Playwright Lisa Matsumoto killed in crash

I'll post more on other stuph separately, but I wanted to get this out as soon as I saw it posted on the local news:

Playwright Lisa Matsumoto killed in crash

For those who aren't familiar with Lisa Matsumoto, she had written several plays in Hawaiian pidgin, infusing local culture with some original, some made-up stories. Back in 2003 or so -- I forget the exact year -- I went to see a couple of her plays at the Hawaii Theater. I think ionotter joined me in one of the plays, but I don't remember for sure. I do know that in the other play I attended, someone from my church (that I didn't know that well at the time) was performing.

This was an unforunate and tragic loss indeed... Lisa Matsumoto will be missed, but her legacy lives on.

Legend and Alvin

Saw two movies Friday and Saturday: "I Am Legend" (Will Smith) on Friday and "Alvin and the Chipmunks" on Saturday. My reactions to both (no spoilers, hopefully):

"I Am Legend": I didn't read the book on which the movie was based, but the movie itself reminded me of the Resident Evil series, except Will Smith sorta takes the part of Mila Jovanovitch. Near the end the plot does get somewhat predictable, but goes in a different direction than the book. Since I never read the book, I can't say whether or not the movie was better.

"Alvin and the Chipmunks": From the previews, I was originally "ehhh" about seeing it... definitely curious to see it but not all that eager to see it. But after seeing it, I will admit that I actually liked this one (Philistine, I know). The campiness from the original Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. creation is there, with Justin Long (Dodgeball, Accepted) playing the voice of Alvin. I almost thought Howie Mandel was "Uncle Ian," but it was someone else that I didn't recognize. "Alvin" isn't a great movie, but it was amusing, and believe it or not there are worse ways to spend 1.5 hours -- like watching "The Mist". :P

My overall verdicts on both movies:
- Two claws-up (barely) for "Alvin"
- One claw up, one claw neutral for "Legend"

Next week "National Treasure" comes out... that's one I definitely want to see. Down the line I'm also interested in checking out "Horton Hears A Who" and "Kung Fu Panda".

Haven't seen "The Golden Compass" yet, but hopefully sometime next week....

A Letter from Jesus

Fnorkled this one from the furrychristians community. I normally don't post stuff like this, but this letter reminded me of the reason for this season.

I posted everything behind an lj-cut so those who would be offended by the letter can still read this entry without having to read the letter.

( Click here to read the letter )