I'd Like to Punch Carly Rae Jepsen In the Stomach

 And if you don't know why, I envy you. FYI, Carly Rae Jepsen sings this summer's most annoying earworm, "Call Me, Maybe." And if you still don't know what I'm talking about, you're saner than I am right now, but it must have been really boring for you, living on that deserted island with no wi-fi all summer.

 This song is impossible to get away from - for the last four months, at least, it's there every time I turn on the radio. And I don't even listen to the radio that often. But I only have to hear one word, one note, of this song, and it will replay over and over in my head for days. Every time I woke up last night, before I could go back to sleep, I would suddenly realize this song was playing in my brain. Over and over. Because I heard two seconds of it, last Friday morning.

 This song is the very definition of earworm - super-catchy tune, annoyingly bad lyrics. "Before you came into my life, I missed you so bad." What does that even mean?  Even if you can get away from the original, YouTube is full of parodies. Some of them are actually funny, but watching one just gets that song lodged back into my brain.

 If I have to have a song stuck in my head, why not Gotye's "Somebody That I Used to Know"? That song was almost as ubiquitous as "Call Me, Maybe" this summer, but it's a much more interesting song - catchy tune, lyrics that make sense...I could live with that one on a seemingly-endless repeat in my head.

                                                        * * * * *

 Full disclosure - I no longer have "Call Me, Maybe" stuck in my head. Why? Because the boy found two singing animal toys (Christmas gifts from last year - thanks, Mom!) and he and his sister have  been playing them all evening. Imagine "Christmastime Is Here" sung by the Chipmunks, and "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" played on a saxophone by a reindeer...at the same time. Because of course, they play them simultaneously. Over. And. Over.

 The cure was worse than the disease.

Did You Know October 6 Was Star Wars Reads Day? I Did!

Last Saturday was Star Wars Reads Day, an official Lucasfilm thing, where authors of Star Wars novels, and Star Wars costumed characters went out to bookstores and other venues around the country to promote reading.

 No authors made it to our general area to do book signings (alas), but the 501st Star Wars costuming group appeared at our local Barnes & Noble. By the way, the 501st - the people who dress up as Stormtroopers, Boba Fett, Imperial officers, etc. - not only make their own costumes (spending boatloads of time and money in the process) but volunteer to do these appearances for charity. They make no money doing this, it's done out of love. Love for Star Wars, and the enjoyment of seeing kids' faces the first time they see Darth Vader - up close and personal!

 When we first walked in and looked around, it was easy to tell where the action was. A little girl, about 8 years old or so, came running out of the bookshelves, yelling "Darth Vader's here, I saw him, he's here!" (I especially love that it was a girl this excited about seeing Vader. Yeah, girls dig Star Wars too - and they don't all want to be Princess Leia. Some of them want to be bad guys.)

 Ironically, none of us left with Star Wars books. The boy picked out Halloween-themed books for himself and his sister, daddy got a history book off the clearance table, and since I picked up the latest Star Wars book last week, I went home with the new Harry Dresden paperback, by Jim Butcher.

 Here's some photos of my little Star Wars fans:

The boy with a Royal Guard. He loves the Emperor's Royal Guard, mostly because he wants to be the Emperor.



The boy, wearing his new Vader hat, with Vader.

Mara Jade (a character from the novels, not the movies) with a very tired Mara Jane. No, the name isn't a coincidence! ;)

Book Review - 50 Shades of Gray

Fifty Shades of Gray
E. L. James

 This was one of the first eBooks I bought after I got my iPad. At the time, it was just becoming the "it" book, the one everyone was talking about, so I jumped on the bandwagon. My reaction: Meh.

 I really don't understand how this book became so popular. A few months ago, everywhere you turned someone was talking about how groundbreaking it was, how it gave women permission to read erotica (or at least, admit reading it). Whatever. There's just as much sex in your average historic romance novel. And a lot of those are better written.

