Sad whale, happy "vacation"

Hello blog-reading-type-people!

Have I been enjoying my "vacation"? What I have been doing is trying to determine if something is still a vacation if the geographic location is far less exciting than one's current place of residence. But, nonetheless, I will call it a vacation. A vacation into delightful and very welcome old and dear friends and family. Parks galore, the heuther hotel, Princess cinemas, Phil's... you name it. Amidst it all, a general feeling of very much needed comfort and happiness, in terms of faces and places alike.

"Faces and places". Dear god. Shoot me now. Or perhaps cut off my hand, "Saudi style" (groan), as Hit Girl would put it.

Oh yeah. I saw Kick-Ass 2 tonight. Prime example of very interesting ideas stuck in a shoddy script, but with some particularly good one-liners (arguably the best: "It's like finding out your best friend is secretly Will Smith!") and bits of fantastically brutal violence peppered throughout. It may not be the movie that we want, but it sure is the movie that Gotham needs. Or something. Batman is cool.

Yes, I missed you too, Hit Girl. 

That said, if you're preparing to jump on the Kick-Ass love-in (heh. heh. McLovin'. I get it) train, do also be sure to read what creator Mark Millar, along with one of the other most important and influential people in comics in the past several decades, Todd MacFarlane, have to say about how comics apparently are not for girls. And then wince. And then reflect on the sad symmetry of two of the people who worked the hardest to push comics as an art form forward pull it back about forty years. As Becca retorted, "welcome to the '60s". Now please feel free to sing. 

Amidst all of my "vacationing", Kristy was even sufficiently spectacular to pay a cameo appearance to Waterloo herself! While she was here, we saw Blackfish - or, as we dubbed it, "Sad Whale". Consider it heartily recommended. That said... that whale is mighty sad. And a bit homicidal. And in spite of that, by the end of the movie, the only one you don't end up blaming at all is the whale. Go figure. Poor Sad Tilikum. 

Nonetheless, Blackfish also provided me with a fact of the day so good that, although I saw it half a week ago, I'm going to hold onto it and present it anyway! 

#32: Killer whales have a part in their brains that humans do not, which allows them to process emotions with greater nuance and sophistication than us. 

This was my reaction:

Apparently I'm on a Will Smith kick tonight. Perhaps it's because I listened to his "nice, clean rap" earlier.

But yeah. Let that fact marinate in the ol' brain-box. Think more about how miserable whales are in captivity, and how deeply it will affect them. OH GOD SAD WHALE WILL NEVER LEAVE ME.

Now stop being sad, and enjoy this second fact of the day! YES SECOND! Just because I love you. And because Kristy sent it to me, and it equally deserves mention.

#33: Nine former Irish political prisoners, all initially sentenced to death, after being deported to Australia instead, each became extremely successful, important political heads. 

Srrsly. Check it out, and make lots of horrible "Boy, now that's 'Luck 'o the Irish!'" jokes. Oh wait, I already did it for you. Womp womp. 

In conclusion, a photo study: reminisce of the days of McLovin'. Who is now the Mother-Fucker. Few actors have been branded with such unorthodoxly iconic names as Christopher Mintz-Plasse. But he can take it. Because he's not the star that we want, but the star that Hollywood nee-OKAY I'LL STOP. 

I, too, would want my career to evolve like this. 

Now, to return to the productive activities I've been consuming myself with here in Waterloo. Largely, Crash Bandicoot. Excelsior!