I have not abandoned wordpress completely, check out my other blog The Dairi Burger.

2. The use of Phillip Glass music during Dr. Manhattan’s backstory.

3. My surprise at thinking Ozmandias was not too cheesy. They beefed up his costume and made him a bit more creepy.

4. Rorshach! The way his mask changed. And usually I don’t like voice-overs, but this totally worked.

5. The Comedian- JDM did a good job, and he was portrayed well as a total asshole.

What I din’t like:

1. Malin Akerman as Silk Spectre. Ugh.

2. The Silk Spectre/Nite Owl sex scene. Really gratuitous.

3. The really bad CGI animation on Mars. Guess you can’t really do it another way.

4. Dr. manhattan seemed to be in a comas the whole time.

5. Leaving out the comic within a comic. Then again, it would have been 5 hours long.

2. Someone from high school who I barely talked to then. Why the hell would I want to see pics of their bachelorette party in Atlantic City?

3. Someone I don’t know who perhaps knows me from reading my blog. Ok, it’s flattering, but since I have ognored it three times and they keep persisting, doncha think they could at least tell me who they are?

4. My neighbors. I kind of want to remain a mystery to them.

5. The executive director of my department at work. Uh, great to see he’s down with the young people, but do I really need the person who signs my paycheck to see the hundreds of pics of my cat?

Today: Things that annoy me about the show Lost.

1. There are still supposedly like 40 or so survivors, ann they are all just extras. Are we supposed to think that all that matters is the lead characters? No one wants to step up to0 them and tell them to stop hogging the spotlight?

2. They are always able to track someone through the jungle based on if one leaf is out of place or something. They’s been stomping around for weeks, you don’t think it could be an old set of tracks?

3. Kate has like a billion tank tops.

4. No one complains about their period. Can you imagine your time of the month on a hot beach with no bathroom?

5. Kate chooses Jack over Sawyer? Have you SEEN Sawyer?

I eagerly went to see Religulous, although I knew it would be preaching to the choir. However, I was squirming the whole time. Mostly because of Bill Maher. Sad thing is, I kind of agree with him, but he is such a smug asshole about it. Everyone he interviewed, he would ask them a question, and then not even let them answer the question! I do appreciate a good debate, and although I also agree that believing the bible is truth, there are people out there that can rationally explain their beliefs, and even if he allowed those people to be in the documentary, he wouldn’t let them talk. His goal was to humiliate everyone he talked to, not have a conversation. And Bill, you’re really not that funny.

I think his idea that people are just crazy for believing religion was also totally privileged, White and easy for him, because he denounces religion, his family isn’t going to disown him or worse, have him condemned to death. I think most non-American fundamentalists don’t wake up and actively CHOOSE their believes, but they are socialized into it and don’t exactly have the luxury of turning away from it. Do you think a younf Muslim girl is going to one day throw off her head covering because she one day decides that having a religion and a moral code so embedded into her life is ridiculous?

There are also several, perhaps millions of Americans who believe in faith perhaps to have a set of morals and to find a community. Not saying that’s something I’d be into, but that is a totally different thing than believing the bible is truth. And he totally ignores that. And every time he turned to the camera and rolled his eyes during an interview, I wanted to punch him. He represents the kind of smug liberalism that I hate.

But anyway, my foray into studying about religions has made me think about how people who have “found God” are generally happier people, maybe? I’m miserable and an atheist, so maybe if I found a religion I wouldn’t be so miserable all the time. However, what is making me happy is ultimately an illusion, so is that better?

Don’t get me wrong, I am 100% atheist and I do believe all our emotions and connections and behaviors and being is the result of biological chemicals in our brain.

However, I so want to visit the Holy Land Experience in Orlando. The Romans breaking out into song as they crucify Jesus totally sold me.

I saw Choke last night and I had low expectations because as you know, movies based on books never do it for me. And, for me, whatever Chuck Palahnuik writes is descended from heaven, so how can anything ever live up? Plus, there’s something about his writing style that just can’t be translated to movie form. Except if you’re David Fincher and you can put in stylistic weirdness that sets the mood.

However, I feel the best work that could have been done was done. Firstly, the casting was perfect. Sam Rockwell continues to be my new creepy husband, and I thought Denny was great, although he was a poor man’s Seth Rogan.

The adaptation was good as well, and it literally followed the same story and sequence, with dialogue taken directly from the book. Like I mentioned, despite following the story pretty closely, there is just something that is lost from the author’s style. Like in the books, he doesn’t reveal too much about characters, and they are characters that you never think would exist in real life, so seeing them in the flesh almost ruins the affect.

