Monsoon Wedding (Anniversary)

As I mentioned in yesterday's TT question, we just had our eighth anniversary. We had decided to go directly from work to a relatively new Mexican restaurant that focuses on Oaxacan cuisine. Unfortunately, mother nature seemed to have other plans.

I left work just as a storm began to move through. I had parked close, but apparently not close enough. By the time I walked from my building to the turnstile that allows access to/from the parking lot, I was soaked. I then had another 30 or so feet to walk and get even more soaked. Where was my umbrella, you ask. Umbrellas don't really help much when the rain comes at you sideways like a giant wall of water. When I got to the car, I called MK to tell her that if we wanted to go out, I'd have to go home to change. She didn't really understand the magnitude of the problem until I picked her up at work and she saw me. My clothes were soaked, my hair was plastered down on my head and dripping into my face. When we got home, I realized that my socks even needed to be wrung out to get rid of all the water, because they weighed several times what they normally should.

Eventually, we headed out again (with a blanket on the driver's seat of the car so I didn't get wet simply from riding there) and made it to the restaurant. The food was quite good, which was very impressive since Mexican food of any sort here tends to begin and end with Taco Bell. Of course, access to decent Mexican food also meant that I ate way too much: Chicken mole, with tres leches cake and an incredibly delicious cup of Mexican hot chocolate for dessert.

I guess it might not have been the best idea, since today, 14-15 hours later, we were both still complaining about the raging heartburn, but it sure did taste good.

Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

Today is our wedding anniversary. Eight years, to be exact. This means we are past the paper anniversary (1 year) and a long way from the silver (25 years). With that in mind here is the question for this week.

Do you happen to know what the 8 year anniversary is? There is one main answer I am looking for, but I will accept a number of others that show up on various versions of the wedding anniversary gift lists.

If you answer quickly and correctly, you just might be first and impress us all.

Congratulations to Invisible Lizard who gave the correct answer and is also have a bronze wedding anniversary quite soon.

Mansquito

One of the joys of made for TV movies is that, though most of them are completely unwatchable, occasionally a masterpiece manages to sneak through. Last night, the SciFi Channel featured one of the latter. Mansquito, based on the Shakespearean play of the same name, tells the story of a man who turns into an enormous human-insect hybrid, but you probably figured that out from the title.

I was too lazy to do a full blown running diary, so I just kept a piece of paper around to write down thoughts as I watched. So here are a few highlights and some of my thoughts from watching this masterpiece.

The movie began with a voice over that sounded like it was from the world's worst film noir.

A sign of excellent screenwriting, using words to mean something other than their actual definition. "Sign here, initialize here."

People never learn. You don't use prisoners for experimental research, because if they mutate you'll end up with homicidal mansquitos rather than benevolent ones.

The prisoner grabbed a gun from one of the police officers and tried to escape. As he shoots (without ever running out of bullets) he screams "Diiiiiiieeeeeeeee!!!!!" Only ten minutes in and I love this movie.

You'd think someone wearing a bright orange jumpsuit would be easier to hit when you're shooting at him.

Man, the transition was quick. Only minutes after being exposed to radiation and he's already got flipper arms.

I guess Mansquito's girlfriend should have given him the keys to her car.

Wow, I wasn't aware that mosquitoes have swords for legs. He's stabbing and slicing all over the place.

If you are hiding from a Mansquito in a mostly empty nightclub, you might not want to scream when he kills someone else. Stay quiet or hiding doesn't help.

The guy hiding may not have managed to stay safe but he did have the best death scene in the film. We see hiding guy scream and then cut to a shot of the disco ball which gets splattered with blood.

What type of detective sees a murder scene and immediately thinks that the murderer was a mosquito?

It seems that becoming a mosquito makes women amorous, but not men. Or maybe it was because she still looks human for now and he is a big nasty bug so he doesn't have any opportunities.

Our detective hero just found out that exoskeletons block bullets, but not tasers. I guess it won't replace Kevlar.

One officer just told the detective (who is still the only one to see the Mansquito), "I can't put out an APB on a 7 foot bug." Do you really have to tell people to be on the look out for that? If you don't, are the cops going to see a giant mansquito and think it's perfectly normal?

Wait a minute, why does the mansquito have buck teeth?

It sucks to realize that your girlfriend is turning into a blood sucking being of evil. It's kind of like discovering you're dating Paris Hilton.

You always know things are getting bad when the thunderstorm starts.

Ah, exposition is best delivered by an almost unconscious scientist in a hospital bed who can only speak three words at a time.

