Michael Jackson's This Is It Movie

Now, Cow was not a huge fan of Michael Jackson. But this film was fantastic!

The show itself would have been spectacular to see live. Contrary to expectations, MJ as they call him, danced and sang like the amazing superstar he was--there was no sign of weakness, just amazing dancing and even better singing, and someone who was a thoughtful and considerate collaborator with his dancers, singers and producers.

In a way, this is what movies should be like, fantastic tunes, great dancing, some humor as well as interesting insights into the process. Had they made a 3-hour movie instead of a 2-hour movie there would have been time for more dialog, but what they tried to do, a pretty straight-forward concert film, they did exceedingly well.

In fact, after not really being a fan, this film makes Cow want to run out and buy some orange pants and a glitter jacket, start taking dancing lessons and sing the night away! Just so sad that his story ended the way it did.

Highly recommended for a good night out, no profanity, no bad acting, no really labored plot lines like so many movies you see--just a great movie, great visual experience, and great tunes.

Histories

Linda posted a charming photo and history of her purchasing this cute desk, which led Cow to think:

Wouldn't it be interesting to know the history of everything in one's house? And there should be a way to append the history of everything one bought so anybody who wanted, could know about it.

Moo!

Movie Roundup

"Couple's Retreat" was hilarious! Riffs on video gamers, couple's counselors, New Age philosophy and the whole island vacation cliche made some great laughs. Kristen Davis was amazingly funny.

However just because Cow thought this moovie was funny doesn't mean everyone will. There were quite a few couples who made a point of walking out noisily, offended, apparently.

Other moovie was Zombieland, which was so great it is worth a second viewing, that is, if you can make your way past the crowds in theatres this weekend for the Michael Jackson moovie which will be opening.

Rule: Don't always go by the critics...

Moo!

Anxiety

The New York Times Magazine has a great article about anxiety. Highly recommended reading.

Some babies are "hyper-reactive" from birth, and these babies tend to have more anxiety, more hyper-sensitivity to their bodies, more fear at new elements in their environment.

Cow hypothesizes that maybe most bloggers were hyper-reactive. If not much about the world bothers you, if you're essentially happy and content, if you are not wracked with worries about the world, your place in it, or the neighbor who comes knocking on the door for no good reason, maybe there's nothing to blog about!

This post and link dedicated to Linda, with thanks for the charming postcard too!

Moo!

Attention to detail

Some areas of the country definitely do more on the recycling front. The streets of Maine showed the residents support these efforts. There were boxes of cardboard, bags of leaves, and everything neatly separated....

Cow was impressed. But then it doesn't always take a lot to impress innocent Topiary!

Travels

It was really fun traveling and staying with relatives. Given this cute decorated room (the occupant was in a Senior Year Abroad in Paris) instead of the bland and boring hotel rooms, the trip was off to a great start!

Then, just outside is the Back Bay with miles and miles of walking paths! Nothing could have been nicer than enjoying a brisk breeze along a nature-preserve wetland, with others walking and biking!


Lots of rocks in this part of the country, many of which seem to have been used to make really charming walls!

Coast

Topiary just back from a trip and will be posting the pictures and blogging about it Tomorrow!

Moo!

It's all there

Whether it's finding a frog in your toilet or bugs in your tea, isn't the internet great for sharing, and making you feel so much less special? And less clever and humorous, since other people's comments are so much funnier and cleverer?

As you may have guessed, Topiary opened a metal cannister of tea and found little creatures habitating apparently happily therein.

(Hours later after throwing every thing away from the cupboard) Topiary thought she'd done pretty well with keeping rice in the freezer (had been buggy before) flour in the refrigerator (notoriously buggy) and any type of cracker-thing in a sealed ziplock bag. Never thought about the tea.

Cow now sadly resigned to a life without cute blackberry and acai mango teas (the vision of bugs swimming happily in the bags is too much!

None of these posts answer the question though. How do these bugs live, apparently for years, in a sealed container where there is nothing to eat but dried tea? Do they not need any water, or the occasional culturally-enriching jaunt outside? What about inbreeding---isn't that a risk?

Cow now never looking at a teabag without suspicion, and wonderment.

Moo!

Photo credit: shamelessly ripped off from Dazzla at Neogaf, thanks!

Charmed at the MALL...dum dum dee!

Topiary has successfully avoided the mall since 2005, and thanks the internet daily for mail-order.

The Mall has maximized their sales footage by adding cute carts o' stuff in the aisles, to avoid your having to even enter a store at all.

That day, 2005, forever engraved on her memory: Cow in mall, rustling by a cute cart o' stuff--a Beautiful Man (BM) looks up and down Topiary, and asks with a resonant, charming rumble and hundred-watt smile: "May I ask you a question?"

Cow, slowing her steps despite knowing he's a salesman, Charmed by his Beauty and flattered that of all the people in the Mall, Topiary is the one Chosen to be Asked A Question: "Yes?" "May I see your hands?" BM avails himself of both Topiary hands. "Your cuticles--do you wash your hands too often?" with concern, as he turns to his cart filled with Beautiful Lotions. A plain-jane saleslady glowers in the background. She is Not the Recipient of this Special Attention. Cow Is.

Cow feels more and more Special, more and more Charmed as the BM selects a Special Product for Cow's Cuticles. The hand is still held. BM natters on (he has a slight foreign accent) how he is here to attend college, working his way through, you understand. Cow Understands. And is Charmed, flattered that She Is Chosen to Listen.

