The New Musings of a Quiet Geek

1. Last Saturday night I was invited to a party by a student at the Seminary where I work. He's housemates of sorts with a couple I know from church but most everyone I knew there was from work as the others from church had the "dual identity" as did. As the house was in my neighborhood, I walked down. I gave myself about 25 minutes and ended up being the first to arrive. I also ended up being one of the last to leave as the 9pm stop time happened and the dancing to Van Morrison happened. The there was an impromptu jam session so the party really didn't end until almost 10:30. Great time. 2. As some of you may remember we had a bed bug problem awhile back. Our movie-loving cook friend decided it was time for us to get furniture again so we went out recliner shopping. (Hey, if she was willing to pay...) We ended up getting a recliner AND a Canadian rocker. Both are awesomely comfortable. 3. On Sunday, we watched The Gift with Cate Blanchett. Given this was directed b...

1. The International -This is one of those movies I like to call "reference material." The plot of a bank cornering the market on weapons deals to third world countries is something I wish I came up with first. The acting was superb. For some reason, I kept thinking what a great join Naomi Watts was doing hiding her accent as if she'd never done that before... The ending was both cool and WTF at the same time. I can't really explain it better without ruining the whole thing. 2. Push -Fascinating cast. The plot was interesting as well. I don't know how I feel that everyone has one of only four superpowers. I can't decide if that's more realistic or less...The ending wasn't great but as I sit here typing this, I can't remember why... 3. G-Force - This was a favorite of the weekend I think. Tracy Morgan as Blaster and Penelope Cruz as Juarez I think were my favorite characters. So much fun. 4. The Lovely Bones - Our company and I went out to see thi...

1. It's been awhile. I'll begin with a week ago this past Friday when I went down town to hear a band. A friend from high school plays drums. A couple other people from high school were there. It was a great time and welcome change of pace. 2. Finally had the Davis family Christmas party this past Saturday. Ugh. So boring. Only two presents for me as everyone else had already given theirs to me. Of course, I needed a calendar and another gift card is always good. Still not sure what I want to use it for. There was two kinds of apple pie. 3. Our movie loving cook friend spent the night before last. She makes some awesome nachos. Everything but the kitchen sink. a. That night we went down to see Up in the Air . Overall a great movie with great story and acting but the ending, which I shan't reveal, was unsatisfying. Even an unrealistic ending would have been preferable. I can't really go into more detail without revealing much. I will say though that corporations t...

1. Gave my parents the new Beatles Trivial Pursuit game for Christmas. I thought the 3 of us would have an easy time of it but they added six levels of difficulty to every category. Of course we got a lot of 5 and 6 level questions like where did John go to school or what street he lived on. Yikes! Get this there's a movie category and we watched Hard Days Night . It didn't help. It was good though as my father took an early lead before my mother took over. I ended up winning merely on a dice-roll. 2. Got two big music gifts this year. My parents gave me Tom Petty's Live Anthology which though it's set up as a long concert, it's actually several different concert clips spliced together. You really don't notice. I love it! b. Meanwhile my cousin gave me the John Lennon Anthology which is analogous to The Beatle Anthology as it's a compilation of outtakes, parodies and live tracks selected by Yoko Ono who also wrote the liner notes. This is great too! 3....

Yesterday, since my roommate was going with friends anyway, I went to see UP! What a great movie. After seeing Wall-E , I worried that Pixar had lost it but this was great. There are few actors still living that I can think of when I think crotchety old man and Ed "I Hate Spunk." Asner is at the top of the list. Christopher Plummer was awesome as the villain but this should not surprise anyone. (True story: he blames himself for William Shatner's rise to stardom.) I loved the Dennis/Mr. Wilson dynamic between Carl and Russel. ("Can help walk you across your yard?" "No.") Last night, our friend that likes to cook and watch movies came up so we watched The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and The Exorcism of Emily Rose . The first film was full of deep meaning and sadness. The one problem I had with this movie and I really don't think this is a spoiler, Benjamin is born as a baby-sized old man. As he grows taller, he grows younger at least until ...

1. My boss at the library is on vacation this week though was here on Monday anyway. Yesterday, it was fine. The semester is over so, besides the workstudy students, we had only one come in who needed help with the copier occasionally. The biggest problem lately has been our computers are totally crappy. We have 4 and it really seems like I have to go to each one to perform a specific task and it involves much rebooting. Today, I walked down as usual to find the seminary closed today due to the elevator project my church has been involved in. (You knew it was the same building, correct?) Was I called? Nope. The secretary called me once so I don't know why she wouldn't have my number... ::shrugs:: 2. Though thinking back I know when it happened, we discovered a couple nights ago that we no longer have BBC America as they moved it to the digital cable level. This was the cable system I've encountered where it was expanded basic but still... Epic Fail. 3. I heard through Fac...