The best part of this film is the occasional mansquito's eye view of things.

So what exactly is the hierarchy of people dying in horror movies? Is it sluts, minorities and then fat cops? Or are the overweight officers actually second?

When Mansquito flies, he looks oddly like Watto from Star Wars Episode I.

You have to love hospital security guards. They think that even though this thing took out the entire S.W.A.T. team, they can stop it.

Our detective found the mansquito browsing the blood bank as if he were rummaging through the fridge for a midnight snack.

The detective just yelled "Hey Mansquito!" before launching a rocket at it. Too bad it didn't kill the mansquito.

Mosquitoes make a lot more noise than I ever gave them credit for.

The horror is over. It ended with self sacrifice, a cooked arthropod and really bad acting.

In the end, I can only conclude that the film itself was not nearly as interesting as its name. Still, I can't wait for the sequel.

Until later...

This Post Is Rated XXX (Not Like That You Perv)

We went to see X3 last night. Or X-Men: The Last Stand, if you prefer.

I liked it, but didn't love it. It's probably on par with the first installment of the series but not as good as X2.

The Last Stand dealt with Jean Grey's return from the (assumed) dead and transformation into Phoenix at the same time that a "cure" for mutants is released. The Brotherhood of Mutants takes issue to the idea of a cure and decides to try to destroy the company and the source of the cure, only to be countered by the X-Men, who Magneto considers "traitors to their own kind". Along the way, we get a few new mutants on both sides of the fight. The new additions to the X-Men are Kitty Pride (yeah, yeah I remember that scene from X2) and Hank "Beast" McCoy (yeah, yeah I remember that scene from X2, too.), while the Brotherhood adds (among others) Callisto, Juggernaut, and Arclight (who may or may not have been played by Prince (compare: 1, 2) in a fishnet outfit and bra).

I'll try to break it down into what I liked and didn't like, but I should warn you, I'm not a comic purist. I know that Juggernaut is not a mutant, but they made him one. I realize they changed the origin of Phoenix. I don't mind. I want the film to be good and I want it true to the majority of the source and most importantly to the spirit.

Pro:

The continued posing of ethical questions. Sure comic book movies aren't supposed to be the deep, thought provoking films according to common belief, but that doesn't mean they can't have a point. In all three films, questions were raised that don't have simple answers. It's nice when even "mindless action" isn't mindless.

The bad guys are actually bad. One problem with many films of this genre is that even the bad guys won't kill anyone except in the big fight scene or in their "master plan" for world domination. That was not the case here. Rather than using his powers to shove police cars out of the way and forcing them into crashes that people in the movies always escape, Magneto uses them to pick up and then crush the cars. He even turns his back on one of his own when there is no use left and refers to other less important mutants as pawns as he sends them to their doom.

It really is a ensemble piece. Both the X-Men and the Brotherhood are made up of multiple mutants each with a role to play. There may be major and minor but everyone is essential.

Fastball Special. Sure, it wasn't done exactly the same way and they never used the phrase, but still...

As always, Ian McKellan and Patrick Stewart are excellent.

Con:

The film was missing Singer's touch. The subtlety and nuance of his directing were gone, and I'm not sure whether the blame falls on Ratner's directing or the rush to complete the film.

Kelsey Grammer as Beast. I love Beast. He's a great character. It just didn't work. Some of the time, it was great, but then there were times when he just seemed absurd (as if any man in a furry blue suit could not be absurd).

Too much crammed into too little film. I love the idea of the cure. I loved the use of Phoenix. I love battles with the Brotherhood. Shoving them all into one film didn't do justice to any one storyline.

Phoenix. Jean's uncontrollable, unlimited powers have always been a touchy point. The storyline needs to be handled in a certain way otherwise she overshadows everyone. It wasn't handled as well as it could be.

Where did Nightcrawler go?

Halle Berry. She really has an Oscar?

Pyro, the Anakin Skywalker of the series. I call him that not only because he changes sides, but because he is poorly played by an actor that decides that instead of portraying any real emotion, he should just make his character whiny and annoying. (To be fair, this was a problem in X2, also.)

Other things from the film that deserve comment require spoilers. I'll try to make this where you can't read it accidentally, but if you are using an RSS reader or in some other way not able to see formatting, you may want to stop now or skip down to the final summary paragraph if you don't want things spoiled.










Spoilers start here. Highlight to read.

