Assorted News

Happy New Year, dear and gentle readers.  May 2007 be a wonderful year for you.

I am sitting on my sofa, blogging from my laptop.  We've gone wireless and it's a wonderful thing.

Right now, I'm watching The Commitments.  Why don't we own this movie?  It's wonderful and I don't know why I haven't watched it more often.  I'm not a huge fan of feel good movies.  This one is utterly charming and uplifting without being sappy.  It's also got incredibly great music.  If you haven't seen The Commitments, take the time.  If you have seen it, revisit it.  It's timeless and some good entertainment.

I've recently read two books I was very much looking forward to and both were terribly disappointing.

Internal Combustion by Joyce Maynard

Internal Combustion is about the Nancy Seaman case.  I enjoy Joyce Maynard's other works very much, from her novel Baby Love to her memoir, At Home In The World and several others in between.  The Nancy Seaman case was fascinating.  The book is a superficial recap of the case and not terribly insightful.  I really didn't learn anything I didn't already know from following the case in the paper and elsewhere in the news.

Hannibal Rising by Thomas Harris

Nobody can write about a gruesome murder in such lyrical prose like Thomas Harris.  Hannibal Lecter is the fictional serial killer you have a fond affection for, since he really only kills the rude.  Hannibal Rising is the back story of how Hannibal turned into the monster he is.  Hannibal's back story just isn't very compelling.

Did I mention that The Commitments is a really good movie? Their interpretations of Mustang Sally, In The Midnight Hour and Chain Of Fools are incredible.  Makes me want to dance, with ain't happening anytime soon.

I'm very disappointed that I missed the Find A Death field trip to the Motown Museum.  It just wasn't happening with my foot surgery and so close to the holidays.

Why are children's toys locked up in their packages like Fort Knox?  I spent almost 45 minutes on Christmas morning freeing My Little Pony from her plastic packaging hell.

My father-in-law brought me a half dozen pink roses last night that he forgot to give to me until they were leaving.  That was really nice and I'm absurdly touched.

It really is the little things.

Comments

[Amy]

Barbies are even worse to get out of the packages! I lived the plastic hell at Christmas too! Nice to know other people struggle like I do to get those darn toys out of the boxes!

[Beth]

There is now a device that was invented to remove the CD from its package and the DVD from its package. All they have to do now is invent a device to remove the hard sucked down plastic that everything ELSE is packaged in.

Glad to hear that you had a fantastic Christmas. Hope the new year is better than the old year for ALL of us. Hope Mia is still being a responsible mother and taking care of her baby Brianna! I knew she would be! See ya soon!

[Donna]

I did a short stint as the Meijer Returns Department manager. I was the only employee in my department. I can tell you that if those toys were not wrapped up like Fort Knox they wouldn't last a day on the shelf in the store. What do people do? They open a fresh box, take the item out, stuff it back in the box, and then grab an unopened box and go buy it. No one wants to give a gift that looks like the pieces are missing. Those Korean women spend alot of time twisting and taping all those little parts in place. Walmart, Kmart, Meijer, get these items at huge discount rates because they agree to throw them out if people return them because of defect rather than return them to the manufacturer.

[Holly]

We (Detroit Death Hags) had a very good time at the Motown Museum. Scott is just a fountain of dishy gossip and stories! He had just seen "Dreamgirls" and was really on a Florence Ballard kick.

There were about two dozen of "us" on the tour and it lasted about 1.5 hours or so. We all went our own way afterwards. Scott said he was going to go by Flo's grave and place some flowers on it. I hope he did.