Movie previews

Tell me why it is that movie previews are so damn violent? On Saturday night, we took the boys to see Knowing, the new Nicholas Cage movie. We debated whether Steve was ready to see it or not, but it's rated PG-13, and based on the synopsis, we figured it would be ok. He's usually fine with movies of that nature.

The first thing we saw were 2 previews for R-rated movies. Horror flicks that, frankly, creeped me out so much that I was cringing in my seat with my eyes covered. I looked over at Steve, sitting next to me, and the poor kid was shivering. Literally, quaking in his shoes. Before the movie even started, he was asking to go back to the hotel (we were in Monterey for the weekend).

We got him sufficiently calmed down, and there were a couple more previews for PG-13 movies after that. Movie begins. Right off the top, it opens with a somewhat paranormal element with a kind of creepy little girl. I think, no I know, he would have been ok with it had those previews not preceded the movie. He's seen far worse, far creepier stuff. But within a half hour, he was begging to leave.

I took him out and we walked into Witch Mountain (which can I say? Nothing like the Witch Mountain I remember from my youth, LOL!). We watched that while Jeff & Bob watched Knowing.

Here's what I want to know. Who the F do I complain to about previews? It was so freaking inappropriate. My child hasn't slept for two nights. Seriously.

And I really wanted to see Knowing, dammit.

The Veeps, and more on Sarah

Did you see the VP debate last night? My take on it is this:

I wasn't ever interested in voting for Joe Biden in the primaries. My guy was Edwards all the way – in 2004 and in 08. But as the VP nominee, I’m happy with him. He has the foreign policy experience that Obama lacks. Yes, he's been around forever in Washington, but frankly, who hasn't? Palin? Yeah, but... Well, simply put, she scares the living daylights out of me. Karen S has had a couple of interesting discussions on this.

Last night... well, what struck me was that although Palin didn't make any horrific blunders ala her Katie Couric interview, she did not answer a single question that was asked of her. Not one. In fact, she went out of her way to say that she wasn’t going to answer the question that the moderator or Biden or even the media might like her to answer, and then proceeded to discuss one of the three talking points that she obviously felt she knew well: energy, Iraq, and McCain as a maverick. I became sick and tired of hearing those 3 talking points and wanted to hear her answer a question that was actually asked of her.

I was equally struck that Biden answered every single question with a direct, specific answer before he moved on to tie each of his responses to either his position, Obama's position, or McCain’s ‘failed’ position. Would that both presidential candidates would have done the same in their debate last week, or could do the same next week. Perhaps they should look at Biden's approval numbers after last night, and have a lessons learned meeting. Biden also stuck it to Palin when she obviously thought she had the market cornered on knowing what people talk about ‘around the kitchen table’. His eloquent and heartfelt explanation of being a single parent after his wife and child were killed and his other two children critically injured was very touching, and got his point across. In fact, several times, he got his point across that Palin had no idea what she was talking about without ever actually calling her on it. I wonder it the majority of Americans picked up on that.

And Palin’s folksy ‘don’t ya know’ talk began to really get on my nerves after a while. Please. You cannot tell me that this is not an affect for the American audience to make her ‘one of the girls’. If I heard the word ‘ya’ instead of ‘you’ one more time I thought I was going to scream. And I had almost resigned myself to the fact that whomever our next president was, their entire ticket would know how to pronounce NUCLEAR. Unfortunately, I was mistaken. Of the 4 candidates, only Palin seems to fall into the Bush stupidity column of ‘NUCULAR’. Sorry, but if your finger is on the button, don'tcha think ya should know how to spell it?

And excuse me, but damned if she doesn't want to be another Dick Cheney. If you are going to be the Veep, you need to learn Article 1 of the Constitution. The founding fathers weren’t ‘flexible’ in the powers they gave the VP over the senate. Try again, Palin. I was thrilled to see Biden stick it to her again, although I would have actually liked to see him tell her directly that she was incorrect. The VP is a member of the executive branch, not the legislative branch. No matter how much you wish it were otherwise. That is 12th grade government, dearie. Learn your constitution. And if you can't, or don't want to, then at least learn the issues for Pete's sake, and answer a question. Wanna get back to me on that one, Sarah? Golly gee willickers. Say it ain't so, Sarah.

