Oscars behind us, now I’ve got some films to watch
Posted on March 10, 2010 - Filed Under Entertainment News
Did you enjoy watching the annual Academy Awards hoopla last weekend? Perhaps you were fortunate enough to actually attend? (If any of you Oscar winners are actually reading this, leave a comment and let us know!)
There was an officially recognized "watch party" held in our community for the Oscars. I'm not exactly clear what "officially recognized" means, but they charged a hefty fee for tickets -- which they donated to a very worthwhile local charity. At least some of the women wore formal gowns, some of the men dusted off their best tuxedo, and generally put on a fashion show. (I'm basing this on local television news coverage of the event. I wasn't rich enough or inclined to go myself.)
A good time was had by all, as the cliche goes.
I did watch a good deal of the Oscar dazzle on television and enjoyed most of what I saw.
Most of all, now I have a list of movies to add to our queue at Netflix. Quite frankly, my wife and I rarely make it to a theater anymore. Just too much trouble to drive across town and lay out the high ticket prices to watch the same thing we can enjoy more in the privacy and comfort of home. (Our son insists we ought to see "Avatar" at the theater for the 3-D special effects. He hasn't offered to shell out the $20 for us to do so -- yet.)
So here's to Hollywood! Keep cranking out the good films!
Names and other proper nouns can be really odd, can’t they?
Posted on March 10, 2010 - Filed Under Lifestyle News
I guess as a writer, I'm somewhat sensitive to names, really to nouns in general.
Why do we call "western shirts" that -- but we generally don't have anything like "eastern shirts" in the normal fashion pantheon? I can understand "casual" clothing and "formal" clothing distinctions pretty well. I sort of get "business" dress, but "business casual" has always puzzled me. And speaking of such fashion distinctions, I rarely hear the term "urban clothes," although I've seen it used once or twice -- but I don't think I've ever seen the term "country clothes." But wouldn't "country clothes" seem a logical opposite to "urban clothes"?
Such examples abound. And proper names, especially peoples' first names, can get really fun, even "freaky," if you ask me. I'm a living example of someone with an unusual first name. My first name is "Garold." No, I'm not misspelling "Gerald" or "Herald" or "Harold." It's really "G-A-R-O-L-D."
I have no clue where that name came from, and as far as I know there has never been another "Garold" in my family. (The name is pronounced with a hard-G as in "George," not a soft-G as in "Geraldine" -- a taunt I heard a lot as a kid.) I've met two other people in my lifetime (I'm currently 62) and heard about a third with that name. People constantly compliment or congratulate me on such a wonderful, unique first name.
They haven't had to live through a lifetime of having their first name misspelled and mispronounced or they might understand the frustrations I feel with "Garold."
My friends and acquaintances, by the way, call me "Gary." Go ahead. Call me Gary.
First hints of spring hitting in our area
Posted on March 6, 2010 - Filed Under Weather News
Wow, what a miserable winter we've had here in good old southwest Missouri. The good news is, we dodged the bullet on any serious ice storms this year; the bad news is we hit our average annual snowfall, which we haven't done in several winters.
But the snow is gone (though we've had a couple of major snowstorms in early March since we've lived here), at least for now, and we've been enjoying sunny weather in the upper 50s this weekend. Won't be long until we're out fiddling around in the yard and my wife will be working on her flowers.
Ah, spring. That time of year when young hearts turn to romance, love, and weddings (and attendant wedding wear, wedding favors, wedding receptions, and other parental expenses!). And that's as it should be, I suppose. Not wanting to sound too "sappy," but my young bride and I tied that knot in springtime ourselves. (Okay, so we aren't that young anymore; we've got 42 wedding anniversaries under the belt and rapidly coming up on 43.)
That time of year when new life bursts out everywhere. Just this week, those happy (annoying) birds nesting in the trees outside our bedroom window have begun waking me up a bit earlier than the week before. It won't be so very long here in our neck of the woods that we'll be back on daylight savings time ("spring ahead," remember). When that happens two things happen: Evenings stay light longer and my son quits complaining about not having more daylight after he gets off work.
Yes sirree, the first hints of spring are hitting our area already this week. Won't be long now!
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