ANOTHER FOUR MONTHS, ANOTHER THOUSAND FILMS

Brent here, everyone. Frequent readers of the blog will recall that in September of 2008, I made a lone post heralding the monumental viewing of my 2000th film. Since here I am making yet another post, no doubt some of you are already doing the math, figuring out how long it takes a guy like me to watch 1000 films. Well, the answer is: it depends on how long the films are! I actually neglected to post about my 3000th, which I saw last November (14 months from my 2000th), and now, only four months later, have already seen the big four oh oh oh. How did I do this, you ask? Did I lose my job? Did I leave Michelle? Did I cut off all human contact? Did I finally create a device that freezes time around you and allows you to get all the things done that you've been meaning to do while the world around you waits? Happily, happily, sadly, and sadly, no, it was none of those things. Rather, as I've recently been watching mostly films from the earliest period of cinema (as early as 1890), literally hundreds of the films I've seen have been under an hour, under ten minutes, under a minute, under 30 seconds, etc. For example, just the other day I was able to watch something like 90 films, and without even really trying that hard.

But of course, it's not all about the numbers--it's about the films. And the two I picked to ring in those nice big round numbers up there were stunners. The first (pictured at left above) was a silent French film from the 1920s, an adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe, and a masterpiece of surrealistic horror. It was originally going to be co-directed by the great Luis Buñuel, though he backed out of the project over creative differences. The second film was an epic Italian film from the 1960s, starring the inimitable Alain Delon, and following a family that moves from the country to the city and is eventually torn apart by all of the new temptations they find there. Francis Ford Coppola and Martin Scorsese have cited it as a major influence on both The Godfather films and Raging Bull, respectively.

Anyone who can guess what films I'm talking about will win a hefty dollop of respect from yours truly.

Brent out.

PINK TOWEL

Stella was being so freaking adorable after her bath, and my camera was close by. I shot a few snaps and here are my favorites. I am OBSESSED with this face!

SUNNY DAY OF PLAY

Today we drove up to see my friend Tiffany and meet her new baby. It was fun because we also got to hang out with my friend Ariane and talk about her upcoming wedding. I am so excited for Ariane to be getting married because she really has the biggest heart of anyone. I took my camera along so I could take a few snaps of the new baby so I had my camera with me when we went to the park. Tiffany's daughter Addi has this toy puppy that looks quite real and has a little travel case. Stella was obsessed with it, and Addi was kind enough to let Stella take it around with her for a while. I had to get a picture of how adorable she was with her new puppy.

But then she saw the swings and she wanted to swing and play. So I got some pictures of her doing that. I would have taken more, but they had sand there and I didn't want to have my camera around all that sand for too long. Stella also spent a good amount of time going up the stairs and down the slide ALL BY HERSELF! She is so big!

Thanks girls for a fun day at the park and awesome chat session. I love Ariane and Tiffany--they let me say sassy stuff and they still like me after.

I'M A GRANNY!

For Christmas, Stella recieved her first baby doll from her Sallay cousins Nathan and Chloe. She didn't like it at first, and that might be putting it mildly. But after we got home from the cruise after Stella had spent so much time pushing her "baby" Ava around in her stroller, she seemed to have found her inner motherly instinct and "Baby" was officially welcomed into our home as the most important inanimate object since Ni-Night. It didn't take me long to buy her a baby-sized stroller and now Stella spends many a day placing Baby in her stroller, throwing her purse over her shoulder, and then waving bye-bye to me as she walks around the house. It was such a nice day today that I thought it would be nice to take Baby out for a stroll in the neighborhood. Stella took this task (like she does so many) very seriously.

Now this stroller thing seems like pretty normal toddler behavior, but there is another thing Stella started doing this week that makes me realize just what a great mommy she is. Stella has a cold, which means we are always sucking out her nose with the blue sucky thingy. Two days ago, Stella picked it up, walked over to Baby, touched it to Baby's nose, and then used a tissue to wipe off Baby's face.

Now this of course is genius in my book. However, it falls in line with all of the other motherly duties that Stella has taken on for Baby WITHOUT any help from me. So far Stella has:

• dressed Baby (as seen in these pictures, with the striped pants).
• put Baby to bed and tucked her in with kisses and a "Ni-Night, Baby."
• laid Baby down on the changing pad and gotten out a diaper and wipes to change her diaper.
• fed Baby snacks and shared her sippy with Baby.
  
• hugged her and given her a million kisses, especially in the morning when they are reunited again.
  

She is such a good mommy, and I am such a proud grandma! I just didn't think I would be a grandma at 31.

BOYZ 'N' DA HO

This past week Stella and I flew up to Idaho Falls (or 'Da Ho' as Stella calls it). It was my first time taking Stella on a plane without any help, and it went without a hitch. Our main purpose in coming was to help Heidi with the annual Mayor's Scholarship Award and to take pictures of the recipients for the program. I really love helping with this program, and it doesn't hurt that I get to scam some time to hang out with my best friend as a bonus. The picture taking was spread out over two days and the first day we took Stella with us. After spending about two hours with her Aunt Heidi, Stella started calling her 'mom.' I pretended to act all annoyed and territorial, but I secretly thought it was cute. We also stopped at a park to take a test shot of a potential location for the cover for this year's program, and I just had to share the test shot here (of Heidi walking with Stella). Overall, it was nice to have Stella around, but she wasn't much of a help so the second day we left her to be watched by Nana Barb and Papa Dave along with the boys.

We were going to fly home on Friday, but the flights were full and so Stella got one more day to play with her cousins. Cy was at school Friday, but Catcher ('Tatchee') kept Stella very entertained. She had the best time playing with him and just watching him run wild. Auntie set up a little grocery store for Stella so she could go shopping with Catcher waiting to check her out. It was adorable and she totally got the hang of it (plenty time spent watching Mom do it I guess). She even got out her wallet to pay before we told her to.

Then as if that wasn't enough fun, Catcher and Heidi set up a tea party for the three of them. Stella laughed and laughed at Crazy Cousin and dined on Ritz crackers and fruit snacks. She wouldn't drink out of her cup for some reason, but she still participated in saying cheers and pouring the apple juice into the cups.

The rest of our time there she just followed her cousins around in a pleased daze. They totally wore her out, but she still followed them everywhere! She didn't ever want to leave their sight.

We had a really nice time, and I can't believe that the next time I see Heidi there will be a little baby in tow. I can't wait to welcome my new nephew in a couple of weeks!