Thanks to Andrew for passing this little gem on to me. I got quite a snicker out of these.

If you've ever had any doubts about the varied and magnificent species that is Homo sapiens, might I suggest you head to your nearest movie theater? There, even the most casual of viewer can meet many of our species' most colorful and interesting specimens…

…and want to kill them all.Some anthropological notes from our previous expeditions follow. Some of these breeds are flighty, rarely seen, and must be observed with the greatest of care.

Captain and Mrs. Obvious

So, anyway. Enough boring retellings of my day. What weirdnesses did you encounter on your little blue planet today?

Hey, quit giving me that weird look. No matter how tiresome this entry is, it's far, far better than my recounting the fact that when I was picking out produce at the supermarket today, the muzak got switched over to the 'disco' feed. Nothing like picking out oranges and romaine lettuce to the disco beat of "Never Knew Love Like This Before."It's not that I live on my own little otherwise-uninhabited planet, see? It's just that this particular planet's silliness makes me want to hole up and write deadpan little love sonnets to it.

Think about it—what's our planet contributed to the galaxy? If a group of bored interstellar travellers were roaming around the galaxy, trying to figure out what planet to visit next, what would they come here to see? Go ahead, ask me:

"So why would bored interstellar travellers bother to come to Earth?"

So, Andrew asks, what did I think of the Oscar nominations? I think my overwhelming feeling was a complete and utter lack of surprise. I saw a lot of choices that could only be described as "safe." We rant about this every year, he and I, and for once I thought I'd be brave and daring and post my initial commentary today, before all the ad campaigns kick in to try to sway opinions. I'll feel a bit better about my choices after I get to see a couple more movies, but I'm going to talk about all this in my usual pseudo-knowledgeable way. Hey, I pay enough in movie rental fees to finance a low-budget film or two; with that and a tiny dose of misplaced chutzpah, you too can be a movie critic! Enjoy.

So it's a rainy, quiet Saturday afternoon (the kind that makes you want to spend your day indoors, reading or coding) and I've brought my latest little project (hello, boredelf!) up as far as I can without getting Gareth to change some file privs for me.

I eventually wandered out to the mailbox, to see if anything interesting had arrived with today's fresh infusion of junk mail. That's one thing that can be said about Netflix: I check the mail more regularly now than I did a month or so ago. Sure enough, there was a DVD from them, waiting patiently for me to claim it.It was Insomnia, a movie that's been on my 'see-it' list for quite some time now.

Perhaps I loaned it to Kat? Perhaps I've placed it in some not-so-obvious place? Perhaps I'm overlooking it in my desperate attempt to find it?

Where is my copy of Excession?It's all Andy's fault, you see. He pointed me to Iain Banks' Culture series well over a year ago, saying, "Find these books and read them. You'll have difficulty getting them in the States, and the British trade paperback versions are much better, but do what you must."