At the end of the film, we have lost Cyclops and Jean (though either could be resurrected in some way). Magneto, Rogue, Mystique and many others are powerless, and Xavier is alive, but with his mind in a completely different body (hope you stayed till after the credits for that one). They really did want this to be the last stand and end the entire series. I actually kind of liked the direction they took. It was a way of really shaking things up and making it evident that no one was safe. Even if they choose to leave everyone as they were (i.e. not restore powers or have it turn out that someone isn't dead), they could still make another sequel with focus on those that remain. I hope that they do.

Two final things:
Jean's sacrifice was well portrayed and moving, but why not stab her with one of the million cure darts on the ground instead of killing her?
Was anyone else surprised at how easily the Professor decided the answer to his "ethical question" that he had posed to his students? I guess it's not such an ethical dilemma when it's your own life.








Spoilers end here.

It was certainly worth seeing, and I wouldn't mind seeing it again. I don't think, however, that it will overcome X2 as the best film of the series. Fox has been very clear that they want this to be a trilogy and it should end here, but I hope the money they keep making will help them reconsider.

Until later...

We're the Good Guys, Michael

Once again, the folks running the show at Lost managed to turn out a phenomenal season finale. We got some background info on Desmond, found out a bit about the Widmore family, found out what the button does and where the pneumatic tube goes, we even got to meet Kelvin aka Joe Inman (the man who turned Sayid into a torturer) aka Brother Justin (Please, can we get Clancy Brown more work?). So much happened that it's almost impossible for me to put it all down in a coherent manner, but I'll try.

So, how much more do we know? Let's go in a few categories.

Desmond: Our now drunken Scotsman was the one on the mysterious boat that arrived during the funeral. He was in the army, got thrown in jail and booted out for "not following orders" (but we know there has to be more to it). He's unacceptable in the eyes of his girlfriend's father. He raced around the world to try to earn back his honor and show up his potential papa-in-law. He met Kelvin who taught him everything he needed to know about the island, including how to make a paint out of laundry detergent that only shows up under blacklight and how to fake a lockdown. Kelvin was going to fix up his boat and sail away until Desmond found him and accidentally killed him in the struggle. After the fight, Desmond rushed back to push the button, but was too late. As he prepared to kill himself rather than face a life completely alone, he heard knocking and the story of Desmond met the story of John Locke head on.

The Stations: Judging by the pile of tubes and notebooks in the middle of nowhere, the Pearl may have been the Skinner-influenced psychological experiment because the Swan really did have a purpose. Locke convinced Desmond that it was all fake, and they locked themselves in with the computer. Eko tried to blow up the blast doors, almost blowing himself an Charlie up in the process. A bit too late, Desmond realized that his failure to press the button on time had likely brought down flight 815. He wasn't able to convince Locke, who smashed the computer. The fact that anything and everything metallic suddenly went flying toward the mysterious wall suggests that it really was a gigantic electromagnet. (Remember Sayid's broken compass from Season 1?) We've also learned that there is a "system termination" lock, underneath the computer room. While Kelvin could never force himself to do it, Desmond used the key, (possibly) sacrificing himself to prevent another "incident." It certainly looks like Henry "I didn't press your button" Gale was lying to Locke, now.

The Dharma Initiative: We know that the Hanso Foundation was involved in funding the initiative. We know the Widmore family was tied into Hanso somehow. We found out last night that Desmond was in love with Penny Widmore and that her father Charles did not approve. We also found out that Penny is notified when the big electromagnetic thingamajig goes off. What does it all mean? I guess we have to wait until next year for that.

Father and Son: Michael was finally reunited with Walt, though potentially at the expense of his friends. Sayid and Jack came up with a plan to counter the Others, but it turns out that Michael was never planning to take them back to the beach. There was an entirely different plan and he had kept everybody in the dark about it, including us. When it was revealed to the other (lowercase "o") Lostaways that Michael had killed Ana Lucia and Libby, he was probably pretty glad that Hurley had refused to take a gun. Now he's off the island (and the show as a regular) and heading toward bearing 325.

The Others (with a capital "O"): They outplanned Jack and Sayid and set the exchange at a new location. Mr. Friendly (or Zeke, if you're Sawyer) is actually named Tom. FauxHenry certainly appears to be the leader or at least in some sort of authority position. The Others sent Hurley back to go tell everyone else to stay away, but kept Sawyer, Jack and Kate. Just like Walt said, everything about the Others was fake. Not just the beards and dirt, but the huts and even the Hatch Michael had seen them guarding.

