What a special treat!

My hubby and I just watched the Richard Donner cut of Superman II.



It is a completely different movie from the cheesy one that was initially released back in the 80's! Unbelievable. There is so much footage that was shot and not used. Richard Donner was the original director for both Superman I and II, and both movies were shot at the same time (how they did that, I'll never know). But something happened in studioland, and Richard Donner was let go before Superman II was completed.

In this re-release, while the base story of Superman fighting the three criminals from Krypton is the same, the rest is all new footage. Which is fantastic! All the scenes that were filled in by other Kryponians and Kal El's mother in the original were all replaced by Marlon Brando (or should I say, restored to the original Marlon Brando footage). I'm such a Superman geek. But that's ok.

It's so wonderful for me, a complete Superman/Christopher Reeve fanatic, that there was this 'secret' movie hidden away in the vaults of England somewhere - and 30 years later, it's like an additional movie of my favorite superhero, played by the only man who can play him.

The new Superman II is not cheesy or funny. It's much more along the lines of the first film. The little quips and jokes from background extras are cut out. It's a much more serious movie. Of course, since I've watched Superman I and II so many times, I know all the lines and scenes. It was a little distracting for myself when I noticed all the things that were cut or added, or certain voices that weren't there anymore, and the different camera angles, different takes used for the same scenes. I guess I'll just have to watch this new version a few more times to get over it. :)

A whole lot of shakin' going on

Within the past few days, we've had three earthquakes. Small ones ranging from 3.7 to 3.5. The first was a few nights ago. We were in the living room, and I heard a loud 'crack' from the building and a hard jolt. That freaked me out.

Last night, while wrapping some gifts, my hubby comes into the room and asks if I'm ok. Apparently, there was another hard jolt like the night before, but I didn't feel a thing. GOOD!

I've been sick the last few days, so when I'm asleep, I'm really knocked out - so I missed another on at 9am this morning.

We found this website that reports earthquake activities in California and Nevada. It's pretty cool, and the information comes up fairly soon after the quake hits. http://quake.usgs.gov/recenteqs/

I'm concerned why we're getting so many quakes from the same fault in such a short time. On one hand, which is what my hubby thinks, it's good that the ground is shifting on it's own to adjust itself so pressure doesn't build for a big quake. Yet on the other hand, it could just be getting ready to blow the huge quake that everyone has been saying will come in the next 30 years, since the 1989 shake up. I guess I'll take the small ones than the one big one.

Rounding off the year in Pink!

Lookie what I got as an early Christmas gift!



HAHA! Pink cookware! My friend G got it for me. I couldn't believe she did that. I saw a set by this brand at Bloomingdales, but the pot sizes were odd and I didn't like it that much. I think I just mentioned it to G casually in an email, and next thing you know - she sent me this for Christmas. And all the sizes are exactly what I wanted and normally use! This picture is from the box. My delightfully pink set is sitting in a stack on my kitchen counter. I can't wait to use them. THANKS G!!!

It's funny because I see a lot of pink things that I want for the house, but of course, I don't get them because I don't think my hubby would like to come home to a completely pink house. And then my friends go and get me everything pink. I love it! Hee hee...

Why I hate Windows XP now

Normally I'm one who dismisses the sides of which is better, Mac or PC. I use PC at home and at work. It's what I was trained on, I use it, I live with it. I know it has it's quirks, but what can you do? I have to use it.

So, Sunday morning, I saw there is the new I.E. 7 out, but I discovered that I can't install it until I have XP SP2 on my machine. So, I did my little search, and about an hour later, I have SP2 installed. Then, I rebooted, and it all went to hell.

I was stuck in a reboot loop, but I managed to get in via Safe Mode. At that point, after playing around with the settings a little, I decided to skip the I.E. 7 and uninstalled the SP2. Big mistake. Right after the uninstall and reboot, my PC crashed. It wouldn't even boot up in Safe Mode.

SO PISSED!

And to top it all off, I had forgotten that my hubby has to take a final for his class before Wednesday this week. He had planned to take it Sunday night. Well, that didn't happen.

I had planned a big Christmas gathering of friends and luckily, one of them is a Network Specialist. He gave us some disks to help us restore out system - and that is what I have been doing for the past 7 hours today. Completely reinstalled XP, and then had to figure out how to get everything back the way it was. Not happy...

Kitty on Pillow

Not a very imaginative title, but that describes my latest completed project. A little white kitty on a purple pillow. I had a little trouble with the embroidery of the face, but I think I managed to muddle through it somehow.

Santa has come to town

May I introduce to you Santa the Elephant?



I finished him last week, and I'm actually working on a second one for my mother-in-law now. I really like how he turned out, but I'm still deciding on whether or not I like him with the beard. Maybe if I use a fluffier yarn? It's a little too much like a white patch stuck to his chin... Oh well, I have a little time to think about it. He actually looks good without any beard, but that wouldn't be Santa. I'll have to experiment.

I haven't posted any pictures of Monte in a while. I took this one of him last week. This is his cutest pose. I love it when he rolls onto his back like this. He looks so comfy.