eat pray snooze

- Apparently there is some game now where teenagers try to strangle each other until they almost pass out. My coworker in Denver told me that her daughters are friends with girls who were playing this game, and one of them collapsed in the school bathroom, hit her head on the sink and cracked her skull. Everyone involved obviously got into deep shit. Ah to think, when I was a wee teen, all I did after school was to go home and watch Batman reruns and eat instant noodles. I was totally deprived.

- The Pope says condoms are acceptable in certain circumstances. When? Like when priests molest little boys? I'd say.

- Oh Emma Watson...you are just about the most awesome young actress there is. I am so excited for what you'll do with your career post-Harry Potter (after you finish your History studies at Brown). Please always stay who you are and not success, adulthood, or Hollywood ruin you.

- But Harry Potter movie is actually quite boring, especially since I haven't read any but the first book and don't follow the plot at all. I cannot for the life of me remember what happened in the previous movies, even though I've seen them all.

- 29 trapped New Zealand miners die in second coal mine explosion.

- But New Zealand teens, presumed dead after being lost at sea for 50 days, have just been rescued. God takes, and God gives.

- Amazon Video On Demand offered $.99 rentals this weekend on some movies, and I have a $8 credit on my account, so I decided to watch Letters To Juliet, Eat Pray Love, and Date Night. I quite enjoyed Letters To Juliet. Italy is of course beautiful, and Amanda Seyfried is sort of the go-to girl now for this type of movie. Although I am one of the minority who doesn't find either Tina Fey or Steve Carrell to be particularly funny, Date Night was somewhat mildly amusing and serviceable. But Eat Pray Love was a total bore and actually total crockery. How did that book become a bestseller? It's basically about a bored middle-aged white American who has to go to some other continent to find herself when there was barely anything wrong with her life to begin with. I don't like stories about spoiled people with pretend problems. Now, if the balance of Middle Earth is at stake, that's a story!

- So tomorrow I am off to Baltimore for work for a week. I actually have to give two presentations. Yeah it's gonna suck. Not to mention the ordeal at the airport tomorrow and Friday. I wonder whether I should choose to be groped or to have naked photo taken of me. It's like Sophie's choice, except minus the Holocaust and Meryl Streep's Polish accent. As tempting as the physical groping is (yo, more action that I've gotten in a long, long time), I think I might opt for the more efficient naked scanning. I just hope they can keep the laughter to themselves and under control.