I thought the scenes filmed in the colonial theme park were some of the best of the adaptation, and the film did capture the total absurdness of the whole ordeal.

But, here is my major gripe: The ENDING WAS CHANGED TO MAKE IT MORE HOLLYWOOD. Something about Chuck’s books (yes, we are on a first-name basis) is that when they end, the story is often not wrapped up and the turn of events often goes to bleak. However, since their was a “romantic storyline” in this movie, I guess someone told the director they needed to use that. Also, Page Marshall’s delusion was totally changed; in the book, she believes she is sent from the future with a mission to be impregnated so that she can bring the embryo back to her future so she can cure a plague. She later escapes and she and Victor form a weird, bizarre relationship. In the movie she’s just a stressed out medical student who lives a happily ever romance with Victor, or so we are told. Fucking Hollywood.

It would be interesting to see the movie through the eyes of someone who has never read of or heard of the novel.

Speaking of movie adaptations, Blindness opens next week. I’m excited because you know how much I love apocolypse scenarios. It will also be interesting because in the book, none of the characters are actually given names.

I’m not sure what to think of American Virgin, a comic that I heard was really good. It seemed a little over the top for me. Although a good discussion of sexuality and religion. No doubt the drawing is awesome, but the dialogue is a little over the top. You know you’ve become a comic geek when you find some drawn characters very attractive. Zoinks!

John put it best when he said: “It’s like someone threw rom-com scenarios into a bowl and picked out 5 and then spun a globe and picked whatever location they landed on and then gave it to high school students to write the script.” Best Friend Fall in love when best friend gets engaged? Wacky pairing of womanizer and nerdy girl? Check. Unrealistic portrayal of life in New York City? Wedding Hijinks? Check. Wedding involves family of a different culture and hilarity ensues? Double Check.

Firstly, Patrick Dempsey is supposed to be 32. 32 my ass! He and the love interest, Hannah, meet in college when he climbs into her bed at night after a party and sexually molests her. Fun! You’ve got your potpourri of gender norm jokes, homophobia for comedy’s sake, the overweight bridesmaid trying to fit onto her dress as a subplot, and bad slapstick. Hannah is supposed to be the smart, educated girl, but of course she falls for the rich guy because he’s well, rich. She is swept away by Lucius Vorenus and they have a wedding in Scotland where they can then show the word Scottish people.

She knows that Lucius is not for her when at the rehearsal dinner, he won’t let her have a bite of his chocolate cake. And of course at the last minute, which means right when she is at the altar, she changes her mind and goes with Patrick Dempsey. Big surprise. I sometimes am embarrassed with the cavalier attitude that these movies have towards weddings; it’s a like a big fuck you to gay people in that we can just have weddings and call them off willy nilly.

So how bad was it?

Let’s just say that Patrick Dempsey decides to go for Hannah when he realizes that he is able to say I love you to a dog. Then he steals a horse to go crash the wedding.

I don’t know why this was made. Actually, I do. It was because Lindsay wanted a venue where she could do a stripping scene and a horrible sex scene. And it looks like she got her moves from amateur porn. Sadly, an Out Hud song was used in this. I’ve lost a little respect for them.

So how bad was it?

It’s not like it was horrible, it was just a bunch of random scenes spliced together. The plot, if you can call it that, is that some stripper alcoholic had twins and wealthy parents bought one of them. And some killer was after one of them and put her in a box underground. But the stripper’s daughter is thought to be the other gal and thought to have amnesia. And….yea, other stuff happens. Not at all scary.

Coming up: Jaws: The Revenge, Gigli, Made of Honor

I have to say, although it’s even more over the top than seasons 1 and 2, there is something about this show that totally speaks to me. And I am being serious. Think Arrested Development but on crack. Think lots of purposefully offensive storylines and remarks, unlikely scenarios, and people talking over each other all the time, and you’ve got this. A total Jem in my eyes. Oh, and also throw in my kind of off not-so-mainstream attractiveness, and I’m a fan for life.

He gets a little sappy, but he does have a knack for being descriptive about characters. Present is the guy who is mean on the outside but with a heart of gold who selflessly takes someone under their wing that does nothing to deserve it (like My Friend Leonard). It’s also like an ethnography of Los Angeles, and more of an ode to the city and its characters.

• I saw The Dark Knight and was very underwhelmed. Let the hate begin.
• I have cared 0% percent about the elections. Let the hating begin.
• I watched Dexter Season 2 and was totally sucked in. How good is a show that makes you side with the serial killer? The suspense was good, not cheesy, and we saw a “human” side of Dexter. Michael C. Hall needs 20 Emmy Awards.
• Starting watching Skins on BBC America, and it’s touch and go for me.
• Along with The Dairi Burger, started a Little House on the Prairie blog, because I can’t get enough of blogs.
• Started writing about The Hills for film.com; that show is so fun to hate.
• Read a ton, but more about that later.

