Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Anther commercial icon is gone

So I just found out that the Empire Man, Mr. Lynn Hauldren, has passed away.  He was such a huge icon in the advertising business to me.  Just like the "It's time to make the donuts" Dunkin Donuts guy, Michael Vale and original "The loneliest man in town" Maytag Repairman, Jesse White.  Although all the others were pretty good as well.

When I moved to Louisiana for those six years I didn't realize how much I missed Hauldren until I moved back and saw an Empire Carpets commercial for the first time.  I actually smiled and of course sang the jingle. 

And when I saw a commercial for another company by the name of Luna and heard their jingle - singing their phone number and ending in the singing of their name that sounded exactly like the Empire jingle I was actually pissed.  To this day whenever I hear their commercial there's a little twinge that goes off in my head about how they're such ripoffs.

Sad, just sad.

Media quote of the day: 

"588-2300, Em-pire!" - The late, great Empire Man

Monday, April 25, 2011

Weekend Update 4/22-24/11

So, let's see, it was another busy weekend here in peanuthead land.  Friday right after I got off work I hurried and changed and then HDT and I went to our friend's home for dinner and also to go to their church's Good Friday services. 

Since it would be pushing it for time we actually just had some flat bread and chatted for a little while before heading out to church.  The services were very simple but nice and other than the repetitiveness of the songs I enjoyed those as well.  Afterward we headed over to the house for dinner.  She had made some pasta and a salad.  She actually made her own noodles too, they were pretty darn good and I had brought brownies for desert.  We had a great time just visiting and having good food.  We finally made it out of there a little after 1am and made it home shortly before 2. 

HDT tried to convince me to stay up to watch a show but I was just too damn tired and besides we had to get up and out of the house by noonish the next day to take Jim out for his birthday lunch.  So I went to bed and he followed about an hour or so later. 

We took him to our favorite Chinese food place for a terrific lunch.  He'd never been there and was very pleased with his food so HDT and I were happy about that.  We got home shortly after 2 and I headed right back out to go to the grocery store to pick up pop and some snacks for the evening's festivities.  Got home and put everything away and proceeded to clean with HDT helping.  I also made a couple batches of brownies.  One batch was left in the pan as that was going to be Jim's birthday "cake". 

The couple that we had been with the night before came over, got there just after 7:30.  We ordered dinner and played Wise or Otherwise.  We were just finishing dinner and were almost to the end of the game when one of HDT's coworkers came over as well.  She also brought a couple games to play.  Once our one game was done we played one of the ones she brought - Snorta

I've never heard of this game before but I gotta say it was a lot of fun.  I can only imagine how it'd be if we had been drinking a lot.  A couple of us had a couple of Mike's hard lemonades but with all the food absorbing them there wasn't much of a negative consequence.  But I can certainly imagine what it would be like tipsy let alone drunk.

During the middle of it Jess came by after she got off of work.  Then after the game the couple had to leave, they had an early morning at their church. 

I grabbed the brownie pan and put 40 candles on them for Jim to blow out.  Passed out brownies and ice cream to everyone and we chatted for awhile while eating.  Then the coworker had to go home, she wasn't feeling well so didn't want to stay up too late.  We tried to convince Jess to stay for another game but she took off as well.

So we three who were left played one more game then called it a night.  I went to bed and HDT followed about an hour later.

Sunday we slept in pretty late.  I took a bath while he went on line until I got out then took his shower.  We made it to his dad's house for Easter dinner shortly after 2:00.  Had dinner while watching the Cub's game, which they proceeded to lose.  After the game we decided to watch Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.  Watched a few of the extras after it and then headed home for the night around 7pm.

We had dinner and watched a couple Bones then I went to bed and followed about an hour or so after.  Long weekend but a good one.

Media quote of the day:

What rubbish! See? That's what happens when you read all of those fanciful novels on fairy tales of yours. - Eustace Clarence Scrubb


There once was a boy called Eustace/who read books full of facts that were useless - Edmund Pevensie

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

What's your favorite scary movie?

So HDT and I decided to go see Scream 4 last night.  HDT thought it was ok, he wasn't disappointed but wasn't thrilled with it either.  I enjoyed it.  Sure, there wasn't as much "story" as there was in the others but I still thought it played well. 

Without giving anything away:  While watching a commercial one night last week I turned to HDT and said I think "that person" is Ghostface or at least one of the ghostfaces as the other movies had more than one.  He asked why and I told him because they're not doing what I'd expect them to do in that situation and because of this other scene.  He wasn't sure what to think, could be any number of reasons for doing/not doing what they were doing/not doing.  Turns out I was right though. 

