The Mars

Sure, Veronica Mars' ratings were nothing compared to the juggernaut that is Lost, but the show still managed to snag its highest-ever ratings for its season premiere. Yay! Maybe they won't cancel it immediately.

(Actually, UPN is so buzz-hungry that they probably would have kept the show around, regardless. I mean, they still ordered a full 2nd season despite the 1st season's sucky ratings performance. I think they're just glad to have a genuinely good show.)

In other Mars-related news, here's a quote from a certain Joss Whedon, when asked about shows that may have been influenced by Buffy:

"I feel like it’s a boom that I helped start, but oddly enough, not a boom I was that interested in starting. The only time I’ve ever heard somebody say, “This is the result of ‘Buffy’ ” and felt actually that it was true, and was really proud of, was “Veronica Mars.” Because that’s what I was really interested in: the humor and the pathos and the pain, and the heightened reality of high school. And a girl who is just awesome."

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Allow me a moment of 12-year-old girlish delight (that sounded fine in my head, but looks gross when I type it).

A 13-page preview of Scott Pilgrim and the Infinite Sadness has been released!

"What's that?"
"Uh, I think it's a save point."

Hurry your ass up, December! I need to read this shit!

What's that? You'd like me to talk about more TV?

Seriously, DVR and V.O.D. are the greatest inventions on earth.

House was good this week. Is it just me, or is House getting meaner and meaner? Emory, naturally, can't get enough.

Everybody Hates Chris is solid. There were some damn funny moments in this last episode, and Chris Rock's voiceover continually hits it out of the park. Rock can make even mundane lines funny with his delivery.

Finally saw Extras, which had, as Emory put it, "probably the best scene of British stammering in the history of anything." Ricky Gervais is unstoppable. "Father Flatery. Did he ever exist?" And Winslet ruled, of course. The best was when she was miming the phone behind the guy's back and he caught her, and she very slowly hung up her imaginary phone. Genius.

And yet more TV

Because all them new shows is on!

All shows brought to you by the power of DVR technology, except for Lost, which was annoyingly watched in real time.

Caught both My Name Is Earl and The Office. Earl is pretty funny, if lightweight, and isn't afraid to use weird humor or cutaway gags a la Family Guy. The American Office is totally fine, I laughed really hard at several lines, and the cast seems game. But, y'know, the British one is better. You know, the show might greatly benefit from developing plots that don't resemble the original's. Then maybe my mind wouldn't be constantly thinking "This is funny, but it's been done funnier." David Koechner is a good choice for the Chris Finch role, though. And it's a funny show, which is a relief.

Watching last night's Lost was like reading Bendis' Daredevil in singles. Like "Oh sure, we could move on, but don't you want to know what happened once Locke and Kate got down there?" Which I was totally cool with, until they once again stopped at least week's cliffhanger. Nothing really wrong with those scenes, I'd just like to move on, you know? I really enjoyed the moment with Kate in the food store. That was just right. The episode gets points for having the vast majority of its run time take place on the island, but loses those points because the scenes between Michael and Sawyer were poorly written and acted. Sawyer pulling the bullet out with his bare hands was cool. The flashbacks were brief and to the point, and STILL managed to hammer home a point that could have been made in 1/3 of the time. Didn't we get this info last season? I missed the Michael/Walt ep last time, so I honestly don't know. Nice cliffhanger, though.

Big news last night for me was, of course, the return of the Mars. Nice start. A bit voiceover-heavy, but there was a lot of information to convey. A couple of really nice twists. "Why is Meg being so mean to Veronica? Oh. Oh!" Charisma Carpenter showed up, wearing mostly nothing, which is well within bounds. Guttenberg didn't make me want to punch him, which is a start.

SPOILERVILLE - POPULATION: THE NEXT PARAGRAPH (oh boo, me)


I lose the bet. Logan was behind the door. Although when Veronica said "Logan!" she sounded surprised. Surprised it was Logan, or surprised he was beaten to a pulp? The first option's cooler, but it wasn't clear. Maybe when I watch it again it'll be more obvious. Wait, didn't she say "Logan!" before he turned around, revealing the beatage? I like that.

