This is by far the best (and addicting) video I've seen this week. Suggestively lewd geek humor is the best. I still can't get this song out of my head.

I've finally started The Time Traveler's Wife and while I'm only 100ish pages in so far it's lived up to the praise. I'm really enjoying it. It's been a while since I've read a book that's made me look so forward to the bus ride home so that I can continue reading.

This week I also went and saw District 9 which was also great. The plot wasn't anything like I thought it would be -- much more of a documentary than anything like the suspenseful, thriller sci-fi flicks I'm used to (though with the at times almost dizzying camera shaking from Cloverfield.) I liked the aliens; poor Christopher Johnson's drive and motivation to return home and save his people and his love for his son (adorable!) managed to make him seem so human. It was a very different and fresh kind of alien movie. I both hope and dread for a future sequel.

Someone should come with me to see both The Time Traveler's Wife movie (though I'll probably kick myself for going to see it after I've already immersed myself in the novel), as well as Julie & Julia, because Meryl Streep is just piles of win in anything she has a lead role in. Hilarity and awesomeness can only follow.

We finally sold our old tv! Or at least I hope we actually do. The woman who's buying it is driving in all the way over from Lloydminister so she must want it pretty bad. *Looks at clock* She needs to speed it up though or I'm selling it to the guy next in line. Once that giant monstrosity is finally out of our house we can finally buy living room furniture! *Joy* I'm also in need of some nice fake plants for around the house to bring some much-needed green inside, but not inevitably kill. Anyone know where I can find some nice ones at really cheap prices?

Oh god the poor flowers my Mom gave me out in the front of the house are dead already. Oh god oh god oh god. There must be a special little corner of hell reserved for awful people like me who kill flowers, surrounded forever by hellfire and brimstone and piles of dead pansies and tulips. D: *Crafts pots filled with little paper flowers in hopes that her mother won't notice.*

I really need to stop reading the books before I see the movie adaptations. Coleen and I went and saw My Sister's Keeper last night and I'm undecided whether I walked out so disappointed simply because the film wasn't that great, or because it was so completely butchered from the original novel version.

I understand that book-to-movie adaptations always involve some inevitable but necessary plot trimming, but I can't stand when for no apparent reason they cut out all these wonderful scenes from the book and then end up writing all-new scenes to fill up all that extra space that don't even end up doing the original's justice at all. Why don't they just keep the original bits? There were scenes in the novel that displayed the emotional battle this family is going through so simply and vividly -- whereas the new movie inserts were fairly bland and too drawn out.

I'm also a little irked that they completely changed some of the key character's personalities. They made Anna loud, annoying, and obnoxious. In addition to giving Jesse's self-destructive personality a complete 180 degree rewrite, they also cut out his entire storyline. And poor Campbell Alexander's character should never have been given to the likes of Alec Baldwin who is both much too old and not at all good looking or charming enough to pull off the role. Though I can't say they even gave him much a role in the film -- Campbell's entire subplot with Julie (who wasn't even in the movie) was trashed, and his health condition was barely even touched upon.

And did I mention that they completely changed and reversed the ending? D: That is most ridiculous rewrite of a story wrap up that I've ever seen. There was no heart wrenching impact or twist to the movie's finale! It was anti-climactic and completely negates Anna's entire purpose in the story that contributes so much to the title My Sister's Keeper. What a sham. *Grumble mumble grumble*

On a different but still petty fangirlsh rant, I'm about so sick of all of the recent Dark Knight LedJoker fanart that I could spew. I don't think I can stand to see another dozen duplications of the "Why So Serious" poster, the infamous playing card or head quirked shots, or Ledger sitting on the damn jail cell bench. (Don't even get me started on the amount of cosplay photos you have to swim through now. Ugh.) Don't get me wrong, I like DK Joker. It's just that that seems to be all you ever see now. The Chris Nolan Batman franchise has spawned a whole new generation of Batman fans that probably don't even realize that Heath Ledger is just this one microscopic version of Mister J in a pile of Joker incarnation gems of the past in cartoons and comics. *Sad* It makes weeding through the DeviantArt results to find interesting pieces very tedious.

(Hahaha, okay, but I did come across this creepy but adorable LedJoker chibi. So cute in a creepy-clown-doll sort of way.)

