Catastrophe!

As per our custom, Friday was Movie Night. All four of us went to see "2012". Three of us had eagerly anticipating it. Clone the Younger was not happy about it, but basically, we dragged him. We had plans to see an 8pm show but despite having tickets, there were not enough seats close enough together. We traded the tickets for a 9:30 and went to the nearby bookstore. I managed to find Soho's booklist recommendation, "Burning Alive" and it does look pretty good.

So, the movie... You'd have to actively be avoiding opinions on the latest CGI-gasm from Roland Emmerich. Pretty universally panned. We knew that going in but were hopeful it would work as a "mindless popcorn flick". By and large it did. I felt that the initial "escape" sequence was the best, as the action and terror (and scores of unfortunate victims) was much more palpably felt/experienced than the "plane-level" stuff.

In any case the premise is mostly crap, and the "unlikely hero overcomes a billion challenges to beat the odds" thing wears thin about halfway in. Yes, the visuals are pretty good. Yes, the apocalypse stuff is suitably scary. Yes, it was mostly enjoyable. But come ON... If the world was ending and this guy was really racing through L.A. in a limo, he'd wind up with a flat or stuck in debris 20 minutes in. Dead. All dead.

Or, said another way, if the world DOES end, and I have to track down my family and get them to safety, I'm going to be /really/ upset if I break my leg on a fallen tree limb and die in a ditch instead of saving humanity.

Also, I'm itching for Kep to get on (and having seen it as well) so we can bash the science. Neutrino storm, mutated particles, microwaved planetary core?

Oh, one last movie review note - there was a surprising amount of harsh language. Gratuitous and irrelevant to the plot/action. Oh well...

My FFXI grounding ended today as well, so I logged on. I saw the Rogues' /lsmes and thought it referred to another promy spire run. So I decided to farm recollections rather than rely on the amazing generosity of the Rogues. While there, Ben came on, also needing Holla. Sometime around now, I realized the planned missions were not for spires, but for the missions beyond. So we gamely tried to put together a run.

Soho and Kit were in, and we kinda planned out loud as it were. But it soon became evident the run wasn't going to happen before everyone else started 2-3 Saturday morning. Ben eventually found himself a party and we put off the run for "as soon as possible". Meanwhile, for over an hour, Soho met me and we duoed for recollections and fun.

Soho apparently has maxed all jobs, and some more than once. She was on SMN and likely wearing their AF2 gear. We chatted amiably and then the fact she's a professor came back up. I'd read that from her LS welcome post but forgot. She mentioned also being something of a poet and she put up a work on Rogues. It's a sciency take on "The Night Before Christmas". Pretty good!

Once I'd maxed my inventory we parted ways. I jumped on AIM and got to chat with Kepi, who was rereading "The Last Herald Mage" trilogy again and quite affected by it. We chatted about generalities and favorite books and movies. It seems I need to find "The Last Samurai", and besides, I was wanting to see that when it came out theatrically.

Then after that, Deej came on. Apparently I've upset Kep and she didn't tell me. So now I have to figure that out as soon as I can. We had a great chat overall though, and then I went to bed.