I just finished reading “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” 3-book series. If you haven’t read them, I *highly* recommend them.
The first 1/3 of the The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is pretty slow and you might think “what the heck is the big deal with these books?” Then it gets rolling and doesn’t stop. And then right onto in “The Girl Who Plays With Fire” and “The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest”.
There was supposed to be 3 more to the series but the author died. Hopefully his writing partner gets a hold of the outlines for those and can maybe do something with them.
The “heroine” of the book is no perfect heroine. But she is great and you can’t help but root for her. And I don;t think any of the things that she does that might be viewed as “wrong” are wrong in her circumstances so it’s all good. A great, tough and smart girl character for sure. Same with the “hero”. Both flawed humans. But with their definite strengths. Someone told me Brad Pitt is rumored to be playing him in the US version of the movie. I so hope that is only a rumor. Not a role for him IMO.
It has some graphic violence against women, especially in 1 and 2, as well as general violence. But they are important pieces to the story and not gratuitous. You also learn that the Swedish people drink a LOT of coffee and eat a LOT of sandwiches! And that their 7-11s offer much more than ours. And have a lot of street names and surnames that are so much alike you get a bit confused. But you’ll figure it all out :)
If you are looking for a new book – pick it up! Actually just save yourself the trouble and buy all 3 now.
My next book is Scott Turow’s newest one – “Innocent”. It’s a sequel to “Presumed Innocent”. I loved that movie. And no, not just because my loveman is in it. Although that certainly didn’t hurt :)
So the big news yesterday (well, on the internet anyway..ok, twitter, tumblr and Facebook at least!) was that Wonder Woman was “re-vamped”. New costume and new back story. Huh?
Apparently the new issue in comic book stores this past Tuesday features the new Wonder Woman. I have not seen it. I actually haven’t read Wonder Woman for years but she is still, and always will be, my favorite super heroine. I still look every year to see if someone makes a good WW costume for Halloween. I have never found one that is great. So now what? No more chances? :(
She was my first “hero” comic. I read Archie (I preferred Veronica over Betty and didn’t understand what either saw in Archie), Richie Rich and Scrooge McDuck (of course I did) when I was young but then graduated to Wonder Woman and then Justice League, Justice Society, New Teen Titans, The Outsiders, etc and then onto the darker (IMO) Marvel titles.
I gave up my subscriptions years back as I simply have no more room to store my comics. I saved all of my old ones – bagged and boarded in acid free boxes, blah blah. But with all of my Star Wars collectibles – just ran out of storage space. Plus I found I just stored most of them and didn’t read them all as I ran out of time with starting our own company and working all the time. Stupid grown up stuff…
But I do like the new Justice League cartoon. And I would love for DC to also offer a digital reader. I read yesterday (I think) that they are but didn’t read the story as my guess it’s for the iPad and I am not buying that thing yet. Need 2nd or 3rd gen for sure. I want to be able to subscribe to my favorite titles and have them there on my digital reader just like I used to have them in my inbox at the comic book store. :)
But I digress…WW was my first hero(ine). Thanks to Wonder Woman, I got into reading a LOT of Greek and Roman mythology. So…are they messing with that history? What they were messing with wasn’t exactly clear in the articles I read, and I might have to go buy the issue (or stand in the comic book store and read it) to see. Wonder Woman kicked ass. And she didn’t need any help to do it. I like that. I can’t imagine they will change that part (after all she is a super hero) but what will be changed? I’m sure I’ll rant about it here if I don’t like it :)
But why change her story? Why write all this history and create this iconic character and then go “oh – let’s muck with it.” Will she pull a Bobby and walk out of the shower and everything will have been a dream? (random 80s reference.) Or are we just going to not even mention all these decades of history and stories and basically just press re-start on her character? See…I will probably have to see. But I don’t really want to pay for the comic and support this endeavor when I am 100% completely against it.
And changing her outfit? I’m sure all of the fanBOYS will be against it as she is definitely one of, if not THE sexiest characters in comics. But this girl is against it too. I saw a picture of her new outfit. Yuck. Triple Yuck. They basically took Black Canary’s outfit, tweaked it and gave it to Diana. WTF? Giant FAIL. And don’t even get me started on the fact that they took away the American Flag theme about her costume. She fought the Nazis in that costume for crying out loud. LEAVE IT ALONE!