So, did you watch? What did you think?

Can I just say?.....

A lot of folks have been posting their pet peeves lately, and on my way home from work today, something made me realize I needed to post mine as well...

1. People who drive just behind the police officer in their blind spot and refuse to pass them, even if they are going below the speed limit! A cop will not ticket you on a bright sunny day for going 60 in the fast lane (or even... gasp... 65)... even if he's doing 55 in the # 2 lane. Sheesh! (this is the one that sparked my rant)

2. People who park their honkin' huge SUVs across 1 1/2 compact spaces. If the spot is marked compact, don't park there. Why do we need a vehicle named after a fleet of ships, anyway? (the Armada? nuff said)

3. People who talk on their cell phones while checking out at the supermarket. Could you be any ruder to the cashier?

4. People who judge others based on their opinions of someone else entirely. Don't judge me based on your opinion of my sister, my friends, or my mother. If you don't like me, at least have the decency to have it be because of something I've done.

5. Waiters and waitresses who wear their pants hanging below their ass. I do not need to see your butt crack when you turn around after you've delivered my food. Have the decency to cover up when you are serving food, puleeze!

6. People who do not teach their children how to use the telephone, and how to have decent phone manners. Yes, I coached my kids when they were little ("Say, Hi, this is Jeff, may I please speak to Johnny?"). But now that they are older, they have impeccable phone manners and know how to take a message (when the mood strikes) and ask who is calling (politely, even). My kids still have friends who call the house and demand to know where my kids are. None of your freakin' business. Why don't you ask if you can please leave a message? I had a friend when I was little, and if you called the house and asked "Is Karin home?", Dad said yes, and hung up. He figured he answered your question. Kids frequently had to call back and ask "May I please speak to Karin?"

7. People who don't signal when they are turning, and then get ticked at you when you almost hit them. There is a reason those turn signals are in your car, people.

8. Pedestrians who mosey along in the middle of the road or in parking lots, even when they see you driving. HELLO? Could you move over to the side of the road, at least? Or try to be considerate and move just a tad faster? If you're granny in a walker, I understand, and am more than happy to wait for you, but otherwise, move your ass!

OK, now you rant away. Any of these ring a bell with you? Tell me yours.

Damn, Damn, DAMN!!!

Look what's out!! It's available in ebook from Samhain.



And my eBookwise picked this week to crap out!!

In other news, check out the new look on I Just Finished Reading... guess we'll have to put up some new reviews, huh? I read about 10 books on my UK trip, so I'll have to review some of 'em. Of course, I chose to buy the new JQ in EBOOK. Damn, damn, DAMN!!!

This just nauseates me...

Hi everyone! I'm back from my vacation! I'll be posting about my trip, and putting up some amazing pictures as well (plus a bit about meeting Karen S), but this caught my eye as I was looking through my email this morning, and I just felt the urge to say something about this.

How many young kids have looked up to Michael Vick? (Including, I might add, my own). Now I have to explain to my kids why he won't be playing football this year (or god willing, ever again), and what exactly he did. I am so angry that I have to do this, and hurt my boys this way. How DARE he do this? It's nauseating, disgusting and just plain horrible, terrible mean. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070820/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vick_plea

Not a bad problem to have, I guess.

My TBR list has spun out of control—but not in the usual way. I actually have just a few books on-hand. It is my list, or rather my method for keeping track, that has derailed. I keep a hand-written list, adding titles as I go and crossing them off as I read them. It is usually no more than one sheet, front and back. Most titles make it to my list via blog reviews. The rest I pull from coming soon sites.

My ‘process’ suffers if I am not online regularly. As I have not been online regularly for nearly three months, the whole thing is whacked. Instead of writing down recommended reads in blogland, I’ve been ‘starring’ them in my Google reader. Short on time, that seemed a good idea. Until I pulled up my starred posts. Apparently, I thought nothing of starring anything and everything that looked worth a second look. Seriously, it would take me another three months just to catch up.

I also fell off the coming soon watch and missed most of the big new releases this summer. Burns my ass when I’m not first in the library line for the newest Nora, Evanovich (Plum series) or Linda Howard. I feel like I spent the whole summer scrambling to read the big ones. Then, when I do get my shit together (briefly) and take first dibs on Brockmann’s latest, I pick it up ONE day before I move into a new house. Nothing like reading a Brockmann book ten pages at a time. I think I’ll start it over tonight.

