Sunday, November 26, 2006

This and that...

My friend Eileen was in town visiting her parents, so we went and tipped a few back in the almost-too-lovely Cedarburg. Found a great brew house on the river and a completely seedy dive on the main drag.

Drama occurred. It was fun.

We also met a cat who was freaking out a couple because it was following them. He turned out to be a very nice cat and not scarey at all. He had a crazy curly tail too, which is always a clue that you may be dealing with a rather extra-ordinary cat indeed.

Eileen's friend who used to work in Cincinnati but now works at the Journal-Sentinel here in Milwaukee came out and met us. Fun was had.

***

Last night, I watched 'Finding Neverland.' I've had it sitting on the shelf for a while and never got around to putting it in the DVD player. I love J.M. Barrie and 'Peter Pan' so I knew I would like it. Plus, it features Johnny Depp. How can that be bad? Johnny Depp is one of my favorite actors.

Anyway, I watched it and balled like crazy. I was really glad that I watched it at home so it was easier to get all emotional about it. Don't know why it was so touching, but for some reason it was.

***

On the book front, I can't seem to read past the first 50 pages of anything I pick up lately. That's excepting the wonderful, 'The Anansi Boys' by Neil Gaiman. I read that one through in one long night. I love books like that, but I'm always sad to finish them so quickly.

Anyway, the characters are quirky and the story is crazy fun. So - of course - I loved it. Give me a quirky character, toss him into a weird reality and sprinkle on some god-like powers...and I'm sold.

I mean, how can you go wrong with a main character named Fat Charlie who turns out to be the son of an ancient god? Let me answer that for you. You can't go wrong with such a book.

***

I heard this on the radio and had to Google it...

It turns out that - shockingly, some say - Welsh Dragon Sausage doesn't actually contain any dragon meat at all. Thankfully, there was someone on the ball at one of the British agencies tasked with overseeing such things. Can you imagine how annoying it would be to order up some dragon sausage, cook it up with great anticipation, and then bite into it to find it was really just pork? That would be utter crap I tell you.

I'm just glad I wasn't one of those duped on this scam. Thank you 1996 Food Labelling Act and the Powry council for nipping this in the bud - I'm sure Brits are glad to see their tax dollars doing such fine work.

And this is no small story. It's been covered by many news outlets, including the BBC.

The lovely dragon-free Dragon sausages can be ordered online too...isn't this a wonderful world?


***

And...ummm...there's this too. I don't even know what to say. It's tragic, to be sure, but it's also a bit... Well, I'll just let you decide.

Who says that weird shit doesn't happen in the real world?

16 comments:

Laura said...

You gotta watch those bookcases - I had one chase me down the street with a butcher knife once. Ok, maybe I had been smoking just a little too much wacky weed that night, but still.

Finding Neverland was great - loved it! Sounds like you had fun with friends - always a good thing

dbackdad said...

Now you got me scared. We just bought another bookcase at Ikea this weekend. If you don't hear from me for awhile, you'll know why. :-)

I like Finding Neverland quite a bit. Stories that go back and forth between reality and fantasy are cool. What is reality anyway? Plus, I have a major thing for Kate Winslet.

S.M. Elliott said...

Good God. Now I'm never buying a bookshelf above waist height.

I love Kate Winslet to death, but Finding Neverland was a bit of a crock. The real story of Barrie and the Llewelyn-Davies family is actually rather dark and sad. She was NOT a widow when they met, and Barrie was blamed for the breakdown of her marriage (and his)because he became something of a parasite. Peter, who was just a baby when the play was written and later became Barrie's ward (there are allegations that Barrie forged Sylvia's will to make this happen) later felt that Barrie had used and discarded him. Not really the feel-good story of the century.

Shawn said...

True that...not at all the feel-good story of the century. That's part of the thing that makes Peter Pan much deeper than just a story for kids. It's dark and Peter is dark, selfish and more than a little callous.

I've always sort of liked Barrie's books, but talk about being haunted by demons. Seems like a lot of my favorite authors were whacked out.

Anonymous said...

1) What? No phone call? I must be in the Bad Friend Zone again. Curse this laziness of mine!

2) Dude, there is a big difference between having watched a movie and "balled like crazy" and "bawled like crazy." Especially if you were alone. Just ask Marvin Gaye.

3) Anansi Boys is great.

4) These sausage-makers could apparently have used some of my expertise.

5) There is a total SNL skit waiting to be written about this woman's family, as they go from place to place never noticing things that any normal human being should be, like, looking a little harder for.

thephoenixnyc said...

"Anyway, I watched it and balled like crazy."

I'm not sure if you mean you watched it and then had lots of sex, or cried...

Shawn said...

Josh and PNYC - Hmmm...good point guys. It did have Kate Winslet in it and she's always made me feel randy baby.

Josh - Naw...you're still in the okay friend zone. We understand that it takes a lot of time and energy to run a major music magazine.

Didn't Eileen send you a pic from the brew house? She said she did, but she was pretty drunk and you know how girls are with technology when they're drunk.

That would be a completely awesome SNL skit. That's almost a golden era SNL idea. You should write for them, they need all the funny people they can get. Or, more importantly, they need someone that can say, 'um...dudes, that's not very funny'.

Anonymous said...

Re: Pic from Eileen. Actually, yes, now that I think about it, I did get a picture. But I was pretty drunk when I received it, and had forgotten about it until now. Oops.

Re: SNL. I've come to the conclusion that somewhere in their upper mgt is a person or set of persons who refuse to accept that humor changes over time and who is vetoing funnier sketches in favor of shit that's just like what they were doing ten years ago, except neither new nor creative nor relevant anymore. Ugh.

Shawn said...

I can almost hear that person in a meeting...

"I never heard Gilda Radner do a bit like this. That Gilda Radner sure was funny. Why don't you do something like her skits. Or those Conehead guys...I love those Conehead guys."

Come to think of it, it's almost like Jeff Ackerman is running things there. Nooooooooo...

S.M. Elliott said...

I think Barrie's first title for Pan was "The Boy Who Hated Mothers". *issues*
You're right, it's pretty dark stuff - I'm sure that's what makes it fun.

I didn't want to point out Josh's #2...but, yeah, you did add a whole new dimension to Peter Pan, there.
;D

Miranda said...

Next we'll find out that Puff the magic Dragon wasn't really about a dragon either...

tshsmom said...

ovThere have to be SERIOUS sanitation issues in a household that can't find a dead body for that many days!! And why were 2 grown daughters living at home? Creepy!

S.M. Elliott said...

Yeah, there's clearly some Whatever Happened to Baby Jane stuff goin' on in that household...

begins with v said...

holy crap that was a sad headline!

I am so glad that you cry in movies! That is so attractive in a guy...and Johnny Depp is totally the best actor ever! Not mention is so freakin hot...don't you agree? hehe

Josh said...

I am so glad that you cry in movies! That is so attractive in a guy...

This sort of comment is exactly the reason Shawn cries at movies.

Shawn said...

That's why I don't hang out with you anymore Josh...ummm...or maybe it's because you live in New York.

Kisses.