Well, what happened this weekend... not a whole lot.

I made my first attempt to go see Phantom Menace, then burst out laughing when I saw the line at the ticket counter, turned and left. Don't get me wrong, I'd like to see it, but I don't want to see it that badly. Now I know why there was nobody on the roads on the way over, even in the middle of the afternoon... they were all waiting in line at the movie theatre!

I also bought a ticket for the lottery, since the Florida jackpot was up to $66 million, and hey, why not? I'll have to go see if I won anything this afternoon... Color me excited, not.

I spent most of Saturday lounging around, cleaning up my apartment, and watching DVD movies. Mmm... DVD. Feel the power. Feel the digital manliness of DVD! Etc, etc. I watched the rest of Lodoss Wars, and thrilled to the ever increasing amounts of stock footage. I also chugged through the Iria: Zeiram the Animation (nobody said Japanese film titles should make sense) collection, which is mainly distinguished by the fact that none of the female charactes are definitely lesbians. Those wacky Japanese animators, I tell ya. It's your average tale about a spunky red-headed girl who overcomes great odds to beat a "bad-ass invincible space alien" (to use the words of another character) named Zeiram. Also, I suppose, it's distinguished by how blunt the characters are with their use of technology... On a ship with a bad-ass, invincible space alien? Take off and nuke it. Bad-ass, invincible space aliens have taken over a section of the capitol city? Rig up a massive teleporter to beam the whole damn city block into deep space. Heh, heh.

On Sunday, I found myself unable to resist the lure of Sailor Moon. I knew I should have gone out. I knew I should have been productive, but.. but... I turned on Cartoon Network, and there it was. I couldn't look away. It loomed, in short-skirted power, overwhelming all else. She is the one named Sailor Moon.

It's depressing that in that show, the emergency backup cat (whose name is Artemis, despite the fact that he seems to be, well, a guy) gets more characterization than your average cast member on Voyager.

The episodes they showed were the ones that weren't shown on the non-cable network, for darn good reason. Two characters (both villains who had a change of heart) died -on camera-, in such a way that their deaths couldn't be swept under the rug. Not only did this present an obstacle to showing things on TV, but it would have given kids a valuable life lesson - if you're a fiendish villain with plans of world conquest, don't have a change of heart. Your life span from that point onwards can be measured in minutes.

I also caught the tail end of Tarzan on HBO. It's not quite the dumbest thing I've ever seen, but it ranks pretty highly.

Dragonball Z Update: Krillan, Gohan and Bulma cower in a cave as a horde of Freeza's troops pass overhead. Bulma is only moderately impressed, but the other two, who, being Martial Artists(tm), can sense power levels, are both reduced to quiet gibbering by the intensity of Freeza's power. Bulma gets out her Plot Device Detector and uses it to pinpoint the location of the bad guys (since they're toting four dragonballs along, which makes for a distinctive signature), and finds they're heading for another one. Krillan and Gohan set out to stop them, and Bulma once more shows her intelligence by wanting nothing to do with this mission, instead heading off to call for help. Krillan reminds Gohan to suppress his power level so it can't be detected, shortly before the two take off across the landscape like a pair of crack-addled mutant kangaroos.

Meanwhile, all pretense of realism is given up as Bulma is able to call Goku's trainer on the phone. Goku is told of the situation at the hospital, but he's still badly off, but fortunately one of the minor characters shows up with a bag of plot devices...er, magic beans, which restore Goku to full hit points and off he goes. But how to get there? He turned over the ship he arrived in as a baby (shades of Superman...) to the Acme...er, Capsule corporation, where Bulma's father has been refitting it. Refitting, in this case, defined as "completely rebuilding". It's now a big ol' space pod. Goku insists on being able to leave immediately, despite the fact that the ship isn't quite done (no cappucino maker installed), and takes off, as various minor characters (including the pig) stand around looking impressed.

Elsewhere, Krillan and Gohan poke around watching the horde o' bad guys ransack a Namek household and slap a few Nameks around to try and get them to cough up the location of the next Dragonball. And, er, that's about it.

No-one got booted in the head this episode. I feel robbed.

Todays' Costume Boy Sightings: None.

The Morning Weather: Cool and adequate.

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