Artless Dodging, Acting and More Acting...

Greetings, everyone! Wow, look at that sky! And that ocean! And those cool red flowers, eh? I'm trying to deceive you all! Will it work?

I am now going to attempt an experiment. I shall pretend all is normal and well in my world, and make a blog post as though the world is right, and everything is in its place... that rumbling you hear? It is not a volcano threatening to erupt...

A quick diversion! Like a PRO!

Logan and his wife had their baby! Woohoo! First a wedding (V&R) and now a new baby. Most excellent. Babies are treasures and miracles, all rolled up into a wonderful little bundle of love and diapers. I am happy for Logan... go over to his blog, eh, and check out the pictures of little Avonlea Brynn Stewart.

Being a dad is the accomplishment on my 'life resume' that I am most proud of. I'm lucky to have my kids!

Of course, not everyone likes little kids...



I think they need to feed those lions more frequently at that zoo, eh?

So there will be a flurry of activity around the ol' Wagner Household in the coming weeks... school officially ends on Wednesday for the Wagner Women, which means beach season will be kicking off poste haste. Although, from what I understand, their favorite spot at the beach has been eroded away, so they'll have to find a new place to go, eh? Mags is bummed, but they'll manage.

Sister-in-law is coming for a long weekend as well, so we'll have a house guest, which is always good for a mild uproar, a few laughs and some familial angst. Then it's Father's Day on Sunday, with all the weirdness that will bring this year (for reasons I won't elaborate on... see "volcano reference"), and then the next day, Middle Daughter and I leave for Church Camp. Then the Wagner Women are off to ALBQ for a couple weeks. Then we get the house recarpeted (downstairs), Middle Daughter has a birthday, and finally, we see the ortho about getting braces started.

Was just going to get Middle Daughter braces, but I think I might look into getting them as well. I'm tired of being a snaggletooth. It's from all that coffee I drink... I mean, coffee cake I eat... I mean...

... well... both!

Not sure if I'll be able to squeeze in a LAN party while the Wagner Women are gone, like last time. The last LAN wasn't really all that successful. Yanni wasn't able to attend, and neither was Vye, so we lacked a strong choleric personality to drive the LAN through to completion. There was too much, "So, what should we play, eh?" "I don't know, what do you want to play?" "Whatever you want."

It fizzled. But at least the sandwiches were good!

It was my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday, Mom! She does so much for me and the Wagner Chicks, it boggles my mind. I know a lot of great, generous, loving people (some of whom read this blog!), but I'm sorry, as wonderful as they are, no one can come close to matching my mom. She's my fave.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, a moment I have been waiting months and months for. In fact... since Feb 18th, to be exact.... I found the following picture, saved it to my archive, knowing that someday, I would be able to use it... and today is that day. OK, ready?

So, yeah, like, I saw a film recently that really blew my mind...

Thank you! Thank you, ladies and gentlemen! That has been so long in waiting to make it's appearance here, it has lost all pretense of cleverness and humor, and was stale from the outset! Woohoo!

Anyway, I saw an amazing movie that I got from Netflix, called "Biutiful" starring Javier Bardem. His performance was really incredible. It's a foreign film (Spanish), with subtitles. I would do a full-on review of it, were it not for the fact that there are a couple scenes that are best fast forwarded. I hate that! When a scene or two prevents me from fully recommending a movie! But again, the writing and the acting are truly top-notch. I was extremely moved.

Javier's character plays a man in a shady line of work, who is divorced, and a single dad... and finds out he has cancer and a couple months to live. The film is basically his character trying to come to grips with that, and make certain things right before he goes, with decidedly mixed results. For a variety of reasons best left un-elaborated upon (because they'd be tedious for you to read), I wept like a schoolgirl. Very moving.

In fact, here's the trailer. Not too crazy about the trailer, since the first 49 seconds of it is just rapid-fire montage imagery, but after that, the trailer settles down and gives a good idea of what the film is like.



Incredible acting. There's nothing like a great performance to remind me of why I love acting.

So, yeah, that film blew my mind!

OK, well, lemme post a comic strip, and then leave this "epic dodge" of a post behind...

That's from the webcomic "Left-Handed Toons (by Right-Handed People)". Yes, it's absurd... but you should know by now that I have a thing for absurdity.

OH, where I could take THAT topic right now!!!

But I won't.

Adios

Dave the Artless Dodger