I used to have my DVD collection listed at DVDSpot. It was great! Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, DVDSpot shut down this week. This development made me very sad. 🙁

Anyway, I've since taken to listing my DVD collection at Chasing the Frog, but because that site lacks an option for me to import my old collection I'm currently in the process of manually adding every. single. entry. to the list. (I'm in no hurry, so I'm doing like a handful whenever it occurs to me to add some more. I imagine I'll be finished by February 2009.) Being hosted by Amazon, the database also lacks entries for some of the more obscure foreign titles. Ah well.

My (now outdated) collection is still up with DVD Profiler, though I haven't used that since they started charging money in order to use the full functionality of the program. Maybe someday I'll feel like it's worth the $30 so that everyone can see precisely which DVDs I own, but that day has not come yet. By the time it arrives, they'll probably want $60 for the service. 😛

So for the past couple of weeks or so, I've been on an extended Faith kick. I rewatched the Season 4 episodes of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in which she appeared, her appearances in Seasons 1 and 4 of "Angel"... I even sat through those godawful "Buffy" Season 7 episodes for her. And now I'm in the process of watching Season 3 again (skipping the heathen -- that is Faithless -- episodes), though I think I'll take a break from them tonight to watch the "Buffy" Season 2 episodes with Kendra.

(With my renewed Faith and Buffy kick, I ordered a Buffy figure online... but they sent me Kendra by mistake. Of course I shipped her butt back and am awaiting the correct item, but the ordeal has left me with a desire to watch Kendra's few appearances again.)

Anyway, it's sort of fitting that I've been so into Faith lately, since yesterday I accompanied my mother on this church retreat to see the Sight & Sound Theaters production of "In the Beginning." Of course, I really only went because the trip also included a stop at a shopping center with KB Toys and Disney Store Outlet shops, but I did have some minimal interest in seeing the play. I'll write more about the day on Scary-Crayon -- or at least that's the plan; we'll see -- but suffice it to say that few words describe the play so well as flipping retarded. Picture, if you will, brachiosaurs in the Garden of Eden; velociraptors running around in the wilderness following the Fall; Adam and his progeny riding about on a woolly mammoth; horrific angels that looked like a cross between harpies and the robots of death; and, worst and most hilarious of all, a nine-foot-tall purple serpent with glowing red eyes. Adam and Eve's problem wasn't so much that they were disobedient, but rather that they were dumb. Anyone who trusts a giant purple snake with flaming eyes -- and jets of smoke erupting behind it -- deserves whatever the Hell happens as a result.

Anyway, back to Faith. I didn't find quite as much as I'd hoped at the KB Toys Outlet, and all of the other stores were a total bust... but I did come across Faith figures! And given my current kick, it almost seemed too good to be true -- I was even planning to order a Faith figure this week -- if not eerily coincidental. I mean, while I've seen DC Direct and Mortal Kombat figures in KB before, I'd never seen Buffy figures in KB Toys until that moment. Granted, they looked kind of bad (I had to pick through them in earnest to find ones without completely screwed paint jobs), and Faith was the only character in stock, but still. I had a Faith figure! Even if it didn't look like her, I was rather pleased.

But I recognized that it seemed too good to be true, and the toys did look a little flimsy... so I got two just in case. And sure enough, as soon as I got home and took the first Faith out of the package, I noticed immediately that something was very, very wrong. Almost every single one of her joints was stuck fast. So right away she went into the freezer, and a good half hour later I removed her to try my luck again. And off came her leg, just like that -- given the way it came off, it looks like the attaching peg was cracked to begin with. I was disappointed, but I did still have the other Faith. She didn't even get the chance to go into the freezer, though, as removing her from the package resulted in her leaving her leg behind right from the outset.

So, yesterday, I lost an entire day on a trip to see a crappy uber-creationist religious play and had my Faith broken. Twice. 👿

On the bright side, I'm holding out hope that I can fix the Faiths (or at least one of them; I may just return the other). You may recall my experience with Chun-Li, who broke after I ordered her a while back and had to be replaced. Well, I still had the broken figure... and inspired by these Faith mishaps (what is it with left legs?!) to try my hand at fixing her, I sat down today and did just that. And, as you see, I was successful! Faith looks like she'll be a more difficult -- part of the reason the figure broke in the first place is poor design; while a metal screw will certainly be stronger than the brittle, toothpick-thin plastic peg with which the leg was originally attached, forcing the head of a screw into the tiny space between her legs (hm, this is sounding kinda dirty) will prove rather difficult -- but I'm confident that it can be done. I suppose if all else fails, I could try the Hasbro approach and peg the leg up into the torso. Faith's waist doesn't move, so there should be a lot of space up there for an anchor.