We learned so much, but there are still so many questions left. For example:

Did Desmond end up sacrificing himself to save everyone?

What happened when he turned that key?

Is the Swan Hatch gone?

What about Locke and Eko, did they make it out?

What was the purpose of the Swan anyway? Why hadn't it been destroyed already?

What was with the monitoring station? Who are they? Why are they doing it? What exactly are they looking for? Where is that station? How does Penelope Widmore tie in?

Are Kelvin Inman and Joe Inman the same guy or twins?

What will happen to Jack Kate and Sawyer? I can't really think we can take NotHank at his word that he won't hurt them. He's lied and been manipulative from the beginning. (He's also been one of the best characters from almost the instant he appeared.)

Why send Hurley back? Because he refused to bring a gun? Why else then?

Why do the Others need to pretend to be something they're not?

Where will bearing 325 lead Michael?

What was the deal with the 4-toed foot from a giant statue? My first thought when I saw the foot were of the Colossus (the "of Rhodes" one, not the "silvery Russian dude from X-Men" one), but I have no idea why the statue only has 4 toes.

Is the fake hatch the Others were guarding on the big blast door inviso-map? Is it perhaps the one that's crossed off?

The Hurley bird...huh?

Did Libby go into the asylum because her husband died and she had a breakdown or was it something else?

Why couldn't Desmond leave on his boat? Was it just a screwed up compass thing or is it something much worse?

What's the deal with Cerberus the smoke monster?

Did anything happen to Jin, Sun and Sayid or are they just hanging out by a signal fire, waiting for reinforcements that are never going to come?

How did Rousseau react to the ear-piercing, violet-sky turning thing when Desmond turned the key?

How do Hanso, the Widmores, the DeGroots and all the other folks come into play?

Was there ever an illness? Does the medicine do anything? If so, why haven't we seen people getting sick? If not, why the suits, medicine and quarantine? Could the sickness have to do with the "incident"? Rousseau's arrival would be near to the time of the incident and perhaps the sickness was a result. Thus meaning the island safe (at least as far as the sickness goes) for our Lostaways 16 years later. Until now, that is.

Who are the Others?

What is their good/bad fascination?

How exactly are they "The Good Guys"?

Most importantly, why do I have to wait months to see another episode?

See you in another life, brother...

Enough is Enough. I've Had It with The Snakes

I've grown weary of using initials instead of a name all the time. I can only assume that none of you are crazy stalkers waiting to find out my name. There. The profile is changed. Done.

Trivial Tuesday

I figured why not keep with yesterday's nostalgia theme for this week's question. In the 80's the Thundercats battled Mumm-Ra on pretty much a daily basis. To help in this battle, the big-haired leader (it was the 80's after all) of the group had a special sword that could grant him "sight beyond sight". My question for you today is who was that impeccably maned feline and what was the name of the sword?

Answer quickly, answer correctly, reminisce and win bragging rights.


Thunder...Thunder...Thundercats...HOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Dream a Little Dream

I had a very odd dream last night. Most of the things in the dream were fairly mundane: driving around, going to a museum. Nothing really interesting, but then I had to go to the ATM.

When I went to the ATM to withdraw $80 (I have no idea why), I found that the surcharge had increased from the two or so dollars usually charged to a full 50%. That's right, I had to pay $40 to take out $80. That's almost a bad as getting a cash advance from your Capital One card, but somehow in this dream it seemed ok. When the transaction was complete, it didn't give me money, but instead printed a receipt that I had to take to the cashier of the store where the ATM was located.

I waited in line, gave my receipt to the cashier and watched as she counted out the money. Apparently, ATM surcharges were not the only things that had changed in this dream because in place of ten dollar bills, she gave me strips of bacon. That's right, I got my money in twenties and bacon. (I did actually ask her for less of it in bacon strips.) This scenario brought up several questions:

1. Do we really want to have a ten dollar bill that is edible? This doesn't seem like a good idea.

2. Won't they go bad if you don't spend them quickly enough?

3. I like bacon, but isn't $10 per strip a little steep?

4. If they were worth $10 each, why, oh why did I eat them?

When I woke up this morning and remembered this dream, I shook my head and thought of the words of Mr. McDowell. "Son, I'm just going to tell you this one time. If you want to keep working here, stay off the drugs."

Until later...

Don't Drown Your Food

MK and I had a discussion recently about how we both have an aversion to oversaturating salad with dressing and similar items. I mentioned remembering a cartoon PSA with a guy who throws a life preserver to some food that soaking in a condiment of some sort and sings, "Don't Drown Your Food." As it turns out MK remembered the same thing, and the ridiculous song has stuck with us for years and made us both go light on the salad dressing.

