Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Okay, so I've watched the first two Dr. Horrible episodes. I believe the third one goes live today, and I'll be there for sure. Very funny stuff.

Hellboy 2

The movie looks great. Ron Perlman has Hellboy down, and the rest of the cast is fine, too, though I did kind of miss David Hyde-Pierce as the voice of Abe Sapien.

The plot is your basic ring-of-power tale. A crown is divided into three parts that, if reunited, will give the wearer power over the Golden Army, which can destroy the world. So our paranormal heroes have to get the crown. Complications: Hellboy and Liz are having domestic difficulties, and Abe Sapien falls in love. This results in a lovely duet by Hellboy and Abe on "Can't Smile without You." Barry Manilow would be proud. Other complications: the human world isn't as fond of Hellboy and his pals as it should be, so will they go over to the dark side? Maybe because I've never read the comics, I didn't get some of the backstory stuff about Johann Krauss, and his seemingly sudden change of character threw me at one point.

Lots of fights, lots of explosions, and the screen is crammed with wonders. I didn't think it was a masterpiece, as a lot of people seem to, and it went on a little too long. While it's clearly a much better film than Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D in just about every way, I had a lot more pure fun watching that one.

Oh, and if you're wondering why I didn't go to Mama Mia! it's because the theater was (I'm not making this up) sold out.

Like Hunting Easter Eggs, only Better

The Associated Press: Fla. keeps gator farms full by culling wild nests: "IN THE EVERGLADES, Fla. (AP) — It's 7 a.m. in the marsh, and like some sort of cigar-chomping swamp cowboy, biologist Lindsey Hord is about to reach for something that could cost him a few fingers — or worse — if he's not careful.

It's the first day of Florida's annual alligator egg collection program, a yearly ritual to replenish stocks for the state's gator farmers."

Reptilicus

New Issue of Astonishing Adventures Now On-Line

You can buy the print edition at Amazon, or you can read it for free right here. The cool website is here.

Jukebox Update

A couple of new jukebox selections on the right. Well, not new, but new to the blog. Crime-related, too.

Batman = Hamlet

Alas, poor Robin | Gainesville.com | The Gainesville Sun | Gainesville, FL: "Fleming, a Ph.D. fellow in the University of Florida's English department, is writing a paper on the topic, and said the common themes shared by the two 'traumatized heroes' are what really draw crowds to theaters 70 years after the Batman character was created."

Yes, but is his Life Worth Living Now?

Cut-It-Out: Personal Finance News from Yahoo! Finance: "When it comes to cutting costs, consumers always look at the big stuff. Postponing that vacation. Keeping your car a few more years. Nixing the addition on the house.

But it's often the little things that can make an even bigger difference. For instance, Joseph Montanaro, a certified financial planner for USAA Financial Planning Services, says he saved $130 a month just by kicking his daily Dr Pepper habit. That's a savings of $1,560 over a year."

Hat tip to Doc Quatermass.

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Texas approves major new wind power project (AP) | Yahoo! Green: "AUSTIN, Texas - Texas, headquarters of America's oil industry, is about to stake a fortune on wind power.

In what experts say is the biggest investment in the clean and renewable energy in U.S. history, utility officials in the Lone Star State gave preliminary approval Thursday to a $4.9 billion plan to build new transmission lines to carry wind-generated electricity from gusty West Texas to urban areas like Dallas.

'People think about oil wells and football in Texas, but in 10 years they'll look back and say this was a brilliant thing to do,' said Patrick Woodson, vice president of E.On Climate & Renewables North America, which has about 1,200 megawatts of wind projects already in use or on the drawing board in Texas."

That's Right, Sugar Land

5,000 gallons of molasses in Sugar Land | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle: "SUGAR LAND, Texas — A sticky mess has been cleaned up after an overturned tanker truck poured 5,000 gallons of molasses onto a major Texas highway.

Drivers heading to Sugar Land were rerouted Thursday after the afternoon accident shut down Texas 6 at Southwest Freeway for eight hours.

The Houston Chronicle reports City of Sugar Land spokeswoman Pat Pollicoff said the road reopened around midnight Thursday because of the coating of 'healthy, all natural molasses.' The spilled molasses was supposed to be used in cattle food."

I've Been Kindled

I got an e-mail yesterday from someone who told me he was reading A Mammoth Murder in a Kindle edition. I didn't even know it was available that way.

