http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091227/ap_en_mo/us_box_office

In second was "Sherlock Holmes," Guy Ritchie's reboot of the franchise with Robert Downey Jr. starring as Arthur Conan Doyle's detective. The Warner Bros. film opened with a weekend total of $65.4 million, including a record Christmas Day debut of $24.9 million.

It was a start that seemed sure to pave the way for sequels. Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros., called the result "sensational."

I enjoyed Christmas despite some woes with friends. There is always woes, though. That's kinda how the world works, I think. The family here has been nice and calm for a few months. That's most excellent but I do wish we could get my brother settled down and his ah...problems dealt with. Sometimes I feel like I'm the older sibling.

And this was the first Christmas without my dad's mom. He seems to have taken it well but he hides things really well. I can tell in some of the distant ways he holds himself that he's hurt. He's always hurt though, since she died. Been worried about him because he lost both his parents to horrible illnesses and he's not really a...happy man to begin with. It's like seeing a large shroud lay over him blocking out the light. He sees bad things, he sees the real things, but he doesn't see good things at times. You have to point them out and really argue with him that there is some great stuff in the world. All he sees is the cold, hard facts.

...does any of that even make sense? Eh, does to me! Moving on.

I bought a lot of things this Christmas. Said I wasn't going to spend a lot, but we're so strapped this time of year what with the pile on of bills that I ended up buying a lot more gifts so we'd have a Christmas. I don't mind. I like spending money on family and friends. ^_^ Mom found me a pair of earrings that are small Cuckoo clocks. I love em and will post pics later when I'm not...dealing with my next topic.

Ok. So I have Verizon Wireless. And I think I've posted about woes with this before. I have nothing wrong with the company. Their customer service is always great and their service is great. But sometimes...sometimes they do have buggy programs that bite the customers. The wireless card I have allows me 5 GB a month of downloading, streaming, etc usage. I rarely if ever go over 4 GB. I don't stream live videos, maybe some small Youtube vids, I play City of Heroes but download the big patches at the library since it's faster, I upload a few pics now and again, and that's about it. Well, on Christmas, I checked the card and....saw that I was over the limit. I still have two weeks before the reset time where it goes back to zero. According to the usage measurement, it says I used a Gig in a day....WHAT? I certainly did not! I didn't download anything! And here's the crappy part that has my stomach in knots: they charge 25 cents a MB. A MB. Ow.

And I'm already over. So I called customer service and they had no answers but said that they were having a few issues with their wireless cards that used up the info doing...nothing. Like you could have the puter turned off, but it'll still be doing something. I checked the usage before I left last night and then this morning. It used about a hundred of MB's. After finding out about all that, I disabled everything I had and didn't do anything last night but talk to people on IM. So how did I use anything?? I'm not even doing anything and the usage keeps climbing! The Tech guy said he'd make notes to credit me for the random over charges as it's not my fault, but I'm scared they'll re-neg on that deal try to make me pay. I don't have the money to cover that! And...as I pointed out to him, that's two weeks of watching a train barrel toward me with nothing I can do about it. It was like this:

Guy: Just try not to use too much before the reset date...I know that two weeks is a long time not to use the internet-
Me: Yeah, especially if I'm paying to use it.
Guy: ....Yeah.
*awkward silence ensues*

You see? What the hell do I do now? I think I'm going to call them on Monday and make darn sure they're going to credit me. Because I have everything on hold on this puter, haven't done anything and I'm still getting usage. Arugh. I'm afraid to sneeze at the puter the wrong way.

Oh, and this morning I woke up and found that two neighborhood dogs had killed a chicken and maimed our pretty Road Island Red. -___-

..but Christmas was nice, though! I just....can't post any pics about it. Or update the fanfic story I was going to for the fans for Christmas....

Edit: I forgot to mention we pulled the muffler loose on my car, it needs new spark plugs, and probably a new fanbelt. And on Christmas day I found that a random charge I didn't authorize over drew my checking account earning me a $35 charge that was going to be part of the Verizon payment. So I have to deal with that on Monday as well. 8B I got bad luck in my stocking this year.

