Sports Utility Vehicles

I hate SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles). HATE them. I think there should be a law that you have to prove that you need an SUV in order to buy them – you know, you live in an area where roads are often wiped out by vicious rain storms… or you have a job that requires a lot of off-roading.

I wish I could say that I hate SUVs for the right reasons… you know, they guzzle a lot of gas and pollute the precious world that was given to us. But, I don’t. I hate them because they are big. I hate all big vehicles, actually, but I have come to accept the necessity of vehicles like minivans… they are the only vehicle in which one can safely transport more than 5 people, so if you have a big family, that’s what you have to have – although, why they can’t add seats to those station wagons, I don’t know.

I just hate driving close to SUVs, vans, buses, trucks… anything bigger than my little Volkswagon Golf. I hate not being able to see beyond them to see what’s going on in front of me. I hate having them beside me in the next lane. I hate when they come up behind me… And the only one of those vehicles that are completely unnecessary in a big city is the SUV. Why, oh why are there so many of them?

Anyway, those are my thoughts. SUVs are bad.

Torey Hayden

Torey Hayden was a teacher for children with special needs for many years. She also happens to be an author who wrote about her experiences as a teacher… and she’s totally one of my heroes.

I don’t really know what to say about her that isn’t going to sound incredibly cheesy and false. I know that she has inspired me (see, cheesy sounding, right?). I work with children – not anything like what she did – and I can tell you that whenever I am having a problem with a particularly difficult child, I can’t help but think about her books. It’s not exactly a “What Would Torey Do?” situation, but pretty damn close. It’s perhaps more like “I’ve got one child here who is acting out, but Torey had 6 or 7 of them at once, so I really should be able to handle this without losing my patience.”

It works. Many a parent or coworker has commented on how patient I am with children… I really should credit Torey Hayden more. Heh, I guess I’m doing that now.

Of her books that I’ve read, I suppose the one that impacted me the most was the first one I read, One Child. I’d summarize it, but well… I just linked to the Amazon page so you can read a perfectly good summary over there. I should admit that there is a section of that book that I have never read because I started to feel physically ill (it was the section that dealt with the kind of horrific abuse one of her students had suffered), but I’m known for having a fairly weak stomach when it comes to things like that. But her books are full of hope and joy and promise and all the things that make me love working with children and I highly recommend them.

You can check out her website here.

Law and Order (the original)

I was in New York recently with my mother and we did one of those bus tours of the city. As we entered the downtown core, the tour guide gestured over to his left. I looked and saw this.


I squealed a rather girlish squeal, which the tour guide heard and before he continued with his shpeal (sp? I just realized that I have no idea how to spell that, and neither does my Word program), he asked me what I was squealing about. In my excitement I just blurted out, “In the criminal justice system, the people are represented by two separate, yet equally important groups; the police who investigate crimes and the district attorneys who prosecute the offenders. These are their stories.”

He just stared at me for a few minutes before asking me how I knew that, to which I could only respond, “I… um… like Law and Order.”

My mother stared at me as if she’d never met me before.

So, it’s no secret, I do like Law and Order. A lot. I even watched that weird one about the juries. And I didn’t hate it – didn’t like it very much, but I was willing to give it a chance just based on the fact that Dick Wolf hasn’t failed me yet.

The original used to be my favourite of the series, but it’s now at the bottom… but I don’t think that’s because I like it any less, I think it’s just that the others have surpassed it.

There’s not much to say about the original, I like it a lot. It’s been through a lot of cast permutations – but I think that’s just a result of it being on the air for so long. I like the new lead detectives played by Jesse Martin and Milena Govich – it’s about time they had a female detective! And, yet again, it doesn’t hurt that I think she’s kinda purty. (Another one I was excited to see Dick Wolf kept around after Conviction went off the air… she played an attorney on that show.) But, honestly, I watched this show even with that horrible Fontana guy… man I couldn’t stand him. But in general, this is just a well written, well executed show that I’m glad has lasted so long.

That’s not to say that there haven’t been missteps… the most notorious of which is a scene I literally can’t watch without laughing – if you can, you’re a stronger person than I. I suppose I should give you some background, such as it is. Serena had been the assistant D.A. for a year… um, that’s about all you have to know, really. They never get into the character’s personal lives on this show. Anyway, watch and see.



I’ve heard it argued that this was an attempt to pacify those who had lobbied for a gay character on the show… to out a character in the last 6 seconds of her last episode… kind of a "Look, we had a gay character for an entire year... you just didn't know about it. So stop pestering us."

I have no idea if that’s what happened, I just know that it was ridiculous. I burst out laughing when I watched it alone in my living room, and I just burst out laughing watching it again.

