Test 1, 2, 3.

Dad taped Avatar while he had some free trial of HBO On Demand and had mom make the label which she spelled "Avitar". I... don't even know what to do with that. I mean, it's not like it's an internet word, it's like, old-school Sanskrit.

( So, it's Anti-Colonialism and Pro-Environmentalism, but )

Anyway, I felt like instead of the "My Heart Will Go On"-esque* power ballad over the ending credits they could just as easily have gone with "Colors of the Wind" from Pocahontas.

*So similar it made "My Heart Will Go On" run through my head: Not Cool. Aaaand it was written by the same people. Okay then.

I don't like the way they cut the Dean Talks To The Grave Of Still-Dead Papa Winchester scene last night.
I mean, we know from the phone scene in Home that Jensen can rock the hell out of one-sided conversations with an inanimate objects in lieu of his fictional father, so why did they feel the need to hack this scene to bits?
They've got this totally poignant and meaningful scene where Dean talks to his dead father and realizes his purpose that would have had crazy impact as a straight uncut emotional whammy, but instead we get shots of Dean talking cut with shots of him not talking, and the audio continues talking even through the not talking shots to the point where I'm all, "Wait, have we switched to voiceover now? No, his lips are moving properly again. What the hell are they doing?"


Still the cutest lawn-mowing ever, though.

I'm only a fifth of the way through the book, and I sincerely hope I turn out to be wrong (because as is, I think George Lucas could sue).

So, we open with an elf (who may well be a princess) trying to outrun the agents of an evil empire (which is actually referred to as "the Empire"-- maybe it will be doing some striking back at some point?). She is caught by said agents, but not before she sends the thing they're after to safety. The thing they're after? A blue stone that we later learn is a dragon's egg, but may as well be the plans to the freakin' Death Star.
And where does she send it? Why, to the sparsely inhabited Spine. But it's wintry there! It's nothing like Tatooine! Well, except for that orphaned farm boy being raised by his aunt and uncle.
And obviously, he's the one who finds the plans, er, egg, and has a chat about it with ol' Ben Kenobi, er, Brom the Storyteller, who may or may not be a former Rider (a Jedi by any other name would be as ripped off).
And let's not forget the backstory of the Empire-- long ago Jedis (Riders) used the Force (Dragons) to maintain peace and order, but then one of them went to the Dark Side (or, in this instance, batshit crazy), and thus the evil Empire is ruled by corrupt Riders (a Sith Lord by any other name... you get the idea).
So anyway, back to our orphan farm boy whose mother is sketchy at best, and whose father is so gonna turn out to be King Galbatorix (leader of the evil Empire). If his father is not Lord GalbaVader, I will be pleasantly surprised.
Anyhoodle, GalbaVader's minions go searching for the missing plans to the Death Star, and wind up blowing up the farm and dearest Uncle Owen/Garrow with it (Auntie had already died previously [and he has a cousin!], which makes it so totally different right? Right?).
So now that we've severed all ties to family and home (which I admit, is not limited to Star Wars), let's go on a quest for revenge with old Ben, er, Brom. And this Brom fella, he knows an awful lot about the Riders of yore. Not only is he well-versed in the ways of the Force (he can speak to Eragon's dragon), but he even gives Er-Luke-agon a nifty and powerful sword that used to belong to a Rider. If it turns out Brom is not a former Rider, I will be pleasantly surprised.

As a soldier in the War on Christmas, I've decided to lob an IIE (that's Improvised Incendiary Entry) at plastic baby Jesuses everywhere.

Ah, the light-up plastic Nativity: Dude, if you want me to take your religion seriously, tacky-ass lawn displays are not the way to do it.

I mean, this is the son of God, right? This is the Virgin Mary! This is... well, sorry Joe, but somebody had to be the cuckolded patsy.
But these people are, like, major players in your personal belief structure, and here you are chucking them up in plastic effigy on your front lawn.

You know what that says to me? It says that you are so insecure in your beliefs that you feel the need to put a big honkin' sign out to let everyone know that you're for real. Dude, if you believe in Jesus, then good for you, but shoving it in people's faces is disrespectful of both Jesus and the people whose faces you're shoving things into.

Prominently displaying the Nativity to your neighbors does not make you a better Christian, the same way lighting a big ol' chalice does not make me a better Unitarian Universalist.
They're just symbols, and they are so very, very fake. You wanna prove to me that you believe in Jesus? How about following some of his teachings? My understanding is that Jesus was all about the humility, not to mention forgiveness and love and understanding for all.

The louder people yell about how faithful they are, the more fragile their faith seems to me.

So please, for the sake of sweet light-up plastic baby Jesus, skip the tacky proclamations of how Christly your Christmas is.