Average Jane

Great Sadness at Average Jane's House

The vet called yesterday with our cat Friday's test results: she has liver cancer that's progressed so far as to be inoperable. All we can do now is keep her comfortable, feed her anything she'll eat, and be sensitive to how she's feeling so that we don't prolong any noticeable suffering.

So far she's still moving from room to room, answering when we talk to her, and purring when she's petted. She slept on my chest all last night and I had a heck of a backache when I woke up. Even so, we can't deny that she looks really rough. I fear that we're only looking at a few days before we have to make the decision to euthanize her.

Friday was born in June of 1990 to a stray cat. A couple took in the hugely pregnant mother alley cat and ended up with a big vet bill when she required a C-section.

I was looking for a companion for my cat, Kato, and found out about the litter from my vet. The owners screened prospective kitten adopters as though they were giving away their own children. I'd been tempted to take the one male of the litter, but the people didn't think that two male cats would get along. Thus, I chose a very active female tabby kitten who enjoyed climbing up people's backs.

I named her Friday after the Robert Heinlein heroine.

Because I grew up with barn cats, I thought nothing of letting my cats outside when they were young. Friday apparently had a very extensive territory. She also had a very clever method of safely crossing the street: she'd go down into the storm drain at the corner of the yard and emerge on the opposite corner.

After I met my eventual husband, we moved to an apartment where the cats were confined indoors, then to a series of condos. Friday roamed outdoors again at the condo complex and seemed to feel that it was her responsibility to keep the local rabbit population in check. When we moved from one part of the complex to another, she observed what we were doing and met us at our new front door that evening.

She remained an outdoor cat after we bought our house until someone shot her through the back leg with a pellet gun. After that, I decided it was best if she stayed inside with the rest of us.

Even though she's never been particularly cuddly, Friday has been my favorite of our cats for a long time. I often used to have dreams about her, probably because I worried about her when she was outside. It's going to be very, very difficult to say goodbye, but at least I know she's had a long, happy life.

Frighteningly Forgetful Average Jane

You might think I haven't posted for two days because Typepad has been having problems.  Nope, I'm just really, really distracted this week.

Seriously, I'm in the "I'd forget my head if it weren't attached to my body" category.  Here are some of the things I've let slip through the cracks in the past few days (besides the blog):

• I went two days without my cell phone because I took it out of my purse on Tuesday night and never thought to find it and pick it up again.  Well, luckily there were no emergencies though, right?  Uh, no.  I came out of the grocery store last night to find that I had a flat tire.  I didn't have change for the pay phone (did you know pay phone calls cost 50 cents now?!), so I had to go back into the store and get change for a dollar.  I'm glad I had a dollar.
• On Wednesday, I conducted the first board meeting of my Soroptimist Club since I became president.  I remembered to bring copies of the agenda.  I forgot my gavel.
• Yesterday, I left the office to go to my vocal lesson and didn't realize until I was 10 miles away that I'd forgotten my purse.  I had to go back to the office after 7:00 p.m. and retrieve my purse from my desk drawer so I could shop for groceries and baby gifts.

As you can imagine, my work habits have been similarly scattered.  Today, I found myself ping-ponging back and forth between two projects that needed to be completed.  I'd work for a few minutes on one, then get distracted by some aspect of the other and work on it for a while.  I finally got both of them finished, but it would have been a lot more efficient to work on them one at a time.

Now I have the flat tire fiasco to deal with.  My cute little Honda Insight has teeny-tiny tires that no normal tire store carries.  The flat is a rear tire, which is partially obscured by the wheel cover panels.  I am disinclined to try to take the tire off (remember, my car's in a grocery store parking lot), but I'm not sure that towing the car is the way to go either.  I'm going to call the service department of the closest Honda dealer as soon as they open and see what they recommend.

That's all for today.  Have a great Friday and an even better weekend.