Of course this is only 1 fan’s opinion. But every time they try and make big changes to their main characters, DC mucks it up. I still have my “Superman is Dead” issue in the sealed plastic bag with the black armband. I guess time will tell if people like it. If sales go up (I assume this is why it was done) and maybe they can finally cast her movie.
Maybe the point of this is not about re-inventing her story and making “powerful stories for a strong woman character who didn’t need to flaunt her body” (yeah, I read that in 1 of the articles yesterday and wanted to vomit.)
Maybe it’s as simple as the Powers That Be at DC realized there was no way anyone could ever fill the costume left vacant since the 70s after Lynda Carter made it her own so if they want to cash in on another hero franchise they needed to make a change to accommodate a wider array of actresses. And if they happen to ever cast Megan Fox or Kim Kardashian (I’ve read both rumors but likely started by their agents) as WW I will ban all DC Comics from my life forever.
Who knows. But this fan currently says Jim Lee and DC can suck it….
Why the hell would you change this?
Maybe I’ll try and sneak off to Lee’s to see the new issue. It’s my birthday on Friday…so breaking out of work for a quick trip to the comic book store might be in order :) And then maybe I’ll pull down my comic boxes and re-read some old classics…
I read the Vanity Fair article about Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton today. Wow. I always knew they had this grand, and yet scandalous, love affair in the 60s and got married and divorced twice and it was all very dramatic and yet romantic at the same time. Very real life Catherine and Healthcliff. It also made me want to rent their old movies! And buy the new book coming out about them. Funnily, I got Cleopatra from Netflix last week right before this magazine arrived, It’s like I cosmically knew ;)
But this article had some of the love letters from Richard to Elizabeth. Very passionate. Very “I cannot live without you”. They definitely seemed very much in love with other. Even when they could no longer be together, those feelings didn’t stop. Their affair started so full of passion and yet also full of scandal. Full of romance and extravagance but also turbulence. They did stay married for 10 years and then got remarried for a short time. So it wasn’t like they flamed out quickly and it was all about lust. It sure seems they stayed in love with one another forever. Kind of hard to follow that if you were one of their other lovers/spouses.
Of course, it seems so romantic to those on the outside reading about it because we didn’t have to live with the alcoholism, fighting, jealousy, etc. We get to read about the good without really feeling the bad.
Richard Burton always came across to me (in the few movie roles I have seen him in which is the only way I know anything about him besides the “Liz and Dick” stories”) as the tough as nails, hard-ass, carousing Welsh guy. And I think he was exactly this. I liked him immediately when I found out he played King Arthur on stage and I listed to the soundtrack over and over. Wonderful voice for that role. But his soft spot was definitely for her. And reading a few of the letters he wrote her, the love he felt for her was amazing.
This link isn’t the article. If you have access to Vanity Fair and like old Hollywood stories (or tortured romance), I say read it :)
My one peeve, is the cover of Vanity Fair compares (in a way) them to “Brangelina”. Yuck. Frankly, IMO, that’s insulting to Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. I like Brad Pitt, and they are both OK actors and I enjoy at least most of the films I have seen with them but they are so no way on the same level. Not in talent or pure coolness. But again, my opinion. And I really could care less about their love affair. And I simply can *not* imagine Brad writing…
“Prometheus was punished by the gods forever and is still suffering in all of us for inventing fire and stealing it from the gods. I am forever punished by the gods for being given the fire and trying to put it out. The fire, of course, is you.”
Yeah…that is swoon-worthy. And he had a lot of them. Plus he had exquisite taste in sparklies :)
I just finished reading this book. I really liked it. I started it 4 days ago and had trouble putting it down when I needed to (to go to sleep!)
I only heard of it because of Roman Polanski making his movie adaptation. I like the actors in it and the TV ad for the movie looked good but I will wait for DVD since I am not a fan of Polanski. Feel bad for the brutal loss of his wife and unborn baby at the hands of psychos but doesn’t get him a free pass to drug and date rape little girls.
Anyway, so I figured I’d read the book first. Glad I did. Can’t see how a 2-hour movie will cover everything so I’m happy to have the full story from the book.
It’s a *fictional* tale of political intrigue aimed at Tony Blair. I think (without knowing all that much about Tony Blair and his wife’s past) that the author meshed the Clintons in with his Prime Minister and wife characters. If not, they sure have a lot in common with these 2 main characters (and the Blairs I suppose.) Of course, the US government and CIA are center stage as well.