So now I’m moved in, connected and ready to catch up. But I just can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing out on good reads. Argh.

What have you read this summer that qualifies as a must-have?

Caution... huge rant ahead

Bush strikes again.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070703/ap_on_go_pr_wh/cia_leak_trial

WASHINGTON - President Bush spared former White House aide I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby from a 2 1/2-year prison term in the CIA leak investigation Monday, delivering a political thunderbolt in the highly charged criminal case. Bush said the sentence was just too harsh. (too harsh my ass).

Bush's move came just five hours after a federal appeals panel ruled that Libby could not delay his prison term. That meant Libby was likely to have to report soon, and it put new pressure on the president, who had been sidestepping calls by Libby's allies to pardon Vice President Dick Cheney's former chief of staff.

"I respect the jury's verdict," Bush said in a statement (bullshit). "But I have concluded that the prison sentence given to Mr. Libby is excessive. Therefore, I am commuting the portion of Mr. Libby's sentence that required him to spend thirty months in prison." Read the rest here.

Just because Plame was fortunate enough that she wasn't so compromised to be killed, doesn't mean that this wasn't a serious enough crime to be punishable with a prison sentence. And you can bet your ass that if it was a democrat that was at fault their ass would be in jail right now, amongst a battlecry from the republicans.

And they tried to impeach/convict Clinton for getting a freaking blowjob, for crap's sake! Jesus H. Christ.

The US Constitution, Article II, Section 4 states: The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors. If Bush and Cheney aren't guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, I don't know who is.

Let's weigh it...
Blowjob... illegal wiretapping, violation of the Geneva convention and torturing prisoners...
Blowjob... illegal wiretapping, violation of the Geneva convention and torturing prisoners...
Blowjob... illegal wiretapping, violation of the Geneva convention and torturing prisoners...

Oh, I forgot, we couldn't possibly impeach Cheney because he isn't part of the executive branch. Or part of the legislative branch. He's a branch all on his own. When asked for information that all members of Congress must provide, he claims he's part of the executive branch. When requested to give information that needs to be provided by members of the executive branch, he claims he's in the legislative branch. After all, he get to break ties in the senate. Whoopty doo. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/06/26/politics/main2981956.shtml

I love Keith Olbermann.



I could rant some more, but I would never ever shut up about this.

Here We Go Again...

Some people just have no common sense, tact, or couth. Honestly. What are they thinking?
Are they trying to find ways to get people to stop reading EC books? I'm not sure, but with all the controversial blogging surrounding Jaid Black and Ellora's Cave lately, you'd think they'd try to step it up and show people that they have some class, but instead they do this (racism and stereotypes, tasteless humor), this (suggestion of contract killing, oh yeah, real classy there, snort), and this(first off, hate the word; second, ewww).

Serious WTF moments here. *shaking head in disbelief and disgust*

UPDATE: They took down the racist/stereotypical post AND they deleted my comments on their blog. Then they enacted a flaming policy and are now moderating comments. Apparently my comments must have been deemed flame-worthy or a personal attack on someone. *shrug* Could be because I formed a new category while there... The Head-Up-Ass category. *another shrug* It seemed fitting.

I So Agree...

Anybody else feel that democracy is being taken away as President Bush makes the decision in spite of the fact that congress, senate, and the majority of the US population feels he's making a horrible decision by keeping this war going and sending in 20,000 more troops? Watch below...




I agree with Rosie when she says that someone should call for the president's impeachment to set the record straight with the rest of the world and the history books- letting them know that we do not support this war and would like to pull the troops out of the Iraq before more lives are lost fighting a war that is, quite frankly, none of our fucking business.

I support the troops 100% because they are over there doing their sworn duty. What I do not support is President Bush's pressing forward rather than pulling back. It's a waste of money and a waste of lives. Hasn't this country suffered enough because President Bush can't admit he was wrong? Being president, there is no room for arrogance. He needs to get over himself and do what is right.