Average Jane Sticks Up for Jenny McCarthy

I watched a little bit of the Academy Awards broadcast on Sunday.  Yawn.  As usual, the only movies I had seen (aside from Pride & Prejudice) were the ones nominated for special effects and technical awards.

So nevermind the Oscars.  I want to talk about the serious injustice perpetrated at this year's Razzie Awards.  Yes, I am here to defend Jenny McCarthy and her movie, Dirty Love.

Ignore the horrible reviews at Rotten Tomatoes (but note that the users gave it a 37% rating compared to the critics' 8%).  Instead, look at what Pajiba had to say.  That's a lot closer to how I feel about this woefully underappreciated masterpiece of pioneering grossout humor for women.

I'll be the first to admit that this movie is not for everyone.  Judging by the critics' reactions, it's easy to draw the conclusion that one group it's certainly not for is men.  No, this is a deliberately tasteless comedy just for the gals.

And it's hilarious!  My sister and I watched it on the recommendation of one of her friends, and laughed ourselves silly.  I'm not saying there wasn't a bottle of wine involved, but that only served as a minor enhancement to the viewing experience.

If you're interested in seeing a crude comedy that only a women could think up, seriously, go rent this movie.  I may have to buy a copy and keep it next to my DVD of Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death.

Average Jane at the Movies

Last night I went to see the latest version of "Pride and Prejudice."  As a big fan of the 1995 BBC miniseries (wow, 10 years ago?), I had some doubts that I could fully appreciate a remake that didn't consume an entire afternoon.

I loved it!

Two things really stood out:  age-appropriate casting and verisimilitude of setting.  More than any other version I've seen, the homes in this movie felt realistic for their occupants' social class and lifestyle.  The Bennetts' house shows the wear and tear and clutter that you'd reasonably expect (not to mention various animals strolling through on occasion), which contrasts sharply with the grand homes of the wealthy characters.

The story was necessarily streamlined, but I didn't miss anything specific.  The acting was superb and really brought out the humor of the dialogue and situations.  I'll definitely want to see it again.

However, I don't think I'll go back to the theater in which I saw the movie yesterday.  It was so understaffed that I could easily have foregone buying a ticket and simply walked into any movie I wanted to see (not that I would do that).  They seemed to be making up for other moviegoers' ticket fraud by keeping the furnace turned off.  I was so cold that I had to huddle beneath my coat throughout the entire movie.

Tonight's entertainment:  an art opening followed by a pub crawl.  I have a feeling I'm going to regret having stayed up so late last night!

Average Jane at the Movies

Woohoo!  I got to see two movies in one week - what a delightful treat.

On Thursday night I saw "Tim Burton's The Corpse Bride."  It had a good mix of humor and ghoulishness, and I liked it despite my general dislike of exposition in song.  Many of the characters (particularly the two brides) owe their general shape and appearance to the Rankin/Bass stop-motion specials of the '60s and '70s.  Tim Burton didn't pass up any opportunities at homage to the stop-motion pioneers:  in one scene, the manufacturer's label on a grand piano reads "Harryhausen."

"The Corpse Bride" is probably the shortest movie I've seen in a long time, but the length felt right for the relatively simple folk tale that provided the plot.  If you're a Tim Burton fan, you'll want to prepare a spot for it next to your "Nightmare Before Christmas" DVD.

Yesterday I finally got to see "Serenity."  I say "finally" because it came out on Friday, and yet I had to wait until Sunday for my schedule to open up so I could go.  As it was, I went alone - I couldn't convince my husband that the magic of TiVo meant that he didn't have to be home the instant the football game started.

It was AWESOME!  Low budget?  Sure.  A tad insider-y for people who never watched "Firefly"?  Yes, maybe a tad, but I suspect it was enjoyable enough on its own merits to be entertaining even for someone who hadn't already immersed themselves in the characters and backstory. 

