Movie Review and some miscellaneous stuff

If you like subtitles (or at least don't mind them) or if you speak Spanish, and you liked "Meet the Parents" you will enjoy this film. Here's the description from Netflix:

"Only Human"
(In Spanish with English subtitles)

This zany comedy in Meet the Parents fashion is a cautionary tale of bringing home that special someone. Leni's family is a handful: there's her blind grandfather, the belly dancer sister with a 5-year-old daughter, the brother with a newfound relationship with religion, the pre-menopausal mother and the estranged father. Leni brings her fiancé, Rafi, to meet the family, but all chaos ensues when the Jewish clan discovers he's Palestinian.

I was pleasantly misled and shocked by this film. There are some dark elements which, quite frankly, made me gasp out loud then laugh at the absurdity. And it doesn't hurt that Leni is played by an actress that looks somewhat reminiscent of Debra Messing (Grace of "Will and Grace"). Picture Grace, but with a sounder head on her shoulders. It also doesn't hurt that there's a very seductive belly-dancing scene. Before you bring your SO to meet your folks, watch this film, then you won't feel so bad after your own first meeting goes horribly awry.



Some miscellaneous stuff:

Verizon came to my house Saturday to repair my crappy phone service. The technician was courteous. He tested a jack in my basement, fixed the problem outside and left. When I went downstairs later on in the day, I noticed he had left some "testy thing" (as my brain initially identified the equipment) on my desk. I pondered calling Verizon to let them know that the technician had left his "testy thing" at my house and decided to think of a better way to describe the equipment before making the call.


I recently scored a "Baby Einstein" DVD from Freecycle. Since the brain and its development is a sort of hobby for me (yes, you knew I was a nerd) and since I don't want to mess up the developmental progress of my new nephew, I had to watch the DVD before I could give it to my nephew. (I know he is only 5 months old; but, still, it matters!) Remember, these DVD's are intended for babies; the production values are a bit low tech. I think the only adults who should watch this DVD are those who have taken some type of mind-altering drug. I ended up fast-forwarding through the DVD to get the "gist" of what was being shown. What was being shown, by the way, was alternating infant toys, weird gyroscopes and pictures of things the producers probably wanted to get the baby familiar with. These pictures included fruits, vegetables, and animals (which was an odd juxtaposition, but at least they didn't show cows and chickens). I was most surprised by the picture of bean sprouts. I believe the sequence went as follows: apple, banana, nectarine, bean sprouts. What does that mean? Perhaps it makes perfect sense to the infant brain.


I spent four hours Saturday afternoon re-screening my front door after some neighbor's cat clawed the bottom half of it. I was happy to have gotten free screening materials through Freecycle (I'm obsessed, I admit it.) so, didn't have the luxury of nylon. Yes, that's right, metal screening. Like chicken wire really, but more pokey. I received about a hundred and fifty tiny little jabs in my fingers and hands as I stupidly continued to work with this unforgiving material. I only screwed up once and had to rip out the screen and re-do it. Due to the nature of the metal screen, it didn't stretch as neatly as I would have liked. Plus, the screen had been folded up before I used it. So, now my front screen has no scratches, but an odd distortion running up one side and various folds that I wasn't able to smooth out. Luckily, it looks good from a distance, so my condo association board won't make a stink about it. It'll probably take a week of me looking at it in disgust before I buckle and buy new screening materials to re-screen it.