Also, shoofly pie? Terrible. If you ever find yourself in Lancaster County, do yourself a huge favor and pass on that dessert. 😐

Dear Wikipedia,

I miss you. I don't know why you're not responding to my connection requests and causing my browser to become impatient. Is your server experiencing high demand or a temporary outage? I'm not unable to browse other sites, so I don't think it has to do with my connection or firewall or proxy settings. I don't think consulting my network administrator or Internet provider for assistance is going to help either. I don't need counseling or reassurance, Wikipedia -- I need you.

Please come back to me soon, okay?

xoxo Wes

In other news, Scary-Crayon was updated Friday -- in addition to finally getting that Mai & Chun-Li figure review up, we've also posted a quick haiku and the exciting second installment of Mickey's Sarah Jane Smith Fashionista Fever! And for those of you who just watched "Turn Left" Friday night, you might want to check the review I did of it a few weeks ago. 🙂

Also, here is a quick review of Hancock that I originally posted on a forum! Spoilers are hidden after the cut, so I don't advise clicking if you haven't seen the film and care about having certain plot developments revealed.

I don't think Hancock was actually good, mind you, but I went in knowing nothing about it except what I'd seen in the trailers -- so when Hancock morphed into something I wasn't expecting, I was kind of intrigued. I do think the movie cheated by telegraphing the wrong finale (the wife basically intimated that Hancock was a jerk who lets people down, yet he'd actually spent the last millennium or so protecting her?), and the stuff with the bad guys was pretty lame, but the new backstory and dynamic were interesting enough to me that I could divorce them from the movie in which they appeared. Plus, I thought the movie suggested that the alien couple was essentially broken up by the bigotry and discrimination in America (or at least that's what I read into the notion of the couple getting attacked and references to fires in earlier days), which was also of interesting to ponder... especially in light of the notion that they were created by some superintelligent alien beings (who presumably would have been able to predict the future that their superpowered couple would inherit).

Anyway, I guess my opinion of Hancock is akin to how I might feel about an inoffensive but mostly unfunny joke that ends with an even less funny yet interesting suggestion about time travel and quantum physics. I'd have trouble calling the joke a success in terms of what it set out to do, but I'd appreciate the thought-provoking effect it had upon me.

All for now, then! Until next time, folks.

Phoenix (Jennifer Widerstrom) is well fit... (more...)

Lots of posts these past few days, eh?

So the first of the two commercials mentioned in the title was for some new kind of eyedrops. It was a testimonial advertisement featuring an eye doctor who, apparently as a sufferer of some common form of dry eyes, was thrilled to discover this new product because it can help users to "make more of their own tears." Now, I know what it means -- tears moisten eyes, so the product will ostensibly prevent sufferers from having to endure dry, itchy, red eyes -- but I found the phrasing odd. It can help you to produce more of your own tears. But given that we typically associate tears with pain and/or sadness, I found myself thinking that I could probably accomplish the same thing by beating the hell out of an individual and murdering his/her loved ones. And I giggled to myself.

Yes, my sense of humor is strange.

The second commercial was for Toaster Strudels, and its explicitly and repeated contention was that "Pop-Tarts can't compare to the taste of Toaster Strudels." (According to the Wiki, this is a pretty common line of argument for Toaster Strudels... though this is the first time I can remember seeing it. Weird.) This amused me as well, but for different reasons. First of all, this is a matter of personal preference -- and while you could say that with respect to almost anything, it's especially true here. Why? This is directly related to my second point: that comparing Pop-Tarts and Toaster Strudels is like comparing apples to oranges (in the sense that you legitimately can, as they're both kind of similar -- both breakfast pastries, both fruits -- yet also different). But an even better analogue is potato chips to french fries. Imagine an Ore-Ida commercial that boasted, "Potato chips can't compare to the taste of french fries!" Maybe not -- depending upon the person -- but since that's not their freaking goal, who cares?!

If you're into Pop-Tarts, no amount of argument is going to convince you that Pillsbury's wares are somehow better... unless, that is, Pillsbury releases a product that is directly comparable to Pop-Tarts. I mean, I like them both (though not enough to buy either on a regular basis) -- and while I would prefer Toaster Strudels in a head-to-head comparison, Pop-Tarts do have several advantages over Toaster Strudels. They don't need to be kept in the freezer, so you can take them almost anywhere. (I used to bring a packet to work with me for lunch, and I recall us having them with us on a high school camping trip. In fact, one of the sexier -- and definitely bustier -- girls on the trip noted that they were her favorite food, which at the very least ensured that I will associate Pop-Tarts with pleasant thoughts for as long as that memory endures. Every time I buy Pop-Tarts, Kellogg's should send her a commission fee.) Admittedly, most of their other advantages are related to this point -- their versatile nature means that you don't need a toaster to enjoy them, whereas even if you want to eat Toaster Strudels frozen (which you can do; they are quite good) you'll still have to find some way to unfreeze the frosting -- but still.

Instead of trying to raise their product above Kellogg's, Pillsbury needs to make ads featuring unfortunate cartoon Toaster Strudels that poorly-drawn children go out of their way to trap and devour. 😐