The main character is a ghostwriter hired to “help” write the memoirs of the former British Prime Minister. Throw in a dead body or 2, the CIA and the people that surround a larger than life politician (former or not) and you’ve got yourself a great story. I figured out pretty quickly where it would lead but it was fun figuring out how they’d all get there.
Plus a large part of the story takes place in Martha’s Vineyard and MA and it was fun remembering some of the places that I saw when I visited there. I definitely want to go back! Although in the summer, and not the winter like in this story.
I love stories like this. I will now search out the author’s other books! As well as make sure the movie is in my Netflix queue. I highly recommend the book :)
I recently finished reading “Nanny Returns”, the sequel to “The Nanny Diaries”. I liked it a lot. Was definitely a fun read that I thoroughly enjoyed. And it made me want to go rent The Nanny Diaries movie even though I’m not such a huge Scarlett Johansson fan. I thought the authors did a great job of getting us to care about Nanny’s life 12 years later but also the 2 X kids – Grayer and Stilton. I think Grayer reminded me a little of my little brother so I was especially concerned for him :) If they had written this and made it into a movie years and years ago – Leo DiCaprio would have been perfect. I have to say I was always turning the page with anticipation to find out what would happen so this is a sign of a good book to me (“A real page-turner!”) One that keeps me interested/entertained from cover to cover.
It also reminded me of when I was first reading The Nanny Diaries years ago. And how the other side of the nanny equation can go…
I used to work at a hedge fund. The Managing GP that I worked directly for had a nanny, who was possibly one of the worst human beings I have ever personally met. Wife #1 could be a runner-up though. My boss knew how I felt about his nanny but he thought she did an OK job (no, she didn’t) and she had worked for his wife for years. So when they separated, and he took the kids for his weekends or holidays, she would come with the kids to “help out”. Long story short, he eventually found out so much bad stuff about her – little things like she had sex on the household pool table while the were parents out and kids asleep upstairs, bringing multiple boyfriends/sex partners to their home while she was “watching” kids and the big one: stealing a LOT of money from various household accounts she had access to. I never said “I told you so” to my boss but he apologized to me for thinking I was the one who needed to cut her some slack. And the day she got fired was pretty darn entertaining for me.
So now “we” (=I) needed to find a replacement nanny quick. My boss was a very nice man. Very kind and generous. But he was also very demanding. When you worked for him, you were also saying “I have no personal life that can’t be interrupted by your call or request.” I worked all the time. Nothing in his life happened without my direction or organization of it. He worked even more than all the time though so can’t really fault him for expecting that. The finance industry is a high-energy place to work. It can also cause so much stress you can’t even stand it. So when he went home, he wanted no stress. Considering he was responsible for hundreds of millions of dollars and was at the office by 5am every day and researched stocks at night and on the weekends – not really too much to ask for. Once he and wife #1 separated, I started managing his household staff and personal finance as part of my job as his Executive Assistant and later added on office manager, HR and portfolio accounting as well. Oh yeah – IT too since I knew the most about our phone systems, alarm system, trading machines and office network. So I might as well be responsible for finding you a new nanny now too…
We tried out a girl that a family friend had recommended. She was Swiss. Blonde. 21-22ish. And any stereotype that you can conjure up of a dumb blond – she would meet. Although later on I did become convinced she was more manipulative and played off men using her looks than actually dumb.
On her drive over to our office for her interview she got lost so was pretty late. My boss hated late. Now, this was after I faxed her typed directions that a blind person could follow (this was pre-PDA, everyone having email, etc.) When she got there and explained to my boss how she got lost because the directions weren’t clear AND the address was wrong – I took them from her and re-read them. No…a blind person truly could have found their way using them. I showed them to my boss after the interview. He knew they were fine (he always teased that I gave him travel itineraries that a 5-yr old could follow) but he was desperate for the nanny help for his upcoming weekend (he had 4 monsters..I mean children..he did need the help) so decided it was probably her language barrier that caused the problem and that she didn’t mean to blame my directions. Uh-huh. Your kids pal.
