Week in Review

[kate_nepveu]

I finally steeled myself to double-check our New York State income tax returns tonight, being quite surprised to see that it was the 12th today (somehow I'd thought I had more time). I'd struggled through the damn things a few weeks ago, and thought we owed New York a fair amount of money, so I was in no hurry to write that check. Well, I will never again do our taxes without a paper copy of the instructions in front of me: in going back and forth between the PDF instructions, the PDF form, and the Excel file with my calculations, I somehow overlooked that the standard NY deduction is actually larger than our itemized deduction. We still owe New York money, mind, but I'd much rather owe four dollars than four hundred.

Suddenly I'm in a much better mood.

Last week I had emergency duty at work, meaning if anything came in with a short fuse, it was mine. Got off very lightly: there was one potential situation involving medical consent, which would have been very interesting in a messy kind of way, but fortunately it appears to have been resolved without the need for legal intervention. Otherwise I slogged through mounds of uninspiring paperwork and fought to stay awake. I hate the transition to Daylight Saving Time, even as I like the effect.

Being a blah week, we saw a silly movie and had dinner out Saturday night. Hellboy was pretty well what I expected, though somehow I missed that the menace was Lovecraftian in nature. Ugh. I have not dreamt of Cthulhus, however, so I suppose no harm was done. The ending doesn't hold up when thought about, but I enjoyed the characters a lot and didn't much object to the story while it was on the screen.

Trailers: Spider-Man 2 looks really good. I, Robot looks really, really dreadful. Something less Asimov-like I can hardly imagine; it's beyond me why they even bothered to keep the title.

We took a day trip down to Chad's parents yesterday for Easter. It's a little over four hours round-trip, meaning that if we leave the dog at home, we can spent just barely more time visiting than in transit. (We can't bring the dog with because she goes insane being in the same zip code as R.D., Chad's parents' Labrador Retriever.) It was a nice visit, but we were pretty well wiped from the travel, so last night we just loafed around watching Nero Wolfe episodes on DVD. ("Disguise for Murder"? Would have been much more interesting with a more straightforward motive.) It's really a pity that the role of Saul Panzer was miscast for the series proper; in the Golden Spiders movie, the role was played by the actor who plays Lon Cohen in the series, and he was a much better Saul. (Note to self: the second season remains discounted through the end of June. Order it later.)

In house news, we had some lawn-care companies come by and give estimates. It was cheaper than we'd expected, so we're going to have a local company do fertilizing and weed-killing and all that, and then in the fall have them aerate and seed the back, which is patchy and rock-hard when dry and a veritable swamp when damp. I love our backyard, so I'm really looking forward to getting it into a nice, low-maintenance, liveable state.

Comments

[sloanesomething.livejournal.com]

I had the same problem with Hellboy. I actually started to raise my hand to ask a quesiton before I realized that, as my friend had never seen it before, he would have been of no help.

However, Ron Perlman made it all better.

[kate_nepveu]

Heh. What question was that?

[sloanesomething.livejournal.com]

It was something like, "Uh, bad guys, what good will this actually DO you?" It seemed like a lose/lose situation.

But then Ron Perlman was there, and I was happy!

[kate_nepveu]

All I can say is their idea of a new Eden sure isn't the same as mine.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

I avoided looking directly at the monsters--and at what they were doing to the redshirts. Blegh. Ron Perlman was great, tho.

[kate_nepveu]

Lots and lots of ravening tentacl'd beasties. CGI has gotten cheap, hasn't it?

Although the Nazi guy was actually a little worse for me. I chose the scene with him and Elderly Doomed Guy to run out to the bathroom, because I thought I knew what was coming and didn't want to see it (I was wrong, of course).

Perlman was great; I thought Selma Blair ("You. Should. Be. Running.") and the guy with the Matthew Broderick part did nice jobs too. I won't watch it again, but I don't regret the couple hours of my life spent on it.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

Thge Nazi and the old guy was actually a very well done moment. (I expected it to be both overly long and overly gross.) And wasn't that a spiff line from Selma Blair? She's got those eyes. The young fellow was pretty good as well. I felt about the same as you; my son adored it, I found good bits in it, but once was enough.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Ooh! Thanks for the discount info on the Nero Wolfe series!

I know if I buy it now, I won't watch it until the rewrite is turned in, but, but it's on sale!

