Happy Hour at Chez Animal Hair Can I get you a drink?

Since Greg was in Germany, my Dad and Jackie came over last night for dinner and a movie. We’ve been doing this for a few months now, when Greg goes out of town they come over and hang out with me one night. They bring dinner, I supply the movie (and the theater, and the doggies…and the sparkling wit). My Dad says it’s not because he doesn’t want to see Greg, it’s that he doesn’t like me being home alone and doesn’t trust the dogs to protect me (yes, because my 75 year old father can ward off a bad guy much better than three 50+ pound dogs). But it’s sweet.

Sometimes we have a hard time deciding on a film to watch. Jackie likes mysteries and intricate plot lines (and so do I) and my dad likes eye candy. The first time they came over we watched The Illusionist. I’d seen it. Jackie really liked it. My dad didn’t get it. Even after we explained some things to him he kept saying “You got THAT out of it?” Needless to say, he didn’t like it. So no more “smart” movies for us. My dad isn’t stupid, he just prefers to not pay close attention.

Next time we thought we’d go to the complete other end of the spectrum and watch a Matt Helm movie. Dad loved it. If you’ve not seen a film from the Matt Helm series I suggest you do. They are hilarious spy ‘thrillers’ (comedies) from the ’60s. Matt Helm (played by Dean Martin in all his wonderful drunkeness) is a charming spy solving murders and mayhem and most of all….gettin’ with the ladies! Think Austin Powers, but really IN the ’60s. Great costumes, great (stupid) dialog, music, dancing, beds that roll across the floor and dump the contents (people, sheets, and all) into a giant heart shaped bathtub. I mean, really, can you go wrong with that? Love those movies.

This time we went somewhere in between. We watched Paris, je t’aime.
It’s a film made up of a series of, I think, 18 short films all about Paris and what Paris is known for, love. Most of them were in French so reading subtitles was required, but since each “film” was only about 2 minutes long it was perfect for Mr. Short Attention Span Theater. We all loved it. I highly recommend it. One caveat: after seeing it you will have to try very hard not to book the next flight to Paris. Only thing holding me back is I don’t have a valid passport.

Here’s a trailer:

and the Official one:

Posted under Movie Reviews, Romance

I got this photo from Wikipedia, and it’s actually from the very show I was at!

So I’m sure you’ve all been dying to find out how Manilow was. Well, it was Barry Manilow, not Steve Manilow as I worried about since the tickets just said, “Manilow: a Music of Night and Passion”.

I wanted to go see him for my 40th birthday in Vegas, but when I looked online for tickets there were $400 a piece! For a Wednesday night! So I thought that $180 for 2 was a bargain.

I’ve been a fan (Fanilow?) since I was about 8 years old but had never seen him live. So I thought this would probably be my only chance. Neither of us is getting any younger. Well, it was really pretty good. It helped that we got glowsticks that said Manilow on them! Wheee! I still have mine, when my mom (yes I went with my mom, you got a problem with that? No one else would go with me) cracked hers the “Manilow” came off and I wanted mine in pristine condition so it’s still in the plastic.

Some of you had a little fun at my expense because I was attending this (Greg mostly) but honestly you guys, he’s cool. He knows what he is, and he’s OK with it. He made a lot of jokes like when he was talking about how they (whoever they is) asked him to do a Vegas show, he said he thought, “Vegas? Isn’t that where old singers go to die?”

At one point I was in the bathroom washing my hands and there were two other ladies in there. The song ended (we could hear it all clearly) he said, “I’m still a sex god!”. We looked at each other, raised eyebrows and then just burst out laughing. It’s not that he’s not sexy or never was (I did think he was pretty cute back in the day) but just that he would say that! Yell it even. Hilarious.

Early on in the show, he picked something up from the front of the stage that was thrown there. I looked up at the jumbo-tron and it was a pair if red panties. I couldn’t take it, I texted Sue to tell her. She wrote back: No fucking way, were they granny panties?” I had to tell her that it was actually a red thong.

I really wanted to hear Weekend in New England and Could it be Magic so when he started doing medleys I was a little peeved. But he did both of those songs in full.

I could have lived without the dancer/singers. They were not mic’ed enough and they were more of a distraction than anything else. But I got to see my Barry. So it was a good thing.

Oh and good god, I am watching Idol right now (so help me) and all I can say is:

“I’m goin’ into actressin’”

I just saw someone named Beth Stalker, and guess what? I’ve reviewed her! I wondered how long it would take watching this show before I saw someone I knew!!

OK now it’s the girl who is dressed like Princess Leia. Where do they get these folks? Holy shit buckets. I need some chocolate.

I leave you with the photos of the glowstick action I took with my crappy camera phone.

Here are some more reviews:

[here]
and here]

Posted under Music

We have a family of squirrels living in our eaves. They are either the size of hippos or they have a lot of friends over because they are LOUD. When I am in the office I hear them running around up there and it sounds like they’re rearranging their living room furniture.

So Greg decided to get a live trap, catch them and release them into Wirth Park. He brought home a trap the other day and put a peanut butter sandwich in it. When he we to see if he caught anything, the sandwich was gone and the trap had shut. We realized that the trap was too small (these are big squirrels, I am telling you). So he went and got another larger trap, one for raccoons.

This morning he brought down the cage and the poor bugger was pissed! He was hissing and spitting and growling and racing around in there like crazy.

We got in the car and drove to the flower garden at Wirth. The entrance to the flower garden is closed by a big fence but we were able to drive in part way and at least stop the car so that we could get the squirrel out. Well, that probably wasn’t the smartest of things to do. The snow was pretty deep. Anyway, we took the cage out and opened it and the squirrel took off so fast, he went from the cage right to a tree, then to another tree never touching his little squirrel toes to the ground at all.

We got back in the car to realize we were stuck. I tried to drive it out while Greg pushed and we got nowhere. Luckily some really nice (and cute) guys came by and helped us. They pushed, shoveled and pushed and it just got more stuck. One of the guys had a towrope, he hitched it up to his car and pulled us out. Really nice guys. Greg said to one of them that he was only trying to release a squirrel and the guy said he’d done that himself. We are so lucky they came by.

So the plan is now to catch the other one (Greg is convinced there are only 2, I think there’s a whole harem up there) and release him in the flower garden (we will find somewhere else to park) and then patch up the hole. I am a little worried that we will not get them all out and as a result trap some in there to die. But hopefully we will get them all.

There is actually a squirrel head sticking out of that hole but because I took this with my shitty camera phone, you can’t see it.

Posted under house

This post is password protected. To view it please enter your password below:

Password:

Posted under Random Thoughts