I didn't really expect to be where I was last night.

I got an email from a friend of mine that I used to work with. I hadn't heard from her for a while, so it was good to chat. She mailed me to tell me that her boyfriend had some sort of connection and had gotten them two reasonably decent seats at the Britney Spears "Dream Within A Dream" show, but he had to return to Seattle for some business so she wanted to know if I would go.

A free ticket to a Britney show? Too good to pass up. I accepted.

We met up before the show with some other friends who were going that night, too. They had some great seats just off the floor. I asked my friend where her tickets were, but she didn't know. They were at the Will Call desk and we needed to pick them up and find out.

We got to the Will Call desk and picked up the tickets. Row 3. Can't get much better than that. I was stoked.

When we got into the Rose Garden, though, it turns out that, sure, we were in the third row the way the seat numbering went, but by the way the stage was laid out, we were in the front row. I was maybe 10 - 12 feet away from the stage (reads: 10 - 12 feet away from Britney), and the only thing between me and her was the security guard. Holy crap! (You can see where I was sitting in this diagram.)

So I turned to my friend and asked, "So, your boyfriend just 'knows' people? Who's your boyfriend?" Turns out he's the guitarist for freaking Pearl Jam, Stone Gossard. Apparently they grew up near each other in Seattle and they met at the wedding of a mutual friend. How weird is that?!

Anyway, the show was awesome. Britney played all of her hits ("Baby, One More Time," "Oops!... I Did It Again," etc.). The costumes were spectacular. There were pyrotechnics of all natures - columns of fire shooting up, fireworks, sparks... There were lasers all over the place... There was even a part in the show where it rained on stage. Lots of props - Britney came out at one part in a giant music box, popped out of the top, and was the ballerina in the music box. She swung from giant bungee cords, she levitated on platforms. Incredible.

The backup singers rocked, the band rocked, the dancers rocked (one danced for some time right in front of me, lookin' right at me). My friend even claims she saw Britney wink at me, but I can't confirm that one. Absolutely unbelieveable. I wish I could have recorded it so I could share it with you all, but, alas, no cameras.

An evening at home watching TV turned into an evening at a really great concert. I feel bad for Jenn, who "got" to stay home and do the TV thing, but she's not into Britney like I am. I told my friend to give Stone a big high-five for me. That made my day.

Thus ends another three-day holiday weekend that went by all too quickly. A heck of a lot happened, though looking back at it, it doesn't seem like I really accomplished anything. Hmmm.

My sister, Tori, is back from her mission in Thailand. She brought with her some cool native clothing - beautiful custom suits she got for like $30US. She also had the usual stories of shady marketplace dealings... where you choose what you want from a catalog, the vendor calls someone on a cell phone, and a few minutes later a taxi mysteriously drives up and drops off your "order." Or, looking at pets, someone will come over and show you that they have a very tiny monkey hidden in their fanny pack and if you want it, they'll sell it to you and tell you how to smuggle it into the US. Pretty unbelieveable.

I saw Star Wars - Episode II again this weekend since Jenn hadn't seen it. I thought it was still pretty decent the second time around, but Jenn wasn't too impressed. She's not a big sci-fi fan, either, though, so take it with a grain of salt. I was stoked to see the trailer for the new James Bond movie, though, and I look forward to that. Love the Bond.

Sunday was quite the ordeal. Went to church with my parents at 1:00p so I could hear Tori speak (she's become quite a good speaker, too... I was very impressed). By 3:00p I was at a "barbecue" at Jenn's cousin's house, though there wasn't any [fresh] food, so I didn't actually get to eat lunch until 4:00p when I went to Burgerville. Much as I love Jenn, the all-too-frequent family gatherings are a little much for me. I'm not a big-crowd-people-person. Anyway, by 5:00p Jenn and I were back at my parents' house for Tori's "welcome back" open house. I think three people showed up by 7:00p, so we left. Rented American Beauty since Jenn hadn't seen it (and, might I add, Mena Suvari's hot), then went to bed.

Monday was errand day. Did the laundry, yadda, yadda, yadda. Rented Vanilla Sky and... not sure what to say about that one. I suppose I didn't guess the ending, but it played out so confusing that it was hard to stay focused and watch the movie. You have to see it to understand it. (I can't figure out why Tom Cruise would take Penelope Cruz over the way hotter and classier Nicole Kidman, but that's another discussion entirely.)

