Goat v. Poodle, part one

Well, once again I've been on a temporary hiatus. Mostly it's because I've been wildly busy. I created this blog mainly to share pictures with family and friends. While I've still been snapping away, I just have not found the time to sit down and share them with you. Of course, I periodically share some of my random, rambling thoughts with you...but I'm not really sure you want to hear all of those anyway. My mind can be a scary place!

Having said all that, I'm still a bit pushed for time, so here's a teaser of a series that definitely has more to come.

Shasta firmly believes that the highest form of sport is going after Sabrina, the standard poodle.

First, there's the stare-down (note Sabrina's instinctual response of the play bow):
Then there's the wind-up:
And....and....more staring....hmmmm....
That's not to say that there isn't some actual head-butts, but we'll save those for another day. ;D

Bats, Mummies, Olympics, oh my!

Yep. It' s summer. Time for summer blockbusters. I've told you before that I'm a sucker for a summer blockbuster. You know the kind I mean: non-stop action, mind-boggling special effects, plot--well, plot optional. I can't help it. I don't know but that it's part ritual...something to do with going into a cold theatre on a hot day and totally suspending disbelief for a few hours of mindless fun. (Sidebar: they keep theatres so absolutely cold that I always have to have a sweater with me so I don't freeze completely!)

This year's selection includes the latest Batman and the latest in the Mummy series. We've been to both over the past two weekends. (Sidebar #2: As our home theatre system has improved we've gotten to the point that there are very few movies we'll go see in the theatre as opposed to waiting for it to come out on [now] Blu-Ray. I mean, really, there aren't crying babies or talking teenagers at our house, we can rewind when we miss some dialogue or pause for snacks or facility breaks.) Let's see, where was I? Oh, yes, movie reviews. Or commentary, as I won't go into detail. I'll just say that both LoML and I enjoyed both movies. I thought Dark Knight was very dark, but very well done. I found it somewhat difficult to watch Heath Ledger's performance without wondering how much that character got into his head.

The latest Mummy movie was much more light-hearted. I enjoy a good mix of action and comic relief. The only drawback to me was the lack of Rachel Weisz. I don't like when sequels use different actors to play the same character...I just have a really hard time believing the new actor. Oh well. I still enjoyed the flick.

The Olympics. I love the summer Olympics. With the coverage being broadcast on the internet I can finally see more of the events that I want to see most...like the equestrian events! I've already watched more of the dressage than I've ever seen in years previous. And Michael Phelps?! How great is it to watch him smash records???

Okay, I may discuss more later, but I have to run for now....

Christian the Lion

Okay, ready for a really sweet story? It's not even new news...but I really loved this story and wanted to share it. "The Today Show" ran this piece recently and a coworker told me about it. It's the story of two men who raised a lion cub in London in the late '60's. When he got too big they had him reintroduced into the wild through George Adamson (he and his wife, Joy, were the real people behind the movie "Born Free"--remember that one?). There's a video circulating on youtube of the guys' reunion with Christian (the Lion) one year after he was reintroduced into the wild. I recommend checking out The Today Show's coverage first: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25929574/ Then you can go to youtube...there are a number of different videos of the whole thing. I recommend this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FN9xgUovIbA Let me know what you think. Oh, and if you're as big a softie as I am, have your kleenex handy when you view it!