Me and Drew

This is another older photo, and Drew was a lot younger in this pic than he is now, but it's one of my favorites. Possibly one of the most flattering photos of me that's available too. Maybe it's the viking hat.

Maddie on Halloween

I can't find pictures from Christmas on this computer, which means the wife probably has those pictures saved on her computer. So here's a picture of Maddie from Halloween 2005:


I thought this was one the cuter pics from this year's Halloween festivities. Thanks to my Aunt Marty for the costumes.

Larry Renfrow

Larry Renfrow has a new website and it's worth checking out, especially today's tribute to Joel Higgins, the actor from "Silver Spoons" in the 1980's.

Ignorance of the Law is no Excuse

Article worth reading at Wired:

Lawbreaker in Chief

The author points out how Bush's flagrant disregard for the law of the land (in this case, the Foreign Intelligence Survey Act), is more than just an example of his theory that he's above the law because he's trying to protect the country, it's an admission of guilt. Thought-provoking reading, and if it doesn't give more people reason to believe that we have little reason to trust this administration, I'd be much surprised.

Christmas Movies

I love Christmas movies. Always have. In fact, I would watch reruns of It's a Wonderful Life again and again when I was a teenager, and I'd sit there and cry at the same place in the movie every time. (It's the part where George's brother shows up at the end, and makes a toast to his brother, George Bailey, "the richest man in town".

So far this year, I've seen some new Christmas films that I hadn't seen before. The first one was The Polar Express. A girlfriend of mine in college turned me on to the book by Chris Van Allsburg, and it is indeed a beautifully drawn and written book, a classic to this day. It's unfortunate that the movie turned out so badly. I was hoping that with Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks doing it, and the magic that's possible with animation these days, that it would turn out to be an enduring Christmas classic.

The fact is, it didn't turn out to be a classic, or even particularly memorable. I think I read another review somewhere that said the movie was "creepy." I agree. Creepy and dull.

We also watched A Christmas Story, another movie that a friend of mine in college turned me on to. (This one a male friend.) We watch A Christmas Story every year at my house, and we never get tired of it. And for some reason, I manage to forget most of the plot every year, so I'm still surprised and laughing all the way through the movie.

Christmas Vacation is a family favorite around here, and we haven't gotten around to watching that one yet. We will though, for sure.

Finally, I want to write about Elf. I didn't see it at the theater, and I'm so mad at myself. Jon Favreau put together a brilliant classic movie, seemingly with no effort, and it's about as different from Swingers or Made as you can imagine. Will Ferrell is lovable as hell, Ed Asner shines as Santa, and Bob Newhart steals the entire show as Papa Elf. The only dull character in the movie is played by James Caan, who performs adequately. His character was supposed to be dull anyway.

And my favorite scene in the movie is when the leading lady and Will Ferrell are singing "Baby It's Cold Outside" together. Beatiful stuff, that.

Merry Christmas everybody!

Love and War in Texas in Plano

My wife and I had lunch at a restaurant in Plano, Texas today called Love and War in Texas. I've eaten there (and had drinks there) many times in the last five or six years, and thoroughly enjoyed it every time. Today I had the ground sirloin picante and my wife had the shrimp on a skewer. The real highlight of our lunch at Love and War today though was the dessert: it was some kind of heavenly oatmeal cookie with cinnamon ice cream dish, and it tasted so good it hurts just thinking about it.

Anyway, Love and War is one of my favorites, and it's a great place to catch live music too. I've seen Brian Burns and Ronnie Spears play there more times than I can count, back when they were doing that gig on a really regular basis. (I think it was Sunday nights, but that's been a few years back.) Check it out sometime though. It's at the corner of Plano Parkway and 75.