So much for the big screen...

[the_vulture]

Well, it turns out that when my cousin informed me that "The Watchmen" was playing at the theatre, it was actually just for the one night prior to the DVD release. Guess who didn't find this out until we go there.

Instead, we watched "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince," which turned out to be quite enjoyable, despite a certain key critical character incident (or, perhaps even, because of it).

SPOILER ALERT!!!

The incident in question, of course, is the death of Dumbledorf. Now those who actually read the series knew he was going to die, but for the purely cinematic viewer, this is a shocker, and one that makes the series as a whole a lot more intense, as, suddenly, we can't count on any our favourite characters surviving. This effect is similarly employed by Joss Wheaton, in  "Serenity," to suggest the possibility that NONE of the characters may survive the final confrontation of that film.

 

I did eventually get to see "The Watchmen," albeit on DVD. As promised by some, it was, indeed, very true to the graphic novel. However, I suspect that this was, perhaps, a disappointment for many of the unitiated, who were expecting an action packed superhero adventure, as opposed to the gritty and cynical exploration of human character that it was.

All features of the film were brilliant, but one thing I was particularly pleased by was the music choices. Although I had expected to hear some Smashing Pumpkins based on the initial trailers (and sadly, there wasn't any in the film), I was at least rewarded by a number of Philip Glass pieces from Koyaanisqatsi that I had heard in other trailers. Furthermore, the film featured Leonard Cohen, Jimmi Hendrix, and a wealth of other songs and artists demonstrating multiple eras of protest and cynicism in response to the ingrained madness of the human condition.

All in all, I was quite pleased with the film and will be purchasing the DVD when the Collector's Edition comes out.

In other news, I came to the end of a (minor) era. I was in the DVD rental place on a hot summer day and found myself thirsting for something cold and tasty. Looking through the drink cooler, I spied a number of bottles of Barq's, my all-time favourite rootbeer. I hadn't had any in quite some time, as I've been cutting back quite a bit on pop and other sugary drinks, drinking mostly water instead. With nigh child-like eagerness, I purchased a bottle and set to drinking.

I was shocked and saddened to discover that Barq's was now just far too sweet for me to drink and I only managed a third of the bottle before tossing the rest away. *sigh*

Thankfully, I had tried a bottle of Dad's Rootbeer the other day, and that was actually quite enjoyable, so that may be supplanting Barq's for the the position of my favourite.