All week we've been hearing about STORM WATCH 2015. This winter-like storm was supposed to roll in on Wednesday night and bring three days worth of rain. Not unlike every other STORM WATCH over the last two years, it got cloudy and cooler (70 degrees as opposed to 90 last week), but the rain didn't come last night. The rain didn't come this morning, although the temperature dropped significantly. The storm that we'd all been "watching" didn't seem to be coming...again. As much as I HATE rain when I'm at school due to inclement weather schedule, I was actually hoping for some water to finally fall from sky, even if it was during the school day. And we did finally get a little shower about noon today...it lasted about 15 minutes. Wah wah wah. We continued with our day under the assumption that STORMWATCH 2015 was over. But it actually wasn't. Right after dismissal, the sky opened up and poured down rain on and off for the next several hours. It was the perfect excuse to crawl into bed at 7PM and just read a book for a couple of hours. I never do that...probably because the rain never actually comes. It seems to have stopped as I write this post. It is forecasted at random times during the day tomorrow, but again I think it's another case of STORM WATCH lasting longer than the actual storm.
Rigby is at it again. In the last two weeks two lizard tails have been carried into my house (one which I touched because I thought it was a piece of cording, GAH!), one dead lizard has been found in the grass, and there was a heart stopping moment when I let her out in the back at 5am yesterday morning and a bunny had found its way back there too. Zoom! Zoom! Zoom! Both Rigby and the bunny dashed around the backyard, faster than I could even call her name. Thankfully, she must have still had sleep in her eyes, the rabbit was able to find its way out the fence.
A couple of weeks back, I attended the LA Times Festival of Books at USC. I go most years and have posted about it before. During one of the panels (Crime Fiction), it was discussed that many new book manuscripts are actually written with the intention of a screenplay anymore. A book like "Gone Girl" was used as an example of that. It was not an idea that I had ever thought of before, but it wasn't something that surprised me either. Last week, my book club's June book was chosen. Everyone has been talking about The Girl on the Train over the last few months, so I was glad it was picked. It's been a fast and intriguing read. I'm enjoying it very much, but I can also see it becoming a Hollywood film in the near future. It could cross over to screenplay quite seamlessly, without losing its story. It's the first time that I have recognized that and it makes me wonder if that is what the panel was referring to. While I understand the concern over a possible change in quality of book writing, there's also something to be said for a very entertaining story. I'm both a book and a movie fan. The quality in movies, for the most part, has also changed. It seems to me that when a movie concept has made its 8th sequel, it might be time to look for concepts elsewhere - maybe even at really good book writers.
Monica Lewinsky is making news again as her "activity" in the White House has reached the twenty year mark. She's twenty years older and wiser and now reflecting on her experience. Human nature's apparent need for public shaming is the topic of her new Ted Talk. In the recent focus of cyber bullying, that lack of compassion by people sitting at their keyboards, it's very interesting hearing her story again, that broke at the very start of the internet age, but before social media. Regardless of one's opinion of her, the message is a good one. Having empathy for others is rare in our tech rich society, but essential to derail this internet bullying culture. I thought it was well done.
Happy Friday! With four weeks left in the school year, the days leading up to Fridays are starting to drag.
wordless wednesday
6 hours ago
Rain ?. Your genetics should kick in and the snorkel we're all issued with pop up.
ReplyDeleteGood girl Rigby !. I know it must've been quite a surprise when she took off with jets on her heels. But It's really lovely to see them do what comes natural to em.
In Classics you get to know how the basics of plot works. It just takes a bit of doing to apply it afterwards for one can actually be slow or perhaps even stupid. At it's most basic, Oedipus the king, has 1500 lines. And the only way that could happen is the audience is bringing the back story with them AND the story runs within very small areas. Most novels are like that too, it's just that Cross-roads where Oedipus killed his father becomes Paris, or LA or NYC. It's the known the audience the brings in with them. Of course it's one thing to understand this, another entirely to apply it in a fresh way that makes it seem original. Remember last year or the one before I was asking you about a valley north ( Hidden Valley, Thousand Oaks) of you and it turned out twaz used for that Knots Landing.
Maybe it's because I'm European that the Clinton Lawinsky liaison wasn't that much of a fuss. And the only aspect that was disturbing was the aspect of collection that both seemed to be about. That and why exactly they weren't honestly banging the brains out of each other
I listened to the TED. a, it's hard to believe it's 20 years and b, I never realised she hadn't spoken but it was the politically motivated investigator that bugged her.
DeleteHa! It didn't rain much, if at all, last night and the forecast just shows clouds the rest of the day. Gotta put the snorkel gear away before I've even had a chance to use it! There was snow up in the mountains with this storm - not nearly enough to save us from this drought, but at least it was some.
DeleteI know the instinct idea is usually something I can appreciate, but having to pick up (and touch in this case) dead animals bothers me greatly. I wish I could figure out a way to get her back under control under those chasing incidents. It may not be possible with the instincts kicking in, but I don't have a way to train her like I do with most things on it until it actually happens, then it's too late.
I'll respond to the other after work...running behind this am. :)
I think that much of America feels the same about the affair. It's usually the conservative right and its morality police that turn a private matter into a politically motivated scandal. To a point, I get the coverage, he was the President. It WAS news. But the fact that they went as far as almost impeaching him was just too much. She really was put through the ringer and it was more than just the affair. She was attacked personally by the media - looks, dress, etc.