Last night, friends from the seminary, along with three friends of one of the students, met downtown for drinks and to hear a musician known by my boss. Yes, I was the token male in a group of 6 women. (Like immortals, apparently, there can be only one. But there must be one.) The music, food and entertainment was great. I mean who wouldn't like a block of Tom Petty on a Friday night? Of course, it wasn't his three best tunes but what can you do? I close with a classic Valentine's article I wrote for a college website I maintained my senior year: "Valentine’s Day is almost upon us. The special semi-formal is scheduled for tonight and, mingled with coldness, love is in the air. Or is it? How do single people celebrate the day? It’s not like they have that special someone to shower with chocolate and jewelry. (Being a small college community, just how much of that can a lowly student afford anyway?) "The only option I see is the event mentioned above. School dan...

My story begins on Friday the 20th. My bus was delayed due to the previous days storm and the inefficiency to get back up and running 100% when shutting down. Later we hear from a father talking to his daughter on his cell. Her bus from Boston, and therefore my bus was broken down in Kennebunk. Alternator was shot or something. Another bus bound for the north finally arrived going a different route but would still get me to Bangor. We had to go through Brunswick instead. OK I was thinking. Fine. First, I have to sit in the very front which, again, is fine. Then the driver asked me my name and tells me though this only the 3rd time he's done this route there is only one place in Brunswick he gets confused and maybe reading the directions out loud will help him. So I do it. I read for him to veer left and he turns left. I will point out here the directions they give their drivers suck ass. No mile markers and very few landmarks. So we drive and drive. I see signs for Bath, ...

I guess we'll start on Saturday. I had an alumni Homecoming celebration downtown. As usual, nobody from my class came but I was surprised as I entered that a friend from high school was there. It turns out that her sister is the director of Alumni Relations at my college. Somewhat weird I think although I didn't go that far way to college so that may explain it... Sunday we were supposed to go out to eat with family as some of my aunts and uncles were going to be up but lunch was scheduled too early for us so my other aunt and I ended up getting our food to go before heading over to my grandparents. This turned out fine in the end. We started a book group at my church that afternoon. I guess we'll be meeting monthly. I discuss the first book after I finish it which shouldn't be much longer. Monday, my cousin/roommate, my aunt and I met my aunt and uncle who had been up visiting from Jersey. This went well until we got talking politics against my better judgment but what...

Two "major events" have happened to me recently that I thought I'd share with you all and I'll throw in a couple reviews too because, well, why not? On Labor Day, I was invited to the seminary's picnic up at Camp Mechawana which is the state's Methodist camp. Though apparently built about 10 years before, it reminded me a lot of Pilgrim Lodge the summer camp I went for many years as a child. There was a good group in attendance but few of us from the Portland campus. The food was good especially this red-skinned potato salad. I'm not sure what was special about it. (Maybe the mayonnaise?) The second piece of news I wanted to share was that my first royalty check arrived in the mail and I've officially sold 10 copies of Winter Storm as of July 31st. I guess retailers have 90 days to give the publisher the money from sales so the actual number of sold copies is probably much greater... I recently finished The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper. This is ac...

This will be long but probably not too informative because, that's not how I roll... Before I left to go up to keep my father and cat company in the absence of my mother who was at a church youth thing in TN, we watched the live action Alvin and the Chipmunks . Overall, it was a great film and throughout the movie they answered my "But what about this?" questions. (I'm still not sure why Simon could see with the random pair of glasses Dave gave him and not the pair Ian forced him to wear since neither pair was prescription but whatever...) I wanted more music as well. When I heard that the Yankees were coming to town the weekend I was going up to see my father, I thought that was awesome timing. My team failed me. (I will discuss today's trade of Manny when I have all the facts...) Sunday afternoon, we saw The Dark Knight . This movie totally rocked my socks. As you've already heard I'm sure, Heath Ledger was awesome as the Joker. Maggie Gyllenhaal added ...

We've been eating a lot of cake lately. Two ice cream cakes and Monday, our friend brought a chocolate mousse cake. All of this was to celebrate my roommate's birthday last week. We saw two movies. Mad Money with Diane Keaton, Queen Latifah, Katie Holmes and Ted Danson. This movie was really good despite the having to blast the volume because none of us could hear it. This wasn't the best movie I've seen Katie Holmes in but it was certainly the best role I've ever seen her in. I don't know if that makes any sense. Let me clarify. Jackie is a better character than Rachel Dawes from Batman Begins which this film wasn't... We also saw I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry . Going into this movie I had low expectations (I mean it starred Kevin James and Adam Sandler...) but it's not the derogatory mess one might think it would be and was, of course, hilarious! I didn't expect all the cameos from the openly gay Richard Chamberlain and Lance Bass to Dan Ac...

Two or three days ago, the publisher sent me new page proofs. These aren't to submit new changes, as that part is over, but to see if the corrections I previously submitted were actually done to my satisfaction. I got out my list and looked it over and notified them it was good. Now, I wait for the process to be started concerning cover design. I'm particularly looking forward to this as the cover must grab readers. If it doesn't grab me, it may not grab anyone else... I decided it was best to stay in town this Easter season as my mother's new job would mean she wouldn't even be there most of the weekend. Of course, my father would be just as busy as you'd think so it would mainly be just me and Susie. I miss her but, while she's a good listener, she's not much of a conversationalist...They sent me a Easter Basket, sans basket already anyway. This gave me the opportunity to go to my church's Maunday Thursday potluck supper. After we ate, we had a tra...