That's about it. Woke up this morning way too exhausted and haven't really been able to concentrate on work all day. I've got stuff to do, I just don't wanna do it.

Oh, I saw the latest InStyle has my girl, Sarah Michelle Gellar, on the cover. She's pretty great, but she's ruining her career with movies like Simply Irresistable and Scooby Doo. If she could pick a decent role, I think she could make something out of herself. Then again, she is dating Freddie Prinze, Jr., so I can't say much for her taste in guys, either.

Well.

Let me begin by saying I thought this latest installment of Star Wars was (pardon the bad space humor) light years better than Episode I. Episode I was not one of those movies where I could plant my butt on the sofa one Sunday afternoon and just feel the need to watch it. It takes a mood. Episode I was not a "stand-alone" movie - if you hadn't seen any other Star Wars movie, it would probably not make a lot of sense because it requires the context of the original trilogy.

Episode II, on the other hand, stood alone pretty well. While it helped a lot to know where things were going a la the original trilogy, if you just sat down and watched it, you wouldn't be disappointed. There was good action, good special effects, and a pretty decent story.

Now, all of that said, Episode II in no way compared to any of the original three; even Return of the Jedi, which I felt was probably the weakest of the bunch, would show up on my list before this one. And here's why:

In the original three, sure, there was a political battle going on and that's the whole reason everyone was fighting against the Death Star and all that jazz. But the politics, for the most part, were secondary to the overall general "good-versus-evil" story. A very simple plot, good characters, good script, and everything falls neatly into place. With these recent installments, Lucas seems to be focusing heavily on the politics of things. There's a lot of discussion about/around/in the Senate, and while that's interesting for a while, I guess when I come into a Star Wars movie, I wanna see the equivalent of a space-age Western movie, which is exactly what the original three were. These latest seem more like.. like the extended version of Dune. I liked Dune, but I liked it for what it was - I went in expecting politics, and that's what it was about. Star Wars, that's not what I expect, but that's what I'm getting.

It doesn't help things that, in general, the dialogue was pretty bad and Hayden Christiansen as Anakin was the most wooden acting I've seen since Pinocchio. I don't know if that's the script's fault, the director's fault, or Christiansen's, but I blame Lucas (seeing as how he's writer and director).

That was the bad stuff.

The good stuff: Natalie Portman, always a pleasure to watch onscreen, finally starts taking on a Leia-like presence. We start to see the relationship development between Amidala and Anakin, which is cool. We get to see Anakin getting arrogant and impatient, getting his hate on and taking on his Darth Vader airs. We get to see how Boba Fett came about, which I thought was very cool. Samuel L. Jackson - 'nuff said on that. I think his lightsaber was the one that said "Bad Mother Fucker" on it. And last, but very certainly not least (in fact, probably best in my mind), we get to see Yoda really throw down and show us what being a Jedi Master is all about. I could probably watch the Yoda scene over and over and never get tired of it.

Oh, and Episode II moves along way faster than Episode I, which is an exceptionally good thing.

Does the good outweigh the bad? Mostly. I think they could have done way better with it, especially given that almost every actor in the world would love to be in a Star Wars movie and they pick this Christiansen kid I've never heard of. I mean, for example, the kid they chose to play Harry Potter looks like Harry should look, sounds like Harry should sound and acts like Harry should act. Christiansen did none of those things for Anakin. But this one does fill in a lot of gaps in the Star Wars saga and you do get to see a lot of the cool Jedi stuff that we haven't seen before, and it did move along fairly well and keep me entertained.

So I'd say, uh, 7.5 out of 10. I liked it, but given the choice between seeing this one or Spider-Man again, I'd probably go Spider-Man.

Okay, maybe not California Highway Patrol. More like "paint chips." As in, "I found yet another chip out of the paint on my car that needs to be touched up." This totals three. I did the touch up on two of them, and I think I need to give a little more attention to one of those (it looks... okay... but not the best). I found the third yesterday, and it's about the size of a pencil eraser. Guess what I'll be doing this weekend?!

I called the body shop I usually go to in these cases and they said they'd just be doing the same thing I'm going to be doing - touch up by hand - unless I want them to actually repaint the whole panel. Which I don't. It'd cost me roughly $45 to get them to fix it, so I may as well do it myself, since it sounds pretty hit-and-miss anyway. And, if all else fails, I can always go in and have them touch up my touch up.

