Hiya folks. The Clone Wars trailer reminded me of how badly I needed to blog again. I've missed it so. You're the only people who actually reply to the nonsense I write. I suppose that's why I like you folks so much. (Especially solosmelly .)

Anyway, oh. I was just...you know, I was reading what jedilily wrote, and I realized that despite what people say, there's a lot we share with each other on these blogs, eh? It's...something else. At this point, I need a Food Wars episode to cheer me up.

Life's pretty good at the moment, but...the job is wearing me out. Friday doesn't even feel like the end of the week anymore. I want to go see Speed Racer, maybe tonight or tomorrow. But I'm a Battlestar Galactica junkie, so I have to see the new episode live tonight. I can't compromise on that. So...tomorrow it is, Speed Racer. Why they put BSG on that late on a Friday night, I don't know. Maybe it comes on earlier than 10:00 for some of you out there.

But going to see a good movie really takes the load off when you're feeling down emotionally. The best example I remember was seeing that movie Crossroads, back when I was in college. You know, the one with Britney Spears? I think I'd just been through a really hard breakup with my first girlfriend and was in desperate need of a respite from reality. And that film really seemed to help. I know, it's just me that liked that one--what with male hormones. Don't ask me why I like certain things. That was a long time ago.

This is just a friendly chat to let you know all is still well with me, sort of. I'm just a little tired. I did want to say that I saw Iron Man last weekend, and I was very impressed. I've never read any of the comics, but I had some exposure to the old cartoon in the 90s and the Ultimate Avengers animated movies they did recently. From all that, it seemed true to the character. Smart and funny, and strong on the action side. And well...that scene after the end credits...probably the coolest scene ever made after the end credits of anything I've seen. Yes! Sequels a-plenty!!!!

What I can't figure out is why DC Comics has so gloriously failed to keep pace. You'd think if you were owned by Warner Bros., it'd be a lot easier to do movies. And owning Superman and Batman ought to mean there should've been more than 1 Superman movie and 2 Batman movies by now. Don't get me wrong--I do remember the old Superman movies (which I adore, all 4 of them) and the old Batman movies (which I loved until I read the comics, and then I hated them, but could stomach the first two or three). And Batman Begins was my absolute favorite superhero movie like, ever, other than maybe the X-Men movies (although I realized what sacrilege X-Men 3 was once I actually read the Dark Phoenix Saga. Wow, what an insane departure from the original material...but still an entertaining movie, nonetheless). I'm just saying, why on earth haven't they done a Superman/Batman movie, inspired by the comic series they've got going, Superman/Batman?? It's crazy. There's so much good material available for a story like that. And don't even get me started on the Justice League. They can do more than animated films with this stuff (but I think every DC Comics animated film they've done has been respectable and certainly far better than Superman Returns).

I am looking forward to Batman: Gotham Knight, or "Batmanime", as I like to call it. And finally they're putting out Birds of Prey, I hear. I only saw the season finale and was like, wow, they're cancelling this? But then...one could reason that way about Smallville, and well...much as I love the show, they've taken some weird turns this season. Either I missed some episodes or it's been awfully disjointed. (For those of you who watch, Grant Gabriel is the thing I have in mind when I say that...I didn't see anything to suggest a consequence to what happened with that storyline.) Anyway, of course The Dark Knight is like, second to Star Wars and Indiana Jones as my top pick to see this summer, so..."Let's put a smile on that face!" It's going to be great. Oh, yeah.

Moving on...I am more than halfway through Legacy of the Force: Revelation, so um...please don't say anything about it, 'kay? I have to finish before Tuesday. But it's a great read. Karen Traviss has done it again. Republic Commando had to grow on me, and I got bogged down in True Colors, but still...it's cool to have the Mando thing in the Legacy of the Force storyline, you know?

I watched the OT not that long ago and realized again how awesome Star Wars is. I admit, I've fallen in love with Star Trek, and you can hate me for it, but it's still not Star Wars. And never will be. I mean, Star Wars has better space battles by far anyway. Nemesis was as close as Star Trek ever came to matching SW on those terms. But this is a totally nerdy discussion....moving on....

There's a woman I like, but she's 8 years older than me, and she gave me her phone number, but not because she likes me or something. It was just because I shared some of my songs with her and she wanted to talk to me about them. I hope we'll at least be friends. It's probably my hormones at work anyway and I'll figure out she's not my type or something. Or she'll reject me or whatever it is that women like to do to me to inflict pain. But it's cool. I'm not sweatin' it. If anything meaningful comes of it, you'll be on the list of people who will know about it, I assure you.

