Sunday
Jess went to work at noon today. She worked until midnight last night; needless to say: she was a bit tired when she got up this morning. While she was at Ye Olde Office of Posts, I headed to Adrian’s to talk Linux and help him move some things around in his workshop.

I went to B&N and did some drawing. I also found a Linux book, Linux Administration for Dummies. It was on sale for $6.98; it was originally $24.99. Truly a bargain that could not be passed up.

After Jess got off work, she, Adrian and I went to see xXx. I liked it. In the words of Captain James Tiberius Kirk (to Captain Jean-Luc Picard): “It was…. fun.” I think that I figured out a good S.A.T.-like analogy to describe my impression of the movie:

xXx is to James Bond movies as Armageddon is to Deep Impact.

How so? Consider the following:

  • Both groups are of a specific genre – spy/espionage and cosmic threat to Earth, respectively.
  • Xander “Triple X” Cage is the extreme sports athlete (with a dislike for rules and authority) turned secret agent while Cmdr. Bond is the perfect spy (training, diplomacy, etc). Bruce Willis’ team in Armageddon is a bunch of misfits (with a dislike for rules and authority) while the characters in Deep Impact took a more scholarly approach to the situation.
  • Xander had Virg, Bond had Q (and now R).
  • xXx had Samuel L. Jackson, Deep Impact had Morgan Freeman. (Alright… this one doesn’t really count in this argument. I just wanted to add it to the mix.)
  • xXx and Armageddon were geared towards action-seeking, testosterone-rich crowds; the Bond movies and Deep Impact, while they have action, are/were targeted to more mature and/or emotional crowds.

All-in-all, it was a good (and fun) way to spend the evening. And, the movie had some decent quotes, too.

I talked to my father tonight. I figured that I’d either catch him on his stopover in Kansas City or that he’d call me when he got home. I got no answer, so I took it that he was in the air. My phone rang a couple of minutes later. It was Dad. He was still in Oklahoma. Hmm. Having made the reservations, I knew that he was absolutely, positively, unequivocally NOT supposed to be in Oklahoma at this time. Something in Adam’s ROTC testing had to be postponed, so Dad decided to stay the extra day and make certain that all goes well.

And now, these words from our sponsors…
I have just seen a strange commercial for Butterfinger.

It starts off with a wide-angle shot of an elderly couple seated at a dining room table. Cut to a close-up of the man eating the Butterfinger… enjoying it immensely. Cut to the woman… Butterfinger-less and looking dejected. Back to the man, writhing with glee, still eating his candy bar. Back to the woman…. still sad. The man looks at her and realizes that she wants to share in his excitement. He puts down the candy bar and passes it across the table… but the old woman still looks sad.

He passes her his teeth. She beams with joy.
::: end of commercial :::

Peace.