Ranting to /dev/null

Iron City

So I'm in Pittsburgh. A few things to say about that. First of all, West Virginia, a state in which I have not until this point spent much time, is both gorgeous, and a complete hole. I can explain this. The Appalachians are my favorite mountain range, pretty much period. Not really mountains I suppose, but that's what I like about them. I've seen the Rockies. I've seen the Alps. I wouldn't want to live in either of them. I want to live in the Smokies, or near the Blue Ridge. But the drawback to West Virginia as such is that there isn't actually cell service pretty much anywhere. So it's pretty, but you can't talk to anyone. Corrolary to the second point: as I was driving north today I passed a man riding horseback up I-79N. Neither the horse nor the interstate were designed for this.

Second, though I came to Pittsburgh to see Wilco, an event which I still highly anticipate, tonight Mindy Smith played. That was a unexpected and really nice bonus.

Third, we just saw Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. That was a lot of fun. Far and away the most enjoyable of the three movies thus far, and from what I hear, the one that diverges most from the book. The actors are starting to grow up, tension is visible between characters, and damn if Emma Watson isn't going to be stunning once she adds a few more years. There are a few weird things about the ages of the characters, like a boy in the last film who was short and fat is now head and shoulders above everyone else and skinny as a beanpole. And for some reason Malfoy is a lot taller than he used to be, and though the actor could take Harry, Hermione, and Ron himself without breaking a sweat, the character remains a pussy. Go see the movie. It's probably the best thing in theaters until Spiderman 2 comes out next month.