In my new place, if I lean out my balcony, I can see a palm tree. Barely. Now I really feel like I am living in California.

Def. not as good as its predecessor. So, books sequels are like movie sequels, never as good. This one tried to hard to be cute and witty. Although the first-person narrative of the goth teenager was pretty funny and spot-on.

I’ll try other Christopher Moore, novels, but after I get through my humongous reading list.

Furthermore, it seems like every band I had previously loved released something this year so far, and I was utterly let down.

• I don’t think I can call Nada Surf my favorite band; The Proximity Effect and Let Go were positively genius, the two releases after that, including this year’s Lucky, were so boring I gave it one listen and then tossed it aside.
• The Music’s self-titled debut slated them as the next Led Zeppelin, but the two albums since that have been postively mediocre.
• The Raconteurs: I’m actually eh about it, I actually prefer a White Stripes album. I hope another comes out soon.
• I can’t believe the Dandy Warhols are still releasing albums, they should have quit in the late 90s when they were actually good.
• Mudhoney, a legendary grunge band that paved the way for Soundgarden and Nirvana, released an album this year and no one blinked. It sounded the same as everything that do, but in the context it seemed awkward. The music scene is not what it used to be.
• Death Cab for Cutie has been spewing out albums as fast as the CW is spwewing out teen shows to feature them, in my opinion, 1999′s “Photos in an Exhibition” were their peak.
• Phantom Planet hit their peak with The Guest- did anyone even realize there hase been 2 albums since then? Not even worth it.
• Yea, Weezer “reunited” and released another album. I don’t know how Rivers Cuomo can sleep at night knowing the mediocrity he produces. Nothing great since the Green album, and that’s even debatable.
• The Stills new album? They were totally phoning it in.

Well, there’s still two months and maybe everything that comes out will wow me. We’ll see.

Now, time to get a but more positive:

• The Black Kids album is positively infectious. Nothing too deep, just tunes that stay in your head.
• Before this, I just couldn’t get into the Magnetic Fields, but Distorition totally wowed me. I even gave their previous stuff another chance, but for some reason this album is the only one that appealed to me.
• Sons and Daughers: it seems this is one of the few bands left whose albums get progressively better.
• Santogols is a poor man’s MIA, but still pretty good.
• The Subways play it loud and fast. That hooks me every time.
• The Teenagers were a wild card. Lots of talking and weird Frenchness.
• Annie: better than most of the pop music out there. Will she ever gain mainstream popularity: I’d trade Duffy, Katy Perry and Danity Kane for her.
• Calexico’s albums all sound exactly the same to me, but if works, don’t try to fix it.

I blame my incessant watching of VH1 Classic for my cynicism about music. I reminds me of all the awesome bands of the bast: Jesus & Mary Chain, Motley Cru, The Cult, Faith No More and how nothing compares.

OMFG! I just opened mine eyes, and lo! I have not updated this since people stopped clapping and Tinkerbell died… You would not believe how hard it is being waited on hand and foot and generally lounging around. Seriously!.

I am flat out with work, driving from one end of the city to the other, just generally being the life of the party to my cats, my day is full to bursting from 8am to 11pm at which point I fall asleep on the couch. I am avoiding recapture. I need some perspective.

I swear on my mother’s grave that when the weather turns bad, I will blog more often. Honestly! Don’t hold your breath though, you’re likely to turn blue..

The good news? I got a promotion at work. The job is totally different than the one I am currently doing, which several of you know that I was growing to resent. Now I’ll be mostly managing information and processes instead of people. The best part? I no longer am required to live where I work. That means I now have to find an apartment in the most expensive area of the country. It’s going to be a blast. But, at least I can live like a fucking adult.

Mr. Fantastic looks kind of dumb...I’m already nervous that this is gonna blow.

Well, I got what I wished for…The Luxe is dramatic, trashy historical fiction. Although this was officially a young adult book, I expected it to be better. It’s like Gossip Girl/Sweet Valley High set in the turn of the century New York City. One gal is posed to be society’s sweetheart, but fkaes her own death so she could run off with the stable boy. Woops, I gave away the ending.

I watched the first episode and thought I would hate it. The character of Hank Moody was a depressed, woman-hating asshole. However, as I watched it, I realized he was awesome. The writing is good, although not much happens, and the daughter is mega-annoying. Evan Handler and whoever plays his wife are pretty fantastic as well. Evan Handler’s talents were totally wasted in Sex and the City. I was totally into it right until the end when they pulled the biggest cliche EVER and it totally lost my respect.

