It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year!

It's the Most Wonderful Time Of The Year! Tax-Refund Time! I'm so excited. I bought some new makeup from Sephora and a couple of new shirts from Victoria's Secret. I know. For some people this sounds like a drop in the bucket. They buy shit online every day and don't think twice. Me, I get to be extravagant only once a year and this is IT! I also made reservations for a hotel in Chicago. This time we're taking the kids with us. We are going to the Museum Of Science And Industry. I wonder if they still have the coal mine in there? I remember when I was a kid, it seemed so real, like they were really taking us down into a mine, when in actuality they just took you into the basement, but STILL! It was great! And the fetuses representing each week of development! Gross, but cool. I could go on and on about it, but it was almost 30 years ago since I was last there. I wonder what cool new shit they have there...

In two weeks we shall see!

Best Movie I Saw This Week: Beerfest. Yeah, it's true. I didn't watch many movies this week. Was it funny tho? Of course! It was from the Broken Lizard guys. I just want to take this opportunity to recognize that Kevin Hefferman (Landfill) is the most talented performer of that group. This is my opinion and what do I really know, but this poor guy got the shitty role in Super Troupers, ( a classic, and these guys can put out more movies for the rest of their lives and they won't live up to that one)as Officer Rodney Farva the asshole everybody hates. They gave him a break and made him a sweetie in Club Dread as Lars, but in Beerfest he was back to being the dickhead. Well, at least he is the dickhead on the good guys side. Why do I think he's so great? Shit I don't know! Maybe it's because he's so good at being disgusting and we all know somebody just like him! And here's why I think I'm right on this one: because director Jay Chandrasekhar has used him in his other projects besides the Broken Lizard Productions and he didn't use the others! What does that tell ya, huh?

Best Song I Heard: Paralyzer by Finger Eleven. This is Rock. But this is also very danceable. Here's a sample of the lyrics:

I hold on so nervously
To me and my drink
I wish it was cooling me
But so far, has not been good
It’s been shitty
And I feel awkward, as I should
This club has got to be
The most pretentious thing
Since I thought you and me
Well I am imagining
A dark lit place
Or your place or my place

Book I'm Reading This Week: The Good German by Joseph Kanon. I feel somewhat guilty that I can't get into this book like I should. It's good and all but I'm not feelin it. But if it was good enough for George Clooney and Cate Blanchett to star in the movie version, I need to at least finish it.

Top News Story: Barack and Hilary. I've talked about this before and I'm still undecided! But a story I read in Salon.com today got my goat. Debra Dickerson writes: "Since the issue was always framed as a battle between gender and race (read: non-whiteness -- the question is moot when all the players are white), I didn't have the heart (or the stomach) to point out the obvious: Obama isn't black." Then she goes on to say that he hasn't carried any of the burdens that "real" black people have had to (meaning folks descended directly from African slaves). Well, she didn't read his book too well. He talks a lot about the specific burden of being MIXED and all the issues that go along with that! You know why I think Barack Obama is black? Two reasons: He looks like a black man. When you see him you think "black man". Also, HE calls himself that, and that's how he sees HIMSELF. You know when you have transexual man who is really a man, but because he dresses up like a woman and has had surgeries and hormonal therapy you're supposed to call him "her"? Even tho "she" still has Y chromosomes in every cell of her body. Yeah. Like that. So techinically Barack might not be all black, he looks like it and he calls himself that, so guess what? To make it easier on everybody, we have to CALL HIM THAT. And I for one, would be thrilled to have him as my president, and I couldn't care less if he were half PURPLE or not!

On a lighter note, The Bears made it to the Superbowl! We aren't big sports fans in this house but I secretly like football so sshh, don't tell anybody Ok? That Sunday we'll be traveling back FROM CHICAGO (it would probably br more funner AND scarier if we were going INTO the city that nite instead of leaving it) and I promised my kids that we would be back home in time to see who won. I cannot WAIT to get to Chicago. The city will be alive with hope and anticipation. I'm so excited for my kids to be able to see this for the first time. I've told them all along that this jewel of the Midwest is only a mere four hours away from us, and it's waiting there, just for them. To Behold.