Avatar is fantastic

I went to see Avatar today.
It's the first of the new generation of 3D movies that I have seen.
First off, this new 3D technology is really good. It took maybe 10-15 minutes for me to convince my brain to stop trying to focus my eyes for depth and keep them in 2D focus. After that the 3D effects were truly amazing. They didn't use the 3D as some novelty very often. Mostly it just allowed me to feel as though the whole movie was just more real. I even tried to dodge a few things that came flying out of the screen. Awesome.

Beyond the 3D, I really enjoyed the movie. It drew me in and I found myself getting quite tense when the good guys were struggling. The whole thing seemed believable and despite the use of quite a few good guy versus bad guy and heroic love story cliches I found myself totally engrossed.

The world of Avatar is lush, beautiful, and alien. I could criticize some of it, but instead I think I would prefer to simply enjoy it.

So to sum up...
If you have the chance, go see Avatar on a big screen in 3D.
Even if the story lets you down and you find flaws in the plot, it is worth seeing this world in it's full glory.

It is definitely worth the price of admission.

Mr. W out!

Welcome to... Late Nite With... ME!

I should have gone to bed just now. But that's not what I did.

IT SNOWED AGAIN TODAY!!!
It would have been 2 or 3 inches if it was actually cold enough for snow. As it is I got to see trees with green leaves covered in snow. And drooping. Snow is heavy for a leafy tree.

I was reminded to come and write by the song I was listening to. It was "Mr. E's Beautiful Blues".

It said, "Goddamn right it's a beautiful day." And I was reminded that I found this snowy early October day to be one goddamn beautiful day.

I thought I should share.
37 isn't really that cold.

Bleach on Adult Swim

For those who may not know:
Adult Swim is what cartoon network is called after 9 or 10pm (depending on your timezone).

Bleach is an anime series that airs at 11:30pm and 12am central on Saturday.

It ends in a cliffhanger most of the time. It did again tonight. So, just to vent. And not because anyone cares or even knows what I'm saying...

THE QUINCY HAS A SWORD!!!! HE IS GONNA KICK SO MUCH ASS!!!!

Next week is going to rock.

What was that?

SNOW!

We got our first snow last night!
Woohooo! The world of white draws near once again!

It was just a light snowfall, and it only lasted a few hours into the daytime but it was snow!

Exciting!

Oldboy

Oldboy is a S. Korean movie.
I watch quite a few movies from Japan, China and Korea.

But this one was a stand-out.
I really liked it, but I had no idea what I was getting into.

It was described as a story of revenge. And that is true to a point. But there is so much more to it. The revenge part is mostly relegated to the first third or half. Then it moves on to other topics. While revenge is still a driving force, there is more. And I would say it is deeply disturbing.

Sexual taboos are difficult things to deal with, and they play a large part in the resolution of this story. Although I had guessed correctly what one would be, I was not prepared for the other.

At the end I found myself sitting quietly for several minutes considering what I had just seen. I realized that I would be thinking about what I saw for quite some time. And I have been.

I have found that I can't stop telling people about it. Not in detail, but in a way similar to how I described it above. It seems to be living in my head. If you want to know what I'm talking about, it is available from Netflix. But fair warning, the revenge part does get somewhat bloody, and the rest... Well, it is very well done, but I would say that it is not easy to watch sometimes.

I love movies like this. But damn... I kinda wish I had been warned.

Thanks Ryan.

Justice!

Every day as I drive back and forth to work I go through this one little intersection where U-turns are not allowed. There are signs posted and everything. But lots of times I see people making U-turns there. Every time I see it I think, "Stupid jerk, obey the signs! You could have made a legal U-turn in about 100 yards."

But today...

Today on my way home I saw another person make that illegal U-turn. This time there was an unmarked police car right there to see it happen! The officer totally pulled that car over! And I laughed! I laughed and laughed and laughed!!! JUSTICE! I don't know if they got a ticket, but it certainly was satisfying.

TAKE THAT SUCKA!!!!!

Just breathe

"Oh I'm a lucky man, to count on both hands, the ones I love.
Some folks just have one, oh others they have none. Uh huh."

-- Pearl Jam

So good

Life has been good recently.
My sister has asked me for a big favor. I've never cared for a child in diapers before, but she has asked me to possibly be the one to care for my niece while my nephew is being born. I'm honored. And scared.

Work has been especially satisfying lately. It seems like I have been able to contribute more than usual. That is awesome.

Also I have been dreaming like crazy. Lots of strange or disturbing dreams. But that's good! Dreams mean I am sleeping well, and that has been a problem for me sometimes.

It also probably means that I'm anxious. Understandably so if I have to take care of my little niece all alone. Thanks sis.

And Pearl Jam is talking to me again.
"If something's lost, I wanna get it back again."

I do.
And I will.

I will get it back again.