To see if we were the only people who remembered this, I started searching for the video the other day. I found that not only is it remembered, but that there is a streaming video available at Retrojunk.com. (It starts playing automatically, so be ready or use headphones.) Looking around Retrojunk, I found all sorts of fun things I remembered from when I was a kid including other PSAs like "Hanker for a Hunka Cheese" and videos of the intro to various cartoon shows. Unfortunately, this means that I've been going around for the past several days singing "Life is like a hurricane. Here in Duckberg."

Take a minute to go and wish MK a happy birthday (as a warning, there is sound on her blog today).

Until later...

Me Fail English? That's Unpossible.

To honor one of Springfield's finest families, I've added a new section to the sidebar of this site. If you look just below the Previous Posts section, you'll find the Wiggum Family Quote Generator. Each time you load the page, a new quote from Clancy, Sara or Ralph will be displayed. My intent is to add any new quotes from them that amuse me in future episodes of the Simpsons, but let's face it. This is me we're talking about, so it will probably stay just like it is.

Anyway, amuse yourself with the refresh/reload button for a while.

Until later...

Stunted Mental Growth

I was at the grocery store the other day and a representative from a juice company was giving out samples of their various drinks. Intrigued, I decided to see what they had to offer. He explained the various combinations of fruit juices available, and I decided on sampling a mango mixture labeled as "C Boost."

It was very enjoyable and as I conversed with him for a bit longer, he began telling me about the health benefits of the drink. "It has 1200% of your daily Vitamin C in one serving, which means it's great for your immune system."

Unfortunately, this isn't the direction my brain went. "It has 1200% of your daily Vitamin C in one serving which means..." At this point my brain interrupted and interjected, "that your pee will be 1980's day-glo yellow?"

It's times like these that make me wonder when I'm going to grow up.

Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

Back in 1982, Harrison Ford starred in a Ridley Scott directed science fiction film, Blade Runner. The movie was based on a novel by acclaimed author Philip K. Dick. However, the novel was not titled Blade Runner. What was the originally title of the novel?

Answer in the comments section and win the right to brag for a week.

Congrats to Ms. Q for getting most of it, Invisible Lizard for providing the remainder and Thordora for putting it all together and giving us "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep."

Weird Science

I've mentioned before that I'm a scientist. There are lots of things that I like about it: being a nerd is expected, sloppy dress just means you're preoccupied, you get to talk about all sorts of random things that people would find strange, disgusting or offensive out of context. Here are a few recent news articles that bring that last point home.

Fossilized Worm Droppings: The greatest part of this article is the quote "We have found fossilised excrement dating back 500 million years." This guy has got to be great at parties. I almost feel sorry for his wife. She invites people over for a nice dinner and someone makes the mistake of asking him about work. "Oh, it's great. You wouldn't believe the worm poo we've found recently." At this point, the dinner party is pretty much over.

Even more about poop: The people who conducted this study not only talk about animal excrement, but worry over the type, amount and quality of it. Speaking of dung beetles, we went to a zoo near us recently and in the restrooms at the zoo, they had posted signs telling all about the dung beetle. I'd say that they had a somewhat warped sense of humor, but I found it amusing too.

Scientists even get to come up with great Mother's Day stories. What a wonderfully disturbing sacrifice she makes for her kids.

Most importantly, scientists can even make some pretty good predictions on how the world is going to end. The next time you see a roach in your house, don't think "eew, gross." You should think about your impending doom. If they're working together, it's only a matter of time before they realize that they need to eliminate the human threat.

I think I've shared a little too much of the types of things that amuse me. At least for one day. Just remember, scientists are weird. They're just eccentric.

Until later...

...And Statistics

I love statistics. I just wish that everyone who has an agenda to promote didn't mangle the use of statistics to prove their "facts." With that in mind, I present to you the greatest warning in the history of the internet. (This thing had me laughing so hard, it almost killed me.)

!!! BREAD IS DANGEROUS !!!

Research on bread indicates that:

1. More than 98 percent of convicted felons are bread users.

2. Fully HALF of all children who grow up in bread-consuming households
score below average on standardized tests.

3. In the 18th century, when virtually all bread was baked in the home, the
average life expectancy was less than 50 years; infant mortality rates were
unacceptably high; many women died in childbirth; and diseases such as typhoid,
yellow fever, and influenza ravaged whole nations.

