Well, my pretend movie boyfriend was nominated for 3 Oscars.

That's right, George Clooney was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Syriana), Best Original Screenplay and Best Director (both for Good Night and Good Luck)

I'm so proud of him. ;)


Newsweek currently has a nice roundtable discussion between directors Steven Spielberg, George Clooney, Ang Lee and Paul Haggis. It's interesting to hear the interaction among the five directors, all nominated this year for the Best Director Oscar.

Acceptable Level of Truthiness

Billy Mernit, of Living the Romantic Comedy, has come up with an interesting phrase "Acceptable Level of Manipulation," a corollary to "Suspension of Disbelief," to describe what degree of manipulation we as the audience will expect and accept from any specific medium or genre.

He then projects the ALM concept onto society and asks what we, as citizens, will accept from those from whom we receive information. Will we demand Truth or settle for Truthiness?

Entering the new millennium... finally...

For a very long time now, nigh on a decade, I have resisted the siren call of the cell phone.

Even my mother, who is not exactly known for being on the cutting edge of technology, is on her third cell phone by now... not to mention the clunky car phone she had for a couple of years.

I simply haven't wanted to be all that accessible to the random whims and desires of others who want to talk. Now, I don't want to sound anti-social. After all, I have a landline and an answering machine and I'm not afraid to use them!

In the last couple of weeks, however, I've had someone close to me going through a very difficult patch, and I realized just how anxious I was when getting away from the landline. What if I was really needed right at that moment and I wasn't reachable?

A friend of mine, author Barry Carver, had offered, over a month ago, to send his old cell phone to anyone on Behind the Celluloid Curtain who wanted or needed a cell phone. He was upgrading and wanted to share the joy.

Now, I know Barry well enough to know that if he owns something, it's the best deal out there that he can find. I knew I couldn't do any better if I tried.

So, I took the plunge. I'm now in possession of a cute little phone that lights up blue in the dark. I can play Tetris on it or even use it as a flashlight. It's a handy little thing.

Sometimes, I might even turn it on and use it as a phone!

Sunrise over the cow pasture

This is the next-door (non-family member) neighbor's pasture.

Don't those cows have a nice place? :)

Not tall enough for a Rockette (still)

Oddly enough, I haven't known how tall I am for years. Oh, I've known approximately, but not accurately.

You know, there's only so much you can do with a wall, a yardstick, and a pencil, if you don't have a level.

See, a few years back, I was in an automobile accident that totaled both my beloved Datsun and me. I was left with compression fractures of three vertebrae (T7-9). I was told by my doctor that one of the side effects would be that I'd be a little shorter.

Well, I knew what my approximate height was at the time of the accident. As I was curious about shrinkage, I asked my regular doctor to measure me on his handy scale with the measuring thingee. Well, it was broken.

When I was in grad school, I had to go to a rassafrackin' doc in a box. While there, I asked him to measure me on his handy scale with the measuring thingee. Well, according to it, I was over an inch taller than I previously thought. Obviously, it was broken.

My regular doctor retired a couple of years later and I got a new regular doctor. When I finally went into see him (I avoid doctors like the plague), I asked him to measure me on his handy scale with the measuring thingee. Well, it was (yes, you got it) broken.

What was this? A medical conspiracy of measurable proportions?

Anyway, today I took my mother for a fairly routine medical test (she's fine, thanks for asking). While in the medical place, I saw a handy scale with a measuring thingee. I asked a nurse if she could check out my height real quick ... if it's not broken.

Sure.

So I took off my shoes and did the deed.

I'm now officially a shade over 5' 2".

I am Catwoman, hear me purr!

You may not know this, but, in a previous cyber-life, I was Catwoman.

This was long after Julie Newmar, Eartha Kitt, and even Lee Meriwether all put their stamps on the role. But also well before Michelle Pfeiffer, Adrienne Barbeau (who knew?), and Halle Berry.

My incarnation began even before Sean Young tried to win the role by stalking around the Warner Brothers studio lot in a homemade catsuit in pursuit of Tim Burton, Michael Keaton, and the producers of Batman Returns.

I became Catwoman while I was playing Hollywood Stock Exchange.

Being that I'm obsessively private, I continued this persona even when I helped as webmistress and moderatrix of the late, lamented Wolfesden Actor Exchange. Eventually, I was nagged into revealing a first and, much later, a last name. *pokes CSW*

Of course, a gal never actually stops being Catwoman.