 Really, how believable are these characters? Ana, the college grad virgin who suddenly falls for super rich, creepy stalker Christian, to the point of following him into his kinky world. Christian, super-rich, emotionally messed-up, could have anything and anyone he wants, but falls hard for inexperienced (and boring) Ana. Nope, not buying it. Plus, the dialogue is atrocious. By the time I got to the end of this, I wanted to slap some reality into these cardboard characters, and I have zero interest in completing the trilogy.

 By the way, I read a few weeks ago, this author started out writing "Twilight" fan fiction. That explains so much...

Product Review: Farmland Oven Perfect Pork Loin

 A few days ago, I tried the new Farmland Oven Perfect Pork Loin. This is a new product, where you cook it in the plastic packaging - just remove the paper labels, put the bag on a cookie sheet, and bake.

  The instructions on the loin say to cook for an hour at 425 degrees, and not to puncture the bag. After removing from oven, let sit for ten minutes, then use scissors to cut open the bag. Well, I followed the instructions, but I didn't have to get my scissors dirty; when I took it out, the bag had split wide open all by itself. I don't think it was supposed to do that, but it didn't seem to hurt anything. Though it was juicy and flavorful, I thought the pork was a bit overcooked. (DH disagreed, but I like my meats rarer than he does.) Next time I make this, I plan to reduce the cooking time by about ten minutes.

 I tried the Cracked Peppercorn flavor. Now, when I've tried other marinated pork loins, like Hormel's, I've found the flavor was too intense. All you taste is marinade, not the meat. This Farmland version got it right. Just the right amount of marinade flavor, but not enough to overpower the pork.

 The usual retail price for the product is $8.99. I got it on sale for $7.49, plus I had a $1 off coupon. It was big enough to feed three people (though the boy didn't eat much, he doesn't care for pork), plus enough for lunch the next day.  I liked the product and would buy it again, but I wouldn't pay $8.99. I will probably only get it when it's on sale, or I have a coupon - preferably both.

Movie Review Catch-Up Blog

  * Oct. 4 exercise: walking the boy home from school, 10 blocks round-trip, about 20 minutes.*



 Going to finish my backlog of movie reviews, so I can get down to catching up the much longer list of book reviews. I have four, so each will just be a short capsule, posted in order of most recent viewing to oldest:

 1. The Campaign
   Starring Will Farrell, Zach Galifianakis, Jason Sudeikis
 A good election year comedy. Both parties take hits equally for being corrupt, pandering, morally bankrupt, or all of the above. Not a big Will Farrell fan, but he and Zach Galifianakis play off each other perfectly as competing congressional candidates. The feel-good ending is completely unrealistic, but that doesn't hurt the movie. After all that cynicism, a fairy-tale ending leaves you feeling refreshed.

2. Brave
 I wasn't sure a Disney cartoon about a medieval Scottish teenage girl would hold a six-year-old boy's attention, but he got into the magic, the swords and the bears. It's not going to be a keeper, though. The animation is gorgeous, but the story just isn't that compelling, and the music is pretty, but forgettable.

3. The Avengers
 Best movie I've seen this year, hands down. (Granted, I haven't seen that many.) I was surprised to enjoy this so much, since I never followed the Avengers comic, or any of the individual heroes' comics. (Iron Man, Thor, etc.) I felt that way about all the lead-in movies, too - low expectations, then pleasantly surprised. But this one is easily the best of the bunch: action-filled, witty dialogue, well acted. And Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston - best super villain, ever! Good-looking, funny, but still menacing, and a God - can't beat that!

4. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
 Exactly as expected, the book was better. Oh, they tried their best, but shrinking down such an extensive, well-researched and detailed book into just a couple of hours was doomed from the start. Plus, I didn't like the addition of scenes that weren't in the book, or the changed ending. Bit of a disappointment, I think it could have been adapted better, though the acting was wonderful. Benjamin Walker was a perfect Abraham Lincoln, believable as president and action hero. Too bad the script didn't give him more to work with.

