An instant opinion

We just finished watching Ratatouille winner of the Oscar for Best Animated Film (2007), for the first time. Let me begin by stating that Patton Oswalt as the voice of "little chef" (the rat) was awesome. Cause I like, like Patton Oswalt, and it's the same director as the Incredibles (which I like, liked). And, with a supporting cast including Ian Holm, Peter O'Toole, Brad Garrett, Janeane Garofalo and my favorite and yours, Will Arnett you'd think I'd do nothing but rave about this film. But besides the scene when the troops of rats exit the dish washing steamer thing all fresh and clean and ready to cook, the rest of the time the rats did not much else but disgust me. And for most of the movie, surprisingly, this happened often, the rats and the disgust.

Any amount of vermin in any size space is gross. But all falling from the broken ceiling of a little old lady's house or scampering across the kitchen floor toward the fridge - among countless other scenes of mass ratness - is more than I want to witness in one hundred eleven minutes. I was grossed out more than anything and for me, movies aren't for grossing me out, I'm not a horror fan for that very reason, and so, sadly, I think I wholeheartedly disagree with the Academy. I know. Shocking.

So people did it change things for you seeing it with kids? Or if you saw it without kids, what did you think?

poll by twiigs.com

one thing followed by another.

Last night two eventful things happened. The first one was intense, thrilling and fantastic. Second was intense, thrilling, and terrifying.

We went to the movies, and it wasn't a matinée, with a bunch of friends and saw Batman - The Dark Knight. I am ecstatic about this film. Every character was thought thru, true to their nature, complex, diverse...well I could go on and on, but I'm a big believer in not giving away anything when it comes to any art form. I think people should experience things on their own terms, not on someone elses...and frankly, I think my raving opinion would give some people cause for pause and cause them to go into seeing this film with to high of an expectation. So, forget what I said, I take it all back. What I want to say is go and see it. If you like good characters and an adventure in another universe then you'll like (dare I say, "LOVE") this movie.

The second event of the evening still has me shaken. Last night we called the police at 12:45 a.m. because it sounded like our neighbors were abusing their little girl.
One reason I'm still shaken is that we've been getting ready for our party tonight and we've been doing house cleaning and yard work all day (it's 1:45 pm right now as we're pausing for a break) and we haven't heard a peep out of the entire house since the incident.

The cops, we think, ended up showing up sometime between 1:45 and 2 a.m. We don't know what happened when they did, or if that was them, but the bedroom light came on around then.

I don't want to go into much detail here, but I will say that the little girl we've seen in the backyard can't be more than 4 years old. She's a tiny thing, and the guy we've seen in the back yard is like around 6ft tall/350+ pounds. They were mad that she wasn't in bed. It began with them telling her to leave and go to sleep, but from there it became more angry and loud, expletives were flying, she was crying and then sounds you never want to hear when another living being is involved exploded from the house. That's when we called the cops.

They said if we ever hear anything remotely close to that again to not hesitate to dial 911. I just pray she's alright.

screwed on just right.

One of my new favorite little people, doing what little people do...reminding us to find the enjoyment in everyday things in life...
She stood between her mother and I and discovered how to do something new and she loved it, over and over, and over again.






~ Oakes p.s. i love you.