Through The Rear Window: 01/13/2013

Saturday, January 19, 2013

Helping You Through Any Bad Day

Who me? I just wander from room to room.
It might look like I'm doing nothing, but at the cellular level, I'm really quite busy.
At least I have a positive attitude about my destructive habits.
You are validating my inherent mistrust of strangers.
I see you've set aside this special time to humiliate yourself in public.
Never give me work in the morning. Always wait until 4:00 and then bring it to me. The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.
If it's really a rush job, run in and interrupt me every 10 minutes to inquire how it's going. That helps. Even better, hover behind me, and advise me at every keystroke.
Always leave without telling anyone where you're going. It gives me a chance to be creative when someone asks where you are.
If you give me more than one job to do, don't tell me which is priority. I am psychic.
Do your best to keep me late. I adore this office and really have nowhere to go or anything to do. I have no life beyond work.

Trivia Bits 19 January

“I did but see her passing by and yet I’ll love her till I die” was reportedly stated by Australian Prime Minister Robert Menzies during and Australian visit by the Queen in 1963.
A ”Pampered Miss Piggy” was the British tabloid press’ description of Queen Elizabeth’s grand-daughter Princess Beatrice in 2008.
Dennis Lillee, Australian fast bowler during the Centenary test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in 1977, was refused an autograph by Queen Elizabeth II.
Altissimo is a musical term that means vey high.
When Peter Phillips Queen Elizabeth II’s grandson married in 2008 his bride was required to renounce Catholicism.
Australia’s second oldest city is Hobart, Tasmania established in 1803. The oldest being Sydney established in 1788.
At dawn on 18 March 1910, famous American escapologist Harry Houdini made the first Australian powered, controlled, sustained flight of an aircraft in Australia at Plumpton Dam, Diggers Rest.
Irn-Bru is a Scottish carbonated soft drink, long advertised as "Scotland's other national drink".
The letters AM and PM stand for Ante Meridien and Post Meridien being Latin for before noon or after noon.
Tenerife, Fuerteventura and Lanzarote are islands in The Canary Islands.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Always a Next Mountain to Cross

And yet another Hollywood re-boot may be just about to happen. The remake/reboot of the 1980s horror comedy Gremlins is reportedly being negotiated by Warner Brothers with Amblin Entertainment and Steven Spielberg.

According to Vulture, "negotiations of this sort have happened several times over the years, but making Spielberg’s deal always proved too daunting a financial prospect and his involvement might simply be a requirement for making the film. Having said all of that, sources tell us that it might just actually come off this time."

The site says that Spielberg, who was executive producer for the 1984 film, won't direct this new Gremlins so let's not let that idea take hold.

More Common Sense Thoughts for Living

Once over the hill, you pick up speed.
I love cooking with wine. Sometimes, I even put it in the food.
If it weren't for stress, I'd have no energy at all.
Whatever hits the fan will not be evenly distributed.
I know God won't give me more than I can handle. I just wish He didn't trust me so much.
Dogs have owners. Cats have staff.
We cannot change the direction of the wind, but we can adjust our sails.
Some days are a total waste of makeup.
If the shoe fits, buy it in every colour.
If you're too open minded, your brains will fall out.

An Esther Williams Moment

Top Searched Baby’s Names in 2012

Here are the baby names Parenting.com readers searched for most in 2012 and the baby name trends we'll be seeing in 2013.

Top 10 Searched Baby Girl Names

1. Isabella

2. Millie

3. Sookie

4. Ann

5. Ella

6. Betty

7. Ellie

8. Emma

9. Eithne (Pronounced ITH-nee)

10. Charlotte

Top 10 Searched Baby Boy Names

1. Jacob

2. Max

3. Liam

4. Ted

5. Mo

6. Aiden

7. Andy

8. Bertie

9. Ned

10. Gus

Top picks

Isabella (Italian, God's oath) and Jacob (Hebrew, supplanter, substitute) were the top baby names in 2011, and these classic names won't soon lose their appeal. But there's a new name in second place on the girls' list: Millie (English, short of Millicent, Amelia, Camilla, Mildred), which ranked eighth last year. Max (Latin, short for Maximillan, Maxwell), the rising star in boys' names, was in second place again this year and has become a celeb darling, chosen by Christina Aguilera and Jennifer Lopez.

Barbara Cook: You Make Me Feel So Young - Live At Feinsteins (2011)

Barbara Cook sits in that rarefied air occupied by only the finest cabaret/vocal singers. She has a silky tone that has become a little smokey with age, but she has gained colour in her lower register over time, and she exploits it to great effect. Her upper register may lack some of the sweetness that she had as a girl, but her expressive powers are at their absolute height.

She takes on a wonderful repertoire here, from "Here's to Life" so recently done by Streisand - sung differently, but wonderfully, and able to stand on its own feet, Barbara to Barbra! - to a wistful and sweet "Imagine". Her playfulness comes through on a wonderful "I got Rhythm". If you are a long time fan of Ms. Cook, this album is a simple sell. One listen to that wonderful voice and you'll be sold. But if you've never listened to her before, this is a wonderful album by a master storyteller/interpreter of some well beloved music. Here's hoping that she continues making music well into her 90's!

