Dog Sitting

I recently dog sat for a woman that grew up with my Mother.  She just so happened to be traveling back to visit her Mother in Memphis, TN and wanted someone to look after her two Chesapeak Bay Retrievers while she was away.

I setup camp in her home the first night.  A VGA cord and male to male 3.5 mm audio cord brought the video and audio from my Asus EEE 1000HE netbook to her flat panel LCD TV.  With a wireless mouse I was able to navigate around the computer from the comfort of her recliner.  Sadly, she didn't have wireless internet.  I was able to survive by using the painfully slow Verizon cellular data network to access the internet but only just barely.  I did manage to get around to viewing the movies I have been putting off watching.  I alternated between these videos, a handful of educational type podcasts that I had been putting off watching and regular TV.  I also hit play on a slideshow of the funny images I have saved on my hard drive and let that run in the background while I listened to music.

I watched Exit Through the Gift Shop, which despite all the hype didn't live up to my expectations.  If you're into watching young artsy types do rebellious things I suggest Bum Fights Volume 1.  Yes it's offensive, rude violent, destructive and appeals to those who are into drinking, drug using and disfiguring violence.  Bum Fights makes a documentary about guys who spend their time pasting Andre the Giant's image on the side of a building after bed time seem tame.  The Bum Fights videos certainly brought more questions to my mind than watching Space Invader post 8-bit video game monsters on a wall in a public space.  The guys that produced Bum Fights offered homeless guys beer in exchange for facing off in what amounts to outdoor boxing matches.  This made me wonder what is different between what they were doing and an official, licensed boxing match or a mixed martial arts fight, the kind that takes place virtually all the time and s broadcast everyday on TV for our amusement.  What is different from what these kids were doing with their video camera and the promise of alcohol and what Dana White does for the UFC?  Why is White in charge of a billion dollar company and the kids that produced this video the subject of criminal charges?

I also watched (horror movie).  While I enjoyed a few of the "nau-my-god" moments when spooky things appeared right behind one of the characters, I just didn't find the supernatural premise all that imaginative and the special effects left a lot to be desired.  They made this movie as a supernatural thriller, not a horror movie.  Since there was never any real blood and guts the underdeveloped fire faced villian didn't freighten me.