My ankle has been feeling much better lately, to the point where I can limp around in my huge, padded boot/cast without a cane a good bit of the time (as long as I'm inside or on really level ground with hand-holds available should I need them), so I was able to go along with my sister and two friends on a short trip to nearby Racine yesterday, to take advantage of the free art museum admission there on the first Friday of the month. I took my Dad's old walker along to use in walking to and around the museum, just in case, but limped around okay without it for short excursions from the car later in the afternoon.

My sister had been planning this trip as a treat for me for some time, so I was especially glad that I was well enough to go along and get so much enjoyment out of it. Several of the exhibits involved depictions of pop culture or mythical characters in various media, and even though the upstairs galleries were closed yesterday, we enjoyed the exhibits we did get to see -- especially those with sci-fi/fantasy/superhero connections.

We only got to see the Ruffo Gallery portion of the exhibition of pop-up books and art-works (for instance, there was a wall plaque depicting "A Pop-Up Guide to Westeros" for George R. R. Martin/"Game of Thrones" fans), but what we did see was wonderful, reminding us of our favorite pop-up books in childhood (we had one about Robin Hood from 1969, and another from 1968 for Alice in Wonderland, and still another from 1970 on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea).

I really enjoyed the gallery notes on this exhibit, as well, tracing the origins of pop-up books back to medieval monks working on ecclesiastical manuscripts! :)

( Popular Culture that really POPS )

Here are some of my favorites (photographed by my sister) from the other main exhibit on the ground floor of the museum:

( Pop culture icons in ceramic, glass, and needlework )

On the way out, we took some time to enjoy the museum's window exhibits of Charlotte Kruk's 'Consumer Couture' recycled art (see also gallery notes here).

( 'The Politics of Having' )

Then we had a mid-afternoon lunch at Kewpee's Hamburgers, a well-preserved example of the 1950s 'Malt Shop', complete with home-made root beer and incredibly affordable but very tasty burgers and fries that don't start cooking until after you've placed your order.

( Pictures of the Racine Kewpee's )

Since Racine is the home of malted milk, I figured I ought to order a chocolate malted as my beverage/dessert, but I'd have been better off going with the much larger and less-expensive root beer float chosen by the rest of our party. The malted was tasty but somewhat gritty in texture, as though the soda jerk had simply smashed some malted milk balls and stirred them into a regular chocolate milk shake as an after-thought, rather than properly dissolving the malted milk powder in the shake. Well, if we ever go there again, I'll know that the root beer with free refill is the local specialty to order instead.

Most of the rest of the day was spent driving around, sight-seeing some Frank Lloyd Wright buildings, enjoying the breeze from Lake Michigan, and window-shopping at the unique shops in downtown Racine.

Even the pouring rain on the drive home couldn't dampen our spirits after all that. :)

Some pics my sister took of our garden and SOME of our freshly picked produce today.

( Read more... )

Okay, so it's been six months since I last posted anything, anywhere, pretty much. And I'm sorry for that.

Here's a quick rundown of some of the highlights: ( Six Months in Six Minutes (or Less) )

So, except for the broken ankle and current lack of mobility, life is going okay for now. We all still miss my mother every day, but we've drawn closer to one another and made some positive changes in all our lives as we deal with our loss.

I caught a re-run of the 1993 film "Undercover Blues" on cable this morning (my umpteenth re-watching of this film, which remains one of my perennial favorites), while I was enjoying a lazy day in honor of my birthday, and I was suddenly inspired to write a quick Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover fic based on that film.

If you've never seen the film, I highly recommend that you DO see it at your earliest convenience, and this fic probably won't make much sense without at least a passing familiarity with the characters and situations.

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COUNCIL BLUES

Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS or the 1993 Dennis Quaid/Kathleen Turner film "Undercover Blues", but I'm celebrating my birthday today by playing with their characters and situations. This one-shot is written for my own enjoyment only, not for profit, and blessed is the one who takes no legal offense at me! :)( Read more... )
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Okay, so there's still no actual Chloe and/or Lex appearing in this chapter, but after this, I PROMISE there will be actual Lex, Chloe, and possibly Clark. It's taken a while to lay out the back-story, but we're nearly there.

For summary and disclaimers, see the Prologue.

"THE BIOLOGICAL PROGENITOR TRAP"

Chapter 1: "The Other Generation"

( Read more... )


tbc
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My thanks to all of you who've kept a good thought for my family over the past week.