What a big pain. How come they don't make, like, indestructible paint? Or, better yet, cast the car in the appropriate color metal to begin with, so that the color is actually part of the body? Or at least mold the plastic bumpers in the proper color so they don't chip. (I haven't had any bumper problems, but that's still a good idea.) Maybe I'll call someone and suggest that.

Anyway.

I've found a place that carries my cocktail table and will sell it to me and ship it out here for a grand total of about $565, which is cheaper than the base price anywhere else has offered it at. I'm going to do some last minute calling and we'll see if someone out here can price match that. I doubt it. I talked to a local dealer and the problem is twofold: First, they don't normally carry that table, which means it's a special order; Second, the table weighs 90 pounds, so it's going to kill me in freight. I don't know how this other place is doing it, but if I can save the $100+, I'm going to do it.

While on the flight to Vegas, I found, in the Skymall catalog, this really cool cocktail table with a clock face under the glass top.

Now, I've had quite a time trying to find a table that I like enough to buy and put in my living room. I did, once, a long time ago at The Bombay Company, but it was on clearance (presumedly because it was discontinued) and I have never seen it since. Now that I've found this one, I'm latching on, and I'm gonna buy it. The problem is price.

See, Skymall's got it for $599, which I don't think includes shipping. I've called around locally and I've heard prices that range from $670 to $800. I'm pretty sure the Skymall price doesn't count shipping, which I'm sure is what's going to kill me off since the table weighs like 90 pounds. We'll see what happens.

On another note, I've got tickets via my work to see the new Star Wars movie. I'll be going on Thursday at 10. Seems the company has rented out two theater rooms to see this thing, which is cool. I'm doing my best not to get my hopes up. Folks have said it's better than Episode I, but I'll wait to pass judgment.

Well, I've returned from my long-awaited and well-loved vacation to Vegas, and let me tell you, it was the bomb. Jenn and I saw so much stuff down there, it was incredible. Here's the edited play-by-play for those interested:

Day One: Tuesday, May 14

Our flight left at 7:20a, so we got up at like 4:00a in order to get ready, get to the MAX station, get to the airport, and get processed for the flight. Jenn got chosen for a random bag search, so she got to take off her shoes and let the people at the security checkpoint inspect all of her stuff. I got through without a hitch.

The plane left on time (Southwest is pretty good about that) and we arrived in Vegas around 9:25a. Picked up our Alamo rental and we were off for Paris.

Paris Las Vegas is, by far, my favorite place on the Strip. The atmosphere in there is just so cool... I can't really claim authenticity, since I've never been to the real Paris, but as far as I'm concerned, Paris Las Vegas is how the real Paris is. The artistry in there, the attention to detail, all of it is just fantastic.

We got a corner room with a little private entry, which was neat except for the fact it was at the end of the 14 mile long hallway. The room itself was beautiful and had everything you'd want; you didn't have to ask for a hair dryer, iron, or any of that because it was all already there. I think the highest praise I could give the place is that I felt comfortable walking around on the carpet in bare feet, which I won't normally do in hotels.

Most of the first day was walking around and looking at stuff. We ran around to the casinos in the immediate vicinity: Caesar's Palace (and the Forum Shops), Bellagio, Mirage, and Treasure Island, as well as taking in the Paris sights. Jenn hadn't seen the Bellagio yet, nor the Paris, so we had a lot of fun looking through those.

We made a quick stop at the Star Trek exhibit at the Las Vegas Hilton, but since Jenn's not into Star Trek and I'd seen it before, we didn't stay long.

We rode the "Race for Atlantis" IMAX ride at Caesar's and had a good time with that. I'd been on it before, but it was just as fun this time around. Jenn had a good time, too.

Ate at the Hard Rock Cafe and checked out the Hard Rock Hotel, which is sort of like a big meat market. Nice place to visit, but I think I like the Paris better.

We also watched a fountain show out front of the Bellagio (free shows that start every half hour) around the noon timeframe. It was cool.

Around 11:00p, we went up to the top of the Eiffel Tower at the Paris and were able to watch a Bellagio fountain show from up there, which was very beautiful. They played Elton John's "Your Song," which was especially cool because Jenn and I both love the movie Moulin Rouge and that song played a significant part in it. I took some pretty good pictures of that show; maybe I'll scan them and stick them up here.