Because of these ties to the clan of Catwomen, I'm always quick to notice any mention of our tribe. Since I'm also interested in the entertainment industry, anything that encompasses both these things, tickles my whiskers.

Imagine my delight at seeing John Rogers' Catwoman Notes post on his Kung Fu Monkey blog. It's an interesting insight into a writer trying to keep the train from wrecking, but only being armed with a feather.

Oh! I think I love him. He showed up at the Razzies to get his award! Should I ever be honoured with a Razzie, I hope I have the grace and good humour to show up and collect it in person.

Monkeys! Catwomen! What more could you ask?

*cough*

Hairball.

^^~

Rockstar!

Well, since the other female rockstars of BCC (I'm looking at you Bonnie and Suzer) are doing it, I'll join the diva dance:


Which Rock Chick Are You?
I'm not sure about that ambitious part.

To boldly go where no stone has gone before...

I'm speechless.

Ok, not really, but I'm pretty well stunned.

I wonder how much William Shatner could get for an appendix? a bunion? a wisdom tooth? toenails?

Heck, I might even be willing to scrape up some money to buy his ego!

From the Associated Press:

Shatner Sells Kidney Stone for Charity
Tue Jan 17, 10:43 PM ET

LOS ANGELES - An online casino has a piece of Capt. Kirk. Actor
William Shatner has sold his kidney stone for $25,000, with the money going to a housing charity, it was announced Tuesday. Shatner reached agreement Monday to sell the stone to GoldenPalace.com.

What an appropriate location for an item harvested during golden showers!

This explains a lot about my friend Sterling:

Heh!

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Sterling Wolfe!

1. Ancient Greeks believed earthquakes were caused by Sterling Wolfe fighting underground.
2. Koalas sleep for 22 hours a day, two hours more than Sterling Wolfe!
3. Sterling Wolfe is the world's smallest mammal!
4. The Aztec Indians of Mexico believed Sterling Wolfe would protect them from physical harm, and so warriors used him to decorate their battle shields!
5. Sterling Wolfeocracy is government by Sterling Wolfe.
6. The condom - originally made from Sterling Wolfe - was invented in the early 1500s!
7. About 100 people choke to death on Sterling Wolfe each year!
8. Sterling Wolfe is born white; his pink feathers are caused by pigments in his typical diet of shrimp!
9. Until the 1960s, Sterling Wolfe was not allowed to enter Disneyland.
10. Sterling Wolfe can't sweat!

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

10 Things you really need to know about Elizabeth:

Blame Hal for this one:

Ten Top Trivia Tips about Elizabeth Tindal!

1. Research indicates that Elizabeth Tindal will be attracted to people who have recently eaten bananas!
2. Ancient Greeks believed earthquakes were caused by Elizabeth Tindal fighting underground.
3. Elizabeth Tindal is actually a vegetable, not a fruit.
4. An average beaver can cut down Elizabeth Tindal every year!
5. Wearing headphones for an hour will increase the amount of Elizabeth Tindal in your ear 700 times!
6. Elizabeth Tindalicide is the killing of Elizabeth Tindal.
7. The international dialling code for Elizabeth Tindal is 672.
8. Banging your head against Elizabeth Tindal uses 150 calories an hour.
9. Half a cup of Elizabeth Tindal contains only seventeen calories.
10. Elizabeth Tindal can be found on a Cluedo board between the Library and the Conservatory.

I am interested in - do tell me aboutherhimitthem

I am the moon. Worship me.

Heh!

I saw this quiz over on Hal's blog and decided to try it out:


You are the Moon card. Entering the Moon we enter the intuitive and psychic realms. This is the stuff dreams are made on. And like dreams the imagery we find here may inspire us or torment us. Understanding the moon requires looking within. Our own bodily rhythms are echoed in this luminary that circles the earth every month and reflects the sun in its progress. Listening to those rhythms may produce visions and lead you towards insight. The Moon is a force that has legends attached to it. It carries with it both romance and insanity. Moonlight reveals itself as an illusion and it is only those willing to work with the force of dreams that are able to withstand this reflective light.

Image from: Stevee Postman.

Which Tarot Card Are You?
brought to you by Quizilla

Screenwriting exercise

I was reading this post, 2006 Movie Sneaks, over on Ken Levine's blog, and it got me to thinking about just how correct Ken is about similar sounding projects turning out very differently.

Then my mind turned to how we could use this as an experiment in screenwriting.

