In completely casual, unrehearsed conversation at work, somebody brought up my dear friend Dumpasaurus. Apparently, he's big with the kindergarten set.

Let me make this very clear. My love for Dumpasaurus has not diminished with time. If anything, it has only grown stronger.

Apparently I'm not the only one who's seen it. Check it out. Thanks to Susan for sending me the link.

Legally Blonde 2: Red White & Blonde: Like I said in my review, it's awfully thin, but still not too bad, especially for a comedy sequel. People seem to have a lot of affection for the first movie, and as long as they're ready to see more of the same, it shouldn't do too badly.

Terminator 3: Here's a big surprise -- it apparently doesn't suck. The first trailer I saw for this, way back in January or February, made the artsy-fartsy audience giggle with derision. ("She'll be back" was the ill-chosen capper for that preview.) But since then, the previews have been getting better and by most accounts, the sequel is solidly built mindless action. If there's one thing worse than mindless action, it's overly high-minded action. (see Matrix Reloaded, Hulk)

Sinbad: The Legend of the Seven Seas: Huh? Whuzzat? It's animated? Brad Pitt? This movie has less buzz than an unplugged table saw.

Winged Migration: This is one of those movies that critics foam at the mouth over: A movie about birds! That's it! Just beautiful birds flying! Just as I don't understand people who bird-watch, I'm not sure I would get this movie. Yes, it's a miracle of nature and all that. But two hours of nature's miracle? In a movie theater with popcorn? Those better be some ingratiating fucking birds, is all I gotta say.


The Trip: It sounds like it uses every gay movie stereotype (the ex-lover dying of AIDS, the conservative closeted gay guy) to very little effect. And then it tries to be a road movie. What was the last good road movie? (My brain just kicked in a suggestion: remember that movie The Wizard with Fred Savage where his little brother was a video game wiz and they had to travel across the country and the little autistic kid kept going, "Cali... fornia!" No? Well, some of us had to sit through that movie. Not a lot of gay in that one, though. Oh, man, check out that video box cover. That's where my childhood went, people. Seeing crap like that. )

Got a couple of movies on DVD to watch this week that I missed the first time around: The Hours, 25th Hour (which has been sitting neglected on top of my DVD player for weeks) and some of the deleted scenes/bonus features from Comedian. Poor Orny Adams. I think he finally figured out, based on the "Where's Orny Now?" segment how unlikeable he came across in that movie. And the Primetime Glick moment where he's told, "Yes, you were used," is painful and hilarious. Good thing it's a three-day weekend.

We've got some new videos up on the LCP site. I'm particularly fond of "Band of Beaners."

My review of Legally Blonde 2: Red White & Blonde. Obviously, I must have been in a really good mood when I wrote it.

I signed up for Friendster, but I'm not really sure what I'm supposed to do with it. Through the one person I know on it, I'm connected to like 1,500 people. Should I invite them over? Are they selling Tupperware?

Feel free to look me up and connect to me. Again, I'm not really sure what the point it, but far be it form me to stand in the way of the Zeitgeist.

Sometimes, you get an e-mail from the boss. An e-mail that makes you think you did something wrong, or at least are perceived to have done something wrong.

You fire back an e-mail before your brain catches up with your fingers. You're defensive. You rationalize. You request a meeting that you aren't prepared for to complain about your working conditions. How dare they call you out on something that's not your fault! How dare they question your work ethic!

Then you sit in the meeting that you asked for, the one that's blocking the way to your boss' vacation. And he says nice things. And he tells you he wants to get to know you better and that he thinks the two of you should communicate more and that he understands that you're overburdened and that the office is shortstaffed and that you're in a pressure cooker that makes it hard to even smile at others. He understands all this and he wants to try to help. That's what the e-mail is about. He knew that things needed to change.

And then you feel like an ass. An ungrateful ass, a defensive dagger-drawing weight, dragging everyone around you down. You feel exposed, but not for what you thought was being noticed. You've been too busy fortifying your spiked bunker to let in the reinforcements.

So for a week and a half now, I've been wanting to tell you about my New York trip, but the time it would take to do it has not, as I had hoped, magically materialized in the form of a friendly (and a bit fey) elf granting me powers over time and space.

It's still going to happen (the NYC entry, not the elf), I just need a free night to do it. I wish I could tell you the delay has to do with frenzied sexual escapades or high tea with a duke (or even better, a duchess!) but mostly it's just mundane things you'd be better off not hearing about, like the mowing of grass (and grass' sworn enemy, The Weed) or the consumption of fine hummus.

And how are you doing? Here I am all talking about myself, and haven't even asked what's new with you. How's the (dog/cat/child)? Are you still seing (boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/husband/own hand)? How's the (job/self-employment/unemployment) going? You're too good for all that, I always say. You know you're my favorite, right?

Loved, loved, LOVED 28 Days Later.

Saw it last night at a packed theater. So packed, in fact, that the only place to sit was in the third row, way on the left. Nevertheless, the movie didn't disappoint. If you like a good horror movie (and this is a damn fine one), you should check it out.

The best part (and this won't spoil the movie, I promise) is that after the movie, you can scare your friends by running at them really fast and going, "RAAAGGHGHGGGHHAHHAAHHHGGGHHH!" and twitching while you run. Try it. It's fun!

And it seems it did well at the box office while Charlie's Angels 2 disappointed and Hulk tanked like a giant, green heavy thing. Sometimes the moviegoing public breaks your heart. Other times, they sweetly surprise you.