What is this place? A blog? It sure doesn't look like one...it's been in a coma the last month and a half. Hence the name. Where's Food Wars? Where are the random movie reviews? Where is the incessant whining about some girl who obviously doesn't like me?? I miss that. Don't you?

Probably not, right? Well...today was a good day. I feel almost like a normal human being for once. I'm exhausted. But I feel pretty good.

Food Wars has been on and off... My fingers aren't what they used to be. I need one of those ergonomic keyboards, maybe. I'm thinking of getting one very soon. It's hard to joke at speeds faster than fried when your fingers hurt.

I could talk about The Dark Knight, and I will, briefly. Pure brilliance. The relationship between Batman and the Joker was exactly like the comics. Heath Ledger delivers a Joker performance that is hands down the best Joker performance, period. Much as we all love Mark Hamill's turn as Mr. J on the Animated Series, Heath hit it out of the park. Truly. It's a real pity we will never be able to see him reprise that role. He was truly a blazing fire put out before his time. Wow. There have been some good and great comic book movies in the past several years, but none have provided a performance like Heath Ledger's. It is rare that I raise my eyebrows at a performance, but yeah, he was really, really impressive.

I don't think I've even talked about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, either. I saw it three times. It was great. I thought it was a real feel-good movie. It's a mistake to look at it in the same way as you'd look at Raiders. The comparison is like comparing A New Hope to any of the Prequels. It's just a different animal. I still feel there's so much to love about Indy, and I think for him to be much older actually helps the character and provides some good opportunity for character development that we might not have had in the same way if they did this film 10 or 15 years ago. I think it would've been, shall we say, 'faster and more intense', if it'd been done 10 or 15 years ago, but that doesn't make this an inferior film. I like the notion of him reaching that age where 'life stops giving us things and starts taking them away', only to find that in fact, life gives him a whole family in the end. I really loved, LOVED, the ending.

I still think Indy's got it--and the opening sequence certainly gave me that feeling of adventure that I knew and loved from the other films. But there's a certain depth to this film that just...works for me. Shia LeBeouf has good chemistry with Harrison Ford, and though there wasn't as much humor as I expected, there were still plenty of good moments. I particularly liked the subtlety of Mutt smiling after the Brody statue's head came off, and Indy looking at him with a frown--it was a total reversal of the similar moment in The Last Crusade. It just made me think--we always tell ourselves we won't do what our parents did, and inevitably, once there are children, odds are we'll do what our parents did. I wouldn't know, not having children, of course. But I could appreciate the irony.

And of course, Marion's return was nice. I just thought that was the sweetest thing Indy said to her, about all the other women having the same problem? You know what I mean. But going back in the movie a little, there's this moment when Indy is at the desk, looking at the pictures, and he has this look on his face and...he looks just like Sean Connery to me! Did anyone else think that? It was just interesting.

I liked the crystal skull thing--mostly because John Williams came up with such a great musical theme for it. I like to stare off into space and hum the Call of the Crystal in my head sometimes... And of course, who knew that aliens are so smart they can incinerate you simply by telling you everything? I'll be sure to keep that in mind if I ever run into one.

Oh, and the milkshake place. "Get that greaser!" was hilarious to me. Mutt has rubbed off on me a little. Though I shall never ride a motorcycle--I better be careful about saying that, as my parents ride them--I had to get a comb like that, and...I dug my leather jacket out of the closet. (I used to hate leather jackets--I think because I associated them with the first girl who rejected me, since she wore one for a time.) Anyway, that was just a good scene. Oh, and the kid who did the Wilhelm scream in the library--that was funny. It was just so out of nowhere.

As you can see, I could talk a lot about Indy. I didn't even mention the lovely Colonel Doctor Spalko. There's something alluring about Cate Blanchett in that role. I can't figure out what. But...be mindful of your thoughts, Chris...

Hmm. Oh. I probably didn't mention The Incredible Hulk. A much faster movie than the other Hulk film. Quite good, and the end fight between Hulk and Abomination was the most intense super-fight I can recall seeing on film.

I admit I found myself asking, 'can they get away with that in a PG-13 movie'? I guess there are those who might say the same about The Dark Knight, huh? The pencil trick, for example, and those disturbing home videos the Joker made...aside from the "Why so serious?" scene. Pretty unsettling stuff. Which is why I never understood the marketing for that film--you can go into the grocery store and see it all over cereal boxes, clearly aimed at children. But it's definitely not a kids' movie. It's definitely not for the little ones. But then, that's why the "-13" is there, as a sort of guide. Emphasis on 'sort of'. There are some PG-13s I wouldn't go to see, and I'm 26.

