As always, HERE THERE BE SPOILERS

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince:

More like Harry Potter and the Half-assed Prints, amirite? Anyway, even Alan Rickman and the badass Inferi scene can't save this chunklog from disappointing those who read the books. No battle at Hogwarts? Burning down the Burrow? Yet we have plenty of time to watch Ron rollin' on E get all googly under the effects of a love potion? Total crap. It was as if the pile of pages marked "Extra content cut for time" was swapped with the pile marked "Material for best Harry Potter movie ever!" and no one noticed until it got to the editing room. They even managed to take the emotional punch out of Dumbledore's death. Though I may just be bitter. I can't help it, no man should have to outlive his fictional wizard! 3/10

Swamp Thing:

A wimpy scientist who loves the swamp becomes part of them after a lab accident/hostile takeover and fights evil while trying to woo his badass love interest in the body of a plant. This is pure, uncut 80's cheese, complete with explosions galore (often for no reason whatsoever!) and a wisecracking black child. Unlike most 80's flicks though, this one swaps out "The musclebound hero" and "The damsel in distress" for "The nerdy scientist" and the all-too-rarely-seen "Competent female lead". He spends a lot of time cowering, and she racks up a few kills. This one was actually fairly good, despite the special effects not /quite/ holding up. Though it was a nice change of pace to see a movie that actually had a story instead of just showing off CGI. 6/10

Timecrimes:
A really interesting and bizzare film. A man travels slightly backward through time accidentally and participates in a series of strange events. The lead character is kind of unlikeable, so on one level you enjoy his suffering, but not enough to see him destroyed by his meddling in the time stream. The supporting characters are more than scenery This one is rife with that good old predestination paradox, and uses it in some interesting ways throughout the film. There are some pretty amazing moments when the time traveler beings going back in time willingly... 8/10

So I go down to the gas station to get some snacks, but I can't, 'cause the on-ramp is blocked. So, remembering there is another, slightly less ghetto gas station down the street, I proceeded cautiously. When I pulled up, the place looked closed, except for the "Open 24 Hours" sticker on the door. I prepared myself for an onslaught of what passes for hip-hop around here and the inevitable encounter with what would likely turn out to be a clerk whose personality, wit and charm could be exceeded by a bit of mouldy* cardboard. I gathered my things and myself, breached the airlock, prepared for the worst.

...to be serenaded by, of all things classical music. Puzzled, I wandered inside. When I had secured my items, I proceeded to the checkout. There I expressed my bewilderment at the infusion of class to such an establishment to the clerk Sean (or so his nametag said). He explained that he wished he could take credit for it, but he had no control over the station. Then he dropped a train on me. "...and it keeps the homeless away". Before I could reply, a large angry woman with a buzz cut called him away and took command of the register. Behind me, others were waiting and I sensed that answers would not be forthcoming. The music faded. Stunned, I retreated to my lair, the implications of his statement echoing in my mind the whole way.


*I'M TALKING /BRITISH/ LEVELS OF SCORN HERE, PEOPLE

Some days, I just want to put the barrel of the shotgun in my mouth and pull the trigger.

Other days, I want to turn the barrel on the world and pull the trigger until every last piece of human garbage is dead, and the earth is clean again.


See
what
I
mean?

Fuck everything.

On the Aztec Calendar, today is signified as Malinalli (grass), and the deity to which today is dedicated is Patecatl. This day signifies tenacity, rejuvenation and that which cannot be uprooted forever. Malinalli is a day for persevering against all odds and for creating alliances that will survive the test of time. It is a good day for those who are suppressed, a bad day for their suppressors.

On the way to work today, I drove through a large thunderstorm. The further I went on 70, the darker the sky became. I saw cloud-to-cloud lightning, but more impressive was the quadruple strike directly in front of me. Then the rains came. Not really a torrential downpour, but it was plenty wet out. It has slowed down a bit since I got here, but seems to surge up now and again. It is good.

So, Cinci has it's own super losers, eh? Let's see what the Consortium of Evil has to say about this...



Hmm... I guess they already know.
http://www.geekologie.com/2009/05/superfailure_personal_ads_cons.php

Anyone want to dress up as supervillains, drive to cinci and harass the do-gooders?

There was quite the gathering at the feeder this morning, but by the time I got my camera, only this guy remained. Most restaurants post their first dollar, so here are my first customers.

( I promise not to post any more about this birdfeeder unless something genuinely awesome happens to it. )

Hey everyone! Sorry I haven't posted in forever. I've been in a real low-energy funk for a while, but I think it's turning around. I finished my biggest project in a while today, and I'm feeling pretty good about it. While I was out in the Glen one day, I found a nice piece of wood, and I decided I'd take it home and do something with it. At the same time, Spring was rolling around, and I bought some birdseed for our winged friends. Eventually, two and two came together and I decided to make a birdfeeder. I may add some more decoration later, but it's serving it's intended purpose. I apologize for the quality of the photo, but I took it from my window. Now I'm going to rest my hands.



