Tuesday, June 20, 2006

Little Lies


This is not the one that hurt. Not until my foot started feeling better, anyway. :-P

I've come up with a way to take over the world with. . . soap??? 10 points if you know what movie we watched tonight. 30 more points if you admit it. ;-)

So tell me, what did you think of Pirates of the Caribbean? (No, that's not the movie we watched tonight.) I saw it on DVD way after all the hype and, while it was OK, I just didn't get all orgasmic about it like the rest of the world seemed to. What did I miss? Do I need to see it again? Without SIL's magical heavy blanket and kiss-of-death snuggly dog? (Either of these evil tools of the devil can send you to dreamland effortlessly. In concert, they could take over the entire world while it slept.)

The kids and I have been listening to the audiobook of
A House Called Awful End, by Philip Ardagh. Mr. Ardagh is one of those brilliant writers who will get you nodding and chuckling and laughing out loud. Once you're familiar with his style, you'll see something coming and laugh all the harder for it when it appears, and then out of nowhere, he'll blindside you with something even better that you never would have imagined. Even if you haven't got kids, his books are definitely worth checking out. Tell yourself that you're previewing them for that child of your friend's or your niece or nephew if you must. I see they are making a movie of it, and like the Lemony Snicket movie, I can't imagine it will be anywhere near as entertaining as the book.

This week is "Purge Week" at our house. Next week is "Binge Week" LOL! No, not really. This week we're taking a break from schooly stuff (as far as the kids know - heh heh - they don't realise that a lot of the stuff I read to them and the things we do are actually educational) to purge stuff. Not moving for 3 whole years has been nice, but it has also resulted in an unsightly buildup. Call in the "Crelm" car! The not-white car represents another leading brand. And just look at that "Crelm" car go! I really need to clear some shelf space for all these new books, too.


I opened up the latest UW-Alum mag to find an article featuring my mom's cousin. He's not kidding when he says he was the black sheep of the family. When I was in 5th grade, a girl in my class (not knowing the relation) proudly exclaimed to our teacher how her mother had "called that man up and told him he was a sinner!" And, yes, some church members still think he's the Anti-Christ. I have to say that for the Anti-Christ he's a swell and fun-loving guy. :-) Note to all authors: if you don't want to be labeled the Anti-Christ by your church, DO NOT write a book mentioning how your church's prophetess was a plagarist who got her writings not from visions sent from God, but from books with publication dates earlier than her own and with the plagarized passages and illustrations dog-eared and highlighted (all of which were found at her estate.) :-P

As an interesting aside, this cousin has a very bad name for answering the phone. "Hello, Ron Numbers" "Oh, I'm so sorry." *click* So if you ever call him up, don't be surprised to hear you've reached "Nebuchadnezzar's Candle Palace" or whatever strikes his fancy that day.

My dad went through a severe crisis of faith after that little discovery. (the plagarism thing, not the phone-answering thing) If you found out that the church had been lying to you for your whole life about one thing, then why not another? Why not all of it? My dad got over it, eventually. I don't think my cousin ever has. Interestingly enough, an old family friend from Hong Kong (and from the same church) contacted the family not long ago and said that he finally understood some of what my dad had been so upset about. He hadn't really gotten the full impact, I guess, from what my dad had told him, but he ended up at the "prophetess's" estate while doing research for a book of his own about missionaries, and came across a lot of things that really turned his world upside-down. Sadly, my dad was already gone by then, so they they didn't get to talk it over.

Hope you enjoyed this little episode of - Holy Dinah! Is that a Whopper I see before me? (Or just a little White lie?)

8 comments:

C said...

At least it's not just me. But I think I pissed everyone else off. ;-)

Trundling Grunt said...

I really enjoyed Pirates - I thought Depp as Keith Richards made total sense, Geoffrey Rush camped it up really well and the whole thing had its tongue so firmly in its cheek it was wonderful. The sequel is one film I am really looking forward to. About the only one.

C said...

I think the sequel looks pretty good, and I didn't DISlike the first one. I just didn't see why everyone was so kinked out over it. Maybe there was nothing else good out at the time? And maybe I need to see it again without the double kiss of death, LOL! The same thing happened to me (though even more so) with Dances With Wolves. By the time I'd heard a month of hype, it was lame, LOL! But then, that was a Costner film, and I've since learned that I think his films are crap, LOL! I did like No Way Out, though.

Zoeyjane said...

the first rule of fight club is...you do not tlak about fight club.

Logophile said...

I have to say I did enjoy Pirates, if you like Princess Bride, you will enjoy. It's just really fun.

I need some candles, btw, if you call your uncle any time soon.
:p

Trundling Grunt said...

Dances With Wolves only really worked for me on the big screen. When I watched it on TV it seemed to cramped.

Faltenin said...

I stopped using soap after that movie. Ugh.

But still... Lemony Snicket has to be one of the worst things I've ever read in ages. It is the ONE book that got exiled. Reading session with a band of little ones, we unanimously decided it was a load of crap. No wonder he writes under a pseudonym.

C said...

Rilah, you know, I have yet to see that, LOL! But I live it. ;-)

Logo - OK, I'm going to give it another shot, sans the heavy blanket and snuggly dog. :-)

I love candles. You can never have too many candles unless, maybe they're the one's on your cake. ;-)

TG - It was sooooooooooo looooooooong and slow IIRC. I think I heard too much about it before seeing it. And maybe Costner could have been left out. ;-)

Fal - So THAT'S why you wear cologne. Were you afraid you would blow up if you kept using soap?

Dude WRONG!!!! How far did you get? OMG I LMAO over those books. BRILLIANT!!! How old were they? 7 ish should have been OK. Bummer. Maybe you didn't get far enough. Seriously! He has such a DA style. I can't believe you dinna like them. How about Philip Ardagh?