Day Two: Wednesday, May 15

Wednesday was probably our busiest day from a walking standpoint. We pretty much covered all the other casinos that we didn't get to on Tuesday - the MGM Grand, Luxor, New York New York, Bally's, and the Aladdin. We also went to the M&M store and the Coca-Cola store on the strip.

At the Coke store, we got to drink a Vanilla Coke on the day they were released. That was pretty cool.

The best part of Wednesday happened when we got to the Luxor. First, we rode the "Search for the Obelisk" motion simulator ride which was fun. Jenn liked it, too, but it did thrash us around a lot.

After that, though... it was time to see the Blue Man come out.

Blue Man Group, which plays at the Luxor, is one of the coolest shows I've ever seen. I've seen Cirque du Soleil (a couple of different productions from them), Stomp, Siegfried and Roy, and many other similar stage productions... but the Blue Man Group is a whole experience unto itself.

It combines a little of the industrial/tribal music sort of thing (a la "Stomp") with an extremely innovative stage and lighting show that really can't be described; it has to be seen. Throw in some comedy and a bit of audience participation and stir. The results are unbelieveable.

I won't ruin all of it for you or drone on about how cool this part or that part was. I will tell you my favorite part: At the end of the show, they start playing a remix of KLF's "Last Train to Trancentral" (which happens to be my favorite song of theirs; from the White Room album) that contains some of the signature Blue Man instrumentation. During this, these tubes come down from the ceiling of the auditorium and start making these humming noises (imagine a hall of Gregorian Monks), then start spinning around. The black light on them makes them shine in different colors. The Blue Men run to the back of the auditorium, where there are these huge rolls of crepe paper (about the width of toilet paper) and they start unrolling this stuff onto the audience. The guy in the back row hands it to the guy in front of him, and so on. Eventually the whole crowd is passing this paper over their heads as fast as they can and everyone's covered in it.

We sat in the front row, so we turned around to face a tsunami of this paper coming down on us. About three or four minutes into the song, I could put my arms straight over my head and not reach the top of the paper. The whole time, the song is thumping its techno beat and the crowd is screaming.

It's the best party I've ever been to.

After the show, the Blue Men and their band come out and greet the audience, and if you bring your camera with you, you can get your picture with them. We, fortunately, had brought our camera, so I have a picture with a Blue Man and the band. I also got a Blue Man to kiss my ticket so I have blue lip prints on it. (Note: The paint never dries; it's like an oil paint of some nature. I'm working on coating it with an acrylic fixative, but let me tell you - those were a bear to cart home.)

Day Three: Thursday, May 16

We covered the last of the casinos on Thursday (Mandalay Bay, The Venetian, and The Excalibur).

At The Venetian, Jenn and I took a gondola ride outside. It was a beautiful day and we had a wonderful gondolier named Natallino who was just hilarious. He sang us a nice song and took a couple of pictures of us during the ride. If you happen to go to The Venetian, ask for this guy. He was awesome.

We rode the Manhattan Express Roller Coaster at the New York New York and got totally thrashed around. My shoulders are still bruised, but it was really fun. Jenn liked that one, too.

At Mandalay Bay, though... well... First, it's a beautiful place. A wonderful resort with a great pool setup (wave pool, a river ride, etc.), but the parking and the layout were very confusing. I wanted to see the cool griffin statues they have out front, but we walked so much trying to find the way out that we ended up giving up, going to ride the roller coaster at New York, and coming back to the Mandalay.

We also took some more time to explore the Paris and do our shopping. I probably spent a good $200 on shirts, art, and trinkets from Paris. We decided we're going to redo our living room decor in a Paris theme. It'll go well with the Moulin Rouge posters.

Oh, and we ate at our first In-N-Out Burger. So good. I can't wait for them to come to Portland.

Day Four: Friday, May 17

We got up reasonably early (5:30a?) and got our stuff together and checked out of the Paris. On the way back to return the rental car, we stopped at the Excalibur and bought some extra tasty Krispy Kreme donuts.

We made it through the security checkpoint without incident this time and got to the gate for our flight early enough to hang out and eat our donuts.

The downside to this airport stop is that we got there just in time for the stupid television to announce who was voted off of Survivor (Sean) after we had been so careful not to talk to anyone or watch the show, hoping to save it until we got home. Oh well. It was exciting anyway.

