Hot and Now

Netflix

We signed up for Netflix shortly after moving to Illinois, and we've enjoyed it the entire time.  We first signed up for the 3-dvds-at-a-time option, then downgraded to 2-at-a-time, then 1, back up to 2, and now we're down to 1 again (plus unlimited streaming).  Several times I've put our account on hold during college football season (for obvious reasons).  As you can see, our movie viewing waxes and wanes periodically.

SpongeBob

I mention all this because Netflix recently announced they've acquired streaming rights to more seasons of SpongeBob SquarePants!  They now have seasons 1-5 available for online streaming.  So if any of our readers have Netflix, and would like experience the best that SpongeBob has to offer, I now present our favorite SpongeBob episodes of all time, all of which are available to stream right now!  In no particular order:

• The Frycook Games (Season 2, Episode 19, second half)
• Krusty Krab Training Video (Season 3, Episode 10, first half)
• Mid-Life Crustacean (Season 3, Episode 15, second half)
• Missing Identity (Season 3, Episode 18, first half)

Ebert Presents at the Movies

I've become a fan of Roger Ebert's new show on PBS.  Since he can no longer speak, due to cancer, he usually only appears for one review which is narrated by someone else.  Most of the show is devoted to reviews by Christy Lemire of the Associated Press and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky of the Chicago Reader.   I don't know if words can convey the sheer impressiveness of Ignatiy's name.  I did a double-take when I first saw him introduce himself.  Then I had to rewind and listen to it again.  And again. Then I had to try saying it, which took a couple of tries to get right.  Ignatiy Vishnevetsky.  Ig-naughty Vish-nuh-vet-ski.  Those are now my two favorite words to pronounce.

Anyway, I dig the show.  Christy and Ignatiy are fun to watch, they joke around, and sometimes those jokes are even funny.  They cover some lesser-known movies, as well as movies that are available to stream online (their "Hot and Now" segment).

My favorite experience from the show came last month, when they gave two thumbs up to an Oscar-nominated foreign film I'd never heard of.  After the episode, I went straight to Netflix and was able to watch the movie right then thanks to the streaming option.

Tasty Morsels

* If there was any doubt about us being bona fide home owners, it can now be put to rest. We spent our Friday night at Home Depot and Menards, looking for a new bathroom light fixture and mirror.

* We went to see Children of Men last Tuesday evening, and wound up being the only two people in the theater. That made us wonder if they even bother starting the movie if no one shows up. We decided they must, because someone could always come a little late, and if the movie hadn't started, that would make the next showing start late. Anyway, the movie was very intense, but very good.

* On Friday the temperature hit 40°, the first time we'd been above freezing in two weeks. It was but a brief respite, however. Highs for the next 10 days range from 7 to 25 degrees.

* As you can imagine, people are very excited about the Bears being in the Super Bowl. There's a billboard somewhere in Chicago that we saw once, which said "Baseball will divide Chicago, but the Bears shall unite it."

* The past few weeks I've been working on replacing the old light switches and electrical outlets in our house. I'm very pleased, because not only did I successfully replace two 3-way switches, but I fixed two 3-way switches that had been installed incorrectly! Woo!

* We've been trying a few new recipes lately, with great success. Last week we made pasta with olive pesto, and it was INSANELY GOOD! Wendy got the idea from an event at work, where a restaurant catered the food and brought olive pesto pasta. They said it was their best-seller, and I now believe it.

* We also tried homemade pretzels, which were good. Ditto for a chocolate mint cake we had right after New Years. Also, Wendy used an Amazon gift certificate to buy a Muffin-Top Pan. I had never heard of these before, but I was blown away when she told me about it. Basically they let you just make muffin tops, ala Seinfeld. Today we had chocolate chocolate-chip muffin tops. Very, very tasty.