Cow's credit card is run, but a slight pause...BM says (even more charmingly) "I'd like to keep this card." Smiling, joking, Cow is Charmed that she has been Included in his struggling-through school, yet-smiling Life. Another slight pause, and Cow is Charmed into buying an additional Lotion. Intimate smiles, a cute little bag, and Cow is on her way, the Glow of having her day Lightened and Brightened by the Personal Attention of this BM only slightly dimmed by the hugely inflated price of $100 buckaroos just swiped through her card. Cow determined Never to Go to the Mall Again!

Fast Forward 2009--Mall: Unavoidable.

BM is still there! Same place, same question, same glowering lady in the background. "May I ask you a question?" He turns to Cow with the Beautiful Smile and the Indefinable Confidence and Assurance all Truly Beautiful People have.

This time though, Cow enters Topiary Lightwarp Speed as fast as fluttering Topiary will allow. At Warp Eleven the other end of the mall is reached, and oh no! There's ANOTHER cute cart o' stuff and Another Beautiful Man asking as she speeds by "May I ask you a question?" My God, they're multiplying!

It is a sad fact Cow has No Sales Resistance. The secret is, though, the Beautiful Men with their hand-holding have nothing on the TV store, where Cow intended to purchase a $400 tv and left with a $1600 tv. It seemed rude, and discriminatory somehow, to disagree with the nice salesman so unfortunately confined to the wheelchair, who seemed to need the sale so badly.

Moo!

The American South

Since it was two-for-one day at the local "video" store (which only carries DVDs) Cow rented a few discs of "True Blood."

"True Blood" is a vampire series set in the South. Where everybody stands around outside, sweating. Where women stand outside FANNING THEMSELVES! Where homes have electric fans buzzing on tables! Where tank tops ringed with sweat are de rigeur. Where bad, bad accents predominate.

Stereotypes! Were any filmmakers to actually visit, they would find houses equipped with $10,000 air-handlers specifically so nobody ever has to be the least bit warm. Cars bursting with frigid air. A culture where nobody goes outside when it is hot. A place where it is a cultural norm to dress well when going out, complete with makeup, hair-done and jewelry. A place totally lacking in hand-held fans for the ladies! A place also lacking swamps! A place with very few clunkers on the roads (because, natch, clunkers don't have good air conditioning!) A place with strict ordinances on trailers and prohibitions on parking them in yards. Where restaurants are expensive and waits for tables are the norm. A place where going to college is just as expected of youth as anywhere else.

One thing they did get right though....lots of people here are overweight. Because they never go outside!

Argh. Annoyed Moo!

The Story

So an elderly lady attacked some raccoons and instead of just keeling over dead they counter-attacked.

That's according to KSDK in St. Louis, who actually interviewed some people and got details, unlike other news outlets who repeated the minimalist Associated Press story verbatim.

After years of humans killing every animal that got in their way, (and many who were just hiding) animals are finally fighting back. Of course it will just get them killed. Too bad we can't all live together, humans sharing food.

Cow used to trust AP stories. Now, since so many are inaccurate, it is discouraging that they become the bible of the Internet, and so few individual, independent news outlets are profitable enough to keep reporters on their own payrolls anymore.

Moo!

David Letterman

So Late Night host David Letterman discussed his blackmailer, and the charges, on his show last night.

But the point that detractors seem to miss is that it's not that Letterman availed himself of freely-offered favors. Oh yes, these favors were certainly offered, if not thrust upon him, in his position as a wealthy, powerful and successful show runner.

Monica Lewinsky's pursuit of Bill Clinton comes to mind, as a reminder what women will do for their career. Or more kindly, out of boredom and desire for excitement.

What happens afterward is the point, where integrity separates the men from the scumbags. Do the women with stars in their eyes (to give them the benefit of the doubt), actually get preferential raises and promotions that others less intimately acquainted with The Boss don't? Were they retaliated against if the affair crashed and burned? Was their job just an unimportant detail to the Powers when action was taken?

There will always be staffers eager and willing to cultivate, not to say initiate and pursue, a relationship in which the man is alluring because of that magnetism consisting of money, power, and ability. Notice that none of the women are coming forward to complain---evidence enough that these were consensual relationships.

How the man treats them afterwards is the proof of the pudding. And presuming no women are utilizing this public forum to stand up and say how poorly treated they were, you have to assume Letterman is a stand-up guy.

Moo!

Crunchy

The article about the lady who fed the bears came to mind, unbidden, while Cow out walking at night heard a crunching sound.
Excerpt from an article comment:

Pick one...On encountering Grizzlies one might...
A, Feed grizzlies
B, Run screaming from grizzlies
C, Run screaming at grizzlies
D, Faint
E, Play Dead
F, Start singing while backing slowly away and not looking the bear in the eye.
G, Bring firearm to battery and commence firing PRN.
H, Carefully place claymore mine, unreel the detonator wires, detonate.
I, spray one's entire body with capsacin-based bear deterrent.
J,Send call sign "Prairie Fire" and provide co-ordinates for ensuing airstrike.
K, Strip to your loincloth, begin drumming, while imploring Brother Grizzly to impart his sacred wisdom. Expect the arrival of the Great Bear Spirit.

Okay, who knew hunters had such good senses of humor?

(Cow sheltering in Topiary hedge while trying to blend into the background)

Moo!