Seven Quick Takes - newbie edition

EDITED TO ADD**** The newest Hanna is here!! Kenneth Enoch Hanna was born today to a very proud Mama and Papa!! Head on over and look at the sweetest little Kenny around and give a congratulations!


one

I really like Hulu. When Lois came to live with us we got cable, and we will probably keep it for any future elders who live in our home. I was worried we would begin watching too much TV. It would be too easy, too convenient. When Lois lived with us we watched a LOT of Wheel of Fortune, the country music station and some AMC. Yeah, we turned into old people. But I needn't have worried about us in our "free" time. As a family we enjoy Discovery quite a bit, we'll never say no to a good Mythbusters marathon, and I do like me some Jon Stewart, but the kids are really only allowed PBS - even if I don't object to a show on Disneycartoonodeon, the commercials make me cringe. So if it's not on Discovery or PBS we just don't watch. We watch plenty of movies, don't worry, I'm not here to make you feel bad about whatever you watch. Believe me, we watch some pretty moronically bad stuff. So this is where Hulu comes in.

two

I just discovered Outsourced, and it's silly. Every time I see it I think of the cast and characters in Rigel and the Belles. I know Rigel the Father is doing something a teensy bit more important than running a novelty call center in India, but every time there is a cultural misunderstanding, or a hilarious hijink, I do think of the folks we know over there. Hmmm, I wonder if BR ever breaks out into impromptu Bollywood song and dance?

three

We also discovered Raising Hope. Now this show is not the finest out there, the premise is crude and the characters cartoonish. I'm really selling it, aren't' I? This young man, living at home with his parents and grandmother, unwittingly fathers a child with a psycho murderer. She gets the electric chair, he gets the baby. Determined to be a good father, he takes this baby, Hope, and does his best with what he has. I know, what's not to like? Just stick with me here. What I like about the episodes I've seen is the way they treat their Grandma (Mawmaw). See, Mawmaw has dementia/Alzheimer's and does all kinds of crazy, off the wall things. There's some removing of clothing, there's crude language, there's weird eating habits, there's really just about anything you could think of. But what I like, is that this family doesn't get rid of her. They get annoyed, they roll their eyes, they yell a bit, but in the end they just live with the crazy. And I love it. The family just rolls with the crazy punches, and the friends do too. When Mawmaw makes the young man's Black and Hispanic friends use the back door instead of the front, they don't get (rightly) angry. They just shake their heads and say as they walk around to the back door, "Mawmaw's in the 50's again, isn't she?" They accept her and love her for where she is. You can't reason the illness out of a person. If you took all the episodes, cut and pasted every moment where Mawmaw does something strange, you would have a fairly accurate picture of our year with Lois. When you are in the thick of it, it's terribly draining. But when you take a step back, it's hilarious. It may be obnoxious, but it's refreshing to see on regular TV.

four
We've got great family. After running errands today, we came home to bags of books dropped on our doorstep by Grandpa. You know, my father in law with the big mirror? He knows my kids love to read, and he doesn't miss a chance to shower them with any book that might catch their fancy. Grandpa, you should have seen the jumping up and down when we pulled not just books but sketchbooks out! They were wiggling with joy. Thank you.

five

I'm reading an anthology of Dark Fantasy and Horror, and it's like most anthologies - a few good stories among the crappers. But a particular story, Frost Mountain Picnic Massacre has stuck with me for a few days. The story of a small community that is drawn to the yearly Frost Mountain Picnic. Every year people at the picnic are murdered in various and absurd ways. Bombings, gunshots, electrocutions, silver back gorillas run amok, the situations are ludicrous and laughable. Every year the people vow they will not return, but every year they do. Why? Because their children want their faces painted. They want free candy apples and amusement park rides. They want fireworks and fun. No parent wants to deny his child the small pleasure of rainbow painted cheeks. No parent wants to see their child ridiculed because she was not riding the free merry go round. So they go back, every year. And every year they are massacred. Inertia and an unwillingness to be different leads them to most certain death. This is what I keep thinking of. We want so many small and unimportant things in life. Why should we deny ourselves and our families these simple, sweet pleasures? Who doesn't want a free cotton candy? We take the candy and walk to our deaths. I'd rather make the small and uncomfortable decisions that lead me to life. I don't want to take the frightened and easy way to death.

six

Good friends make the BK playland a lot more pleasant. Thanks, Shannon for meeting us. The two little boogers you brought along sure make us happy. Oh, sweet babies, they are so good to hold.

seven

I made THIS last week and it was fantastic. You really, really, really need to eat this. It's orange, in case you are looking for something Chicago Bears themed to eat on Sunday. If you used blue cheese instead of fontina, you'd be set. I used asiago, it's a little less stinky than fontina. I think Sunday's version will have blue. Wanna come eat some?



Wow, seven quick takes is harder than I thought! Thank you, Jen at Conversion Diary for starting and hosting this very cool Friday thing. I look forward to it every week.