The final bus crash confused me, because it took me forever to figure out it was the bus that had crashed. Good thing Leslie was watching with me. Bye, Meg.

Musical!

Sucker for musical numbers, right here.

Exhibit A:

Frank came over the other day and while flipping cable channels we wound up watching the last 15 minutes or so of Ella Enchanted, a movie that was probably pretty expensive, but looks really cheap because it wasn't expensive enough not to. Anyway, at the end all the characters suddenly break out into a choreographed rendition of "Don't Go Breaking My Heart" (or whatever that song may actually be called), and that reminded me of The 40-Year-Old Virgin ending with "Age of Aquarius," so I turned to Frank and said "You know, I support this trend of ending movies with out-of-the-blue musical numbers. Because why the hell not? Also, because I am a cheeseball."

Exhibit B:

Ali called me yesterday to tell me she had been digging around in her closet and found an old mixtape I had made for her simply labeled "Merry Christmas." On it was, you guessed it, song after song after song from various musicals. Good musicals, mind you. Sondheim, mostly. Probably some of the better Disney stuff (which in my opinion consists of the 2 1/2 films Ashman and Menken did, and Mary Poppins). Little Shop of Horrors. South Park. A few of the less egregious efforts from Tommy. And yes, damn it, at least one song from Rent. Ali told me her carpool wouldn't let her listen to it because it was "too cheesy." Let's see anyone from Ali's carpool write a song as funny as the reprise of "Agony" from Into the Woods!

So there you go. I honestly think there are few artforms that can be as, I don't know, transcendant as a great musical, and I also think there are few artforms more difficult to get right. Which is why I really like so few of them.

Delay indicted

Finally.

Another 48 Hours in Rome

When I was rounding up TV yesterday, I forgot to talk about Rome.

Who knows how long this will last, but at the moment the primary way Rome amuses me is by taking the history of the Roman Empire and turning it into a buddy cop comedy. I mean, that's just genius. I'm snickering to myself just thinking about it. Every scene with Verenus and Pullo together? I'm on the floor.

Not to say that it isn't a good show. It's a fine entertainment. It's no Deadwood, that's for certain. (Four episodes into Deadwood, Wild Bill Hickok was shot and I was in love with the show forever.) Rome doesn't seem to have as much on its mind as Deadwood, it actually seems to be mostly interested in chronicling historical events while tossing in a multitude of soap opera elements, but that doesn't mean it's not a ripping good time.

More TV

Galactica season finale? Shit was intense. That one episode kind of put the rest of the "season" to shame. Not that I was ever bored or disappointed this season, but for this episode the notch was kicked in the upward direction. The episode was good enough to gloss over the fact that things seemed to be happening waaaaay too quickly. I mean, not even a couple of episodes of build-up before all-out Battlestar war? Still, it ruled. Hopefully it keeps up the quality in January.

I'm about 10 or so episodes into the first season of House, and I'm still not bored. It's a formula, but one that works. Like the X-Men.

My friend Matt's first episode of American Dad aired last night. It was consistently funny, which was a relief. How could I have faced Matt again if his show wasn't funny? We would have had to break up. I think American Dad, on the whole, is starting to hit its stride. Just like Family Guy before it.

Annnnnd that's it. Hooray for good TV.

Threshold

Perhaps you are watching Invasion because it is on after Lost. I assure you that the superior alien invasion series this fall is Threshold, Friday nights on CBS.

The basic setup is Carla Gugino (always glad to see her) and her nerdy pals in Team Threshold (including Brent Spiner and Peter Dinklage) attempt to clandestinely prevent aliens from mutating the genral populace. Charles S. Dutton is their government liason. Oh, and several of the characters might be mutating, as well.

The writing and acting can be subpar at times, certainly (what planet is Dutton giving his performance from?), but there's something genuinely creepy every episode, and I am a big sucker for aliens, as well as Gugino. Plus there's nowhere else on TV where you can get your recommended weekly dose of Dinklage.

