Who Watches the Watchmen...in IMAX

So as you can tell from my subject line, I got to see The Watchmen. Wigster and I went to IMAX yesterday. The movie was EPIC. Unfortunately, I didn't get a chance to read the graphic novel before seeing the movie, which is half laziness half inability to buy it half not knowing anyone who owned it to borrow it from (except Ricky but that doesn't help because he's on the other side of the state). Still, I went into the movie with certain expectations from what I've read in Entertainment Weekly and what bits and pieces I did know about the comic. Ironically, Wig and I know more about the Watchmen than his brother who actually works in a comic book store for a living. Ironically, Wig did get to read part of the comic and it was one of the few parts that was changed. It was Rorshach's flashback to when he was looking for a kidnapped girl, and he found out a guy murdered her and fed her to his dogs. In the comic, Rorshach handcuffed the killer to a furnace then gave him a hacksaw and set the house on fire, watching as it burned to the ground and no one escaped, whereas in the movie he handcuffs the man to the furnace but instead hacks him to pieces. I loved the cinematography and the aptly chosen and placed music. Entertainment Weekly complained a bit that the scenes were too close-up and cramped in their effort to look like a comic book and it prevented scenes from playing out and moving naturally. I think the comic book panel-esque scene blocking was perfect since it IS a comic book. It made it look like a live-action comic book which was the intention all along. My only beef was: too much blue penis. Don't get me wrong, I'm not offended or uncomfortable - I love cock. But it was unecessary. I mean, Dr Manhattan doesn't need to wear clothes - he's beyond clothes at this point since he's pure energy and time and whatever - but he can. Sometime's he's got a blue Speedo-thing on, and he can even dress up in a suit and tie. Why doesn't he wear that blue Speedo all the time? I mean, is he beyond modesty too? I don't understand how the other characters didn't get distracted in the middle of important conversations. Imagine, "We're close to nuclear war. We got to...um..." *eyes slowly shift downward* "uh....Jeez, John! Cover up, I can't concentrate!!" At least it was proportionate. I was expecting something gargantuan the way everyone in the media was commenting on it. I just feel bad because the guy has perpetual blue balls and there's nothing he can do about it. They'll always be blue...


Anyway, a random fact: David Hayter, who wrote the screenplay adaptation of Watchmen is also the voice of Solid Snake from the Metal Gear Solid video game series. He also co-wrote the screenplays to X-Men and X2. You never know, that might be a question on Cash Cab. I could've just won you $50. You'll be thanking me.

But we also enjoyed Fuddrucker's because Phantom Gourmet has some "March Meal Deals" and one of them was a 1/3 burger, fries and a soda for only $4.99 which is mad cheap for Fuddrucker's, plus we haven't had it in forever. One of the most delicious hamburgers you could ever eat. We had, like an hour to kill because we went straight there from doing errands so we wandered around Jordan's, which is a labrynth of furniture. Everytime I go through that store, I just go deeper and deeper into the bedroom section or the home office section and then I don't know how to get back to the theater. But we made it back to civilization in due time. I always try to pick out what kind of furniture I'd get for my future house. They had sculptures that were giant versions of Monopoly pieces. They had them all: the racecar, the shoe, the thimble the top hat. I want them! But they were $70 each. Still they're so deliciously random and kitschy. There was also an ottoman that looked like a giant dice, so I'd love to get all those together and paint a floor like a giant Monopoly board so I could play giant Monopoly. The money could be beach towels LOL. Do you find it wrong that only one company makes the game Monopoly? (Think about it...thank you Steven Wright)

So yay I got a new phone finally. I decided to renew my contract with Sprint just one last time (because I have a severe learning disability and I can't tell shitty service from good service). It's just cheaper. With my grandfather's government discount, my plan is only $35. I don't want to spend extra - even if it's for a better plan - right now. So, I have another 2-year contract and once that's up I'll be finally at a better paying job and I can move on to a slightly more expensive but significantly better plan. Besides, I wanted the Samsung Rant and that's a Sprint exclusive. It's so pretty and shiny and purple and it charges properly!!! I'm excited to have a great phone for once. YAY!

