Commodore Nicole's Blog: June 2005

One might think that Neil Gaiman is clinically insane about 3 pages into one of his books or short stories. Not because it is so weird, confusing, or "out there"... but because it is sooooo good. He writes the way humans see.

It is a ironic that I should like his writings so much. As a rule (as in an absolute code like a marine would follow) I do NOT read anything that may cause my heightend imagination to work at full power; especially when it contains freaky material. And freaky is what Neil does best.

If you want to learn more about Mr. Gaiman and his works, visit www.neilgaiman.com. Choose any of his books and you'll be entertained. I swear, or so help me from Mr. Croup and Mr. Vandemaar.

Which brings me to why I'm posting. Awhile ago, MK and I had a little discussion as to who would constitute a dangerous couple to produce a movie (a la Lucas/Speilberg). My suggestion was Jim Henson Studios and anyone with a creative imagination. One of my examples being them and Neil Gaiman....

Lo and behold...it seems Neil has infact partnered with Jim Henson Studios and Director Dave McKean to bring the public a new movie "MirrorMask". Most people have commented on it being the next stage in the Labrynth/DarkCrystle creative cycle. I'll agree. It's the kind of thing that we have been waiting for since David Bowie joined the "puppets are cool to work with bandwagon". All freaking aboard!

So, I'm getting the idea that the best place to work in Hollywood, is the emergency room of one of the Hospitals.

"S'cuse me Mr. Pitt, here's a tissue. And while your at it, here's a script to check out."

It's our anniversary! 3 years today! Marriage is a blessing and we enjoy every moment of it!

For our first anniversary we spent more on a meal then I'd spent grocery shopping. I highly recommend the Gandy Dancer in Ann Arbor.

For our second anniversary I started a new job. After being unemployed for just over a month we pretty much saved our pennies. It's a little sad, neither of us can remember what we did. Bu--aht for Valentines we had Sushi at Yotsuba!

This year, MK started a new job. And while we will definitely be celebrating with much joy, and big time, with our current schedule it looks like it's going to be a few days before we get around to it. As a preliminary celebration, we walked through Whole Foods and picked a beautiful bunch of flowers. For dinner, Roasted Chicken, cheddar potatoes, and veggies. For dessert, Triple Chocolate Mousse. And...to set a romantic mood...watching "Kill Bill Vol. 1"

Tomorrow...we start the exciting adventure of house hunting!

A movie review..."Closer"
Starring Natalie Portman, Jude Law, Julia Roberts, and Clive Owen.

When the film begins you see a disheveled Natalie portman walking towards an equally work beaten Jude Law. This is the last interpretive thing you will see in this movie. From this point on story unfolds with the characters telling their audience exactly what is on their minds.

Simple Concept? Blew my mind! Everything I learned in any writing class, told me that you don't tell a story by saying and doing exactly what the audience is thinking! Chaos, you think? No, absolutely wonderful.

The film is based on a play, which kinda explains the structure. Theaters can only show the first 3 rows the subtleties that film has perfected over the past 115 years. But I already wrote a report about that and I'm not going to get into it now. It doesn't have your typical unfolding plot. You basically get to see the most dramatic of events in the intertwined lives of these four people. But they aren't just EVENTS... they are moments when people say, do, and make decisions that effect their future. (ok, the really important ones).

Natalie is brilliant, Clive shows the layers he is capable of (this proves that Arthur was all in the directing), Julia not really my choice, but it's a side of her and Jude, again, I like to see this perennial cover pretty boy not looking so pretty. It's a reminder, that he can actually act.

Just to let you know... it's got some language, and some situations. But it's not salacious.

loved it.

So, I'm at work, and I'm feeling a little under the weather and I decide a spot of tea would be nice. You think, pretty simple...I'm sorry, do you know me?

I get my mug and the tea bag. I go to the water cooler and start to fill up. In the effort to get just the right amount, I fill too much, take a sip, see that there's not enough, and then fill up again. In this process, I manage to dribble some on my shirt.

Everyone can boil water. However, getting the cup into the microwave can be a bit tricky. The microwave is at such a height that it makes putting anything into it trickier then attempting a sling shot around the sun. After carefully moving the ceramic mug into the door, I miss calculate the distance between the bottom of the cup and the glass plate and they collide. The result: an extremely loud clang, and spilled water.

Since no one ever cried over spilled water, I ignore it and shut the door.

2 minutes later I have hot water. I take the cup from the microwave and put the tea bag in to seep. All the while knowing that this is very un-english of me. Realizing that the tea bag is not going to seep while skimming the water, I dunk it a few times with a spoon. This too, futile. So I wrap the string around the neck of the spoon to anchor the bag and sink it. Feeling clever I return to my work.

A few minutes later, I feel a sneeze coming on. I prepare for it by taking a deep breath and raising my hand to cover my nose, no need for a kleenex cuz nothing ever comes out. Except...this time. Post sneeze, there is a large drip hanging on my nose. The tissue box is on the other side of the room with plenty of witnesses between. With no other recourse, my hand is the only solution.

I wipe and head for the girls bathroom. Once there I carefully reach with my sanitary hand for the faucet handle. I lift and ... nothing...no water...just some sucking air noise. With out a thought as too the snot in my hand, I go to the boys bathroom. Still no water. Moments before I go frantic, it dawns on me to use the paper towel hanging oh-so-conviently on the wall. It's at this point my brain catches up and signals that there is a bottle of Purell antibiotic gel in the bosses office, which just happens to be un-occupied.

After the gel I follow up with hand creme while telling SL the water is not working. As I return to my desk, I realize that my tea should be ready. I remove the tea bag, thinking how good this tasty hot liquid is going to feel going down. I take a sip....

It's cold. And so I repeat my game of "Operation" with the microwave.