Must See Movies

Here's my list of Movies I Must See in 2005 (and some I might rent).
--------------------
This is my list that I'd love to see on the big screen:

-Robots.
-The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy
-Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
-Batman Begins
-War of the Worlds
-Fantastic Four
-The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe
-Sahara

Here's my list of movies I wouldn't mind seeing, rental or otherwise:

-The Producers
-Underworld: Evolution
-The Legend of Zorro
-The Brothers Grimm
-Zathura
-The Pink Panther
-Serenity
-Stealth
-Mr. and Mrs. Smith
-The Cave

Must See Movies

Whatta night.

Elizabeth is officially a cheerleader groupie. Yesterday she participated in the school cheerleading clinic, which they offer every year. This was her second year participating. (Third? I can't remember if she did it in kindergarten or not.) Today all the cheer clinic girls performed at the school pep rally. So Elizabeth was all excited, and we wound up attending the basketball game tonight. Wowza. We arrived early, to watch the JV game, since one of my carpool kids is on the team. I, the perpetually frazzled spouseless mom, arrived all flustered and not-together. Got to the admission table, found I'd left my cash in the van. I left the kids with a friend who happened by, and took off running for the parking lot. Got halfway across the parking lot, missed a curb, and totally bit it right there in front of God and everyone. I'm thirty years old and I skinned my knees. Revisiting your childhood? Not so much fun. I'm pretty sure I ruined my jeans too. But I hobbled back inside for the game. We were heading for our seats, when the JV cheerleaders spotted us, and asked if Elizabeth could hang out with them and cheer for a while. You would have thought the child had won a trip to Disneyworld. She was just beside herself. They gave her a set of pom poms and made sure to do cheers that she knew from the cheer clinic. Of course I took pics. She wound up staying for the whole game, then hanging out with the Varsity cheerleaders for the next game. I did give them an out. I slipped over and told them that if she started getting annoying/in the way, to tell her that her mom was calling her and I'd keep her in our seats. They were all, "No, she's great!" These are just the NICEST pack of girls you will ever run across - total opposite of every cheerleader stereotype. I love them.

The JV kids won, it was great.
Then all of our friends started arriving for the Varsity game. This was a biggie, against a team that has beaten them every time. So the coach promised to shave his head if we won. We won, and everyone went wild. What fun. The coach (who is also Elizabeth's gym teacher, and her friend Allie's dad) will be all kinds of bald Monday morning. The kids had the time of their lives and are already begging to go to the next game. Will do.

I'm hoarse from the screaming. My knees hurt from my tumble in the parking lot. My thighs hurt from my sprint across the parking lot. And my hiney hurts from sitting on the back of a folding chair all night, which was the only way we could see. But it was worth it. Whee!

Whatta night.

Where were you 19 years ago?

Nineteen years ago.

The Space Shuttle Challenger was lost shortly after lift off.

I was in 8th grade walking back to class from a restroom break.

I ran into one of my teachers in the hall. She dropped the news to then.

I don't remember if we had a TV in the class, or if our teacher went and got one, but I'm pretty sure we just watched TV the rest of the class - and possibly the rest of the day.

Where were you 19 years ago?

Our Last Name

Huh... I was just Googling myself (shut up!), and found the meaning of Bayer:

From Ancestry.com:
What does the Bayer name mean?
Last Name: Bayer

German, Scandinavian, and Jewish (Ashkenazic): regional name for someone from Bavaria (German Bayern). This region of southern Germany derives its name from that of the Celtic tribe of the Boii who once inhabited this area. They were displaced in the 6th century ad by a Germanic people, the Boioarii or Baiuarii, whose name is derived from that of their Celtic predecessors.

Cool.

--edit--
I just remembered, that's not my ancestral name at all... When my grandfather and his brothers immigrated to the United States, they changed their surname from something much more Polish-German sounding to Bayer. My mom's maiden name is a good solid German name too!

Our Last Name

New Book I'll Be Reading

I picked up a new book from my local library today.
Then I check my email and find an interview with the author in the DRIN newsletter!
And permission to use it!
(Notice I added the book to my AllConsuming bot in the right sidebar too.)

I read the author's first book in his mom's universe: Dragon's Kin. That was a good read.

Here's the interview excerpt:
---------------------------------------

The following material is being reprinted from the Del Rey Internet Newsletter. To subscribe to this free, monthly e-newsletter, visit http://www.delreybooks.com.


An interview with Todd McCaffrey, author of DRAGONSBLOOD


Del Rey: Your mother, Anne McCaffrey, has been writing about Pern for more than thirty-five years, creating some of the best-loved classics in science fiction. It's probably inevitable, unfortunately, that some people will ascribe your authorship of this novel solely to your being her son. How would you respond to those people?

Todd McCaffrey: I'd say to them, "Read the book, then let's see if you still feel the same way."
DR: Did you feel any trepidation about trying to fill Anne's literary shoes? How did you deal with the pressure of coming up to her high standard?

TM: Yes, I did feel a lot of trepidation. However, I've been researching for Mum for over twenty years now, and reading her for longer.

As for dealing with the pressure, it's very difficult. It helped that I was the editor's contact for DRAGON'S KIN--I was relieved to see that not only were my words being edited, but so were Mum's.

DR: Is DRAGONSBLOOD a passing of the torch from mother to son, or will Anne continue to write novels and stories set on Pern?

TM: It wasn't intended to be a passing of the torch. I think writing more Pern novels is strictly up to Mum. But she'll be seventy-nine this April, well past the point when other people have retired, and I don't see why she shouldn't rest on her vast accomplishments if she wants.

DR: What was it like to grow up with a famous writer for a mom? Did you always have the ambition to be a writer yourself?

TM: Fame is strictly relative. More people didn't know Mum's works than did. In science fiction and fantasy circles, Mum didn't really break out as a "famous writer" until the publication of DRAGONSONG and "A Time When," in the mid-70's--and she'd been writing since 1953.

I earned my first typewriter at the age of thirteen by teaching myself touch typing so I could write my stories. That said, I didn't want to be a writer. I wanted to be an astronaut (doesn't everyone?), but I expected to be writing as a sideline.

Read more.

New Book I'll Be Reading

Oh.

That's a Decepticon background? Okay. [shrugs] I thought it was a grid too. I don't get the whole Transformers thingy - I'm a whole other breed of geek. (Buffy! Angel! Now and forever, I'm Joss' bi%&h.)

Tales from the mommy side. GOT to potty train Catherine. This is insane, I'm just sick to death of changing diapers. I've been doing it nonstop for nearly 8 years now, and the novelty has worn off. Alexander and Catherine were both potty trained by now, I just can't seem to find the time to get to it. Okay, I'll start in the morning. No, seriously.

I'm off for Nashville in about five weeks, for Creating Keepsakes Convention. I'm absolutely over the moon about it, since I'm traveling down with two of my best girlfriends to spend three days there. Three days of scrapbooking classes (we're each taking eight classes), shopping the vendor fair, and hanging out with friends, sans kids. Bonus? We're staying at the Opryland hotel. Whoop! Kevin is the wonderfullest guy in the world for letting me go. He rocks, and gets many many brownie points.

Oh.

Yay! A mention!

The Mysterious Cloaked Figure mentioned and linked to us in his post commenting on his love for all things robots. He recognized the background from The Bayer Family Blog as blatantly stolen from the Transformers!*

Yay! He wins the prize (wait - that's another movie...)


*Truthfully, I don't remember where I picked up that background. Grabbed it from a TF website somewhere along the way while surfing Transformers-realated content... And I liked the Decepticon purple better than the Autobot red.

Yay! A mention!