Loud Wardrobes

Trying another new concoction--this time I've mixed half cranberry juice, half apple juice, cinnamon, and I microwaved it for two minutes. So far a tart, but good drink. It's a dark, brownish red.

While washing some dishes a few minutes ago, I put the television on the SuhaiFuaigh Channel (in response to their effort to make their name shorter, I've decided to make it longer) which was showing some new Alice in Wonderland television movie. "What?!" you may say. "A kid's movie? What I drag! I want to play outside." But wait! Yes, it's Alice but she's--wait for it--a teenager! And! It's a darker story. "Oh, sweet mystery of life at last I've found you!" you might say. "I'm humbled before the great, brilliant juggernaut of human achievement at its finest!" Not only that, but get ready for Agent Smith-ish stormtroopers working for the Queen of Hearts and a magical Ring of Power MacGuffin that Alice carries! And she has a blonde boyfriend but she might be in love with The Mad Hatter who wears eyeliner! Imagine the lead singer from Green Day but vaguely cuter and with a smaller head!

Also, extremely cheap looking, minimalist sets and costumes. It sucks Colm Meaney and Matt Frewer had to get caught up in this thing. It actually looks like the ring is stolen more from The Magician's Nephew than from Lord of the Rings, but they're definitely playing it as a LotR-ish chase film with financially convenient modern elements.

I'm trying to keep my expectations low for the Tim Burton Alice in Wonderland (trailer here--Disney's disabled embed because, you know, that could lead to people promoting the movie on their blogs). Some of the sets and costumes look nice, a lot like Mark Ryden paintings, though the look of Alice herself is a bit washed out and indistinct. In all the posters she looks like an especially boring young aristocrat from the 1930s who wandered onto a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory set, which may be appropriate, but it's slightly dispiriting anyway. I might be getting Johnny Depp fatigue because his Hatter doesn't excite me at all, or maybe it's just the Bozo the Clown getup. I like the John Tenniel huge head Helena Bonham Carter has, and I like that Alice's clothes don't shrink with her, or I would if the movie were rated R. As it is, it probably just means we're in store for a lot of really awkward shots planned around the terrible nipples and vagina off screen. There, I think my expectations are sufficiently low.

I watched the eighth episode of Dollhouse' second season to-day--not really a bad episode, though I'm very disappointed the writers decided to get closer to stating definitely that personalities exist for the dolls under the imprints, that there's a "soul". We're drifting further from the really interesting stuff between Amy Acker and Topher early in the season. But it was nice to see Alan Tudyk back as Alpha and Patton Oswalt as one of Echo's regular clients. The idea of him liking that Echo's carrying the personality of his dead wife inside him was nice, but was hit a little too hard with a music cue at the end. Moments like that always remind me of a line from John Cleese in Monty Python's Meaning of Life; "Why not start her off with a nice kiss? You don't have to go leaping straight for the clitoris like a bull at a gate."

Last night's tweets;

The next door computer's the storm outside.
Some strangers have hot grievances with me.
Inside rocks the cagier footpads hide.
Lemmings and lightning fall random on meat.