antimeria

I realize I don’t write many unabashedly uplifting posts, so here is a list of five things that made me happy recently:

1. My friend J-Wy got into MICA, and will be living with me for a few weeks. Sorry if that ruins the surprise for people she hasn’t told yet.
2. These messenger bags made from life jackets. If I could wear yellow, I would be all about it. I can’t, so I bequeath this to you.
   Update: It is €129. So, never mind.
3. Darkon. Less than five minutes in, there are night/dark elves. Talking in an elf-language. Wearing blackface. And then it gets legitimately touching, and pretty good. Worth watching.
4. Finally, proof that guinea pigs can code.
5. Getting paid. Paychecks are tremendous, but direct deposit rules the schools.

Movies I want to see:

1. Sherlock Holmes
2. Up in the Air
3. Crazy Heart
4. Avatar
   

Oh my goodness, it is Friday the 13th. It’s also Caroline’s birthday. Anyway, here are five things that I’ve been watching in the new age of high-definition DVR:

1. Californication. I’ve only watched a few episodes, but it’s growing on me. I get to enjoy Duchovny’s droll insouciance without the X-Files craziness that scares the crap out of me.
2. It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. I’ve really been meaning to watch this show for a long time, but I kept forgetting. Now I never have to remember when it’s on.
3. Showtime in general. I didn’t expect much from movie channels, but when they have Wall-E on repeat? They got me for these three free months, at least.
4. Mythbusters. Not really new, but high-speed explosion shots in HD are outstanding.
5. Sports. Again, not a new thing, but the switch to HD is stunning. I even watched some of the playoffs, which I hadn’t done regularly in years.

I saw (500) Days of Summer a couple weeks ago, but Caroline wrote something first (and better than I would have). So I’m going to just focus on District 9. This actually works out pretty well, because I am the kind of guy who reads a lot of news and social commentary, is mildly obsessed with military esoterica, and generally prefers “flying shrapnel” explosions to the “emotional breakdown” variety.

In case you haven’t heard, District 9’s premise is pretty intriguing. A huge alien mothership enters the atmosphere and hovers over Johannesburg, South Africa. After three months of waiting for the ship to do something besides shade parts of the city, engineers cut a hole in the ship and find… aliens! They’re neither benevolent nor malevolent, however–they’re pretty docile and oddly primitive (except for their weaponry, which they never seem to use and cannot be fired by humans). The South African government ultimately sets up a camp for the aliens, mockingly called “prawns,” which rapidly devolves into a slum guarded by private defense contractor Multi-National United (Sure, it’s a stupid name, but real-world mercenary companies have pretty dumb names too: Custer Battles, Sharp End International, and Xe Services, formerly Blackwater).

Fast-forward twenty years, and racial xenophobic tension is starting to boil over. MNU is put in charge of relocating the million aliens from the D9 shantytown to a new camp far outside the city, and point man for this gigantic undertaking is…a middle manager. Inexplicably, Wikus van der Merwe, a good-natured, spineless bureaucrat, is the tip of the spear.

You’re at the edge of the map. Here, there be spoilers.

(more…)

Although Public Enemies is the jump-off, I don’t have a lot to say about it. It was a really pretty movie, with some great set pieces, like the gunfight in the forest. It was also too long, and kind of overwrought (it was also historically inaccurate, but whaddaya want? It’s Hollywood).

However, that did get me into one of my nerd-out research sessions on gangsters and period guns, which (in that Wikipedian way) wandered a bit and ended with me reading about snipers*, including Galen Wilson, a former USMC marksman:

The son of a Navy SEAL, Wilson is a devout Homosexual**.

He was wounded by a piece of shrapnel in his dick.

* Apparently, the M2 machine gun was accurate enough to be used as a sniper rifle. No joke.

** Or Catholic, and a married father of two. Don’t believe everything on Wikipedia!