Taking A Short Break

Yes friends, I'm gettin' hitched this weekend, and therefore won't be posting an update for probably a week or so....
Ah, a fine break from blogging. We all need one from time to time. As much as we all love the whole blogging deal, it can be frustrating occasionally; a real labor of love, I guess. SO, I thought that I'd take this, my 150th post, as an opportunity to count down the Five Most Annoying Things About Blogging.


Time to get whiny:

--NUMBER FIVE: Embarrassment

Sometimes, I'll look back at posts I wrote some months prior and say, "This is the stupidest thing ever. What was I THINKING???"

Yeah, this blog has experienced few shortages of silliness, and occasionally, a concept that cracked me up at the time will make my face red with embarrassment when I revisit it a while later. I suddenly realize that I've been making myself look like a fool in a very public forum on a regular basis for months, and then I start to wonder what this will do for my long-term job prospects.

Other times, I'll post something that offends or hurts the feelings of a loved one. Like, I'll crack some joke about the missus or my mom, and it comes back to bite me later. Usually, I'll just go back and edit out the offending remark. Still, the damage has been done. I guess one is bound to humiliate himself or upset others from time to time when his primary aim is to be funny.

--NUMBER FOUR: Not Enough Readers

You ever write something groundbreaking and hilarious only to have, like, three people actually see it? Of course, you have...if you're a blogger.

Now, I truly appreciate the fine folks who stop by here. You're the bee's knees -- the GREATEST HUMAN BEINGS EVER! Still, it would be cool to get super famous and wealthy through my blogging efforts due to popular appeal among the unwashed masses (not you fine folks of good taste who already read this stuff on a regular basis). That happens all of the time, right?

(See? It's tumbleweed...in my blog.)

Er, maybe not.

--NUMBER THREE: Trying To Think Of Topics

I always wonder what I'll do when I finally run out of ideas for blog entries, but then 47 of them will hit me in one day. Equally fortunate is that events in the news can always provide adequate fodder. Oh, and not to mention, the world's weird movie supply is practically infinite, so finding films to review is easy.

Still, I wonder what will happen when I have completely run out of things to say. That day could come, as I seem to care about things, in general, less and less with each passing year. Perhaps I'll wake up one morning not long from now, and shout, "Holy Crap. I don't care enough about ANYTHING to even SAY ANYTHING about it! And I don't even care about THAT, either!!!"

I do have some nuclear bomb blog topics that I've got hidden up my sleeve. For example, I stated in the very first entry on this blog, well over a year ago, that I wanted to tell the story of Tech TV. Well, I STILL haven't gotten around to doing that. You know why? --Because I'm saving it. For last. Yeah, when I finally sense that this little blog has run its course, I'll bust out the Tech TV idea. It'll be the last thing I really want to say. Who knows when that will be? Could be years, really...but I'm saving it.


--NUMBER TWO: Typos

Believe it or not, typing is a task with which I have major difficulty. I make an insane amount of typos that must be cleaned up carefully with each thing I write and, owing to my natural impatient nature, this is a constant headache. I just want to friggin' WRITE something; why can't it just show up on the screen the way I desire???

But NOOOOO, I've got to go back over EVERYTHING and fish out the mistakes. I swear, my workday would be at least an hour shorter if I could just type stuff out like a normal person. Also, posting blog entries would be much, much easier.

Here's what this blog would look like if I typed the above two paragraphs WITHOUT going back to fix the typing errors. I'm gonna just go ahead and retype that stuff and leave it as is, OK? Check it out:

"Believe it or noit, typing iss a task with which I have major difficultiues. I make an insane amount of typwes that must be cleaned up with each thing I weties, and owing to ny matural impatient nature, this is ca contantfd headheavce. I just want to wfrkijigin WRITE something; why can't it just show up ion the screen the way I dssire???

NBot NOOOOO, I've got to go over everything and fish out the mistakes,. I sewae, my worksday would be ano hour shorter if I could just typoe stuff out like a normal person. Also, postiung blog entries would be much, much easier."

See??? Thank God for Spell Check!

Oh, and I hate, I hate, I HATE reading an old entry and finding some typo I somehow missed in my first five thousand proofreads. It happens all of the time.


--NUMBER ONE: Not Enough Time To Write

Number Two on this very list is a major reason why writing a blog is so time consuming for me. Other reasons are simply my natural pickiness, and the fact that I'm easily distracted. Bottom line is that it can take three or four hours for me to write one of these suckers.