No need to go into all of her trials and tribulations. The best one to me…the one that stands out as the “Really?” moment was when I went out to my boss’ beach house, where he spent nearly every weekend and holiday with his kids, to inspect the house after something or another. He didn’t really trust any one else but me to do stuff like that so I drove out there (2 hour drive each way) after the markets closed. Fun.
I walk in and I see these GIANT pictures made with magic marker all over the walls in the family room. I asked the nanny what the heck happened here? Her response (won’t use real names) “Jack did that.” So you were here with him when he did this I asked? “Yes.” *Me=looking at her like she was insane and waiting for the explanation that was not coming* So why did you let him do this I asked. “He said this was his house so he could.” What? He is 10. This is the answer you accepted? As the responsible adult in the house? When given to you by the 10-yr old?? It’s his house? “Yes.”
She didn’t last much longer after that.
The next nanny was a friend of mine. She was supposed to be a temporary solution: a few weeks, part-time as a favor while we looked for someone full-time and permanent. I think she still blames me for the next few years of her life…
And so when I was reading The Nanny Diaries and would come to some completely familiar event in the book, an event where any normal person would think “there is no way anyone could ever really behave like that”, I would call her and recount some ridiculous/awful/hysterical/hair-pulling event of our own. And there were plenty. We could write our own book(s). Because I was basically in charge of organizing my boss’ entire life, I interacted with her daily. Once he got married wife #2 aka Succubus Bitch, she would call me even more – usually to vent a bit so she could get it all out and there would be no need to help her hide a body.
In The Nanny Returns, there is whole circle of mommies and daddies who are some of the worst parents known to mankind. And as I read it I hoped upon hope that these characters were not based on real people and real events with names changed to protect the guilty. But I know they are real. I know parents like this exist. But do understand – there are plenty of bad employees out there too who take advantage of the wealthy situations they are hired into – I saw enough of that as well.
So when you read books like The Nanny Diaries or Nanny Returns, or the Devil Wears Prada, and roll your eyes and say there is no way people can actually be like that or expect things like that, know that they do exist. Plenty of them.
And I recommend all 3 of the books as fun reads :)
I believe I just found the 2nd book to purchase on my Kindle :)
I love Denis Leary. I have loved him for years and years. When Rescue Me started it was a bit of heaven to have him for an hour per week. Sarcastic, non-PC humor is generally my favorite and he is a master at it :)
UPDATE: 9/15/09: I have my Kindle 2!!!! It arrived yesterday and I love it so far!!! My first book downloaded was the free “The Legends of King Arthur” by Sir James Knowles. My first *purchase* was Dan Brown’s “The Lost Symbol” – yay!!! So excited – doing the happy dance! :)
I’ve been thinking about getting an e-reader for awhile now. I love reading. It’s been one of my favorite past times since I was a kid. When I was about 12, my best friend’s Mom loved me because she was a voracious reader and saw it in me too. So she gave me tons of classics to read. Both of her kids weren’t readers so she sort of adopted me. And I discovered reading War and Peace at the age of 12 is not as common as I thought.
And I’ve been reading ever since. I always seem to have a crazy busy schedule but definitely need to find “me” time to read. In the summer I love to read out in the sun for a couple hours on the weekends. In the winter I love to curl up in my chair in front of the fireplace when the snow is coming down in Tahoe.
I love having nice books fill up my bookshelves. I would love a whole room in my house dedicated as a library with built-in bookshelves and the ladder you roll across to get up to the highest shelves. Darker wood than in “Atonement” but that was a great library (great book, great movie, great actors, GREAT dress!) :)
At the same time, not all of the books I read need to be kept on my bookshelves. I keep all of my leather bound classics there. My Greek and Roman mythology is there. All of my Arthurian tales. My Ayn Rand, my philosophy books, books about wolves & nature are there. My Siberian Husky training books have a spot (they are…ahem…dusty.) My husband’s Porsche and surfing books occupy the bottom shelf :) But I don’t need to keep my James Patterson, Janet Evanovich or Candace Bushnell books up. I do love to read them but I usually pass them on to others or trade them in at a used bookstore. The Twilight series…well..yes, I believe those will go up too :)
So I thought an e-reader would be great for books like this. Silly to waste the trees on me. But I have put it off so far because:
a. They are all fairly pricey
b. Something newer and “better” comes out a month later
c. I have 3 stacks of real-life bound books on my nightstand calling my name each night.
