My brother complains that I don't post often enough. He's right; I don't post very often, certainly not often enough to make for an interesting regular destination for anyone. But nothing very interesting happens to me anyway.

My last post had to do with some new goals that I'm working on. After a week, here's where I stand;

Goal #1: Work out at least once per day.

Well, I haven't quite gotten there yet. I worked out Monday morning, not at all on Tuesday, Wednesday morning, not at all on Thursday, and Friday morning and afternoon. Nothing yesterday or today. Eh. I'll start adding workouts this week.

Goal #2: Make at least three morning workouts per week.

Yep. I actually did I. Again, I think I'll try to add at least one more morning this week.

Goal #3: Get caught up and stay caught up on grading.

Making progress here. I have one or two classes with one or two homework assignments left to grade. I've graded all their tests from last week. All I'll have from now until the end of the semester are weekly quizzes, perhaps a few writing assignments, and their poetry projects (they did explications of songs as though they were poems, and they must present their explications to the class. They actually love this assignment. My only problem--I have at least two students who chose to explicate "The Christmas Shoes", a song I couldn't even listen to BEFORE my mom was diagnosed with cancer; now that the first Christmas without her is approaching, I can guarantee I'll have to put headphones on and listen to a different song while the girls play the song for the class). I can grade the explications as they do their presentations, so that means just a few, maybe 4-10 each day. Won't be too bad. Better than 86 a day, anyway...

Goal #4: Be under 180 lbs by Christmas.

So far, little to no progress here. I weighed in this morning at 190. I think as I add workouts the weight will start to drop, but it's pretty frustrating right now.

Goal #5: Keep the house in better shape.

Yeah, haven't done much here either. I will get some dishes and laundry done today, though. Maybe...


On to other random weekend thoughts. We got to discussing this morning the best "gotcha" movies. You know, the movies where someone puts something over on someone else. Here's the list we discussed, plus a few I thought of while walking the dog, in no particular order:

The Shawshank Redemption

Not only just a fantastic movie with terrific acting, but the way in which Tim Robbins' character outfoxes the prison warden using a Bible and posters of attractive women is awesome.

Malice

Not a fabulous movie overall, but the plot twist at the end where the little boy who is supposedly the witness turns out to be blind is great, and Alec Baldwin's monologue about being God is probably one of the best speeches ever written.

The Thomas Crown Affair--the one with Pierce Brosnan; I know this is a remake

Not particularly realistic: I seriously doubt that there are many art insurance agents who look and dress like Rene Russo, but the scene where Crown returns the painting is classic.

The Bourne Trilogy, especially The Bourne Supremacy

All three of these movies are wonderful; they really make me appreciate the talent of Matt Damon. Rarely do I find movies based on books where I like the movies better, but this is definitely the case with these movies. The only fault I had with the series was the camera work in the third movie; they used hand-held cameras to try to capture the chaos of the chase, but all it really did was give me a bit of a headache. It's like they didn't trust Damon to be able to carry it off. They should've had faith in him. But the lines in the second movie alone make the whole series a keeper. When he tells the FBI agent at the end that she should get some rest because she looks tired and she realizes he can see her, it just gives you shivers. Good stuff.

The Usual Suspects

This is probably the best of all the "gotcha" movies. Kevin Spacey spins the tale of Keyser Soze brilliantly. When he walks out of the police station, turns the corner, and then suddenly straightens out his limp, interspersed with the detective inside suddenly putting the pieces together...man, that might be the best scene in cinema. Ever.

The Saint

Not a particularly great movie; no one has ever said that either Elisabeth Shue or Val Kilmer deserve Oscars for anything, but Val Kilmer pulls off the cleverness of the master-of-disguise Simon Templar very well. He actually does a pretty good job with the accents, too.

The Italian Job--the remake with Mark Walberg

A fun way to put one over on a bad guy. Plus, a truly great car chase, albeit one using wussy little Minis. Still cool.

Ocean's Eleven--again, the remake with George Clooney

I'm not a huge Clooney fan. However, the talent assembled in the movie is good, the story is great, and they do carry it off well. I've seen Ocean's Twelve but don't remember much about it because I was on the phone with someone for most of it. Never saw Ocean's Thirteen but I've been told by a number of people that Eleven was the best of the three.

Diggstown

I don't know how many people have seen this Lou Gossett Jr. and James Wood movie about boxing. I do know it's one of the few movies my father-in-law will admit to liking. in this one, Gossett is an over-the-hill boxer who, with the help of more-than-slightly-crooked Wood, has to fight and defeat ten boxers in 24 hours. Just when it looks like the bad guy, Bruce Dern, has pulled one over, Gossett and Wood return the favor and win the bet.

The Sting

Of course, this is the classic, the one that started it all as far as great con movies. How can you turn down Paul Newman and Robert Redford? And all set to the music of Scott Joplin? Truly magical.

If we think of any more, we'll add them to the list. Anyone think of any others?