The Witching Well

Saw Hellboy II yesterday. I’m always ready for a sequel to be a lesser movie than the original, but this one was a pleasant surprise. Fun and cheesy. And they gave Abe Sapien a bigger part, which was very nice.

And Luke Goss as Prince Nuada? Beautiful. Deadly. Graceful. Really amazing to watch. The fight choreographers did a stunning job.

There were plot points that I think ought to have gone in a different direction. Potential in the character of Princess Nuala, for instance, that was never realized. But overall a fun film.

And now I get to spend the day trying to scrub Barry Manilow out of my brain.

Mood: content

Um. What?

It seems that KTLA in Los Angeles think that Black Canary is a bad role model, and Barbie shouldn’t dress like her. Their story is online here.

Yeah, right. ‘Cause we all know that what you wear is so much more important than what you do or why. Nevermind that fighting evil and saving people stuff, she wears fishnet stockings and a leather jacket, so she’s bad bad bad.

Please notice that they gloss over the fact that this doll is a high-ticket collector’s edition, not a kiddie toy. And that they chose to single out the Canary rather than Batgirl or Wonder Woman, who are coming out in the same product line. Oy.

Mood: angry
Music: Flogging Molly: Float

Go and see Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. See what Joss Whedon, Nathan Fillion, and Neil Patrick Harris did with their summer vaca… I mean, their free time during the writers’ strike.

Go now. It comes down tomorrow!

Mood: amused

My birthday was last weekend, but my husband made me wait until last night for my birthday present.

Can I just say that the Dropkick Murphys and the Mighty Mighty BossTones rock?

I mean, I knew it before, but last night at Lowell’s LeLacheur Park just blew me away. Seriously. The BossTones have still got it. I couldn’t stop dancing. And the Dropkicks do a punk rendition of Black Velvet Band that’ll make you do silly things like jump up and down until you can’t walk the next day. (You have to love a punk band that can get away with opening a concert with The Foggy Dew and have cute little stepdancers on stage for several numbers.)

Mood: energetic

Human behavior fascinates me. The bizarre things that people do.

Why on earth would anyone steal Ian Curtis’s headstone? And why would they wait until 28 years after his death to do it?

Mood: confused

Saw the new Indiana Jones film yesterday afternoon, and it is huge fun. Cheesy monsters and cheesier bad guys, with a nice big helping of preposterous defiance of physics on the side, all covered in gooey sweet special effects.

Harrison Ford is getting old, yes, but he’s still very much the man who originally made archeology sexy. And Karen Allen? Still has that staggeringly beautiful smile. And despite being out of Hollywood for a good while now, she slipped right back into Marian like a favorite pair of old jeans. John Hurt and Ray Winstone and Shia LeBeouf and Kate Blanchette were all terrific. Especially Shia, who gets big points in my book for holding his own on screen with so many amazing actors.

My husband pointed out to me on the way out of the theater that aside from Shia, the entire central cluster of heroes in this story is OVER FIFTY. With the requisite romantic tension fully in place, thank you very much. The only reason that happened, of course, is that we’re dealing with established, already beloved characters, but it’s still nice to see. I have a vague hope that Hollywood might see how well it worked and get a little less ageist because of it? (Hey, I’m an optimist.)

Mood: happy
Music: the birds in the neighbors' tree

That’s the first adjective that comes into my head when I try to describe Iron Man. It’s just, well, awesome. The casting. The acting. The special effects. Especially the suit. Gods, the suit is just stunning.

And the candy at the very end is well worth sitting through the interminable credits.

Mood: impressed

Two of our friends got Andy a 12″ tall remote control dalek for his birthday. It was almost as big a hit at the party last night as their six month old daughter.

The cat is going to need therapy. Possibly the dog, too.

Mood: amused
Music: Great Big Sea: Sea of No Cares

Well, the word is out that Sky One is reviving Blake’s 7. While the idea of this is, on the surface, very appealing, I’m more than a little apprehensive as to how they’ll handle it. If the production values are too low, it won’t be able to compete, but if it doesn’t keep a little bit of the original show’s cheese factor, the old guard fan base will lambaste it. And the casting… I already feel sorry for whichever poor bastard gets the role of Kerr Avon. Or, for that matter, Roj Blake or Vila Restal.

Then there’s the big question on this side of the Pond: Will we ever even get to see it in the States? Gods know we’re still waiting for the original show to be put out on Region I DVD.

Mood: hopeful
Music: Blondie: The Tide is High