In the mind of the Drygerskunk

Josh Whedon is the next JMS.

Why?  Serenity rocked.  I lost myself in it.  The plot is good, the visuals are seamless, and there's ACTUAL PHYSICS!  $DEITY damn actual physics!!! No cheezeball eyecandy that distracts from the movie.  It works and it gets out of the way of the plot.  Infact, it's like Batman Begins or even Babylon 5.  It's the dog wagging the tail.  The plot is throughly driving this puppy.

I'm too excited.  Listen, just see it.  Go full fare, and get yourself something from the concession stand.  Anything.  It's worth it. 

Why haven't you seen Serenity yet?!?!?

Yesterday, I was dining at a McDonalds before a Linux Users Group meeting (note to self: install tb-sshdfilter) and I found myself wondering several things:  One, how well RedBox DVD is (I'm one of the rare few who's used the origional RedBox) and how bad H2G2 really is.

First, $1/day plus tax for DVD rentals, return at any participating McD's?  I'll try it.  You need a credit card to do it, of course, but they give you the option of emailing your receipt.  Eh, not too bad.

Second, H2G2.  Some folks don't like the movie, but I bet they haven't:

• Read the books (all of them)
• Read, or heard, the radio play
• Saw the BBC 6-episode TV series

Now who's done all that?

(raises hands) Guilty as charged. 

Of course, Doug Adams (the author of H2G2 and it's series) wrote all of them and the movie's script.  If you've read all of the above, you'll know that Doug Adams rewrote H2G2 for each medium.  So you're watching the movie fully knowing it's going to be different and you're froody like that. 

The movie's variation matched everything all the way up to when Author and Ford are picked up by Zaphod and Trillian in the Heart of Gold.  Marvin looks much better than in the BBC series, I hate to admit, but he just does.  Zaphod could of used some work, but it elegantly works around the deficencies with it's own quikiness worthy of H2G2... and finishes with our heroes starting a trip to Milliways, having done six impossible things before lunch. 

Now, given I know H2G2's quirky history, I kinda liked this version.  I would say it's a worthy buy if you're qualified.  I know my brother-in-law and sister aren't.

or, I'M AN HOUR LATE!!!!

Today, I headed early down to DC for a gathering of 'Spacers, DC Area comic artists, and other unlucky furs who couldn't go to Anthrocon. I didn't get the first B30 (BWI to Greenbelt) bus, but I cought the second one...

...and the SmartTrip card I still have still works (and so far from DC anyway). That was nice.

After taking the bus and two trains to get on someone's good side (no, momma's not fat, shut yo' mouth!) and noticing they added a new station in the DC Metrorail Red Line (wasn't this not supposed to be here?) I hooked up with several spacers, as well as T Cambell (we don't know his first full name) and Phil Khan (DO NOT EVOKE WILLIAM SHATNER AROUND THIS GUY). We waited for the furs from the Maryland Furs listserv to come... but noone came.

12 noon came, and we had some lunch before heading out to the Natural History Museum. 10 came, but 1 had to get home after lunch. We took Metro to the Smithsonian stop, and got in that way. Took a look around there for a while, to about 2:30 pm, visiting the insect exhibit, as slowly but surely more and more people wittled away. T had to go first, followed by Phil, and I think we left the Fallen Angels' duo behind somewhere in the dino exhibit.

Five of us then went to the Holocaust Museum, and took in the Eugenics exhibit. It is a fine example of when politics starts bumping uglys heavy with science, and it creates a monster...

(( Duplicate removed. Damn my double-clicking middle mouse button ))

You know, when I wrote this last night, I wrote up a little tirade relating to the Nazi Eugenics program. I'm going to spare that into a seperate post, as I'm not feeling comfortable with it being here.

Afterwards, we just make it in to see Fantastic Four at the AMC in Union Station. Without giving away spoilers, I will say that T was right: There's no resemblance of a plot. Worth going to see the special effects and graphics, but plot or storyline? Forget it. Matinee price. Save your money.

The rest of us split afterwards. I decided to screw the bus going back up and took a $14 hit to the pocket via Amtrak back to BWI. A good day.

So, I finally get to see Star Wars, Episode 3...

...on a Tuesday...

...via the matinee ticket (which they pushed the price up).

The theater's empty save for me and whoever comes in the next twenty minutes from the 5:40pm showtime. It's a workday, however, so I expect I'll have the theater all to myself.

( Things have changed... )

Ten before. Damn, another person joined. Thought I'd have this huge theater all by myself. Hopefully the other guy who just walked in will turn off his *!)@( cell phone before the movie starts.

Why timing? Origionally, I was to go in, spend two hours debugging hardware. It took longer. Twice as long. The old server wasn't taking well to the new drive that was shoved in, and I had to "monsterize" a setup. That ground to a halt when I found that the OS disks the client has aren't plain
"slap and forget" disks, but "upgrade" disks. ARGH! Plus, since I needed approval for most of everything, I couldn't do much of anything.

Which leads me down to here.

( Three hours later... )