I watch the Watchmen

Watchmen is a comic series about superheroes. It is kind of a big deal. They recently made a movie about.

This movie is coming out next week. Because I was excited for it, I looked around to see if I could get one piece of merchandise.

A smiley button with a stylized blood splatter.

Long story short, in the comic, there is a man called the Comedian. He wears a smiley button and he is murdered. When he is killed, the button gets splattered with blood, and this iconic image of the blood splattered smiley face button has become a symbol of sorts for the entire series.

Ok?

So I was looking to find an official button. Not possible. They don't even make it. They make TONS of buttons for Watchmen (appealing to the Hot Topic crowd I suppose), but not a one of them is the iconic blood splattered smiley. What the hell?

Worse, like I said, this icon has become a symbol for the entire series, mostly thanks to it being used as the cover for the paperback collected edition I think. But it's not used in any of the artwork for the movie release. Instead, they have a special edition release with the Doomsday Clock colored yellow FOR NO REASON, and splattered with blood as the smiley button is supposed to be. Basically, they replaced the smiley with the Doomsday Clock (which itself is a noteworthy symbol in the series). Sucks.

Reason: As far as I can guess, it is because the original smiley graphic is copyrighted, and even though Time Warner was willing to pay to use it for the collected edition of the comic, they were not willing to pay to use it for the home video release of the movie. They weren't even willing to pay the case to get the graphic used on any of the MANY buttons they made to coincide with the film's release. Apparently, they never even made any for just the comics release either, but wow. How hard should it be to give the fans a simple button with a yellow smiley face and a small splatter of blood printed on it?

And while I'm babbling about Watchmnen, I'd like to say this: Amazon has it on pre-order for 20.50. New release Blu-ray of a high profile comic adaptation. Just barely north of 20 dollars. And people are STILL complaining about how expensive Blu-ray is compared to DVD. Check again, fool, the DVD of this movie is only a couple dollars less.

Harry Potter and the Inexplicably Titled Sequels

The next Harry Potter flick is coming this Wednesday.

Yesterday, I resolved to watch the first five films before.

I don't think I'll be successful.

And even worse, a few of my DVDs are -gasp- "fullscreen". Pan-and-scan is a bain of my existence. It's not completely unwatchable on a 4:3 TV set, but it is just completely stupid on a 16:9 set. Oh well, at least one of my two cropjob copies is duplicated in proper widescreen format in my mom's enormous DVD collection. I just need to figure out what to do for Prisoner of Azkaban. Luckily, that's the third one, and if all goes as planned, I won't get to that til Tuesday or maybe Wednesday, so I'm not gonna sweat it.

The nerve of those on FML.com

There's a site called FMyLife.com. On the site people post things there that happen to them. Bad things. Things that might make a person say him or herself, "fuck my life"...

I read this one just now:

"Today, I was going to propose to my girlfriend of 3 years. I got reservations for a romantic dinner, and at the end, fireworks would spell out my proposal. The whole thing had taken weeks to plan out and had cost me a lot of money. She proposed to me at a subway station first. FML."

What the fuck. Really? What does it matter? Fuck you, bro. The end scenario is the same, a happily ever after. How dare you be upset? That just gives you a funny story to tell: "I had planned an enormous proposal, but coincidentally, my girlfriend spontaneously proposed that night before I had the chance." That's not sad or messed up, that's cute.

Jerk.

Why do I want to see every movie

I got a little hung up on Transformers and was super psyched on that one, but I completely overlooked everything else.

Public Enemies, the John Dillinger picture with Johnny Depp and Christian Bale. Usually I wouldn't be too excited about a crime drama, but Johnny Depp and Christian Bale only do good movies, so this can't be bad.

The Proposal... normally I wouldn't be quite so jazzed on a romantic comedy, but Ryan Reynolds is great. Doesn't matter what the guy does, I always seem to enjoy it.

Year One, written by Harold Ramis, starring Jack Black and Michael Cera. Heard it ripped off Life of Brian a little bit, but I don't care. Harold Ramis.

And of course, The Hangover. Wanted to see it but didn't think too much of it, but the reviews were pretty amazing. Also kind of cool to see Zach Galifianakis in a major movie like this. Not too many people know of him still.

I gotta get around to this shit. Coming up I got:

The live action adaptation of Blood. Never saw the anime movie, but the show was good. Should at least make for a good action movie with vampires.

I Love You, Beth Cooper. Comedy with Hayden Panettiere about a kid who embarrasses this girl he has a secret crush on by telling her he loves her during his graduation speech. Apparently based on a book. Heh.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Could well be the best Harry Potter picture yet. Is many fans' favorite book, and frankly, I'd probably put it at the top myself. There's even buzz that because the Acadamy is doing 10 Best Picture nominees that this one might actually get a nomination next year. Amazing.

