Back in blog
OK, time to dust off the blogging hat and get back to business. (No real reason for the hiatus -- just didn't feel like doing it for a bit.)

Went to see a handful of movies during the hiatus:
-- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: I thought it was a very well done film on its own merits, having never read the books. That might be an advantage to me since I'm not looking out for what's missing or comparing Cuaron's storytelling to Rowling's, etc., etc.

-- Saved!: At times it felt like a Christian-school version of Mean Girls (although Mandy Moore is hilarious as the queen bitch), but in all, it was a well-acted and funny satire. I've been a fan of Jena Malone's for a while, and she's solid again, but I was surprised by Macaulay Culkin's performance -- even if he looks like a taller of version of his Home Alone persona. I also came to the realization how much Heather Matarazzo looks like one of my friends.

-- Imelda: I caught it as part of the Atlanta Film Festival, although it wasn't one of the hottest tickets in town. It was a decent documentary, which was part a profile/history of Imelda and part a history lesson of the Marcos' rise and fall. I was surprised by the access that Imelda granted, and she was rather candid with some of her controversial views, although she also came off as a kook at times with some of her "new age" philosophies. And yes, there were shoes involved, including a trip to the shoe museum. As a history lesson, it was pretty straightforward, and as a profile, you got to see a lot of her personal side. But in the end, the film played it down the middle as to whether she was corrupted by power or she was what she was.

Other observations:
-- While watching this old episode of SNL on the NBC All-Night feed, one of the backup musicians for Mariah Carey was this dawg.
-- I'm still thrown off by seeing Bill Clement doing commercials for mosquito spray.
-- Were the Last Comic Standing producers compelled to show Brett Butler and Drew Carey get pissed off because they could or because they had to since word of their blowup had been swirling ever since the show taped. While I'll still watch the show, it's disappointing that they've turned the show more into Big Brother than American Idol and thus picked the housemates as much on building conflict than actual talent.
-- I guess I can be an SI jinx as well, at least in an opposite way. That was going through my mind when I went to this game with a surprising amount of Royals fans around me, besides the one who joined me for the afternoon.