Four Metric Buttloads of "GRRRR!"

Don't be alarmed, dear readers. It's not that kind of slump. Things are actually going pretty well, despite fending off colds & flu, and surviving kitchen sink weather. We awoke to snow on Sunday morning, which turned to rain, which broke to sun, and then returned to rain. Weather has until the 21st to make up its mind, and then, by golly, it's spring, damnit.

TFMD did a pretty detailed write-up of our weekend, so I feel like I can just fill in the details from my experience. Took Tyler to see Watchmen on Sunday. Totally felt fine with that. He's almost 15 and, despite what some of the reviews are saying, I didn't find it that much more violent than any other R-rated action movie. Sin City, Planet Terror and 300 were both more violent (and about equal in the sexual element), but both of those comic book adaptations were targeted at a more specific audience. In any case, I enjoyed the film immensely. And I don't understand the juvenile attention the media are giving to Dr. Manhattan's full-frontal nudity. It's not gratuitous. In fact, it's almost an afterthought. We Americans need to get over our phallophobia and move along. Come to think of it, calling the media attention "juvenile" does juveniles a disservice. My son made no rude comments, there were no chuckles or snickers or whispered jokes. The character takes on a natural (and intact) human form with no need of clothing due to the fact that he's pretty much a friggin' god.

Anyway, Tyler and I liked the movie. We especially liked the character of Rorschach, and thought he was brought to life perfectly by Jackie Earle Haley (of Bad News Bears fame). It's on the long side, and given the moral ambiguity of the main characters, I guess I'm not surprised that more is being made of this film than of earlier "superhero" movies.

And now, the GRRRR. As I powered up my work computer on Sunday, the CPU fan decided to go into Jet Engine mode - the loudest I've ever heard it (and no boot). The front panel indicator says it's a video card issue, but I've gone down the recommended checklist and so far, no love. I really hope it's something fixable, because I really don't have the cash to be throwing down on a new performance computer to do my graphics and video work on right now.

Feh.