...all those who've served, both past and present --
THANK YOU. THANK YOU.
If you've been in the military, or are currently serving, t's not too late to take advantage of the many Veteran's Day specials out there -- especiallly for restaurants. Go here for more. The Brick (who put in six years in the Navy) and I went out for a Bloomin' Onion and beer at Outback for lunch this afternoon, and are headed to Red Robin for supper.
Ok, maybe not luuuv. (No worries for the Brick, who is firmly stitched into my heart of hearts.) But ever since I wandered into The Stand decades ago, I have been in awe of this man, who can scare the bejeebers out of you one moment, and make you want to laugh or weep the next.
King spent some time in Colorado at one point -- which The Stand and his book Misery reflect. I began reading Misery at the time Daughter #1 was born, without realizing that Annie Wilkes, the killer nurse, was killing babies at Boulder Community Hospital.
In Boulder.
Where Daughter #1 drew her first breath.
Creepy.
King went through a lot of hard times as a kid, something covered unflinchingly in his sterling book On Writing. (One of the most honest and realistic 'how to write well' books I've ever read, by the way.) He talks a lot about being an unpublished and rejected writer too, something that gives his fellow writers added resolve. (Including submitting a story that was rejected before he became well-known...retooling it slightly...and having it magically - and quickly- accepted!)
Some of his books end far too quickly - as if the maximum pages are looming, and the editor just cuts the flow off. And he tends to enjoy being a potty mouth a bit too much for my taste. (After a while, the word 'fuck' and its endless variations lose all shock value, and just tend to be obnoxious.)
But his characters -- oh my. They live in my imagination as strongly as King himself.
My favorite books:
Danse Macabre (especially good if you want to know why King does what he does) The Stand (I went back and reread this after the Ebola scare became national news) The Dead Zone Misery (especially good, if you are also a writer -- Hemingway would have loved this one) Needful Things (a lot about whether getting what you want is really that good for you) Four Past Midnight (gives you a whole new approach to airports and libraries) Insomnia The Long Walk (try not to think of this while you're watching the Hunger Games movies) The Dome (until its incredibly stupid ending) 11/22/63 (also not thrilled with its ending, but up til then...) On Writing (if you want to know how he does it...and how its connected to his past)
His short story collections are interesting, if somewhat uneven. Some are memorable -- some seemingly calculated on the schlock factor. Kind of like the little boy whose great aim in life is to gross everyone out.
Movies based on his books are also all over the place, quality-wise. And opinions vary. I was intrigued by The Mist (wonderful, until its ridiculous ending) and The Stand (the one with Gary Sinise). Ed Harris was perfect as the sheriff in Needful Things -- though I thought the movie was generally too frantic. And The Shining? In spite of the hype, it doesn't have anything to do with Colorado. (Really.) Some interesting ideas...but all the whining! (And not just by Shelley Duvall, either.)
I actually liked Secret Window, too, though many think it one of Johnny Depp's sillier movies. And the Shawshank Redemption? One of my favorites...but not typical of a King horror flick. (Unless you have bad dreams about crawling through a sewer during a thunderstorm.) It was a box office flop, but has since gained a lot of respect.
It's fun to spot King in movies made on his books. He has a habit of appearing in bit parts, a la Alfred Hitchcock - his hick goofus in Creepshow was actually quite funny. But most of the time, I shy away from watching a movie based on his work...I was far too terrified by Misery to take a chance on watching the movie!
One warning: Run screaming from any any of the Children of the Corn flicks, and not because of the terror factor. You'll regret it. The original Corn (in more ways than one) was one of the few movies I was actually rooting for the hero and heroine to get mowed down/chewed up. Anyone that irritating deserves to die. In Movieland, at least.
King is up to some new stuff, including a musical (???) with John Mellencamp. He has a tendency to show up in movies and miniseries based on his books - I wonder if he insisted on being in the musical, as well? (He does play in a band called The Remainders, made up of authors who are Famous for Something Else, including Amy Tan and Dave Barry.)
"I’ve always thought that the sort of book that I do—and I’ve got enough
ego to think that every novelist should do this—should be a kind of
personal assault. It ought to be somebody lunging right across the table
and grabbing you and messing you up. It should get in your face...I mean, if I get a letter from somebody saying, I couldn’t eat my
dinner, my attitude is, Terrific! " -- Stephen King
The sky is gray, the air (sort of) warm...and strangely quiet. We've got a big storm and incredibly low temps right on the horizon -- and we're not the only ones.
Amazing appetizers. A whole range, from deviled eggs to eggrolls. Another something that might just come in handy for the holidays. (From Who Needs A Cape. I know -- I've been profiling her a lot lately, but she has Good Stuff.)
Whole wheat sourdough tortillas. These are easier to make than you would think -- and the recipe lets you know exactly what you're putting in them (and in your belly, incidentally. From Prairie Homestead)
Another goodie for your Bigfoot files -- a BF that doesn't like gunfire or helicopters! This one was caught totally unaware by the camera. So was the family who 'captured' it, to their mutual surprise. Watch the snowfield to the right, in the background...and look for movement.
Lessons learned from the recent election. From yours truly, via Midlife Finance. I'm really glad the election is over for another year, though I miss my partner Rhonda. (Hope you're feeling better, friend.)
It's not the top one -- that's been awarded to McKinney, Texas --
but Castle Rock's #4. Here's what Money says:
Castle Rock, c.1900...
Castle Rock has come a long way from its quarry-town roots. The
city is growing at a rapid clip, with a population that has more than
tripled in the past 15 years...