Throughout the movie every now and then someone else would look good to be it or at least one of them if there did turn out to be more than one killer.  But I still believed the person I picked in the commercial was the best candidate.

But I gotta say I really like Hayden Panettiere's haircut.  That short hair looks really, really good on her.  And Emma Roberts does look good for playing a cousin of Neve Campbell, heck they could even play sisters. 

And when Cougar Town with Courteney Cox started last fall we gave it a shot and I gotta say it really bugged me to see that she had work done to her face.  We gave up on the show so I sort of forgot how bad she was looking.  So when she came on screen all huge with those ugly protruding lips sticking out I actually flinched a little.  Why oh why do people have to disfigure themselves.  Just age gracefully already.  Geesh.

Media quote of the day:

Welcome home, Sidney. You're a survivor, aren't you, Sidney? What good is it to be a survivor when everyone close to you is dead? You can't save them. All you can do... is watch. - The Voice (Ghostface)

Monday, April 18, 2011

Weekend Update 4/15-17/11

So this was another fairly busy weekend even though HDiTty had to work.  Friday night we didn't do much except hang out and watch Date Night.  It was silly but it was fun, pretty enjoyable really.

Saturday he had to work all day - 16 hours, from 6am to 10pm so I was going to do a Lost Season 6 marathon but then decided I better not because I really did have things that needed to be done.

First I got on the elliptical.  I've been pretty good with the exercising this week.  Soaked for a bit in the tub then got ready to go get Kylie's birthday gift exchanged.  She's into Tangled right now and we bought her the dress but someone else had already bought it (turned out to be HDT's mom) so I took it back and exchanged it for the wig.  Grabbed some lunch from Pizza Hut (bad, bad I know) and took it back home to eat.  Watched a show while eating then made myself get off my ass and go clean the kitchen which has been needing it for some time now.  We tend to pile things up, most of it was mail and magazines though so not too bad.  Did the dishes as well. 

I also finally did our taxes, yes we are THAT bad with the procrastination.  Found some of the bills needed for our Flex Com to be fixed and also grabbed last years tax return to prove I did claim the 408k money I took out while I was out of work.

After all that it was now after 6pm, maybe even closer to 7 and I decided I'd reward myself with sitting on the couch watching a movie.  I decided on Underworld: Rise of the Lycons.  After it was done I switched back to tv and started scrolling through the guide and in less than 5 minutes the same movie was going to start on one of the channels.  I was amused.

There wasn't much on so I settled on Forensic Files and was watching that when HDT walked in the door close to 10:30.  He stayed up for about an hour so we continued watching the Files until he went to bed.  I went with him but sat up in bed reading for about a half hour until I felt tired enough to sleep.

Sunday I decided to take a day off from exercising and just had some breakfast while watching Temple Grandin.  Good movie, I can totally see why Claire Daines won so many awards for it.  The tears ran down my face more than once I might add. 

After it was over I soaked in the tub reading for a little while then got ready to go back out to get Jenn's birthday gift and card.  HDT got out of work early to be able to go to Kylie's birthday party that started at 2:30.  After meeting him at home and getting the presents wrapped we headed out the door around 3:45.  I'm glad I didn't go on time without him because everyone was just finishing eating when we walked in the door which means an hour and half of just sitting around watching the kids run around. 

After we finished our plates they had the cake and ice cream then the presents were opened.  Kylie very much liked the Rapunzel wig and the reading book we also gave and liked the soundtrack cd even more.  So the presents were a hit which is always good.

He made a few copies of the cd so Kylie could actually handle it without ruining the original and we could have a copy of it when she comes over.  Not long after the cd's were done copying we headed home.

He got on the computer and I turned on Netflix instant and we proceeded to watch some Buffy's for the rest of the evening until we went up to bed around 11.

Media quote of the day:

My name is Temple Grandin. I'm not like other people. I think in pictures and I connect them. - Temple Grandin
__________________________
Something brought you here, Flynn Rider. Call it what you will... fate... destiny...  - Rapunzel
A horse. - Flynn Rider
__________________________
If we are going to pay this much for crab it better sing and dance and introduce us to the Little Mermaid! - Claire Foster

He turned the gun sideways! That's a kill shot! - Phil Foster

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Weekend Update 4/8-10/11

So this weekend was a movie weekend, no doubt about it. 

Friday evening after I got off work we were going to go and return a pair of jeans that didn't quite fit HDT, have some dinner and see a movie, probably Hanna but possibly Your Highness.  But after looking at the receipt and seeing that we have 60 days to return them and I mentioned maybe seeing matinees the next day to save some money we decided to stay home for the night.

