Eventful Free Day at Barton Springs

Today was the first time we've been able to visit Barton Springs in about 3 weeks and it happened to be a free day. We'd already planned to head out early to try and beat the crowds, but then discovered by watching News 8 that there was no fee at the pool today, which meant to expect an absolute zoo. After swinging by the Hop-a-Long Lounge to collect Jason, we arrived poolside around 11:30.



I finally got the chance to use my new $.99* float, which was nice. Floats are perfect at Barton Springs. It's too cold to remain submerged for any length of time and it gets too hot sitting up on the hill. If you're camped up on a float you can splash yourself every so often to cool off.

Anyhoo, after we'd been in the water for about 10 minutes, Ryan spotted a man in distress being treated poolside. We couldn't figure out if he was having heart issues or couldn't breathe, or what, but EMS showed up and eventually carted him off. He appeared to be conscious and talking, though, so that's good.

About 10 minutes after that, we heard the lifeguard whistles go off, followed by repeated shouts of, "EVERYBODY OUT OF THE POOL!". Miraculously, the pool cleared in under 3 minutes, save one gentleman who was doing some laps.

Apparently (this heard fourth hand as passed through the crowd) someone thought they saw a child go under and never come back up. Then a lifeguard found a small life vest pinned under a rock. Scary stuff, so the pool was cleared and we got to witness the lifeguards executing their rescue training. This involved a line of swimmers as well as a couple of scuba dudes sweeping the pool twice.

In the end it was thankfully declared a false alarm, but it was nice to see the lifeguards on top of things. Hats off to them.

This whole process took upwards of 45 minutes. While we really had no idea when we'd be allowed back into the pool we were left baking on the hill and debating whether or not to take off. We took refuge under the shade of a tree after about 30 minutes. One clueless couple sauntered down the hill with their pool noodles, amazingly failed to notice no one else was in the pool, and jumped right in. Ryan, Jason, and I gave them the slow clap.

We did finally get to jump in one last time before leaving.

UPDATE: OK, this is where my broken telephone style reporting has failed me. Apparently people thought they saw a man wearing goggles who wasn't moving at the bottom of the pool.

*This isn't the first time I've noticed this, but when did keyboards lose the cent symbol? I'm sure there's some code to get it, but I'm too lazy to look it up.

Team Swizzlebeef

If you enjoyed Mystery Science Theater back in the day, you'll be happy to know that those same guys are still in business. They now have a website called Rifftrax (warning: site has autoplay) where you can download their commentary on a wide variety of popular films.

They've recently started allowing fans to create and sell their own spoofs. The Dug and his pals jumped at the opportunity and have mocked 2 short films. They operate under the name Team Swizzlebeef and their latest offering is in my totally unbiased opinion, hilarious. Seriously, though, it's really damn funny. You can find it here.



Also, here's why you will never catch me anywhere near a theater that's showing the new Transformers. Warning: massive spoilers, but does anyone care? Thanks to Doug for the link.

Happy 4th of July!

One Year Anniversary

Today Troubles McSteans celebrates our one year anniversary. Hurrah! Thanks to all three of my readers!

My mom just left. We've been cleaning since 9 this morning for our 4th of July shindig on Saturday. The house is now 85% devoid of pet hair (that's really the best one can hope for) and smells of floor cleaner. If you're going to be in the area on Saturday, feel free to drop by the house for some burgers and dogs to celebrate the U.S. of A.

Now I'm camped out on the couch, pondering a nap and listening to Lucy snoring. The dogs had a big morning, what with fleeing the vacuum, various wrestling matches, and spending about an hour in the yard while we dealt with the floor.

Jason is back from his big trip to London and it sounds like he had a great time. He's on his way over to collect Miss Cassidy. Cassidy has had a good visit - she's been a great houseguest and fun playmate for Lucy. It's getting to be time for us to get another dog. Lucy really does do better with a friend around and I feel like it's been long enough since we lost Mel that the new dog won't feel like a replacement.