 There. All caught up.

Shopping Out of the Pantry: My Time- & Money-Saving Experiment

* Exercise activity for Oct. 3: Walking to pick the boy up from school - 10 blocks, 20 minutes. *


 About two to three years ago, I saw a story about a young couple trying to save money and get out of debt. They kept track of how much they were spending on eating out, take-out food, "convenience" foods, and how much food they were throwing away after it expired because they forgot about it. Then they decided they would only shop out of their own pantry, until the pantry was empty. A drastic way to save money and become more aware of what you're eating, but effective.

 I thought of this story yesterday, when I was trying to decide what to make for dinner. I didn't have anything in mind, and I didn't feel like going to the grocery store, so I decided to see what I could create out of what I already had. In the process, I discovered:
   1) I really need to set aside a half hour or so to organize the pantry - it starts out orderly, but after a few weeks of stuff being moved around and shoved in wherever it will fit, gets a bit out of hand.
   2) Once I organize and inventory what I have, I can save some money by getting creative like that couple did.

 I'm not going to go to their extreme (I mean, what did they do for perishables? Fresh milk, bread and produce are necessities around here) but I can definitely do better than I have been. As proof, I present last night's dinner: Taco Pizza.

 I already had a 1 lb. roll of ground beef, and tortillas I bought with no plan for their use because they were on sale really cheap. I browned the ground beef, drained it, then added from the pantry a can of petite diced tomatoes and a can of pinto beans. For flavoring, I dug into our massive stash of Taco Bell sauce packets. (You know you have one of these too - everyone within 10 miles of a Taco Bell does.)

 While everything simmered together, I sprayed a pizza pan with non-stick spray and laid out the bottom tortilla. I used a slotted spoon to layer the ground beef mixture on the tortilla, sprinkled on some shredded cheese, and put on the top tortilla. On top went two more sauce packets and more shredded cheese. Then into the oven at 250 degrees until the cheese melted. Garnish with shredded lettuce, avocado, black olives, or whatever you have on hand.  I made two pizzas, and had enough leftover filling for a couple of small burritos for lunch the next day.

 The verdict on my money-saving experiment: two "yummy"s and one "meh" (the boy is hard to please, and doesn't care for beans so much.)

Gonna Catch Up On My Reviewing

* Exercise log for Oct. 2: Walked to pick up the boy from school instead of driving. Five blocks each way. Pushing the 30+ lb. toddler in the stroller. About 20 minutes, round-trip, not counting stops to look at the neighbors' Halloween decorations. *


  While I was looking back on past blogs for inspiration, I found one from January where I decided to review, in blog form, every movie I saw in the theater and every book I read in 2012. These blogs would then be used as reference material to come up with Top 10 lists at the end of the year. Well, my last book review was in April, my last movie review before that, so I didn't keep up too well. It's not too late though; I haven't seen so many movies that I can't catch up, and all the books I've read since April are still stacked in various places (end table, nightstand, floor) since I didn't want to shelve them until I'd reviewed them. Except for the ebooks, but since I got the iPad in April, I know everythng on it still needs to be reviewed. So that's my back up plan if I can't think of anything to write about this month - catch-up book or movie review.

 I'll do movies first (since there's far fewer of them), starting with the most recently seen. Today: "ParaNorman".

 The boy had last Friday off school, so we took the girl to her drop-in daycare and the two of us went to see "ParaNorman," an animated show about a boy who talks to ghosts, and must save his town from a centuries-old witch's curse that will cause the dead to walk. I was worried it might be too scary for a six-year-old, but ghosts, witches and zombies are right up the boy's alley. (He loves the stuff - he's been pestering me to put up Halloween decorations since August.)

 There aren't many "kid" movies that are worth the money for adults, but this is one of them. The kids actually act like kids, not smart-mouthed adults. There's a lesson to be learned about bullying, and fearing things or people just because they're different, but you're not beat over the head with it, it flows naturally from the story. And the funky retro claymation-style animation is a nice change from the usual super-slick computer animation.
 
