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Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to be sweating in the sunshine with millions of Chicagoans at Grant Park today, eating cheesecake on a stick and waiting for the fireworks to begin! Happy 4th of July, everybody!

Spotlight sucks. I’m so going to bring that up the next time some bogan asks why our prices are so high.

TV Show Preview
Well, that was lame. Leanne, Bec, and I were all excited to see some glurge-filled new “chick show” and instead we got the dreaded Current Affairs program. (There was an audible groan when the guy announced it.) It was called “This Week Last Year” and it was about – you guessed it – news stories from this week last year. It was dreadful and I told them as much on my little questionnaire. The fun bit was when we got to watch two commercials and then write down our thoughts. I don’t know about you, but I’ve been wanting to have a go at the Brand Power chick for YEARS. “I find Brand Power ads really insulting, because they assume that I’m an idiot who can’t tell the difference between an impartial recommendation and a COMMERCIAL.” “The production values are seriously 80’s.” “Why the graphic of the Metamucil pushing the poo through the digestive system? Gross and unnecessary.” It was great. I only wish they’d have let me take in a laptop; my criticism was limited by my slow handwriting speed. I did have a slightly embarrassing moment when filling out the demographic information. They asked you to circle all the hours that your TV was on yesterday. *gulp* I was circling, circling, circling… And as the Snook pointed out, I’m totally going to throw off their reporting because they’re going to assume I was watching live TV during that time, which – hello? Live Australian TV on Sunday? Is all auto racing. I don’t think so. Oh well, at least I got two movie tickets and a cookie out of it!

Ebert in serious condition after emergency surgery. Oh, man. I really, really hope he gets better. I wish there was something I could do. Would it be really lame to knit a scarf for your favorite movie critic? I’ve read so much of his writing over the years; I feel like I know the guy.

I have no desire to go see The Devil Wears Prada, but I was amused to read Ebert’s review wherein he claims that Australia is “the Midwest of the southern hemisphere.” Heh. Maybe that’s why I feel at home here!

Confession: I spent my lunch break surfing MySpace for people from my high school. I KNOW! And I always swore I would never go there. Who knew there were so many gays at Lakeland High? Well, statistically I suppose it’s obvious in hindsight, but it’s still a surprise to see classmates who claimed to crush on boys back then self-identify as lesbians today (even if they did play softball). But good on ’em!

Later: Hey! That’s my sister! And her husband! (Hydrates. HA!)

I can almost smell the test tube meat. Bring it on, I say! I love a steak, but there’s no reason for hamburgers to be made of actual animals, is there? I’m all about the meat sheets.

Latchhook rugs featuring vintage Disneyland scenes. Sweet!

I totally forgot that the TV show preview thingy is tonight. So this is a reminder for Bex and Leanne!

Yesterday was like a festival: the Festival of Sitting on my Butt and Knitting and Watching Movies. I decided to ignore Ebert’s warning and check out Superman Returns for myself, so the Snook and I headed over there early in the morning. I found it surprisingly entertaining. I absolutely LOVED the opening credits: the soaring John Williams score, the so-retro-it-hurt vector graphics for the text, the crazy whooshing planets. I was bouncing in my seat like a two-year-old throughout the whole shuttle adventure, which is pretty much the highest “rock ’em, sock ’em” compliment I can pay to an action sequence. Then suddenly during the middle third, when Superman was flying Lois over the city, I suddenly went, “I’m bored.” I just found the whole love sequence really slow and turgid and boring. I perked up a big during the big finale though. Overall I’d give it a 7.5 out of 10. In terms of the casting, I thought Brandon Routh did a great job with a really thankless task. Superman’s supposed to be wooden; he’s an alien! I didn’t mind him at all. I really disliked Kate Bosworth though. I just didn’t warm up to her Lois at all, and I didn’t buy her as a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist either. (Actually, both she and Supes just looked too young altogether.) We had a lot of fun poking each other whenever there were recognizable Sydney landmarks: the fountain in Martin Place (where Parker Posey’s runaway car eventually stops), the street in front of the Menzies Hotel at Wynyard (where I photographed the filming, and where the crowd stood in front of the Metropolis Hospital at the end). Sadly, my friend Raelee’s part was edited down to a blink-and-you-miss it shot in the hospital melee, but if you see the person in scrubs with curly red hair, that’s her! She’s in the credits too. Miss Fee, on the other hand, despite doing an excellent job in helping with the design of Perry White’s office, did not make it into the credits. But we cheered them both nonetheless. (Some spoilerish questions down below…)

In the afternoon, I decided to clear some space on the TiFaux and ended up watching Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. I enjoyed it a LOT more than I thought I would. The portrayal of life at sea was fascinating, and the battle action was fairly straightforward and easy to understand. I also really enjoyed the scenes at the Galapagos. While I correctly anticipated nearly every plot “surprise,” I still found it engaging. Definitely recommended, especially if you’re the type (like me) who wouldn’t normally go in for a sea adventure.

And lastly… my guilty pleasure of the week: High School Musical. What can I say? I’m a sucker for big group dance numbers that take place in a cafeteria.

Superman Questions:
Okay, where does this movie fall in the series? My understanding was that it happens five years “after” Superman II, effectively erasing III and IV from existence. Right? So that explains how Lois managed to carry Superman’s kid without getting killed. (I kept hearing Jason Lee from Clerks in my head whenever the kid was referenced.) It was from that time when he made himself mortal and then they got bizzay on the big silver beanbag in the Fortress of Solitude, right? And then at the end, he gave her the kiss of amnesia… and presumably that’s when he took off for Krypton. So unless Lois is some sort of idiot, how does she think she got pregnant? Does Richard know it’s not his kid?

I realize that there may not be answers for this stuff, so feel free to speculate!