January 30, 2006

Get your groove on

Thinking about buying some new music but not sure what to get? Steve and Brishen have both posted their top albums of the year. Only three overlap, so take a look, you might discover something you'll like.

Posted by steve at 04:34 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 24, 2005

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

I saw me a moving picture today! How sad is it that I am so very happy to have seen an afternoon movie? Steve took the afternoon off work and we went to a Famous Babies showing of the latest Harry Potter flick.

This is the second bring-your-baby-along movie I've gone to and so far they are pretty good. The sound is turned down a bit to save little ears, and you get some crying and other random baby noises now and then, but otherwise it's seeing a movie. OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE. On a great big screen, with artery clogging popcorn and insanely expensive beverages. Oh yeah, it's OUTSIDE OF MY HOUSE. Can you sense the source of my excitement?

The movie was pretty good - though, as long as it gets me out in the real world doing adult things, my standards are pretty low. I won't spoil it for you, but I will say that I especially liked a part with a dragon, Harry and a roof - you'll know it when you see it - very cool. I really enjoy seeing these movies knowing the story two books down the road, I think it adds a whole 'nother layer to the things they choose to show in the movie.

Liam was great, he was very patient and sat nice through most of the movie. He didn't fall asleep like he did when I saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, but he didn't cry... he did do some fake coughing, but it being his new favourite thing how could he resist. An audience for crying out loud - he loves attention any way he can get it. Two and a half hours is a lot to ask from a baby, so I'm pretty impressed with how well he did.

I'm taking advantage of it while I can cause once he starts crawling, I know that my days of going to movies with him in tow will be over. Until then, you can expect to find me at Movies 4 Mommies on Wednesday afternoons.

Posted by leah at 10:27 PM | Comments (0)

November 13, 2005

Currently Reading

I'm reading the new Neil Gaiman book Anansi Boys:

Which is good, but sadly not as good as Neverwhere:

I didn't expect it to, but I hoped. I'm not done yet and I am starting to suspect that there is a whole 'nother layer to the book which is more like Neverwhere that has not been revealed yet. I fully recommend the reading of both, especially if you like alternate reality stuff.

PS - You'll see the little Amazon.ca links here and there when I'm talking about books, music, dvds and gaming stuff that I'm either currently engrossed in or want to be. There are two entirely selfish reasons for this: 1) Steve knows what to buy me if he wants to get me a present for being such a great mom and wife and 2) if anyone clicks on the link and actually buys anything from Amazon that I recommend, I get a tiny credit and might be able to get a free book in, oh I don't know, a couple of YEARS or so.

Posted by leah at 05:40 PM | Comments (2)

November 10, 2005

Me, I Like the TV

I admit it, I love television. I watch entirely too much of it and quite frankly I don't care if it's bad for me, etc. I am a bit concerned that Liam is destined to be addicted to the moving pictures in the little box too, but I do what I can to limit his exposure. But I'll get to that. First, TV: programs I like and programs I watch.

Shouldn't those be the same, you ask? Well, not exactly. There are programs that I love and look forward to - Lost, ER, Veronica Mars, Medium - and then there are programs that I watch cause they are on - Dr. Phil, Regis & Kelly, CSI, Without a Trace, Law & Order. Some of the latter, I used to thoroughly enjoy, but lately, not so much (CSI, L&O).

I know a fair number of people who choose to not watch TV and I wonder why. When I didn't have cable for a short period about six years ago, I got a lot more done. I guess gaining many hours a day previously spent staring at an appliance will do that for you. My increased productivity, however, was not enough for me to resist hooking up my beloved companion once again and my hiatus was short-lived. Growing up I watched a lot of TV - it really was a good friend to me and sadly I saw the movie versions of many classic children's novels rather than reading them. Something that as an adult I am remedying. I wonder if the non-TVers are this way because they don't like the mindless distraction of TV, or did they have less exposure to it as a kid, or maybe a bit of both?

I often have the TV on while I am doing other things, thus dividing my attention, but I feel this is going to have to come to an end. I choose to have the TV on, but Liam doesn't, and I don't want to make that decision for him. I keep an eye on him while he is independently playing and he rarely looks at the TV while it is on, but I worry I am leading him - by example - into a life of TV dependency. I am going to have start dusting off the CDs and start listening to music while I do other things now - sigh.

What we really need is Tivo so that we only watch the programs we record and can watch them when he is sleeping. Mmmmmmmmm... Tivo.

Posted by leah at 10:25 AM | Comments (0)