Weekend Reviews

This weekend, I finished The Last Patriot: A Thriller. It's something my sister loaned me after she finished it, and I think she picked it up due to a recommendation for the author from Jen. I enjoyed the book quite a bit -- though it took me a little while to get in to, I think that was primarily because I was also trying to read three or four other things at the same time. I really should know better than to try and multi-task on books. That just never works out for me. What I found the most interesting was the Clancy-like information sessions - this time on the history of the Barbary Coast and the Marine Corps and those ties to modern-day fundamentalist Islam. I suspect that the characters in this book are seen in previous volumes, but you certainly didn't need to read anything else prior to jumping into this one. If you're in the mood for a political/spy thriller, this is definitely worth while.

We also watched Iron Man on DVD this weekend. That was a fantastic movie. I will admit up front that I know nothing about the comics - so there may be things in there that a true comic book lover would roll their eyes about, but I am not the one to ask. I thought Robert Downey Jr. did an incredible job and even Miss I-Hate-America-Even-Though-I'm-From-There (Gwenneth Paltrow) was tolerable. Thankfully she's not really a huge part of the movie - and with the dye job on her hair, it's easy enough to forget it's her. The movie has the right combination of action and comic book -- definitely worth seeing at least once.

We also watched a little TV (though things are kind of piling up already on the ol' DVR). First up, Fringe. The jury's still out on this, though I'm leaning toward liking it, as is Tim. Still, it has a very X-Files vibe to it...and I'm not sure if that's good or bad yet. Could be good, as I like that vibe, in general, but it also easily swerves into the "too freaky for me to watch" territory if it's not careful, and that always annoys me. I don't really enjoy shows that have to be watched through my t-shirt for long stretches at a time. Still, it's cool when they go to commercial because they put "Fringe will be back in x seconds" at the bottom of the screen, and they really actually are. So you know just how many times to hit your skip button. Sweet!

Next was House...does anyone else desperately miss Wilson? I was worried that the show wouldn't survive the new team, but it did quite well and now I like the new team almost better than the old. But honestly...House without Wilson is just too hard to watch. And the PI isn't filling the shoes very well.

I was all set to watch the next episode of The Amazing Race last night, having enjoyed seeing it essentially live last week. So we waited 25 minutes (to give us a good lead time)...and 60 minutes was just finishing up. Have I mentioned how much I hate football lately? Thankfully I planned ahead and set the timer to go over the end time by 90 minutes. So we'll watch it tonight and hoppefully get a better feel for the various teams.

Last, and appropos of absolutely nothing, little one had his 9 month well baby today. He is a very well baby, though the doctor remarked that he's closer to 50th percentile in height but really in the 25 - 50th category for weight. I had to snicker. He then went on to say that we shouldn't worry yet, but that he wants to keep an eye on it to make sure he's gaining weight like he should. I thought about getting it in writing. Anyway, that stuff aside, he's very smart and knew just what to do with the bell when it was offered and kept up a very engaging littany of chatter and giggling throughout the exam. They did a toe-prick for an anemia test (he's fine) and then put a bright yellow bandaid on it when we left. I stopped for lunch on the way home and the lady at the drive through asked me if I knew my child was chewing on something yellow and rubbery looking. He didn't even make it 5 minutes with the thing. Silly boy.