Movie Theater Concession Lines

Okay, so this is a pet peeve that came up recently when I went to see Transformers at the theater. It’s not anything in-depth really, but why oh why do the lines for popcorn have to take so long? It’s going to sound like I’m exaggerating, but I waited in line for my popcorn and drink for 30 minutes… for them to scoop popcorn into a bag and hand me a bottle of water… 30 minutes… at least! I got the theater at least half an hour early and missed the first 10 minutes or so of my movie… and that’s with the huge amount of previews (and commercials) that they show now. Luckily it was Transformers and didn’t require me to concentrate a lot on the “plot”. Cool robots blowing stuff up. That’s about it.

I just don’t understand how you can go to McDonald’s and have a meal (an albeit entirely unhealthy one) cooked and bagged for you in 5 minutes, yet the bloody popcorn in a bag takes forever.

Of course, it was the line that took so long, not the actually scooping of my popcorn. For some reason, the popcorn line always moves so slowly, and I just can’t figure out where the lack of efficiency is. The popcorn is already made, the drink dispensers are usually right beside the cashier, the candy dispenser is right below them (usually)… so what are they doing that takes so long? I don’t get it. And it annoys me every time.

Criminal Intent

This used to be my least favourite incarnation of Law and Order, but I find I'm liking it more and more... and it's not the new detectives, because I find I miss Goran and Eames when they are not there. I don't really have much to say about the show itself, the structure is completely different from the other two Law and Orders, but it's always interesting to watch Vincint D'Onofrio (Detective Goram) work... he's just so intense!

I will say one thing about the show though... have you listened to the preamble?

"In New York City's war on crime, the worst criminal offenders are pursued by the members of the Major Case Squad"

Again, that's from memory, and I don't think I have it exactly right, but I've got the gist. Anyway, the preamble bothers me because of you watch the show, what becomes clear is that it isn't the "worst crimal offendors" (I would argue that those offenders are over on SVU), it's the offenders that have the most press... the ones that go after the rich and famous, or in some other way grab the attention of the media (or the pretend media that exists in the Law and Order world). So... yeah, that bothers me.

Another random note about this show is that apparantly my grandfather knew the actress (Kathryn Erbe) who plays Detective Eames. While I was living with my aunt and uncle in Belize, we watched a lot of Law and Order and I was informed of this fact every damn time this show was on. No one ever mentioned how he knew her, or if he knew her well or maybe just met her once... and I never really asked -- although now that I think about it, I'm kinda curious.

Another side note... as I mentioned, I didn't used to like this show, but I kept watching it because I couldn't help but like Detective Goram. Now, he's just a likeable character, but there was more than that... I found him comforting... and it took me ages to realize why. I can't find a copy of this scene without the Queen music in the background... but do you remember this?

This is from one of my all time favourite 80's movies, Adventures in Babysitting where D'Onofrio played "Thor, God of Thunder"... or maybe just a mechanic. Either way, it was the reason I immedietely liked his character.

And while I'm being nostagic, I'll put another scene (my favourite scene) from that classic movie (that has nothing to do with Law and Order, but it's my blog so shut up!). Enjoy.

Special Victims Unit

"In the criminal justice system, sexualy based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the special victims unit. These are their stories."

I did that from memory, which I'm pretty proud of! Heh, I know... a minimal accomplishment at best.

Anyway, what do I like about this show? Well, first of all, there is such great chemistry between the main actors, something I think the other incarnations of Law and Order lack. Personally, I think this is largely due to Mariska Hargitay (who plays Olivia Benson), because she seems to have chemistry with everyone who ever appears on that show. Of course, it doesn't hurt that I happen to find her very attractive.

The stories, for the most part, are well written, if a little gut wrenching -- but they always get the bad guy so it's satisfying (and believe me, there are no worse bad guys on TV than the bad guys on this show!).

Now, this show isn't perfect. I'm not a huge fan of Ice T being on the show. I've seen him in interviews, so I know that's just the way he talks, but the way he talks just sounds like bad acting to me. Oh, and I don't really like the new D.A. I'm warming up to her, but no one is as good as Alex Cabot (Stephanie March). Of course, again, this could be because I find her really attractive -- but that may just be the glasses (well, that and her fierce bone structure!), I have the same thing with Tina Fey. I was really excited to see Alex Cabot back when Conviction was on, but that show only lasted for about a month or so before getting canned. Hmmm, I wonder if that was Dick Wolfe's first flop?

Anyway, enough about that. I'll go back to Mariska for a minute, just so I can link to her webpage. I found it so fascinating when I first found it because it's pretty much the exact opposite of what I think Olivia Benson's webpage would be... not that I go around imagining the webpages of fictional characters, but... well, if you watch the show, check it out. It's all frilly and girly. It was just a bit of a shock. Anyway, it's also interesting to look around her site because it's obvious how being on SVU has impacted her life. She has founded one charity of her own and supports a lot of charities that help victims of sexual assault, and I think that's pretty cool.

Anyway, that's enough about this show... this is pretty rambling, I know, but it's my first post on this site and I just felt like writing what I thought... and I think I'll probably stick to that. Not sure anyone will read this anyway.