(You can't see it in the photo, but the top of the log is scooped out to hold the seeds.)

I'm going to tell you something.

But you shouldn't think about it for too long, or blood will shoot out your nose.

Ready?

Among the celebrity players of D&D in this recent article ( http://thetorchonline.com/2009/03/10/20-celebrities-who-play-dungeons-dragons/ ), I discovered the following.

1. Dame Judi Dench plays D&D

2. Vin Diesel plays D&D

3. Judi was introduced to D&D by Vin.

Now try and imagine what THAT campaign would look like. Toss in Stephen Colbert, add Joss Whedon as DM and I think you see what I'm getting at.

Nicole is the best waitress at Waffle House.

That is all.

Well, my computer is back, and everything seems nominal thus far.

And I stole this from Amber:

Everyone has a character they feel connected to, whether it be in a book, movie, show or video game. But how do others perceive you? Have your f-list tell you a character they see you as, and maybe even explain why.

Computer is going back to Apple tomorrow. Hopefully it'll be fully fixed when it returns, but I'll be residing solely in meatspace until further notice.

In other words, if you need to get in touch with me, call my cell.

So... a family of 7 was found dead in their home in an apparent murder-murder-murder-murder-murder-murder-suicide. The parents lost their jobs and apparently felt that with the economy the way it is, they couldn't support their kids (all under 10 years old), so this was the only way out. We only know this because the father faxed a 2 page letter to the local police. The father was apparently the shooter, as he called the cops claiming that his family had been shot, but when the cops showed, the smell of cordite still hung in the air, indicating the killings had just recently occurred.

But here's the part that really puzzles me. The cops found a revolver in the house, which means that after killing his 5 kids and his wife, the father had to empty the cylinder, and reload one bullet to shoot himself. That seems like such a hassle.


Unless he had one of those 8 shot revolvers, of course.


Let's hope Obama can turn this around, or things are gonna get pretty hairy. Don't forget that gun purchases are up about 300% too! See you in the bunker everyone!

So I just got off the phone with my auto-body guy, and he tells me that the door my appraiser found was promised to him for Thursday delivery. Problem is, when the junkyard went and found the car the door was attached to, the door was gone. So much for a constantly updating inventory! Anyway, the body shop contacted the appraiser and had him find a new door, but it's gotta be shipped up from "down south" (which here could mean anything from CT to GA) and is in better condition. Whoop-de-damn-doo. So he told me he's getting this new door in Friday, which means (since I've been given priority) that my car should be drivable by Monday afternoon or Tuesday morning. So I'm just excited as all hell.

So New Years Eve day, I get woken up by my mother, and she tells me her car alarm was going off and when she went out to look, my car door was hanging open. So I rush outside to discover that someone has crowbarred my front driver-side door away from the body of my car, and stolen my iPod and the charger it was attached to, along with the multi-port adapter /that/ was plugged into. So the cops show up after what seems like forever, and do some searching. Did I mention that it was 20 degrees and snowing? And I'm in my PJs? Anyway, they find the iPod behind the garage and the charger and other cables over the fence. It seems like the perps dropped the stuff when they heard the car alarm. What kind of thief goes to the trouble of prying a car door away from the frame instead of smashing a window? And only to steal an antiquated iPod! And then to /leave/ said iPod at the scene? Idiots. I know that two suspects were picked up, but haven't heard anything since, and my door is ruined. Fortunately, they were dumb enough not to look at the /rest/ of the car, or pop the trunk, and thus Vega (and some other things) avoided being stolen. Now, they've done such a great job with the crowbar, that that door no longer opens and the window certainly doesn't roll down, so I have to have it replaced. Fortunately, my insurance company is not staffed by assholes. The appraiser found me a new door the next day and the agency cut me a check a few hours later. Of course, being the time between New Years Day and a weekend, there was very little I could actually get done. So MONDAY, my car goes into the auto-body place (having previously been at the mechanic for unrelated repairs) and I get a new door. Then, sometime after that, I can return to Ohio.

It's been a hell of a trip.

Things were going great until some assholes broke into my car.

This is really cute:

Spaced is one of the best shows I've ever watched. I don't think I've had a show affect me emotionally to this degree in a long time. It has everything. And it's only two seasons. If you haven't seen it, GO WATCH IT.

http://www.surfthechannel.com/show/486.html

The last episode almost made me cry.



Almost.