Assorted short takes
Note to self: rent-a-casinos sound like a cool idea for parties, but casino games are designed to be easy to play forever, which means that unless you brought enough seats for everyone, the people who get in first are likely to saturate the games for the rest of the evening. Making people stand at the tables rather than bringing actual seats helps somewhat, but that's still relative to casinos where people can happily keep feeding the games for hours.
Seattle doesn't appear to be big in general on the time-and-motion logistics of parties with really large groups of people. But then, they don't cut you off with surprise left turns like some places I won't name (but am mildly astonished to find have a wikipedia page for the practice).
The AP is reporting that astronauts [are trying] to work out kinks in urine machine. Which leads to the unwelcome realization that the space station is therefore currently kitted out with a kinky urine machine. Please, for everyone's sake, show some decorum and call it the water reclamation equipment.
Last weekend was another multiplex marathon. Quantum of Solace was better than I'd been given to fear, but it was more unrelentingly dark than I'd like, the frenetic camera cuts in the fights were overdone by about a factor of two, and there were a couple of "huh?" stretches at the end that felt like woefully sloppy editing. Casino Royale was better, but I still have high hopes for the Craig Bond. Madagascar II is pretty much what you should expect after the original. I'd expected they might dispense with plot altogether and just reprise the wacky animal jokes like an SNL writer who knows a good thing, but they didn't; that may be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it. Finally, Zack and Miri was great fun, if for no other reasons than the Pittsburgh location and watching Traci Lords be one of the most grown-up members of the ensemble.
The SciFi Channel had Blade Runner: The Final Cut on the other night. It was modified for content, of course, which meant that strictly speaking it's a different cut than the "Final Cut" that showed in the theaters. True Fans would be crushed if they couldn't speak strictly about which version it is, so that's probably for the best. Part of me stil wants to do a NaNo one of these years called "The Unkindest Cut" based on the premise that someone pays off LA to let them take over part of the city to do a live, on-location production in 2019.
The Food Network has announced a new show starring Adam Gertler, one of the runners up from the most recent season of Next Food Network Star. NFNS has had limited success turning their winners into bona fide stars - Guy Fieri, of Season 2, is the most successful example so far, although Aaron (this past season's winner) has been getting a fair number of guest placements compared to either Amy Finley or Dan & Steve. This is the first time, though, that they've given a series to one of the contestants who didn't win.
Seattle doesn't appear to be big in general on the time-and-motion logistics of parties with really large groups of people. But then, they don't cut you off with surprise left turns like some places I won't name (but am mildly astonished to find have a wikipedia page for the practice).
The AP is reporting that astronauts [are trying] to work out kinks in urine machine. Which leads to the unwelcome realization that the space station is therefore currently kitted out with a kinky urine machine. Please, for everyone's sake, show some decorum and call it the water reclamation equipment.
Last weekend was another multiplex marathon. Quantum of Solace was better than I'd been given to fear, but it was more unrelentingly dark than I'd like, the frenetic camera cuts in the fights were overdone by about a factor of two, and there were a couple of "huh?" stretches at the end that felt like woefully sloppy editing. Casino Royale was better, but I still have high hopes for the Craig Bond. Madagascar II is pretty much what you should expect after the original. I'd expected they might dispense with plot altogether and just reprise the wacky animal jokes like an SNL writer who knows a good thing, but they didn't; that may be a plus or a minus depending on how you look at it. Finally, Zack and Miri was great fun, if for no other reasons than the Pittsburgh location and watching Traci Lords be one of the most grown-up members of the ensemble.
The SciFi Channel had Blade Runner: The Final Cut on the other night. It was modified for content, of course, which meant that strictly speaking it's a different cut than the "Final Cut" that showed in the theaters. True Fans would be crushed if they couldn't speak strictly about which version it is, so that's probably for the best. Part of me stil wants to do a NaNo one of these years called "The Unkindest Cut" based on the premise that someone pays off LA to let them take over part of the city to do a live, on-location production in 2019.
The Food Network has announced a new show starring Adam Gertler, one of the runners up from the most recent season of Next Food Network Star. NFNS has had limited success turning their winners into bona fide stars - Guy Fieri, of Season 2, is the most successful example so far, although Aaron (this past season's winner) has been getting a fair number of guest placements compared to either Amy Finley or Dan & Steve. This is the first time, though, that they've given a series to one of the contestants who didn't win.