justin-shepard.net

Yum! This needs to be a GenCon event. Seriously. (Link found via Accidental Hedonist)

I was part of a group outing to see 300 this weekend. Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but not for the reason you might expect.

First off, a little background. For those of you not aware, 300 is based on Frank Miller’s graphic novel of the same name, which in turn is modeled on the historical Battle of Thermopylae (and also apparently draws inspiration from the 1962 movie The 300 Spartans). I say “modeled on” because while there are many similarities to the actual battle, this movie presents a story that is as much fantasy as anything else.

Which is fine, I certainly can’t fault anyone for taking a historical basis and trying to make an enjoyable story out of it. What ended up happening for me though, was that the movie began spiralling into absurdity partway through. To the point where by the end I was laughing at the movie. And not just at the scenes that were meant to be funny, but even the scenes where limbs were being severed and people were dying. Either I’m just seriously disturbed, or the movie managed to get so over-the-top ridiculous that even the action scenes became funny.

But it is enjoyable to laugh like that, and so I enjoyed the movie in that “so bad its good” sort of way. But that’s not to say there’s nothing redeemable about the movie. I think stylistically, the movie is very well done. Many of the scenes are very artistically done. It also captures the feel of a comic book more better than most other comic book adaptations. The music, while MTVesque at times, is good and generally fits the tone of the movie. And I’ll admit, the “dying to protect the freedoms of others” theme tugged at the ol’ heartstrings at the very end. (Ignoring for the moment that the real-life Spartans owned slaves, and several thousand of them also died at Thermopylae)

Should you see 300? Well, that’s up to you, but I hope you have a better idea of what you’re getting yourself into now.

Courtesy of my dad, one freakin’ hilarious video.

This is like something straight out of Aliens.

Maybe!

This morning after waking and showering, I went to my computer to do my usual early morning computer hijinks to find that my LCD monitor was displaying nothing by white. The whole screen, from top to bottom, from left to right, was white. At first I thought it might be something with my computer, but a quick reboot revealed that it seemed to be working fine. After swapping to the VGA cable, to see if maybe something the the DVI cable went wrong, and finding the screen still white, I decided that something was definitely wrong with the monitor.

I’ve contacted the monitor manufacturer to see if there’s anything they might be able to tell me or do to fix it. In the meantime, I’ve pulled out my old 17″ CRT monitor and am using that. And having used the LCD monitor for so long, going back to the CRT shows me exactly what I gained by going LCD. Oh well, the silver lining may be that I finally get to satiate that widescreen LCD monitor desire that my MacBook Pro instilled in me.

The Last Stingray. Now, to become crazy rich.

Or maybe Germany or Belgium. Anyway, I present this for your consideration.

Also, after several long weeks, a new Studio 60 airs tonight, which I’ve been muchly looking forward to. And conveniently, Bravo had a Studio 60 marathon yesterday (though I only caught the last few episodes), so I’ll be watching tonight’s show with a fresh knowledge of what had been happening.

Back when I was getting a ton of car magazines, an ad for Skip Barber Driving School caught my eye. Recently, when trying to come up with ways to spend more vacation time before the end of the year, I suddenly remembered Skip Barber. Back when I first heard about them, they were supplied by Dodge, and you could drive anything from a Neon R/T to a Dodge Viper (it looks like they’ve got a wider variety these days, but sadly no Viper, for Viper aficionados out there).

I started to wonder if there was a racing/driving school out there that was supplied by Chevrolet. A quick Google search turned up Bondurant Racing School. Unlike the Skip Barber School, which has locations all around the country (aka places within driving distance) Bondurant is only in Phoenix. On the other hand, Corvette!

I haven’t decided when or even if I’m going to do this (the courses themselves are expensive, to say nothing of other trip expenses), but it would be so cool to do.