4. More than 90 percent of violent crimes are committed within 24 hours of
eating bread.

5. Bread is made from a substance called "dough." It has been proven that
as little as one pound of dough can be used to suffocate a mouse. The average
American eats more bread than that in one month!

6. Primitive tribal societies that have no bread exhibit a low incidence of
cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's disease, and osteoporosis.

7. Bread has been proven to be addictive. Subjects deprived of bread and
given only water to eat begged for bread after as little as two days.

8. Bread is often a "gateway" food item, leading the user to "harder" items
such as butter, jelly, peanut butter, and even cold cuts.

9. Bread has been proven to absorb water. Since the human body is more than
90 percent water, it follows that eating bread could lead to your body being
taken over by this absorptive food product, turning you into a soggy, gooey
bread-pudding person.

10. Newborn babies can choke on bread.

11. Bread is baked at temperatures as high as 400 degrees Fahrenheit! That
kind of heat can kill an adult in less than one minute.

12. Most American bread eaters are utterly unable to distinguish between
significant scientific fact and meaningless statistical babbling.

In light of these frightening statistics, it has been proposed that the
following bread restrictions be made:

1. No sale of bread to minors.

2. A nationwide "Just Say No To Toast" campaign, complete celebrity TV
spots and bumper stickers.

3. A 300 percent federal tax on all bread to pay for all the societal ills
we might associate with bread.

4. No animal or human images, nor any primary colors (which may appeal to
children) may be used to promote bread usage.

5. The establishment of "Bread-free" zones around schools.

Even More Llama

So, I titled yesterday's post with a reference to the Llama Song. (Click here, but be careful, it's like musical crack) This started me thinking about what exactly it is that makes llamas so funny. I think I've come up with a few pretty good reasons why they just might be the most amusing animals on the planet.

1. The name. Say it: llama. It's just not as amusing to say alpaca.

2. They spit on people. If you go to a zoo or petting zoo and stand around for a few days, eventually, you're going to see some kid (or immature adult) annoy the llama. They can only handle so many people reaching through the bars to poke at them while baby talking. Eventually the llama's gonna snap, and when it does, stand back. Personally, I think there should be an entire TV network dedicated to people getting spit on by llamas, or at least a DVD.

3. They are fuzzy and just funny looking. Llamas look sort of like what would happen if you left a camel and a sheep together unattended for too long. Their forbidden love would eventually come out as a llama. They're camels without humps but with wool like sheep. We went to a zoo a couple weeks ago, and the llamas had been recently shorn. Bald llamas are actually funnier looking than regular ones. I would have stayed around to laugh at them longer, but I was a little afraid that they'd spit on me.

4. They should be spokesanimals for Invisalign. Have you ever seen a llama's teeth? They need braces worse than any human you've ever met. At one point ABC tried to have an episode of Extreme Makeover: Llama Edition where they send a llama to a cosmetic dentist, but the dentist took one look an decided he couldn't help.

5. They've been used to guard sheep from wild animals. This means that if a coyote or wild dog tries to come after the sheep, they get attacked and run off by a llama. How does a carnivore explain that to the rest of its pack? "No, really, guys. It spits at you." If you ever see a pack of dogs where most of them are rolling around on the ground laughing and one is standing around looking embarrassed, this is probably what happened.

There's really no argument about this. There is no member of the animal kingdom as funny as the llama. The only one that comes close is the capybara.

Until later...

Llama, Llama, Duck

As I walked into work on Monday, I noticed a duck nearby. Now, simply seeing a duck isn't all that surprising, since there are more lakes than dry land around here, but what was surprising was that this duck was on the sidewalk right by the door to the building where I work.

It appears that she has decided that the rocks and shrubs next to the walkway would be an excellent place for a nest. Of course, this also means that she gets all sorts of people coming to look at her and see what she's doing at all times of the day. As you might guess, productivity is simply skyrocketing due to this bird.

In addition to the impact on productivity, I have a feeling it will also change the route people take into our building. You can walk right by the duck and in the door or take a slightly longer route which brings you into the building a little sooner. The duck may be a great novelty, but they can get defensive about their nesting areas, so the duck will probably have to be relocated. If it isn't relocated, people will likely start avoiding that door. After all, no one wants to fill out the work-related injury paperwork that ensures they go down in history as the person who got beat up by a duck.