d. What I *really* want is a reader with a color screen that has comic book downloading/reading ability
And yet…I go to the Amazon homepage every day to see if they have lowered the Kindle 2 price. With the Kindle DX out, Sony’s readers shipping 8/26 (2 of them priced at or lower than the current K2 price point of $299), Barnes and Noble releasing their e-reader soon AND school starting any day now (isn’t that a reason to lower prices on everything!!) I keep hoping I might just open the AMZN home page one morning and see it for $249 (or less!) Wishing and hoping and thinking and praying….come on Jeff…
BUT…I am now reading about the other e-readers and am thoroughly confuzzled as to what I should buy. There are actually a few of them available (I had no clue) but I am only considering the Kindle, Sony or BKS ones as I want it to be seamless and easy with the e-bookstore associated with it. My take on these 3:
Kindle 2:
a. I love AMZN. And I am an extremely brand loyal girl if I like you.
b. Wireless purchasing. I will use this feature. I hate having to sync my iPod and iPhone with my home computer so having another gadget I’d have to sync is NOT what I’m looking for. BUT – is it worth the extra $100 compared to Sony’s Pocket Reader? Hmmm….
c. iPhone app. The idea that I can read a few pages while sitting at the vet, or getting my oil changed or waiting for my husband somewhere sounds awesome. B&N has a nifty app too though. Not sure about Sony. The touch screen function of turning pages is very nice..Kindle 2 does not offer this.
d. The screen/glare. I do a lot of my summertime reading outdoors so I need to know I can read the screen with NO glare. None. I tested a friend’s DX in the sun and it was perfect. From what I’ve read online, this is not entirely true of Sony’s (although this applies to the touch screen ones only & not the Pocket Reader.) This is actually one of the larger decision-making factors for me.
e. Built-in dictionary. I refuse to go past words I don’t understand so I need a dictionary handy. Kindle has it built-in. Sony Pocket reader does not. B&N has a downloadable Merriam-Webster dictionary for free for the iPhone app. Not sure on their planned Plastic Logic e-reader. Another large factor.
f. Can hold up to 1500 books. The DX can hold 3500 but by the time I read the 1500, my color one capable of comic book reading should be out for me to purchase :) The Sony holds 350.
g. Large e-book selection. And let’s be real, even if B&N’s offering is larger when their e-reader comes out – I feel AMZN will catch up quickly. Every new book that gets published for e-reading will go to all 3 (or whoever lives.)
h. It’s Whisper-Sync operates on Sprint. But this is built in to your reader cost. No monthly subscription fees. I believe the larger Sony reader coming out will be on AT&T but with a monthly fee. The Pocket Reader has no wireless at all. Not sure about the new B&N one.
i. CON – is kinda ugly…(ummm..why is that AMZN?)
Sony:
a. It’s CUTE! And I can get a pink one :)
b. Much sleeker and prettier design over all – even in basic black or silver (but yes I’d get pink.) Metal (not plastic) and still very light – under 8oz! Kindle 2 is 10.2 oz.
c. I assume Sony will make a great product and I base this on past performance overall. I wouldn’t buy a brand I didn’t know for this reason but trust Sony to be fine.
d. Did I mention it’s cute and comes in pink?
e. They have a full-ish bookstore. And thumbs up for giving Star Wars and Star Trek their own categories but I think they will have to make a deal to have access to either Amazon or B&N eventually. A Sony bookstore just isn’t their market (much like hardware isn’t your market AMZN…..AHEM….)
Barnes & Noble:
a. You can download the iPhone e-Reader app and read books you buy online right away. I tested out their iPhone app with a sample book. Pretty nifty. With AMZN you have to own the Kindle for the iPhone app to work with it/your e-books account. Clearly this was so you had to buy their Kindle hardware and not just use your iPhone for their content. But AMZN is all about content sales anyway so this seemed like a silly road to take IMO…
b. Really no solid reason I can see I’d choose this one over the first 2 other than the larger store content which I feel is a non-issue. Now if it comes out quickly, is less expensive than the Kindle 2 but as feature-filled and yet cuter than the Sony….but good luck with that…
I have blogged about my desire for the Kindle before: https://a99kitten.com/?p=877 and I’m still sure that I don’t want the Apple $600-$800 one with a monthly subscription, but thanks for asking…unless someone was going to donate it to me that is ;-)
At the end of the day – I will buy 1 of these 3 soon to use and love until someone comes out with the color screen version that will offer comic book and graphic novel reading. And if I can subscribe to my comic titles with it – I will buy it as soon as it comes out and sell my KindleSonyBarnes e-reader on eBay faster than you can say “Wonder Twin Power Activate”…
Finished reading Gossip Girl book #2 “You Know You Love Me” and #3 “All I Want Is Everything” this week. These are fun, easy reads for summer while laying out in the sun. Or laying on the sofa bundled in a soft blanket…with a glass of Veuve in hand!
