"Rodents of Unusual Size? I don't think they exist!"

There's a movie called "The Princess Bride". Back when it first came out, I was reluctant to watch because I loathed the book. I had to read the book in one of my high school literature classes and I actually believed that some jerk took someone else's book and wrote in his own little bits and pieces. I seriously never got far enough into the book to realize that the "jerk" actually wrote the whole story. It was one of the few times I got a low grade in an English/literature/writing class. But, eventually, I caved in and saw the movie because two of my favorite actors are in it (Cary Elwes and Mandy Patinkin).

If you've seen it, you know it is a highly quotable flick. Its a good movie in general, but fans tend to quote it like mad and we're no different. A few of you know that DG is a movie-file. We have an enormous collection of movies on DVD and are slowly adding to it and we're replacing old VHS tapes with the DVD versions. And, if any of you who are reading now have read all the blog posts- or even just the first one- you know that DG builds things out of wood. Amazing things. After almost two years of our new TV sitting on top of our old big-ass console TV, he built a TV cabinet. The great thing is that it is awesome and looks wonderful. Bad thing is that it is extremely custom-built and if we ever get a new TV or even a new DVD player or cable box (one of which is going to happen next week), it will off-set the whole balance.

Here's a photo of the cabinet.



I'm really just showing that photo off so I can brag a bit. The real reason for this blog post is a conversation DG had with our 16 year old daughter, Ceej. But, since its about a movie and he used a movie quote, I'm showing you the cabinets he built.

Here's the DVD cabinet he built to attach to the TV cabinet. Then he realized how big of a unit that would be and left them detached. Heck, I may have even shared these photos with you before. I tend to spam the Web with his work when he finishes something.





Since that photo was taken, we've since filled empty spaces. We're running out of room in that cabinet- a problem DG says we'll deal with "when the time comes" and if it is anything like I expect, its sooner than he realizes.

So, you see my point. We collect movies. More than one shelf in that cabinet is my "damn foreign movies"- to which I say, "How can they be "foreign" when everyone is speaking English?" He's got no answer for it, because of all the overseas-made movies I have, only ONE is in French. The rest are British or Australian. But back to the conversation.

The title of this blog is in reference to a line spoken by Cary Elwes in "The Princess Bride". Buttercup says to him, "What about the ROUSes?" and then he replies- "Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist." and then he's attacked by a guy wearing a giant rodent suit. (well, WE know its a guy in a rodent suit, but we're supposed to believe that its an ROUS).

Ceej saw the movie "Paranormal Activity" in the theater. When Shawn bought it the other day, she demanded we watch it. They're watching it now, as I type this. There's a scene in the movie where the man checked out their attic. The woman in the movie asked something like, "What do you think you're going to find?"

DG said, "A rat!"

Ceej exclaimed, "A rat in little Nike shoes!"

I asked, "What's a rat going to do?"

DG replied, "A lot, if its a rat on steroids."

Ceej: "You mean an ROUS?"

DG: "Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist."

Then he paused, as if bracing for an attack. When nobody dressed in a giant rat costume attacked him, he laughed in that near-psychotic way he does when he thinks he's being funnier than anyone else in the room. Someday, I'll have to get a photo of him making his "pause for effect" face. Now that's funnier than anyone else in the room.