So we kept debating on what to have for dinner, still order out or make something at home.  We decided to eat what we had, but I can't for the life of me remember what it was.  And HDT put in The Godfather for the movie.  We watched it before but it's been probably a couple years at least since we did and wow I didn't remember much of it at all.  Certain scenes were familiar but mostly because they're the scenes one sees when watching shows about movies not because I was remembering them from last time.  We had to keep stopping it throughout because of phone calls or when HDT had to check on his mom's computer that he was fixing or because of the animals.  It's a long movie to begin with and it took us probably an extra hour to watch it because of the stoppage, basically it took all night.  I don't think we stayed up too much later after it was done.

Saturday we got up mid morning and headed out the door with just 30 minutes to get to the feed store where we get the pet food.  Walked in the door with just a couple minutes to spare before closing.  The whole way there HDT kept saying how many minutes we had to get there.  Was quite amusing really.  I knew we'd be fine.

We were debating on what to have for lunch/breakfast and decided on Chili's.  And while eating we decided to watch a whole different movie than the two we were gonna see the night before.  Adjustment Bureau was playing at the theater near the restaurant but not at the place we were gonna go to.  We were still trying to work out being able to see at least one of them along with AB, preferably Hanna, but time lines just wouldn't work. 

We had a couple hours before it was to start so we walked around Toys-R-Us to find Kylie's birthday present and then headed home to drop everything off and meet Jim who had called while we were shopping.  So once he got there we headed out to the movie which was really good I might add.  Very glad we got to see it in the theater too.  There were some great shots of the city (New York) that looked really good on the big screen.

After that we headed home and debated what to do.  Since it was just us three we decided to just hang out and watch some more movies.  It's been a long time since HDT and I saw Tombstone and Jim has never actually seen it from start to finish.  He's seen the whole thing but always in bits and pieces.  And we just bought it on blue-ray and wanted to see how good it would look so that won out over everything else we had.  After that we decided to watch Scream since number four is coming out this weekend.  But just after Drew's death scene Jim left because he just exhausted and wouldn't be able to stay awake for it.  HDT and I finished it and afterward I went to bed.  He came up not long after. 

We had decided to go see the matinees of Hanna and Your Highness on Sunday but after waking up and getting a migraine shortly after I wasn't up for it much.  And since we spent so much money on Saturday it just made sense to skip the movies and hang out at home where I could just rest and not have to move too much.  We decided to watch Godfather II and III.  Although we liked both I don't see why II is considered a better movie than I.  Oh well, to each his own.

So that was our movie filled weekend.  I liked it all except for the damn migraine.  For which I had to finally breakdown and take one of the max-alts when I went to bed since the ibuprofen wasn't working.

Media quotes of the day:

I'll make him an offer he can't refuse - The Godfather (both Brando and Pacino)
____________________

I'm your Huckleberry - Doc Holliday (the best Doc Holliday in any movie ever)

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Duel Fortunes

So HDT and I got Chinese for dinner one night last week and I completely forgot to talk about it until now.  Not that the food was anything to write home about, that was good as always.  Nope, it's the fortunes I need to mention.

So you know, your local Chinese place reaches in a box of cookies and randomly pulls out how many ever they'll be giving you.

We always open and read ours then pass it over so the other one can see what we got.  I read mine and thought it was pretty good.  He reads his and says he really really likes it and we hand off.  And this is what we got:




Sorry, I forgot to turn it but still, you can see what's there.  They are exactly the same fortune.  We got a good kick out of that.

This has only happened once before, well sort of.  Years ago we went out to a restaurant with his family and they brought a pile of cookies out.  Everyone got one and there were a few left over so HDT grabs another one.  It's the exact same fortune as the one he just got before.  And then the kicker is that everything that it said matched him perfectly.  Said something along the lines of working with the public and he does it very well and diplomatically and empatheticaly, etc., etc.  So we laminated it and he's carried it in his wallet ever since.

Media quote of the day:  From the Penguins of Madagascar tv show:

A misfortune cookie. It is like a regular fortune cookie, except it is filled with hate, and bile!... and sugar... and evil!

Monday, April 4, 2011

Weekend Update 4/1-3/11

So let's see, this weekend was pretty good for the most part.  It was HDT's weekend to work.

Friday night, Hmm, why can't I ever remember what we did on Friday nights?  On Thursday I agreed that I'd try out his new game Rift either on Friday or Saturday evening after he got home from work.  I didn't do it Friday and it seems to me it was because we actually did something to prevent it.  But I can't remember for the life of me what that could've been.  But I'm thinking it really was more just the fact that I didn't want to do it more than anything.  Seems to me I put in Sports Night and we just watched show after show of it. 