Dad was allowed to come home from the hospital this afternoon, and he's definitely in better shape than he was earlier this week. Therefore, we're going ahead with plans to have Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's house tomorrow noon.

I'm very thankful for this, and for all the kind thoughts and words. :)

I've fallen behind in my movie reviews for September through November (partly because I've seen relatively few movies during that period, and partly from sheer procrastination), so here's a quick, largely SPOILER-FREE run-through of the films I've seen in the theater lately, starting with the most recent:

( Krrish 3 )

( Thor 2 )

( Gravity )

( The World's End )

( Riddick )

( White House Down )

Some weeks, I get a good chuckle out of "Sleepy Hollow" . . . when they stay far, far away from anything I've ever actually studied seriously.

Sometimes, they even seem to learn from their early mistakes -- for instance I've noticed that they've been careful to say "Revelation" when speaking of the last book of the New Testament instead of the incorrect "Revelations" after that first, teeth-grinding episode.

But just when I thought it was safe to sit back and enjoy the silliness, an episode comes along like last night's, where suddenly they think that people in the 1580's were still speaking MIDDLE ENGLISH instead of Elizabethan English (think closer to SHAKESPEARE, people, not CHAUCER -- you're at least a hundred years too late for Middle English as common speech!). Ack!

*Grrr*

How you task me, you silly show, you! :(

I'm planning to (finally!) take in a showing of "Pacific Rim" this afternoon, and maybe a second show of some sort thereafter, but on Tuesday of this week I was able to see both "The Wolverine" and the latest Shah Rukh Khan screwball comedy film "Chennai Express", so I'm counting this a good week at the movies already.

"The Wolverine" may not have been as instantly addictive to me as Hugh Jackman's first appearances in that role in "X-Men" and "X-2" (and to a lesser extent "X-3"), but it's not because he's lost any of that oh-so-FINE physical presence or that trademark Logan/Wolverine intoxicating mixture of angst, nobility, and pure snarky grit. No, it's just that this film felt more like an 'interlude', a 'palate cleanser' course, giving Logan a chance to finally work through some of the trauma related to Jean Grey's death in "X-3" and the unresolved relationship issues pertaining thereto.

On its own, it's a good film, a watchable and involving film, but it feels like it's not and was never intended to be THE major turning point in Logan's life, and so the emotional stakes (while high enough, for many reasons) are naturally somewhat lower than they were for Logan in the "X-Men" films -- though still HIGHER stakes and greater interest than in the prequel film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (I generally have a bit of trouble investing myself in prequel films, since we already know where the character ended up AFTER that, and so I can't watch most of them without a little, nagging "What's the point, again?" intruding in my thoughts -- and yes, that held true for Star Wars episodes I-III, as well as for films like "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom").

But as a link between "X-3" and the NEXT "X-Men" film (and yes, you really do want to stay through the relatively short run of closing credits to watch the extra scene at the end), I say it's a VERY good film, and well worth watching on the big screen.

And speaking of 'palate cleanser' movies, "Chennai Express" was a delightful sorbet of a film, complete with amazing, soul-satisfying and eye-pleasing colors in just about every scene, with 'in-joke' references to previous Shah Rukh Khan films at points that tickled me plenty, and lots of that frothy, Cary Grant-in-"Bringing-Up-Baby"-style comedic acting that I really adore from Khan.

DEFINIITELY worth seeing in the theater, if you get the chance!

Though I may not have been as enthusiastic as I could have been about my first viewing of "Star Trek: Into Darkness" back in May (see my original review), my love for that film has only grown with each repeated viewing.

However, yesterday's 3:30 PM screening at my local multiplex seems to have been the last showing of ST XII in the Nashville area for the foreseeable future, unless it comes back to the second-run discount theater later on. So, I'm glad I was able to see it on the big screen, one last time, with a pretty good-sized audience of fellow Trek fans.

I only wish I'd had MORE opportunities to see this latest Trek film in the theaters, since I would happily have PAID to see this film at least as many times as I did last summer's "The Avengers", if only it had stuck around as long. As it is, I guess six times will have to suffice me, until it comes out on DVD.

In other film news, I also took in the following films over the past several weeks (brief review notes included -- no spoilers!):

( Despicable Me 2 )

( The Heat )

( Epic )

( Fast & Furious 6 )