Food, Furniture, and Films

Often, YouTube videos won't load all the way for me. Then, when I try to reload them, they won't play at all. Does anyone else have this problem, or know anything I can do about it?

Okay, let's see. It's been a while since I've written an entry about what I've been up to recently, so I might as well catch you up. On Thursday evening, bethje and I went out to the Olive Garden, where I had the sausage and cheese rigatoni. It was good, but I think it might have given me some minor heartburn after a few hours. I got two refills on my Sprite while I was there; and the only reason I mention that is that, both times the waitress saw my empty glass, she asked me if I wanted a refill or some water. What, like I'm going to order a $2 soda that I finish before the end of the meal, and then NOT get a refill? Part of the reason I almost always get soda at restaurants is that they have the free refills. Oh, well. I'm sure some people do have one glass of soda and then water, but I'm not one of those people.

While sleeping yesterday afternoon (between working the midnight shift and staying up late to watch movies and such with Beth, I hardly ever sleep during the night anymore), I had a dream that was somewhat Oz-related, although I think Discworld might have been mixed in as well. I think Mustrum Ridcully might have been involved, at least. So was bec_87rb, or someone called "Bec," anyway. What I can remember was that Jenny Jump (from John R. Neill's Oz books) was locked in the basement of the palace in the Emerald City, along with an evil male relative (either her dad or an uncle, I think). At one point, he tried to escape and shove her into the cell, but he went right through her like she was a ghost. Later, the palace vanished. Or it might have been destroyed. I don't remember the details so well.

Today, Beth and I went out to Ikea, where I bought a workstation, a CD tower, and an endtable. When we got back, Beth put together the endtable for me, because I am totally incompetent at such things.

Oh, and Beth now has a thing for Cillian Murphy, so she's been making me watch movies that he's in. Dorothea and her Uncle John have both said he looks like me, but neither Beth nor I can see it. Anyway, last night, we watched 28 Days Later, which was sort of like a zombie movie. The mindless masses that kept attacking everyone weren't technically zombies, though, but rather people who'd been infected by a virus that causes insanity. The filmmakers apparently had a very low opinion of the military, seeing as how they were depicted in the movie. Just a few hours ago, we saw Breakfast on Pluto, which was a good film, with an interesting story and all. It also drove home how uptight a lot of people are about gender issues. We also rewatched Batman Begins and Red Eye, both of which we'd seen in the theater back when they were new. For some reason, I saw a bunch of movies in the theater in 2005, but only one in 2006.

Speaking of movies at the theater, I should probably go see Eragon, seeing as how I've read the book and all.

It's like an apple did it with an onion

Hey, I actually LIKED tonight's Simpsons episode! It wasn't incredibly hilarious, but it had a good plot that wasn't just a rehash of an earlier episode, and that allowed for a new setting and some action sequences without going way too far over the top. And I love that they're still taking jabs at Brazil, after the stupid threat of legal action. The silent movie at the beginning was also funny, although I don't know that anything really happened in it that you couldn't have seen in an actual early slapstick film. By the way, how come Milhouse's parents were together at the movie? Have they officially gotten back together again? I know there was a hint at this back in "Milhouse of Sand of Fog," but the ending to that episode was ambiguous. It's probably another thing that they'll show either way when it suits a particular scene, sort of like Barney's alcoholism.

American Dad was pretty good, too. I figured they'd probably have some scene at the end that showed that Roger had been right about Bin Laden after all (or possibly that had him hiding out in some other place right under everyone's nose), and hey, I was right. There was some good Bush-based humor, too, even if most of it wasn't all that original. And the CIA scene was really funny. ("It's not milk time.")

And hey, look, there's another entry in the interminable "[Fill-in-the-Blank] Movie" series. I've never actually seen one of these, but the commercials make them look horrible. And I say this as someone who loved the Naked Gun films and other movies of their ilk. And, um, why would there be a spoof of Borat in something that's supposed to be parodying epic movies? Can't they at least keep their half-assed parody to the appropriate genre?