Some Friday stuff

Julia and I took Kiernan to meet his great-grandparents (my parents) last week and we had a good trip. He's very cute and he loved both his great-grandparents, but especially great-grandpa.

I've watched some good movies recently. This week it was Dan in Real Life, with Steve Carell -- a sweet movie and I enjoyed it. It's a little uneven but overall a good movie.
I also recently rented the final cut version of Blade Runner -- it's very good and visually stunning. It had been a very long time since I had seen the original version, so it was really like seeing it for the first time. Harrison Ford is, of course, excellent, but I was really impressed by Rutger Hauer's performance. Yes, it's dark and violent and weird, but it's also brilliant.
Another good movie -- a documentary -- is Helvetica. I have a fondness for typography, but even if you aren't interested in typography itself you might like this. The film uses the history of the font to also illustrate the developments in graphic design during the last 50 years. I thought it was really interesting.

10 things about me

Megan tagged me, so now I need to tell 10 things about myself:

1 I am fairly well addicted to American Idol and college basketball.

2 I really, really wish I could see Kiernan more often.

3 I love being a grandma.

4 I’m in love with my husband, especially when he makes me laugh.

5 I feel really victorious when I accomplish a writing goal (which I haven't done much of lately).

6 I would read and listen to music and write 24 hours a day if I could.

7 I surf the Web way too many times a day.

8 I’ve been trying to lose 20 more pounds (and I have a long way to go).

9 Aside from the goals I’ve already reached in my life, I want to know Jesus better.

10 I really love the library.

Oh goodness, who to tag. How about: Chris.

March column

I've posted my March column: Longing for Spring.

There's no place like home ...

My hometown/county has a new Web site. If you hit refresh, you'll see different pictures of people and places and the little chair in the upper left corner will change. Farther down the page, under Featured News is a link to a 30-second television spot. I think the project (Web site and tv spot) was handled by the chamber of commerce or economic development organization. They did a pretty good job with this. At the very least, it makes a nice first impression.

Tuesday music and more

I've had a cold again and not blogged for a while, but here's some links to catch up with.

I clicked on a New York Times article the other day and discovered Eisa Davis -- a singer, songwriter, actor and playwright -- when her songs started playing when the article opened. I liked her music so much I decided I needed it, so I'm listening to her debut album "Something Else" right now. She has a beautiful warm voice and her music has been described as "stripped down soul with flecks of Joni Mitchell." Her songs feature her own piano-playing, with some drums and guitar in the background -- it's a wonderful sound.

This is an older article from the Times, but it's an interesting look at the demographic landscape as reflected in the most common surnames.

If you are as annoyed by misplaced quotation marks as I am, you'll want to check this out. (found via jen's blog)

Here's a wonderful tribute to Gary Gygax complete with a flow chart of geekdom.

And, finally, the peace symbol is 50! The article gives a succinct history of the design.

R.I.P.

Larry Norman -- the Christian rock pioneer paved the way for a lot of the music I loved when I first discovered Christian rock (and I sang "I Wish We'd All Been Ready" many many times at camp). I was sorry to hear last week that he had died, but he left a legacy and witness that will live long after his time on this earth. His joy in Jesus always came through, no matter what his circumstances.

Jeff Healey -- If all you know of Jeff Healey was his hit "Angel Eyes" then you need to do yourself a favor and find some of his other work. He was an incredibly talented blues guitarist and died too soon (last weekend) at age 41. His album "Cover to Cover" is surprisingly good, considering it's covers of other material. But then, a lot of his covers are better than the originals (for example "Stuck in the Middle with You"). And I have a live set from Montreaux in 1999 that includes an absolutely blistering version of "My Guitar Gently Weeps."