Nice weekend

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Crazy, but nice.

The furniture project is coming along, although the Thriller had to pull out the heavy artillery to get the original stain off the coffee table. After struggling for a couple of hours, it’s ready for its first coat of stain. It’s taken the sideboard two days for the first coat to dry…see where my Monday is going?

Still, a good time was had by all last night when we went to Cain Park (in Cleveland Heights, near Case Western Reserve U.) to hear our friend Lisa Biales perform with her band and guest artists Ronstadt Generations out in the open air. What a great show; it really turned folk music on its ear.

I was beyond impressed with Lisa’s bluesy honkytonk singing, and her fiddle player was just the right touch of awesome. But the Ronstadt boys (the brother and nephews of Linda) were exquisite — especially Cincinnati Conservatory graduate and cellist Michael. It was not to be believed.

Check out some clips of his playing on their new album, now available. It was so enjoyable: tight, silver harmonies, and I swear that Michael kid, in two hours of nonstop playing, played not a single note or double-stop out of tune. And expressive, wow…so expressive.

And it wasn’t ghastly hot as it had been, so the outdoors was a player in the evening as well. A great time indeed.

How goes your Sunday morning? Mine’s lazy, but then it’s company for lunch, and off to the cinema later. Ah, hugs to summer.

PS — we had dinner at the Winking Lizard before the concert. I stopped to admire the huge fake lizard in the glass cage. Then I saw it breathe. Oh dear.

Finkday at last

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Even better when it’s Pay the Fink Day. :-)

Yesterday’s furniture stripping foray seems to have been a success. The stuff the Thriller had stored in his tool lair in the basement did the magic.

Out with the old

Out with the old

Ready for the new

Ready for the new

Yesterday, he took care of preparing the coffee table (yes, we have two pieces of furniture injured by our combined fumble-fingered use of nail polish remover), so we’ll spritz then scrrrrape that before leaving for points north today. I have a meeting in Cuyahoga Falls at noon, followed by our Costco run.

Happy happy happy 10th anniversary to Seamus and Hannah! And thank you for giving us the Js. 

OK fiends, don’t even think about not enjoying this day. The weekend is almost here!

Furniture Fink out.

Still bizzy

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Look at me, all productive & stuff. Ooooooo…

Yesterday was Upstairs Closets and Tackle the Sideboard Day. Behold…

Clean

Clean

Clean

Clean

aaaaand clean.

aaaaand clean.

And seven garbage bags of clothing and shoes went to the Volunteers of America. *fist pull*

Then there was the sideboard. I got as far as gooping it up with the stripping compound. It’s pretty much dried now, and I will spritz it with water to soften it up, then scrrrrrrape it off. We’ll see how the stuff worked. If it’s anything like another stripping job Mavis and I did a couple of years ago, it should be A-OK. If not, well…there’s always the ball peen technique.

And then — a lovely surprise! We got to have the Js over for a slumber party. We had a great dinner and played on the Wii (it was just too dang hot to play outside), after which they took a long, leisurely bath, had a snack, brushed teeth, and conked out. It was an unexpected treat.

So yeah…is it Thursday? Today, after boys go home, I have to scrrrrrrape the sideboard, then run to school. Plowin’ through the list, plowin’ through the list.

How about that? :-D

Whoa, bizzy

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Sheepus! I’ve been going nonstop since 7 a.m. today. How about you?

A few days ago, I told you about my involvement with BATs (Badass Teachers Assoc.), an organization now 23,000 members strong, dedicated to the eventual repeal of the Common Core and its attached high-stakes testing in public schools.

Well, there are also state associations that hone in on local issues. I was asked last night to serve as an admin in the Ohio BATs group. I accepted.

Whoa. Now I’m in the soup, lemmetellya. Meeting in Akron on Friday already. Here we go. But along with that, my dance card holds other fun stuff. Real barn-burner material, like:

  • Cleaning out closets, getting ready for the annual Volunteers of America clothing drop
  • Starting the furniture stripping, thanks to my dang-fool clumsiness with nail polish remover
  • Ordering music for fall
  • Finishing choreography (bottle dance is done, yay)
  • Driving to school and getting some stuff I need

You know, just small stuff. In addition to the big stuff. But hey, I’m glad to be busy and engaged (although I’d rather just sit here and write to you all day).

FO

Review: The Lone Ranger

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Knowing about the scary reviews and sagging box office numbers, we went to see The Lone Ranger on Sunday afternoon anyway, because 1) we often like films that the easily bored, pretentious movie critic hates, and 2) I can’t break my streak of seeing every film Johnny Depp makes.

Bottom line: sorry, but we liked it! Again, as I always say, it’s what you expect that often determines what you get. If you expect little (which we did, thanks to the overall pan of the film), you may be surprised.

Those who go to the film expecting a brave, all-powerful, stilted, noble and in-control masked man easily dispatching bad guys will be disappointed. Everything is taken down a notch in this version, mostly for the sake of comedy. It’s a buddy movie. Think of Nolte/Murphy, Chan/Tucker, Gibson/Glover — then forget them. This is not like those, mostly because there isn’t really a time when their humanity stops the pace of the film and gives the audience a reminder that the characters are, in fact, human. Also, the “buddies” are decidedly not friends, nor do they grow to be so.

Still, the story does not disappoint. Wacky, contrived and utterly impossible? Sure! Have we not seen anything like that in American cinema before? Come on, critics. Much of the acrimony written about this film centers on Depp’s insistence on playing characters with quirky, overriding physical and mental flaws. I hear what they’re saying; even I grow weary of the famous Depp confused smirk. But that in no way means he does not bring depth to his work. His portrayal of Tonto as both a middle-aged and an old man (the story is shot in flashback) is never boring, albeit somewhat unsurprising in places.

There are a couple of little eye-rolling chuckle lines that you have to pay attention in order to catch. I caught one — a total aside — spoken by John Reid (Armie Hammer in the title role), as the pair were on a mountain ridge, riding away from the camera: Do you know what “Tonto” means in Spanish? Haha.

Near the end of the film, Reid, in a moment of jubilant inspiration atop his beautiful white horse, shouts, Hi-oh SILVER…away! Cut to the familiar deadpan Depp replying in all seriousness, Never do that again.

I’ve read adjectives like bloated, overlong, silly, stupid, bland, boring. While I get that, I totally didn’t feel insulted by this film, or that my time or money was wasted. We laughed, we were entertained. I guess that’s why I’ll never be a movie critic; apparently, I can enjoy something less deep than Terrence Malick. What’s wrong with a predictable romp once in awhile? I ask you.

The Depp faithful will be satisfied, and Hammer is cute. There is a fair amount of violence, and some rough language.

It was a fun afternoon out, and the Thriller and I splurged and shared a popcorn. Shoo-ee! How ’bout a walk on the wild side.

On the Rat-O-Meter scale of five cheeses, I give The Lone Ranger: