X-Men: The Last Stand

I caution you, true believer, that parts of this post are mostly for comic geeks. And that this post contains spoilers if you haven't already seen the film.


So last Friday, Kong and I went out to see the new X-Men film. I thought is was good, but it definitely lacked that touch that you get from a Bryan Singer film. I don't know how to explain it except for how I already did.

The story is a retelling of the Phoenix saga which I could see they were setting up at the end of the last film. I did like the way they explained the Phoenix but the makeup thing they did with it kind of let me down. I wanted there to be the Phoenix fire stuff. That was so cool in the comics! I know, Pyro already has the market on fire stuff, but still, it would have been a hell of a lot cooler than some veins popping out.

Anyways, I did have a little bit of a problem with the whole Juggernaut thing. He is supposed to be Xaviers step brother. He hates Xavier but is not a mutant. There are many other mutants like maybe the Blob, who is an original Brotherhood member and has the power that they gave to Juggy, that they could have used instead. There are so many characters to draw on. And yet they chose him. The actor was great, but the idea of the character... Not so much.

And then the whole thing with killing Scott. That really pissed me off. You know what that means? Cable will never be born. There will never be a Madeline Pryor clone of Jean Grey made by Mister Sinister to give birth to Cyclops' son. The real Jean Grey will never be found at the bottom of the Hudson River, she and Cyclops will never get married and get carted away to the future to raise Nathan who is infected with the legacy virus who then becomes Cable and comes back from the future to present time.

And because Phoenix stayed on earth, Lillandra and the Shi'ar will never come to earth, and well since Xavier is dead the whole relationship plot point becomes moot. And Xavier doesn't get a new clone body that is about 30 years younger and then gets to walk again only to loose that ability again in a fight.

And the whole Rogue thing. If she had gotten Carol Danver's powers she totally wouldn't have gone through with the process. Honestly, if you were nigh invulnerable, could fly the speed of sound and had superhuman strength, you wouldn't give that up, would you? Besides all you need to do is find someone with a personal force field like Gambit, and then you can touch all you want and more!

I know it is an alternate reality to the comics but still people, have some respect for the cannon!

But the end was very very sad. Maggie shouldn't have to live that way. I think that the effects are only temporary. Maggie will be back. Maybe he'll get a clone and move to the Savage Land! But this time he won't have Rogue to keep him company.

But what they did get totally right and correct was good ol' Hank McCoy. The Beast was expertly made up. I really couldn't find a fault in him and that whole "Oh My stars and Garters" line...Priceless! I think Kelsey Grammer deserves an Oscar for the best portrayal of a comic book character ever!

But that is what I think. And like I said, I actually really liked the movie.
You should see me when I don't....

CIV

Civilization IV, I just found out, is a game.

In this game, the Greeks, lead by Generalisimo Keith, from Sparta are civilizing the world.

It was a slow beginning to this civilization. First off his people became Buddhist, then Hindu and finally Jewish. He was doing so well that I heard that other people became Jewish too. There was some sort of encroachment by the Russians, but I didn't hear what came out of that.

Then I heard that Julius Cesar became Jewish and that the Greek Generalismo Keith was declaring war on the Romans.

I also heard that there was "I love my despot" day in both Sparta and Athens.

The war is still continuing. It takes a while....

But I think I have lost my boyfriend again. If I thought Kingdom Hearts was bad, this is even worse and it just started. I think I may see him again sometime in August...hopefully.

Trivial

Trivial Pursuit is not just a game, it is really a way of life. Needless to say, I love the game. I am not always the best at it but I get lucky from time to time.

This means that bar trivia is something I always love to play. And the Chieftain has a trivia night every Tuesday. I have tried to get Kong to go with me, but he either gets home too late or doesn't remind me that its trivia night or feels bad for leaving Ishy/Booger/Stinky/Stink-erella/Stink-erbell at home by himself so we have only been once and only for a round. But we did really well so I had hope that bringing in a team of TECHers we'd win by a landslide.

So last Tuesday, Andrew, Lexi, Keith and I became the "We are Blogging This Right Now" team. During the first round, I didn't know half of anything and I felt like the weakest link. But as the night wore on, my useless pop culture knowledge finally came in handy. There was another team that was trailing us closely during the game, and as one of the rounds was architecture trivia, and they were architects, they caught up to us. (I thought it was kind of funny that it became the Architects vs. the Engineers). The last round was the picture round and I knew most of the people. I read People Magazine way too much. It is a guilty pleasure...

