Interesting post at Joe.My.God on preparations in some quarters for quick rushes to the altar should a gap come between stays in the appellate process for Perry v. Schwarzenegger.

I know people who’ve planned their weddings for years.  We took a month (and then four more for the reception).  Strange to now be thinking about windows of opportunity for couples lasting only hours or days.  Stranger still is that I keep flashing to the titular scene in The Great Escape, and wondering how many more we can get through the tunnel before the goons catch on.

Spinner and I caught a matinee of Clash of the Titans this morning.  He’s still on spring break and I’m decided to use my powers of self-employment to bend time just a bit, and the pollen count shot down our original plan to check out the new Polar Bear Plunge at the Zoo.

It wasn’t bad, and the story definitely picked up in the second half, starting when Perseus went after Medusa.  Can’t say it was great though.  It was a bit like MST3K to have Spinner keep commenting on the different mostly-european accents spoken in this depiction of ancient Greece.

Have to admit that I kept wondering when Perseus was going to take his shirt off though.  Yes, I am shallow, but for $7.50 a seat I should be seeing real abs, not the ones painted on vintage armor.

Like it or not, Spartacus: Blood and Sand has raised the bar on flesh, blood and gore within the swords and sandals genre.  The Titans didn’t even come close to the new standard.  Not to mention that Spartacus is free through Netflix and delivered to my darkened room on demand.

Great effects.   Loved the 3-D.  Thought the hookah-smoking blue caterpillar needed a movie of his own.  But that’s about where my love for Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland ends.

We caught the 3-D non-IMAX version of the movie at a sold-out showing in Del Mar last night.  The horde of entitled and self-absorbed high schoolers texting and walking in and out of the showing just reinforced my reaction to the movie: there was little to hold the attention for more than a quick jolt of eye candy.

Maybe my expectations were too high.  Whatever the reason, it just didn’t work for me.  Some great lines and fascinating visual takes on the individual characters just never found their way into a coherent story worthy of the hype and the assemblage of proven talent.

On the plus side, I did get to see the trailer for the upcoming Tron Legacy.  I’m feeling very good about that one.  I suspect that while the kiddies will be wearing Mad Hatter costumes at ComicCon this summer, the vendors will be pushing Tron for all they can make.

Yes, I remember the first time I saw Akira.  I was in my 20s, working for State and living in DC.  The official release date seems to have been 1988, and it probably wasn’t too long after that that I saw it.  I had a VHS copy, then stumbled on the books and started picking them up when I could find them here and there.  I don’t remember the genre being big in DC at the time, but it might have just been my sheltered existence.  When the opportunity arose it was one of the first VHS tapes I replaced with a DVD, which was a damn good thing because that old tape was getting mighty worn. I still try and fill in gaps in the book collection when I find them, because the movie only went so far, and the continuing story just kept getting better.  And yes, I feel old.

Rain stopped for the weekend, and for the first time in too long neither Spinner nor I had any outside commitments.  We started the weekend on Friday night with Killer Pizza and (500) days of Summer, bumped it up with dinner and martinis at 333 Pacific on Saturday night.  Said martinis led to a nighttime walk on the Oceanside Pier admiring the monster surf and committing a few PDAs.  Headed up to Disneyland for a few pre-crowd E-ticket rides on Sunday morning, and then just chilled our way into a new workweek.  Life as it should be.

Not going to go into too many details and spoilers, but we caught Star Trek last night and loved it.  Great movie, and I will pay to see it again on the big screen, just because I don’t think our home setup could ever do the special effects justice.

Great story that showed respect for what came before while still opening the door wide open to taking the franchise in a fresh, new direction.  Pre-movie canon can peacefully co-exist with the new storyline from where I sit.  I particularly enjoyed the performances by Zachary Quinto and Leonard Nimoy (and Jacob Kogan for that matter) as Spock.

An otherwise great weekend is being marred by news of the death of J.G. Ballard and the imminent death of a friend’s beloved pet of 15 years.  I haven’t explored Ballard’s writings as much as I should, but was a huge fan of the film of his autobiography, Empire of the Sun.  Prostate cancer deaths always twist my emotions just a little bit harder; going to have to find some of his other books at the library this week.  As for the other, spending time with Diego now and planning for the consumption of alcohol is very near future.

The only possible reason to endure that ridiculously long football game this afternoon has now been shot down by the internet.  And waiting until May just became that much harder.

Wow! Amazing how quick a Monday can turn from sucky and bleh to really, really good with one simple click of a link. New Star Trek trailer here or here. [via Kama]

I was beginning to think the morning was turning into a disaster. On the rare occasions we tolerate a theater environment, we normally go across town to the well-regarded Ultrastar Cinemas. They were an early adopter of exclusively presenting movies digitally, have good seating and reasonable matinee specials. Today though either their scheduling was botched or their manager couldn’t/wouldn’t handle a group overstaying its welcome. We were kept waiting in the lobby until the scheduled showtime, then sent down the hallway to the scheduled theater to find it occupied by a group doing its Sunday morning meeting, and were eventually herded to another screen back near the lobby. Being nearly first in the queue for our original screen left us near the back of the herd for our final destination, with seats that matched even on a Sunday morning matinee.

But once the movie started the irritation subsided. Quantum of Solace rocked. The pace was fast – certainly faster than any Bond movie I can remember. The story was solid though, and without naming anyone by name, very timely in its slam on certain American agencies at the end of the Bush era. Not that I indulge in escapist fantasies like Bond films for reality, I’ll even say they nailed the portrayal of rural Bolivia on the altiplano, though the city the producers called La Paz clearly wasn’t. Not even close. I’ve since learned they substituted Panama City during filming.

Really liking that, as in Casino Royale, Judy Dench’s M is becoming a more central and complete character instead the empty suit it was with prior Bonds. I think seeing more of the M-Bond relationship certainly adds something to an appreciation of the Bond character. If you want to catch the cool gadgets this time around, forget Bond himself and keep an eye on M.