Kenjiman and Topher took me out to celebrate my birthday before I left for Philadelphia. We went to this pan-Asian restaurant that I enjoy on 8th Avenue -- the name of which I can never remember. Spring Joy? Joy Spring? Joy Grill? Spring Grill? I dunno. It's something like that.
Afterward, we went to see The Da Vinci Code. It was, as it turned out, pretty bad, but not as bad as it was made out to be.
But still, pretty bad.
It could have lost a half an hour if old Ron Howard had had a little faith in his audience and trusted that they might actually not mind that two people on screen just talked to each other, rather than indulging in all those silly flashbacks. I'll give him this, though: The way he transitioned in and out of the flashback sequences was kinda cool. Yay technology.
Before we'd gone off to dinner, we congregated at Topher's place, and Ken loaded me down with my Natal Anniversary gifts. The theme was the best, baby: It is my year of World Domination.
With that in mind, he supplied me with a little plastic centurion helmet that I could wear while plotting world domination. It was even emblazoned with a suggested symbol of my reign: A nice rubber bat stuck to the front. You'd think that was a little too Batman-esque, but not so much. Next, he gave me a slightly less-gaudily decorated helmet for my second-in-command to wear while we squash the little people of he world in our climb to power. Sagely, he noted that I should be very careful about my choice of second-in-command, as those guys will often turn on you at the first sign of any trouble. So when it comes to choosing my left-hand man, I'll vet those characters very carefully. Finally, he gave me a couple of helmets -- in the Elmer Fudd Viking style -- for my low level minions to wear during the execution of their low level minion duties.
Then he gave me my real presents: A set of DVDs of old Hollywood sci-fi serials from the 30s & 40s (way cool!), and Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. I'm really looking forward to digging into both of them when I get back from Philadelphia.
Afterward, we went to see The Da Vinci Code. It was, as it turned out, pretty bad, but not as bad as it was made out to be.
But still, pretty bad.
It could have lost a half an hour if old Ron Howard had had a little faith in his audience and trusted that they might actually not mind that two people on screen just talked to each other, rather than indulging in all those silly flashbacks. I'll give him this, though: The way he transitioned in and out of the flashback sequences was kinda cool. Yay technology.
Before we'd gone off to dinner, we congregated at Topher's place, and Ken loaded me down with my Natal Anniversary gifts. The theme was the best, baby: It is my year of World Domination.
With that in mind, he supplied me with a little plastic centurion helmet that I could wear while plotting world domination. It was even emblazoned with a suggested symbol of my reign: A nice rubber bat stuck to the front. You'd think that was a little too Batman-esque, but not so much. Next, he gave me a slightly less-gaudily decorated helmet for my second-in-command to wear while we squash the little people of he world in our climb to power. Sagely, he noted that I should be very careful about my choice of second-in-command, as those guys will often turn on you at the first sign of any trouble. So when it comes to choosing my left-hand man, I'll vet those characters very carefully. Finally, he gave me a couple of helmets -- in the Elmer Fudd Viking style -- for my low level minions to wear during the execution of their low level minion duties.
Then he gave me my real presents: A set of DVDs of old Hollywood sci-fi serials from the 30s & 40s (way cool!), and Jared Diamond's Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed. I'm really looking forward to digging into both of them when I get back from Philadelphia.
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