A Random Selection of Choice Nonsense

Hmmm.... update my blog, or play Diablo 3?

The blog wins! Yay!!!

Quite a bit happening this past couple days. Will any of it be even remotely interesting? We shall see! MUAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!

First, I saw the new Amazing Spiderman movie on Friday night, with my friend Carey and his brother Kelly (whom I haven't seen in, like, forever). Carey slept through most of it, which is what I should have done as well. I'm not saying it wasn't worth watching... it's worth watching one time, in 3D if you can. But the pacing is slow, it's full of campy dialog and acting, the casting is missed across the board, and it is predictable, as well as full (and I mean FULL) of moments where you go, "wait... what?"

Martin Sheen and Sally Field are cast as Uncle Ben and Aunt May... sounds good on paper, right? I've heard of actors trying to upstage and one-up each other...what would the opposite of that be called? One-down? Each scene they were in, it's like they were battling to see who could be more awkward. I don't blame them - I don't think either of them were right for the roles. And then there's the new Peter Parker, also reeking of "square peg, round hole". And the platinum blonde love interest. The whole cast was awkward.

But there were good things about it. Some cool visuals, some cool concepts. At one point, Spidey is crawling around on the big lizard villain, wrapping it up in web like a real spider would, instead of just shooting the webbing at it like in the other movies. Like, up and over the shoulder, down his back, under the legs, around the tail, real fast, wrapping him up in web... it was pretty cool. But really, those moments were outnumbered 50-to-1 by scenes that were just overdone, including (especially?) the retarded climax. I'd blame the director, but his name is Marc Webb - I kid you not. I mean, who else could they have got to direct that film? Nobody.

Bottom line, it brings nothing new to the table, as far as the franchise, and thus is a completely pointless movie. It didn't need to be made. I'd give it a 6 out of 10. The movie's tagline is "The Untold Story". It should have remained untold...

Next, our business websites were hacked and infected with virussy nastiness! Our main business site, my sister's rug blog and her new site she put up for her new business venture. What a mess. There's a solution, but it isn't cheap... but hopefully, we'll be back up and running again soon, and with stronger security measures in place. It's an odd feeling... like being violated or robbed or something... anyway, all three sites were built using the WordPress platform, which apparently is open-source, so vulnerabilities are hiding in there, for those that know where to look. 


So, what happens when you wrap 500 rubber bands around a watermelon?





Melon shrapnel everywhere!!!1!

Next, my Oldest Daughter and her new husband had a reception-type party at the church today, so her friends, co-workers and various relatives could come and wish them well on their future together. We fed everyone lasagna, pizza and salad, played some oldies, and basically made it comfortable for everyone to visit for a couple hours... until the bat showed up! Yes, our church has been battling a bat infestation for the past couple months... they keep finding ways into the attic, and then into the sanctuary. One made an appearance, flying around the sanctuary and freaking people out... but Tony D. and Lisa J. teamed up to corral it out the back door (mostly using a broom and luck), and the festivities continued. There had been an exterminator out earlier in the day today, and killed/captured about 20 or so of the little buggers. He's coming again tomorrow, to get any stragglers, so they don't show up during the church service! As we cleaned the church up after the party, three more made an appearance... bats... *shudder*

Lastly, I'm reading a book called "Chosen" by an author named Jolea Harrison... it's another author whose career has been given a boost by the digital publishing boom... it's an interesting mix of Fantasy and Sci-Fi that I haven't run across before. I know I haven't read everything out there, but I have read quite a bit over the past few years.  Haven't seen anything quite like it. The story is good, and is well-written to boot. It has its share of tropes, but they're handled well -- nothing wince-inducing (yet). I'm about 60% through it at the moment - look for a review from me soon. Here is the author's site, and here is the related GoodReads page. And actually, it's free at Amazon at the moment...

One more video and I'm out. This has been making the rounds the past two days. If you've seen it already, I'm sorry for being a band-wagoner. If you haven't seen it, it's very cool. This guy filmed himself talking to his "future self" back when he was a kid (20 years earlier), and now has recorded himself answering/interacting with himself, editing them together to make a conversation out of it. It's very cool. (One quick little s-bomb at the 0:40 mark)



That's quite creative. Me likey.

OK, that's enough nonsense for now. I hope your weekend is going well (or went well, depending on when you read this).

Adios for now,

Dave the Cretin