it's a wonder there's no Indy RPG

Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, with Harrison Ford and Shia Lebouef. I think I just spelled that last name wrong. Oh well. I still can't decide whether this movie was a let-down in terms of Indiana Jones movies or okay. Not great, but okay. At first the acting seemed so strained that I could hardly stand it, though I think my wariness was coloring my perception. When that faded, there were some enjoyable sequences, more enjoyable as the movie went on. I'm still of mixed minds about the quasi-scifi plot and ending (I guess I do like how they strained that it was the very skinny distinction of "interdimensional" rather than "extraterrestrial") and the explanation for the intervening years since the last movie, which kind of politicizes things. But...I'm kind of warming up to it. Yeesh, lots of qualifiers in this post, huh.

Best cards ever.

Bad ass. But I'm still desperately curious as to what an "improvised aircraft-type weapon" might be...

Funny that she's the only female manager

I still like the Rock a lot, he's cool

Southland Tales, with one funny cameo after another, a real ensemble cast. Basically, if they'd stuck with the pure scifi aspect of the narrative, it would have been much, much better, but I think that was diluted by postmodern structure and heavyhanded political commentary. Ah, that dang dilution effect. One thing at a time, people! And what's up with Buffy being a pornstar, but never doing anything pornarific? That was disappointing. Still, if you care to sit through any sort of postmodern text, it's a fun scifi near-future setting that's explored, though I think reading the prequels would also help a lot.

I want mantis shrimp contacts (I also like how the one scientist calls them "boy and girl shrimp")

What if they had a hive mind? It would be super creepy, is what.

I love ants! Slash, those ideas would be good for a scifi desert alien, too

Obviously, duh, they grow up into cloverfield monsters

seriously, it would make me gag in cleaning them up

a short snippet of a lexicon in FrankLisaSpeech

me: "mmh." - A Roslin-style hum for when I'm not saying out loud what I'm thinking in response to either a harebrained scheme or alcholic escapade, etc
Lisa: "Mmmmmm." - Lisa's version for the rare occasion she can't belt out what she's thinking
me and her: "Aiiiyaaa!" - frustation-noise
Lisa: "Huhfrank?" - an interjection, only inserted in the middle of sentences with no chance for me to respond, my imagined response apparently always being an affirmative agreement to back her up

More on Urijah Faber

From Wyatt, another hardcore dude - one of the few times it's ok to stab yourself

Man, I'd hate to have these growing in the bathroom

fuglyscariest tentacles, ever.

The Mist, with Thomas Jane and Marcia Harden. Would have been better in black and white to gloss over a bit of bad CGI, but we forgot about that option, alas. Still, mostly pretty damn good special effects, nonetheless. It stayed true to the story amazingly (down to a couple subtle Dark Tower refs), though I inexplicably remember a different ending entirely than Kim and the movie do, oddly. And daaaaaaamn what an ending it is, like whoa. The bit of pseudo-documentary style made me a little leary, but was nice by the end, and the "religious" woman who turns insane-zealot had the same effect on me between text and film, an almost urge to vomit. Kudos, movie! Great translation between formats of a great story! (Also, if you're a fan of the game Half Life, check out this parallel story for sure)

I think they should spraypaint plants on scifi shows to reflect this. Think of the fun camo variations!

Nice quote: "A yogi is someone who can turn every circumstance to his advantage." [ie, a lesson in every experience, an opportunity for practice...]

Typo from recipe for mango mochi: "Sieve glutinous rice flour, rice flour and satan powder into a big mixing bowl. Add in the oil."

Dr Seuss vs nudity? Crazy.

Oh my...Prince Philip is either trying to be funny in horribly bad taste, or is just a complete jerk....though, a funny one

Urijah Faber (my new fav fighter): dude is unreal

DOO, DOO, DOODOODOO, deedleedleedleDOODOODOO (heh, hard to type out 'Iron Man')

Iron Man, with Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Jeff Bridges. And a nice up and coming Arab actor, Faran Tahir. So, uh. Go see it. Right now. Downey is the perfect Tony Stark, there's a tiny Hulk cameo, plenty of other easter eggs through the end of the credits, action, a plot based on character development of the best kinds (ie, awesomeness coming from personal effort, or finding purpose through proper identification, etc), touches of hopeless-romantic, a narrative laced with echoing motifs, and heroics. Just. Yowza.

Wait, they're going to get even bigger?! Awesome. (brings back that old fear of Archie.....)

Have I mentioned how much I love Nike commercials? (nsfw peripheral ads, though)

I'm surprised there's not more commentary on a plant that has flowers and berries growing from the dang middle of the leaves

The River Wild, with Meryl Streep, Kevin Bacon (and I'm right, the ranger was Benjamin Bratt!). Streep is an odd kind of attractive, definitely not conventional. Actually, not a bad movie at all, but not one I'd ever go out of my way to see or even sit through, normally. It's...solid, but that's about it - the characters, unique idea, relationships, etc are all well put together. I suppose the photography in the midst of all the rapids must have been hella hard and exhausting, though, kudos on that.