I asked my friend B. Holcomb to make sure that I blog on a much more regular basis. I know it’s been a year, so I understand if you are skeptical about my return to the blogging game. It’s 11:56 on a Thursday night, and I just got finished watching my DVR episodes of Top Model. Anyway, I digress. I said that all to say that this post will be quick.

I work in pretty tech-savvy environment, but my lifestyle is still in the previous century. I didn’t get DVR until a few months ago (It changed my life!), I have the mininum cell phone plan ($35/month) with no text messaging plan. And I just found out that my digital camera can record short videos WITH sound.

Last week, I decided to upgrade my cell phone. The Blackberry Pearl is just lovely. It’s small, so it fits into my cutesy bags (If you don’t remember, I do have an addiction to those). I can make calls, check my personal e-mail account, surf the web, and use a navigational program if I’m lost. And to top it all off, it’s pink. And I bought a nice pink silicone case to match.

So I am now a Crackberry junkie after six days. I check it in the mornings, before I go to bed. Walking to lunch. Riding in the elevator. I think I’ve been more in touch with some of my friends in these past few days that I have in months. I even watched the Star Wars trailer on You Tube. (Looks good by the way)

But, I still don’t have a text messaging plan.

When I fell off of the blogging map, the reminders to post came weekly. Then bi-weekly. And now nearly a year passed, and I haven’t written a thing.

I don’t know who those dedicated souls are who can keep up with a blog, but clearly I am not one of them. Life keeps getting in the way. I have a daughter who is almost three now. Our daily adventures have kept me hopping; some of it would be good fodder for a blog, but I haven’t had the energy to make it happen.

And I’m not sure if I do now. It’s 11 p.m., and I think I’m going to pass out. But here is an update on most things so that I can make an attempt to get back into the swing of things.

The Baby: Someone should tell you before you have a baby that being two-and-a-half is synonomous with being sassy. I swear Elyse thinks she’s twenty-two.

Mike: Mike hasn’t had any major bouts with home repair lately, other than a battle with a squirrel this past spring over our tulip bulbs. I only saw about five tulips this season, so I think the squirrel won.

Work: What is there to say? Politics, overworking, underpayment.

My hair: It’s still short, and my stylist Lisa keeps it in line. And, I just saw The Deacon this past weekend. He still hasn’t gotten that phone call he was hoping for back in July 2006.

So that’s about it. Hope to be back soon.

I can’t remember the last time that I’ve seen a movie, but I catch quite a few teasers on TV as I’m chasing Elyse around the family room. Based on what I’ve seen of late, I have missed about 10 movies that are “the (comedy, drama, thriller) of the summer” and countless other that have claimed to be the best of the year, regardless of their genre.

Those little teasers in the TV trailers have always made me suspicious. How do we really know what the critic has to say if they don’t show us the whole sentence? Every time I see a blurb, I imagine that the sentence went a little something like this: “That movie was not the best comedy of the summer.”

My interest was peaked this past week when I saw a teaser for Idlewild. As usual, the critics were buzzing. Idlewild is “a magical experience,” “the movie of the year,” and about three other things that I can’t remember. What caught my attention was not so much the quotes as it was their attribution. Shawn Edwards of Fox-TV, was the owner of all five accolates featured in the trailer.

They couldn’t find more than one person to give their film a thumbs up? Did only one person see the movie? And who is Shawn Edwards? What happened to the well-known critics?

So I did a little research on Mr. Edwards, and it turns out that he is known by cynics as a blurb-meister. He’ll say good things about even the worst of films. Crossroads (with Brittney Spears), Underclassmen (with Nick Cannon), and Are We There Yet? (with Ice Cube) are among his favorites. Shamefully, I’ve seen all three of those movies, and they are not the greatest of anything.

Check out these sites on Shawn Edwards and his fellow blurb-meisters:

http://www.hollywoodbitchslap.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=37494#37494

http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117935524?categoryid=4&cs=1

I’m not sure if Idlewild is a good movie, so let me know if you see it. I’m not hanging my hat on the critic’s say-so.

I usually don’t write about pop culture and reality TV for two reasons. One, there is enough stuff happening in my own life to fill a blogspace. And two, I’m embarrassed to admit to some of the things I watch. But I could not let this one pass.

I was watching the Today Show a couple of weeks ago, and I saw three people in poorly-designed costumes chatting it up with the temporary hosts. “Who Wants to Be a Superhero?” chronicles the competition among a band of people who believe that they are superheros.

Their fake superpowers and their ability to change into costume behind a soda machine is judged by Stan Lee. Yes, Stan Lee. The brilliant mind behind Spiderman, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, and Daredevil is taking these people seriously.

If these were cartoonists competing for a chance to work with Stan Lee on the next great comic series, I could halfway respect this. But these people are trying to live the life of a Peter Parker in this reality. And I can’t help but wonder who thought that this was a good idea.

I caught an episode of the series, and I don’t know what saddened me more. The fall of Stan Lee is pretty depressing, as is the sight of grown men and women (ages 20 – 40+) running through the park in bright polyester ensembles. But as an amateur comic and cartoon buff, I was stunned by the pitiful superpowers.

Monkey Woman. She is dressed like Jane of the Jungle, but her superskill is the use of high-tech weapons disguised as bananas.

Major Victory. His alter-ego is a former stripper. He has super-hearing and can levitate.

Fat Mama. Her outfit has a doughnut utility belt, and she has her own theme song. “Fat Mama, Fat Mama, I’m here to save the day. Fat mama, Fat Mama, I’ll take your food away.”

The winner will be immortalized in a made-for-television cartoon movie. If any of the aforementioned people win, Stan Lee will have to pull out every trick he has to keep this from being the tombstone of his career.

Cartoons and big-budget movies are supposed to make the plight of the superhero cool, exciting, and, with a bit of suspended disbelief, plausible for a couple of hours. Mr. Lee, please don’t take that away from us. I hope this is the first and last season of this foolishness.

How does that old saying go? You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone?

Well, that has never been more true for me than it was this past week. If you’ve seen the news, then you may know about the storms that hit the St. Louis area. I was one of the unlucky people who lost power on Wednesday and didn’t get it back for eight days.

On that first night, I was unconcerned. Storms knock the power out for a few hours every now and then. On Thursday, the entrance to my subdivision was lit up like a Christmas tree. The smile on my face quickly faded when I turned onto my street. The left side of the street had electricity, and the right side did not. I was pissed.

A new storm front hit on Friday, and my hopes of seeing light before the end of the next week were gone.

I lived through the weekend like a hobo. The baby and I slept in the basement and stayed out all day in air-conditioned locations (Did I forget to mention that it was 95 – 100 degrees everyday?) I rode around all day with my mother, who stopped at every gas station and convenience store in a 20-mile radius looking for a bag of ice. The few gas stations with electricity had mile-long lines and empty coolers where ice had been.

I was to start a week of vacation on Monday, and there was no way that I was sitting in a dark, hot house for seven days. I packed up the baby and headed to Kansas City. My friend Bev and her dog, Taylor, were gracious hosts to a pair of blackout refugees. We sucked up their air-conditioning for five days.

By Thursday night, my power had returned. Elyse and I came home Friday. The porch light was on, and it was 2:00 in the afternoon. It looked beautiful.

I have since used almost every appliance in the house. I spent the past few hours sitting on the sofa in light and coolness. They were the best hours of my vacation.

Oh, my dear electricity, please don’t leave me again. I don’t know what I’d do without you.