I gasped out loud at one or two scenes and I recall saying, "Aw, shit!" - also aloud - at one particularly shocking event.  I'm not a theater talker, people!  I just couldn't help it after my recent "Firefly" DVD-a-thon. 

My only criticism of the movie was that I had a little difficulty understanding some of the dialogue.  Maybe it was the sound system in that particular theater...or maybe it's my poor, heavy-metal-overdriven ear drums.  And, yes, I realize that some of the dialogue is in Chinese - I'm talking about English dialogue.

I sincerely hope this will become a movie series (even though this one wrapped up a lot of loose ends, just in case).  It's kind of fun to be able to be all fangirl about a movie, especially compared to my lackluster interest in the final "Star Wars."  In the meantime, I need to think about who might want to accompany me to see it again...

Average Jane's Cult Classic Faves

About a month ago, a friend of mine sent around an e-mail asking people to list their favorite cult classic movies.  I added my two cents after a lot of responses had already come back, and I deliberately avoided choosing ones that other people had mentioned.  Here was my list:

• Evil Dead II (Evil Dead remade with a higher budget)
• This Is Spinal Tap (still my favorite of the Christopher Guest "mockumentaries")
• So I Married An Axe Murderer ("Stay for a nightcap!")
• Cannibal Women in the Avocado Jungle of Death (Adrienne Barbeau, Shannon Tweed and Bill Maher - what more do you need to know?)
• Office Space (every type of work-oriented ridiculousness condensed into a comedy gem)

Yesterday I found out why he was asking - he's put together a discussion forum on this very topic:  CultMovieForum.com.  There's not a lot of activity yet, but feel free to sign up and rhapsodize about your favorite non-mainstream classics.  I have a feeling that the "Movies that should be on here, but aren't" discussion might get the most play for a while!

Average Jane Goes to the Movies

I wasn't rushing to see Batman Begins until various co-workers started recommending it this week.  I saw it last night and it was AWESOME!  Awesome in a "nice try, Tim Burton, but you've been surpassed" kind of way.

It was so good that it somehow even managed to expunge most of the resentment I have maintained all these years about wasting two hours of my life watching Batman and Robin.

As its title suggests, "Batman Begins" starts with a lot of backstory to explain how and why Bruce Wayne became Batman.  It's well cast with great but unintrusive special effects and sets that always seem realistic within the framework of the story.  (I hate to keep harping on "Batman and Robin," the worst movie I've ever seen, but I can't resist pointing out the unlamented lack of day-glo paint and black light in the set design.)

Since this is a recommendation, not a review, I'll leave my description at that.  If you have a chance to see this movie and you've ever enjoyed the Batman story, I think you'll like it.

An extra geek bonus was that I finally saw a trailer for Serenity.  With it, The Fantastic Four and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory all coming out soon, I think I'm going to be spending a lot more time at the movies this summer.

Average Jane Is In No Hurry

I still remember the first time I saw the first Star Wars movie.  It was at a drive-in theater and my sister and I watched it from atop our parents' station wagon.  My folks had padded our perch with blankets, but the luggage rack made it tough to find a comfortable spot to lie on my belly.

An interesting side note:  because Star Wars was rated PG, my parents went and saw it once without us to make sure it didn't contain any inappropriate content.  (We were also the only kids in my elementary school who weren't allowed to watch Saturday Night Live, but that's another story.)  I wonder how today's parents will handle the latest installment's PG-13 rating.

I was a huge geek throughout junior high and high school, and as science fiction provides a lovely focus for geekdom, the premiere of Return of the Jedi found me standing in line outside the theater at our local mall, in costume.  I already had a Star Wars-like costume, you see, from attending science fiction conventions.

Like many people who grew up with the original Star Wars trilogy, I've been less than impressed with the prequels so far.  For the most part, the special effects are impressive but the human interactions leave much to be desired.  Let's not even speak of Jar-Jar.  I'm as anxious as any recovering SF geek (the purists prefer the abbreviation "SF" over "sci-fi") to see the story arc reach its inevitable conclusion, but I'm not in a rush to the theater this time.

