cartoons

Wednesday various

Knowing is half the battle

Even though I got up pretty early this morning — well, before 9 is early-ish for a Saturday, right? — I didn’t do a whole lot with the day. I thought I might go see Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, but I ended up not. This evening, though, I did watch the live-action G.I. Joe movie, and…well, maybe I should just let the record of my live-tweeting of the movie speak for itself:

  • And now, even though I am almost certain to regret it, I’m going to watch the live-action G.I. Joe.
  • It’s starting with trailers for The Last Airbender and Transformers 2. This can’t end well.
  • “In the not too distant future”? Is this MST3K?
  • You know, with Eccleston’s Scottish accent, it just might be.
  • There is no CGI in Team.
  • Channing Tatum isn’t exactly what I’d call an electrifying screen presence.
  • Is Brendan Fraser legally required to be in every movie with CGI?
  • I didn’t think it was possible, but this may be *more* cartoonish than the original.
  • Oh good. For a minute there I was worried there wouldn’t be any jetpacks.
  • Aw, Lil Storm Shadow vs. Lil Snake Eyes.
  • When the smartest guy in the room is Marlon Wayans, be afraid.
  • This movie has almost as many unearned emotional moments and pointless flashbacks as it does things blowing up real good.
  • Oh, they must be in France. They nearly ran down a mime in a beret.
  • I am sort of wondering when the movie based on G.I. Joe begins.
  • Oh, the Baroness just made a man lose his balloons. She *is* evil.
  • Oh good. More Jim Henson’s Angry Ninja Babies.
  • These flashbacks belong in a movie where we care about the characters.
  • A movie with robot sharks under the polar ice caps should be more fun than this.
  • And shorter.
  • So, Joseph Gordon-Levitt *can* give a bad performance just like everybody else.
  • I’m going to go out on a limb and say this isn’t a terrible movie. But only because I’m not convinced it *is* a movie.
  • It’s more like a computer-generated string of pure ridiculousness.
  • The plane only speaks Celtic. Of course.
  • I wish Storm Shadow had taken a vow of silence too.
  • “My green screen can beat up your green screen.”
  • Christopher Eccleston would make a good Groundskeeper Willie.
  • “Muhahaha! You and what army?” “MY army.” Yeah, that really just happened.
  • And of course it ends with a Black Eyed Peas song.
  • Not with a bang, but with a whimpering will i am.
  • The movie had a production accountant named Gene Strange. That may be my favorite thing about it.
  • I did not hate that movie. It was too far beyond dumb to elicit any kind of emotional response whatsoever.
  • “American Humane Association monitored some of the animal action. No animals were harmed in those scenes.” All the rest, though…
  • How is “G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra” not on @rifftrax?
  • Who could have guessed, when The Mummy first came out, that it would mark the *high* point in Stephen Sommers’ pursuit of realism?

I can’t claim to have enjoyed the movie, but I did have fun poking at it. I would seriously rent the movie again if it was available on Rifftrax. But otherwise, I don’t think I want to go anywhere near it again.

Otherwise, it was a pretty boring day, hanging around the house, going for a walk, reading some Kaleidotrope slush. Just a typical Saturday.

At least it’s already Tuesday, right?

I have a Dilbert desk calendar at work — a Christmas gift from my boss, so I think I’m safe on that front — and today’s exchange between Ratbert and Dilbert went as follows:

Today you will wear clothes you don’t want to wear.

You’ll drive somewhere you don’t want to be, and do things you don’t want to do.

Have a nice day.

And that pretty much was my day, a lot less fun that my day off from work yesterday. I didn’t sleep terrifically well last night, and this morning I overslept and then missed my train, so I worked through most of my lunch hour to make up for it. And then, coming home, it started to pour rain when I was a block from home without my umbrella. Well, okay, I had my umbrella, but it was in my bag…and, okay, you could look at the “a block from home” as a positive, since I didn’t get too soaked. And it’s not like it’s cold out or anything, where the rain is freezing and miserable. And…hey, wasn’t I grousing about my day here just a minute ago?

At least I have the benefit of knowing that this Monday was actually a Tuesday. That’s almost always my favorite part of a three-day weekend.

Monday various

  • It probably should come as no surprise, but I’m pretty much in complete agreement with Noel Murray about last night’s Lost finale. “These are the new myths. Now it’s up to us to misinterpret them.” I liked the episode a whole lot.

  • Meanwhile, Terry Pratchett is maybe a little harsher than I would be about Doctor Who and the title character’s deus ex machinations. I’m not entirely convinced there’s real value in rigidly defining science fiction and fantasy this way. (And, unlike him, “Small Worlds” is one of my least favorite Torchwood episodes.) But he makes some good points, while still happy to enjoy the show for what it is. [via]

  • Speaking of Doctor Who, here’s an interesting take on The Comparative Lives of the Doctor.

  • Here’s a scary thought from the New York Times:

    Ask a first grader to identify Bugs Bunny and the response more likely than not will be a blank stare.

  • And finally, Neil Gaiman on Ray Bradbury [via]:

    So when the wind blows the fallen autumn leaves across the road in a riot of flame and gold, or when I see a green field in summer carpeted by yellow dandelions, or when, in winter, I close myself off from the cold and write in a room with a TV screen as big as a wall, I think of Ray Bradbury . . .

Wednesday various