Trivial Tuesday

Stellan Skarsgard has been in a lot of different movies. You may not recognize his name, but you've probably seen him. He's in the upcoming Pirates of the Caribbean sequels as Bootstrap Bill. He was Father Merrin in the recent Exorcist prequel and was in Good Will Hunting as the math professor who was a friend and former classmate of the psychologist played by Robin Williams.

In 1997, before Good Will Hunting, Skarsgard was in a Norwegian film that was later remade in the US with Good Will Hunting costar Robin Williams in one of the roles. What was this film? (For the record, I've seen both versions and prefer the Norwegian version. I'm pretty sure it was the best Norwegian film I've ever seen.)

Know it? Post your answer in the comments section. Don't know it? Don't lose any sleep over it; there will be a new question next week.

Update: Congrats to Pookie77 who knew that the film was Insomnia.

You're My Inspiration

I was thinking recently about the titles I use for my posts and wondered how many of them are in fact references to something else. Since I lack the ability to ever let something go without actually finding out the answer, I went back and counted. I'm sure this doesn't come as too much of a surprise to any of you who have been reading for a while and certainly not to anyone who actually knows me in non-blog life. It's not everyone who would count all of the references in the titles from their blog and categorize them, but then it's not everyone who when asked by coworkers about the difference between frozen custard and ice cream (to help settle an argument about which has more fat and cholesterol) would provide them not only with an answer, but a spreadsheet detailing the caloric value, fat and cholesterol of each by both weight and volume (you've gotta account for the density difference due to all the air). Say what you will about obsessives, but we make fine researchers.

So, where do I get the inspiration for my titles? The only rule here was it had to be the title of a post (it would have taken months to count the references in each post) and it couldn't simply be the name of the movie in a review or anything like that.

TV: 18
The Simpsons: 8
He-Man: 1
SNL: 2
Futurama: 1
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town (Ok, it was a movie, but it was made for TV): 1
Seinfeld: 4
Looney Tunes: 1

Movies: 20
Forrest Gump:1
Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom: 1
Star Wars: 1
Marrying Man: 1
Silence of The Lambs: 2
Pulp Fiction: 1
Dodgeball: 1
Princess Bride: 1
Trading Places: 1
The Golden Child: 1
Grosse Pointe Blank: 1
The Holy Grail: 1
Superman II: 1
Ghostbusters: 1
Scarface: 1
Napoleon Dynamite: 1
Das Boot: 1
The Shining: 1
The Wizard of Oz: 1

Music: 32 (33 if you count this one)

Ad Slogans: 1

Ad Jingles: 1

Books: 2
Dress Your Family In Corduroy and Denim: 1
Children's books: 1 (The Celery Stalks at Midnight)

Historical Quotes: 4

So that's a total of 78 pop-culture (or historical) inspired titles. The big surprise to me came from the movie section. The only movie I used for a title twice was Silence of the Lambs. Of all the places to draw quotes from... Well, now we know where all these titles came from. The better question would be if they still make any sense if I were to go back and read the post now. I don't think I'll conduct that study. There are some things I'd probably rather not know.

Until later...

Han Shoots First!

With this announcement on the Star Wars homepage, Lucasfilm shook up the world. Ok, not really, but it's a big deal to Star Wars geeks. The original trilogy will be available on DVD in their original theatrical version. That means no digitally added young Anakin in ROTJ, no calling the original "Episode IV" and in the Mos Eisley Cantina, Han shoots first.

For those of you who don't tend toward Star Wars geekiness, let me recap. In Star Wars, we first meet Han Solo while he arguing with the bounty hunter, Greedo, in the cantina. Greedo intends to kill him to collect a bounty from Jabba. Before he can, Han shoots and kills Greedo. In a move similar to Spielberg's use of digital technology to replace all government agents' guns with walkie talkies in the rerelease of ET, the Special Edition version of Star Wars Episode IV, A New Hope, featured Greedo shooting at Han first, followed by Han returning fire and killing Greedo. Following me so far? Good.

This moment has come to sum up the issues many people have with the newer Star Wars films and especially the changes made to the original trilogy. In fact, the phrase "Han shoots first" has become somewhat of a battlecry for fans who wish the films were allowed to remain in their original state.

The topic has been hotly debated and because of the rapid nature of the blaster exchange the argument has been made that Greedo always shot first and that it's just clearer now. Now, however, the issue has been resolved. The original trilogy will be released in the original format on DVD for a limited time (September-December of this year), and on the frontpage of the Star Wars website they featured this banner, fully acknowledging the scene and the controversy.


