All in the family…what movie are we gonna see

I said it recently and I’ll say it again..Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. We get someone else to cook the turkey (Bro’s on Charlotte – a MEAN deep-fried turkey) and my mom cooks the veggies (she’s a pretty ‘mean’ cook herself) and my sister and her family come from St. Louis. My sister (and family) are ardent Republican-types. My mother is a Fox-News-loving Republican-type which leaves my family as the odd-ball Demo-types. We learned several years ago that we can have a wonderful, warm, loving thanksgiving if a certain someone shuts the hell up about politics (that someone would be me).

If we omit George Bush, Iraq, Fox News, progressive income tax and the death tax from the dinner conversation, all goes swimmingly. In fact, the only controversy swirling these past few Thanksgivings is the Friday after Thanksgiving movie choice..

It’s getting harder and harder to satisfy teenagers, grandmother, and four theoretically adult types AND come up with a movie that everyone hasn’t seen. This year we had to split up. The grown-ups went to see ‘Queen’ and the kids went to see James Bond. Needless to say, I totally enjoyed Casino Royale.

I really thought the Bond franchise was moribund, but these guys brought it back to life. Two thumbs WAY up.

Not to mention, the two thumbs up for Thanksgiving and family and all that sappy stuff.

When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro*

I’ve been tagged, twice, by Newscoma and Sista. They want to perpetuate the weirdness chain, as in list six weird things about yourself….hmmmm.

1. When I walk down stairs, I whistle. Problem is, I really can’t whistle. I blow some notes. I feel sorry for the people in the vicinity of the stairs, especially in the concrete echoing staircases at work, because they probably think that someone is either in pain or a small train is descending the staircase above them. Oddly, I never whistle when going up stairs.

2. I have to sit on the LEFT end of the couch. Maybe it’s because I’m left-handed, but I feel disconcerted not sitting on the left end. If one of my favorite teams is playing on TV, I will move you in order to sit on the left end because it is very important to the fate of ‘my’ team that I am ‘in position’.

3. When I’m attending a basketball game and ‘my ‘ team (usually Vandy) has two free throws, I clap three times after the first free throw, if the free throw is made. This ‘habit’ has enabled Vanderbilt to win on many occasions.

4. I share a love of parallel parking with Newscoma. If they paid people to parallel park, I might be able to afford that summer home in Taos we’ve always dreamed about. I’m a pretty good driver, but to paraphrase Rainman, ‘I’m an excellent parallel parker, I’m an excellent parallel parker’

5. When I look at myself in my bathroom mirror, I channel the voice of Barry White except he is laughing his ass off and saying, BABY, oh, BABY. I don’t think I”M baby oh baby. It’s like I’m on some odd sit-com and the soundtrack jokingly plays this phrase when the dishevelled sleepy-faced big-headed person slaps water on their fact in order to wake up. Oh damn, I think that was my out-loud voice.

6. Speaking of big heads. I have a very large head. Sadly, when I was a child, my head grew to adult proportions. None of my peers made fun of it though, except in grades 2-12. A sampling of my nicknames:
Basketball head, atomic head, mushroom head, ultra head, fat head, giganto-head, world-class head….I could go on, but I’d need an extra counseling session.

I hearby tag, Sam AND Lynette Davidson, Thomas McKenzie, Parlancheq, Malia, and Ginger.

*quote is from the late great Hunter S. Thompson.