We loaned our Sports Night DVD's to one of his coworkers/friends a couple years ago I think it was and we just got it back.  Yeah, I believe that is what we did Friday night until it was time to go to bed.

I woke up around 8:30 Sat. morning.  And after taking my turn on Words with Friends that I'm playing with HDT I put a couple roasts in the crockpot along with some italian dressing packets and a couple bouillon cubes and let it cook all day for shredded italian beef.  After that I made myself some breakfast and headed downstairs to catch up on some of my shows.

After awhile I decided to stop being lazy and started in on some house work.  I got some straightening up done and then some vacuuming done, including under the bed which I haven't done in awhile - scary!  And then I mopped.  By then it was time to get myself washed up because Jess was gonna be by some time after 3:00 to drop of Kylie for the evening while she went to work.

Sure enough just when I stepped out of the tub to start drying off I hear her pull up.  So I hurried up and got some clothes on and got to the back door just in time.  But after letting them in I had to go back to put my wet hair in a towel.  After she left I put the clean dishes away and loaded the washer back up with dirty dishes, started it and then Kylie and I headed down to the basement.

She asked to watch a movie and we opted for Wall-E because she hadn't seen that in a long time.  After that she wanted to watch another movie and since she's never seen Willow and HDT and I thought she'd enjoy it I put that in.  And turns out she did like it.  He got home with about 45 minutes left of it to go and sat on the couch with us to watch the rest of it. 

The she decided to watch Wizard of Oz.  I put that in and then headed out to the grocery store because I forgot to get bread for the italian beef sandwiches.  I walked in the door just when Dorothy and Toto got to Munchkinland.  Kylie was hungry so I made her a hot dog then shredded the roasts up and made myself and HDT a sandwich.

After the movie ended I went to Netflix instant and started playing Rugrats for her.  I loved this show when I discovered it in my 20's and knew she'd like it.  Sure enough she does.  Jess came in shortly after the 2nd show had started.  HDT showed her the Rift game while Kylie and I continued watching the toons.  Finally she bundled her up and took her home. 

Of course by then it was too late for me to learn to play the game and we went to bed shortly after they left.

Sunday I was up shortly after 8:30 again.  I made myself a couple small beef sandwiches for breakfast and headed downstairs to continue watching my shows.  I think it was close to noon that I decided to get on the elliptical.  Did a good workout and then went to soak in the tub for an hour as usual.  But after just 25 minutes or so I started to feel really sleepy.  So I decided I'd wash up and take a little nap.  But by the time I was all dry I was actually awake.  So I did another load of dishes (yep, we were that bad with the dirty dishes) and headed back downstairs.  I also did a couple loads of laundry.

HDT got home around 6:30 and we did somethings that married folk do and then finally decided on what to eat for dinner.  We decided to be good and just eat our own frozen pizza we had rather than order out like we both wanted to.  I agreed I'd learn how to play Rift while the oven was heating up and then during the pizza cooking. 

It seems like a pretty good game but I haven't gotten very far.  So we shall see as time goes on.  I'm very antisocial when it comes to these things and I'd much rather have a game where it's just me playing and not online where there are people who we know and even those we don't that might want to try to get me to play with them.  The only person that I'm willing to play with is HDT and we don't have two computers to do that.  At least not right now.  So, yeah, we shall see if I last.

We had dinner while watching the first episode of The Ultimate Fighter that started this last Wednesday.  So far I'm really liking Dos Santos, he seems like a pretty good guy.  I'm still out on my judgement of Brock. 

After that he headed back to play Rift while I started another recorded show to watch.  At one point he gave me the background story on the game.  I also played the Jimmy Fallon/Stephen Colbert Friday clip from Fallon's show last week for him to watch.  That got him in the mood to play the original again on YouTube.  Then he started looking into some of the spoofs and in defense of clips.  Finally around 11:00 I couldn't stay awake any longer so I went to bed.  He came up a couple hours later.

Overall a pretty good weekend.

Media quote of the day:

From Willow:

What are you doing? - Willow
I found some blackroot. She loves it. - Madmartigan
Blackroot? I'm the father of two children, and you never, ever give a baby blackroot. - Willow
Well my mother raised us on it. It's good for you! It put's hair on your chest, right Sticks? - Madmartigan
Her name is not Sticks! She's Elora Dannen, the future empress of Tir Asleen and the last thing she's gonna want is a hairy chest! - Willow
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From the Rugrats:

Guys, guys. I squished Angelica. - Chuckie
That's OK, Chuckie, you didn't mean to squish her. - Tommy
And even if you did- that's OK. - Phil