The Little Professor Reviews . . .

. . . The Year's Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection. Click here.

Forgotten Books: RAFFERTY: WRONG PLACE, WRONG TIME -- W. Glenn Duncan

I don't know much about W. Glenn Duncan except that he wrote a dandy private-eye series set in Dallas, Texas, while he was living in Australia.  The Rafferty books were published in the late 1980s by Gold Medal, and I think of them as throwbacks to the kind of p.i. books GM was doing in the '50s, except influenced as much by Robert B. Parker as by Spillane.



All the Rafferty books are entertaining.  I just picked this one because I ran across a copy the other day.  As you can see on the cover, Rafferty has a double caseload.  He's used as a pawn in a murder plot, and he's looking for the guy who tricked him.  At the same time, he's trying to help out a geezer who wants to keep some kids off his lawn.  Really.  (Okay, there's more to it than that, but I like the image.)  





Rafferty has an on-going relationship with a woman named Helen, who's much more interesting than, say, Susan Silverman.  He also has a psycho sidekick named Cowboy.  Even better, Cowboy has a psycho sidekick, his wife, Mimi, who stand about four feet tall.   Here's how Mimi's introduced on page 112:  

The 9mm Beretta she'd been concealing behind her hat went into a holster on her right hip. . . .

Mimi nodded and opened her jacket.  She had an Uzi slung under her right arm. . . .

Mimi giggled and scratched her forearms where the throwing knife sheaths chafed her skin.

You don't want to mess with Mimi.  But you do want to read these books, right?  I get the feeling that Harry Hunsicker's Lee Henry Oswald is Rafferty's direct descendant, though much more modern.  If you haven't read Hunsicker, try him, too.

The Amazing Transparent Man

Once Again, Texas Leads the Way

Mysteries: Why Is Houston So Much More Attractive Than NYC?: "Manhattan residents often find themselves dreaming of the paradise that is Houston, Texas. The cars; the affordable barbecue; the murders. It's a working man's promised land. But why must some people have the bad fortune to get stuck in NYC, while others live the dream by breaking free and making their way to the sweltering heart of Texas? Luckily there's a Harvard economist to explain exactly how Houston came to be so much better than New York!"

Hat tip to Mike McGruff.

The Good Humor Man

John Hall e-mailed to let me know that The Good Humor Man is scheduled to run at 6:00 A. M. Eastern Time on TCM, Monday, July 21. It's a great favorite of mine, and I have some comments on it here. I still have my VHS tape, but I'm going to get the movie on the DVR for sure.

And You Damn Kids Keep off my Lawn!

Why women smile on old age (and men just scowl) | Mail Online: "It will come as no surprise to all those wives who have watched greying husbands mutter into their cornflakes.

Old men are grumpier than old women.

A study of nearly 10,000 over-55s revealed that gender is the most important factor in deciding their quality of life."

Space Race Update

Griffin: China Could Beat US in Moon Race | Universe Today: "More bad news for NASA: even their administrator thinks China could beat the US to the Moon. Speaking with the BBC today, Michael Griffin shared his views about the Chinese space aspirations, pointing out that the super-state could, if they wanted to, send a manned mission to the lunar surface within a decade. NASA's return mission to the Moon is planned to launch, at the earliest, in 2020, so this news is bound to knock the wind out of the US space agency's hopes to continue where it left off in 1972…"

The Worst Movie Endings

Every one of these is a spoiler, so don't read 'em unless you already know the endings.

The End II: the worst movie endings ever, from Grease to Blade Runner - Times Online: "Last week, our Top 20 film endings prompted a huge response from readers. Now, Times critics present the 20 worst endings in film. From the absurd to the underwhelming, these are the closing scenes that have ruined memorable films."

Journey to the Center of the Earth 3-D

Let's get this out of the way: I loved it. I'm a sucker for 3-D movies, and if I'd seen this one when I was 12 years old, I'd have stayed right there in the theater and watched it again. Everybody knows the story. The twist this time is that Jules Verne's book isn't a novel. It's nonfiction. So a scientist and his nephew go looking for proof of that. They hook up with a hot mountain guide along the way, fall immense distances without harm, deal with monsters and such, and seem to be having a great time. Sure, the "science" makes no sense. Who cares? This isn't a documentary. Give your inner kid a treat and check it out.