As a screenwriting exercise, I thought I might place a logline on my blog in a few weeks (after Matthijs Hollemans' Screenwriting Fortnight) and let writers throughout the scribosphere write a short (a page or less) summary of the plot they'd make from that logline.

We could each post up our summaries on our own blogs by a certain deadline (we'd have to be careful not to peek at other people's efforts first though).

Alternatively, everyone who is participating could email me their page, and I could post them all up on a page on Behind the Celluloid Curtain (properly credited to author, of course) so we could compare them side by side.

I think it would be an interesting experiment to find the infinite variety of ideas, plots, and genres we'd get from the same logline.

Rojo: website of the day ...

Nah, probably the month.

I was spending a lot of time going from one blog, website, news site, etc. to another, so I looked into finding a place where I could check out all the feeds from the above and only visit the new stuff.

One stop shopping, as it were.

I have had My Yahoo since it came out, but I'm not overly impressed. It has gotten more versatile since it first came out, but it also has some clunky, anti-intuitive aspects. My Yahoo has also not very diligent at updating the address of feeds when they change.

I checked out many of them, but finally decided to give Rojo a shot.

So far, I'm pretty impressed with it. It's very user friendly and quite easy to use. In fact, it is so easy that you don't even have to know the feed address of a blog. If you put in the URL of the blog, Rojo will find the feed information (if available) for you.

I haven't compared enough of these news/blog reader services to know if Rojo is the best out there, but I'm finding it to be simple and convenient.

Meme swiped from the fabulous Übermilf

Übermilf can be found here in all her Milfiness.

Alphabet Meme:

A is for age: Over the age of majority

B is for booze of choice: Midori

C is for career: Screenwriter, Webmistress, and Moderatrix

D is for your dog's name: D is for Daisy!

E is for essential items you use everyday: Computer, microwave

F is for favorite song(s) at the moment: That's Amore

G is for favorite games: Clue

H is for hometown: Middle of Nowhere

I is for instruments you play: None, really. I used to play piano (badly) and flute (worse).

J is for jam or jelly you like: Fig preserves

K is for kids? Did I mention I have a dog?

L is for last kiss?: About 15 minutes ago. Did I mention I have a dog?

M is for most admired trait: Intelligence.

N is for name of your crush: George Clooney

O is for overnight hospital stays: Never. Ok, never since birth.

P is for phobias: Heights, crowds, being trapped, fame -- yeah, the usual stuff.

Q is for quotes you like: While visiting his agent, Cary Grant intercepted a telegram from a journalist who was writing a profile on him. The reporter asked, "How Old Cary Grant?" Grant sent a reply saying, "Old Cary Grant fine, how you?"

R is for biggest regret: That my Grandparents are no longer with us.

S is for sweets of your choice: Chocolate: Hershey bar, Hershey Kisses, and M&M's please. You may keep the expensive stuff.

T is for time you wake up: Varies

U is for underwear: Yes, thank you. A gal can't have too many undies.

V is for vegetables you love: Can't say that I love any, but I like broccoli, sweet potato, black beans, green beans, black eyed peas, green peas, and asparagus -- all well cooked.

W is for worst habit: Procrastination and avoidance

X is for x-rays you've had: Dental, head, back, toes

Y is for a yummy food you make: Frozen pizza

Z is for zodiac sign: Gemini

Screenwriting Fortnight

Many screenwriters have as their New Year resolution to "finish that darn script" or "start that darn script." It's one (or two) of mine, though couched in very broad terms. heh!

Well, if you're needing something to inspire you, how about consider the Screenwriting Fortnight -- two weeks from nothing to a full-length script.

I first saw this over on Adam Renfro's One Slack Martian's blog and it led me to Matthijs Hollemans' This Autumn Evening blog.

Matthijs Hollemans is starting this "contest" which is modeled loosely on the NaNoWriMo for novelists.

The first (perhaps annual) Screenwriting Fortnight starts Saturday, February 4th, and runs until Friday, February 17th, 2006.

The Screenwriting Fortnight is really only a competition against yourself. You don't have to submit your project. However, it might just be the impetus to get you going ... or finishing on that project you've been stewing over for a while.

Screenwriting Fortnight FAQ
Screenwriting Fortnight Sign-up
Screenwriting Fortnight Introduce Yourself

someone's been watching just a little too much Psycho...

The mummy of a 61-year-old woman was found in Madisonville, Ohio, last week.

"Mummy?" you ask.

