Watchmen (1987) Alan Moore

So, after so many people recommended it to me, I feel guilty saying it. But. I didn’t like Watchmen. Not at all.

I’m not saying it isn’t good, and it isn’t compelling, because it is, on both counts, I’m just saying I didn’t like it. I kept wishing it was over but I also kept reading till I found out what happened.

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You. Yes you.

Go watch Good Night and Good Luck.

David Strathairn did an excellent job portraying Edward R. Murrow. (And I knew Frank Langella looked familiar, I just couldn’t figure out why.)

But that’s not why you should watch it.

In Morgantown it’s playing downtown at the Warner. Check IMDB for times near you.

Yeah, yeah. Just cuz I don’t program…

An entire week with little to no traffic.

(Excepting, of course, the WVU-Pitt game on Thansgiving.)

Ahhhhh….

On the Effectiveness of Aluminium Foil Helmets: An Empirical Study

Here’s a surprise.

I’m pure nerd.
(more…)

And memer?

9862 words so far. That’s 9 chapters and a prelude, and no where near the end of the story.

Though I’ve been stymied for the past week, because I was writing 2464 words for this.

As someone who works with technology on a regular basis, I don’t trust it in the slightest. Thus, I always e-mail copies of my important documents to myself. (As mentioned previously) I’m currently working on a school paper on minorities and end-of-life care.

I was quite startled to see the ads that Google deemed relevant to my e-mail.

And I’m still a page and a half shy of the upper limit for the paper. Though I have to say that if they’re that good, I’ve had some other papers that could have used a thorough trimming.

I’m writing a paper about end of life care and minority groups, and I have a question about terminology.

Some papers use the term “African American” others (fewer) use “Black” and I am unsure which term to use. My preference is for “Black” simply because it’s shorter and sounds equivalent to “white” and “Hispanic” and “Asian” which are the other terms I am using. (I have other problems with Hispanic, primarily that I think it’s way to inclusive–how can you say that a Cuban immigrant is equivalent to a Mexican immigrant is equivalent to a Colombian immigrant. Then it’s not like Polish immigrants and German immigrants and Irish immigrants are anything alike either, so at least we’re consistently broad.)

So is there a preferred term? Is one term more or less offensive than another? (And just out of curiosity, why?)

Here’s a quiz.

It’s 4 in the morning. There is a fire truck stopped in the middle of the road, lights flashing. Two fully suited firemen are out of the truck. You drive up to the scene and:

A) Put your truck into reverse and go back from whence you came.
B) Ask one of the fire men what’s going on.
C) Say to hell with it and drive your truck right on through, despite the firemen yelling and waving at you, pausing only briefly when the downed power line slaps the front of your hood and windshield.

On a related note, a downed and arcing power line looks and sounds a LOT like fireworks, only really close to the ground.

On yet another related note, I love the fact that people don’t secure their wireless networks, so I can sit here and blog about sitting here with no power. (The entire street in front of my house is blocked off, so we can’t go anywhere unless we walk. In the rain.)

A Daily Workout Could Add 4 Years to Life

Yup. They’ve proved what we’ve all known for years. Exercise is good for you.

I just printed out the original Archives of Internal Medicine article, but the synopsis in the Post looks very interesting.

Will this change anyone’s habits though? Probably not. But you can’t say you haven’t been told.

The Innkeeper’s Song (1993) Peter S. Beagle

I read The Innkeeper’s Song several years ago–probably soon after it was published, and I picked it up solely on the strength of it’s cover. I’m a sucker for fantasy books with strong female, and the three women on the cover–especially Lal on the left–look strong. Well, I wasn’t sure about the woman in the middle, but she turned out okay.

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Happy Birthday to my Grandmother!

Okay, I’m not tired of birthdays as much as I am sick of being in the car.

My grandmother turns 88 this year, so I went to Baltimore with my parents to see her. It was a nice although short visit, and we took her out to dinner at G&M’s so I had a good time.

Feel free to mention how wonderful and young my grandmother looks for 88.

Michael’s niece turned 1 yesterday, so after returning from Baltimore I got in the car with Michael and we drove to Charleston. It was mostly family, and we got to spend some time with Michael’s sister and Maggie and Wilson before everyone arrived, so that was nice.

Maggie is absolutely adorable, as all 1 year olds should be.

Plus, I got some half-decent pictures on the way home from Baltimore.

And let me tell you, if you’re driving on I79, I69, or I70 through Maryland or West Virginia, be extra careful. I think I must have seen about 50 dead deer along the side of the road in two days. From personal experience, I can tell you that hitting a deer is no fun at all. Doing so on an interstate must be far, far worse.