I wish they'd decided to announce the release of these DVDs before I bought my OT DVD box set, because now I have to get them again. Now if I can only find that "tennis shoe" ship in Jedi.

Until later...

The Legend of Air Guitar Boy

We were talking the other day about something we saw at the theater several years ago. In June of 1998, not long after MK and I were married and had moved to Illinois so I could go to graduate school, we went to go see the movie Mulan. I enjoyed the movie then and still enjoy it now, but it has never been as great as the first time we saw it. Partly this was due to the theater. The small town we lived in had a theater that offered first-run films at only $2 per ticket. This meant that on a limited grad student budget, we could go to the movies, get a drink (with free refills), popcorn (with free refills) and Twizzlers for $10. Not each. $10 total. Unfortunately, this theater went out of business a couple years later.

The biggest reason the movie was never quite as amusing after that first time was Air Guitar Boy. When the movie ended and the house lights came up, a family a few rows in front of us stood up and collected their belongings. There were several children in the family, but only one that really caught my attention. He was a pudgy child, around ten years old. As his family waited for a break in traffic to leave their row and walk down the exit aisle, the boy began to gyrate to the music playing over the closing credits. As if a fat child dancing spontaneously were not funny enough, the child busted out the air guitar. No, the song was not exactly heavy on guitar riffs, but that didn't matter to him. He played like C.C. DeVille on "Nothin' but a Good Time", jamming like there was no tomorrow. I nudged MK and nodded in the direction of the kid. We watched and chuckled quietly to ourselves. Eventually the boy realized that people had noticed him and came running down his row of seats to glare at us. Then, undeterred by an audience, he returned to the jam session.

We talked about this kid again recently and realized that if he were about ten years old then, he would be 18 now and probably finishing or already out of high school. No matter how old he gets, he will live forever in our memory as the pudgy air guitarist when we saw Mulan. He'll probably never know how much laughter his performance has brought to people over the years. I can only hope that I see him one more time and that it's on this.

Until later...

Trivial Tuesday

We're rapidly approaching the release date of X-Men 3. You probably remember who the X-Men were in the first two movies, but how good is your knowledge of the X-Men from the comics? For example, can you name the original 5 X-Men from Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?

If you can, post them in the comments section and win bragging rights for the week.

Want to impress everyone even more, name the X-Men who would become the new team (and rescue the old team) in Giant-Size X-Men #1.

Ok, so it's lunchtime on Wednesday, and it appears maybe this question needs some hints. So far we have had Scott Summers/Cyclops and Jean Grey/Marvel Girl named. (Esther also mentioned professor Charles Xavier, but I wasn't including him in the list of five since he ran the school and formed the X-Men.) How about some hints?

1. Scott Summers/Cyclops answered by Invisible Lizard
2. Jean Grey/Marvel Girl answered by Invisible Lizard
3. A Blue Guy (was in X2...sort of) Beast/Hank McCoy answered by Thordora
4. Making his first appearance in the X-Men movies this year. Angel/Warren Worthington answered by Thordora
5. A cold sort of fellow who appeared in X2 as a youngster who had "tried not being a mutant." Iceman/Bobby Drake answered by Esther

Let's see if this helps.

Congratulations to all who answered this question. (See above for answers and winners.)

That Was My Woodstock!

After a work this evening, we decided to stop for dinner at Damon's. I like the food there, but I really enjoy playing along with the NTN Buzztime trivia. I don't know how many people are familiar with NTN, but here are the basics. You get a handheld device with a keyboard and small screen which you use to answer questions displayed on a television screen that all can see. The questions are multiple choice, and you receive points for answering correctly and quickly. All people at the current location compete for high score as well as with other networked sites around the country. At the end of each game a winner is declared for each site and stats are shown for the national network.

At the end of the first game, I beat the other players at our restaurant (there weren't too many playing, so it's not as impressive as I'd like to pretend), but then was thrilled to see the national stats with my name listed up there at number 20. Well, I certainly couldn't leave it at that. I had to play another game. I played again, this time with a few more people competing at our location. Once it was over, I didn't want to leave even though we'd already paid (The place wasn't very busy, and we tipped our waitress more than she deserved to make up for us sitting around so long), because I wanted...no needed to see the stats. This time, I was fourth.

I realize that this probably shows just how pathetic I am, but I was actually quite pleased knowing that at other locations where this game was going on, people would look at the screen and see CK from Damon's, Kalamazoo at #4. Like I said, it's pathetic that it made me happy, but the way things have been going recently, I'll take it.

Until later...