Finally, something new and exciting...

Some of you (who have never had a programming project deadline) are probably wondering why I'm blogging at 2:15 in the morning, while my poor, sweet, sick wifey is sleeping peacefully in the other room. Well, I'll tell you.

To start with, I was the weak link in our little group for this group project deadline because I was sick and missed the 2 class periods that would have been the most helpful for this particular project. Consequently, I finished my part last (as you can see, about 2 hours after the midnight deadline). Since I had a Mountain Dew at around 9, and a box of marshmallow peeps that lasted until about midnight-thirty, I need a second to unwind (and think about my Sunday School lesson tomorrow that I haven't looked at yet).

But more importantly, I had a brand new experience yesterday (Friday, which I guess that's 2 yesterdays, since it's Sunday now). Many of you who know me will know that I'm not usually very antsy about spending a couple of bucks. If I buy something that was not very expensive and I don't like it or if it doesn't work out, I consider it a few dollar lesson. I have never in my life felt like I "wasted" a few bucks. Until Friday. Let me elaborate. I like fantasy. I like mythology. I am one of the few people you'll meet that thinks the original story of Beowulf (translated at least into middle-english for clarity) is a good read. So, when I saw a trailer for the movie Beowulf, I thought it might be kinda fun and I'd give it a shot. Nicole was going to "The Other Boelyn Girl" with some friends, so I'd mosey down to the Red Box and pick it up.

OH MY FREAKING GOODNESS!!!!! There is no other way to describe that movie than as lame-@%#-ed. I know some of you who will read this don't swear, so I pseudo-disguised it. But seriously. It actually followed one version of the story that I read a while back fairly closely, for about an hour. At which time I had had enough. Much more than enough. I've never encountered laziness and lame-osity (and just plain weirdness) on that kind of scale. I have no clue what the heck the producers of that show were thinking.

Producer-guy A: "Hey guys, do you think we could sell a movie that was done in video-game animation? We could get a couple decent actors (Anthony Hopkins, Angelina Jolie) and spend a lot of rendering time on the trailer, so people would think it's only partially animated, and then we could suck up the rest of the movie and see if it actually works... Hey, pass me that joint. And another beer."

Producer-guy B: "Dude, what a good idea. Most of the people in our target audience haven't watched movies like Star Wars, or the Lord of the Rings, which use good animation, so no worries, they won't know that we're slacking off on their time and money... And quit asking to steal my high. We'll need all the marijuana we can get to talk any half-decent actor not to sue our pants of when they see what we do to their character. Hey, animation guy, what do you think?"

Animation Producer: "Whoah. There's like, all kinds of sparklies in the air. And when I wave my hand, it makes trails. Do you guys have any food? I'm hungry."

Seriously, folks, for the first time in my life I felt like I wasted a dollar. One dollar. I have spent a dollar on a new kind of pop that I didn't like, and not cared. I've spent 2 or 3 bucks on energy drinks that were nasty as heck, and not cared. I have never not finished an action movie. I've watched (and liked) action movies that received abysmal ratings (Fast and the Furious, XXX) But dang. This was a whole slough of firsts for me. I still can't believe it. I've almost lost my faith in action movies, like that I might start paying some small attention to ratings. And now I'm getting tired.