Track Listing:

1. Are You Havin' Any Fun?
2. You Make Me Feel So Young
3. I've Grown Accustomed To His Face
4. Wait 'til You're Sixty-Five
5. The Frim Fram Sauce
6. When I Look In Your Eyes
7. What Did I Have That I Don't Have
8. Live Alone And Like It
9. This Can't Be Love
10. I've Got You Under My Skin
11. Love Is Good For Anything That Ails You
12. I'm A Fool To Want You
13. Here's To Life
14. I Got Rhythm
15. Imagine

Cool Images 18 January

Black and White

Bates Motel To Debut In March

Bates Motel is the epitome of Hitchcock’s locations in the 1960 movie Psycho. What happened to Norman Bates prior to that eventful night has been the subject of conjecture and intrigue for many a year. His relationship with his mother in particular is a fascinating study and how this effected Norman Bates to become a serial killer.

A&E now add more to the scenario with the US premiere of the new original scripted drama series Bates Motel from executive producers Carlton Cuse (Lost) and Kerry Ehrin (Friday Night Lights) on Monday, March 18 at 10 PM ET/PT.

A contemporary prequel to Psycho, Bates Motel explores how Norman Bates’ psyche unravels through his teenage years and unveils the dark, twisted backstory of Norman Bates (Freddie Highmore) and how deeply intricate his relationship with his mother, Norma (Vera Farmiga), truly is.

The network has released several teaser posters that give a sense of the tone of the show, take a look below!

Visit the series homepage by CLICKING HERE

Windows Live Messenger To Close

Windows Live Messenger, formerly known as MSN Messenger, will finally be shut down by Microsoft on 15 March, after serving Internet users for more than 13 years.

After its launch way back in July 1999, MSN Messenger quickly became the most popular online chat service in the world. Serving hundreds of millions of users across multiple platforms, in as many as 50 different languages, Windows Live Messenger was part of most people’s everyday lives online, but with the rise of social networks and competing services such as Facebook Chat, Skype, Google Talk and iMessage, Windows Live Messenger slowly faded into the background.

After Microsoft purchased Skype in May of 2011 from shareholders including eBay, Silver Lake Partners, Andreessen Horowitz and the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board, it was clear that Windows Live Messenger’s day were numbered. This was officially confirmed by Microsoft back in November of 2012.

Microsoft provided a service that lets Windows Live Messenger users migrate early via a button that was added to the Messenger desktop app, but the move has not been plain sailing for some who have already made the jump. In some cases, contacts have not been transferring across the two services successfully.

If you still use Windows Live Messenger, it may be worth backing up your contacts manually ahead of the planned migration, and checking Skype and MSN forums for any tips to ensure that your move over to Skype is a painless one.

Existing Windows Live Messenger user accounts will be migrated to Skype ahead of the planned shutdown on March 15th. After this date, Messenger login attempts will be unsuccessful.

Trivia Bits 18 January

The capital of Burma is Naypyidaw.
Ensaimada is coiled, sweet bread made with flour, sugar, yeast, eggs and pigs fat or lard and dusted with sugar. It originates from Majorca, Spain.
The four corners of the traditional Monopoly are Go, In Jail/Just Visiting, Free Parking, Go To Jail.
At the time of his birth on Krypton, Superman was known as Kal-El.
The modern bikini was invented in 1946 by French engineer Louis Reard.
It was in the book The Selfish Gene by Richard Dawkins that the term meme was first coined.
The Sydney Opera House was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1973.
Queen Elizabeth’s mother was described by Adolf Hitler as “the most dangerous woman in Europe” because of the French people’s affection for her.
James Bond was played by George Lazenby in the movie On Her Majesty’s Service released in 1969 and was the sixth movie in the James Bond franchise.
The Coronation of Queen Elizabeth was held in Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953.

Nina Simone, Esther Phillips, Carmen McRae, Maxine Weldon sing Billie Holiday’s “God Bless The Child”

Movie Review ... Resident Evil: Retribution

There’s little doubt director Paul W.S. Anderson is a fine maker of celluloid trash. His films such as ‘Event Horizon’ and ‘Alien vs. Predator’ have hardly been high art. They’ve been a huge amount of frivolous fun with his eye for kinetic action and extravagant thrills raking in audience dollars. This fifth entry in the never-ending ‘Resident Evil’ series is just as outrageously silly although one has to admire his refusal to conjure anything but the cinematic equivalent of a fizzy pop drink.

Continuing her battle against the evil Umbrella Corporation Alice (Milla Jovovich) fights hard. Raging against the firm’s release of a virus turning people into snarling zombies, her battle seems eternal. Aided by a group of new and old friends, her quest to stop the global plague knows no limits. With the clock ticking, Alice must prevent the disease from spreading any further with any available weapon at her disposal.

Although having Anderson’s name attached as director ‘Resident Evil 5’ looks like a John Woo movie. Famed for his balletic slow-motion style, Woo’s influence is evident. Almost every action sequence is slowed considerably so viewers see each crunch and fight in minute detail. This also coincidentally extends the run-time without adding much to the story. That’s where things go slightly awry in this entry as what plot there is seems minimal.

Perhaps everyone is running out of ideas although the cast have fun. Jovovich still eagerly kicks some serious zombie butt while energetically pouting in her striking outfit. Her fellow cast-members give performances you’d expect with the wondrous CGI managing to overcome some of the more risible dialogue. This is pure comic book fluff with the mix of genres well developed by technicians knowing how to present an action spectacle.

‘Resident Evil: Retribution’ signals the near-end of the series. Although movie No. 6 has been announced it’s best to end proceedings there with the franchise’s well of ideas becoming as ragged and gnarled as the zombies its heroine battles.