Also, has anyone else noticed how funny and a bit disturbing at times it is that pretty much no matter which popular fandom or character you search for on DeviantArt, you'll inevitably end up finding a picture of them depicted as either some sort of canine, feline, or horse relation? Look! It's Joker as a wolf! Look! It's a Jack Sparrow horse! Look! It's a Severus Snape lion! And well hey now, that seems to be a bit of strange anatomical position to put him in with that Dumbledore lio-- ohmygodmyeyes *close tab close tab CLOSE TAB!* DX I guess it just goes to show there's a crazy furry enthusiast in every fandom. Though for the sake of the rest of the fan community there should be some sort of browsing filter.

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: 26

Gahhh! Still forty-four days until house possession *angst* but thankfully only two days until house inspection, which will be the only time between now and then that I'll be allowed back into the shiny eventually-to-be-ours new home! I will have a mere three-ish hours to bask and take pictures and measure out rooms! D: *Grasps camera and measuring tape determinedly*

I went to the an SPCA volunteer orientation session tonight and signed up for four different possible programs to take part in~ I didn't realize what a long process applying to be a volunteer was -- I submitted my application at the end of May, just got into the orientation today, and probably won't hear back from the organizer until mid-July. I thought I would already be swimming in puppies, kitties, and piles of furry bunnies by now, but I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. Apparently since they opened the new location (omg such a nice building, the open house was awesome~) they've had an insane outpouring of new volunteer support so I have to wait my turn. It both saddens me to wait but makes me extremely happy to know so many people want to lend a hand. X3

I've recently finished two books: The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne, which was short and simple, but truely superb (I highly recommend this book -- it's such an easy read but has such an impact); and Picture Perfect by Jodi Picoult. It was all right, though t's not one of her better books that I've read; maybe because it was an earlier work -- or maybe because the lead male character reminds me so much Edward freaking Cullen that I want to hurl it across the room. Oh look at me, I'm so perfectly perfect and gorgeous, but behind this peckish godly exterior hides an abusive, broody (and amazingly annoying) MONSTERRRRRR, arrrrr! All it needs is a little veggie vampirism thrown in and they could be a pair of most likely very dysfunctional twins.

Countdown until shiny exciting house possession: 44 (I think I may go crazy)

While we were camping this past weekend we were given a copy of the Wabamun rules and warnings which included a note about wildlife to watch out for, emphasizing in particular "BEARS".

o_O

Well see, now we're just confused. Are these bears abnormal in some way? Are they actually ferocious man-eating bunnies that you like to pass off as bears? Or maybe park rangers dressed up in cheap bear suits in an effort to catch us off guard breaking the May Long liquor ban? They obviously pose a possible threat of some sort since you went out of your way to wield the PWR OF TEH CAPSLCK. Were the ambiguous air quotes really necessary? Now we can't tell whether it's a legitimate warning or an inside joke on behalf of the campground clerical staff that we're not in on. Or perhaps some idiots still do not understand that quotation marks ≠ emphasis.

I just finished My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult and I think it's the closest I've ever come to actually crying reading a book. The ending was... just... *anguished little noise* For fear of spoiling the story (which apparently I very often do unintentionally -- sorry!) you should just take me at my word when I say the book is amazingly good and you should all go read it now.

I started watching the first few episodes of Batman Beyond and it manages to fill the little empty hole that BtAS left after finishing off the final season. It's much darker than the original series... Watching the first episode suddenly makes the whole scene in Revenge of the Joker where Terry descends down into the graffitied Batcave so much more gut wrenching. D: Also, I don't know whether it's just because he's crotchety and old in this series or not, but Bruce is much more of a dick sometimes in BB. "Bring back the suit." "No!" *Beep* "GAAAA!" ^^; (Oh Batman, disgruntled and wrinkly as you may be, we still love you.)

On a reverse note, does anyone else cringe at how often Batman says "chum" in the older comics? I realize the character has changed a lot since over the years, but it's very... un-Batsy compared to today's modern Batman who's much more broody and much less... bromancey. Look at him, he smiling too much! It's unnerving. Like ol' Brucie's trying to throw you off and at any moment he's going to whirl around and punch you in the face when you're not expecting it. (Or rape you if you're Robin.)

