Keeping Track of the Books I've Read

A Good Man is Hard to Find ~ Flannery O'Connor
I don't normally like collections of short stories as they too often remind me of the stuff written by angsty lesbians that I was forced to read in college. This collection, however, was good, and I am glad that I accidentally started reading it before I knew it was short stories.

The Violent Bear It Away ~ Flannery O'Connor
Eh, I wasn't too impressed. It shoulda coulda been a short story, but then again what do I know?

Sartoris/Flags in the Dust ~ William Faulkner
Pretty dry, I thought, and probably not worth reading on its own, but when you take into account that many of Faulkner's novels are intertwined then it's kind of essential.

Sanctuary ~ William Faulkner
Hard to believe that Faulkner didn't like this book because he wrote it to make money. It's excellent. This reviewer doesn't agree with me, but that's okay. I don't like to have the same opinions as jackasses anyway.

Craigslist: An Endless Fountain of Funny

1986 Buick Regal has a 1989 camaro engine - $3000 (Richmond)
Reply to: sale-myczh-1271792890@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-07-15, 5:03PM EDT


Good Condition runs great, has a elderbrock 350 4 barrell carborator &1989 camaro engine real fast, dual exhaust pipes ( needs new battery, left door handle broke, latch 4 hood, and speed thermometer doesn't work) other that those minor problems the car is excellent

$3000 OBO.

contact me @ this email or 909-1832

Link to it for anyone interested.

Fabulous Movie Review©

	Role Models
	Released: 2008 Rating: Unrated Length: 1 hr 39 mins Genre: Comedy Starring: Seann William Scott, Paul Rudd, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bobb'e J. Thompson, Jane Lynch Directed by: David Wain
	Role Models had some funny moments. If you are in the mood for a comedy then you could do worse. Its essentially a collection of B comedy stars trying to make a movie like the big boys. The "you can't BS the BSer" lady is funny at times. If you've ever been around a recovering addict bent on helping people, then a lot of the stuff she says will sound familiar (and make it more funny). Augie steals the show. The "battle" sequence at the end is too long. Movies that star a kid with a mouth as foul as Denis Leary disturb me. Seann William Scott is overrated. Elizabeth Banks is purdy. Update: I didn't really mean that Seann William Scott is overrated. That implies that a majority of people think he's awesome, while the rest of us think he stinks. I don't think that anybody thinks he's awesome. What I meant is, he really has no business making movies, being a celebrity, or being in the public eye at all. He's an accident. Like Julio Lugo.
	5.5 out of 10 (Not bad)

Thanks for the Laugh

I laughed twice whilst reading this craigslist ad.

2001 Jeep Cherokee - $4500 Bucks - $4500 (Richmond)
Reply to: sale-jfjru-1269571599@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
Date: 2009-07-14, 1:16PM EDT


2001 Jeep Cherokee Sport 4X4 - Automatic - Current state inspection
Ac doesnt work but who cares at this price!!!

See this great buy here:
http://www.haleycertified.com/used-inventory/vehicle-details.htm?vehicleId=506a87e87f000001018b45879071b5b6&useHistory=true

Haley Toyota Certified Center
8301 Midlothian Trnpk
1-800-741-4753 for more details

* Location: Richmond
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests

Cancer

Also over the weekend, I removed the fender flare from the driver's side front fender to survey the extent of the rust. I knew it was going to be bad, not quite this bad though. Of course, with the flare on the visible rust spot is small with a hole barely big enough to stick my finger in. The truck had been hit here in a previous life damaging the factory paint which eventually led to the rust.



I was planning on replacing the fender anyway, so the real point of this exercise was to determine how hard it would be to remove and what tools I would need to bring to the junk yard. Well, it proved hard. See, I've never removed a fender before and I assumed that it was just a skin over some other more substantial structure, but at least in the case of a 99 Dakota, the fender is the structure. One big piece. If I remove the fender I am removing the whole left front side of the truck. Fun, fun, fun.

Fabulous Movie Review©

	Paul Blart: Mall Cop
	Released: 2009 Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Length: 1 hr 31 mins Genre: Comedy, Family Starring: Kevin James
	I have nothing negative to say about Paul Blart: Mall Cop. It was a perfect movie to watch with my 6 year old daughter and 4 year old son.
	6 out of 10 (OK)

Other Weekend News

I bit the bullet and bought a wheelbarrow. I feel good because it's an 8 cubic footer that I got at Tractor Supply for $40 less than the exact same thing that they've got at Lowe's. Win.

Ohhh, but the one at Lowe's is a name brand. True Temper! You get what you pay for.

I assure you, oh great skeptic, they are the exact same thing. EXACT. SAME. THING.

So, what made me bite the bullet? My old one with the busted wheel that I intended on fixing I found out is older than my father. Time to visit the great scrap yard in the sky. It's earned it.

Also this weekend its become apparent to me that I need a new pair of brown shoes. Despite being inclined to fix them with Gorilla tape, I allowed myself to be dragged out to a couple of shoe stores.

I have this long standing rule to not spend more then $50 on a pair of shoes. Sometimes I go slightly over, say $54.95, but never more than that. The problem this time is the shoes that I liked best, Clarks Nebulae (pictured) were $70. So, as of now, I don't have new shoes. What do you do when your brain is fixated on one particular pair of shoes and one only but it won't release you from the shackles of your own $50 rule? Stupid brain.

I told this story to a guy at work and he basically told me I am an idiot (in a nice way). He broke it down for me like a high school teacher would try to teach his students the value of money. How long did your last pair of brown shoes last, he asked. Three years, I said. So, if you spend $70 on shoes that last you 3 years, they are only costing you roughly $2 a month. And, he added just to rub it in, with the higher quality of shoe that that extra $20 will allow you to buy, the shoes will probably last you longer than 3 years. Understand, 'tard?

