Ever Dance With the Devil in the Pale Moonlight?

So.

Batman.

Is it good? Yes.

Were there problems? Oh my dear yes. Plot holes and magical technology and deus ex machina, but nothing you might not expect. Well, the fingerprint thing was absurd to to the point of laughter, but nothing too hilarious.

Is it the best Batman movie yet? Maybe. It certainly could be argued.

Did Heath Ledger do well? Yes certainly.

Oscar-worthy well? No. Nowhere near.

Which is Why I Disappear When Someone Says Let's Start a Choir

I know many of you are wondering where you might find a musical blog starring Neil Patrick Harris as a wannabe evil genius that happens to be directed by Joss Whedon.

Well, here you go. Never say I didn't give you nothing.

Also, keeping with the theme, this looks like great fun.

Edited to add: Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-Long Blog is only going to be up online for free until the 20th (that's tomorrow, friends and neighbors). After that it'll be available for download/purchase. Here's the info.

Well, Crap

Root Canal.

Reheatables for the Week

My first attempt at a curry. What do you guys think?

Awkward Moving Blues

Oh, UPS, why couldn't you have come just half an hour later? I would have been here. No you've got to lug that big box around all day again today.

Please take an extra long lunch today. I'll be here as quickly as I can.

Also: Morning song today - "Night Moves." Shouldn't I be singing morning songs? I think I need to listen to song more Cat Stevens.

Line! Line?

One of the coolest things happened this weekend.

I ran off to Trader Joe's to get some stuff for the tortilla soup. I only had a few items, so I got into the 15-items or less line, but right before I got there a very heavily made-up very plastic-looking woman (I'm shallow - sue me) wheeled her heavily-laden cart into the line ahead of me. Ah, crap. Oh, well, no worries, I'm in no hurry. When she gets to the front of the line, she asks the cashier to grab her a bottle of some vodka and she walks off to peruse the bottled water options. Cashier guy was distracted helping another cashier and didn't notice her.

She finally returns with her two cute boxes of Fiji Propaganda, er I mean Fiji Water, and the cashier takes one look at her, takes a look at her basket, and tells her, "This is a 15-item or less line."

She kind of flounced, and batted her eyes, and I swear she shook her saline at him. She said, "oh, really? I didn't even see a sign." (read in a cutsie bubblehead voice) and stayed in line.

"Yup."

awkward silence.

Cashier guy walks around her to get my basket, which finally convinces her that she's not going to get her way.

Woohoo!

Seriously, it wasn't such a big deal. I really wasn't in a hurry, and I certainly wouldn't have made a scene, but I wanted to give cashier guy a tip.

Now Where Did I Put That...

Halfway through a recipe is not a good time to realize that the can-opener did not make it in the move.

On the other hand, the tortilla soup turned out alright, I think.

Other apartment and moving joy:

• Bookshelves are installed and happily carrying their load. Well, I assume they are happy. It's kind of like their life goal to carry books, right? The downside is that they are now pretty prominently featured instead of in boxes, and I get to look at them and be reminded of how many of them I need to be reading.
  
• There are still a lot of boxes that need to go away, but they are stubbornly refusing to go of their own accord.
• I think I've finally nailed down my route to campus. It's 4.3 miles each way according to Google. It's really not that bad though. Uphill in the morning and downhill in the evening. Fun Fun!
• My Zune went and bricked on me. I should say this is the last time I try to support a product out of spite. It's really isn't a bad product at all, I just wished it worked still. I have been podcast-less for the entire weekend. I've got an old Zen around here in a box somewhere. Why am I so dangerous for my mp3 players?
  

Overheard by Overread

Dafthead in the breakfast line:

"Can I get a muffin without any meat in it? I just want the bacon."

Ah, bacon. It truly is a miracle product.

Quick Review

Not much time for a full review, but dang. Wall-e is simply one of Pixar's best so far. It's right up there with Nemo and Toy Story.

Go see it. Now.

Where will I Eat?

Ok, it must be clear that I started this 'what song was going through my head when I woke up' thing to try to force myself into blogging more, but this morning's song was really disturbing:

Bonnie Tyler - Holding out for a Hero (Hil-arious video, by the way)

I'm pretty sure I haven't actually heard that song in at least months, maybe years. What in the world is going on in that little peabrain of mine?

Completely unrelated and uninteresting: The place that I planned on stopping at for breakfast when I bike in to campus is apparently not doing the mix you own omelets for the summer. Booo!

Class is trundling along nicely. I have to say I'm pretty impressed by the dedication of the students so far. Taking a year's worth of this class in 9 weeks, four hours/day is really tough. I think I may lose a few of them, but most seem pretty game.

More Songs in my Head

Today and yesterday were both from the Squirrel Nut Zippers. At least that makes sense because I found their CD while I was moving. Now it's happily nestled in my zune. For those playing at home, yesterday was Got My Own Thing Now, and Today it seems to be Hell.

So there you are.

I think I've found a decent route to campus on the bike that only hits a couple of major roads - the rest are nice residential roads. Only trouble is that there are two monster hills right at the beginning. Well, that'll wake me up, right?

Today it was a 35 minute ride. That's about 10-15 minutes faster than the bus, not counting time waiting at the bus stop. Woot! Now I can be even more pretentious and snobby than I already am! Should I get those clicky (spell-check wants that to be coliky) bike shoes and conspicuously carry around my helmet or something? I know the standard rule of prtentiousness is that I have to ask people constantly how much money they pay for gas and insurance, and then get overly astonished that they have to pay for parking. hehe.

I Don't Believe in Peter Pan, Frankenstien or Superman...