If I had the time to relax as I see fit, I would totally write more blog entries. Sadly, that is not the case, which is why I typically just aim for two a week. I stand in AWE of bloggers who can whip up new content on a basically constant basis. You guys are my heroes.


So, there you have it -- the five things I hate most about blogging (even though I love it, anyway). Oh, and while I'm on the subject, here's a film that fans of Joss Whedon ought to enjoy.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (2008)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1227926/


Netflix description:
When he's not busy breaking the law or trying to get close to his secret crush, Penny (Felicia Day), supervillain wannabe Dr. Horrible (Neil Patrick Harris) boasts about his exploits via his Internet video blog and dreams of defeating his nemesis, Captain Hammer (Nathan Fillion). Conceived during the 2008 Hollywood writers' strike, Joss Whedon's quirky musical comedy originally debuted as an online miniseries.

I guess Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog started out as some kind of side project of Buffy the Vampire Slayer writer-producer-director Joss Whedon during the big Hollywood writer's strike a few years back. It was an online series or something. Eventually, the whole deal aired on TV in one piece, which is the picture I'm reviewing today.

It's about a blogger who calls himself Doctor Horrible. Played by Doogie Howser MD's Neil Patrick Harris, this fellow is basically your average, pathetic internet loser who dreams of becoming a famous supervillain. See, he lives in an alternate universe where superheroes and their enemies are real. Doctor Horrible's ultimate aim is to destroy Captain Hammer, a showboating crime fighter who has been getting lots of love from the media and, consequently, the residents of whatever city they inhabit. Doctor Horrible keeps his small number of fans up-to-date on his latest efforts to destroy the world via a video blog. Sometimes, he'll break into song, just like everyone else in his universe. In other words, this film is a musical.

So, when we meet Doctor Horrible, his latest plan is to hijack an armored car in order to steal some kind of component for a freeze ray (or something) that he's building. Right as he's about to nab the all-important item, he bumps into the girl of his dreams. Her name is Penny, and it turns out that she's one of them annoying do-gooders that Doctor Horrible is heck-bent on fighting. See, Penny's into stuff like volunteering at homeless shelters and raising money for libraries (LAME). Therefore, Doctor Horrible is thrown into despair. How can he be EVIL when the girl he likes is so NICE???

Eventually, Doctor Horrible is forced to confront the fact that his woman cannot be won through bad deeds, which are really his forte'. Plus, she's being wooed by none other than his very nemesis, the irritating Captain Hammer. CAN Doctor Horrible win the girl without sacrificing who he really is???


I realize this may be a sacrilege to fans of Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, but I gotta be honest and admit that it was actually the SONGS that kept me from really loving this one. I mean, the music isn't TOTALLY bad; it's just kind of MEH. Like the musical episode of Buffy -- you can tell Joss Whedon is sort of trying to do the same thing here...and the results are slightly cheap.

You know -- a musical ought to be IMPRESSIVE. The productions should be over-the-top and mind-blowing, with ultra-fancy Broadway composers and dance groups leading the way. Otherwise, I can't help but cringe at the whole thing. The Buffy musical episode was my least favorite in the series' seven-season run because I couldn't take MIDI-composed dance numbers seriously. Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog is comparable in that it takes a similar concept and runs with it for, like, 80 minutes.

So, why did I like this thing, anyway??? The answer is simple: Neil Patrick Harris.

(What Neil Patrick Harris might look like.)

There's no denying that Neil Patrick Harris is awesome. I always suspected that he was on the ball, but it was proven definitively with Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle. I swear, that random movie completely saved this guy's career, giving him a street cred that can't even be bought. You could tell he was the real deal when he showed up in that one.

Anyway, Neil gets the job done with Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and I don't think anyone else could have starred in this baby and made it quite what it is. It's funny just to see him in a lab coat and goggles, plotting his latest evil deed. He's a darn good actor. And only a really darn good actor could make this picture work.

Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog also has a fantastic concept behind it. I wanted to love this film at first sight, and for the most part, Joss Whedon delivers. If only this one had a little less music, and a little more offbeat dialogue and atmosphere. Then we'd be GOLDEN!

The Guild's Felicia Day play's Doctor Horrible's love interest, which is a treat...and I tip my hat to Mr. Whedon for giving the movie the ending that it has. It takes true grit to make the move that he ultimately chose. Nevertheless, I just had a little trouble getting over the whole excessive musical number hump. I have no choice but to give Doctor Horrible's Sing-Along Blog an average...

3 out of 5.

Well, folks...I'm headed off on a holiday now. See you in a week or so. Wish me luck!

b.