DeleteIt goes back to if any of us were fired professionally for stupid decisions made in our personal life, most of us wouldn't have a job left.
She's a good person to take on the issue. She's lived it.
We have a groundhog in our yard, who comes out under the shed. Occasionally he tunnels up in the yard and our dachshund is very interested in those mounds. I hope he never catches up with the groundhog, he is about the same size..
ReplyDeleteOh ya, that might turn into a bit of a battle. I don't think groundhogs are very friendly are there? Kind of grumpy, maybe?
DeleteOkay... I burst out laughing several times in your paragraph on Rigby's exploits. I'm not sure you can overrule those instincts kicking in, so I suggest you get a good, thick pair of gardening gloves, a small trowel, and a small shovel. Between the three, you should be able to dispose of anything she "catches". While none of that bothers me, I'll admit my compost pile has more earthworms in it than I've ever seen in my life and it totally fascinates/repulses/thrills me. I keep my distance when working the pile because those things can move quickly! UGH!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're enjoying The Girl on the Train. I liked it and can easily see it as a movie.
I could get all of those things and pick up her kills or I could just wait until the gardeners come or call animal control. :) I have a pooper-scooper and most things could be removed using that, but it's the concept of removing those things that just gives me the willies. I just can't. It gives me the chills just thinking about it.
DeleteI hadn't realized the book was as new as it is until you posted about it on your blog. I had tried to hold it at the library but there were hundreds of people in front of me. I shouldn't have been, but I was surprised that it JUST came out in January of this year.
Ah...I forget you live where you have animal control, etc. Around here, if we want it gone we have to do it ourselves. ;) And despite my bold words earlier, there have been times it was very unpleasant work. Livestock and wild animals (and sometimes pets) don't always mix. I won't elaborate. :(
DeleteHa ha! Yes, country living sounds great a lot of time, but I would have to draw the line at dead animals. This time of year I fee like I live in the country with all the critters that come out in the spring. Most of the year it's a non-issue. In my defense, I've only called animal control one time. And once, I had to remove a dead dove off my lounge chair. Rather than getting anywhere near it I pulled the garbage as close as I could and heaved the lounge chair inside it. So I'm not completely useless, just sort of. :-)
DeleteUh oh... Would it totally offend you to know I actually like to dove hunt and can clean one in a flash? I don't like to eat them, but my husband sure does! I will drop the subject now. ;)
DeleteOh no, not offended. But I don't see how that dove lying dead on my lounge chair would be appetizing to anyone, but I'm a picky eater. :)
DeleteOhh she didn't deserve what happened to her, but I don't for one second believe the love narrative nor the poor little innocent 22 year old. Nor was he her boss, he was the boss of the Sec of Defence not some intern.
ReplyDeleteWas it news ?, I don't think so. I remember the joke 'what the dems did to their secretaries the reps did to the country'. This was part of a game. What it does show is the amount of hate of Clinton that the position of POTUS was seen as open to the treatment the investigator meted out. But it was part of a campaign.
I almost turned the video off after the first two minutes when she told "the story of the 22 year who fell in love."
DeleteOh ya, after Bush 2 came into office, the slogan "Nobody died when Clinton lied." was the left's mantra.
Rain? I liked the forecasts better when I was a kid....less technology and the forecasters were way more accurate. Too much hype these days and the storm never appears/barely appears.
ReplyDeleteAs for Rigby....uhk! to lizard parts. Funny about the rabbit. My dog LOVED to chase squirrels. I always wondered what he would do if he caught one....then one day at my old school he managed to corner one!! He went all the way up to it, cornered by the classroom wall and a fence. leaped in the air and turned around. The chase was what it was all about apparently.
Agreed on Friday....I thought it would NEVER get here. We had our Muffins with Mom, where the moms come to school and are served by dads, music performance for all 2nd grade,...this week international lunch where kids bring food from their culture AND Open House. Thankfully I have Monday off for my daughter's fiancees PHD graduation.
How many more days?
18 here!!
With the Memorial Day holiday we have 19 days that I have to get up and go to school in the morning. 4 of those are Fridays and we have min. day on Fridays so 15 full days and 4 half days...not that I'm counting. I'm actually quite sad about this group moving on next year. They have been a fun group who LOVE to learn. Not perfect by any means, but not apathetic in the least. As much as I want summer to be here, I'm not ready to send these guys on yet.
DeleteI think I'm working the first week or two after the year is over on curriculum. I'm not so sure I want to, so right now it's a maybe.
As for the forecasts, I know! They have gotten remarkably bad and the news being what it is now, we're just hammered with it. Interestingly, we aren't hammered enough with news about the climate change or the drought and what we need to do to about it. Would that be considered ironic?
that's interesting about the books now being written keeping screenplays in mind.. every year the amount of books made into movies is growing.. which yes is much more preferred than the reboots and sequels.
ReplyDeletedead lizard tails.. eek
Right!?!? Eek for sure.
DeleteAfter this last Fast and Furious, what was it 8, I just can't see how it's any different than a television show at this point. It often feels like the collective "we" have run out of ideas that are any better. So, agreed, a good book premise is better than that in my book.