Our plane left at 9:25a and we got back into Portland around 11:30a. Not too bad.

All in all, this was a really rockin' vacation. I got away from work (which was the whole point), I only lost $30 gambling (mostly slots; I'm not a gambler), and Jenn and I got to see and do a lot of stuff that we wouldn't normally get to. I call that a success. Next time we go to Vegas, I'm going to try not to walk around so much (my feet hurt so bad), but I always say that. Either way, I'll definitely be staying at the Paris.

I think the next vacation needs to be somewhere restful, like Maui. Somewhere I can just plunk down next to the water and not have to do anything.

Oh, and no, I didn't see Star Wars. I am not in that big of a hurry to (especially if it's anything like Episode I). I'm going with the gang from work on Thursday, I think, and then will probably go with Jenn this weekend.

[Days Until Vegas: 4]

Well, for all intents and purposes, I'm off to Vegas. I won't be adding to the blog over the weekend, I'm taking Monday to pack, rest up, etc., and Tuesday through Friday of next week, it's Viva Las Vegas.

For those who care (on a whole different note):

I just got a call from the Acura dealership and they have my car ready, which is cool. It'll be good to have it back, since they stuck me with this Enterprise Rent-A-Clown-Car. It's a four-door Corolla that I have to fold myself into a contortionist position to get into. And the gas and brake pedals are so close together it's hard to tell where one stops and the other starts.

Anyway, it'll be nice to be able to drive again. Even if I was only without my car for a few hours.

And a final sidetrack before I sign off for a week: Today is Fred Meyer employee double-discount day so I get 20% off anything (except food and pharmacy) at Freddy's via my mom. She had an extra coupon for 10% additional off any DVDs, so I picked up The Godfather trilogy for a bargain - normal price is $75, I got it for $54. Can't complain about that - $21 extra dollars to spend in VEGAS!

Last weekend I had the oil changed for the first time in the life of my car. It was a good experience; the folks at the Acura dealership were really nice and overall I loved the service.

The only problem I had was that, for the following week, every time I'd stop while driving around, I'd smell burning oil. I sort of expect this after an oil change; pending on how messy the guy changing the oil is, there may be some oil that's splattered somewhere on the engine that's burning off.

But the smell persisted. Today's Friday, and I should not be smelling things. So I stopped in the parking lot at work and decided to open up the hood to see if there was something glaringly wrong.

Battery looks good... hoses are connected... things look - hey, wait. WHERE THE FUCK IS MY OIL CAP?!?!

Those bastards didn't put my oil cap back on after changing the oil.

Now, I'm not a whiz with cars. I know a little bit about some stuff, but for the most part, I leave the car stuff to the trained professionals. But I do know enough to realize having no oil cap is not a good thing.

So I called the dealership back and they're going to replace my oil cap, steam clean the engine, and check things out. I take it in later this morning for that one. I'm just hoping nothing is trashed. I've only driven the car 8000 miles. I'm going to get a receipt of some nature so that two weeks from now, when a rod blasts through my hood and kills a pedestrian or something, I've got documented proof that it was their fuckup, not mine.

If it's not one thing, it's another. Unbelieveable.

[Days Until Vegas: 5]

I love The Amazing Race. There's something about a giant rally that I just sort of dig. I watched the first one and had a good time with it, and I'm having almost as good a time watching this latest installment.

The only problem I have is that every time I finally decide on a team to root for, they get eliminated. In the first Amazing Race, I liked Kevin and Drew (as did pretty much everyone else). They were entertaining, good guys and I hoped they won. They didn't.

This time around, I also started liking the entertaining team (Gary and Dave), but they got eliminated. Then I didn't know who I liked, but Team Cha Cha Cha (Danny and Oswald) really grew on me because they were good guys and they played the game smart, no backstabbing or weaselling, just good fun.

Well, as with every team I like, they got eliminated last night, and I think that sucks. How come Wil and Tara, "Team ASSHOLE," can't be eliminated? Maybe they should merge Survivor with The Amazing Race so the other teams can vote them off. I'd vote 'em off.

I don't think I could ever be on one of these shows, though. I don't have the patience with other people the way you'd have to have in order to be successful. I think I'd have gotten into a fight with Wil already because I'm sure he'd have done some stupid weaselly shit to me and I'd be forced to beat him. It might make good TV but it's terrible sportsmanship.