The job has moved to a new building, ####her from home. It takes longer to get here and longer to get home, so I'm always tired. Bummer. But it's alright. It's stressful sometimes, a lot of times, but mostly because I feel tired all the time nowadays, not because it's actually that stressful. The people are pretty nice, in general.

Oh. Didn't realize I had so much water left in that cup. Better be careful. Anyway, it's time to head home. I promise Food Wars will come back soon. And that I'll find a way to write out Indiana Cones without harming him. He hates cakes, so maybe that'll be what does it. I was thinking that his rival archaeologist Jelloq would make a cameo as well, alongside Vader, but we'll see. It'll be fun. And hopefully funny, too.

Oh! Other huge news! I got a car!!! My folks gave me my mom's old car!! Sweet! It's 7 years old, 52,000 some odd miles, in pretty good shape. I know nothing about cars, though, so I'm reading up on it. I want to learn everything I can so I don't get ripped off by a mechanic. And despite what Threepio said, mechanics really do an excessive amount of thinking. Just wanted to clear that up.

Otherwise, oh...one other thing, bad news. I still live at home, but it would affect me even if I didn't. My mom might lose her job as a teacher. There's this crazy chancellor they just put in charge of the schools and she's gone mad with power, firing people for no real reason. They just don't get that the teachers aren't the problem, or at least not the whole problem. There's a LOT of bad parenting going on, students who are really being abused by their parents or not taught anything (especially not how to behave in a classroom), or just with learning disabilities that ordinary teachers can't work miracles with (ie. students who read at a first grade level sitting in third grade, and the school system expects them to pass a standardized third grade test). The thing that makes it really bad is that they're trying to get rid of the most experienced teachers, the ones with 20 and 30 years' experience! And replace them with rookies who really may not understand what they're up against until they're actually in the school and a parent comes up to the school wanting to fight them because someone allegedly hit their child. The parent won't come up because the child is a behavior problem and fighting all the time anyway, or isn't doing well in their studies. Just an example, true story repeated far too often in some schools.

Anyway, I'd be very displeased if my mom, who is a good teacher with 20 years' experience, and taught me from infancy, lost her job because someone just doesn't like old teachers. And it would place a huge financial burden on the household--she makes more money than my dad, I think, and almost twice as much as I do. So I'm worried about that. I would do everything I could to contribute to the household if that happened, but I can't see how we'd keep the house in this economy if she couldn't find work for awhile. Sad, 'cause that house's value is inflated nowadays because the real estate market is all jacked up. It's been economic madness in the US for some years now, but now it seems like it might finally hit me at home. Because of local politics, I guess. And the sad thing is that nobody at the top even cares about helping children in the school system anymore. The teachers care, many of them, even though the students make it hard for them to do that. But the system is designed so that results aren't measured in terms of anything but a test score which can be manipulated by dishonesty (which is openly encouraged by management) anyway.

Ah...sorry. My mom's rubbing off on me. Well, enough of that. I realized that after The Clone Wars trailer, they were showing A Knight's Tale on TNT. At least around here they were. I realized I'd never actually seen the whole thing. I mean, I'd been planning to, ever since I saw that cool end jousting scene when he shouts "WILLIAAAAAAAM!!" But I felt a bit of sorrow as I realized that this smiling young man isn't even alive anymore. I think I'll go and buy that on DVD on my way home. I want to see that. Well, and there is that lovely actress Shannon Sossamon (spelling error?), who I found to be irresistible the moment I saw her in that movie. Mmm...only a few women can have that effect on me. (Sorry, male hormones again...) Speaking of which, gee, I wish I'd gone to see The Other Boleyn Girl like I'd wanted to. I'll catch it on DVD. Anyway, I look forward to seeing Heath Ledger's turn as the Joker. For me, I always felt they should leave up the posters on the Dark Knight web site and all--just to honor the guy, you know? 'Cause I'm sure he did a great job with the film.

But I better get going. It's starting to get late. And I want to be in front of the TV in time for Battlestar Galactica. "Twelve Cylon models. Seven are known. Four live in secret. One will be revealed..." YES!!!! I hope Adama will be in this episode. And more of Tigh would be nice, too. But alas, I'll forgive 'em--they're going to a Base Star on this episode, and I just love the Hybrid. How do you write lines like that? If I ever learn, I'll be a good writer at last... But the Base Star was one of my favorite things about Season 3--it was a nice way to take the lid off the Cylons and see more of what they were about.

Oh, I was leaving, right? Yeah. May the Force be with you all.

Sincerely,
Chris2OneBee