Catoptrophobia (the fear of mirrors)

Eisoptrophobia (the fear of mirrors or of seeing oneself in the mirror)

After going to see MiRRors with a friend, I was curious to learn the term for the malady and was intrigued to learn that while there is one slight difference, it is enough to have two different phobias. The movie itself was a lot of fun and held your attention once it got going. The plot concerns a former NYPD detective (played by Kiefer Sutherland) working as a night watchman at an abandoned department store in which the mirrors seem to play horrible tricks on people. The most horrible trick involved the lead character’s sister (played by Amy Smart).

My complaints with the experience had nothing to do with the movie itself. It seemed that there was a group of about 10 young high school girls who insisted upon whispering throughout and giggling at the most inappropriate times. There was also a young boy across the aisle who seemed to be more interested in the game on his cell phone than the movie. Yet, these youngsters (who must not enjoy high school football) did not distract too much.

So, if you are in the mood for a decent horror flick that will not put you to sleep (unlike the last one I saw in the theatre that I have dubbed Asleep) look into Mirrors.  Although we were both interested in seeing the movie, taylhis did provide enough of a recommendation to make us want to see it even more.

Enter to win free movie tickets for an entire year on Fandango!

Ok, I was scanning the news this evening and ran across this headline (on CNN if you must know) “Britney Reveals Hot New Body”. Now my first thoughts were “Who Cares?” Then I thought did she steal it? Then can I get a new body too, my knees aren’t what they used to be. And again with that thought, How did they attach it and why not a new brain? All that from one little headline.

Now over the years, I’ve noticed many headlines that can be read in more than one way. Most of this is due to the fact that headlines are rarely punctuated. Good punctuation can define what the sentence means, bad punctuation can give another meaning entirely. Words with multiple meanings can be used to misinterpret the meaning too.

This tendency in headlines has even given the late night talk show hosts something to ‘talk’ about. And they just keep showing up in the papers, and now on line. You would think that avoiding this would be taught in Journalism schools. Or not, maybe it sells more papers. So news day, add a heading that people will take different than intended, It should sell more papers…

I guess it wouldn’t be fair to just leave you with one headline would it?

So for your pleasure

The Funny Pages

Witty Quotes

And finally

Headline Humor

Enjoy…

Not exactly, I just never sat down to write a review on this movie, but my “Clone Wars” review made me think of it again.

First question asked and answered. Is it a Mummy Sequel? They say so, but I really didn’t think so. This guy was not a mummy, he was cursed and turned into a statue. Low and Behold somebody had a way to bring him back to life… Hmm

This movie was fun. The time in the theater just flew by. Statue people, unearth skeletons, and even Yetis. (Now where and why did they every find Yetis???)

Fun action flick, lots of comedy to keep it lighter, great scenery, and the good guys win. But best of all NO BUGS. The only thing that really bother me about the other Mummy movies were the various bugs that crawled into or around people. Just enough to make you itch… This movie no bugs.

Fun matinee movie, or a good rental. Don’t bother (and I think it is gone anyway) going to the superplex for this one.

Of course you do, who doesn’t?  Besides, it’s Friday night, and you’re at home reading my blog!  😉  I guess you could be reading this at a later time…  But anyway, if you’re around my age or older, then you remember Molly Ringwald, a popular actress in the 1980’s from many teen-themed movies such as Pretty in Pink, Sixteen Candles, and the iconic The Breakfast Club.  If you were a fan of these movies as a teen or young adult yourself, you will probably feel old when I tell you that Molly Ringwald is playing a grandmother in her next role.  That’s right – grandma.  A woman whose kid has a kid.  Sigh.  While we’re on the subject of feeling old, I read an article the other day that had some interesting facts about the lives of students entering college this fall.  Each August for the past 11 years, Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., has released the Beloit College Mindset List.  It provides a look at the cultural touchstones that shape the lives of students entering college.  For these students, Sammy Davis Jr., Jim Henson, Ryan White, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Freddy Krueger have always been dead.  Here is some food for thought with the rest of the list:

