noise

Since he has the flu, we treat him to a new Thomas video and spend the afternoon snuggled up watching it. We are introduced to a new character, Sir Topham Hatt’s elderly mother. Later, over dinner, the boy takes a long look at me and says,
"Mum, you look like Dowager Hatt."
And starts laughing, possibly at the look of stunned horror on my face. Thanks, mate! Still, if he's cracking jokes, he must be feeling better...
He also makes me laugh when we see an ad for Australian Idol on the telly. He recognises the logo, if not quite the name:
"Mum, the noise show is back," he says.
Well, it probably won’t be long before he’s auditioning for the noise show himself, anyway. The other day I filmed him strumming his ukelele and ad-libbing a little song. As he 'tuned' his ukelele he told me,
"This song’s about a car, Mum. I like a song about a car."
Then he belted out, in a kind of death metal style of delivery,
ABC Kids with the ca-ar...ABC Kids with the monster...ABC Kids with the tea-towel...ABC Kids with the cow-ouch----and so on, casting his eye about our living room for further lyrical inspiration. He finished by posing, pulling a mean face, growling ROCK STAR!, flinging his poor ukelele down and stomping off stage left. I’m not sure if this means he’s been watching too much ABC Kids or too much Rage; probably both.

what i'm...

I’m going to steal a blogger convention--and by that I mean a common post type, not a whole gathering of bloggers--and do a “What I’m…”.

what I’m watching…
Wallace & Gromit. Fave line from Wallace: “Now then, no sense in prevaricating around the bush”. Especially liked: A Close Shave.
Mr and Mrs Smith. My library had this and I thought, it’s free, how bad can it be? In a word: Tragic. Like stickytaping a copy of New Idea across your telly. There’s an early scene where Brad and Ange are at a party and someone hands Ange a baby, and she is made to look uncomfortable, as if she’s never held one before, and whaddya know, just at that moment Brad’s character looks over from a doorway to see her holding the baby…COO!…. And that’s the point at which he falls in love, of course.

Hollywood Ending. OK, but not my favorite Woody. Some funny lines. Liked this exchange between Woody and his friend,

“You know, part of me really wants this.”
“And the other part?”
“Also wants it, that’s the problem.”

Big Love on SBS-TV. I’m conservative on Big Love. I don’t buy it, that women can be happy sharing a man, making do with one quarter each. More like Big Patriarchy, isn’t it, since women aren’t likely to be allowed to take multiple husbands anytime soon. But I can’t stop watching it. And Margene’s blog is a bit of fun on the side.
Pretty In Pink. Also from the library. As good as it was when I was fourteen, with a classic 80s soundtrack. (Apposite line: “I mean, he’s a yuppie, but he’s soooo nice!”)

what I’m listening to…

Bob Dylan on the radio with Paranoid Blues. Gives me a belly laugh that song.

Nick Cave’s new outfit Grinderman. Especially like the new single (I Don’t Need You To) Set Me Free but can‘t find it on the tubes.

Otis, who is guaranteed to be played on my weekend off once a month. Here's a good one on youtube.

Nirvana, Nevermind. Also gets played very loud once a month. (Apposite line: “I’m so horny, that’s okay my will is good.”)

Beastie Boys, The In Sound From Way Out. My eye fell on the name of track 3, Namaste, which made me think of my friend Jen, who sent me an email with that word as the title the other day. I still haven’t looked up what it means. Peace?

what I’m reading...
Newspapers and blogs.
St Johns’ First Aid for Babies Fast! Recommended. If you read through this while you have PMT you may have a little cry at all the terrible things that can conceivably happen. But having a first aid book with exact photos of procedures is very reassuring.
Sneaky Veggies. Recommended. Yummy recipes, witty style.