Opened the morning with Pancakes at the in-laws. I helped Larry remove the awning from the upstairs bedroom, to make room for french doors. I suspect the awning will be relocated to the bottom floor.

We all hung out and gabbed most of the day – I scoped out Larry’s 30-30 and .22 pistol, and the model of the U.S.S. Constitution. I think that I’d like to head toward Baltimore sometime for a walking tour of the actual ship. (Hm, I may have to wait until 2010 for an underway demonstration with the restoration taking place, but walking tours are still good.)

Came home to rest and relax together for a bit – got a call from Danny – Janet has a gig! Working there for 2 weeks now, doing graphic design for an advertising company that produces campground maps (surrounded by business-card style adverts). I’m glad she found something, and hope that it’s profitable, challenging and fun for her.

He liked Get Smart and Evan Almighty – Both of which he saw this weekend though he’s not a bit Steven Carrell fan. I suspect that Get Smart will be something I enjoy – he does the “idiot in charge” role well… but I don’t imagine I’ll bother with Evan Almighty, unless something comes along to further interest me about it. He really liked Wall-E, too, but I imagine that goes without saying fro me.

BHK and I watched Cloverfield today. I’ll say it from the get go…. it wasn’t my thing. The shaky-cam didn’t bother me at all, but the movie itself was pretty stinky, in my opinion. I’m glad I waited for netflix, and didn’t bother catching it in the theater. The synopsis of the film reads better than the movie played out.

The viral marketing of Cloverfield was excellent – but I just wasn’t engaged by the film. The characters bored me, and the monster seemed unimpressive both in design and implementation, even for a “giant beast”. It made 78% on rotten tomatoes, or 5.8 out of 10 on metacritic, which makes me think that I must be in the minority for disliking it so much. It seems that the movie critics liked it more than the bulk of “civilian” viewers.

In my opinion, if you want a good, fun horror movie with monsters and a sense of fun – Skip Cloverfield, and get your hands on Swarm of the Snakehead, instead. If you want a cool *giant* monster movie, try The Host. Cloverfield just didn’t have what it takes to impress me.

In other movie news – Hancock is rated 35% at rottentomatoes. I wonder what’s killing it for most folks – I haven’t seen it yet. That’s less than Get Smart and Harold & Kumar, which I’d figure were worse.

Flicks out now that I want to see:

Wall-E (wins over any other item showing right now.)

In no particular order – (except that of my memory)

Hellboy 2
Take Out
Dark Knight (ok, I’m tired of making links – cut and paste as needed, dear journal.)
Mongol
Space Chimps
Indiana Jones 4
Wanted
The Fall – (has it gone out of theaters yet?)
Gonzo – (Hunter Thompson pic, not the muppet)
Visitor (has that left?)

Is there something I missed? I imagine BHK wants to see the Sex in the City and The American Girl flicks, both of which are ok by me too.

We had Dagwoods at home for dinner with the in-laws…sat around and watched Oxford Blues, which really did nothing for me. I avoided seeing it in my high school years, so I guess a 25 year reprieve is about the most I could ask for. The sammiches were delicious – I made a stack of zucchini and cheese on fresh bread that was fantastic. sweet bread and butter pickles, some honey mustard, and lettuce from the garden made for a monster sammich, but the corn was the clear winner. Certainly the freshest and most tasty of the year thus far. I went through 3 ears.

The local neighbor (the one that was looking for $11 a week or so ago) came by again, looking for garlic to make chicken alfredo, but we didn’t have any for her.