1. Harry Potter could be a classmate, playing on their Quidditch team.
2. Since they were in diapers, karaoke machines have been annoying people at parties.
3. They have always been looking for Carmen Sandiego.
4. GPS satellite navigation systems have always been available.
5. Coke and Pepsi have always used recycled plastic bottles.
6. Shampoo and conditioner have always been available in the same bottle.
7. Gas stations have never fixed flats, but most serve cappuccino.
8. Their parents may have dropped them in shock when they heard George Bush announce “tax revenue increases.”
9. Electronic filing of tax returns has always been an option.
10. Girls in head scarves have always been part of the school fashion scene.
11. All have had a relative–or known about a friend’s relative–who died comfortably at home with Hospice.
12. As a precursor to “whatever,” they have recognized that some people “just don’t get it.”
13. Universal Studios has always offered an alternative to Mickey in Orlando.
14. Grandma has always had wheels on her walker.
15. Martha Stewart Living has always been setting the style.
16. Haagen-Dazs ice cream has always come in quarts.
17. Club Med resorts have always been places to take the whole family.
18. WWW has never stood for World Wide Wrestling.
19. Films have never been X rated, only NC-17.
20. The Warsaw Pact is as hazy for them as the League of Nations was for their parents.
21. Students have always been “Rocking the Vote.”
22. Clarence Thomas has always sat on the Supreme Court.
23. Schools have always been concerned about multiculturalism.
24. We have always known that “All I Ever Really Needed to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.”
25. There have always been gay rabbis.
26. Wayne Newton has never had a mustache.
27. College grads have always been able to Teach for America.
28. IBM has never made typewriters.
29. Roseanne Barr has never been invited to sing the National Anthem again.
30. McDonald’s and Burger King have always used vegetable oil for cooking french fries.
31. They have never been able to color a tree using a raw umber Crayola.
32. There has always been Pearl Jam.
33. The Tonight Show has always been hosted by Jay Leno and started at 11:35 EST.
34. Pee-Wee has never been in his playhouse during the day.
35. They never tasted Benefit Cereal with psyllium.
36. They may have been given a Nintendo Game Boy to play with in the crib.
37. Authorities have always been building a wall across the Mexican border.
38. Lenin’s name has never been on a major city in Russia.
39. Employers have always been able to do credit checks on employees.
40. Balsamic vinegar has always been available in the U.S.
41. Macaulay Culkin has always been Home Alone.
42. Their parents may have watched The American Gladiators on TV the day they were born.
43. Personal privacy has always been threatened.
44. Caller ID has always been available on phones.
45. Living wills have always been asked for at hospital check-ins.
46. The Green Bay Packers (almost) always had the same starting quarterback.
47. They never heard an attendant ask “Want me to check under the hood?”
48. Iced tea has always come in cans and bottles.
49. Soft drink refills have always been free.
50. They have never known life without Seinfeld references from a show about “nothing.”
51. Windows 3.0 operating system made IBM PCs user-friendly the year they were born.
52. Muscovites have always been able to buy Big Macs.
53. The Royal New Zealand Navy has never been permitted a daily ration of rum.
54. The Hubble Space Telescope has always been eavesdropping on the heavens.
55. 98.6 F or otherwise has always been confirmed in the ear.
56. Michael Milken has always been a philanthropist promoting prostate cancer research.
57. Off-shore oil drilling in the United States has always been prohibited.
58. Radio stations have never been required to present both sides of public issues.
59. There have always been charter schools.
60. Students always had Goosebumps.

I hope I didn’t depress you, but remember, it’s not my list, so blame Beloit College and Molly Ringwald if you feel like an old geezer.  Why don’t we just forget about the list and toast our recycled bottles of Coke to life experience.

When I saw the news story the other day about an orphaned baby humpback whale, I was tempted to put it in my blog, but I didn’t because I had a feeling it wouldn’t end well.  I’m sorry to say that I was right, and I’m only writing about it now because the saga is over.

There was a baby humpback whale off the coast of Australia who was trying to suckle from yachts; they estimated him to be about 1 or 2 months old.  For some reason, he had been abandoned by his mother, even though he was obviously still nursing.  They tried to help him; they tried leading him out to sea, integrating him into another pod of whales, and they speculated about what to feed him.  But because he was still nursing, they didn’t know how to take care of a 12 foot orphaned whale.  Throughout his plight, Australians following the story grew attached to the “little” guy, and they affectionately named him Colin.  They watched as Colin grew weak with hunger as the days went by until sadly, the decision was made to euthanize him.  Suddenly, he was no where to be found….  but I guess it was just the darkness cloaking him because they did find him the next day, and they pulled him ashore and administered a lethal injection.