I *love* the show so it’s easy to breeze through these books. Season 3 of the show starts this Monday (9/14) and I am SOOO excited for it! Such a guilty pleasure TV show!! Like the first few seasons of the old 90210 used to be oh so long ago…
The books are not Ayn Rand obviously. No confusing Cecily Von Ziegesar with a Bronte sister (although they were heading down the Heathcliff/Catherine path with Chuck and Blair.) But they are very fun to read. The TV show has definitely changed a fair amount from the books. I definitely prefer the character development of the TV characters. If Dan or Nate would have been like this in the show, I’d hate them even more than I did! But to be fair, I’m only through Book 3. So maybe they flesh the characters out more. But so far…most of the characters are pretty different. I will get the rest via my Kindle. These are EXACTLY the kind of books I wanted the Kindle for! I also love all of the clothes, shopping and pampering they describe in the books :)
But the show will always be better because we get Chuck Bass. Definitely one of my favorite characters on current TV…and I simply love Chuck & Blair :)
The person who put this together did a great job. Makes me want to buy all the DVDs and re-watch them…I also LOVE this song from season finale. I play it all the time..
Someone told me again yesterday how well-trained my huskies were. I have actually been told this a LOT. And I smile each time because well…they are not well-trained. This I can say pretty honestly. What they are is well-mannered.
When we got Angelus, I signed him up for puppy kindergarten immediately. I found what was supposed to be the very best one in our area and was very excited! We went every Saturday morning. They suggest you bring your puppy in unexercised so that they are getting the “real” puppy. Not worn out. Umm…..sure. Angelus woke up at 5:50am every single morning as a puppy. Class was not until 8am. There was no possible way he wasn’t getting his walk before class. Angelus was VERY energetic. Almost 9 years later, Angelus IS very energetic. But as a puppy he was a bouncing ball of fluffy energy. So I absolutely took him for his walk before puppy class!
He did very well in puppy class. But this class is really more for puppy parents. And to start socializing your puppy. The teacher/trainer of this class was known as a phenomenal dog trainer. Big believer in praise and treat-based training. She introduced her dog to the class and said “your puppy will not complete this series of classes and go home like my dog. This is kindergarten. And my dog has graduated college. So do not be discouraged!” She was very funny in class and you could tell she loved working with dogs and they responded very well to her.
Now, I had bought and read the puppy training books before we even picked up Angelus. And the Siberian Husky training books (these are really just written as jokes I think) and, of course, the books by The Monks of New Skete (the ‘new puppy in your life’ bible.) But as I think it goes with human children, your puppy raising doesn’t always go “by the book”.
Lisa, the teacher/trainer spoke with me and confirmed that huskies (and all sled/northern breeds) were different than other dogs. With most dogs, you train them to walk next to you and never pull on their leash. Huskies are born to run and lead their team. So she said unless that REALLY bothered me, let him walk ahead. That doesn’t mean pull my arm out of my socket, but gently lead. And that’s all Angelus wanted to do. He never pulls hard (spotting cats doesn’t count.) He just wants to walk in front of me. This isn’t an alpha/pack issue – this is a “my genetics say pull the sled and go!” issue.
But it was nice to have her tell me this too. Validated what I thought. She said I would drive myself crazy trying to get him to walk at my side all the time. She also agreed with me that the “choke collar” was a bad idea for huskies. She suggested the prong collar which works wonders. The choke collar applies all of the “stopping” pressure in one area whereas the prong collar applies it evenly and with no choke point. It looks scary at first but she pointed out that the neck muscles on a dog are like thigh muscles on people. Very, very big and strong. Plus their thick fur is a natural buffer. And Angelus’ neck fur is thicker than a lion’s mane. It saved his life once (pit bull attack.)