I'm flipping channels and they're showing the 1987 Dragnet movie with Tom Hanks and Dan Aykroyd. God I loved this movie when I was a kid. It was one of those we watched endlessly because it was on HBO all the time. Why doesn't Tom Hanks do comedies anymore? He was hilarious. It seems like once he gained credibility as a dramatic actor he abandoned comedic roles completely (save voice work on Toy Story). What a shame.


Look out. Muppets.

Loved SYTYCD last night. I thought most of the dances were terrific and finally 'got' the hype surrounding Kayla. I thought she and Kupono did a great job with Sonia's wonderfully strange choreography:



Have a great 4th of July everyone!

Rain Day at Puppy Summer Camp

After finally getting to bed at a decent hour for the first night in about a week, I woke up this morning around 5 with a migraine. Luckily I had the senses to bypass the pills and go straight for my Imitrex shot, which gets the drug in your system about 10 times faster and saves me from the 2 hours of flopping around in bed waiting for the medicine to kick in. The headache quickly subsided and I was back asleep within 10 minutes. The downside of the shot is, it's a bit powerful if I haven't taken one in a while, so I was a bit groggy when I woke up again at 7:30. It's honestly a miracle I made it out of bed at all what with the drowsiness and the soft rolling thunder outside and the comfiness of the bed.

I'd been shirking my Lucy walking duties for about a week for one reason or another, so we both were in desperate need of getting out to stretch our legs. Keeping a watchful eye on the encroaching clouds we headed out.

The walk was bizarre. It was incredibly warm but not hot, the sun was reflecting off of clouds in a way that looked like 8 in the evening rather than 8 in the morning, and the neighborhood peacock was crying his otherworldly peacock song. The clouds were moving in as if the Nothing was bearing down on Grand Oaks subdivision.


It was comforting to know that we had a Luck Dragon waiting at home to rescue us if needed

We cut the walk short when the thunder increased in frequency and the sun vanished. Alternating jogging and speed walking, we made it in the door just before the downpour.

So now I'm parked on the couch with a terrified Jeff the Cat on my lap and dogs camped out on either side of me. Every 30 seconds or so a clap of thunder rattles the animals (and me, too). Lucy whines for a good 10 seconds, Cassidy leans over to sniff Jeff, and Jeff makes his creepy gutteral, "Back off, bitches!" noise. I hope the rain stops soon as I'm in desperate need of running errands.

SYTYCD

This is a So You Think You Can Dance post. If you don't give a darn, you are dismissed. We'll catch you next time.

So...last night's show. I was thoroughly unimpressed. Toni Basil is one of their worst judges in my opinion and I'm really getting tired of Mary's screaming so I was fast forwarding through the judging portions for the most part. Here is my take on the dancing:

Karla and Jonathan: Hip Hop (Dave Scott)
I'm sad to say after last week's gorgeous routine that these two offered up the weakest dance of the night. I think Jonathan is cute as a button and impressed me last week, but with the hip hop...ai yai yai. That was....not good. Karla was okay, but I wasn't even invested enough in the choreography to sit still through the whole thing. I went to let Cassidy inside towards the end and didn't feel like I missed anything. I fear Jonathan may be leaving us this week.

Asuka and Vitolio: Jazz (Mandy Moore)
I just cannot get excited about these two. I haven't so far liked anything they've done and kind of can't stand Asuka. I know! I'm a terrible person! I'm sure she's a very sweet girl but she bugs. While she's not everyone's cup of tea, I usually really dig Mandy Moore routines but this one was for lack of a better word, boring. For starters, Pat Benatar is not the easiest music to dance to, and when you add uncharismatic dancing it makes for a forgettable routine.

Melissa and Ade: Rumba (Tony Meredith)
Finally, a good dance. I just love these two. I'll reserve judgement until I see them do hip hop, but I'm getting close to declaring they can do no wrong. They're both beautiful dancers and handled the rumba with maturity and strength. Bravo.

