waterboarding

Last night's Academy Awards might have been the most boring television since the second season of Lost.  I can't even quite put my finger on it, but I was basically uninterested from start to finish.  I will admit that I have hardly seen any of the movies that were nominated.  In fact, there were only two movies that were nominated for anything that we have actually seen--Alice In Wonderland (costume design, art direction, visual effects) and Salt (sound mixing).  There have been years in the past where we have seen almost everything, including some of the foreign ones.  These days its hard to find time to sneak away to the movies.  The problem I had wasn't with the films or the actors.  I was glad to see Trent Reznor win, as well as crazy Christian Bale.  Someone should get that guy a razor.  The hosts were alright I guess.  The whole thing just seemed to drag on.  I would like to add a few suggestions to make the show a little better.  They seemed to make no effort to run people off the stage during their lengthy acceptance speeches.  I know they have a lot of people to thank, but maybe some of that could be done with a phone call later.  I don't need to hear you thank your childhood babysitter or your first pet.  I also hate to cut music from anything, but movie songs are for the most part just boring.  Randy Newman is way past his prime, but somehow he gets to perform every year.  Also, listening to Celine Dion sing is like being stabbed in the ear repeatedly.  Some people might argue that she has a great voice, but does she sing anything that anyone wants to hear?  In the great Farrelly comedy Dumb and Dumber, the question is asked, "Do you want to hear the most annoying sound in the world?"  It turns out, that the sound in that movie is not the most annoying.  How Celine sells any albums at all will always baffle me.  Another way we could trim the fat on the Oscars would be to take a note from the Grammys and give the technical awards in a different ceremony.  I know those people deserve awards, but how many viewers can distinguish sound mixing from sound editing?  Finally, I wasn't a huge fan of the finale of awkward kids singing together with all of the winners.  I'm sure some people thought it was cute.  I would like to know why they used school kids from Staten Island.  Does California not have schools?  Perhaps none of these things would have been a problem if we had just recorded and watched it later.  Then we could have just skipped the boring parts.  I guess none of this even matters in the overall scheme of things.  It's Monday.  By Friday, I will probably have forgotten all about all of this.  Have a great week.

I wonder if Ebay has flux capacitors

 

As of today, 2011 is 15% over.  As they say, time flies when you are having fun.  It seems like there isn't much time for fun these days, but we have certainly been busy.  This week has been especially crazy.  I have been trying to get this blog done all week, but Ethan has been sick which has kept me from getting much done around here.  Right now he is occupied with his crayons, so maybe I can get a few words written.  A couple of weeks ago, we made a trip to Dallas to see Cirque du Soleil's Ovo.  It is probably one of the better shows that we have seen--at least as far as the touring ones go.  Tiffany's mom went with us to watch Ethan while we were out.  We lived our three hours to the fullest, each enjoying our $14 margaritas.  I asked the bartender if they were the best margaritas ever.  They weren't.  The next day we spent most of our time shopping and eating.  For any fans of Cafe Brazil, I can seriously recommend the breakfast relleno crepes.  If you don't live in the Dallas area, it might be worth the trip.  Seriously.  Ethan was pretty good the entire time, though he was definitely exhausted by the time we got home.  As for things going on in Abilene, Monday night we left Ethan with my Aunt Vicki and went to see Beauty and the Beast at the civic center.  The show is pretty girly, but as far as production and performance go, it was one of the best we've seen.  The last show of the season is not until April, and it is Legally Blonde.  Clearly there are too many women on the Abilene Cultural Affairs Committee.  How about something like Terminator--The Musical?  This week, on and off, Ethan has been running a fever.  His nose has been running, and there is lots of coughing going on.  I took him to the doctor on Tuesday.  He tested negative for the flu.  Basically, it's some kind of viral infection.  The doctor said the runny dose and cough may last 7 to 10 days.  Yea.  I am going to wrap this up for now.  I know it was short.  Give me a couple of days, and perhaps I will have more to say.