So we graduated puppy kindergarten – certificate and all :) But that was the end of any formal schooling for Angelus. I worked with him at home on sit, stay, etc. But there was no way he was ever going to be an off-leash dog (huskies are NOT meant to be.) We did work on his COME command for dog parks, etc but I never had the illusion it would 100% of the time. He is a stubborn boy – just like him Momma :)
So he sits on command, shakes, lays down. Will generally come when called but if there is a cat or deer or something fun to chase – he thinks about it. You can see him thinking. And the fun thing to chase will win out. So I don’t let him off leash in areas where he can just run away from me.
Storm was an even crazier puppy. His name applied to him for sure – Storm! He was a spaz. His basic puppy training took longer. He didn’t want to sit just because we told him to. he wanted to be the boss and didn’t understand why we didn’t see that! He tried to challenge Angelus as he got to be a teenager but Angelus quickly showed him that was not going to be the way it went. He would “ah-rooo” and complain all the time when telling him to sit, come, etc. He’d even do it if you were giving Angelus a command!
But he will listen now. To me. And husband. And for you if you have a treat in your hand. But if a non-family member asks him to sit with no treat? Yeah…good luck with that. He is more of a Momma’s boy than Angelus so he will come to me when called even off-leash. If both he and Angelus that are running around and I call him but Angelus keeps going – you can see is his face “what to do? Angelus is going that way but Mom says go back? What to do?!” When he was younger, he followed his brother after this mental dialogue. But as he has grown up, he generally comes back to me. But again, if cats or critters are involved. All bets are off.
So see – not so well “trained”. But guess what? I didn’t get a dog to have a circus monkey who performed for me. I wanted dogs to have fluffy friends and family members in my life. I know their “training” limitations. But they do have good manners. And I think what people respond to with my guys is that they aren’t intrusive. They have been going to work with me since they were puppies. And driving around me with everywhere since they were puppies. And going out in public with me. So they have been raised around people all the time. So they are not big, excitable, slobbery dogs who jump on you, run at you, whine with excitement, etc. They actually will barely acknowledge your existence unless they want something (a pet, treat, etc.) When we have people over at our house, they will look at the door to see who is coming in. They might come up to you and sniff. And then they walk away.
This is when people are like “Wow, your dogs are so well trained.” I guess a lot of dogs are crazy when people come over. I definitely know dogs like this. They want you to play with them, throw the ball, pet them, they follow you around, etc. Or cry and whine at the door to go with you some place. or whine excitably in the car….the WHOLE way to the beach. My boys do NONE of these things. Whew…
They love me unconditionally. Always greet me at the door. Wait for me when I leave. And they listen to me. They love their dad (not as much as they love me though-as it should be!) and listen to him too. They also love some people who they have known all their lives (they love my brother in-law – I think they think of him as another dog.) And some people they just respond to (they love their auntie Melon.) But the general populace? They might let you pet them. Will always take a cookie from you. But don’t expect them to run to greet you or get excited to see you.
So thanks people, for thinking I have such well-trained dogs. But really, they are just well-mannered family members. And well, you are not a pack member so they really don’t care about you too much. No offense! This is a husky trait. And really…it’s a husky Mom trait too :)
Just finished reading Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane. I read the description of the book on Amazon awhile ago and had it in my cart (see why the Kindle could be dangerous?!) for a while before finally purchasing it. Then husband stole it from my pile. Then I started the Twilight series….
I definitely wanted to read it based on its description but then when I saw it was going to be a Scorcese movie starring Leo…well…then I wanted to read it even more :)
To sum it up = creepy!!! t takes place at a Hospital for the Criminally Insane. Now sure how that CAN’T be creepy! Will be interesting to see what they do with it. How Leo plays the main character Teddy. I am very good at figuring out the twists of books and movies. I did figure this one out…kinda sorta…I guess you will need to read it to understand what I mean and where I figured it out :)
I always want to read books before I see the movies. No matter how good the film maker, the actors, etc. the book simply contains more details. More story. Plus some movies follow the books very well (Atonement) but other will veer for time, simplicity in story-telling, etc,. So best to read the original story to know how it was intended.
This movie is intended for release in Feb 2010. So you have plenty of time to get the book and read it!!! If you like creepy, psycho, brain-twisters…read it. Also a good argument against psych drugs/radical psych treatments.