Anyway, it's 3 weeks until The Clone Wars. I'm not thinking too hard about it, for some reason. I'm glad it's happening, but I'm just not as excited as I used to be about a new Star Wars film. And it's not because of that thing I've heard too much from other people, 'oh, it's a cartoon'. It's just...I can't help wondering if it'll live up to the movies (and I love the Prequels, by the way). And...after the brilliant Clone Wars series that's already been done, how do you come up with a new set of stories that is even half as brilliant and twice as inventive? I'm very curious to see if they can pull this off. I'm not expecting to be let down, mind you; I think, for me, the best way to stay in my skin and not bounce off the walls for a new Star Wars movie is to kind of detach myself from it all. "Here we go, Chewie. Stand by. Detach."

Yes. I can still quote it. But that's probably not an exact quote, is it?

Anyway, otherwise, life is good. You're wondering about how it goes on the love frontier? Probably not. But...I found out a couple of months ago that my ex-girlfriend is pregnant, so I was pretty messed up about it for awhile. The really frakked up thing about it, if I'm allowed to say frak, is that I found out right before I was going to go to see Indiana Jones. I was like, can I just go see ONE movie I like without that stupid broken-hearted feeling bothering me??? Gosh! But I'm dealing with that. That part of my life shows up to mess with me, but it's over now.

There was a friend I had who...I had to push away because I was starting to become attracted to her. She was a sweet person, but I knew I was headed for trouble if I started liking her too much. So...having learned my lesson from my ex-girlfriend, I made the decision to push her away so as not to get hurt again. It was the right choice. She's not someone I could've had a relationship with, not the kind I want, not even if she was interested in me, too. Which she probably wasn't--after all, nobody really is.

Anything else? Well, I did meet someone really, really wonderful through this blog. (No, not talking about you, Oriana Dantra, although you're pretty nice...) We've been friends for...it's been more than a year, actually, but we found out we share the same faith, by coincidence. She's wonderful. She's beautiful, obsessed with Star Wars (and especially a certain Captain Solo) and Indy, and we share a lot in common as far as sci-fi stuff. She's a friend, of course, nothing more. But you know, I admit I hope someday we'll get to meet, and at least be really close friends. If that friendship became something else, though, you wouldn't hear me complaining. It still seems so unbelievable that I'd meet someone like that on the blogs. She's been really good to me.

Perhaps if we do meet, maybe I'll share stories about it, and pictures and stuff. If that's okay with you, smellysolo.

But...I've got other thoughts. I've not read a novel since getting halfway through the Crystal Skull novelization. Comics? I love the Superman/Batman series. They should do a movie based on that. I've started reading the Spider-Man series about the origin of Venom. I wanted to see how much Spider-Man 3 proved to be sacrilege. "Where do we begin? A year ago, all these cops and lawyers wouldn't dare cross you. I mean, what happened?" Okay, I won't repeat that next line, and I'm not supposed to find it funny, either...so I don't. Really...

Anyway, video games! Who's thrilled about The Force Unleashed and The Clone Wars? And the Wii lightsaber game! Ah...but for those who love the classics...Mega Man 9 will be on the Wii Shop Channel. At last the Blue Bomber is back!!! I am so happy about that. Mega Man 2 was the first video game that defines what 'love at first sight' means for me. That was love, truly. If you ever beat Mega Man Battle Network 4, my name's in the end credits. Yup. Video game immortality. I achieved it by winning an essay contest some years ago. I finally saw my name while I was on the plane ride back from my brother's wedding. "Look! There's my name!" I said to my dad. Goes to show you how non-existent my social life is. But it's okay. I kinda like it that way.

I'm writing a story based on my imaginary world, recounting the events of 'Year 23' of my life, and it's coming along. I'm just about at the end of Volume 4 of my song collection, too. I stopped working on my comic book story, though...I might resume it someday. It was getting pretty interesting.

Ah...I'm reluctant to go home. That blasted bird will not be quiet...he was quiet at first, and then he just went crazy. (sigh) Well...gotta be patient with him. I want to be nicer to animals. I wasn't too good at that in the past. I'm trying to be better.

But...that's the extent of my life at this point. How about you? Any thoughts, after reading my nonsense? May the Force be with you!!!

Sincerely,
Chris2OneBee

P.S. Food Wars Will Return in "The Asteroid Meals--Part 2: Ore-Ida Frozen Potatoes".