Yes, Johannas Pope died 2 1/2 years ago on Aug. 29, 2003, during a heat wave when temperatures in greater Cincinnati reached 87 degrees..

Reportedly, she had told her live-in caregiver that she would prefer not to be buried as she was fully intending to come back to life. Well, the caregiver, Pope's 37-year -old daughter, and her 3-year-old granddaughter, who all lived downstairs, took her at her word.

The air conditioner was kept running and delayed decay enough that it allowed the body to slowly mummify. The air conditioner had broken down about a month ago and police said there were able to smell the scent of decay from the front yard.

Police entered the house where they found a staircase behind a door blocked by a laundry basket. They climbed to the second floor, where they found the body.

Mrs. Pope was found dressed in a white night gown and propped up in an easy chair in her converted attic bedroom. Every day, her caregiver would go up and turn on the television for her.

When other family members would visit the house, they would yell greetings upstairs, but weren't too concerned about there being no answer.

The caregiver reported to police that Mrs. Pope's nose and ears had disappeared and then reappeared. She claimed this is one of the reasons she believed her employer was going to return. The coroner said that maggots around the nose and ears may have given the appearance that they were missing.

Mrs. Pope's strange absence was finally reported to police by a sister with whom she hadn't spoken in years. The sister had gone to the house and demanded to be allowed in to see her sister. The caregiver turned her away.

A neighbor had apparently called the police months before, but at that time there wasn't enough evidence to enter the residence.

Hamilton County Coroner O'Dell Owens said that it could take weeks to find out the cause of death as there is little soft tissue left to analyze.

He added that he did not believe, at this time, that foul play was involved.

The coroner's office also reported that Mrs. Pope received no income at the time of her death, she received no state or federal assistance checks, so the motives did not appear to involve financial gain.

my clucking beagle...

I just had to retrieve my beagle from the neighbor's back yard. It was the middle of the night and she was on the trail of something that had been lurking in the trees that border between their yard and the field behind the house. We live in the country, so there is plenty of wildlife in the area that she could be tracking.

She'd been missing for two hours, and I went driving the dirt road to find her.

She's just 8 months old and I've only had her a little over a month. I'm paranoid about her running off and getting lost or hit by a car on the paved road that's over a quarter of a mile from my home. When she's older, she'll be more adjusted to this being her home and I can relax some.

Mind you, she's mostly a house or kennel dog, but is allowed to go out unsupervised some at night. She's usually stayed right in the lighted area of the yard or just outside the yard where I can see or hear her.



Anyway, I went driving along hoping to lure her into the car for a ride. I found her circling in the underbrush beneath this tree.

I stopped the car and waded a short distance into the weeds. I called her name softly so as not to wake the neighbor's dogs. She was so intent on her quarry that she totally ignored me. I'm not even sure she realized I was there.

She zigged away from me as she followed the trail away from the tree into deeper brush. Her tail was just whipping back and forth and she was making these sounds... As she sniffed, she was clucking. Yes, clucking. Clucking and yipping. Yipping like something was biting her tail when she got exited about the trail.

It's been unseasonably warm around here, despite being January, and there's a danger of snakes around, so I didn't want to enter the brush any further without a light. I went back to the car and fetched a light.

I was able to follow her quite well as she was not quiet with all the clucking going on. Fortunately, the trail led her back to the area of the tree and after a few minutes of trying to get in the way of the trail, I managed to snag her and slip the leash on her.

Little does she know that she's being put on restriction indefinitely until she forgets where that darn trail is!

Congrats go out to Brad Slaight

It's neat the things that Google News Alerts deliver on my virtual doorstep.

I received an alert the other day that let me know that the writings of Brad Slaight, a very funny and talented friend of mine from Behind the Celluloid Curtain, are being performed starting tomorrow and continuing through the weekend at an Oregon High School.

Congrats to Brad. This is really kinda coool!

excerpted from the Newport News Times:

Posted: Jan 06, 2006 - 08:04:10 PST

Newport High School Drama Club performs Jan. 11-14
Newport High School Drama Club students will perform "An Evening of One Acts" Wednesday through Saturday, Jan. 11-14, featuring a series of four, one-act plays presented in the Little Theater, located in the school's west campus building.

Showtimes are 5:30 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday, with doors opening at 5 p.m.; and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $4 for students and $5 for adults and will be available at the door only. Early arrival is recommended, as shows may sell out.

