It was a grey, rainy, horrible (in lots of ways) weekend, so we spent just about all of it holed up in the house.* We read, worked on our hobbies (me: knitting; the Snook: Warcraft and homebrew), and watched a lot of movies.

• Twilight. Yeah, I finished this teen-vampire-romance less than 48 hours after I started it, and IT ROCKED. I sighed a lot. It’s just so shameless in the way that it creates the ultimate “safe” bad boy: an incredibly beautiful vampire who’s sworn off human blood (and presumably all other icky urges) and wants nothing more than to hold his girlfriend and heave meaningfully, yet who could also snap and kill her at any time. It’s like someone went into my 16-year-old brain and turned it into a book! And yes, I fully realize that I’m going to have to read, like, Crime and Punishment to make up for this ridiculous indulgence.
• Emma. This was the Kate Beckinsale version, and I have to say that I didn’t like it very much. It was so dreary. This Emma was very snobby and unlikeable. (Ma Snook and I discussed it on the phone tonight and she agreed with me, going so far as to call our heroine “bitchy.”) The real problem, though, was Mr Knightley. He was old and not very handsome, and when he reminded Emma (just after she accepted his proposal!) that he held her in his arms as a baby, it just seemed way creepier than it did coming from Jeremy Northam. So I’m sure the Austen purists will be horrified, but I have to say I still prefer the Gwyneth Paltrow version. I like my Austen light and bright and sparkling.
• Om Shanti Om. Despite receiving some bad news in the middle of it, this film was still able to make me smile. I’d never seen a Bollywood film before, and this one is apparently the biggest hit ever. It’s a spoof/homage to the entire genre, and it features cameos from literally dozens of famous Bollywood stars. Of course, we got maybe 5% of the jokes, but it was still fun. And DUDE, if you’re a straight woman (or a gay man), you have to see the Dard-E-Disco bit. Shahrukh Khan is apparently, like, the Brad Pitt of India, and he only gets those abs out on special occasions. Phwoar!
• Steamboy. Oddly, the Snook (who is usually the bigger animé fan) lost interest in this one before I did. I guess I’m more of a steampunk fan than I like to admit. I thought the story and the artwork were great, but yeah, I got bored during the long third act where it just seemed like crap was blowing up. And his Dad’s horrible freaky hair is going to give me nightmares for a long time.
• Persuasion. This was the more recent version with Sally Hawkins. I really liked it! (But hmm, it definitely wasn’t light and bright and sparkling. What do I like about my favorite Austen adaptations then? Shamefully, it appears to be handsome leading men. Captain Wentworth was double-plus dreamy.)

* I did make it out for a 5 mile run on Sunday, which helped my mood considerably.

From the serious to the silly: The Top 10 Rock & Roll Mustaches. (Link courtesy of cousin Jenny.)

Thank you
I just sent this in an email to a friend, and I realized as I was writing it that I should probably post it here as well:

And thanks for your message. I feel a bit sheepish and guilty now, because really, I’m fine. I feel guilty that I didn’t get to know Josh better, but at the same time a little relieved because his loss hasn’t affected me much. I was mostly worried and sad at how his family would take it… but having spoken to them, I realize now that they’re all much stronger people than I thought. They’ve got a good support network around them, and really, it’s silly of me to think that my being there would make a great deal of difference (while I’m sure they would appreciate it). I’m still very, very lucky in that I haven’t had to deal with the loss of someone close to me. I think that’s why I tend to freak out in these situations, because I have no idea how I would deal with it.

So thank you for your kind thoughts and messages. It seems weird to think that the well wishes of a group of random Internet friends can be a positive force in the world, but I think it probably is. At the very least, I hope you guys have been inspired to give your loved ones a call and tell them how much you care about them. As for me, I still feel a little bit like I’m living on the space station, in that I’m so far physically removed from what’s happening over there. That’s the situation though, and there are lots of folks besides me who have to deal with the same reality. We do the best we can. I guess it’s back to normal now…

Sydney Apple Store: We have an official opening date. Thursday, June 19th, 5pm.

Tragedy
Last night the Snook and I were having fun watching a silly Bollywood film. It was long though, so halfway through we paused and took a break. While the Snook was microwaving some popcorn, I idly opened my laptop to see if I had any email. There was a one line message from my brother Anthony, sent from his mobile phone. My stepbrother Josh was killed in a car accident. “Oh shit.” I immediately tried to ring my Dad’s house but the line was busy. I didn’t manage to get through to them until this morning. By then I saw that the story was in the local paper. They’re… holding up as best they can. It’s just so random and stupid and unfair. I hate that I’m not there to help them out. It just sucks to know that people you love are really, really hurting, and there’s nothing you can do or say to make it better.

Edited to add: The obituary‘s up, less than 24 hours after the accident.

Hooray! It looks like the restrictions on knitting needles on airplanes may be lifted!

Christian Heilmann got name-checked on Daring Fireball today. It’s a little weird to realize that the kilt-wearing guy whose job I saved seven years ago is now, like, a bigtime international name in web development.

Remember Weezer’s awesome YouTube-inspired music video? Here’s an explanation of ten of the memes it references, along with the original videos. How had I never seen “Evolution of Dance”? When he started jumping up and down to House of Pain, I just lost it…

Understanding Model-View-Controller. Very useful little essay explaining the MVC design pattern for those of us trying to take our programming skills to the next level.

Twilight Saga
My cousin Jenny IMed me yesterday. “Do you know anything about twilight?” she said. “Uh… you mean that gas they give you at the dentist?” I guessed. “No! It’s a series of books about teenage girls in love with sexy teenage vampires. I’m obsessed.” Sounds very Buffy, right? She raved about it for ten minutes. Then she went for the clincher: “They’re coming out with a movie on the first book in December and CEDRIC DIGGORY is playing the vampire!” Hoo-yah, sign me up! I went out and got the first book at lunchtime, and I’m already a hundred pages in. Don’t be put off by the fact that it’s in the “Young Adult” section; they’re quite thick books and they’re very well-written. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go read my book and SQUEEEE some more…