 The zombies are gross, the witch is scary, the sidekick is funny, everything you want in this type of movie. Best of all, the characters are actually developed, not stock cliches. A surprising plot twist provides an unexpected motivation for the witch and the zombies, leading to a spectacular (and scary!) end confrontation between Norman and the witch. This movie might become a Halloween staple at our house once it comes out on DVD.

It Was a Good Day For the Zoo

 So, to prepare for NaBloWriMo, I went through my posts from last year, refreshing my memory and hoping for new ideas. One that caught my attention was about losing the last nine pounds of baby weight before the baby turned one. I had a new, realistic exercise program that was going to work this time. Really. For sure.

  It lasted about three weeks. I now weigh four pounds more than I did at the time of that post.

  Oh well.

 My plan this year is not to worry about losing weight, but instead try for at least 15 minutes a day of some kind of physical activity. And to keep myself honest, I'll check in here with what that activity was the previous day. For example, yesterday I walked around the zoo for 2 1/2 hours.

 Speaking of the zoo - it's awesome. We didn't get there much this year - I forgot to buy a membership at the early bird price, and I just couldn't bring myself to pay full price when I know I could have gotten it cheaper. It's the couponers curse: it's physically painful to pay full price for something. Turned out to be a good financial decision though. It was so insanely hot here from March through August, we hardly would have used the membership anyway.

 Anyway, the kindergartner had the day off school and the weather was pleasant, so I took him and the almost-two-year old to the zoo. As an experiment, I decided to go without the stroller. She doesn't like to be confined, and the idea was to get her tired enough to nap well, so she needed to be able to run around. Since she's an insanely brave explorer (and a fast runner) who refuses to hold my hand, we used the teddy backpack with the leash.

 Before I had her, I thought those child leashes were terrible, treating toddlers like dogs. Then karma reared its head and I had a child who isn't afraid of anything - strangers, animals, cars, open spaces - and who is too independent to be carried or hold my hand. The leash gives her the illusion of independence and me enough control to keep her from getting lost in the crowd. (It was a lifesaver on our airplane trip this summer - imagine trying to keep track of her without it at O'Hare!)

 The experiment was a success - both kids did great walking together, playing nicely, even eating lunch at a table without trying to make a break for it in two different directions. Oh, she did break down at the end of the day, collapsing bonelessly to the ground and rolling around screaming when I refused to let her jump in the sea lion pool, but that's on me. I knew I was pushing pretty far into nap time at that point. And I learned my lesson, having to carry all 30+ pounds of her uphill to the front gates and across the parking lot to the car.

 Anyway, here's some zoo pictures. There aren't many since it's really hard to take a picture with a constantly moving toddler pulling on your wrist.

The boy with gorilla statues

 Meditating gorilla

A gorilla about to scare the crap out of those kids in the window when he slams into it, beats his chest and roars. Wish I'd been shooting video instead of taking stills.

 P.S.: If you're not from the Omaha area, but happen to be here for any reason, try to make time for the zoo. Omaha's Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium stacks up to any zoo in the country, even San Diego. (I've been to the San Diego Zoo - it's fantastic, but the only thing they have that we don't is pandas. Which, admittedly, are incredibly cute, but expensive as heck to get and care for.)

It's October 1st!

...And that means it's once again National Blog Writers Month (NaBloWriMo), where participants attempt to post a blog entry every day for the month of October. The first post is supposed to be an introduction for new readers, so current followers, bear with me.

 I'm a stay-at-home mom with two kids, a six-year-old boy and an almost two-year-old girl. And I'm a total sci-fi geek, have been practically since I could read. But definitely since the original Star Wars came out (A life-changing event for much of my generation.)

 Last year was the first year I participated in (or had even heard of) NaBloWriMo, and looking back in the archives, I see I posted 23 blogs last October. So, I guess I got about two-thirds to the goal. That's not too bad, though, when you consider my first blog post ever was last September 28th!

