In The Industry

Today has been a rather stressful day at work, hence the frequent need to escape in the form of sweet poetry and all other sorts of fun-filled blogging practices.

My frustration in poetry form...

Hospitality:
May find it necessary
To pack a sharp shiv

Speaking of shivs...

Inmates have even
Sharpened the ends of pork chop
Bones to make weapons.

Walker for VP

KAREN: Gosh, I don't think that I've ever been stressed out. Why would I be? I've got practically no responsibilities, my job's a breeze and I've got a KILLER rack. Good morning.

I usually don't blog about politics, but this was too funny to pass up. Some people have already begun to recognize the similarity between Sarah Palin and Karen Walker.


KAREN: Yeah. Well, now my drink's talkin'...and it's sayin', "Drink me. I make life more fun. Everybody from a high school kid to a bum on the street knows that."

I miss that show.

Optical Illusions

I love me some optical illusions. These are by artist, Octavio Ocampo.



There is a great collection of optical illusions here.

Have your mind blown.

The White Van

For my job, I often am required to book shuttle service for large groups and one of the companies I was recommended by a colleague of mine was Seattle Shuttle. I very much trust the gentleman who suggested I use their services, although after increasingly odd interactions with their staff members and their use of large, unmarked vans makes me slightly apprehensive about calling them too often.

For example, while waiting for a pick-up a few weeks ago, one of the drivers-an incessant talker with deep set eyes and a greasy, brown ponytail-casually mentioned to me that he would like to murder the person who invented text messaging with a long-range rifle. He he he...

"Yeah...alright, sir...I'll just step over here."

I thought the circumstances merited a haiku.

Seattle Shuttle
Your generic white vans come
to kidnap my guests.

Work Haiku

Lilies-syrup sweet
Scent-recall the months I worked
A funeral home.

Double espresso!
How are you? The steaming wand
Screamed over your name.

As you and your friend
Ponder your poison at length,
My patience dwindles.

Misuse of Spandex

...or When Bad Costumes Happen to Otherwise Attractive Superheroes

I have seen only a handful of episodes of Smallville and I have heard that the writing is not very strong, although someone or a sizeable group of someones must find it appealing enough to keep it going for an 8th season!

The CW just released a couple of promotional images for the upcoming season. Justin Hartley as Green Arrow-formerly Aquaman-and Alan Ritchson as Aquaman.



I will paraphrase an article from an old issue of Details-the one with Hayden Christensen on the cover-that I read while waiting for my hair appointment:

All superhero costumes, whether they be for a male or female, are essentially tinted bodies.

These costumes don't even give us that satisfaction.

UPDATE: I loved this comment at i09 on an article about Darkseid's rumored appearance on the next season of Smallville.

The more I've heard about Smallville over the succeeding years, the more it reminded me of how easily Star Trek Voyager took creepy, fearsome antagonists like the Borg and made them as ineffectual as a sitcom next-door neighbor who pops in to grab a snack from your kitchen, cracks wise, then disappears.

A Country Didn't Like The Dark Knight

I realize that in continuing my discussions on The Dark Knight in such a manner might seem like I have a personal vendetta against the movie, but my intentions with this ongoing discourse are of a more speculative nature. It is somewhat of a quest for a reevaluation of the film while trying to figure out just what has made the movie so irresistible for audiences...

Except for audiences in Japan! And yes, I will openly admit that I say those words in a slightly "so there!" tone.

Apparently, The Dark Knight has not done incredibly well there, pulling in just under $9 million in the three weekes it has been in theatres in that country.

Slash Film provides a possible reason for the underperformance abroad:

The story is very pessimistic. It has a dark and gloomy texture that Japanese movie fans do not find appealing in a ‘comic hero’ film… Japanese movie fans expect such films to be fun and action packed, for the hero to be attractive, for the villain to be loud and outrageous, and for the movie itself to be easy to understand and light.

Indeed, I did not feel titular character in The Dark Knight to embody the notion of the "comic" nor a "hero."

Although, Christian Bale is definitely attractive (see: American Psycho if you have any doubts), so there's one big check-mark going for it.