Yes sir. I understand.

Weekend Update

So, I didn't buy the Regal. Let me explain why. The lady wasn't home but she said I could go look at it, which I thought was great. There's nothing like poking around in someone else's car when they are breathing down your neck.

Anyway, I got out of my car and I could immediately tell that the Regal did not have the original paint job. It was shiny, but "orange peeled" in a lot of places. A crappy Maaco job most likely. I opened one of the doors to see what the original color was and it was light blue. Exactly like the car to your right. This was almost a deal breaker to me. I can live with factory paint in poor shape, and not feel any urgency to get it painted, but looking at 2nd rate 2nd paint will make me anxious thinking about getting it repainted. I don't want that. At the very least, if you are going to invest in a crappy paint job, then PAINT IT THE SAME COLOR. I could imagine a little bit of me dying every time I opened the door and saw the light blue pillars.

You might think I'm insane for worrying about paint so much. That's fine. You are certainly entitled to your opinion, but I know that there are people out there just like me who if they were reading this blog would be nodding their heads in agreement.

On to the engine, I decided that crappy paint aside if I could turn the engine over by hand, meaning its not seized, then I would make an offer on it. No dice. It wouldn't budge. I'm pretty confident I could have gotten it running, but what if I couldn't? The plan was to eventually drop in a small block Chevy, but not immediately, and I don't want something with crappy paint and no engine sitting in my driveway. The Joneses are white trash and I don't want to keep up with them.

The Plot Thickens

http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/1261856502.html

I didn't even have to negotiate.

What if?

I kept my truck and got this instead?

http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/1259118125.html

Fabulous TV Review©

	The IT Crowd: The Complete Season One
	Released: Rating: NR (Not Rated) Length: 2 hrs 24 mins Genre: Comedy Starring: Chris O'Dowd, Richard Ayoade, Katherine Parkisnon, Christopher Morris Directed by: Graham Linehan
	I watched Season 1 of The IT Crowd last night and I have to say that I thought it was awful. Rubbish. It was a struggle to make it through all 6 episodes. Season 2 will not be arriving from Netflix. If you've seen Extras then the best comparison I can make is to the show within that show, When the Whistle Blows. Laugh track, wigs, goofy glasses and catch phrases are all part of The IT Crowd. When the Whistle Blows was a parody of crummy TV. Am I missing something? Is The IT Crowd a parody or a tongue in cheek send up of something I don't know about? Doesn't matter. Because I don't care.
	2 out of 10 (Mind-numbingly awful)

Fabulous TV Review©

	Flight of the Conchords
	Released: 6/17/2007 Rating: Unrated Length: 6 hrs 0 min Genre: Comedy Starring: Jemaine Clement, Bret McKenzie
	Similar to moonshine, at first it was hard to swallow, but I was quickly hooked. One of the most creative shows, in my mind, on television. And I can't get the theme song out of my head. Need proof? link to video for schmucks
	9 out of 10 (Wicked awesome)

Works of Fire

The day after Independence Day sale netted me $28.01 of fireworks. Fun fun fun.

Fabulous Movie Review©

	The Last Castle
	Released: 2001 Rating: R (Restricted) Length: 2 hrs 11 mins Genre: Action Starring: Robert Redford, James Gandolfini, Mark Ruffalo, Delroy Lindo, Frank Military Cinematographer: Shelly Johnson Composer: Jerry Goldsmith
	The Last Castle is too long, too improbable and filled with every redemption cliché in the book.
	5 out of 10 (Could be worse)

Habitat for Arachnity

Little did I know when I built a small retaining wall around my garden that it would become a veritable condo for black widows. There's at least a half a dozen living in my wall now. Today, I messed with one of them by tossing bits of mulch into her web.



Link to the video for the embeddingly challenged

Fabulous Movie Review©

	Nevada Smith
	Released: 6/10/1966 Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested) Length: 2 hrs 8 mins Genre: Western Starring: Steve McQueen, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Arthur Kennedy, Suzanne Pleshette Directed by: Henry Hathaway Cinematographer: Lucien Ballard Editor: Frank Bracht Producer: Joseph E. Levine Writer: Harold Robbins, John Michael Hayes
	I can't say that this was my favorite western or my favorite Steve McQueen movie or my favorite Steve McQueen western. I can't even say that I really liked it, which is too bad, because I wanted to. I was put off by the fact that a 36 year old McQueen is supposed to be portraying a teen aged boy, and not very well I thought. Besides not looking particularly young, he was trying to act like a kid, but it came across, to me anyway, like he was mildly retarded. I fully expected him to say, "I know you are but what am I" or "I'm rubber you're glue..." at some point, but he didn't. It pretty much soured me on the whole movie. Anyway, that was in the first part of the film, after which the "boy" thankfully "grows up". I had other issues with the movie too, but are mostly blamed on the era the movie was made in. You may disagree with me, but American westerns made in the mid 1960s are hit or miss. They can't decide if they want to be a John Wayne western or a Clint Eastwood western. Either is fine with me (although, I obviously prefer the latter), but make a choice. How would I have made this movie better? Simple. The movie starts with our hero already out on the trail some where searching for the men who killed his parents. The back story of the parents being killed is shown in flashbacks with an actual teenager as the actor. Or, keep the movie exactly how it is, as a linear story, but use an actual teenager in the beginning. Then fast forward a few years and use McQueen for the rest of the movie.
	6 out of 10 (OK)

Do you appreciate your blessings?

Last night at the game, Jigsaw was sitting in front of me. He kept ranting and raving about Boston fans too. I was afraid.