Believe the hype.

In the interest of full disclosure, this is the text of an e-mail I sent to my friend Joey C. after seeing Wall E last night. Joe and I talked about the sick reviews it was getting over the weekend, so I sent him my thoughts this morning.

Wall-E is all that.

I stop short of saying, "and more," because I thought the ending tied everything together TOO neatly.

But the story itself is amazing, as is the animation. It's got everything you'd want in a great movie, and I guess I didn't realize the underlying story at the center of it, which I won't spoil if you haven't seen it yet.

I love that no trailer or commerical has revealed anyhting past the first 20 minutes of the movie. I love that there is just one story arc, but deftly explored on two levels. And Ben Burtt is the man.

It officially has the coolest ending-credit sequence of any movie ever made (Yes, it trumps The Incrediibles and the Return of the King credits), with a kickass song by Peter Gabriel that actually relates to the movie's plot. Expect many a capella groups to emulate it in the coming years.

Albuquerque

Wokka wokka doo doo yeah.

I suggest visiting the Albuqurque Holiday Inn, where you could eat soup out of the ashtrays if you wanted to. Just avoid the one-nostriled hermaphrodites.

Shiv? Check. Bazooka? Check. Half-baked plan? Check.

In this day and age, can't you find just about everything in an Army/Navy store?

I mean, if I'm going to rob a store with a fake bazooka, and I'm not saying I am, but if I was, I'd do a quick Google search to see if I could maybe, possibly, remotely buy one on the cheap.

This is of course assuming this guy hadn't thought of that BEFORE he tried to rob the store with the fake bazooka.

From WMUR in New Hampshire:

A Salem, N.H., man has been charged with trying to rob three stores in 30 minutes, and in one case, a clerk thought he was armed with a bazooka, police said.
Police said Steven Conde, 28, tried to rob a Lawrence store Tuesday afternoon by ordering a clerk to put money into a plastic bag, but he left with nothing.
At a second location, police said, he entered the store with what employees thought was an intimidating weapon.
"He came in through the door with a plastic bag over his head and had two holes cut in it, and he had, like, a bazooka and he tried to assault us," store owner Eduvigis Ortega said.

Read the whole story here.

Marcy SMASH!!!

Saw the Incredible Hulk yesterday. BUT there was a slight problem.

On our way there Marcy and I had to get gas. We stopped by a Sunoco next to some medical labs that were doing some late-night gamma ray testing.

And ... um ... let's just say I don't mess with my wife, and you shouldn't either.

Making a splash in L.A.

Over at Playtime at Hazmat, my wife's blog, you'll find photos of our trip to L.A. Good times!

Oh my GOD I love Public Access

So right now I'm watching figure skating, and it's awesome.

This group of little girls came out first, skating - no, shuffling - to a medley of Muppets songs. The poor things can barely stand up. OOH - one went down hard.

I had to share this with somebody.

"Laura, turn to channel 8" I told my sister on the phone. She lives a couple towns away.

"Murder She Wrote? Why? What's up?"

Damn. Different public access system.

The Basic 2 class is up now, skating to Chubby Checker. They're slightly better. OH! Another one's on her butt!

"Listen to you, crushing kids' dreams for your entertainment," Marcy called from the other room.

HAHAHAHAHAHA. Bad ice skating is funny.

Fango.

Something to fill space

I realized today the bottom post was still about my haircut and beard shaving excursion.

There HAS to be more in life, right? So here's a blog post worthy of blog posting.

My mom is coming up from Buffalo this weekend, driving herself, my grandmother, and my aunt from London.

Wait a minute - that sentence is wrong. They are not driving from London across the Atlantic to Boston. That would require a Duck Boat and a lot of gas.

Instead, I meant to say my aunt, who is from London, will be visiting along with my mom and grandmother.

Mom asked if I needed anything from Buffalo. Here's the shopping list I gave her:

(Actually, she's bringing Ted's hot sauce. Not Ted's hot dogs. That would be overkill, since they use Sahlen's, which she's bringing anyway.)

A rundown of LA

We returned yesterday from a week in L.A. Until then my personal knowledge of Western geography was limited to Chicago.

Marcy was a great tour guide, having lived there for five years already. She and her friend Beth knew a secret way up to the Hollywood sign, passing one of Madonna's houses. Nice.

We visited some of her other friends at work, which meant visiting the studios at Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. One of the shows on which her friend works, Flapjack, debuts next week. We got a preview, and let's just say it's HILARIOUS.

No trip to L.A., and indeed Hollywood, would be complete without a visit to the Walk of Fame, a movie, and sighting of a celebrity. We accomplished all three.

The Walk of Fame was fun; it's a lot longer than I'd thought. I felt bad about stepping on Robin Williams, but I lost my balance trying to look down while walking.

We saw Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Crystal Skull at Universal Studios Sunday. That was fun, and I liked the movie as much as I thought I would. I won't give away the ending; let's just say I'm glad Indy kept the hat.

Later in the week we visited an impressive art gallery, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Thankfully, many of its collections left me less confused than many art installations I've visited.

The work at right is a Monet, which I missed in my trip but the place is huge and it's easy to miss things. The gallery had some of Andy Warhol's more famous work, which was great to see. I don't think I've ever actually seen a Warhol.

And now the moment you've been waiting for: My official celebrity sighting.

While at LACMA, we visited the gift shop at the end of the day. Sitting alone eating dinner at the gallery restaurant was Charles Dance, who I kept telling people was the bad guy in both The Golden Child and Last Action Hero. Mostly I got blank stares.

C'mon, people. SARDO NUMSPA. Here's some dialogue:

SARDO: I've been waiting to meet you, Mr. Yarrell.

FU: [Indescribable Tibetan language]

CHANDLER JARELL (Eddie Murphy): Get your monkey off my back.

SARDO: Of course. Fu, please retire.

CHANDLER JARRELL: Yeah, Fu. Save it.

Or, Benedict, from Last Action Hero:

JACK SLATER (Arnie Scwarzenegger): Did you make a movie mistake? You forgot to load the damn gun!

BENEDICT: No, Jack. I just left one chamber empty.

Check back later for more about the trip!