Today is a dark day, my friends.

i only today was informed that my favorite, favorite burrito-serving establishment, Taco Del Mar, went out of business. i love no burrito so much as theirs and i am at a loss as to how fulfill my weekly requirements of mexican-type foodstuffs. RIP, Taco Del Mar and your weird fishy mascot, Karl.

Also, i discovered this morning that my endodontist is stalking me. This is not good, since of all my -ists, he is the most expensive.

no really, we live in town, not the appalachian mtns

In addition to our Giant Cat and a temporary rottweiler, we have a possum. It's not wanted. It has taken up residence under the floor and in our walls (ah, the joys of buying a 50-year old house) and is very noisy. Being a nocturnal creature, it scurries around in our bedroom wall at ungodly hours of the night and it is not a small possum (we've seen it sneaking in and out of its hidey-hole), so imagine a 20 pound creature scaling a wall and you've got an idea of the kind of sleep we've been getting. Creepiest. Sound. Ever. My being in the middle of a Stephen King book isn't helping matters, but i refuse to let the vermin run my life. When it's not in our wall, it's zooming around underfoot and you can hear it through the floor-mounted hvac vents. This is preferable, because we can sleep through it. Except, oh yeah, THE ROTTWEILER. Ever heard a full-grown rottweiler's 'i'm gonna kill you, possum!!' bark? It's a deeply scary sound and your blood just skids to a stop in your veins. So, when Cap'n Possum isn't heaving itself through our wall and conjuring up all sorts of eerie nightfrights, we sleep blissfully until The Death Howl rips the silence and a hundred pounds of canine muscle tears through the house snarling and trying to eat the floor.

i told my boss and coworkers, assuming these blue collar gents had dealt with such problems before. One wondered why we didn't just send the cat after the possum: "You haven't met my cat," i said, "he's never killed so much as a gopher." His answer? "Stop feeding him and he will." But i don't want to send Cosmo down into the Dark to fight a wild and possibly-rabid animal (although if it lives in my house i don't know if it'd be classified as 'wild'). i would end up with either a rotting possum in my wall and a beat up cat and accompanying vet bills, or a dead cat under my house and an increasingly arrogant possum to deal with. Said another coworker, "shoot it." i have no gun. Nor do i want to sit outside my house all night in the middle of January to await an ugly and historically mean creature that may, or may not ever, come out.

So i borrowed a trap from the groundskeeper. Fear not, it's not a Death Trap, but a metal cage that safely traps the critter without harming it. Our yard is Official CatClub HangOut for all of the Walnut Avenue kitties, and there was no way we were going to risk impaling a poor feline. Last night we set it up near the possum's hidey-hole entrance into our underground, put some tuna inside (the Google said canned cat or dog food, we had neither), and covered it with a blanket. The blanket was necessary because in addition to having multiple cats that cruise our lot, we also have a racoon and a skunk, and if we accidentally caught the skunk, we didn't want him to see us the next morning and releast The Stink. Thus, blanket.

This morning? no possum caught when we got up, but when it came time to leave for work, there was something decidedly furry in the cage! It looked like skunk fur, so we approached with caution, using a long stick to move the blanket and a flashlight to determine the species. It was Rocky, the squeaky, Siamese neighborkitty. Alas.

Possums: 0, Cats: 1

movie review blitz

JUNO *

A funky-sweet comedy about an oddball teenager who decides her unborn baby should go to the nice childless couple she found in the Pennysaver.
LOVED: Michael Cera as Juno's baby-daddy, Paulie Bleeker. Alot of his roles are similar, but i see the same sort of talent in him that i saw in early Steve Carrell stuff. There is definite depth to what appear to be his fairly one-note comedic characters. J.K. Simmons and Alison Janney as Juno's dad and stepmom are spot-on. Most of all, it's Jennifer Garner's performance (i know! who knew she had it in her?) that is most interesting to watch.
DIDN'T LOVE: All the hipster dialog. Bleh. Sometimes i found myself thinking 'OKAYYYY, we get it, you're clever and hip. Could you please just let it go for two seconds?!' it was a good characterization device but gets in the way of some interchanges that could/should be more dramatic.

RECOMMENDATION: Aside from that one complaint, i loved it!

TALK TO ME
The story of Washington D.C. radio personality Ralph "Petey" Greene, an ex-con who became a popular talk show host and community activist in the 1960s.
LOVED: Each performance. Don Cheadle delivers. It was only by watching him in another movie the next day that i realized just how completely he transformed to become Petey Greene. Chiwetel Ejiofor, Martin Sheen, and Taraji P. Henson also deliver great performances.
DIDN'T LOVE: the pacing, the lack of story, the not-very-climactic climax. It was a misfire.

RECOMMENDATION: Only for those times where you're sitting around wondering why Don Cheadle doesn't have an Oscar and you need to prove to yourself that you're NOT crazy, he really IS that good.

ZODIAC*
Based on the Robert Graysmith books about the real life Zodiac, a serial killer who terrorized San Francisco with a string of seemingly random murders during the 1960s and 1970s.

