Today was good

I worked, but it was only for a couple of hours to show one of the new people how to do the cooler. Then I had some time to blog and then went over to a friend's to watch a really great trio of shows, 2057, from Discovery, showing technologies of the future and how they're being worked towards today. One is on medicine, the other on a futuristic wired city, and the last is about space and energy. They were excellent. I knew of some of the innovations, but not most, and each had a little story to tie it all together, which was kind of nice. The future they envision, though will be fairly intrusive by our standards--with even clothing revealing our secrets to insurance companies. Then I headed back home, had some more time to blog, and I intend to get some rest before picking up another friend late tonight. It was almost like being off--I didn't work on notes, I didn't work 10 hours, etc., and I got to have some fun and some 'me' time. About the only thing I didn't do was any reading. I'm still in the early part of The Golden Compass, after all, but I'll save that for lunch breaks and doctor's visits. :)

Okay, that's all for now. I think I'll take a nap.

So I finished Harry Potter over the weekend

and have moved on to re-reading His Dark Materials (if you plan on reading the books, don't read the Wikipedia article; it has spoilers that are not marked as such).

Harry Potter was a good read, although it was a bloodbath that seemed a little pointless at times. Almost everything we expected to happen did, though, so that was great.

I worked a great deal last week, but I'm working shorter shifts this week. This coming week, I'm only working 10 hours at the store, though, so that's nice--and I get off this Saturday (that's the third since I started in December 2005). All the work made it difficult to read, and even this week I've been doing a lot more of my game notes (3 hours a day the last few days), so I've been getting home about 3 in the morning, which isn't fun when you've got to wind down and be back up at 9 am. Which brings me to this quiz:

You Don't Get Enough Sleep

You definitely don't get enough sleep, and it's turning you into a mental zombie! You need to get more sleep, starting tonight if possible. Avoid caffeine, keep a regular bedtime, don't watch TV before bed, and sleep in complete darkness.

Do You Get Enough Sleep?

So I think I'll trundle off to bed now. I'd tell you more exciting things but there haven't been any. I still owe a few stories but I'll save that for another day. Good night.

Oh, yes!

December 7, 2007, I may very well be in the theatre--I who never go on opening night. But this is for His Dark Materials: The Golden Compass (His Dark Materials: Northern Lights in Britain), and I've just seen the trailer tonight and it looks lovely.

Here is the trailer (a bit dark on YouTube)



I'm interested in what they do with the philosophical and religious elements in the movie. The director, Chris Weitz--who began the project, left, and returned after another director resigned--according to the Wikipedia article

indicated that the film would make no direct mention of religion or of God, two of the key themes of the trilogy – a decision attacked by fans of the novels. Weitz stated that New Line Cinema feared that "perceived antireligiosity" would make the film financially unviable in the US. However, Weitz attempted to reassure fans by saying that religion would appear in euphemistic terms. He also indicated that he believes His Dark Materials is "not an atheistic work, but a highly spiritual and reverent piece of writing".

Still, Philip Pullman, writing of Weitz' return, had this to say:

But Scholastic and New Line, who are both involved in making the film, have been more than considerate to me - and, much more importantly, to the story. And the latest script, from Chris Weitz, is truly excellent; I know, because I`ve just this morning read it. I think it`s a model of how to condense a story of 400 pages into a script of 110 or so. All the important scenes are there and will have their full value.

Anyway, even if I'm not there at the first showing, I know what I'll be doing at some point in December. :) I hope it's a success and the other two books are adapted. It looks quite visually stunning. Let us hope the story has been true to the original.