Some Ketchup to Go with the Ham

Wow! It's been seven weeks since I last blogged. "So sorry. So so sorry" I finally found the elusive job and have been busy getting used to the new work/LIFE schedule. I've been mostly working, working, eating, and sleeping and not much else. The creativity just drained out of me, I guess, so that I could focus on making a good start at the new job.

I'll catch you up quickly with the highlights since January 13 then... My friend Jeff made the big move, from San Diego to the East Coast. I wish him well. He breezed through Phoenix on his way. I'm glad I got to see him on his way across the country to his new job.

After the new job's insurance kicked in, I got my bothersome ankle looked at, but apparently nothing is wrong, according to the experts. Hmmm, wonder if those over-caffeinated "experts" would like to walk around on my ankle for awhile. Well, not actually walking on my ankle, hello, ouch, but walking around with my ankle substituted for one of theirs. I wonder how quickly things would be cleared up then at the ol' H.M.O. then.

The Academy Award nominations came out weeks ago. I did pretty well guessing the noms. I was five for five in the Original Screenplay, Actress, and Actor categories and was four for five in Picture, Adapted Screenplay, and Supporting Actor. John C. Reilly sneaking in a nomination for CHICAGO surprised me as did Dennis Quaid's omission in the Supporting category. I haven't had one spare moment to think about my predictions for winners based on the nominations.

I have, however, seen several movies lately. Quick reviews--THE LIFE OF DAVID GALE (Kate Winslet is great, the other actors are good, the movies not as hit-you-over-the-head as the reviews say, but is WAAAAAAAAAAAY too predictable. Ho-hum...), TALK TO HER (Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful stuff. Pedro Almodovar is really growing, no, not growing but deepening as a director. The kitsch is still there, but real humanity is taking center-stage, along with the usual weird-ass stuff as well. You gotta' see the whole shrinking lover entering the vaginal cave thing to believe it. I was roaring with laughter...), ADAPTATION! (Streep rules! Actually, all the acting is so good, and I say that thinking that Cage can be extremely irritating sometimes. Meta-fiction, meta-movies, hmmm...), ABOUT SCHMIDT (Oh, Jack can be irritating too but is fine here. I love Kathy Bates, and her perf here is fine, just not Oscar-worthy, another ho-hummer...), CHICAGO (ho-hum, perhaps my having to put up with the "soundtrack" wailing in the privacy of my own home discolors my trip to the theatre to see this one. Blessedly, the singing is not nearly as horrible as MOULIN ROUGE's, dreck...), THE HOURS (Thank goodness for movies alive like this one to make you forget still-life like CHICAGO. Nic is really good here. Intense...) CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (Good fun...), DARKNESS FALLS (I went just to see Anya from "Buffy" to see if the actress was any good in another role. The damn movie made me scream "Shit!" in public. Silly crap scared the, umm, crap out of me a couple times...)

Also went over to Scottsdale recently for a play on the stage called MACHOMER, a blithe combo of Shakespeare's MACBETH and "The Simpsons." Some really, really nice moments of two pop culture behemoths feeding off each other, all done in a one-man-show. Details at machomer.com.

I must've seen something like 50 films from 2002 so far. I'd still like to see BOWLING FOR COLUMBINE, 8 WOMEN, FAR FROM HEAVEN, THE PIANIST, THE QUIET AMERICAN, SPIRITED AWAY, and, maybe, FRIDA. If someone paid my way, I could probably be convinced to see GANGS OF NEW YORK as well. Well, maybe if the person paying threw in an extra sixty bucks or so. The subject matter just seems so unappealing. But, I do love watching Day-Lewis chew scenery and Diaz is usually a knockout. We'll see.

I think Los and I are off to the Renaissance Faire tomorrow morning. We went to Flagstaff for the weekend a few weeks ago and had a nice time in his ol' college town. It was Valentine's Day weekend. He gave me a gold band. I gave him one. You know, the usual stuff...

Oh, my God, it's so great having a better half! I love him.

I've been bad about keeping up with what I do in my journal. As bad as I've been about blogging. But, like I said, I've mostly been sleeping when not working. As for work, I will NOT talk about it here, so don't ask. It's a client privacy thing.

I'm gonna' go join the other half now in dreamland so that we can enjoy the trip back through time tomorrow...

(This web-log entry is COPYRIGHT 2003 Michael S. Adams.)