Sometimes I don't pay attention

I was in the break room just now, getting some water. As I headed for the door to leave, I started taking out my wallet. I stopped, looked down, and told myself, "Jeff, you do not need your security card to get OUT of the BREAK ROOM." Then I hastily exited, trying to ignore the people who were staring at me because I had not only just talked to myself, but had addressed myself like a wayward child.

Did I mention my friend Sarah from college started working for my company completely out of the blue? No? Well, she did. She's awesome. It's good news.

The big comeback

L.A. Confidential has been popping up on the cable recently. Man oh man, do I love that movie. One of the best films of the 90's, easily. The ending's a bit too uplifting, but unlike several other examples I can think of, it doesn't derail the movie (I'm looking at you, Spielberg).

But that's not my main point. Emory and I were watching it, and Kevin Spacey's in it, back when he was in good movies and back when he gave good performances (those periods overlapped). There's that priceless moment where he whispers "Rollo Tamasi," and lets out that little "Got you, motherfucker" giggle, and then the following exchange took place:

Emory: Man, Kevin Spacey is awesome in this movie. What the hell happened to him?
Jeff: I don't know. It's not like he was desperate for an Oscar. He had two by the millenium.
Emory: Jesus. What has he been doing lately?
Jeff: Superman Returns.
Emory: Oh, thank GOD.

Seriously. I'm as about as excited for a big Kevin Spacey comeback as I am for Superman Returns. And I am DAMN EXCITED about Superman Returns.

Come back to the side of the angels, Spacey. And please ask me to go to lunch, while you're at it.

Not bad at all

Man, that new Harry Potter trailer looks pretty sweet. But then, I'm a sucker for Goblet of Fire. I'd say it's the book in that series that I truly love. Azkaban comes close, but its climax suffers a bit when you know exactly how it's going to play out.

I think my favorite bit in the trailer is where Maggie Smith tells Ron to put his hand on her waist, and he pauses, looks her up and down, and croaks out a disbelieving, "Where?"

And it's PG-13! Cause this is where the shit gets DARK. I'm pretty excited, although Mike Newell's prowess at helming a big-budget special effects movie is an unknown quantity. Still, nothing in this trailer fills me with despair. Mostly it fills me with boyish glee.

Lost

So despite all my harping, and my bet with myself, I still watched the Lost premiere last night. Granted, Veronica Mars doesn't start until next week, so it's not like I was doing anything else.

I'll be spoiling things, if that's a concern for you.

It was pretty good. By which I mean the stuff on the island was good-to-great, and the flashback was dumb. Hey, remember how Jack's wife said she couldn't walk and Jack fixed her? Here it is! Only you know exactly how it plays out! Which would be fine if this mini-drama were 1/100th as interesting as what's going on on the island! But it's not! So it's frustrating! Also, the next time I see a Jack-centric episode that centers around him saving someone, that writer gets a smack.

You see my point. Anyway, the ACTUAL point of the flashback this episode was to introduce Desmond McIrritating (c'mon, didn't you want to slap him in his scene with Jack?) so that he could be revealed as the dude in the hatch. Dear Lost writers: if you want something to be a surprise, don't telegraph it in giant, neon letters. "Why, this man has a speaking part! A considerable one! Out of nowhere! Could he perhaps fit into this larger puzzle?" Of course he can. Because when an actor talks you have to pay him more, and when an actor has such a long, apparently pointless scene, you know he's gotta turn up again.

I don't mean to sound so negative. I enjoyed myself, for the most part. The opening scene was brilliant. Emory and I were like "Whoa, this is a serious flashback. Look at that computer!" and then the explosion happened and we were all like "Awesome!"

Why would you credit Michelle Rodriguez when she never shows up?

The same reason you credit Michael, Sawyer, and Daniel Dae Kim, I guess.

Invasion's first half was boring enough that I didn't bother with its second. Hey, do you think those people who are acting weird might be aliens?