So, we won a $30 gift certificate.

And since I had a Birthday party at work, we had cheesecake for desert.

T-minus 34 hours and counting

Tomorrow is my birthday. I am not as excited as I should be.

Usually I plan something. Like dinner or a party. The last two years, the tradition has been to have fondue on my birthday. Fondue Fred's is a small hole-in-the-wall restaurant in Berkeley. For about 20 bucks you get all-you-can-eat fondue and all-you-can-drink boxed wine. But this year I really haven't felt like doing anything, really.

I know I should call up friends or send out an evite for Fondue, but the "ganas" have not been there. If you don't know what "ganas"are, go rent Stand and Deliver. Or learn Spanish. Your choice. But anyways, I don't know what it has been about this year that has made me not really want to celebrate. It may be that the big three-oh is now only two years away. That is very scary in and of itself. Soon, I will no longer be a young twenty-something, I will be thirty-something. That connotes that I have to be a grown up. And I don't wanna be.

I know age is in the mind of the person, but as I look in the mirror, I can see the wrinkles and the gray hair. No its not my imagination, they really are there. I am having a mid-life crisis and I am not even 28 yet. That's tomorrow at 11:27 pm.

How can I be this old? I watch cartoons daily. I love comic books and toys. I want to go out and have fun. I want to play at Chuck E. Cheese and run around D'neyland like a maniac. I want to swing on the swing set and slide down the slides, and run through the sprinklers at the park fully clothed. I want to party in Ibiza and dance until dawn in Vegas.

These aren't grown up things to do, are they?

That settles it. I don't want to grow up.

I wanna be a Toys R Us kid!

Crepitus

Did you know that crepitus is the proper word for the noise of a fart? Or as my mother would say "farth". It also means the crunchy sound you hear in a shoulder or knee from cartilage rubbing together too. That's the definition I need.
But the fart thing; that's so cool.

An ordinary day

Today has been a day of the ordinary.

I walked the dog.

I bought a book for Kong, which he has been trying to get for at least a week now...

I watched a performance art piece at Lotta's Fountain.

Watched TV for a while and learned about japanese automatons, the spectacular things the romans did with concrete ( I love me some concrete), and watched about 30 seconds of Issac Mizrahi interviewing Kiera Knightly.

Went to the Chieftain to pick up lunch and got recognized by the owner and now get a discount since I am a local...Yay!

I washed laundry. And burned myself on the metal from the fresh-from-the-dryer jeans.

I read half of the first book of the Dresden files. It's a good think Kong has the rest of the series...

Not too exciting.

Though I have been talking to the dog a lot today. Fortunately he hasn't answered back yet...

Napa

About two months ago, I was forwarded an email with the subject line of "I hate you all". This was the beginning of the best napa trip ever!

It all began with a limo ride to Napa with twelve scurves. (Forgive me if I spell things wrong; I have been a Darb groupie for a while and have only recently stepped over to the dark side).
There was champagne and red wine at 10 am. We were originally supposed to go to a champagnerie somewhere near Sonoma, but the driver took us to Domaine Chandon by accident, which no one minded at all.They had one very nice champagne, something called etoile (I think) but not the pink etoile, the other one.

Well, after that we were headed toward Milat but hit a traffic snarl, so headed over to Rutherford Hill instead. I used to like there wines but was very disappointed this visit.

We made it over to Oakville Grocery for yummy samiches, and then hit up Napa Wine Co. They wouldn't let us eat inside so we all stood around and ate outside. Once inside, however, we basically took the place over and had a very nice conversation with the wine lady. I finally got to try the Mason chardonnay or savigon blanc, I don't remember which, but it was pretty good. I really liked the Habitat this year round, its much better than the last time round. The wine lady suggested that we go to this place in Yountville since it stayed open pretty late. I don't remember the name, but their wine was only so-so anyways.

The finale was dinner at the Culinary Institute of America Greystone. It is a large stone mansion north of St. Helena. This is the second time I have been there. Last time, I went with Andrew, Lexi and Bryan. Andrew thought that we'd get a reasonably priced lunch there. It ended up being about $40 bucks per person. Not very reasonable for us the starving student/medical assistant.

But this time, we all knew what we were in for, and I had a wonderful steak. The appetizer for the whole table were really good, especially the squash soup and the tuna tartare on a wonton with wasabi tobiko.

A grand time was had by all. Moshing ensued on the ride home, while I fell asleep.