And with the results I found here:

Matthew Borghese - All Headline News Staff Writer

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The American people continue to hold their Commander in Chief in low regard, after a new poll shows only 32 percent of those surveyed find President George Bush is doing a good job in the Oval Office; 67 percent said the President is doing only fair, or poor.

A new survey conducted by Harris Interactive also finds Americans dislike the majority of the President's team, including Vice President Dick Cheney, who is viewed negatively by a record 67 percent of respondents.

As for other senior leaders in the White House, 52 percent of Americans have a negative view of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates and 48 percent feel the same way about Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Democrats aren't immune to the ill will either, as the poll finds the majority of Americans have a negative opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, 45 percent to 38. Although, Democrats in Congress fair slightly better than their Republican counterparts. A full 69 percent of Americans have a negative view of Republican lawmakers, while 52 percent of Americans feel the same about the other side of the aisle.

That just about says it all, doesn't it?
Rant over.

Ignorant and Abnormal... That's Me

And I'm damn proud of it. Why you might ask? Well, there was a big commotion over racism by Monica Jackson and a few others over AA authors and the fact that they're segregated into their own section and I have to tell you, I had no clue. Seriously. My Waldenbooks (city population 51,000) doesn't have an AA romance section... all romances are in the romance section. I went to the Borders and Barnes and Noble in two larger cities (population 200,000 and 500,000) close to where I live and there is no separate section there either. Hence, my ignorance to this fact.

Also, on the subject of my being abnormal, I guess I have to be because I deviate from the norm. Again, why? Because up until two or so years ago I had no clue that Brenda Jackson (an auto-buy author for me) was an AA author. Seriously. And it leaves me wondering just how many of my auto-buy authors are also AA authors... but you know what? I could give a rat's ass what color she is. She writes fabulous stories and I enjoy reading them. For me, it's that cut and dried.

Though I am now a bit less ignorant, I'll continue to go around abnormal and be proud of it because I'd rather be different than walking around with a big chip in my shoulder pointing fingers. It's just not worth it.

Stop publishing my favorite authors in hardcover... PLEASE!!! - redux

I originally posted this in February, and am now reposting it, because Jazz had a post up over at Sanctuary's Finest about Natural Born Charmer, which is coming out next month (yay!), in hardcover (boo!).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can I say how annoyed I am at the trend of mass market authors suddenly coming out in a continuing series in Hardcover? Stephanie Laurens' latest Cynster novel, The Truth About Love, is finally being released in paperback. It was released in hardcover last year, but I couldn't buy it and had to wait. I'm happy for her that she has "made it" to the "big time", but I feel like it does a disservice to her readers, namely... me. Because... don't you know it's all about me?

I also understand that it isn't the author's decision, but the publisher's, yet still I find myself annoyed. It means that, because I have a crappy library, I have to wait for the paperback release of my beloved authors' books, so at least 6 months or longer after everyone else is already talking around the watercooler. Because as much as I love Stephanie's books, I cannot afford to feed my book habit if I buy hardcover. Imagine if you had to wait 6 months for the DVD release of Survivor or American Idol or The Amazing Race, or whatever reality show floats your boat, to find out who won and how they accomplished it, but so many of your better off friends already knew because they got to see the sneak previews.

It's happening to many of my favorite authors. While I guess that means I know quality when I read it (patting self on back), it also means that I am deprived of reading my favorite authors for months on end. Suzanne Brockmann, Carly Phillips, Cherry Adair, and now Stephanie Laurens and too many others to name. I am praying that some others don't fall prey, but I can see the beginning of the end of my release day purchases of Lori Foster, Lisa Kleypas, and Julia Quinn, too. Waaaaaaa *wallowing in the self pity of a woman married to an underpaid yet highly respected teacher*

I'll be interested to see if the rest of you feel the same way - torn between the desire to celebrate and contribute to an author's success, and the desire not to pay a fortune for an addiction. Now I understand how cigarette smokers feel about the incredibly high taxes suddenly charged on their next fix of lung-cancer producing, highly-addictive cigarettes. Damned resentful! I just can't afford to pay the high tax on my own addiction. No wonder many of my smoking friends are finding the strength to quit because they don't want to pay the exorbitant cost of a pack of Marlboros. Thank goodness there are other paperbacks out there to see me through until my faves are available for the monetarily challenged, or I might just have to quit smoking, too. Now, now, I don't smoke, but you get the point.

