Cuparius.com

I bought a timer Wednesday night. It is amazing how many kinds of kitchen timers are for sale; it is discouraging how few companies manufacture them: two (as far as I can tell). And they are all made in one country. (You get one guess.) At any rate, I bought a timer and tried it out by timing the steeping of some tea, and it works perfectly. I'll return to the store and buy two or three more of the same model tomorrow. (I'm striving for consistency. After all, that's why I'm buying all these timers in the first place.)

This update is late, as you can tell. I meant to update it on the 28th of April, and then I posted a promise to update it on the 30th, but here it is on the 1st of May, a.k.a. May Day, (which really ought to be a paid holiday in this country). I must work today, but let's have a happy May Day anyway.

Note to self: Buy more timers.

Go to www.TheAnimalRescueSite.com and click on the button daily. As the website says, "Each click provides food for an animal in a shelter or sanctuary. Feed an animal in need. Click for free." Thanks to Lisa for sending me the link.

I am reading an interesting book during my lunch breaks at work, but I can't recall the title. I'll let you know.

On Sunday I consented to see Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses. The matinee was $6.25, and I dearly miss that money. If you enjoy horror movies, spend your money on a video rental. It would be very hard to choose something worse.

In an effort to salvage the day, I rented Kung Pow, a spoof of Chinese kung fu movies written, directed, dubbed, and starring Steve Oedekerk. No, it is not a masterpiece, but it's hilarious and I laughed so hard I choked on a french fry. (We had Wendy's takeout.)

Speaking of kung fu, I learned that Shaolin Soccer (the preview of which entertained me so much I had to mention it in the last update) will sadly not be in American cinemas until the 8th of August.

Law & Order: Criminal Intent may not be the equivalent of the Golden Age of Law & Order (the original series starring Michael Moriarty as Executive ADA Benjamin Stone [hm... would it more properly be called the Stone Age?]), but despite the occasional weak story, it is by far the best of the spin-off series, and much better than the post-Moriarty Law & Order. Vincent D'Onofrio plays the eccentric Detective Robert Goren and Kathryn Erbe plays his tolerant partner Detective Alexandra Eames. D'Onofrio is entertaining to watch and his performance reinforces my belief that at least 75% of the attraction of good crime fiction and drama is the quality of the character studies (of both detectives and suspects). D'Onofrio alone could exceed that percentage, but the program usually has an excellent cast in general.

This concludes my review in triptych of Friday night television viewing: Hack, Monk, and Law & Order: Criminal Intent.

"Brown knows."
--from a commercial for UPS (United Parcel Service), to which I responded, "Did I hear what I think I heard? They need to sack whoever is responsible for this 'Brown' advertising campaign."