Oh, and David Duchovny? DM!

She’s like Rachael Ray and Jessica Wakefield’s illegitamite love child. She struts around screaming “I’m so adorable” and flirts shamelessly with every guy she meets in every town. ANd they make it seem like she just happens to meet all the cool people in the city and they want to hang out with her. Um, perhaps it’s because she has a camera crew with her? And there always has to be a shopping-fashion montage with her modeling clothes. Ugh. But I like it anyway.

I am totally late for getting on this bandwagon but sometimes I am wary of sketch comedy. And, to pull this one: I knew about these performers back in the day when they were mere improv performers at the Upright Citizens Brigade theater in nyc. And pretty fucking good. (Respecto Montalban are my heroes.) Plus Rob Huebel is totally my husband. Unfortunately, he now dies his hair brown but as a true fan I know he is really a total silver fox. Plus, there was a time I was sitting in the front row and he was wearing a speedo for a skit. I digress.

Some of it seems forced, but some skits are freaking hilarious. Especially the parody of the three alien bad guys from Superman Three. Oh, and Shutterbugs. Oh, and the indie rock promoter.

Even better, it got me to realize just how fucking awesome Wham! was. Pure genius. Too bad George is embarrassed about it and didn’t play a lot of Wham!. Their songs were pretty fantastic and the kitchiness of their presentation gives me a pop culture orgasm. Also, why were people scandalized when George came out? I mean, just what in the hell is going on here? Chelloooo!!

I for one am totally anticipating the tell-all autobiography he is supposedly writing. More importantly, I want to get inside Andrew Ridgely’s mind. What is he up to? According to Wikipedia, he married a gal from Bananarama. You go Andy, you go.

And now may I present my favorite George Michael moments. I am sure George is not proud of some of these. In fact, expect some major cringing when it happens.

“Father Figure” To me this video was soooo scandalous when I first saw it. And I barely understood it! And I still don’t! So relationship violence and stalking are hot? Ok! It made me think I was cool because I had bangs.

“I’m Your Man” George did this in concert and they played the video on the background. The whole place collectively orgasmed, myself included. Watch George “act” in the prelude. It’s Oscar worthy. Also, this is the debut of one of his signature hip swaying moves, one of only about three moves he has.

“Everything She Wants” Oh, George, now she says that she’s having your baby, how much harder do you need to work for her? George and Andrew show us their second signature move, spinning around in unison. Also, the highlight at the 3:08 mark: George is disgusted by the woman in his bed. Are you telling us something, George????????

“Freedom” Oh wow, how condescending. Wham! does their first tour in China and they’re all look at all these adorable Chinese people! Aw, look they go to work! They ride bikes! They fence! They’re just like us white people! Highlights: at the 3:24 mark, Andrew gets all rock star at a press conference. At 3:40, they play a round of soccer in some tight sweatpants. Yeeks! at 5:30, there is evidence that Milli Vanilli stole their moves from Wham!

“Careless Whisper” Nothing to say but it’s a fucking awesome song. How come saxophones aren’t used as much anymore?

“Prayin’ For TIme” This is just ridiculous. Apparently George was too busy perfecting his five o clock shadow look, and didn’t have time to make a video, so some geeky tech dude just put up the lyrics.

“Wake My Up Before you Go-Go” Oh, the classic. In my vision George chose his own outfits. Hmmm, color-block short shorts, pink sweatshirt and yellow fingerless gloves? Why not? The black light portion is a must-see.

“Monkey” Ok, this may be a throwaway single that no one remembers, but I have fond memories of this one. George dresses as a gay Amish person spliced with concert scenes. Genius!

“Club Tropicana” ZOMG! Wham! video or gay porn? can’t even WATCH this! The cringe factor!

“Edge of Heaven” This was apparently Wham!’s farewell single, so why not go out in style. I love live-in-concert videos that do not utilize any microphones or amplifiers. Note to George, please lose the jeans with no back pockets as well as the cropped fringe jackets. But that’s just me.

And the best…..

“Too Funky” The art direction on this video would make Dave LaChappelle cry. I could watch this over and over. Highlight: a teenage Tyra Banks. Other highlight: I was totally into the bike mirror corset.

I am really wondering what kind of statement for Price walking around in the nude has. I mean, sure, it’s about expressing your sexuality and loving your body I suppose, but that is so not necessary. I’m talking about both men and women. Call me old fashioned. Go ahead.

It is pretty fucking cool, right down to the fun noise it makes! Although, I do feel like it is growing a mind of its own, and, quite frankly, silently judging me. For some reason, no matter what I do, it keeps recording Stargate SG-1. What is it trying to tell me?