the invention of smugness

Tonight we went to the movie The Invention of Lying. I hadn't really read any reviews, but had the vague notion that it would be a cute romantic comedy. And it was... sort of.

(Spoiler alert -- You might not want to read further if you are planning on seeing the film. On the other hand, if I were you I'd choose to spend my money on some other movie, so you might want to read on anyway.)

Ricky Gervais plays Mark Bellison, a schlumpy guy with a crush on his best friend's cousin, Anna (played by Jennifer Garner). They live in this parallel world in which no one has ever told a lie, and the level of honesty can be quite funny. One day something snaps in Mark's brain and he blurts out a whopper. As one might expect, the lies mount and things begin to spin out of control.

The premise is promising, and there is a wonderful supporting cast including Tina Fey, Jeffrey Tambor, Rob Lowe, Jason Bateman, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. However, for me, the movie fell short of its potential. In fact, some parts down right bugged me.

For example, just because people can only tell the truth shouldn't mean they have to blurt out what they are thinking at every moment. Is there no place for manners or being considerate of others' feelings in that parallel world? Further, is there also no room for imagination there? How dreary is that?!

The thing that bugged me most was the film turning into a satire about organized religion. Don't get me wrong -- I think poking fun of organized religion can be a very good thing. But the movie begins to just feel mean-spirited, insinuating that religion and truth are mutually exclusive and dismissing people of faith as ignorant. I don't presume to know the Truth, but I don't think Gervais should be so arrogant as to presume he does either.

good news / bad news

The Good News
We're going to a concert in Portland next month -- Billy Joel and Elton John together.
The Bad News
The good seats cost waaaay more than we wanted to spend, so we opted for the cheaper seats. Our view will be something like this (only considerably further back):



The Good News
Went to the dentist today -- no cavities.
The Bad News
Chastised for brushing too hard. (Who knew?!)



The Good News
Marble agreed to wear a costume for Halloween.
The Bad News
He selected one I feel is in extremely poor taste.




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googled all the pics

moving beyond tasty freeze

It's not that I have a lot to blog about, but I feel like I should get past the "Tasty Freeze" post already!

Friday morning my mom and I continued our "Road Trip to Nearby Small Towns" series (which I just now named that). We had breakfast in Battle Ground, Washington -- which could have been a nice small town because it is situated near a pretty lake and park (see pictures below) but is disappointing because it is so sprawled out. It seems to primarily be a series of strip malls.





Then Saturday was a longer road trip to see C&D up in Bellingham. (Yay!) And back home today to attend an 80th birthday party.

umm... not a good look

I perused my "to do" list today, then got side tracked black dynamiting myself instead. (It's from a website to promote the movie Black Dynamite, a spoof of 70's "blaxpoitation" films. You upload your photo, then add stuff and it generates a name.) Here's my result:



You, too, can put off important tasks and get side tracked here:
Black Dynamite YoSelf

frenemy in Ortonville?

Hmm... either the Friday Fives are getting harder or I'm getting more shallow. (I opted out last week too!) So instead of playing today's Friday Five I'm playing Nancy Drew and trying to unravel the mystery of an old postcard.



But before we get to the postcard mystery, here's another one. Who the heck is with Nancy? I would imagine the guy is Ned. But who's in the yellow dress? That doesn't look like something George would wear, and the gal looks a bit too *ahem* trim for Bess.

Anywhooo, moving on to the postcard. The front features the court house in Ortonville, Minnesota. I can't tell the date -- the postmark is smudged -- but it's probably in the 1907 to 1914 era.



Now for the back and the mystery message:



Hello there-
You can't dodge this on eather, I know more then you think I do. From a friend in Ortonville Minn.

Wonder if Mr. George Johnson in Palermo, North Dakota found that unsettling... or just silly.

excuses, excuses...

I'm not sure what the deal is, but I've skipped bike commuting this week.



Monday's excuse for not bike commuting:
It just seemed "too dark" in the morning.

Tuesday's excuse for not bike commuting:
It was "too foggy" this morning. (Well, it WAS!)

What will Wednesday's excuse be?
(a) I want to sleep in.
(b) It's so chilly in the morning!
(c) They just put new carpet in my office -- the bike tires would make it dirty.
(d) __________________ Fill in the blank and help me out here!

Or maybe when tomorrow morning rolls around I will actually get on my little bike and pedal to work.

(And yep, that's me up there on my groovy banana bike. I think it was probably taken during the summer of 1967.)

blogger meet 'n eat

Yay! I had a blogger meetup today with Rev SS in Olympia (our approximate half-way point). We had a nice lunch, visited the farmer's market (where the picture was taken), and did some postcard hunting.



I found some good ones! This card, postmarked March 5th of 1912, features the "D.N. Tallman Residence" in Willmar, Minnesota.



While the Tallmans had a fine looking house, I primarily bought the postcard because I liked the writing on the back. I loved the excuse for not writing a letter.



Dear George,
Received your letter, was read with pleasure. Should write you a letter But I got a bad cold and Ma ain't home so will write later on. Send me a card for a change. From your girl in Minnesota. bye bye.

I can see the bad cold part, but not sure why Ma needed to be home...