Funny People. The next Apatow film... this one has Adam Sandler in it (it's also a Happy Madison production). It's about a standup comedian who finds out he's dying. Has Seth Rogen too. Can't go wrong with Apatow and Rogen; can't believe I only just saw Freaks and Geeks and only just rediscovered Undeclared to find that Rogan was on that back then.

The Ugly Truth. Don't know too much about this, but it sounds like it'll be good. Gerard Butler (Leonidas in 300) and Katherine Heigl (Alison in Knocked Up). I think it's a romantic comedy or something. I don't know.

GI Joe. Will probably flop like crazy, but it should at least make for a good action flick.

And crap, I still have these free tickets for Night at the Museum yet. I hope I remember to use at least one of them before that thing lapses out of theatres, because otherwise I'll have to use them for Ice Age or just give them away (and whoever gets them would only be able to use them for Ice Age). I mean, I do have an interest in seeing Ice Age, but I just don't even care about it anywhere near as much as the other ones I listed. Just a good thing I already knocked off Wolverine, Star Trek, Terminator, and Up.

Still wanna see Land of the Lost, Angels and Demons, and Away We Go, but I'll probably just wait til I can get a good price on a BD.

Been a while

The other day I had the worst day at work.

Saturday nights are always pretty bad. People like to stay up all night ordering room service, and asking for towels that they don't even need, asking me to park their car at 3 AM only to leave again at 3:30. But this past week, there was an annoying church group in house.

So on top of getting my butt kicked all night long, causing me to be unable to fulfill many of my normal job tasks, it was these church people all night long. Asking for sheets and blankets at 3 AM. Asking for towels at 4 AM. Food orders all night. Luggage assist requests all night. And just enough of a smattering of people wanting to park valet so that I could spend the entire night on the precipice of madness.

And normally, the bad weekend nights aren't even that bad. Not only do they not ride me as hard, but I usually walk away from the ordeal with a pocket full of cash.

Not this time. These church people don't tip at all.

Ever.

Honestly, I'm not one to squabble on tips. I do make an hourly rate and it's not exactly bad considering the work, but it is just incredibly disheartening to get my ass destroyed all night long and have nothing to show for it at the end. Especially considering the tips I got this past Saturday were less in total than what I would consider a typical weekday haul. Maybe I should just actually go ahead and see about trying to get weekends off. Even on the normal weekends, it can be really rough, and even coming out of it with a load of cash doesn't make up for it for me. Not like I really need money after all. Who needs money, really?

Something is definitely wrong with me

My sleep schedule is fucked.

I just woke up from sleeping for about 13 hours. Before I had went to bed for this 13 hour trip, I had been awake for a mere 7 hours. Before the 7 hours of wakedness, I had slept for 12 hours.

Maybe I should try to find some employment that doesn't require that I be awake all night and sleep during the day. Maybe I should work on not getting off of work in the morning and spending the entire day awake when I happen to have a day off.

Maybe I should go see a doctor about my sleep issues.

Fuck it.

Piece o' junk timepiece

I recently purchased a pocket watch. I thought it would be a great way to tell time, because I had noticed that the band on the watch I used to wear every day irritated my wrist and I didn't want to mess around with that anymore.

Oh, and I still refuse to get with the times and get a cell phone.

So I put down 30 bucks for a nifty pocket watch.

HAGANE NO RENKINJUTSUSHI

Basically, it's a replica watch from the POPULAR ANIME Fullmetal Alchemist (as previously seen on Adult Swim). It looks great and the reviews indicated that the product functioned excellently as a time-keeping tool. Considering that I've been going without a watch for too long now, I figure 30 bucks dropped on this thing isn't bad, especially since I put down 80 on my last watch (which, in hindsight, was worth it for the added quality... ugh).

Flash-forward a few days and the damn thing can't keep time. It's not stopped or broken or anything, it just goes about a half-hour slow after a day. A pocket watch that can't tell time is no good for me, even though it still looks great. This is ironic, because I very nearly almost purchased a replica Power Rangers communicator watch in the past, despite it not telling time. And you know, if I could have gotten it for 30 bucks, I definitely would have. But I don't havethe same reverence for FMA that I do for Power Rangers, or rather, FMA doesn't hit the nostalgia point for me like Power Rangers does.

But I digress. I'm just bummed that my sweet new watch is a piece of junk. Anyone know any FMA cosplayers that need a watch?

edit: as of the 15th of May, the thing seems to be keeping time correctly. I do not understand, but at least the thing doesn't suck as much balls as I thought.