Everyone will be pleased to see that I fixed the background colour. I had no idea of the problem, because my default background is white, but it seems that there is a difference between body background and body bgcolor!

All is well, all is white.

On Sunday I went into work for a few hours, because The Raccoon wasn't going to be coming in on Monday, and there is something about having four days off that makes me feel guilty for getting behind, so I need to come into work on one of those days to get some stuff done.

Which kinda negates the point of having four days off, but there you go.

Afterwards we had a barbecue at home, me and Cynthia and Fran and John (Cynthia's ex husband) and the kids.

John is a difficult man at times, and you need to take him with a grain of salt, but as long as you don't take the shit that he says too seriously, he's cool to be around. He's alot older than the rest of us, and I find myself pulling shit on him, like he's the parent and I'm the teenager or something.

Sometimes, I can manage it without even trying, like the fact that when I walked into the backyard and everyone was already there, the first thing that I did was put on a Great Big Sea album, which is Canadian/Irish/Celtic/Newfie rock, and one of my favourite bands. Well, John hated it, which just slayed me, I thought it was so funny.

He kept making these vague anti-Irish comments ("People keep looking over the fence at us, as though they expect to see a bunch of Druids sitting here!"), which I thought was pretty amusing, how it would never occur to him that every single person at the table was Irish to one extent or another, Fran being 100% and the rest of us somewhat less, and perhaps what he was saying was inappropriate.

Of course, he dislikes all races creeds and colours equally, and I wouldn't be surprised to hear him make anti-Jew remarks, even though that's what he is himself.

Here's how I describe him, he's the kind of person who thinks he's all liberal because he enjoyed The Birdcage.

That said, I do like him, and he's great with the kids, but I don't take him seriously. And I did feel bad that I took a couple of bites of the London Broil that he made and asked if it was pork. I didn't mean to be insulting, it was just the blandest beef that I have ever eaten!

I'm watching an interview with Stephen Soderberg on IFC. Man, what I wouldn't give to work with him, he rocks my world.

On Monday, I got to work early and did my checks.

I'll tell you though, I don't know how The Raccoon does it. I was in charge for the day, and I was working like a motherfucker, and I told the two subordinates to do this certain pile of work, and at the end of the day it wasn't done.

Now, let me put it this way, there had been two piles, and all they needed was to be checked off on the mail log. I had done one of them on Sunday in three and a half hours, but two people couldn't do the other one in eight hours. And it wasn't as though I was working all that hard in my three and a half hours, I wasn't going through them like a freight train. It's a bitch being in charge when your employees aren't working as hard as you are.

And I know that The Raccoon feels that way about me sometimes as well!

After work I went to the movies, but I think I'll leave that 'till tomorrow and just do Rate-a-Trailer™, as I saw a movie yesterday as well, and they're piling up! Plus, I love Rate-a-Trailer™, it's about my favourite thing that I do here.

1. Nutty Professor II

Man, I can't wait until that movie opens so that I won't have to see the damn trailer anymore. I am so over all of those Eddie Murphys. It'll be a smash, though, because every time I've seen it, it's gotten a huge reception from the Rest of the Audience That Isn't Me.

2. The Replacements

When this trailer started, I thought "Football, I've seen my football movie for this decade. Scabs are the heroes, I don't like that. Keanu Reeves not in black leather. That tiresome "Make 7-Up yours" commercial guy. I wouldn't be caught dead at this movie." But then the trailer looked like it's actually pretty entertaining film. I'll reserve judgement, because it's got alot against it, and it could just be a well-made trailer, but I don't know. Might be good.

3. The Hollow Man

I finally saw it, Columbine! Twice, in fact, once at each movie. Kevin Bacon becomes invisible and discovers that "It's amazing what you can do when you don't have to look at yourself in the mirror." I think it looks absolutely kick-ass, the effects look swell, and they seem to show all of the ways that an invisible person can be seen, i.e. smoke, water, steam. Well, they had a big star on the set, they have to show him somehow! I think it looks like a real winner.

4. Space Cowboys

Clint Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland and James Garner as astronauts. There is no bad here. It looks like a good script, but it really doesn't have to be, as I'd see that cast do anything, anywhere, anytime.

5. Charlie's Angels

I am really over this Feria commercial disguised as a trailer. I can't wait until it opens and immediately closes so that we can all get on with our lives. Can somebody send me a cut with just Bill Murray's scenes so that I don't have to see the rest of it?

6. X-Men

I am no comic book fan, and I wasn't really aware of the frothing desire to see this movie until the Premier magazine article came out, which really did a great job selling the movie, because now I really want to see it! The trailer looks good too, and after seeing it yesterday, I dreamt last night about the guy playing Wolverine, Hugh Jackman, that we had both gone back to my high school and that I had a crush on him. Which I don't in real life, but maybe it was prophetic.

7. The Legend of Bagger Vance

Looks remarkably twee, but then, I'm no Matt Damon fan. There is one moment, one spark in the trailer that makes it look as though the whole thing won't be the most earnest movie to come down the pike since The Natural, but we'll see.

8. The Vertical Limit

All avalanches and explosions and exchanges like "My sister is dying up there!" "If your sister is up there, she's already dead." It's an early trailer, as it doesn't open until December, so it's hard to tell anything. Scott Glenn's in it, though, which is always a good thing.

9. Loser

One of those movies that have a big sign across it saying "This Is Not For You, Kymm, You Are Far Too Old," so I really have no right to any opinion. Looks reasonable, but who cares?

Don't forget to check out both swellerific Journals of the Week, Jen and Jen!

And a few more people are wanting to trade mix tapes with me, which is great, but I'm still trolling for more. C'mon, I want to know what you like!

What combination of actors would make you run to the movie theatre, plot and story and quality of film being completely moot?

And we're still talking about Martha Stewart, singing, the first concert we ever saw, guilty pleasures, our new favourite books, scars, and still, and always, our big fat asses.

Today's horoscope:
Relationship and achievement needs seem at odds today. Keep a balance between love and work and remember you're not superhuman.

One year ago today:
We had a barbecue around 5.30, which meant that at the hottest part of the day I had to go inside and bake a cake!

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