Rather than submit to repeated compromises of my personal space, I'm willing to wait for the crowds to die down a bit before I cough up my $9.00 to see Revenge of the Sith.  Some of my co-workers are going to see it this afternoon, but I definitely wouldn't want to take comp time and fight the crowds to go.

Therefore, I have decided to let opening day pass me by.  It's possible we'll try to catch it on Sunday afternoon or perhaps one evening next week.  I definitely want to see it, but I'm not excited to see it.  I'm saving my excitement for when Serenity comes out.  Yes, the inner geek girl lives on!

Average Jane Goes to the Movies

Three friends and I met at the movie theater yesterday to take advantage of a free movie screening pass that I'd received when I was there on Monday.  Unfortunately, we were just far enough back in line that we didn't get into the screening, but we ended up with free passes to any movie we wanted to see.

We ended up seeing Sideways, which only one of our group had seen before.  It's a thoughtful, grown-up movie about choices, friendship, feelings, compromises and a host of other realistic issues that are seldom lingered over on the big screen.  The verisimilitude of the locations - particularly characters' residences - was especially striking.   The casting and acting were also superb.

I've found myself drawn more and more to "smaller" films as the blockbusters get more over-the-top and repetitively non-entertaining.  Aside from the Lord of the Rings series, which I absolutely loved, my faves of late have been more personal movies like Garden State (which, incidentally, my husband thought was boring).

I'll still go for the lastest Will Farrell comedy or science fiction adventure in a heartbeat, but after years of rejecting any entertainment with a hint of "warm human values," I've begun to note their absence. 

I don't mind, though.  It just gives me that many more entertainment options.  What could be bad about that?

Average Jane Goes to the Movies

I saw "The Incredibles" last night and it was awesome!  It's a never-a-dull-moment superhero adventure with realistic family interactions, just the right touch of humor and the most impressive CGI to date.  Sometimes the animation was almost distracting (the hair rendering was fantastic!), but the movie's pacing doesn't allow viewers much time to stop and ponder between interesting happenings.

My husband and I agreed that we'd gladly see it again and that it was the best movie of any kind that we'd seen in a long time.  So don't hold back if you're kidless - it's definitely worth seeing!

Next on my movie-watching agenda is the Spongebob Squarepants movie, which I will see with a child (my niece) and my sister.  I actually like Spongebob on TV, so I'm sure that his world will be that much more entertaining on the big screen with a pop soundtrack and David Hasselhoff.  I doubt there will ever be an Aquateen Hunger Force movie, so I have to take what I can get in the TV-to-film cartoon transition department.

Yesterday my sister and I had a thorough discussion of the DVDs my four-year-old niece might like for Christmas.  She wants "Shrek" and "Shrek II" - naturally.  She watches "Shrek" every time she comes to our house because it's the only kids' movie we have besides "A Bug's Life" (which she watches almost every time she comes to our house).  Then there are the two recent Disney DVD releases, "Aladdin," which I saw at the theater twice before my niece was even born (can you tell I'm resisting the whole "growing up" thing?) and "Mulan," which I only saw once but recall as being pretty good.  I should just buy all of the DVDs for myself and expand my kid-friendly collection at home, but my niece doesn't stay over that often.

I'm gearing up for the holiday film rush, too.  I'll probably see the new Bridget Jones movie with the gals, even though I didn't like the book very much and squinty-eyed Renee Zellweger is not one of my faves.  I can skip "Christmas With the Kranks" because I read "Skipping Christmas" and wasn't that impressed.

Two of last year's holiday movies are worth the DVD purchase:  "Elf" for its relative innocence and "Bad Santa" for its complete lack thereof.  With "Christmas Vacation" in the middle, you have a perfect schizoid holiday trifecta.  We'll watch them on the big-screen TV at my house.  You name the date...