The Horrible Experience

The last act of Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog debuted this last weekend. Over the last three days I've probably watched it a half-dozen times and I'm in luuuuurve....

The 45 minute production is the love-child of Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, Zack Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen and stars Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. It's basically the origin story of a supervillain. And it's a musical.

NPH's body language and comedic timing is impeccable. In fact, I'm developing a bit of a man-crush on the Doog'. Fillion is awesome as the big cheesy jerk superhero and Felicia Day does what she does best, playing the delicate nerdy girl.

You'll laugh through the whole thing. Then....

[spoiler alert]






...then the bottom will drop out. The kind of massive suprise kick in the 'nads that only Whedon can do. There aren't many storytellers that can so defly manipulate my jaded feelings these days. I'm still in awe and can't stop thinking about it.

Catch it on iTunes and buy the DVD when it's released. Let these people know we want to see more.

Dating Isn't What It Used To Be

I made a Princess Bride reference to a co-worker today and she had to look it up. Here's what she found:



What you do not smell is weird couples being poisoned to death on their first date....

Heh -- I have a passing understanding of the conventional wisdom of how the Google engine works, but I'm curious how they get their page to feed back the query to Google's database.

Piety Party

I'm gonna try really hard not to religion bash here. Only time will tell if I'm successful. <Future Lance says: Epic Phail!>

I received this in my Inbox the other day from a relative concerned about the current degenerate state of American freedom.

Now, I'm not going to link to the Kripke Report <Future Lance: oops!> or even point out how long the older generation <Future Lance: d'oh!> has been bitching about how the world's going to HellInAHandbasket compared to their idyllic youth. Goddam kids!

Instead, I'd like to whinge about this: I've never seen a more enfranchised group bawl louder and more constantly about how The Man Is Keeping Them Down than modern American Christians.

C'mon -- WTF? It's like white people complaining about "reverse discrimination."

For the last 25 years, Christians have had an undeniable stranglehold on American politics. Because of this, my access to government services is limited according to what sort of genitalia I like to bump up against. Yes, I'm hetero -- that just means I pass a test I shouldn't have to pass. (BTW, have you noticed your somewhat creepily obsessive concern for where I like to put my junk, Christian America? Eeww....).

Close to 50% of Americans willfully believe that the biblical story of Genesis is literally true despite a mountain of evidence to the contrary. There is a Christian museum that insists that the Flintstones is a documentary. (Actually, I don't think paleontologists have ever found prehistoric brake pads. Maybe...? Nah!)

I look around me and I see a Christian church every three blocks. And they're fucking enormous. And, I assume, quite expensive.

Contrary to my concerned relative's email story that "we're not allowed to say such things anymore," no current candidate for political office goes 5 minutes without trumpeting Jesus.

Despite many legal challenges (founded or unfounded, whatever your taste), the Christian version of God appears on our money, in our pledges, in our schools. Anyone who thinks we're not allowed to have the word "God" on our monuments isn't looking very hard.

I have available to me seven television channels dedicated to Christian programming. Not counting Fox News and whatever syndicated channel is carrying the 700 Club. On days other than Sunday.

According to the Kripke Report <Future Lance: oops again!> America is the most self-identifiedly pious developed nation in the world. And you know they ain't referring to Zeus worship here. By the way, we're not just at the top of the spread -- we're fucking Out There. The kind of Out There that makes statiticians take a second look at their error bars.

The point I'm trying to make here is not that religion sucks, it blows, it encourages people to make irrational decisions, it's an arrogant crapload of I Know Better Just Because statements. None of that. <Future Lance: yikes!>

What I am trying to do is assure my "concerned relative" that a few minutes thinking with the head instead of the outrage node will conclude that fascist atheist jackboots are not about to kick down your door. You can fucking say "God" whenever you fucking like, and the only repercussions might be your neighbor expressing an opposing view right back atchya. Nothing more -- and probably much less.

America is a feast of possibilities for the Christian-minded, so quit with the "poor me" shit. It's unbecoming and makes for a really crappy date.

The athiests are just trying to get into your pants, anyway.

Television

Two unrelated TV comments.

Doctor Who: "Gridlock" was very good.  As an American in a very traffic-blighted city, I found the idea of generations of people living and dying in eternal stop-and-go traffic very amusing.  I wouldn't think it would have as much impact on the British audience, but then I'm probably suffering under some misconceptions there.  Martha is still Teh Hawt.

Star Trek: Remastered: It's ridiculous, but every time I see something in these episodes, whether it's a split-second lightning flash in the clouds of Gothos, or a barely-glimpsed figure standing in one of the ports of the Enterprise's primary hull, I kick my widdle feetsies and giggle with glee.

I know -- I'm easily pleased.

A Kinder Gentler Who

For the record, the Doctor Who I cut my teeth on was the unflappable Tom Baker and The Companion To Rule Them All, Elizabeth Sladen's Sarah Jane Smith.

That being said, I've really enjoyed the new series.  Season Three took me by surprise and I've missed a couple of episodes, but the quality seems to be remaining quite high.

Eccleston was much more interesting than Tennant, but Tennant isn't bad. Billie Piper's Rose was pretty hot for a blonde, although as an American I imagine the accent has a little to do with it. Freema Agyeman's Martha is definitely hot, and I look forward to seeing more of her (so to speak).

Like many fans, the Doctor/Companion romance angle is starting to wear a bit.  Thankfully it rarely becomes a major plot point, but when it does arise, it feels a bit false.

For me (a ravenous consumer of fiction), Dr. Who was one of the rare television series with male and female leads where the "will they / won't they" question never arose.  When you think about it, the Doctor is an alien -- human sexuality is probably as interesting to him as grooming behavior among chimpanzees is to us.  He's probably as aroused by Martha's cleavage as I would be over a female monkey's bright red ass.

For the record, that amount of arousal for me is zero.

Just want to make that clear.

Nina, A Month Later

Mrs. Warhoon is surprisingly anxious to adopt another greyhound. Burton came to her through marriage and we had already had some 6-7 years together as swinging bachelors, so she never really bonded to the old guy like I had.

Nina was different. Mrs. Warhoon spoiled her even more than I did (though she was weirdly shy about some things like belly rubs). Nina was as much hers as she was mine.

Anyway. Mrs. Warhoon has been kind of nudging me for a few weeks now about another dog. But I keep telling her I'm not ready. Just to test the waters, I poked around the Greyhound Adoption League of Texas website and took a look at some of the boys and girls in need of homes.

That pretty much sent me into another depressive cycle.

Obviously I'm not ready yet.

Nitpicking

Traditionally, Mrs. Warhoon and I attend a local AAA baseball game on the 4th of July.  Baseball, hot dogs, beer, America, rah!

In American baseball, the 7th inning is traditionally the time for everyone to stand and sing "Take Me Out To the Ball Game".  On the 4th of July, our local team has, over the last few years, forgone this tradition and had everyone sing "God Bless America" instead.

I've got nothing against "God Bless America" (okay, I do, but not fiercely so).  I'd be fine with singing "GBA" and then "TMOTTBG", even.

I just don't see the point of singing about how wonderful American traditions are, instead of celebrating them by actually acting them out.

7th Inning Stretch: Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  Accept No Substitutes.

 

PS: Wanna see a grown Warhoon cry?  Run that Buck O'Neill clip where he sings TMOTTBG.

"I'm not much of a singer."

 

Miss you, Buck.  Enjoy the cornfield.