Maybe I'll just watch Lost on DVR from now on, so that when a flashback starts bugging me, or gets too pat or obvious, I can just fast forward through it. I bet I'd enjoy the show a lot more.

BAN DC 4EVER!!!!!

OMG, if Johns kills The Ray in infinite Crisis, I'll never read a DC book ever again! I will BAN DC FOR LIFE!

It's a little silly how worked up some people get about peripheral fictional characters, isn't it? I mean, I will be sad if they killed The Ray, since I love him so (I have every issue of his failed mid-90's series!), but I'd get over it. Because, y'know, he's not real. I mean, people can read what they want, they can stop reading all DC books because they killed Rocket Red or whatever, but don't you think there are other things going on in the world that deserve that level of concern? Just a thought.

Normally 90's nostalgia in comics makes me throw up, but I'm so excited for Peter David's new X-Factor series, I can't even tell you. The team consists of Madrox, Guido, Wolfsbane, Siryn, Rictor, and Monet. Plus, Ryan Sook (from the Seven Soldiers Zatanna) is doing the art. How cool is that? Screw you, it's awesome!

Speaking of which, we're halfway through Seven Soldiers, and it's just getting awesomer. Guardian #4 might be my favorite single issue so far. All I'm saying is that they better print the trades so that they're in the order the issues were released, rather than in the individual series, because that's the best way to enjoy them.

I'd talk about something other than comics, but man, I got nothin'.

X-stuff

Comics post! Flee while you can!

I took the opportunity this weekend to re-read most of Brian K. Vaughn's run on Ultimate X-Men, and came to a conclusion I'd been pondering for awhile: Ultimate X-Men is my favorite X-book right now. And yes, I am including Astonishing in that statement. ("Dangerous" was a pretty weak arc, when you look at it all together, with really lousy pacing.)

I'm sure new readers can and do read Ultimate X-Men without reading the mainstream Marvel X-titles, but I think they're missing out on something those of us who are familiar with X-continuity are enjoying: the way Vaughn keeps fucking with us. I don't want to ruin it if you haven't read it and perhaps one day will, but if you go into this run thinking it'll just be a retread of what's happened in the original books, you'll have another thing coming.

Oh, and it's really good. Not high-octane great like the Morrison stuff. Just the straight-up, consistently entertaining superhero soap opera that's been the X-formula for years. These stories aren't modern classics, but they are consistently entertaining. Over in Astonishing, Whedon nails the characters, sure, but "Dangerous" has a lot of pacing problems, an unsatisfying ending, and a lot of plot holes and continuity glitches. Not to mention Xavier acting way out of character.

Emmys

Wow! Those winners were boring, huh?

I mean, I really like Spader and Shatner, but seriously. Boston Legal is a cartoon.

At least The Daily Show got stuff, and Deseperate Housewives didn't win Best Comedy Series. (Because it's NOT A COMEDY. Nor any good, but that can be debated, at least.)

Chipper

I was out-of-sorts last week, but now I'm feeling much better! Thanks, weekend!

It was both Sam and Lindsay's birthdays this weekend, and we celebrated accordingly. Those two parties cheered me immensely. At Sam's I really managed to ride that intoxicated line between "Really enjoying oneself" and "Will be embarassed tomorrow." I guess I was lying down on the sidewalk at one point. But that was for a bit I was doing.

We finally shot the Boat City boardroom scene the next day, despite being bleary-eyed and wishing to die (well, at least Paul and I were like that). Matt, Alex, and Alan were so funny that the sketch could work even if we just held the shot on them the whole time.

I spent way too much money at Lindsay's party (nobody realized the bar had a cover, plus I, uh, bought a lot of drinks), but it turned out to be a really good time, anyway. Their live band was actually really good. And hey, I always thought Swingers was open 24 hours, but I guess they close at 3 AM. Who knew? Not me, obviously.

I don't have a problem

Last night I was seized with the sudden urge to drink, so that's just what I did.

