Iron Man is money, baby!

According to the Hollywood trade papers, Jon Favreau has been signed to direct a live action Iron Man movie

I don't have a problem with this. I liked the first 83% of Elf and everything but the robots in Zathura. If Favreau gets his hands on a solid script I think he could go far with Iron Man.

I only have two big items on my wish list. First, I hope they don't waste the time, energy and screen time by telling an origin story. Second, at some point in the story Tony Stark/Iron Man needs to visit Nick Fury aboard a S.H.I.E.L.D. helicarrier.

Pa, the Beast has done caught the mange. You'd best take him out back and put him down 'fore Timmy gets home...

I intend to give the upcoming X-Men 3 movie a fair shake when it comes out, but earlier today I saw a still photo of the Beast with is shirt off and I thought for a moment that I was looking at someone's Halloween costume. His fur looks awful, like he's got a case of mange or some disease. It looks like he's got two types of fur. One type that's close to his skin and provides basic cover, and then there is a longer fringe that hangs down two or three inches longer than the first. Both levels look just plain wrong.

I made the Halloween costume connection because the fur looks like it's been spray painted with that temporary hair coloring you see for sale with the wigs and make-up. I kind of like what they did with his face and the hair on his head, but his body fur looks like it belongs in a high school play.

They should have called Peter Jackson and borrowed some leftover King Kong fur. That was some good looking fur.

I know the studio is in a rush to get this movie out before Superman, but it looks like maybe too many corners are being cut. Of course all will be forgiven if they sneak a Sentinel in it. All I ask is for Colossus and Wolverine to take down a sentinel with a fast-ball special, and they could do the rest of the film with sock puppets.

The Quartermass Xperiment a.k.a. The Creeping Unknown a.k.a. Some Scary Shit!

The kidney stone watch continues. As I wait for its passing I'm watching The Quartermass Xperiment (also sometimes known as The Creeping Unknown) on TCM.

I wasn't around back then, but I'm betting this British import had to be hands down the most frightning movie of 1955. It was filmed in black and white and there's such a feeling of ultra realisim that after a while you want to peel your own skin off and feed it to the dog.

I'm a big fan of all the Quatermass films (my favorite remains Quartermass and the Pit (a.k.a. for its US release as Five Million Years to Earth) but this one schare the beejeebes out of me the most.

I guess it's a good thing I don't have a dog.

I’ve felt better,,,

I’ve had a couple of kidney stones over the years but this is the first one that has come along with an infection. My doctor sez that kidney infections are sort of common with a stone. I was not aware of this fact.

The problem that I happen to have with infections that require medication to treat is that often the cure is sometimes worse than the ailment. I feel like I’ve had the flu for three or four months, followed by being run over by at least a dozen monster trucks. It’s frustrating because I don’t know if I’m feeling so bad because of the infection or the antibiotic.

Here are the possible side effects from the antibiotic: WARNINGS: All quinolones cause erosion of cartilage in weight-bearing joints. They may cause convulsions, increases intracranial pressure, toxic psychosis, CNS stimulation (i.e.nervousness, lightheadedness, confusion, hallucinations).Should not be used in anyone with seizure disorders, or cerebral arteriosclerosis. There have been deaths due to anaphylactic shock, and cardiovascular collapse. Also occurring are tingling, itching, facial swelling, and difficult breathing.

Then, added to the mix, I get periodic jabs in the side with a red-hot fireplace poker, which serves to remind me that I still have the original problem of the kidney stone.

All this has served to make me one grumpy individual. I wouldn’t want to be around me if I didn’t have to.

The doctor gave me a bottle of painkillers, but there’s a point where I know that I’ve overmedicated, but I’m still in pain. I guess the Percocet can only do so much. If I take more than I’m supposed to I get a killer headache and feel the urge to vomit.

Oh, and the icing on the cake is that this morning a couple of the cats were fighting like animals. Tiger, one of our oldest boys has been feeling a little under the weather. His nose has been wet to the point of dribbling drops of moisture and he’s been very distracted and unable to sit in one spot for too long. I think that the other cats have picked up on this and are pushing him around a little bit. This morning Dusty and Jack had him back up behind the television and there were a lot of ugly noises being made. No real attacking or blood or eyes ripped out and hanging by strands of muscle and nerve. Whenever the cats fight behind the television they somehow always manage to yank the power cord out from the wall. After shooing all the cats to their individual corners and cooling Jack and Dusty down I squeezed my thick arm between the DVD case and the television to put the plug back in place. I somehow didn’t notice that Tiger was still back there and he was still semi-agitated. He mistook my arm for a furless attacker and he reached out and clamped his teeth down on my hand and bit. He bit so hard that he couldn’t let go. This only made him angrier. I got his attention by bopping him on the head with a fat green Christmas candle that was behind the DVD case. He finally let go and I spent twenty minutes bleeding.

These past few days have not been my best.