I might have mentioned that I almost always wake up with a song in my head. That sounds a bit more poetic than it is in actuality. Today's song? No, it wasn't the one that inspired the title, it was Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood. I'm not sure how I feel about that. Ok song and all, but not a real tooth-bruthing anthem.

I wonder if these songs are predictive of the way my day will go. So far (admittedly 7:30ish), so good. I biked to campus today to test how long it will take. Bike handled really well, although I way need to think about another seat. It's been a long time since I rode every day. As for the commute, I think I'm ok if I get out early - that way it's still coolish and the traffic isn't too bad. It took me about thirty minutes, and it wasn't nearly as bad as a feared. I tried a less busy side-street than the one I planned on (ok, I admit it, I took a wrong turn, but it was a fortuitous one), and the scenery was actually pretty pleasant.

Let's hope class goes as smoothly.

And the way home is downhill, so there's that.

One More Thing

I have a serious crush on Anne Hathaway.

Moving Update

Well, there I was saying nasty things about Time Warner and they go and turn all efficient and helpful on me. Originally, the website said I needed to go down to their office and yadda yadda, but I called them up and they scheduled an install the next day, so hey presto, I've got cable and the internet. Hooray!

Other developments. My old bike was in really bad shape, so it found a new home and I got a new one. Hooray again! I haven't been riding to school in about a year now - ever since I came back from Japan, I guess. Anywhoo, I rode around a bit yesterday and today, and it feels so good to be riding again. I live a ways away from school, but one of my friends bikes in every day from about the same area, so I might give it a shot, too.

That's because I'm teaching summer school, starting tomorrow. I'm always a bit nervous before a new class, but I've already taught this particular class two times here, so hopefully it'll go well.

Oh, I promised photos of the new pad, so here we go with a couple pre-move in shots:

Living room:


















Kitchen:

Stealth Blogging

Moved.

Time Warner wins the first round. No internet for at least weeks.

Borrowing some internet from an anonymous neighbor(?) with a silly network name.

very tired.

Pealess

Ya know, I was really happy to actually buy a real bed a couple of years ago when I moved in to this place. It was almost like I was a grown-up or something. So, I really shouldn't have bought that Ikea Malm. It looked really nice, but it pretty much fell apart after about a year. That's what I get for trying to be cheap, I guess. It was awkward and heavy, but it felt nice to throw it away.

'course now I don't have a bed again. Should I go for a futon, or actually get a bed bed? Ya know, box springs and such? hmmm... choices choices...

More Moving

Woot! The moving begins! I should be in the new apartment by the end of the week.

I'm looking forward to new and exotic cable channels.

That's sad, right?

Yeah, that's sad.

Moving, ya know, it's a funny thing. One of the boxes that I always moved without opening for the past 3 or 4 moves fell apart when I was organizing things, so I had to rebox it. It was full of old pre-digital photos from about 2000 when I was teaching abroad and right when I met the woman I would date for the next 5 years. There were so many other people in those photos too. I'm not in contact with any of them anymore. I guess I'm just kind of like that. That's a part of me that I'm not particularly happy about.

There is a Point, but It's at the Very End

There's something really frustrating about begging for the opportunity to spend money. I listen to a podcast called Buzz Out Loud, and one of the hosts is always talking about how this is working with electronic media and internet services.

Examples - I needed a piece of software, but it's published elsewhere in the world and not sold on our shores. It's a really common program, but the only way to buy it is either to pay some random person on eBay for a most assuredly pirated copy, pirate a copy myself, or - oh holy of holies - the company's website has a pay for download service. But, it only works if you use a bank card from the country of origin. No international cards are allowed. I wonder if they ever considered that if I their customers had such a card, They might probably be living there and wouldn't need to buy online. Here, I want to give you my money. I want you to have my money. Please please pretty please let me give you my money. I want to make sure you are compensated for the good work you have done, and you are making it very difficult.

I really liked that Chelsea Dagger song and one or two of the others on that album. Pretty fun, but I don't buy DRMed music anymore. I'm not sure I want the whole CD though. Picky picky, I know. (Insert old codger here saying, "In my day, you couldn't even listen to the music beforehand. You bought your stack of victrolla records, and you listened to them all, and you liked it! Uphill! Both ways!) Anyway, I've been checking Amazon every month or so since it was popular (on an iTunes commercial? Maybe I should reinstall iTunes and check there. They do DRM-free now, too, right?) to see when it'll be available for download. Nope. Still not there. It would be really easy to get a pirated copy, but I really do want them to have my money. Really. Please let me pay you!

So, the point of all this is that I've been worried all weekend about whether or not I would be so graced by the credit score gods and the whims of the management company that I might be selected for the great honor and privilidge of paying an metric dumpster-load of cash every month to live in their apartment. There's a little more reason behind this, I know. Buying a CD ain't exactly the same as signing a contract to pay all that money every month for a year.

Still, I got the apartment. I sign the lease tomorrow. I'll get some pictures for you guys.

Anyone want to help me move? :)

Wherever I Hang My Hat

So between apartment #1 and apartment #2, I put in an application on apartment #3. Actually, it's about apartment #12, if you go by how many I looked through. The one I put in for is pretty nice. It's a little bigger than I probably need, but one I get all my books and crap in there, it might seem small. It's in a good location for buses, but slightly bad for noise (window toward big street). Another lesson learned was that, like refrigerators, A/C units are as rare as well-written final papers. This unit has a refrigerator, but no A/C. We'll see how that goes if I can get the place.

So anyway, that's that for now. Oh, and since I deferred a couple of months ago, yesterday I got a new jury summons.

A Swing and a Miss

Well the one I wanted got rented yesterday while I went hunting proof of my salary. Feh. Looks like I get to start over again.