Facebook Miscellany 1/13 - 1/26

The most important news on the internet: J.J. Abrams to direct Star Wars VII. To me, this is wonderfully good news, as I have enjoyed all the Abrams films I've seen. According to IMDB, "'Argo' director Ben Affleck was also in contention [to direct]." (Insert huge gasp of relief here.)

I think the funniest response I've seen so far has been this one:

Star Wars Episode VII: Revenge of the Lens Flair

A note on why I like him: of the first three Mission Impossible movies, (the ones I've seen), #3 (directed by Abrams) was my favorite, while #2 (directed by John Woo) was an abomination that ought to be fed to the ravenous bug-bladder beast. What is interesting is that, in M:I2, the villain threatened to release a virus that would kill billions, and yet I could not motivate myself to care if the hero succeeded (I was hoping he wouldn't, so the heroine would be forced to throw herself off a cliff). In M:I3, we are never told what  plot the villain is attempting. There is no on-screen threat beyond the hero and his new bride. And yet I cared intensely.

And getting me to care about Tom Cruise is a feat in itself.

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Last Saturday, I was at the Shoppes at Mission Viejo, getting Damien some ice cream to hopefully distract him from the searing pain in his bladder. While carrying him around the mall (because it hurt too much for him to walk), we happened upon a pet shop. Upon the door was a sign that said something to the effect of "take home a pet today for no money down, and zero percent interest for well-qualified buyers." After looking at the price tags on the cages, ranging from $500 for a smaller bread, like a beagle, to $900 for a Lab, to $haha-we're-not-even-going-to-tell-you for a greyhound or husky, I can understand the need for financing. However, it occurred to me that there is another place where you can get a loving pet for no money down and no interest: your local animal shelter.

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Shamus Young had a good write-up on how awful Linux is. Apparently, among its myriad flaws are:

• It doesn't reboot frequently enough;
• It doesn't constantly pop up notices alerting you that you have unused desktop icons;
• It doesn't take nearly long enough to start up or shut down, so you know it must not be doing it right;
• And you don't get the Genuine Advantage™ of having to enter a long product key.

Maybe once they finally solve these issues, I'll consider installing a dual-boot (or is it duel-boot? I'm never sure).

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Blizzard released the trailer for StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm!

I was glad to hear that Wilhelm will be in this one.

Best comment: "Oh good, it was all just a dream, and that queen of blades lady is still a nice human who doesn't want to kill anybody."

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This was powerful and sobering.



And yet there are those who still deny that abortion hurts women.

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I had to pat myself on the back on Monday night. When we watched the TV show Castle I correctly guessed the killer and motive within 30 seconds of the episode starting. That was before the victim was even killed. Either the show's getting more predictable or I'm getting smarter.

I was also happy that (spoilers) the religious wacko didn't do it. I could tell they were building him up as a "dangerous" character, complete with ominous music whenever he entered the room. The episode was actually somewhat sweet at the end and implied the moral crusader was a decent human being, a concept beyond most Hollywood types. This episode wins the Adrian Monk award of Villainous Murderers and Upright Good Guys.

Still doesn't change the fact that the show's completely jumped the shark.

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The Murloc has just informed us that they are making the movie Red 2. This interests us because we enjoyed Red. Hopefully they will someday make Red 5.

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I thought this was cute.

Remind me to write the post "Why Tangled has the best animated heroine ever" and is the answer to my lamentations of this post.

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New 'Vette = TEH H. A. W. T.

WANT.

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Lastly, the quote of the day/week/month: "Anyone who believes in capital punishment oughtta be shot."