Amusing Friday...A Musing Friday

I had a funny moment w/a customer today: she just happened to be quite large and she decided to take advantage of our Buy one Get on Half Off on the 20-packs of Philips AAs. She literally said, "Never have too many batteries. I eat through them...not literally." I'm thinking, "Did she just make a fat joke about herself or just making a joke about figures of speech?!" So I just politely chuckled, but that phrase choice is just priceless right there.
Then Flav and Ricky stopped by unexpectedly, so that was a pleasant surprise. I couldn't persuade either one to buy a Wii though. Although I will admit, if you're only casually into playing video games, the DS would be the better choice. It's more casual-gamer-friendly and there's a bigger variety.
Everyone is familiar with my cheesy string of composer puns (I'll be right Bach, can you Handel it? I'm going Chopin...etc). Well, today I came up with a great idea for a children's pop-up book that teaches about classical music and composers. It'd be titled "Hayden Go Seek." It's so clever I'm afraid it's already taken, so I'm going to have to research that. It's a slightly better idea than my old classmate James Peters' movie idea: "Bach to the Future." I don't think that the great German and Austrian composers of the Baroque and Classical eras realized the extent of punniness their names would amount to.
Then I was looking at stuff on Etsy, namely stuff with skeleton keys and vintage typewriter keys, and I found one made with a really rare typewriter key for a punctuation mark known as an interrobang, which is a combination question mark and exclamation point. Y'know, for when you have to exlaim something incredulously like "He did what?!" Instead of using both a question mark and and an exclamation point you'd just need the interrobang. First off, I just love the name: it combines the word interrogate with BANG! It's a question with pizzazz! Actually, it's because "bang" is printer's slang for exclamation point. It kinda makes sense. It's for sentences with a bang. But now I'm thinking "Damn, that would've made a great band name, or company name." You already have a built-in logo. But now it's too late. Wig would never rename Umbilical Cord and I don't have the wherewithal to start my own band, and I'm kinda already established as StringTheory101 on Etsy. But yeah, the interrobang. It was invented in the 60s and was basically only used in printing and on typewriters for the 60s and 70s. It was a fad - and I didn't think you could have punctuation fads. That'd be like not using semi-colons anymore.
So when I got home from work today and brought in the mail, there was one of those "We're sorry we missed you" things from the Post Office for when they can't drop off a package cuz they need a signature. So it's for me, it's certified mail and it's a letter, not a box or anything like that. So I'm hoping this is my long-awaited degree from Berklee. We'll see tomorrow before work. Woot. Also my tax return dropped into my bank account either yesterday or today so now I got a huge chunk o'money with which to pay bills. Yay! And it'll be gone in less than a month...
Where do all those people come from in the Verizon commercials? I mean one minute there's no one, and the next there's an army of IT guys and operators. And if you need that many people per account making sure it's working right, then your service isn't as good as you make it sound. I think I'm gonna stick with Sprint and their pretty laser light shows LOL
Well, that's enough amusing musings for now. I somehow lost 3 hours because last time I checked it was 8 and now it's 11...so I think it's time to put the computer away and either do something productive or call it an early night and get some much-needed rest

Long Time No Post

Yeah, I've been lazy, I know. I haven't updated my blog in weeks. I haven't been on Facebook either. I'm not good at this online social networking thing, so sue me LOL.

Anyway, I've been surviving, doing the same ol' same ol'. A couple weeks ago Wig's father took us to see Gary Charone perform with his Who cover band at Tequila's in Danvers. Fitzy (yes I call my future father-in-law by his nickname. I call my future husband by his nickname. They're both Seans, it's just easier this way) has been close friends with Charone since high school and actually used to tag along on Extreme's tours once in a while. They even have an inside joke together. ("Sides of cows," since Fitzy knew a butcher and could actually get a whole side of a cow worth of steaks and would give some to the band) It's not the biggest deal knowing someone from Extreme since the band was made up of people from Medford and Malden, but Extreme was pretty big in the 80s and 90s and Gary Charone was also in Van Halen. Anyway, the show was awesome. I don't know a lot of Who music, basically the common songs like Baba O'Reilly, My Generation, Tommy, etc but they put on a hell of a show, especially Charone who was all over the place. I kind of hate going to see shows in small, cramped bars and clubs like that because people just shove you around, you can't see shit and it's wicked hot and stuffy but I endured. The funny thing is they had to temporarily shut the show down because the fire marshall had to make sure we weren't over the max capacity. So they made everyone leave and stand out in the parking lot until the bar was completely empty, then shuffled us back in single file so they could physically count us. We lingered as long as we could and were some of the last people out so were were some of the first back in which meant once we got back we were right up front near the stage, which improved the cramped situation a bit. The show continued and it was funny, Charone kept leaning against the people in the first 2 rows, especially this one large girl, and at one point he just laid right on top of the first 2 rows' shoulders. I'm surprised no one dropped him LOL. Anway, we were supposed to meet up w/him after the show but because of having to stop in the middle and how late it was and how long it probably would've taken to wait for him, we didn't stick around and Fitzy said he'd call and try to set up going to a rehearsal instead. Wig's already met him twice, once when he was younger and again probably 3 or 4 years ago. It's good that he's got some business connections as he tries to get Umbilical Cord off the ground. Too bad his dad's marriage didn't work out, his former stepmom Maria had a lot of connections - including being friendly enough with Led Zeppelin's Robert Plant to have gone bowling with him on numerous occasions.