I had a couple of beers with dinner (after dinner, really), then made myself a ridiculously strong drink consisting of vodka and some fruit hybrid drink Leslie had in the fridge. That did the trick.

Just seemed like the thing to do at the time. I can't really explain it.

Now I am compelled to listen to Weezer's "Simple Pages" over and over.

I don't know.

Hey, the blog's a year old. Happy birthday, little blog. I think you've been helpful.

Haus

Our household watched the first 3 episodes of House last night on DVD. It's a highly entertaining, if highly formulaic show. Hugh Laurie's the key to the whole thing, of course, and I'd say he deserves the Emmy if not for the fact that Ian McShane is up for it, as well.

I'm not quite sure I could ever make an effort to watch House regularly. My infatuation with serialized television prevents me from being significantly enamored with a show that is exactly the same, week in and week out. I mean, these three episodes were so similar that it bordered on ridiculous. House is going to start treatment for an ailment that he can't prove exists? It's really a roll of the dice to see which character says "But you have no PROOF!" I mean, this formula is fine, the show's entertaining, but I get it. By episdoe three I was amusing myself by making jokes about Cutty's name (mostly third-season Wire references, but you didn't watch it so I won't even mention them).

Oh, and I hate Robert Sean Leonard. He's not that bad on the show, actually, but my hate is deep and timeless. As a young man there were few movies I hated more than Dead Poets Society and Branaugh's Much Ado About Nothing, and guess who sucks eggs in both of them? Plus all the girls were in love with him. Shut your handsome, untalented face, Robert Sean Leonard! We are ENEMIES! He's not bad on the show, though.

I'm assuming the show messes around a bit with the formula in later episodes, but I can't imagine it ever deviating that far from the "ailment of the week." But it's an entertaining show, good for a lazy Saturday afternoon perhaps, but not one I can really see investing myself in.

i-Me

Emory, apparently embodying the very definition of "money to burn," purchased a new Ipod yesterday (his has a color screen and shows the album art when a song comes up), so he decided to let me have Moya (his old Ipod) at a substantial discount. Who am I to blow against the wind? So I've been basking in the warm glow of my music collection all day, both on the bus and at work. Or at least most of my music collection, since Emory deleted at least a third of my CDs from my hard drive a few weeks ago, the ponce. So tonight's project is putting those CDs back on my computer, then transfering them to the Ipod.

I had the option of changing the Ipod's name from Moya to something else, but I figured Moya was a fine name, so there was no need. If you name your Ipod "Talyn," however... well, there's really no hope for you.

Sorry this post is so dull, but I figured I had to post SOMETHING. What would you do with yourself if I didn't give you stupid bullshit to read?

The weekend

Learned this weekend, in bullet points:

-Few things are funnier than watching vet students hit on girls you know they have no chance with. (*wink!*)

-Don't fall asleep in front of Alan when he's drunk. He'll think it's really funny to pour water all over your crotch.

-Paul and Liz can totally cook.

-I can still hike up a hill and not fall over dead from exhaustion. Legs are still sore, though.

-When a party has run out of ice, one should not use the ice that has accumulated in the bottom of the freezer, because it is heinous and full of mysterious debris.

-If you hide your Jim Bean over by the bar, rather than in the kitchen with the rest of the booze, no one will know it exists but you, so you'll still have plenty left when the party's over.

Junebug

The more I think about Junebug, the more I like it, and I already liked it immensely. There's just so many little details I noticed that reminded me of growing up in KC, or visiting with my relatives. The lime green stove, the house where you can always hear what's happening in every room, the loads of wood paneling, the weekday dinner at church. Man, that church scene reminded me so much of Englewood, where everyone knew each other and had for years and years. And truth be told, Amy's character's bubbly personality reminded me of a more hyperactive version of one of my cousins.

Frank and I agreed that the movie has one particular scene that's a misstep, but it's a credit to the movie that a bigger deal is not made about what happens in it. And most every other scene in the movie more than makes up for it.

This was also my first experience seeing a movie that starred someone I know in real life. It was a bit disconcerting at first, but Amy's so good in it that I stopped seeing her and started seeing her character.