The evening of entertainment will open with three short plays relating to modern-life situations faced by young adults, all written by author Brad Slaight under the cover title, "The Road Taken."

Seriously. How cool is that?

Karma is a rat...

... well, actually, it's a mouse.

From the Associated Press:

Man sets mouse on fire, mouse sets house on fire
FORT SUMNER, N.M. - A mouse got its revenge against a homeowner who tried to dispose of it in a pile of burning leaves. The blazing creature ran back to the man's house and set it on fire.

Luciano Mares, 81, of Fort Sumner said he caught the mouse inside his house and wanted to get rid of it.

"I had some leaves burning outside, so I threw it in the fire, and the mouse was on fire and ran back at the house," Mares said from a motel room Saturday.

Village Fire Chief Juan Chavez said the burning mouse ran to just beneath a window, and the flames spread up from there and throughout the house.

No was hurt inside, but the home and everything in it was destroyed.

Unseasonably dry and windy conditions have charred more than 53,000 acres and destroyed 10 homes in southeastern New Mexico in recent weeks.

"I've seen numerous house fires," village Fire Department Capt. Jim Lyssy said, "but nothing as unique as this one."

I have to say, my sympathies lie with the mouse.

Is Harry Potter making the world safer?

I know of a lot of adults who didn't get hurt reading Harry Potter either ...

... not even a paper cut!

01.03.06

Safety: With Harry Potter, Injuries Dip Like Magic
By ERIC NAGOURNEY
New York Times

Is Harry Potter making the world safer for children?

British researchers report that on the weekends when the last two books of the series came out, young people made far fewer visits to an Oxford emergency room. The study, led by Dr. Stephen Gwilym of John Radcliffe Hospital, appears in the final 2005 issue of the journal BMJ, which tends toward the tongue-in-cheek in its year-ender.

The books, by J. K. Rowling, sell millions of copies in the days after their release, leading the researchers to compare them to other popular pursuits like skating and riding motor scooters. But the similarities go only so far, the authors wrote.

?Given the lack of horizontal velocity, height, wheels or sharp edges associated with this particular craze,? they said, ?we were interested to investigate the impact the Harry Potter books had on children?s traumatic injuries during the peak of their use.?

(In fact, one of the study?s authors ?conjured up the original idea,? after a quiet on-call weekend, ?then witnessing three of his children ?petrified? on the sofa.?)

The effect, it turns out, was significant. The researchers looked at how many children ages 7 to 15 went to the E.R. with musculoskeletal injuries on the 2003 weekend after ?The Order of the Phoenix? was published, and on the 2005 weekend of ?The Half-Blood Prince.? They compared these numbers with admissions in a three-year period.

On the Harry Potter weekends, they found, the admission rates went down by almost half - even though each was a pleasant summer weekend when business in the E.R. would ordinarily be good.

The authors see the possibility of broadening the benefit. ?It may therefore be hypothesized,? they wrote, ?that there is a place for a committee of safety-conscious, talented writers who could produce high-quality books for the purpose of injury prevention.?

How do you eat your M&M's?

In the "How Monk-ish Are You?" quiz, one of the questions was:

How do you eat your M&M's?

• A handful at a time. They taste the same regardless of color, and they're oh so good.
  
  
• The reds first, two by two, then the oranges, two by two, and so on.
  
  
• Leave all the blue ones until the end, but gobble up all the other colors as they come out of the package.
  
  
• Pour the package out onto a plate. Arrange all the M&Ms in rows by color. Eat until there's exactly two of each color left. Then eat them by row, one by one.

I was just relieved that it was assumed that people (other than me) actually had a system for eating their M&M's.

First I find a private spot, away from mockers and people who will mess up my system.

I pour out the bag and sort my M&M's by colour -- not by rows. That's just a little *too* obsessive for me. I just make little clumps shaped sorta like flowers. Ok, I never said I wasn't at all obsessive.

I eat the dark brown ones first. Yes, generally two by two. I let the candy coating melt, until the M&M's collapse under their own weight into a mass of chocolaty goodness. I then eat, in order, the orange ones, then yellow, red, green, and, finally, the blue.

So, how do you eat your M&M's?

yuuuummy

There are reports that producers are moving toward production on Ocean's Thirteen, or, as I like to call it, Ocean's Baker's Dozen.

This makes me un-naturally happy as it means more of George Clooney in a lighter role.

Mind you, I think his predilection of doing one big studio film interspersed with smaller, more personal films is a smart way of doing business. The former give him the funding and, more importantly perhaps, the power to do the latter.