LOVED: Robert Downey, Jr.. Who doesn't? Is there any actor as fun/fascinating to watch? Even though he's not in much of the second half, still one of my favorite things about this movie. Also loved the presentation in general: camera work, costuming, San Francisco, everything. David Fincher (Fight Club, Se7en, Panic Room) makes visually captivating movies.
DIDN'T LOVE: The length and the sag toward the end. This movie is too long and covering the 4+ years when the Zodiac stops killing is pretty tedious. The film does it's best to create an ending where there wasn't one in reality (the Zodiac murders were never solved).

RECOMMENDATION: A very good movie, if you have the time and patience. When it gets slow, concentrate on the performances and the details of production design, etc.

ONCE*
A modern-day musical about a busker and an immigrant and their eventful week, as they write, rehearse and record songs that tell their love story.
LOVED: the music, the performances, the script....um, the music. This had all the fun and character of an indie (which it was) without the forced quirk of Juno. This is a GREAT little film.
DIDN'T LOVE: ??....................i had to have the subtitles on because of the accents. That's really my only complaint, and it's not so much about the film as it is my neuroses.
RECOMMENDATION: WATCH IT!! And buy anything by The Frames.

REIGN OVER ME
Adam Sandler is Charlie, whose post-traumatic stress caused by the loss of his wife and children on 9/11 sees him regressing to a sort of second childhood. A chance run-in with his former college roommate, Alan (Don Cheadle) spurs Charlie’s first attempts at remembering his past.
LOVED: Don Cheadle, of course. (It was a Cheadle-fest at the Markle house) Sandler was good too, tho the psychosis of his character made it hard to differentiate between goofy-talking Sandler of his comedy films and dramatic-Sandler of Spanglish, Punch Drunk Love, etc. The soundtrack was good (title refers to 'Love Reign O'er Me by The Who) and the New York scenery was also enjoyable. Supporting work by Saffron Burrows as Donna was also great.
DIDN'T LOVE: The pace, the lack of clear direction. It seemed to meander off course then jump swiftly back on. The connection between Charlie and Donna (another oddball) was sweet, but a bit forced. It could've been alot worse though.

RECOMMENDATION: Good rental for when you want to hang out in New York with Don Cheadle or for when you're feeling lonely (cuz it's about friendship).

*movies listed by Ebert & Roeper among the '10 Best Films of 2007'

so long, oh-seven

HERE'S HOW IT WENT DOWN:
We rang in 2007 in Redlands with J, Winter and Friberg and that was the most fun i'd had in a very long time.

In February David included us in his roadtripping and we went to San Francisco and Lodi and that was a very good time. A few weeks later he was in a coma and that was a very bad time.

In March we became home owners! i quit my miserable job at CPLC and we packed up a U-Haul and closed the Elk Grove chapter of our lives, bidding farewell to some really great roommates.

April was all about moving in. i learned how to hang drywall!

May was more moving in, going to San Diego for Bondory's graduation and realizing that a very, very long chapter (PLNU) was closing for our family. Also in May? the season finale of Lost, with mindblowing flash-forwards. Yes, it was THAT big of a deal that it just made this countdown. Also spent a GREAT weekend in Portland with KaBob.

June: the first June in a long time we had no weddings to attend. i got hired at Simpson AND entered the world of Harry Potter.

In July both Taylor and Ruby were born and Bonnie was married off to Andy. i further honed my already considerable skills as a wedding dj.

August was all about me turning 2-6 and dealing with that, emotionally. Oh, and we became the kind of people who have their cat professionally groomed. And i think this was the month Winter introduced me to 'Friday Night Lights' and she shall forever be praised.

In September we went camping with Petesten (Pete + the Rostens) and that was ethereal. Josh also quit his job at Global Wine Group to freelance in Redding.

October was about the SoCal fires and worrying about Whit & fam, but also about going to New York and seeing David in His Natural Habitat, spending tons-but-never-enough time with Matt, Brenda and Lizzie, and visiting Cassie and Chris in Connecticut. i swear it feels like 30 years ago. So weird.

November brought Jonah Kane into the world a bit early, but looking good. Wii fun with families for Thanksgiving and a nice long visit from Kahlua.

In December it was all about the Pretty Pink Ponies winning the league championship. Oh, and Jesus was born. Again. And J and Winter came to visit and that was bliss. And Josh got hired as the Creative Design Manager at Simpson. We closed out the year with good soup and good friends and a rousing version of 'Auld Lang Syne'.

So, all in all, a crazy year. New house, 'new' town, new jobs, new family, new friends. Many changes. Any predictions for 08? Don't say 'baby', you'll be wrong and you'll lose the bet and i'll glare at you. Say 'puppy'.

-kal

have a picassoriffic new year!

Start 2008 art-y: make your own Picasso at Mr. Picassohead! It's really easy. If you've ever made a Mii you can make a Picasso. You can observe my masterpiece HERE, or view Winter's even better use of brush strokes HERE. Post the link to yours in the comments!