Movie : Drag Me to Hell

I don't think I've seen more shots of blood, bugs, vomit, embalming fluid, drool, or mucus splashes to the face in my life.

Recommend? Why, of course I do!

Movie : Avatar in IMAX 3D

While no T2, I am glad James Cameron is back.

Recommend? Yes! Worth the $36 (including $6 Dr. Pepper).

Movie: The Fantastic Mr. Fox

Wes Anderson directs a stop-motion movie based on the Raold Dahl book. Most of the voices are standard Wes Anderson actors, doing standard low-key, deadpan Wes Anderson acting. Hmmph.

Recommend? It's Fantastic! Best Wes Anderson Movie since Rushmore!

Movie: New Moon (The Tw1l1ght S@g@!!!!!1!)

Maggie said everyone looked constipated for two hours. And she was the one who wanted to see it.

Recommend? There's a cool Thom Yorke song in the movie, and the actress playing Alice is pretty cute, but I guess you can listen to the song on youtube ("hearing damage") while browsing pictures of cute girls, so, you know...

Video Game: New Super Mario Bros. Wii

Mario. 2-D. Old School. Up to 4 players at the same time? I can pick up other people and throw them or bounce off their heads? I think I dreamed of this game in 1993!

Recommend? Me and Maggie played through world one as a (slightly combative, bickering) team..."You made me fall in the hole!" "You took my fire flower!" "Wait for me!" Then we beat one of the Koopa Kids. Tomorrow, the desert world!

Opera : Fall of the House of Usher

This was my very first opera. At first I thought it was going to be pretty neat, since there was a guy acting all agonizing over a letter. And then projectors started up, and all kinds of flashing computer animated pillars and trees and writhing women behind doors showed up on the stage. And then after thirty minutes of this I realized that there wasn't a set built for this opera, and the set was supposed to be in my imagination, and aided by the random flashing images. I think there were about twelve lines of lyrics throughout the whole thing, and mostly a screaming woman and then more flashing images.

Recommend? I left at intermission....

Book: The Lost Symbol, by Dan Brown

Hey Dan Brown, I have some symbol trivia for you. What comes next in this list of symbols:

A, B, C, D, E, F, G, ???

Did you guess 'H'?? Did you guess 'H' because, when you go in an order that everyone knows, you can easily predict what comes next? Do you see where I am going Dan Brown?? Can you read between these lines and see where I am going Dan Brown?!?!?

Recommend? No. Decipher this code, Dan Brown: "F.U."

Movie: Paranormal Activities

It's like the Blair Witch Project! And you think "whoa, I just know this is going to get really creepy" and then you think it does... but then it's over. But you really do think it does!!!

Recommend: I think on dvd when you are all alone and maybe a little drunk....

Movie: District 9

A bureaucrat is in charge of relocating an alien slum, and gets himself in some trouble. There are crazy gun battles, some vomiting, and a great robot battle suit.

Recommend: Highly!

Movie: Moon

Guy working on moon has an accident, and wakes up to find he's not the only one of himself!

Recommend: Best movie of 2009, no contest!

Star Trek

It was loud, and fast, and yet even while watching it I could tell that it didn't make a lot of sense. Afterwords, it makes less sense. The characters were pretty good, but the stuff they did, and especially the stuff they said, was kind of dumb. The alternate universe device was well-applied. Old Spock did alright but pronounced a couple of the stupider plot points. Supernovas destroying galaxies? Black holes sucking up supernovas like vacuum cleaners?

Recommend: I understand why it had to be done. Maybe the next one will have a little bit of "science fiction" worked into it, and a scene or two of characters talking about something other than their feelings. Recommend.

Coffee : Southern Comfort Blend

This was our first of 16 speciality coffees in a coffee sampler pack.  It sounds like a winner, right?  It's in a bright red bag and has the Southern Comfort quality logo!  The package says it's the perfect coffee to add some Southern Comfort.

Well, let me tell you this, folks:  Southern Comfort smells like cat piss, has the sour aftertaste of generic Fruity Pebbles, and just when you think you have forgotten the horrible experience, an hour later when you having your mid-morning tinkle, the generous Southern Comfort aroma comes back to slap you in the face!

Recommend?  No.  Not for friends, not for enemies.  I recommend this to NO ONE.

TV Series : 24 Season 3

I've never watched a season of 24 until finding this DVD set and watching it over a few days.   It was intense, and I have found in just this one season that there are special rules in 24 that don't apply anywhere else.

10.) The President, CTU agents, their friends and families, all look fantastic and alert at the end of a 24 hour day (although maybe a bit more bloody).

9.) If you are a main character, you are likely to die.

8.) If you are about to shoot a main character, you are likely to be shot in the nick of time by someone unexpected.

7.) Civilians and terrorists tend to drive the same make of car.

6.) If you make Jack swear to protect you, you've just entered the last 60 minutes of your life.

5.) If you don't think Jack will do it, he will.

4.) If you look like a good guy, you are probably a bad guy.

3.) If you look like a bad guy, you are probably just a frustrated CTU agent.

2.) Travel between cities and countries takes about 30 minutes, regardless of locations.

1.) If Jack wanted to kill you, you'd already be dead.

Recommend?  Yes!  Lots of intensity.  I suggesting taking a break once in awhile to do some deep breathing exercises and/or yoga.

Movie : My Bloody Valentine

Just got back from watching My Bloody Valentine.  In 3D!!!

Wow, let me just say that film censors are relaxing quite a bit!  This movie was a terrific B slasher flick.  But instead of slashing, the weapon of choice is a miner's pick axe.

There is a paper-thin plot.  There is a fifteen-minute full body nude scene that isn't sexy in the slightest.  Lots of corny 3D shots where the pick axe comes right out of the screen.

Recommend?  Oh gosh, this was a horrible, horrible movie.  Go for it!

Book : Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut

This is the first Vonnegut novel I have read.   I enjoyed it very much.  It is also my first e-book, read on an Amazon Kindle.  It was a very nice experience.

It's a story about World War Two, and time travel, and aliens, and death.  So it goes.

Recommend: I do.