Nothing new to report as usual

IMG_3658, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

So my computer died. I wanted to Blame it on Bill but it turns out the Windows patch was incompatible with some malware lurking on my computer. That's what was causing the perpetual BSoD. Reformatting the hard drive and upgrading to Windows 7 was the best thing to do. My computer caught a virus and turned into a zombie!

I'm watching (and digging) the last season of Lost. I actually understand what is going on even if I don't completely know why it's going on. The dichotomy that is John Locke - the pathetic, gullible loser vs. the island leader badass now makes total sense to me.

Ellen DeGeneres is actually a good replacement for Paula Abdul on American Idol. Paula was always the "nice" judge and Ellen fills that role well without slipping into drug / booze addled rambles. The final 24 have been chosen and do I have any favorites? The chick with the bad teeth is really good.

24 is 24. I'm always happy to see Katee Sackhoff, but her character is a loser with a stupid subplot attached. I kept waiting for her to shove a knife in her ex-boyfriend's belly and laugh about it, like she did so many times when she played Starbuck and was being harrassed by the eternally creepy Leobens on BSG. Speaking of, Keith Callum Rennie was co-starring on 24 for a while as well, playing a creep who got stabbed to death by a pissed-off woman (typecast much?), but without so many lives. Maybe Jamie Bamber or Tricia Helfer will show up and we'll have a BSG trifecta.

We're not getting any of this

IMG_2403, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

WTF - everyone SOUTH of us is getting blanketed with SNOW!

I received a perpetual Blue Screen of Death on my home computer thanks to a Microsoft update - that's their ultimate plan to prevent vulnerabilities - if you can't use your computer, no one can!

Instead of repairing it, I grabbed some things off the hard drive, re-formatted it, and have installed Windows 7 (I was on XP). So far I like it, even though it's a little frustrating because the user interface is quite different.

I forgot to mention that Jon and I watched a fascinating documentary: For All Mankind. Someone went through the vast archive of footage of the Apollo missions and made an audio-visual mosiaic of the moon landings. There's no narration except for some archival commentary from some of the astronauts. The documentary conveys what it must have been like to be stuck in a small rocket-propelled can for days in the eternal vacuum of space just to reach a dead alien satellite. I haven't felt that kind of wonder and awe about what we accomplished (with late 60's tech!) since I was a kid. I can't wait until Brenden is old enough to appreciate the Space and Rocket center here in Huntsville.

After watching this documentary, I totally appreciate how well Ron Howard captured the geeks in the control room in Apollo 13. They truly were a bunch of white nerd-boys who smoked like chimneys. And Ed Harris totally nailed Gene Krantz ("not on my watch!"). I need to watch it again.

The Low Crawl of Winter

IMG_3669, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Ugh. I've had a migraine for two days now. Blech. Or maybe it was because Jon and I watched the season premiere of Lost last Sunday and I'm still trying to get my brain around it. I guess I'll avoid spoilers, but it was sad to see all those dead people.

Brenden and I play a lot of the Wii Lego Indiana Jones game together. There are some tough puzzles in that one!

Even though Bioshock II came out today, I'm re-playing Fallout 3 yet again. I had to try the Point Lookout add-on, and it was kind of disappointing. Mothership Zeta remains my favorite. I do like having an axe for a melee weapon, though. Whee!

Is Fox trying to kill Fringe? They show a couple of eps here and there then take it off the air for a month or so. Way to kill any momentum.

Caprica needs more exploding robots.

More of What I'm Watching

IMG_3664, originally uploaded by Sandra Maynard.

Jon and I finally saw Avatar and we watched it in 3D. Yay! It was good, but not great. I've said before I judge James Cameron harshly because he's better than most directors working in Hollywood today (plus he directed Terminator and Aliens, and I love both of those to smithereens). Someday I'll rank JC's movies but for now I'll place this somewhere between The Abyss and True Lies. It was certainly better than Titanic!

My problems with the movie were with the script. There's nothing groundbreaking here, Humans Are Bastards and they are targeting Noble Savages for their land and a Mighty Whitey is the protagonist). I'm also not certain why Sam Worthington is such a hot item right now. He's very good looking in a generic way but I wasn't impressed with his acting skills. Sigourney Weaver and Zoe Saldana blew him out of the water.

Which is what I did like about the movie: Sigourney Weaver plays a cranky but good-hearted scientist and I loved seeing her again. Zoe Saldana was the main Na'vi character. I never undertood why she fell in love with Worthington's character but at least she had a full range of emotions. Plus she kicked butt and I'll avoid spoilers but I'll say a common outcome with the Final Boss battle was averted here near the end of the movie. Bonus: Michelle Rodriguez, whom I always love seeing. No offense meant to Jenette Goldstein (who played a terrific Vasquez), but I always thought Cameron would have cast Rodriguez as Vasquez in Aliens if she hadn't been like 5 at the time.

Oh, and the main bad guy is a Colonel Badass and much fun to watch. The special effects are amazing and Weta, the New Zealand effects company pwns George Lucas' Industrial Light and Magic. The fight scenes are worth the price of admission alone and Cameron knows better than to use Shaky Cam. So my final verdict: Avatar = Pretty!