"I got some if you need it"

Pearl Jam just released a new album!
It's called Backspacer.

AWESOME!

So far I love it.

It also occurred to me that I've been listening to them for nearly 20 years.
Wow.

From age 13 to 32.
Their music has been there for me the whole time. Giving me ideas. Giving me support. Asking for nothing but giving so much.

It's even strange to me how much they mean to me. How is it that people I've never met can play such a large part in my life?

I don't know... but I'm really glad that they've done what they've done.

Thank you Pearl Jam.

Hey Purple!

Stop that!

Stop creeping down my toe!

That's bad bruising!

BAD!
BAAAAAAAAAAAAD!

The long story...

Whether you've seen the picture or not... the damaged toe in the picture below was caused by a momentary distraction.

So, I have a sliding door.
It turns out that with a bit of ingenuity this door will support 2 window fans.
One on the bottom, one on the top.
The one on the top is held in place by a bar that holds the sliding door tight against the fan.

On August 28th I was putting the fans in place as I have done dozens of times before.
Then...
A MOMENTARY DISTRACTION!!!

And smash.
The fan fell 4 feet on to... my... foot.
Specifically the second toe on my right foot.

After a silent scream and nearly passing out twice I got the blood to stop dripping and everything was wrapped up in tissues and socks.

Now I suffer as I recover.
But today went well, and the toe hurts less every day.

But still...
Seriously...

ouch

AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Smashed!

An ode to my toe.

Poor toe.
Didn't deserve it.

Actually...
I didn't either.

This level of pain
is clearly uncalled for, right?
Now I can't walk right.

Wow, it's been a long time...

Hi blog.
I know I don't post often.
I'm sorry.

It's all my fault.

I feel inspired though, so here we go.

I just happened to step outside and I noticed something.

I lived in California for a long time. The nights there were quiet. This evening I stepped outside around 9pm and I noticed how loud the world was. There were frogs, crickets, and various other animal noises coming from everywhere.

Most of the time I think how nice it would be to move back to California, but every now and then I notice the cool things about living in Minnesota. Things like the loud night. I love that there is so much natural noise happening around me at night. The frogs. The bugs. Their symphony of the night is something I will miss when I move back out west.

I don't know when I'll move back... but I still want to.

For now, I'll just continue to enjoy myself here. Because the land of 10,000 lakes really does have a whole lot to enjoy.

I'll talk to you later blog.
(I hope you don't hate me for neglecting you.)

Darth Vader.... you're toast.

No, seriously. Look at this:

Not only that! Now you're buttered!!!

Dark lord of the Sith eh?
More like DELICIOUS lord of the Sith!

BWA-HA-HA-HA!!!!!


(Thanks Mom!)

Mr. W is off to snack on Sith lords.

That didn't come out right...

My last post was not supposed to degenerate into a screed railing against the terrible job the government and the financial community have done in taking care of the economy.

It was supposed to be a post for me to reflect on how I feel about what these things have done to people around me.

It was supposed to be a place for me to express the unreasonable amount of sadness I feel about it.

That seems a bit extreme.
But it's not for just one person.
There was another announcement today that results in probably 18-24 other people losing their jobs. I know I'm being rather vague, but I have to. I'm not supposed to spread personnel information... but I figure that if I don't really reveal any details I can still talk about it.

I can't help but put myself into the shoes of these people.
Especially my ex-manager.
And it hurts.

My day was ruined fifteen minutes after I got to work.

But this doesn't make sense.
Nothing bad happened to me. Me and my job are both doing fine.

Yet I feel so sad.
It's as though my sense of empathy is on overdrive.

Damn it.

This recession sucks.

Changes come

Thanks to the poor state of the economy I got a new manager at work today.

The position that my manager filled until yesterday no longer exists. Now my group has been rolled in under a different manager.

I'm not happy.

It's not that I don't like the change. I rather like the person that is now my manager. And the change even makes sense from a business perspective
The problem is that I feel so bad for my previous manager. This is a terrible time to need to find a job. And even though I didn't know him well, he really seemed like a good guy, and I hate to see things like this happen to people and know that there was nothing they could do about it. By all accounts he was doing a fine job. But the poor economy.... THE GREED OF PEOPLE WHO WERE ALREADY WEALTHY!!!! has robbed him of his job.

I'm really just angry.
The government that should have been watching out for us all divested itself of responsibility and failed us all. It let the greedy and the wealthy dictate the rules and now we all get to suffer.

It really is maddening.

It's a new record!

I filed my taxes today.
A new personal best. January 22.
That beats my previous best of January 29 by like... 7everal days.


Now I just have to wait for the money to come rolling in.
Just like the last bunch of years I'm gonna get about a grand.
That's cool.

.... better than my raise this year anyway...
stupid economy
I WANT MORE MONEY!

c'est la vie.