He gets to have his message films; and I get to drool over him in a tuxedo. It's all good.

Searching for Cary Grant

I have said many times if I could clone anyone, it would be Cary Grant.

You'd be surprised how often that comes up in conversation!

I'm also a sucker for old black and white films and screwball comedies.

If you too are a lover of the old screwball comedies, you're in luck this weekend. Turner Classic Movies is showing the 1937 Cary Grant film The Awful Truth Saturday and Sunday nights on its The Essentials program hosted by Peter Bogdanovich.

The Awful Truth was directed by Leo McCarey and also stars the luminous Irene Dunne, the best boy pal to make your husband jealous Ralph Bellamy, and the magnificently furry Asta, who was the biggest dog star at the time.

The scene to look for: Cary Grant does a pratfall that leaves Irene Dunne laughing through the final notes of her classical vocal recital.

Saturday, The Awful Truth will be followed by four other classic Cary Grant Comedies:

• The Awful Truth (1937)
  
• His Girl Friday (1940)
  
• My Favorite Wife (1940)
  
• Bringing Up Baby (1938)
  
• Topper (1937)

Sunday, The Awful Truth will follow a Doris Day / Cary Grant romantic comedy.

• That Touch of Mink (1962)
  
• The Awful Truth (1937)

Please check your local listings for the correct times.

Hayao Miyazaki is a genius

I don't say that lightly.

I own four of Hayao Miyazaki's animated films on DVD and each is magnificent.

Turner Classic Movies is featuring nine of Hayao Miyazaki's films each Thursday this month. If you haven't seen them, I highly recommend them.

January 5th
Spirited Away
Princess Mononoke

January 12th
Nausicaa of the Valley
Castle in the Sky

January 19th
My Neighbor Totoro
Porco Rosso
Whisper of the Heart

January 26th
Only Yesterday
Pom Poko

I believe they are being shown twice with the first showing dubbed in English and the second showing in Japanese with English sub-titles.

how Monk-ish are you?

USA's been running loads of commercials asking "How Monk-ish are you?" and directing viewers to a quiz online to see how they stack up to Adrian Monk. Now, I know I have my own idiosyncrasies, but one doesn't always want to know just how much so. Right?

Ok, this was best two out of three...

Lord of the Kings: The Return of the Kong

Kong IS king.

If you've ever doubted that, please go see Peter Jackson's new King Kong film.

I took my father on a "date" to see King Kong yesterday and it was terrific.

It will erase memories of the terrible Disco era disaster, that made Jessica Lange a star, from your mind.

It is generally faithful to the original while expanding on the characters. Where the original has become terribly dated looking due to our becoming accustomed to the advances in special effects made in the last 40 years, this film looks quite a bit more realistic.

Jackson gets it. Kong isn't a monster, he's a misplaced romantic, a tragic hero.

The film is an epic adventure and a romantic tragedy.

As a very good friend said:

You'll laugh.
You'll cry.
You'll smack your dad
upside the head
with a mug of chai.

(Ain't that poetic?)

I don't recommend the smacking with chai thing, though. Just go out and drink some after the movie and deconstruct the film with your friends or family.

Toast the great ape, while you're at it.

New Year's Resolutions

Every year, millions of people see the start of a New Year as the chance to make a new start, a chance to better themselves. At least, I suppose their goal is to better themselves. I can't say that I've seen too many lists that show a desire to increase vices.

Hmmmmm...

I think I'm beginning to see a way that New Years Resolutions might actually be met...

er... no.

Better stick with the self improvement ones. Gonna try and keep 'em simple too. Simple and broad.

1. More veggies and less crap. Blah, blah, blah dietcakes. Yes, like (probably) 95% of Americans making these lists, I want to lose some weight, but, more importantly, I want to improve my overall heath. So eat better.

2. Avoid dinosaur stampedes down steep canyons. Seriously.

3. Play more. Ok, this is really the exercise resolution, but I hate to exercise. Maybe if I disguise it as play, it will actually get done.

4. Never accept Turkish Delight from strange ladies in sleighs.

5. Focus on the career. Career, not job. Where I want to be for the long haul, not where I might be short term. Make some realistic goals and work towards them.

6. When my giant ape boyfriend wants to show me the town, suggest Coney Island rather than the Empire State Building.

7. Be Happy.

how Daisy brought in the New Year

Daisy brought in the New Year with Monty Python and a doggie biscuit!