* Lest you think we gorge ourselves on decadent desserts, we've also been trying some recipes from The Mediterranean Vegan Kitchen. I found it on Amazon, and was intrigued because it had over 50 reviews with an average rating of 5 stars. Everyone says that the recipes are great, even for non-vegans, and so far, yeah, we agree. Spaghettini with Walnut-Garlic Sauce and Herbed Scalloped Potatoes, Provencal Style are a few of the tasty dishes we've tried.

Weekend Recap

Today we made it to the Anderson Japanese Gardens in Rockford. It was a very pleasant experience, and was made even more so thanks to the fall colors. The Gardens turned out to be a fairly popular place to be this afternoon; there were several employees out directing the flow of pedestrians.

One interesting sight we came across was a tree growing horizontally off of a hill. It was still growing strong thanks to a very tall log that had been put in to prop it up.

There were also several paths blocked off with "Private Property" signs; they all appeared to lead to a house at the top of a hill. We overheard a group of people in front of us say that the gardens were basically someone's back yard, open to the public. What a very cool back yard that would be. (Incidentally, we also overhead those same people discussing various creative ways that an ostrich could kill a lion.)

Most of the trips we take during the fall tend to be on Sunday, since Saturday is, of course, college football. Thanks to the magic of digital cable and ESPN Gameplan, there were 29 football games available for us to watch yesterday. When your team of choice is being trounced by their arch-rival, it's nice to be able to switch to any number of other (more competitive) games to take your mind off the resounding defeat.

On a happier note, Friday night Wendy and I went to see Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit. It was incredibly funny, with moments of absolute genius. We both highly recommend it.

Finally, a sunset from late August. If you look closely to the left, you can just make out the beginnings of townhouses that are being built across the pond. (Fortunately all of the trees are staying.)

Prostrate with Grief!

As part of my birthday celebration zone (™ Jill), we went to see The Corpse Bride this Friday. It was good, and some parts were quite funny (Randy and I have been using the phrase, "prostrate with grief" as often as we can work it into conversation). See if you spot a quick nod to Edward Gorey in one scene - we both thought we saw one, and it was the same scene, so we're pretty sure it's there. Overall, though, I think I still prefer The Nightmare Before Christmas.

We were also hoping to go visit some Japanese gardens in Rockford this weekend, but it ended up raining both Saturday and Sunday, so we went to IKEA instead. There's a huge IKEA (link is a PDF) store in Schaumberg - almost too big, in fact. It reminded us of visiting Powell's Books (link is a PDF) in Portland last summer, which takes up an entire city block. It's great to have so much stuff to look at, but unless you have some idea about what you're looking for, it gets pretty overwhelming. I don't know if either map successfully conveys the sheer size of both of those stores. You could pretty easily just disappear into either one, never to return...

One of the things I got for my birthday was Dorothy Dunnett's Lymond Chronicles. I love these books. The first time I read them, I could hardly think of anything else for the two weeks it took me to finish them all. I stayed up far too late on weeknights and got up early on the weekends to read them. They're incredibly absorbing. Anyway, my point is that I whole-heartedly recommend them, and you should all go read them.

Continuing my random hopping from subject to subject, I have another interview next Monday, with the same place I interviewed at last time. I'm almost a little afraid to mention it, given that I haven't gotten any of the jobs I've mentioned interviewing for before, but I figure having extra people sending good thoughts my way can't hurt. So, if just one more of you than last time (when I was second choice) could think good thoughts for me, I should get the job. Or maybe even two of you, just to be sure. Your assistance is much appreciated.

Four score and seven years ago...

George has finished his novel! That's right, he's done; a week ahead of schedule and 200 words over the minimum. He called this afternoon and we talked briefly about it - he's already making plans for the next novel...