Janette and Brandon: Hip Hop (Dave Scott)
Nice! To be fair, I thought this was a better choreographed piece than the first one, but on top of that the dancing was terrific. I'm not sure I was totally on board with the whole 'rocker' thing Janette was instructed to do, but she danced well and Brandon really surprised me. I thought Phillip was the only one left on the show that could pull off hip hop but I'm happy to say I was wrong.

Kayla and Kupono: Viennese Waltz (Jean-Marc Genereux)
Technically proficient as far as I could tell. I like Kayla a whole lot better without Max and I like Kupono, I've just never been blown away by a Viennese Waltz on this show aside from Danny and Lacey in the season 3 final 4.

Randi and Evan: Contemporary (Mia Michaels)
As much as I dislike Mia as a judge for her rudeness, she's my favorite choreographer. She's been responsible for my favorite group routines from each of the past 3 seasons and has rarely misfired on the competition pieces. So add Randi and Evan to the mix, who are two of my favorites, and you've got a great routine. And anything that inspires Cat to exclaim: "Zoot Alors!" has to be the best of the night:


Yeah I thought the butt thing was weird, too

Caitlin and Jason: Paso Doble (Jean-Marc Genereux)
I do not understand the tongue bath given these two by the judges. I thought everything about this dance was too big. The music, the costumes, the choreography all seemed to overwhelm these dancers. Add their total lack of chemistry to the mix and I don't know how much longer we'll be seeing these two.

Jeanine and Phillip: Broadway (Tyce Diorio)
I've never been a fan of the broadway routines on this show. I have nothing against broadway style in general, but it never seems to come across as strongly on this small stage. This one was done to *"Moses Supposes" from Singing in the Rain (one of my all time favorite movies) and contained a couch as a prop in an homage to the film. Aside from the impressive stunt of Phillip clearing the couch lenghwise with a running jump, it was just cute and ok.

*I once did a tap dance to this song in 9th grade and hated this song with a passion until I saw it in the movie.

Should go home: Phillip and Asuka
Will go home: Jonathan and Asuka

Paul Blart: Best Picture?

So I guess starting next year the Oscars are widening the Best Picture race to include 10 movies.

I have mixed feelings about this and will have to wait and see how it plays out. On one hand, it could make things more interesting. I did a post pre-Oscars this year about how annoyed I was that the nominees seemed to be limited to "awards bait" films released within a month of the end of the year cut off date, alienating anything premiering from January through November. I was especially irritated that The Dark Knight and WALL-E were overlooked. Having double the number of nominees could open the door for bigger movies that have increasingly been dismissed as summer fluff.

I'm wondering if this development also means they are considering UP for a Best Picture slot this year. The addition of the Best Animated Feature in 2002 gave the Academy an excuse to exclude any animated film from the Best Picture race, no matter how impressive the film. This particularly irked me last year when WALL-E was snubbed and I will be similarly peeved if UP is overlooked come January, especially with 10 available slots. UP is by far the best film I've seen so far this year, and I would even go as far as to say it was slightly better than WALL-E.


I would be happy if you nominated me. Squirrel!

I do have my reservations, however. It is curious that this change is being made in a year with so few great movies. We are finally feeling the effects from last year's writer's strike with a dearth of quality films. I wonder come awards season if the Academy will be scraping the bottom of the barrel for nominees.

It also makes me wonder, even if this was a year chock full of good flicks, if increasing the size of the playing field could dilute the award altogether. I've often felt the Golden Globes suffer from this problem even as they separate their top prize into "Best Drama" and "Best Musical or Comedy" categories. The Oscars have no such plan to split Best Picture into categories and I'm wondering how it will look to see something like "Schindler's List" up against something like "Mamma Mia!".

It's still too early for me to form an opinion on this development so I'll have to reserve judgement until next February after the big show. I just hope this doesn't mean I have to stay up for a 6 hour broadcast just to see clips from all the films.