Saturday report:

Bitscape spent most of the day sleeping, occassionally waking up for a half hour or more now and then. Played a little of an old pasttime, Civ: Call to Power. After a few houndred years, got sleepy, returned to bed. Rinse and repeat.

15:00 -- Bitscape wakes up after another multi-hour nap. lol. Decides that he's tired of sitting / laying around the house. Doing so for extended periods of time tends to get depressing. I could feel the uncool vibes coming on. Time to get out and breathe a little air.

I came up with the perfect excuse. (Not that I really need an excuse, but it does help to have some kind of destination, rather than just meandering around randomly.) Tobias needed a bath. It's been weeks, mostly due to all the crazy weather. With daylight still in effect, the sun having just disappeared behind the mountains, Bitscape and Tobias headed into Boulder.

Tobias got the works. A good vacuuming of floors, mats, seats, and all that good stuff, followed by a nice long session of water and soap on the outside. I have found that car washing provides a certain unique satisfaction unmatched by any other activity. It lifts the spirits somehow. Gives the mind a certain focus, the body a little movement (I know it ain't really much exercise, but being a computer geek couch potato who works at a deskjob, well... it's something anyway), and upon finishing, the feeling is just sooo good. For me, it results in a measure of good vibes beyond the sum of the mere actions involved.

After Tobias was happy and clean, I debated whether to go straight home, or stick around Boulder a bit. I decided upon the latter. Pearl Street. I figured I could wander around my old stomping grounds, take in the odd mix of activity always present there, and even if nothing else happened, I would grab a bite to eat.

I drove Tobias into a parking garage, and found a nice place where Tobias could sit right next to his little blue twin. (Although his twin was much dirtier in comparison.)

Given the slightly nippy weather, there weren't exactly an abundance of street performers. Not terribly cold today, but with snow on the ground, the mall was relatively sparse of people.

I entered a store. It's called Wherehouse Music now, but to me, it will always be Rocky Mountain Records and Tapes. (I always thought that was kind of funny, because like any record store, I'm certain their cd sales far surpassed records and tapes combined. But no, it was called Rocky Mountain Records and Tapes until the name change last year, the year before, or whenever it was.) I can't prove it, but I have a stronge suspicion that over the course of my life, I have made more transactions at that particular store than at any other business. I'm not so sure about total dollar volume, but it would be a strong contender in that category as well.

Well, now that I think about it, Taco Bell might be up there in the Number of Transactions department as well. But like I said, my records are not that extensive or far-reaching, so I can't prove one way or the other.

Anyway, wandering around in the store, I spotted something in the listening racks. Haha! The Reverend's new album had indeed come out. The cover art featuring the distinctively grotesque, pseudo-Christian imagery (and yes, it is grotesque, so if you're squeamish or offendable, clicking there might not be a good idea) that is trademark of the band.

That was a must-buy, of course. Put a copy in my hand, and kept wandering around the store. On the DVD sale rack, my eye was caught by not only the movie, but the price. L.A. Confidential. $15.99. Yowsers! A quality movie DVD release -- a REAL movie, not some throwaway pile of crap; far from it -- for under US$20. Amazing. Added that to my hand.

Continuing down the rack, I saw the final item to buy. Fantasia Collectors Edition. Featuring the uncut version of Walt Disney's original classic, Fantasia 2000, both with commentaries and yummy special featuritis goodies, and a third disc with nothing BUT featuritis goodies. AND some footage, drawings, and animations that were created (or partially so) for the original, but for various reasons, were not in the movie. $49.99. Ch-ching!

I knew my happy bank account depletion card was going to love me for this one. Picked it up, and headed straight for the checkout counter before anything else could have the chance to tempt me, and exited the store, knowing myself to be in a state of total media content vulturitis.

Made a trip back to Tobias to place the items, and returned to the mall to eat. Nothing like a good bite of pizza. Anytime, anywhere. :)

After eating, took a brief tour up and down the mall, breathing in the fresh outdoor Boulder air, and decided it was time to head home and feast on these new delights. Tobias said goodbye to his twin, and in no time at all, we were back at the Louisville Compound.

Deviating slightly from my usual pattern, I started out not by watching the main feature, but instead inserted the extra goodies disc, and started playing away. Spent hours learning quite a lot more about Fantasia than any sane and normal person would probably ever care to know. Having spent hours, and gotten part way through the stuff about the original Fantasia (I have yet to even touch the Fantasia 2000 section), I decided it was time to watch the movie itself, timing the beginning appropriately so that the movie would end shortly before mythology.

Damn, that movie is awesome! And dammit, my silly movielog interface still isn't online. (It's getting ridiculous, really. Maybe if I stopped viewing movies continuously, I might actually have time to work on the log. lol.) Love the music. Love the art. What Disney did was simply amazing. When one considers the technology available at the time, it's more like a miracle. My favorite segment? I think I'd have to say Nutcracker, although the Pastoral is up there too. They're both so awesome, it's hard to say really. Truly a beautiful piece of art.

After the movie, I watched part of the Making Of special. (At which point, mom departed. Personally, I am totally into all those DVD special features and commentaries. I've noticed that when I watch a movie with other family members, they all tend to drift away when it comes time for the interesting behind the scenes stuff. Wierdos. Heehee.)

Terminated the Making Of at 22:25, for obvious reasons.

Tonight's mythology....

If ever there is a time to make some Slashdot troll-esque comment about a Beowulf cluster, this would be it. So...

Wouldn't it be great if Xena would run on a beowulf cluster?!?!?

Okay, boooo, not funny. Ho hum. So much for that.

Tonight's episode, The Rheingold, is first of a two part series. (Cliffhanger, which means I have to wait till next week, waaaaaaa!) An R.J. Stewart script, if that means anything to you. So yes, it is epic. Yes, it is dramatic. Yes, it is subtext-heavy. And yes, totally riveting. We want more! We want more!

"All in good time, children. All in good time."

More of Xena's dark past is revealed. Her encounter with Odin, the Valkries, the Rhein Lesbi^H^H^H^H^H Maidens, and of course, her return to the scene in the "present day" story timeline (which for this season, is actually a good couple of decades later than last season; confused yet?) with Beowulf to battle the evil monster Grindl in a suicide mission, leaving Gabrielle behind "for her own safety". And Gab, being Gab, of course follows after anyway. :)

Alrighty then. Leave the audience in total suspence, and next week should be a kicker. Mmmmm.... :)

And so, this will conclude tonight's rambling. I think I'm due for a little sermon, if you know what I mean. ;)