In Survivor I don't know who I want to win right now. I like both Neleh and Paschal, but Kathy's also got a lot going for her. I'm sure that saying that out loud has just jinxed all three of them, but I suppose we'll see what happens when the latest episode runs tonight.

[Days Until Vegas: 6]

Or, more accurately, can MTV save your mortal soul? I think not.

I was getting ready to watch The Osbournes last night and flipped on MTV a little early while waiting for it to come on and I was greeted with potentially the most hideous thing I've ever witnessed. Ever.

For there, glaring at me through my television screen, were the most pathetically shallow individuals ever conceived, putting on a show of emotion for the September 11 attacks.

The show was MTV's The Real World, which, as most folks who know me know, I think is one of the lamest shows ever. Yeah, I've watched my share of it in late night "nothing's on TV" times, but watching The Real World any more is like watching an extended Jerry Springer episode - you never think it can get any more convoluted or lame, but then, somehow, it does. The lesbian lover shows up; the Nazi boyfriend lights someone on fire; etc., etc.

Anyway, back to the point: For half an hour I watched a group of people presumably my age cry their hearts out, kiss each other, pray, and sing in mourning for the Sept. 11 incident. This, in and of itself, is not a problem. But the manner in which this mourning occurred felt, to me, to be the most inauthentic display of feeling witnessed on national television.

The amount of legitimate feeling there equated to a person you've never met coming up to you and kissing you on both cheeks. Yeah, you just got kissed, but did it mean anything? Nope. The way these people so... deliberately... feel their emotions... it's almost frustrating. It was like watching someone tell them "Something terrible just happened. The country is in disarray. You should now feel bad," and they then feel what they're told.

What I'm even more worried about is that this might be actually how people are now. Maybe I'm an exception to the norm (which wouldn't be the first time). Maybe I'm just inarticulate and my feelings overpower me. But when I feel grief, I can't just sit there and say, "Well, I'm feeling grief right now, as evidenced by the tears you see rolling down my face." It's not a scientific, and rarely an easily communicatable, thing. The display I witnessed was... so robotic.

Is that how people are anymore? If so, that'd explain a lot about the world and why things that happen in the world get the reaction they do. I really hope folks aren't as shallow as all that.

Or maybe it was just the way the show was cut together. Here's hoping.

On another note...

The Osbournes was a great episode. "Dinner With Ozzy." They interviewed him and showed highlights from the season. It was too funny, and it sort of put all the antics into perspective. As Ozzy says, "[he] doesn't think the way [they] live is abnormal... that's how [he's] always lived."

Went to lunch today and saw at the local KB Toy outlet that they had giant ReBoot figures for $5 each. Had to get the two they had left. More crap to cram into the apartment.

[Days Until Vegas: 7]

Only a week until Jenn & I hit the streets of Vegas, and I'm stoked. The only problem is, the closer I get to vacation, the longer the time seems to go. I'm afraid this week is going to last forever and next week will only be a heartbeat. Such is the way of the vacation.

It's been a while since I've had one, but I have to say, Tré Limone is one of the greatest beverages ever. (Their web site takes forever to get past the intro, though, so you'll want to jump right to the product section.) It's difficult to find in the Portland area, but I found that the Haggen by my work stocks it, so yay, me! I bought one to nurse in today's staff meeting at work. It's the little things. (Flying Elephant's Delicatessen in downtown Portland also has it, in case you wondered.)

I realized last night that I forgot to wear my Spider-Man "No. 1 Amazing Fantasy" watch when I went to the movie. I don't wear it much because I don't want it to get all dinged up (I'm pretty hard on my watch; it's a good thing my regular watch is pretty durable). It's really cool, though. My parents got it for my birthday a few years back.

Speaking of cool watches, I like the Dumbledore's Pocket Watch that Fossil has out. (Hint, hint...)

Well, time for staff meeting. And donut eating.

[Days Until Vegas: 8]

After talking to the rest of the guys in my department, of the folks who have seen Spider-Man, everyone agrees it was awesome. It looks like, according to IMDb, they're making a sequel. That'd be cool. I hope it's as good as this one.