Perhaps the biggest recent addition is the Castle Rock Adventist
Hospital, which opened a year ago, bringing specialists and nearly 500
jobs to town. This fall the city will unveil a new indoor athletic
complex, taking some pressure off the lone recreation center. And
there’s more to come, with plans underway for a new mixed-use
development. All the building has created congestion, but residents hope
that a new two-mile road and freeway on-ramp will ease traffic when
it’s finished in 2016.
There are some aspects of Castle Rock that haven’t changed. The
downtown remains the heart of the city, lined with locally owned
restaurants and specialty stores. The area also hosts community events,
including a holiday Starlighting festival, when a giant star is lit on
the town’s namesake rock formation. (That's coming up soon, after Thanksgiving. Learn more about the Star here.)
See the star? It seems to float in the sky at night...orange & blue bulbs when the Broncos are in the Superbowl
The school district here is one of the best in the state [cool to hear them say this -- the Brick works for Douglas County Schools!], and the two
charter schools garner rave reviews from parents. Residents are also
pleased by the home prices; a three-bedroom starts around $250,000.
Then there’s Colorado’s big selling point: the great outdoors. Castle
Rock has 5,000-plus acres of open space, and the Rockies are nearby...
Go here for the full skinny. (More here, too.)But don't plan to move, ok? The same urge that brought people in is also the reason why we live on a hill above Home Depot now.
(When we moved here some 12-plus years ago, it was a horse pasture. I miss the horses, not the hardware.)
I saw a recent reference to this essay on Punch Debt in the Face's blog. I'm not sure I agree with all of it -- there's still a fair amount of whining on some of these items, this writer likes to admit it or not. But it does give you something to think about.
It's been making the rounds of the Internet. Pass it on, if you want...
Somehow we survived!!! Looking back, it's hard to believe that we have lived as long as we have... As
children, we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. Riding
in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was always a special treat. Our baby cribs were covered with bright colored lead-based paint. We
had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors, or cabinets, and
when we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. (Not to mention hitchhiking
to town as a young kid!) We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle. Horrors. We
would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps and then rode
down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times we learned to solve the problem. We
would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were
back when the streetlights came on. No one was able to reach us all day. No cell phones. Unthinkable. We
played dodgeball and sometimes the ball would really hurt. We got cut
and broke bones and broke teeth and there were no law suits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents? We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it. We ate cupcakes, bread and butter, and drank sugar soda but we were never overweight ... we were always outside playing. We shared one grape soda with four friends, from one bottle and no one died from this? We
did not have Playstations, Nintendo 64, X Boxes, video games at all, 99
channels on cable, video tape movies, surround sound, personal cellular
phones, Personal Computers, internet chat rooms, ... we had friends. We
went outside and found them. We rode bikes or walked to a friend's home and knocked on the door, or rung the bell or just walked in and talked to them. Imagine
such a thing. Without asking a parent! By ourselves! Out there in the
cold cruel world! Without a guardian. How did we do it? We made up
games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and although we were
told it would happen, we did not put out very many eyes, nor did the worms live inside us forever. We ate penny candy, swallowed bubblegum -and our intestines did not stick together because of it. Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team. Those who didn't had to learn to deal with disappointment. Some
students weren't as smart as others so they failed a grade and were
held back to repeat the same grade ... Horrors. Tests were not adjusted for any reason. Our
actions were our own. Consequences were expected. No one to hide
behind. The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke a law was
unheard of. They actually sided with the law, imagine that! This
generation has produced some of the best risk-takers and problem solvers
and inventors, ever. The past 50 years has been an explosion of
innovation and new ideas. We had freedom, failure, success and
responsibility,! and we learned how to deal with it all. And you're one
of them. Congratulations! Please pass this on to others that have
had the luck to grow up as kids, before lawyers and government regulated
our lives. For our own good, right?
We worked from early in the morning til late at night yesterday, tallying up numbers and checking names. One of the most difficult things was having to keep on working, while groups around us were laughing, talking...and even occasionally bumping into the 'trouble team' members (including yours truly). After all, they were either waiting on more work, or done -- who cared that others were still having to work!
And we all get paid exactly the same.
That's America for you.
We were lucky; my team went home about 11 p.m. Our bosses had to stay until 1:30 a.m., then came back in at 7. We made it in at 9, to finish up what was left.
Now it's back to my regular work again.
Wanted to tell you about something truly amazing that was discovered recently --
A ship from the Franklin expedition. Back in the 1840s. In the Arctic.
Sitting upright on the ocean floor. Seemingly largely intact. (Divers have even been down to look at it. Brrr...)
After weeks and weeks of mostly unseasonably warm weather, we're due for snow. Or rain. Something wet, at least. Not that I'll know until Monday evening -- I'm working for the election Monday and Tuesday. Long hours. Wednesday and Thursday, too...but it will be normal hours then. Names and numbers, names and numbers. Lots of clicking on the computer, double-checking ballot entries. Sigh... Since I'll be Otherwise Occupied tomorrow, here's Monday Stuff a bit early.
Queso Compuesto -- a hot Mexican cheese dip, but better. (From Who Needs A Cape)
Eggs in Spicy Pepper Sauce, served with a side of bravery. I can't tell you how much I admire this blogger, for her honest, disciplined approach to life. No complaining -- just honesty and great, cheap food, with the promise of splurging more later on. (From Poor Girl Eats Well)
Snowy ways to save the day (i.e., preparing for when winter cold comes -- and stays) from yours truly, via Midlife Finance. (I should have a post on elections there, later in the week.)
