Most of this dream is pretty weird, but Stephanie has a nice little analysis that suggests Hornby is symbolic of Dan, as we were sharing a blanket & looking @ maps while watching a soccer game a few months ago. Not a bad reading of the dream, it must be said.

In dream #2, we find our fearless hero shopping for a bathing suit while preparing to go on a family vacation. Here we go.

I walk into Sun & Snow, the sporting good store next to Nicola's look for some new trunks. All I could find were Speedos, & the salesperson claimed that's all they carried. I was shocked, but the store was totally void of regular bathing suits. He claimed that no one was wearing them anymore & that Speedos were now all the rage. W/o any other options, I started trying them on.

I woke up before I made any purchases, so I don't know if a Speedo purchase was ever really in the cards, but the more I think about it, the more I think getting a Speedo would be pretty sweet. If it happens, you can be sure there will be plenty of pics.

More to Come

So here's the 2nd post on the new blog. I've been contemplating this for a couple days; the idea of creating & maintaining this seems a little silly since the readership has gone down lately, but w/ the European Championships are just 2 short years away, plus we have the Celebrity MILF of the Year contest coming up soon so it seems like I need to suck it up & push forward. With the holidays right around the corner, you can also expect the newly penned holiday song so keep on checking back & we here @ Drifting will keep updating.

Stay strong, true believer.

Meet the New Blog... Same as the Old Blog

Blogger updated the log-in page so I can no longer access Vision of Ypsi. You, faithful reader, can still read the old posts, but there will be no more updates there. I'd been using that blog for about 4 years, & when I created it, I was working @ Jackson Community College. I used my JCC email as the log-in, but it was never associated w/ a Google account. As of today, Blogger needs a google account so I went to update it, but since I don't work there anymore, I can't access it to verify the account. That means a whole new blog is in order.

My very 1st blog, you may remember, was called "Leshlush," a nice little Phil Lesh reference. When I created a new 1, we went w/ a Dylan reference (which is in turn a Kerouac reference). In keeping w/ the musical references, I decided on a nice Bob Wills tune. Who was Bob Wills? Come now! He's still the king of Western Swing! check out this footage of him doing "Deep Water" w/ His Texas Playboys:
As we move forward w/ this new blog, we'll be getting many of the same things you've come to expect from the old blog, but we'll add a few new bells & whistles to keep everyone on his or her toes. If you have a site that should be linked, let me know... if you have suggestions to help this one... let me know. Keep the comments coming & be sure to watch Arsenal & see Whitey Morgan & the 78's when you get the chance.