As an animal lover, this story was very sad for me to read, but mostly, I just don’t get it.  Why did humans have to take it upon themselves to euthanize the whale?  Why couldn’t they have at least tried to feed him?  It’s not that I think any animal should suffer, but this was nature…  it wasn’t humans who injured the baby whale, so why not let nature continue taking its course and just leave him alone?  Who knows, maybe he would have found a pod of whales to nurse him back to health before it was too late.  But no, the humans just had to intervene – they had to drag a baby whale out of the water, his natural habitat, and kill him.  They didn’t want him to suffer starving to death in the ocean, but what about the terror he felt when he was captured and dragged out of the water?  And let’s not even talk about how much all this costs.  Seems like they could have fed a few starving people, put a roof over someone’s head for a few nights, or provided medical care to the sick if they had extra money laying around to execute a whale.  After all, every little bit helps, right?  But what’s done is done; the saga of Colin the whale is over.  Maybe humans will eventually realize that their constant meddling with nature sometimes brings more harm than good. 

I was sick of reading the horrible news stories on CNN, so I went to thesmokinggun.com in search of some comedic relief.  The following story is more amazing than funny – it’s amazing that they put this poor girl through this, and it’s amazing that they wasted tax payers’ dollars in doing so.

From thesmokinggun.com:

AUGUST 21–The next time you forget to return a couple of library books (and ignore those annoying letters about the overdue status of said volumes), think of Heidi Dalibor. The Wisconsin woman, 20, was arrested earlier this month in connection with a pair of books overdue for several months. Dalibor, who made the mistake of ignoring a court citation issued after she failed to respond to letters and phone calls from the Grafton library, was busted August 6 for failing to return copies of Janet Fitch’s best-seller “White Oleander” (a 1999 Oprah Book Club selection) and “Angels & Demons,” author Dan Brown’s precursor to “The Da Vinci Code.” According to a police report, Dalibor was apprehended at her family’s home, cuffed and stuffed in a cruiser, and booked for violating the “overdue library materials” ordinance.  Dalibor subsequently settled with the library by paying her overdue fines and reimbursing it for the cost of the two novels, which totaled around $180. Dalibor’s mother Patty said that her daughter was “a good kid” who works two jobs. She is also now the owner of the Fitch and Brown books, which Dalibor got to keep as a result of paying off her library levies.

I got new glasses today, but I’m not sure I like them. I’m getting to an age (49+) where I need a bit more than reading glasses (Maybe). Since my first set of bifocals caused all sorts of problems for me (those dang lines were always in the way), I now have a set of progressive lenses. I will admit that they help my distance vision a bit, but I had to check a few time to make sure it was an improvement. I also don’t need to cock my head at a funny angle to read or use the computer. All good things.

The problem I am having is a sense of tunnel vision while I read or do computer work. This is not quite as annoying as the bifocal lines, but it is annoying. Then there is a small little thing that I have to turn my head while reading on a computer, or any other semi-wide item (even the backs of DVD boxes). I may get used to this, but it may cause problems since at work I do a lot of glancing between two different screens. With my reading (non bifocal) glasses, I can just shift my eyes to where I want to look. The new glasses I have to turn my head to keep everything right in front of me. I get some time to check these out so I guess I will do that. I need to find out how long I get. I may end up trading these for a pair of reading glasses, and maybe some just for computer work. I’m not sure right now.

The one benefit to these glasses, if I get used to wearing them, I will never be without my reading glasses… I’m just not sure about the tunnel vision..

Saw the latest addition to the Star Wars Saga yesterday with my family. Interesting movie, but I’m not sure it did much to fill in the story for me.

As a stand alone movie, without any Star Wars background, I don’t think this movie would even be in the theaters. The animation and story line were direct to DVD quality, or maybe in line with some of the offerings on Cable. Not what I would consider for a theatrical release.

That being said, this was a Star Wars movie. And of course another story in the life of the Skywalker family. Supposedly the time line for this is sometime between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith (Star Wars II and III). In that I was hoping it would expand the story a bit. I was disappointed in that.

Good points, well the battle scenes (and there were a lot of them) were interesting to watch, and the interaction of various members of the Droid army were very funny. The voices behind Count Dooku (Christopher Lee), Mace Windu (Samuel L. Jackson) and C3P0 (Anthony Daniels) were well done, especially since they were all in the other movies as the same characters. The other voice work was ok, but the main characters lacked some zing. Maybe this is my “the original 3 shows were better” mentality, but this show needed work.

Is it worth going to see? Cheap theater, cheap seats (two for one day, or bring your own bag day) sure, but if you’re not a Star Wars fan, save you’re money — wait for the rental.

