Magna-Dreidel

Magna Dreidel by Finijo

Connor is ready for the holidays (yeah, I said HOLIDAYS, not Christmas- get over it!). He made a dreidel out of his magnet set. The cool thing is that is actually spins, both in the air and on the ground. Too bad it doesn't show up well in the photo. Very cool toy - good job, Con!

Mirror Mask and Serenity

The last two movies I have seen in the theater were GREAT!

MIRROR MASK

Mirror Mask is a fantasy film told as the dream of Helena, a teenage girl. Her mother and father run a small, debt ridden circus while Helena draws incessantly and dreams of leaving circus life behind her. After arguing with her mother about her desire to leave the circus, Helena's mother is hospitalized in grave condition. The night before her mother is to have surgery, Helena dreams the most fantastic fable. The movie is unique because the story is told through live action, computer imagaing and the artwork of David McKean. Mirror Mask is an fun story, artfully told and I think it is great for families or anyone interested in something off the beaten path.

SERENITY

Serenity is the brain/love child of Joss Whedon, and the best sci-fi film I have seen in a very long time. Out of the ashes of the cancelled television series Firefly, the characters in Serenity were resurrected by Joss Whedon and the loyal fans who refused to take the cancellation of the series lying down. Serenity tells the tale of Captain Malcom Reynolds, his loyal crew, and the mysterious passengers on his ship. The film has the sensibility of the first Star Wars film, and Nathan Fillion brings to mind a young Harrison Ford in the role of Hans Solo. There are bad guys in the form of Alliance soldiers, a brutal assassin, and the gruesome and frightening Reevers. Whedon fuses the Old West and Asian themes into futuristic worlds, and it all works perfectly. The audience roots for the good guys, gets the jokes and enjoys the soundtrack. In short, Serenity is what a film is supposed to be - entertaining from beginning to end.

Office Decorating

File Cabinets Covered by Finijo

In my never ending quest to turn my office into something I can live with (see post dated 09/12/05), I took two hideous, putty gray filing cabinets and turned them into visions in rose.


File Cabinets Side View by Finijo

Eight bucks worth of contact paper combined with about 90 minutes worth of work, and the rusting hulks became quite feminine.


File Cabinet Mardi Gras by Finijo

I bought a plant and a runner to break up the rose pattern, and tonight I found a great orange ceramic pot for the plant. I still have some work to do, but I am closer to feeling like my office is worthy of 40 hours of my week. Mundane, to be sure, but the view from my desk is more pleasant, and that makes me content.


Office View by Finijo

I've started on the back of the office, but I need to finish up the wall behind me. If I'm lucky, I can scavenge a coat rack and a small book case in the coming weeks, and I have my eye on a newer chair, too ; )

Halloween 2005

Connor and Alex by Finijo

Halloween was a little bit different this year. It's the first year we didn't take Connor trick or treating. He got a better offer from his friend Alex and his mother. So we me Mom and Dad for a great Chinese dinner at Hunan's and the boys came back with a major haul of candy and loot. This is the first Halloween that I have seen money taped to candy. I've known people to throw change in a baggy and tie it off with some black and orange ribbon, but Connor actually had a $1.25 attached to one candy bar, $00.35 attached to another candy bar, and $00.15 attached to yet a third candy bar. It was nice, but it made me suspect the candy as being tainted. Free candy is one thing, but free candy with cash included is just too good to be true!