Yesterday, October 15, was Calfgrit3’s birthday — he’s now Calfgrit4. It was an exciting day for him, and it turned out to be an exciting day for me, too.

For him, he got lots of attention from us as the birthday boy. He had a cookie-cake party at preschool with all his classmates. Then we had a small “party” for him at home — he chose what to eat, he got a “Happy Birthday” balloon, and we all had some cake.

His big party will be on Saturday, at the bowling alley. Bowling seems to be all – the – rage for kids’ birthday parties nowadays. I’m sure you’re anxious to read how that all goes.

For me, I’ve been offered a new job, and I start this coming Monday. This job seems like it will be pretty darn interesting — it has potential to be the best job I’ve ever had — and I’m excited to start it. So, wow, who could have predicted I’d get a possibly better job just two weeks after getting laid off from the previous “better job”?

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Viewed: theater

Since I’ve suddenly found myself with more free time than usual during the weekdays, I checked out the local movie listings for something to enjoy in the middle of the day when I would normally be at the office. The name “Zucker” got my attention on An American Carol.

I’ve always loved movies by the Zucker brothers — Airplane, Naked Gun, etc. In fact, my very first movie review on this site was of a Zucker movie: The Kentucky Fried Movie. So I figured I really should see this new production.

Unfortunately, having experience with the earlier Zucker works seems to weaken the humor of seeing the later work. Many of the gags, I’ve seen before. Many of the jokes are repeats with contemporary references. I didn’t laugh as continuously with this movie as I did when I first saw Airplane and Naked Gun.

But there are still a lot of really funny, laugh out loud moments in An American Carol. Even some of the rehashed humor got a chuckle out of me. It’s just that my “seen that, laughed then” experience with Zucker humor meant I wasn’t laughing through everything, like I did when I originally saw the earlier Zucker films.

Overall, it’s an enjoyable film for a matinee, or a DVD rental. But it just didn’t make me laugh till I cried like the old classic Zucker masterpieces did.

There’s nothing to see after the credits finish.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Back in the 90s, I worked several months at a computer art school. The school taught computer graphics, animation, etc., but it also had some traditional art activities.

One day, after only a few weeks at the job, I was looking for a particular instructor. I was told he had his class in the auditorium that hour for illustration practice. The auditorium at this small school was only about 50’x50′, built to seat maybe 100 students. When I arrived at the auditorium, the doors were closed. That was unusual, but I just shrugged and opened the doors and walked in.

About twenty feet in front of me was a naked 40-year-old man holding a pose. He was standing on a pedestal and his “midsection” was right at eye level. You can imagine my surprise.

I froze in place and shifted my eyes side to side. All around the room were about 20 student artists, drawing the nude model. The instructor saw me and came over. He had a strange look on his face, apparently trying to figure out why I had the surprised look on my face. He laughed heartily when he learned I hadn’t been told they sometimes work with nude models.

I have no problem with nude models, or nudity in general, but I had never before walked in on one at my workplace. And to make the surprise more, um, surprising, was that the first thing in the room my eyes saw was this man’s “midsection.”

Well, the surprise was over quickly, and now that I knew about the occasional model sessions, walking in on others later didn’t stun me. In fact, the first time I walked in on the 20-something female model, noticing her purple pubic hair didn’t faze me. I guess she liked the aesthetic symmetry of having her pubes match her purple head hair. She was an artist, herself, apparently.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com

Well, I’ve rejoined WoW. Wrath of the Lich King is coming soon, and various other factors prompted me to reinstall and get back into the game.

I can still find the game very fun when I stay away from the lure of gear, (through gold and rep grinding). The “fast” money from doing daily quests is very addicting, and I have logged in a couple of times over the week just to make a quick 100 gold (in 1.5 hours). But I’ve taken time twice last week to spend a couple of hours with a new character — a tauren shaman — just slowly accepting and completing individual quests for the story enjoyment.

Following a story and role playing a character is the fun I now find in WoW. This is a main reason why I’m looking forward to the release of the Lich King expansion. I want to see and explore the new lands, take on the new quests, and even play a new character (a death knight).

I just really love exploring exotic places, meeting strange creatures, and killing them and taking their treasure. Here’s hoping the expansion will give me this activity enough to keep the game fun without grinding.

Bullgrit
bullgrit@totalbullgrit.com