I'm also hoping that the new Star Wars movie holds its own. When they released Episode I, I was stoked, but to be honest, except for the Natalie Portman action in there, it wasn't all that and a bag of chips. Maybe it's the whole "can't-live-up-to-the-hype" phenomenon I described in my Spider-Man review. Maybe it's the fact that the Jar-Jar Binks character sucks huge donkey. Anyway, I hope this latest installment justifies the hype.

Alias last night was the bomb. You never think it could possibly get more intriguing or convoluted and then it does. It reminds me a bit of the first few seasons of The X-Files or La Femme Nikita. I hope they can maintain this breakneck pace. I'm loving it. I can't wait until they bring it out on DVD. Besides... Jennifer Garner. 'Nuff said on that issue.

Allergies: They suck. But I have medication now. Lots of it. I have Nasacort for daily dosage, I have Allegra to catch the stuff the Nasacort doesn't, and for those "heavy days" I have Astelin. Oh, and I got an albuterol inhaler for when I can't breathe, because, as it turns out, I guess I'm mildly asthmatic. It just keeps getting better.

I'm in the process right now of installing Visual Studio .NET. I've gotta figure out how to write a Windows service, and it looks like .NET does a lot of that for you. Here's hoping. Point being, I've been installing this thing for the last hour and it's showing no signs of slowing. What a pain.

Spider-Man has to be the best superhero/comic-based movie since the original Superman.

I went in on Saturday with high expectations. The previews for this thing hype it up to the point where I'm scared to even venture into the theater. I've been so severely let down by movies like Jurassic Park after seeing the commercialism surrounding them that movies with too much promotion are movies I usually won't see. In 99% of cases, there's no way a movie can live up to the expectations the promotion builds.

Spider-Man lives up to every last bit of the hype.

Spider-Man is (duh) the story of Spider-Man. If you don't know who Spider-Man is, climb out from under the rock you call home and join us in the now. Tobey Maguire plays Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) and does a great job of giving us the "mild-mannered" treatment. You get to see his struggles through high school and understand what his state in life is. Kirsten Dunst plays Mary Jane Watson, the girl Peter desperately wants to date. Willem Dafoe plays Norman Osborn, aka The Green Goblin, the bad guy in the film.

Peter is a nerdy photographer in high-school who likes Mary Jane. He's lived next door to her for years, but she somehow doesn't know who he is. Mary Jane dates the popular kids, which is not what Peter is. On a field trip, Peter gets bitten by a genetically enhanced spider (which is slightly different than the radioactive spider that was seen in the comic) and gets spider powers. He climbs walls, he shoots webs, etc., etc. But the cool part of this is that you actually get to see him figure out how to use his powers. He just doesn't instantly understand them - he plays around a bit with them and messes up a few times getting the hang of them.

Peter has a friend, Harry Osborn, whose dad, Norman is some sort of scientist developing products for the Army. Norman's about to lose his funding, so he tries out one of the products on himself and *whammo* turns into a crazed lunatic with super strength.

Norman (as The Green Goblin) tries to kill the people who are taking away his funding; Spider-Man comes in to save the day. Sounds simple enough, right?

It is. Just that simple. And that's the brilliance of it. The story is pretty basic, but you actually care about the characters. There was no point while watching this that I said, "What the hell is that guy thinking? This is stupid!" I left thinking "I want to be Peter Parker." Sort of the same way I left The Matrix thinking "I want to be Neo." You start to see what Peter sees in Mary Jane. You understand Peter's struggles. And you almost wish you could help.

I went in wearing my brand-new Spider-Man baseball jersey, eating my Spider-Man sour gummy spiders, having just purchased a Spider-Man dual-action web blaster, and I loved every single minute of the movie. I want to go back and see it again, and I'll definitely be picking it up on DVD.

And, hey, you get some Kirsten Dunst nip while you're there. Could it get any better? I think not.

Go out and see Spider-Man. It's well worth it.

[Days Until Vegas: 11]

Well, as everyone knows, Spider-Man is out today. And, yeah, I wanna see it. I wasn't so hot on it the very first time I saw the preview, but as I saw more about it, it grew on me. Then when I saw that, true to style, Sam Raimi stuck his car in there, I was sucked in. (I should have figured the car would be there, it's always there, but seeing it made me happy.)