I'm very pleased to report that it went smashingly. Mister Holmes is a charming, if eccentric, gentleman with more than a hint of roguishness about him. A little rough about the edges and mentally exasperating at times, but I tend to prefer them that way. Happily my affection has not been misguided all these months. I think we shall be meeting again quite soon. :D

( Read on for my review... ) 

Wishing all my friends at LJ a holiday that's merry and bright. Off to attend more family festivities and then a date with a certain dashing British detective at the movie theater later tonight. :D

Drew McWeeny (formerly Moriarty of Ain't It Cool News movie review site) has written a very astute review of Sherlock Holmes.

www.hitfix.com/blogs/2008-12-6-motion-captured/posts/the-m-c-review-sherlock-holmes-gives-robert-downey-jr-room-to-play


One of the most interesting things about reading "Sherlock Holmes" reviews so far is realizing just how little most people know about the actual Sir Arthur Conan Doyle version of the character, and just how completely the Hollywood interpretation of that character has become the "real one" for the majority.

( Read more... ) 

Our poor hammock.


That lump is my car.


And our other vehicles.

The countdown is on to Sherlock Holmes. The family has already been put on notice that I will be heading to the theater after all the festivities are done Christmas day. :D

It will debut in theaters 12/25 ahead of Sherlock Holmes. :)

http://www.apple.com/trailers/paramount/ironman/

If you have been paying attention to the weather, a huge warm front rolled in from Texas and the lower states. It hit today at about three am here and started flurrying rapidly. Kind of cool, because after work (at two) I left and headed straight up town to do some fast shopping. It was humbling seeing the snow block out the mountains as it moved closer and closer on all sides.

But, I'm retarded 8B and went up town anyway. Then at around four it......dropped the Thunder Snow. Thunder snow is just massive amounts of snow in a short amount of time. There's technical stuff for it, but eh, that's the easiest definition. I went into Michaels to pick up some supplies and by the time I came out the snow was falling and well on it's way to an inch. Then I went to Ross, across the street, and when I got back out (we're talking minutes here, ten tops) we had a inch going on two. By the time I was heading to CVS, it was two heading to three and the roads were treacherous.

Driving home sucked 8D I slid out a few times and had to avoid the interstate. Frankly, if the weather is this bad and you jump on the interstate, you are a moron. On the way home, I almost didn't make it up a hill because some fuckwit in a car was doing minus 20 up a STEEP HILL IN THE SNOW. You have to go a bit faster than you think or your wheels will skid and you'll go nowhere.

And this is the first time I've had to deal with serious snow. XD I mean, the last time we had a huge storm was in...god, I was in school. I don't even think I was driving! It's like six inches out there now. XD Oh god, we're gonna be bogged in.



( More under here. )

I'll keep on posting pics as I take them. 8D Expect snowmen tomorrow. XD

OH OH OH, I AM GOOD. Ok, sorry. That's really assholish of me, but you have got to see what I did for moko_moko. It's just......arugh, here! (And I'm sorry, Suri, if you wanted to be surprised. XD I am impatient. YOU MUST LOOK AT IT AND TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK.)

So, she wanted a avian of some type and named three I could use...I used them all. XD; They were gorgeous creatures! I couldn't help it.


That's a Bateleur Eagle, Harris Hawk, and a Collared Falcon (THE MOST UNPHOTOGRAPHED BIRD IN HISTORY)

( MOAR )

So, I'm thinking of reviving my Etsy shop, doing more animal centric boxes and listing them and taking them to local shops here. Last try I had was half-hearted and not so great. But this...this is easy and pretty and fun. Would you guys support that idea?

Edit: Also, Jojo! I got your card. 83 Naraku should definitely keep me warm tonight. X3

I finally finished the jewelry box for moko_moko and I must say.....it looks fantastic. Like, unbelievably good.

And I finished a painting for Shveta that is whimsical and lovely.

.........and I don't have any batteries in my camera.

/cock-tease