I think Sham put it best with: “it’s a combination of Fight Club, The Matrix, and 300.”

OK, so, we went into this knowing it would be laughable. We started trying to watch it on a Friday night, laughed for the first 15 minutes (picture Xena + Willow and then make it BAD somehow). And then we fell asleep. Sunday night we tried to watch it again. Fell asleep after 30 minutes. Thursday, with friends over, we started from the beginning. I made it to the same point as the last time and… fell asleep. Evidently the ending is even more ridiculous than the rest of the movie that I made it through.

I mean, I almost wanted to say worth consuming because it is really a riot. The lines. The acting. The helicopter shots. It’s a good laugh, but we seriously couldn’t make it through and I sent it back to Netflix unfinished by us. At least our friends were troopers and made it through alive.

Heard about this on To the Best of Our Knowledge on NPR:

“Dan Zanes used to be in a rock band called the Del Fuegos. Now he’s winning Grammys for his music, often categorized as children’s music, but as Zanes tells Anne Strainchamps, his music is for all ages. We hear several examples, and Zanes talks about his collaborations with people like Natalie Merchant. His Grammy Award winning album is called ‘Catch That Train.’”

Perfect train/bath/Saturday afternoon book. Takes some dedication to get into initially, like the rest of the series. And then it gets you in trouble when you don’t want to do anything else but read it and you are officially engulfed.

I would still be working on it, had some stupid university student not broken the unwritten law of being a decent human being and NOTRECALLINGBOOKSTHATAREOBVIOUSLYFORPLEASUREREADINGANDNOTRESEARCHFOR A PAPER. So now I need to pick up a cheap second-hand copy of this, but I can only find it in large print and that just won’t do as a dweller in my purse.

For those who have finished this and are still waiting for the fifth, like George R. R. Martin did, I’d suggest taking a look at Robin Hobb (BEWARE! slight spoiler summaries, if you scroll down). I devoured her trilogy of trilogies when I was in high school and college.

Melodramatic or not, this movie is worth watching just because I think it’s safe to say that most people don’t even know of the events (again, exaggerated or not) that are depicted within it.

Watch it and do some of your own research, but just thinkthinkthink about why we don’t have a fully electric car and polar bears are in trouble. Do Pooh Bear proud.

This movie somehow made a Monday amazing.

I’m so glad I hadn’t heard any of the songs. It made the first time “guy” opened his mouth to sing that much more amazing.

But for easy access for those who have seen it (until you realize you’ve played the songs on repeat for days and you break down and buy it on iTunes): Once’s music.

…as a TV show, as Sham said after we saw this in the theatre. They set up this interesting dichotomy between paladin and jumper, characters are developed, and then… it’s over. You’re just left liking what you got, but really wanting more.

Watch with Kristin, EOnline: http://tinyurl.com/yo4eh7 .

If you missed this when it was on TV, check it out on line (as of 12/31/07): http://www.scifi.com/tinman/video/index.php?Part=3&Chapter=1 .

Also, this was fun after watching it: http://www.scifi.com/tinman/google/ .

Edit 3/15/08: The videos appear to not work on line anymore, but this is now available on DVD.

I’m all for flipping, messing around, retracing, and wasting time trying to figure stuff out myself, but when the frustration level gets too high and the bank account is too low for a guide book, this serves as a great help, especially if all you need is a visual nudge in the right direction.

http://www.thehylia.com/super_paper_mario_visual_guide.php