So please, oh please, Mr. Publisher on high, stop killing me with anticipation! Give me my release day release! Or at least, send a copy to the Simi Valley library!

I Am So Glad That I Didn't Start Cameron Dean's Series...

SPOILER ALERT... IF YOU WANT TO READ THE CAMERON DEAN SERIES, READ NO FURTHER.



Eeek. Serious bad, bad, BAD stuff. It's a trilogy or some odd shit, and in the end of the last book she kills off the hero. How is that a romance? You can find Jane over at Dear Author having a tantrum here. She was so upset she broke her IPAQ after hurling it across the room. I'm just glad that I held off on reading the damn books and didn't buy them. For crap's sake.

Holy crap!

Ok, so I was reading at Dylan's blog about her nephew, and posted a comment about how I was pretty sure that my son wasn't using the "pee" method to "make his lulu go down" in the mornings anymore. Well, I walked in the house and the door to the computer room was closed. Never a good sign.

"Yo!" I yell.
"In here," I get back.
I go in, and he's obviously just pulled up a web site to play a game. "What were you doing?" I ask.
"Just playing games."
Ahhh. Something's fishy. A mother always knows.

Off he goes to take a shower before heading off to a party. I go back into the computer to pull up the history.
bigtitsnasses.com
lesbos.com
girlongirl.com

You get the picture. It bears repeating. HOLY CRAP!

My baby! My innocent little baby boy is checking out porn on the internet! So damn, now I have to go in and turn on the parental controls. I probably should have done it before now. AND, we have to have "the talk" again about appropriate and inappropriate use of the computer. Even though he was on his own settings, his 9 year old brother could still pull up those sites at any time, not to mention all the crap and spyware that could be infiltrating my computer (thank GOODNESS for good security!). Damn, life was so much easier when kids could just sneak a Playboy under their mattress!

Bob's response? After his Holy Crap? A smile and a thank goodness. The shit.

WTF???

What is with all the first person crap lately? Man, oh man, it's so hard to find an author who can deliver awesome characterization in first person that often I am wary of reading those books. There are SO MANY out there lately.

The books from Cameron Dean that I was looking forward to? First person.
Linda Lael Miller's latest romantic suspense? First person.
Fools Rush In by Kristan Higgins that looked so promising? First person.
Linda Howard's latest? First person.
Karen Marie Moning's latest? First person.

Just effing stab me in the eye already. I've only found a few authors in all my reading years (I'm 36) that have actually grabbed me with first person and those are Katherine Allred's Sweet Gum Tree and Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum novels. And while I enjoyed Linda Howard's To Die For which was first person, her follow up to that book with Drop Dead Gorgeous was just way to chick-litty for me and I wanted to beat the crap out of the selfish bitch heroine.

More and more I'm seeing first person novels when before they were few and far between. Anyone know the reasoning behind this? Is this a new trend? And if so, do you think it will be one to stay? I, for one, sure as hell hope not.

Rerun of ER- Rant

I am watching a rerun of ER where Dr. Gallant dies over in Iraq. A kid and his brother get beat by their dad and the older brother has to beat the dad with a baseball bat to get him to stop hitting his brother. The dad ends up dying. Well, Dr. Pratt goes off about how we can get an outrageous national debt because of the damn warn, billions of dollars wasted, because for some reason the president finds going over to Iraq killing people all in the name of democracy.

I have to say... I agree.

Hello? Saddam is gone and things over there weren't nearly as bad with HIM as they are now with the US over there. WTF??? Why not spend some of that money on our own freaking country to help the homeless, the abused, the sick, the unemployed, and those struggling to make it day to day because this war has f*cked the economy up royally.


Who are we to stick our noses in their business? The US? So effing what. They obviously don't want us over there, so get the hell out already. Some people can't take a hint.

Isn't It Funny...

No, it's really not. My kids listen to rap music... they like the beat and blah, blah. What I've found since I've listened in the car with them is that the MAJORITY of all rap songs contain three common words: bitch, mother f&*ker, and the "N" word. Is that like a rule or something? "You wanna sing a rap song? You gotta use one or more of these words here." What. The. F*&ck?