[kate_nepveu]

I'm a touch peeved that _The Golden Spiders_ is included, as we'd bought that separately when it was only available on VHS, but oh well. I do wish A&E hadn't cancelled the series; it wasn't perfect but it was really damn good.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I only saw the first one (I don't have cable, and saw it at someone else's house), but I was VERY pleased with it. Timothy Hutton is a GREAT Archie. Archie has been my Sekrit Boyfriend since middle school.

[kate_nepveu]

I think Wolfe bellows a touch too much, and occasionally they need to fill some time and do it in strange ways (there was a dreadful singing scene in, umm, that one with Julie--_Death of a Doxy_). And Saul is just wrong, as I said. But Hutton is terrific, and mostly Chaykin is very good as Wolfe.

The first season DVD set was a present to myself with birthday cash. I don't think I'm going to bother with a justification this time. =>

[oracne.livejournal.com]

Saul was simply too large and not ratlike enough. I always pictured him as someone who looked like they might skulk in doorways, but could be oddly charming at times.

[kate_nepveu]

Hmm. You must've seen _The Golden Spiders_, then. The guy playing Saul in the series is Conrad Dunn, who was seen very very briefly in _Chicago_ as the doctor who, ahem, examines Roxy. He's shorter, darker, and more foxy-looking than Saul Rubinek (white guy in suit, left side of this picture).

Personally I think the series Saul is too good-looking, not non-descript enough; but he's also much too smirky and smug. He just rubs me the wrong way.

[oracne.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you. He was just Not Right.

Also, his nose was too small.

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

I had absolutely no expectations when I saw Hellboy - I needed to get out of the house and it was the only halfway interesting movie playing - and I ended up incredibly surprised at how good it was. Nearly everything that came up was explained at some point, although at least one explanation was really weak (I don't know if this is the part you were talking about, but I thought the return of Liz's soul to her body was not terribly well done. Hellboy explained it, but the explanation was stretchy, in the manner of a very thin rubber band). Otherwise, I had a lot of fun watching it.

I would so like to own the Wolfe DVDs, but cannot get past the price. $60 for a three disc set, and $80 for a 5 disc set - erg. Too expensive. :(

I do love Chaykin and Hutton as Wolfe and Archie, though; and I love how they sidestepped the typical Hollywood impression that the 30s/40s/50s crime genre = drab, colorless sets and costumes. Those are such great visuals to import into reading the books!

SPOILERS for Hellboy, obliquely stated

[kate_nepveu]

Well, the main thing about the ending is that the stated and apparent goal of the bad guys didn't match up to their methods. (And are those things fireproof or not?) I liked the return, I thought it was a sweet line.

Re: SPOILERS for Hellboy, obliquely stated

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

...I thought the bad guys wanted to open the gates of hell and let the scary dudes through to do their dirty work? And that they determined they could use Hellboy to do it? (Perhaps they are fireproof but not explosiveproof? *g*)

Oh, I thought Hellboy's line was very sweet (I really liked the whole Hellboy/Liz thing a lot; so cute!), but I couldn't figure when Hellboy had contacted the remaining gods on the other side, nor why they would be afraid of him - he had just destroyed one of them, but if he went to them to get Liz's soul back, he'd be on their territory facing six of them.... Twas no biggie in context, I just thought it was unusually flimsy compared to the other plot points.

Re: SPOILERS for Hellboy, obliquely stated

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, so if they needed him, why all the obstacles put in his way?

Re: SPOILERS for Hellboy, obliquely stated

[mahoni.livejournal.com]

*falls down laughing* You're right. And now the movie makes no sense! LOL.

[pameladean]

Given Emmy, I hope the lawn service uses organic products.

Pamela

[kate_nepveu]

Yes, that was one of their many selling points, and I asked specifically about it. We'll still keep a close eye on her, though, because she does have an abnormally sensitive stomach.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Oh good. That was my first thought too. Our vet mentioned that the most common problem he sees now in dogs is allergies. Are you going to try boarding her at any point do you think?

[kate_nepveu]

We board her when we need to go somewhere overnight, and she doesn't like it, but we pay extra to get a less shelter-like atmosphere for her and she manages.

[angeyja.livejournal.com]

Can you send the name when you get a moment? I have a couple of big trips to do between now and Fall, and I am looking for somewhere good. Kate, did I send you the pic of me and Cole?