"Come on, chum. Let's go home... and 'go to bed'." *Grins and swings off into the sunset.*

Suuure.

Sorry guys, but I'm really struggling to force myself to finish reading Outlander. It's only rated a Somewhat Entertaining on the Brenna Scale of Awesome -- there's only so many times in one book that the heroine can be almost killed and/or raped, have her big burly Scotsman husband save her at the last moment, and then go off and have piles of hot sex before it all becomes a little repetitive. At times it also feels like a bad Harlequin smut novel, with such cheese-filled gems as:

I pressed my hips back against him, inviting, and settled against
him with a sigh as his solid hardness filled me.

and...

"I want to leave the feel of me deep inside ye with my seed."

I felt silly just typing out the quote out here. I had to put the book down for a while to gather up my brain from the floor.

In other news, OMG I finally fixed my internet! It's been sickeningly slow on my Mac here at home, but yet fine on Mason's PC. *Terrible cloud of irritated confusion* Apparently Apple is doing... something... with their DNS... something or other... (I don't actually understand all the techno-babble at all) but basically whatever it is made interwebbing really slow -- but everyone seemed to point to a specific OpenDNS thing to fix the problem, and it did! HUZZUH! Hello speedy 'nets, I missed you~

I've been spending a lot of time lately expanding my (previously complete lack-thereof) collection of Batman comics, most notably issues that predominately feature the Joker and/or Harley Quinn; and heavily helped by the conveniently compiled list created by the wonderful webmistress of Love Dat Joker. (I love when all the hard work is already done for me.) So far I've managed to find everything from the main Batman series, most of Detective Comics, as well as all the animated titles and several issues and mini-series' from here and there.

It's been fun finally getting to read some of those really popular and well-known stories that I've only heard about before, despite having to battle through all the horrible retro art that makes me cringe. (I'm a sucker for the sexy, modern penciling more along the lines of Jim Lee.) Stories like "A Death in the Family" have been a great read, but the visuals almost ruin it for me. T-T

This avatar screams out for an amusing caption of some kind, but I don't know what.

I have two words for you all: LEGO GRIEVOUS.

Thank you, Brock and Nickie! :B How could I have spent so much time scouring the interwebs for everything and anything General Grievous related and never have known about this?! *Twinge of fangirly shame* Look at him! He's AWESOME. XD

I have to admit though... the picture is a bit deceiving. I sort of just glossed over the whole "10,186 pieces" thing in my fangirly glee -- the box is freaking ginormous! 10,186 pieces! He's going to be 18 inches high! It came with TWO INSTRUCTIONS BOOKS. They could not fit all of his assembly instructions into one manual! D: I played with Lego when I was a kid, I built my share of you know... houses. And... walls... Something tells me Grievous is going to be a bit more a challenge. But I'm determined to get him done! *DETERMINED* The online reviews say the figure isn't very sturdy because he's so tall when put together, so I figure I'll put him together and then maybe glue everything except the pivot joints -- I'd love to be able to really move him around and pose him~ So far I've finished... the platform. It's a work in progress.

I'm reading Outlander, the first in a series by Diana Gabaldon. It's a bit of a romancy, historical, time-traveling fruit salad and was recommended to me by a couple different people. Basically the story so far is a married, English post-WWII nurse is suddenly transported back to 1700 Scotland. The first 170ish pages weren't bad at all, they were thought out and well-paced with the whole "hey we just traveled back in time!" thing -- but then in the span of the next mere 20 pages, the heroine suddenly seems to completely forget all about her beloved husband in the present time that she's told us she loves so dearly and is determined to get back to, marries a burly kilt-clad Scotsman she's only known for a month, and proceeds to have piles of guilt-free sex with her new Highlander beau.

*Blink blink* What? What just happened? *Flips back through the book to double check she didn't miss a few cleverly hidden chapters* How can you completely change the emotional mindset of a character in 20 pages? That's like being in a loving marriage and then going out to the store for 20 minutes to pick up milk and shagging the grocery clerk in the frozen food isle instead. I don't know. It's gotten a little dicey at this point, at times I just want to throw my hands up in frustration trying to get a grip on this protagonist's fickle thought process. =_=;