 This year I expect to do better. It helps that I now have two blogs: This one, a catch-all of recipes, book and movie reviews, parenting topics, geeky things and whatever catches my interest; and "A Geek About Town" which I post on Thursdays. That one, a clearinghouse of geek-related things to do around Omaha, Nebraska, is something I started writing last spring - I volunteered  to write it for a charity organization I belong to, The Omaha Science Fiction Education Society (OSFES). So if the goal of NaBloWriMo is to get you writing, I guess I was somewhat successful, even if I didn't manage to post every day last October. After all, I went from no blogs to two blogs in just one year!

 Of course, after last October, I was pretty hit-and-miss keeping this one going. This time, I'll try to keep going on a regular schedule even after October is over. I'll pretend I'm a newspaper columnist on a deadline - that should work, I worked for a newspaper for 15 years (though not as a writer.) And the newspaper I used to work for now employs several bloggers on different topics, so maybe I can work this into a job!

 Full speed ahead into October!

Cyberbullies and Star Wars - I thought it was no big deal, but I was wrong

 A lot of you probably heard about the uproar a few days ago, but for those who didn't, a synopsis:

    A local news station in Florida ran a photo essay on their website, under news, that consisted of around 40 photos of people in costume at Celebration VI, a Star Wars convention held in Orlando a week ago. The photos had extremely snarky, and sometimes downright insulting, captions. (I'd link to it, but it's since been taken down.) The outcry from fans was instantaneous, and petitions and postings condemning it and demanding its removal spread through social media like wildfire. The station left it up most of the day, then replaced it with a glib not-apology by the photographer/author of the essay, which resulted in even more outrage. Eventually, an actual apology was posted. See it at  www.local10.com/news/The-Force-failed-this-one-A-Star-Wars-fan-says-I-m-sorry/-/1717324/16511424/-/2f9l7oz/-/index.html?fb_action_ids=10151151536978934&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=aggregation&fb_aggregation_id=288381481237582

 Now, after seeing at least three friends post indignant links to this story, I went to check it out, expecting...well, I don't know what I was expecting, but something shocking, outrageously horrible. But all it was, was pictures with mean, unfunny captions.  And the last photo in the slideshow was of the photographer (not in costume) who admitted he was a Star Wars geek himself.  I thought, what's the big deal, any geek has seen way worse attacks than this. To me, it looked like attempts at humor by someone who doesn't know how to be funny. You know how there's always that guy at a party, who makes a comment he thinks is funny, but really just causes people to cringe, and the host to quickly change the subject? Like that.

 But I overlooked an important point: This wasn't just some d-bag's blog, or Facebook page, this was a NEWS WEBSITE. The photographer/author is a journalist, with editors, who all looked at this piece and said, "Sure, that's fine, people will think it's a cute human interest piece." That's what elevates this to cyber-bullying. That's where the real outrage should come in, because a legitimate news site thinks there's nothing wrong with ridiculing people in costume. People who, by the way, numbered in the thousands. Attendance figures haven't been released yet, but Celebration V, also held in Orlando, drew about 32,000.

 As an example, one of the photos was of a woman dressed as Obi-Wan, complete with fake beard. The caption said something about the abundance of women at the convention with facial hair. Another photo was of a woman dressed as an alien, wearing blue body paint. The caption said something about her going a little too heavy on the makeup. Now imagine these photos and captions referred to a gay pride parade instead of a Star Wars convention. Can you imagine the public outcry then? Can you imagine a newspaper or television news station ridiculing attendees at say, a Pheasants Forever convention? Or maybe a car show? What a slap in the face to people who are, presumably, spending gobs of money in your city.

 So, I should have taken this more seriously from the beginning. I guess the multitude of anonymous, nasty forum posts, Facebook posts, etc., has just led me to accept incivility as part of the Internet landscape.

 I still have more to say, but this has gotten too long, so look for part 2, Geek-on-Geek bullying, tomorrow.