Frank, I figured out where I recognized the husband from. He's the British rocker that Frances McDormand is sleeping with in Laurel Canyon. Nice dialect work, guy.

It's in the details

Remember, he's not actually fired. He's simply being removed of being in charge of Katrina specifically. So remember, unless he steps down soon, that the next time a disaster strikes, we'll still have a week or so of "Can he get it together this time? No? Okay, bring in the competent understudy."

Grrrrr

I am becoming a crank. I know, I know. "Becoming?"

Anyway, really. I find that more and more little things bug me more and more and I find myself more inclined to speak out about them. "Ah, fuck it! Rargh!" That sort of thing. On the one hand, I'd say it's nice that I'm being more assertive, on the other, I am more often than not a total jerkface about whatever it is that's pissed me off.

The good news, of course, is that ladies LOVE cranks! Have you heard women talk about Hugh Laurie on House? They simply cannot get enough of his hot crankitude. Am I right, ladies? No? Oh, please. Like you loved Hugh Laurie back when he was mugging on Black Adder. (Those of you who actually did, ignore that.)

So if I bite your head off for some imagined slight, please remember that I still love you and do not actually curse both you and your first-born. Probably.

Whatever it takes

What does it say about me and/or the quality of television in general that the most affecting moment I've seen on TV recently was an episode of Degrassi: TNG where Craig runs away from home and gets mugged for his guitar? This guy beats the shit out of Craig and picks up his guitar and Craig's moaning "Not my guitar. Please not my guitar," as the guy runs off. It was DAMN HEARTBREAKING.

Degrassi: It goes there.



Side note: The awesomest thing I've seen on TV recently was that scene in the 2nd episode of Rome where the guy discovers he's been cheated at dice and then puts his sword through the cheater's neck. That RULED.

Where is my mind?

This morning I kept telling myself to remember two things: my sandwich fixins and a check I needed to deposit.

And then I ran out of the house with NEITHER OF THOSE THINGS.

As of tomorrow I am retiring the car. I no longer have the money to insure, fuel, or repair the damn thing. If you get a "you must repair this" ticket from the cops, do you know if you can just chuck the car into a junkyard and say "There, it's fixed"? Anyone know? Anyway, I'm leaving it at home until I figure out the best way to get rid of it. I'd sell it, but who'd want it?

I'm buying a bike. I wonder how long it'd take to bike to work?

Smooch

Sooner or later, everyone comes around to my way of thinking.

Complete and utter decimation

Okay, I guess there were a few funny stories from the weekend.

On Friday Frank and I hit the Gaslite with Nell, Brooke, Whitney and some guy I was never actually introduced to. Or if I was introduced, I immediately forgot his name. Those that know me will guess that the latter actually occurred. I can offer no opinion.

Anyway, after the bar we went back to the gals apartment, and while Whitney went to bed and the unknown fellow left, the rest of us engaged in a friendly game of Charades. While there weren't official teams, and no score was kept, some cold, hard truths became apparent after only a few short rounds.

1) Brooke and I are some sort of hive-mind charade decimation machine, able to discern what the other is thinking with the slightest glance or guesture.

2) Nell and Frank can't play a decent round of charades to save their lives.

Seriously, it was embarassing. We were playing so that whoever guessed the answer would go up next, and the first several rounds were Brooke, me, Brooke, me, Brooke, me, and on and on. It's not that Nell and Frank aren't bright people, it's just that each has a specific weakness that makes them particularly poor at charades. Frank, for example, is extremely poor at processing physical guestures into concrete spoken language. In short, he's a shitty guesser.

Nell's problem is in the actual charading itself. She will make logical leaps in her own mind as to the best method of conveying the answer to us, only we will be incapable of making those leaps with her. For example, she was trying to do the song "Lola", and wanted to convey the final syllable of "la." How did she go about doing this, you may ask? She suddenly starts acting out the song "Layla", thinking that they both end in "la," so if we get "Layla," "Lola" is sure to follow. Well, sure. Obviously. So you can imagine our confusion when Nell has spent several minutes pantomiming "you got my on my knees" and the actual answer is "Lola." She went down a path we could not follow.

