The whole reason for my recent SoCal trip was to see Wicked.

I'm not going to try to write a real review of of it; I'm no expert on stage musicals, and can't really accurately say how it compares to anything else in the genre. I also haven't read the book, so rendering a judgement on how well they did with a largely-gutted plot isn't possible for me.

What I'll say though, is that I loved it.

Read the wiki page linked above for a detailed description; in short, it's a re-imagined Wizard of Oz, from the point of view of a mis-understood Wicked Witch. The re-imagined fairy tale is a well-mined vein, but it's rich in possibility; everything from fractured fairy tales to Into the Woods have used the device, and we're far from done with it.

I don't know how many people have attempted a re-imagined Wizard of Oz; my personal favorite was PJ Farmer's A Barnstormer in Oz, which included a soft-core-porn, midget-sized version of Glinda, and all sorts of bizarre steam-punk-clockwork characters. More recently you may have seen Tin Man on the Sci Fi Channel, which managed to be both deeply tongue-in-cheek and deeply over-serious, but was most memorable (to me) for the fact that a large number of the cast were wearing Utilikilts.

But I have to say, Wicked did a fine job.

Still no sign of land. How long is it?

That's a rather personal question, sir.

You stupid git. I meant how long has it been in the lifeboat? You've destroyed the atmosphere now.

I'm sorry.

Shut up. Start again.

So the latest weather report says another week of the grim and gray. I think I'm starting to develop gills (though not, you know, ones that look like cunts, like Kevin Costner had in Waterworld). I'm thinking I might trade my motorcycle on a jetski, while will be much more use if this rain goes on much longer.

Speaking of Waterworld, I've developed quite the huge crush on Tina Majorino, who's currently in Big Love, and was also the love interest in Napoleon Dynamite (which is certainly the oddest movie I've seen in the last week). But it's in Veronica Mars where she really gets me, as the blue-haired geek-girl Mac. I just think she's too adorable for words. I only realized a couple days ago that she was the little-girl-with-the-map-on-her-back from Waterworld; I've been thinking where have I seen her for months, since I first watched Veronica Mars. I can understand why I'd forgotten this, Waterworld is a movie one tends to want to forget. But Tina can sit on my lap and call me daddy anytime.

This is turning into an entry on movies and teevee, so let's go with it.

I can't quite figure out Big Love; I like it, I like the people in it, and I like the setting, the day-to-day complications of a plural marriage, the somewhat obvious, yet clever, symbolism, such as the triple-mirror reflecting Bill Paxton as he gobbled viagra, or the cut from sex-scene to pop-up sprinkler. But I can't quite figure out what the editorial point of view is on the whole thing; I can't figure out if they even have one. This may become clearer with another couple episodes, I still have last week's on my TiVo and we'll get another tonight.

As noted above, I finally watched Napoleon Dynamite and I can't quite figure out what the fuss was about. I know people who loved it, people who hated it. It's a tiny, odd, and generally unremarkable film. I laughed at it, was vaguely amused, but if it hadn't make such a splash of both positive and negative reactions, I don't think it would stick in my head at all.

I had a dream about you last night, ChealseaGirl. I wish it has been something more salacious, but I remember you were wearing a halter top and driving a white convertible You were yummy, but alas, I awoke before I could get more than a hug and a stolen kiss.

I'm watching the third season of Buffy with my kids. My god, this show was good. I haven't watched these early episodes since they were originally shown, and it just keeps impressing me. Cast, script, direction. Joss knows how to get the best out of everyone who works for him. It's unfortunate that he let Buffy slide so far, the last two or three seasons. They were frankly terrible, hard to even watch aside from a few gems like the musical episode. But these first three seasons were spectacular, as good an arc as any teevee show, ever. Makes me desperately wish Joss would get another series going; Buffy, Angel, Firefly, all absolutely brilliant. C'mon, Joss, I got a million ideas, let's talk.

Ok. I'm off to take my kids to see Ice Age 2. The first one was way funnier than expected, but I'm setting expectations low for this. I think I just want to see Scrat chase acorns.

Anyone else utterly sick of CGI movie previews? Ok, so I actually wind up liking the movies quite often (Hoodwinked was hysterical even though the animation kind of sucked, Madagascar was funny as long as the characters were not talking). And some of the new crop look ok (monster house). But I'm just sick of seeing CGI character after CGI character when I go see movies. It's getting too damned easy to do mediocre CGI.

I want a fistfull of downers. I couldn't talk my doc into giving me any purely recreational versed. I'm in the mood to get low, baby.

I admit it. I've got a crush.

This is the sort of thing I do when I'm hung over and way short on sleep on a sunday afternoon. I turn on random things on teevee. This is where I hope for a baseball game, or if it's the right season, a hockey game. But if I get skunked on all that, and I really just can't get up off the fucking couch, I'll wander aimlessly around the dial (aside - who actually remembers when teevees had dials and we had to get up to change channels?).

Usually this leaves me with a cooking show, or a documentary. Sometimes even a re-run of American Gladiators, but we'll talk about that crush later.

Sunday, though, I stopped on a little thing called Xtreme4x4.

Now, I drive a jeep. But there's really nothing 'Xtreme' about it. I don't do a lot of actual off-roading (I try, you know, but who has time). I don't have it heavily customized. Who can afford it, and when most of it's miles are road miles, what's the point? But saturday I was out shopping for some nice new tires, and my head was all full of four wheelin', so when I landed on Xtreme4x4 on Spike TV, my thumb rested on the remote control.

Now, I think this would have held my interest for five, ten minutes. Maybe a whole episode, but maybe not.

Only...

Jessi Combs..

Jessi Combs.

Now, these pictures all suck. The stupid bastards who did the web site think we want pictures of trucks. We don't care about trucks. We care about Jessi. She's way, way cuter than that when she's moving.

She welds. She uses power tools. She customizes trucks. She has tattoos.

I Want Her.