As such, I'm wearing my Spider-Man shirt today, even though I wore it on Monday (yes, it's clean), and I'm really tempted to head down to Toys R Us and get some of the web-shooting gloves so I can combine them into one, cooler-than-cool Spider-Toy. I really shouldn't spend the money on it, but it's so cool. Besides, I'm starting to get that "it's only money" feeling anymore.

Then again, I really do need to save up so I have a reasonable down payment for a house. I'd like to get out of apartment living ASAP since I'm tired of my neighbors downstairs cooking some sort of stew that smells like sour tomato sauce. The stench filters upstairs into our bedroom and makes it difficult to sleep. I'm also tired of the four-year-old next door yelling at his mom at 2:00am about how he can't find his underpants.

I just heard on CNN that The Osbournes may be renewing for another season. Apparently, this season they only got $200,000 for making the show; next season they may get upwards of $20,000,000. One-hundred times as much. Somehow, while I'm not the guy paying the money, that makes me a little irritated. How come I don't get $20mil to have someone run around filming my daily life? (Probably because the fortieth day of me sitting on my ass at work would get a little old.) I guess it goes to prove that some folks just have too much money.

For those who are bored: The "Poke Alex In The Eye" game has been updated. And for those who've never been there, you'll also want to check out "Brad The Game."

[Days Until Vegas: 13]

I'm never the first to jump on a bandwagon. For some reason, I always find out about cool stuff after everyone else has already thought it was cool. Sometimes I find out about it after everyone thinks it's cool and then wears it out until it's not cool anymore.

The latest bandwagon I'm late to jump on is MTV's The Osbournes.

For those who, like me, are late to jump on the bandwagon, this is a [sort of] reality TV show that's basically a camera running around Ozzy Osbourne's house and filming the daily life of the Osbourne family.

Normally, I'm not into the whole "reality TV" thing. I've watched my share of The Real World (which should actually fall under the "drama" category and be called The World No Person With A Normal Income Can Afford) and Road Rules. I currently watch Survivor and The Amazing Race. But, for the most part, I'm not a huge fan.

This Osbournes show, though, is probably the funniest thing I've ever seen. You get to see how Ozzy lives, and you realize that, regardless of the whole "Prince of Darkness" show that gets put on, he's just a guy trying to get by. You see how his family bickers (maybe a little more than most) and the dysfunctional stuff they do to each other. And the only word you can really, truly understand Ozzy saying is "fuck." Seriously. When they get the guy on camera, you hear (in an English accent) something like "mumble mumble fuck mumble fucking mumble mumble." It's crazy.

Last night I watched an episode where the Osbournes were having Christmas dinner. Ozzy carved the turkey and cooked some gravy that he seemed pretty proud of. Too much. Then Ozzy got a James Brown puppet thing that sings and dances to "I Feel Good" when you press a button on it. Ozzy wouldn't stop pushing the button. Reminds me of something my dad would do.

The thing about this show is that I don't think it'd be funny if it wasn't Ozzy. I mean, okay, if you stuck, like, Angus from AC/DC in a show like this, it would probably be just as funny. Or maybe Alice Cooper. But, like, watching Eric Clapton's everyday life? Or Billy Joel? Interesting, maybe, but not nearly as entertaining. The dichotomy of "Prince of Darkness Rock Star" and "Everyday Guy Trying to Get By" is what makes the show what it is.

Next week is apparently the last episode in the season. I don't know if they're going to do another season, but I hope so. In the meantime, I'm going to have to catch the episodes I haven't seen yet when they rerun them.

I also went and bought one of Ozzy's CDs since watching the show got the music into my head. Figures, eh?

On a whole other note, my allergist appointment is today. The Allegra I got at the general practitioner isn't working as well as I'd like - it's kept me less congested than normal, but now my nose runs a lot of the time - so maybe I can get a different medication. Jenn is liking her Claritin... maybe that will work for me, too. Either way, they can't test me for new allergies today even if they want to because I got the notice yesterday that tells me I'm not supposed to take prescription antihistamines (Allegra) for 72 hours before an appointment. As if they didn't have all last week to tell me that, or even tell me that when I made the appointment. Oh, well. If I can come out of there with something to un-stuff my nose and keep it drip-free, I'll be a happy camper.

And, last (but definitely not least), SuperDiamond, probably my favorite concert band, will be playing at The Crystal Ballroom on Saturday, May 11. I'm thinking Jenn and I may just have to go.