Jamie D. and I had a mini-date night, going out to Carraba's and enjoying matching dishes of chicken gratella and calamari.  Very tasty.

On Saturday my dad managed to lose his dog, Otto, while helping my grandparents renovate a house in a less than nice area of town.  I spent about three and a half hours driving around with him in the car looking for Otto.  Fortunately, it turned out someone had found him several blocks away and called the humane society.  Otto is safe and sound with his papa again.  Dumb dog.

Jamie H. and I went to see Run, Fatboy, Run on Sunday.  It was a little better than Hot Fuzz, though a bit schmaltzy and predictable by the ending, but still a funny and fun movie.

I also watched the third episode of Band of Brothers last night, via Netflix DVD.  It seems to be a well-done series so far, though a bit hard to watch sometimes.  I get a little choked up occasionally, and I find myself saying "Jesus!" a lot.  Otherwise, very good and I'm looking forward to the next seven episodes.

So, what's been going on lately...

I bought two tickets to the Chevelle concert.  The total?  $66.60.  Concidence?  I think not!  I'm looking forward to April 20th.

My tournament bracket has gone into the crapper, as usual.  I'm actually considering skipping the pool next year, because my inability to guess winners in advance has really curtailed my enjoyment of the games themselves.

ONIONS!

In this season of Big Brother, I tagged Natalie as my favorite, because she has her talent in all the right places :wink wink::  She's so ditsy to boot.  Well, she finally won HoH and I was happy for her.  I picked Dick last season, so maybe I'm on a roll.

American Idol is starting to drag a bit, in my opinion, but it's been interesting to see Dave Cook evolve into a full-on rocker.  I was calling him Daughtry-lite early on, so hopefully he doesn't flame-out in the same way.

After a few extra listens, I think Walking With Strangers by The Birthday Massacre is a decent CD.  There are a lot of 80s influences, as Jamie D. pointed out, but there's an edgyness to it that I like.

There was Easter, and a Ferrari win, and an animated movie.  It's all such a blur now.  Looking forward to another fun-filled weekend.  

Fun Fact of the day:  I now have 9 keys on my key ring.

I saw Juno and Sweeney Todd recently.  Both are good, in their own ways.  I think the good press on Juno has drawn an unlikely audience - old people.  For the record, this is not a movie for old people.  For the most part, they just don't appreciate the humor.  I had a guy sitting next to me that literally smelled like dust.  There were various other old people groaning at the comments made by the characters, which were intended to by funny.  Sweeney Todd may or may not be appropriate for old people, depending upon their enjoyment of all things Depp and their stomach for gratuitous bloodletting.  I happen to like both, and so I was able to somewhat enjoy the showtunes as well.  I saw the stage version quite some years ago, so I knew what to expect.

Hooray for the Giants winning a playoff game.  It was their first postseason win since 2000, when they last made an unlikely Superbowl run.  Poor Jamie D. had to deal with me watching highlights of the game about three times that evening.

Last night Stephen Colbert and John Stewart returned to their respective programs, sans writers.  John managed to squeeze out a few chuckles, but otherwise it was painfully obvious his program was missing the normal witty material.  Stephen Colbert, on the other hand, was laugh-out-loud funny.  From appearing with a faux Moses-style beard, clips about his anti-union stance, to his banter with Andrew Sullivan, it was all good stuff.  His book is funny too, by the way.

I haven't been doing many weekend updates lately, though I've been quite busy.  I guess the first place to start would be a rundown of the movies I've seen recently. 

Last week I saw The Simpsons, which was really funny.  I'm so glad it didn't disappoint, because there was a lot of build-up for this one on the internet.  The writers did a good job of bringing back what made the TV show so funny.  Hopefully they'll recapture old fans of the show and boost their ratings. 

The Bourne Ultimatum was as good as expected.  The first 10 minutes or so were a little confusing, even though I own the first two movies.  I love watching Matt Damon totally kick some ass and take some names.  As a side note, I know this franchise appealed to a different theatre-going demographic, opting out of the MTV crowd, but that point was driven home to me when I watched the entrance thinking someone had broken the locks off a nearby senior center.

Last night I watched The Constant Gardener on DVD.  The first half was slow.  Really slow.  Painfully slow.  Once the intrigue and drama kicked in my interest perked up, but I was left feeling like the movie could have been better.  More guns and explosions, maybe.  Perhaps a car chase too.

Although not a movie, I also bought the complete series of Æon Flux.  So far I've watched all the shorts and the first two episodes.  Definitely brings back good memories.  What a great and twisted TV show it was.   I have yet to see the movie with Charlize Theron, which I've heard is pretty bad.  Anyway, on the third disc there's this clip of Liquid Television, which is where the show started life.  I was telling Jamie D. I used to stay up till midnight or so watching Liquid Television just to see how odd it could get, and the clip on the DVD didn't disappoint.  Odd and stupid, just like the original.

Stepping away from the movies and TV for a bit, I saw the American Idol concert on Friday.  Jamie H. had won tickets from a radio contest and invited me to tag along.  The only contestant I was looking forward to seeing was Blake Lewis.  Chris Richardson kept me entertained too, I guess.  Overall, all the performers did a pretty good job, did their best to keep a good atmosphere going, and seemed to still genuinely be having fun on the tour.

So, I think I better wrap this up.  Looking forward to another busy work week.

I finally got to watch the first two episodes of the HBO series Rome last night. There are some plot turns I like, and some I don't so much, which I will now rate by means of severed heads (may be spoilery):

- The power struggle between Mark Antony and Marcus Brutus. Mark Antony is an interesting and dynamic character to watch, but I must admit that I was disappointed that we didn't get to see the eulogies. 3 1/2 severed heads

- Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus become crime bosses. A little bit of an odd turn for me. I think it's a poor fit for their characters, but their respective allegiances will tear them apart shortly down the road. 2 severed heads

- Octavia of the Julii exits Rome. Technically, at the time of Caesar's death he wasn't even in Rome, but let's not quibble over historical facts. I think his power play was brilliant, and yet he still deserved the beating he got from Mark Antony. 4 severed heads

I brought my spicy chili to the competition at work today. My goal is not just to win, but to actually kill some hapless victim with the power of peppers.