Cue the sirens.

"Today's the 4th of July/Another June has gone by/And when they light up our town I just think/What a waste of gunpowder and sky..."

I passed a kid on the way to the gym yesterday in an Iron Maiden t-shirt. Do people still listen to that band or do they just sell the shirts at Hot Topic for posers? I mean, I doubt most of the folks in knockoff Betty Boop merchandise have ever seen an actual vintage BB short. And I'm sure that the kids in Sex Pistols clothing wouldn't know the difference between Sid Vicious' corpse and Keith Richards (to be fair, that's a hard distinction to certify without a coroner and a necromancer on hand). Just wondering.

Tonight was the usual pomp and circumstance of lighting the sky. As usual, the hills of Burbank charred a little bit and the fire department had to put out three small blazes. It's always a nice opportunity to bond with my neighbors on the top level of my building - watching the red lights flash and the flames slowly disappear is almost as fun as watching the multi-colored designs of the fireworks. Beforehand, The Princess and I opted for a sushi dinner. Doesn't get much more American than raw Japanese food served by friendly Korean waiters and their Mexican busboys. Personally, I'm not that patriotic and while I like fireworks, I'm far more inclined to be entranced by reflection of the sunset or shimmer of moonlight over the ocean. That or a meteor shower. Don't get me wrong - I'm not exactly some anti-American hippie type but I feel the same way about this day as I do about Mother's Day or Valentine's Day. Like your mother or your lover, your country deserves your love - honest, warm and tough all year round.

So get out and vote and protest and write your representatives and march in any kind of parade you like. And shoot a flare into the sky if it makes you happy. Just don't point it at the flag, anyone's eye or cat. I hear the police don't look to kindly at that.

-J.

This post was sponsored by the Roman Candelabra Committee.

I'm not dead!

But, yeah, I kinda fell of the face of the Earth for a while there. It happens - more often lately than I'd like, but there ya go.

Last Tuesday, I had another fab night out with the Midnight Movie Mafia^TM. Of course we saw Superman Returns. Seeing as how it made a buttload and a half in the last week, I'll spare y'all the review. But I will give a highlight reel...

• Kate Bosworth & Brandon Routh seemed a litle young. They were definitely going for the Spider-Man audience. (Awesome trailer for SM3, BTW - put him in the black costume and all geeks are happy.) Despite some wooden moments, neither ruined the movie.
• Kevin Spacey was all over the place as Lex. I like my Luthor totally evil, with flecks of humor, not the other way around. And David's right - as good as Parker Posey was, Jennifer Tilly would've rocked it. As of now, I am going to start a campaign to get her the role of Harley Quinn in the next Batman movie (No matter who they cast as the Joker, she'll be perfect) .
• Brandon Routh owes the world a legit shirtless moment. Though I'm kinda glad we didn't get it with him as Superman. The whole idea of finding Superman hot is, as I told Jason and Chad over drinks beforehand, kinda like finding Jesus hot. Didn't stop me from inspecting the package, but still...
• The John Williams theme got way too much play. It's iconic, I love it, we get it, he's Superman. A real shame, because I liked the music that was composed.
• In my opinion, the most successful aspect of the storytelling, was the love story. This, if you ask me (and hello, you are reading MY blog) is also the most difficult to pull off. The unspoken feelings and starcrossed nature to Lois & Clark's love is about as real as it gets.

So much for sparing the review. I'm home all day tomorrow, so there will be blogging then as well.

Until then, I'm J.

This post was sponsored by the Back to Blogging Committee.