Halloween is right around the corner…  ok it’s 2 months away!  But Halloween stuff is out all over the stores already, and while we’re planning our Haunted Tour for our community theater group, our other friends in the theater are getting ready to stage an hilarious (TANGENT ALERT: I HATE using the word “an” before words that start with h, but I guess that’s proper English, so…) production of the play called Kitchen Witches!  Someone had a great idea to sell a Halloween cookbook as a fundraiser for the theater.  Being a stay-at-home-mom of 4, I have a few holiday-themed recipes in my vault that are fun for the kids and adults (to eat), so I’m going to contribute my favorite Halloween recipes.  Since I have to type them up to submit to the cookbook anyway, I thought I’d put them on my blog, along with a recipe for one of my favorite desserts: peanut butter bars – YUM!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds
large pumpkins
salt
seasonings (your choice)
butter

Extract seeds from pumpkin, separate from pulp, and discard pulp.  Put the seeds in a colander and run water over them to get rid of all the pulp.  Drain on paper towels.  Melt 1 Tablespoon of butter and toss pumpkin seeds in a bowl with the butter and salt and / or seasonings.  Spread seeds out onto a cookie sheet.  Toast seeds in an oven preheated to 350° for about 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes and adding salt occasionally.  Check the seeds to see if they’re done by taking a sample out, letting it cool, and tasting it.  If the insides are dry, they’re done.  Be careful not to burn – you want a nice golden brown color.
NOTES:  I use a clean, thin dishcloth instead of paper towels since I’ve had problems in the past with the seeds sticking to the paper towels.  Be creative with the seasonings; you can use popcorn seasoning, taco seasoning, garlic salt, onion powder, cayenne pepper, cajun seasoning, etc.  Pumpkin seeds are high in iron, vitamin A, and zinc; if you want to make them even healthier use olive oil instead of butter.

Rice Krispies Treats Spiders
YIELD: 3-5 spiders
3 Tablespoons margerine or butter
1 package (10 oz. or about 40) marshmallows or 4 cups mini marshmallows
6 cups rice krispies cereal
food coloring
prepared frosting
candy corn
string licorice
shredded coconut

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt margerine and marshmallows on high for 2 minutes, stirring after 1 minute.  Add a few drops of food coloring and stir mixture until smooth.  Add rice krispies cereal, stirring until well coated.  Let cereal mixture slightly cool until it is safe to touch.  With buttered hands, shape cereal mixture into spider shape and place on wax paper.  Let cool.  Attach decorations to the spider with frosting using candy corn for eyes, licorice for the web, and coconut for the hair.  You can color the coconut by soaking in warm water with a few drops of food coloring for about 30 minutes.  Dry coconut on a paper towel before using.

Peanut Butter Bars
1 lb. powdered sugar
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 sticks melted butter
12 oz. peanut butter

Mix all ingredients together in a 9×13 non-greased pan.  Melt large bag of chocolate chips and spread on top.  Cut into squares in pan and refrigerate until cold.

How many of us have ever walked around a retail store in search of an item, give up the search, and ask a store associate for assistance. Ok, admit it… everyone has (or else they are too ashamed to admit it). The other day, a customer approached me. She was not entirely sure if I was working (apparently, the huge cart with crates of milk did not convince her).

“Excuse me, do you work here?”

“Well… I think so.” (I was a bit confused)

She then asked the location of the rice. I tried to be as tactful as possible when I told her that she was standing right in front of it. I’ll give her the benefit of the doubt since her back was turned to it. However, I knew she just wanted to crawl in a hole as she turned around only to come face-to-face with bags of regular rice, boxes of Minute Rice, boxes of Rice-a-Roni, and other variations on a theme.

This reminded me of another incident involving a customer who was having difficulty while searching for an item. I will never forget the time my cousin (who does read my blog) came in and asked if we sold sun-dried tomatoes. I approached the store manager at the time who looked at me with a bewildered expression and asked:

“Why the heck would I carry sun-dried tomatoes? Those would be one of the deadest items I could ever carry. I would be stuck with them for years.”

What a guy, tactful to a fault. Personality though… wet blanket (is that a term?). He was probably right, though; I don’t see sun-dried tomatoes being a big seller in our small store and they would probably sit on the shelf in danger of becoming outdated.

And from a personal observation… do they still make Spicy Guacamole Pringles (Potato CRISPS)? I asked the boss today if we could carry them. They are the best variety of the bunch (much better I am sure than the NEW DILL PICKLE variety). Unfortunately, she looked in her big ordering book and came up empty. Sorry game night fans. Verrry interrrresting… after searching on the Pringles website, I have discovered that the spicy guacamole variety is still around.