I also finally took up exercising daily again. Since purchasing Wii Fit, I did it every day or almost every day - up until early September when I got really sick for a whole week. I just couldn't get back into the swing of things and then was really busy w/the holiday season, but since 2 weeks ago I've been doing it daily again (except for last Friday, Sunday and yesterday). When I was weighed for the first time since Christmas, I had dropped to 131...I was floored. Last time I weighed myself i was 135 - how did I lose 4 pounds doing nothing?! In the past two weeks I've fluctuated between 128 and 132 as I get reaccustomed to exercising and trying to improve my diet. No matter what, I'm finally in the Normal BMI bracket. Sure the Wii balance board isn't the most accurate piece of machinery, but it is pretty damn close.

Then Sunday, I got my car towed for the first time ever. Not realizing it was going to be considered a snow emergency because there wasn't that much snow on the ground, I parked on Wig's street all night and when I left at midnight, the entire street was empty. I'm like "FUCK!!!" So, I had to call home to get picked up then drive over to Export and pay $122.05 in cash to get my car out. I didn't get home until 130 between getting yelled at over the phone, waiting for my mom, calling Export, then actually going to Export and getting the car. The stupidest thing is the fact that Wig's neighbors recently moved out and I can park in their driveway until the house gets rented or sold again but I don't like doing this often because I don't want to suddenly be smacked with a trespassing charge. Plus everyone knows how much of a bitch it is to back out of a driveway on Harvard St, especially when this house is right by the intersection of Main St. So I usually only use it as a last resort. I should've parked there Sunday, but I forgot about the fact that they tow people off that street when there's a snow emergency. Still I got my car back no problem - except that I'm $123 broker with a $25 parking ticket on top of that - at least I have a little more time to pay that. Good thing my tax return should be coming in the next week or so.

I was supposed to spend today getting a lot of things done and I failed. After my workout I was going to take pictures of some of my finished jewelry and post it on Etsy, post some more stuff on eBay, apply for a substitute teaching job, play some violin for the first time in almost 2 years, and finish some Brain Slugs. So far, I've taken pictures of my jewelry and posted them on Etsy. It doesn't help that I didn't wake up until 1030. Then I sat half-naked and watched Crocodile Dundee instead of getting dressed - I'm so lethargic in the morning and it takes forever to get me moving regardless of how much sleep I got, and I don't know why. But finally I got up and did my workout and it was about 1PM by time I was done. So I had some lunch and got to doing the pictures - which took forever because the lighting in my room sucks and it took forever to get halfway decent pictures. I also had to check my email since I failed to do so yesterday and was pretty backed up - lots of surveys and Publisher's Clearing House entries LOL. Then I could finally start posting to Etsy. I posted, like 7 new items. I have a bunch more guitar pick earring and 2 new hemp necklaces. I finished that about halfway through Jeopardy. I'm going to apply for that sub job now and then either do some crocheting or reorganize my DVDs, books, CDs and games. Probably the crocheting, cuz the organzing takes hours and I don't want to be up all night. But I've been putting it off for too long and I won't have time the rest of this week. We'll see. But I wanted to get a blog in so that all two people who read my blog don't think I'm dead, which is almost worthless because one of those two people I talk to on the phone on an almost-daily basis. LOL.