And my novel? It's still coming along. I broke 40,000 words today, so I have a week left to write and 10,000 words to go. I don't think that 50,000 words will finish my story, though, as I'm only a little more than halfway through my plot. I started to worry a few days ago that I was writing the world's most boring novel, but today I wrote a fun scene between mortal enemies that restored some of my faith. I guess if I really start to struggle, I can always follow my dad's writing advice: "And now," said the heroine, "I will recite the Gettysburg Address." Or maybe she could turn to Shakespeare, or the dictionary, for comfort. Not that those would necessarily make my novel more exciting, but they would help me reach 50,000 words.

In other exciting news: I found out yesterday that I was selected to interview for a position that I really want and think I would be really good at. The interview is next Monday, so if you could all send good thoughts my way, I would definitely appreciate it!

Randy and I saw Broken Flowers this past weekend and enjoyed it, although we both got the impression that some of the people in the theater were there expecting a Bill Murray film rather than a Jim Jarmusch film. At one point, the man seated next to Randy muttered, "What the hell is going on?" That pretty much sums up every Jim Jarmusch film I've seen, but in a good way.

And I think that's probably enough from my rather scattered brain today.

33rd Post!

For dinner last night, Wendy and I decided to visit The Village Squire, a local, medieval-themed restaurant that we both enjoy. One of the unique things about the place is that everyone is served popcorn as an appetizer, and, if you flip through the brochure at your table, you'll discover that they've written a short song about the popcorn entitled "Little Fluffy Balls of Golden Sunshine".

I'm also reminded of one of the 100 memories from our initial trip to Chicago that we didn't post online: The first time we visited the Village Squire together we happened to notice a sea gull hopping across the parking lot with a slice of pizza in its beak. Sadly we didn't have our camera with us.

Changing the subject slightly, Wendy and I are finding movie watching much more enjoyable with our new TV, so we've been putting our NetFlix subscription to good use. We've recently watched House of Flying Daggers (good, but not quite as good as Hero, in my opinion), The Incredibles (quite funny), and The Spongebob Squarepants Movie (when the best part of a movie is the appearance of David Hasselhoff, you know you're not exactly watching a triumph of cinema). We've also got Amelie and Ran to watch soon, but right now we're working our way through Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth, a 6-hour PBS series from the late 80's, in which Bill Moyers and Joseph Campbell converse about anything and everything related to mythology. We're both blown away by how fascinating it is.

We Only Love Saturday!

This was a really nice weekend.

Saturday morning, I discovered some really excellent programs on our local access cable channel, apparently aimed at native Indians and Pakistanis. I came in toward the end of a program that seemed to involve the inhabitants of two apartments across the alley from each other arguing about whose music they were going to listen to, only exclusively in song (and Hindi). It was almost totally incomprehensible, but I couldn't look away.

That segued into a program that was ostensibly about the over-use of certain Hindi phrases in music videos, but which really seemed to be an excuse to show music videos. I mean, they were taking requests. And giving shout-outs. My favorite video (which they played twice!) was "Chak de Saturday" by the Balle Balle Boys. It was a Matrix-inspired, computer-animated video that showed the Balle Balle Boys' computerized alter egos running down a hallway, entering doors marked "Wednesday" or "Thursday" and doing battle with a buxom female version of Mr. Smith. It then cut to the real Balle Balle Boys dancing with a Trinity look-alike and singing the catchy chorus: "No Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday/No more Thursday or Friday/We only love Saturday!" It was the only part of the song that was in English. Anyway, the programs were excellent. You can, if you want, read more about them at Namaste TV and Chitrahar.

We also bought bikes this weekend! Honestly, this was more exciting than the South Asian tv programs, but I think there's less to say about it. There are a lot of parks with bike trails in them nearby that we're looking forward to exploring.

We also saw Batman Begins, which was very dark and very cool. We both really enjoyed it, and I would highly recommend it to everyone. (Except Mom, who won't like it.) We went for a late-night bike ride after we got back from the movie. It was really nice, with fireflies everywhere.