In short, I think Frank and Nell should be glad there was no formal score-keeping, because to express the ridiculous beat-down Brooke and I delivered to them in pure numerical form would most likely prove so embarassing that they probably couldn't show their faces around this city again anytime soon.

Laborious

Man, three whole days and the weekend still flew by. Mostly this was due to filming, as we were putting together some sketches for the website. So large chunks of both Saturday and Monday were taken up with that. (Thanks to Trumbo, Liz, Jenni, Laurel, and Amy, who voluteered their time to appear in the sketches.) The hour of footage we shot with Trumbo is like a Master Class on how we are not adept at Time Management. The take we're most likely to use is about ten minutes into the many, many takes we did. Also, something has gone horribly wrong in my left shoulder, possibly due to the many, many "WHAT?" takes we did. Comedy will be the death of me.

I saw not one but two movies this weekend: Transporter 2 and The Constant Gardener. Transporter 2 is much like Transporter 1, except it has a ridiculously hot woman firing machine guns while wearing lingerie. Usually I'm not into the rail-thin blonde types, but damn, that woman is HOT. Overheard at the screening: "Has anyone actually seen the first one?" It really helps if you have. There's quite a bit of riffing on the first movie's bits.

The Constant Gardener is pretty good, well-acted and directed, but it has its problems. There's a bit too much liberal hand-wringing for my tastes, and the plot basically amounts to "Ralph Fiennes talks to someone who immediately gives up all their information and points him to the next someone." Think Man on Fire without the torture. And why would you flashback to stuff twice? Was there really nothing else that could have been revealed about their relationship that you had to show us footage we had already seen? Still, it's a very watchable movie. Very engrossing while I was experiencing it, but the problems started showing up in my mind once I left the theater.

There was also quite a bit of drinking done this weekend, but no fun stories came out of it.

A more innocent time

Check this out. Re: the final Silver Age X-Men comic.

On the letters page, an editorial announces that "the plain truth is that the magazine's sales don't warrant our continuing the title." Two inches below, the Statement of Ownership reports that the most recent issue had a total paid circulation of 199,571. How times have changed.

Man. The highest-selling X-Men comic right now is Astonishing, and that has about an average of, I think, 130,000? And that's one of the highest-selling books in the entire industry.

Galactica-a-go-go

Battlestar Galactica has been really good this season, hasn't it? A lot more consistently excellent than last season, and last season was darn good. I mean, it could still fall apart in the 2nd half of the season (and this last episode seemed to play up mystical elements that Emory, in particular, hates), but right now it's the Best Show on Television! (The Wire, Deadwood, and Veronica Mars are all between seasons, although this season of Galactica is better than the last season of Mars.)

While we still forgot to tape the season finale (d'oh), our apartment does have the catch-up marathon of The 4400 that USA was nice enough to air. I'm pleased to report that even though they killed off the Rocketeer, the vacuumn left by his character has been filled by none other than Mr. W/Jack McCall from Deadwood. Hey, just don't let him near any prostitues! Cause he'll kill them! With a straight razor! Ho, ho!

How great was that scene in the season 2 finale of Deadwood between Hearst and Mr. W? Okay, now I'm just rambling.

WHAT THE HELL.

It's been too long since I linked to Dinosaur Comics, don't you think?

Still not up to snuff

It's a theme! Hopefully just for this week!

So I'm not in Lucid Sound. I totally choked at the actual audition, so this is not that big a surprise. But still, it would have been a fun show to do, I think.

Frank, however, IS in Lucid Sound as the male lead, which is awesome. I have no reason to believe he won't be the highlight of that show.

I'm going to ask out a girl I know I have no chance with in order to go for the "not up to snuff" hat trick.

In other news, Transporter viewing tonight! Statham beating up dudes with his shirt heals all wounds.