Link-O-Rama

One of the nice things about where live is that there are a number of state parks nearby. We've visited Moraine Hills State Park a number of times; last weekend we went to Chain O Lakes State Park; and today we briefly visited Glacial Park. Since one of the hot topics in technology right now is hacking Google Maps to create your own custom map, I decided to give this a shot. You can see the state parks that we've visited here. If you click on the red markers you should see a picture we took at each place. Doing this type of thing is still very new, but there are already some amazing applications of it. This one combines Google Maps with real estate listings.

Recently Wendy and I watched The Corporation. It's a very interesting, but somewhat disturbing documentary about the effects corporatization has had on our lives, on society, and on the planet. It does run a bit long (2.5 hours), but it is very well done.

Finally, one of the most incredible engineering failures/environmental disasters of all time took place at Lake Peigneur in Louisiana on November 21, 1980. You can read about it here, here, and here. One of my coworkers saw a program on the History Channel recently that covered this event and interviewed people that were there. In a nutshell, here's what happened:
- Texaco had an oil rig set up at the edge of a lake. The lake covered about 1300 acres, but was very shallow, only 3 feet deep.
- After drilling 1,228 feet, something started to go very wrong. The oil rig felt like it was going to collapse, so the workers abandoned it and headed to the shore.
- They watched as the lake started to turn, and a giant whirlpool formed that began sucking everything in the lake, including the oil rig, down a huge crater at the bottom.
- The lake was connected to the Gulf of Mexico by a canal. As the lake started draining, the canal lowered and began flowing in reverse. Water from the Gulf of Mexico actually started pouring into the lake in a 50 foot waterfall.
- Barges in the canal couldn't overcome the reversed water flow, and so they too got sucked down the lake.
- All of this mayhem was caused by the fact (unknown at the time) that the oil rig was drilling right above a salt mine. The drill punctured the roof of the mine, water flowed in, dissolved the salt pillars, which caused the mine to collapse, which caused more water to flow in, causing more salt to dissolve, etc.
- There were workers in the mine, but all of them managed to escape. No one was killed.
- The list of things sucked down the lake includes: 2 drilling rigs, 11 barges, 40+ acres of land from an island in the lake, a house trailer, a tug boat, and more.
- The lake, which was originally 3 feet deep, was now 1300 feet deep.
- Eventually, 9 of the 11 barges sucked to the bottom of the lake popped up to the surface like corks.

I can't believe I had never heard about this until now.

We Service Society By Rocking (And Yes, We Like Those Pants)

Today was a pretty productive day. We got car and renter's insurance for Illinois, browsed the Grayslake Library (it's very nice), returned a defective curtain rod and got a working one, bought some pictures for our bedroom and then framed and hung them, did some birthday shopping for...um, never mind...and watched School of Rock. It rocked. Seriously.

Oh, and I totally forgot about Kohl's. We went to the one in Crystal Lake to find some pants and a belt for Randy. While we were browsing through the pants, we saw some school-age guys also looking for some pants, and I noticed one was holding a video camera.

When Randy went in to try the pants on, we saw the guys again. They were filming what I can only hope was a video for their Spanish class. One guy went into the dressing room, changed pants, and then came out and said, "¿Te gusta los pantalones?" which I originally (and mistakenly) translated for Randy as, "Do you like my panties?" Oops. That's an entirely different kind of video. So yes. Hopefully for their Spanish class.

They got through about a scene and a half before someone noticed and kicked them out. Apparently Kohl's frowns on cameras in the dressing room. Which I find reassuring.

Abby's coming to visit us on Wednesday! We're really looking forward to seeing her. We don't really have any plans yet, but hopefully we'll spend some time down in Chicago sightseeing. I'd like to ride the Metra and go up to the top of the Sears Tower, although Randy is slightly apprehensive about the height. We also got a coupon for a free train ride at the zoo today from our gas company, so maybe that would be fun. Any thoughts, Abba? (Or suggestions from anyone else?)

Love to all!

P.S. to Abby: Die Hose gefaellt mir. Was kostet die Hose?