I should wear my "Old Faithful Blows 16 Times a Day" shirt more often. It certainly brought me luck today.

Thor help me, but I laughed for ten minutes. (H/T: Andrew Sullivan)

I saw Iron Man yesterday, and I'm very impressed. I'd read that Marvel Comics was taking more control over their films, and this was their first full release as a studio.

It's one of those origin stories that doesn't really feel like an origin story, in the sense that you're not sitting there thinking Okay, they've gotta get this crap out of the way so the second movie can be good. It's good on its own, and I appreciate that.

Robert Downey Jr. is awesome. Complete egomaniac in the role, but soon tempered by the realization that his life has been a shallow pursuit of fame and glory with no regard for who gets hurt.

I definitely recommend this one. If you go, stay until after the credits for a nice little surprise hinting at things to come.

Recent Stats...
Reading: Preacher: Dixie Fried, by Garth Ennis
Listening: Dexter in the Dark, by Jeff Lindsay
Watching: Robin Hood - Season 1; Ghidorah, the Three-Headed Monster; Godzilla 2000
Playing: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (Xbox)

My Nielsen Diary period ended yesterday, and I'll drop the booklet in the mail on my way to work this morning. Here's what I watched during the past week. Shows with a * beside them are times when Kristofer was here, since the Diary asks you to record visitors as well.

Thursday, April 24
5 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" - 10 min.
3 p.m. - Nickelodeon - "Ren and Stimpy" - 30 min.
6 p.m. - Comedy Central - "South Park" (DVR Recording) - 30 min.
6:30 p.m. - NBC - "NBC Nightly News" - 30 min.

Friday, April 25
5:30 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" - 15 min.
3 p.m. - Sci Fi Channel - "Warbirds" (DVR Recording) - 120 minutes
9 p.m. - Sci Fi Channel - "Doctor Who" - 60 minutes
10 p.m. - Sci Fi Channel - "Battlestar Galactica" - 60 minutes

Saturday, April 26
7:45 a.m. - Cartoon Network - "Robot Chicken" (DVR Recording) - 15 minutes
3:30 p.m. - Discovery Channel - "Deadliest Catch" (DVR Recording) - 60 minutes*
4:30 p.m. - Discovery Channel - "Dirty Jobs" (DVR Recording) - 60 minutes*
5 p.m. - WVAH - "Family Guy" (DVR Recording) - 30 minutes*
5:30 p.m. - Comedy Central - "South Park" (DVR Recording) - 30 minutes*
6 p.m. - TBS - "Seinfeld" - 30 minutes*

Sunday, April 27
Nothing to report

Monday, April 28
5:45 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" - 10 minutes

Tuesday, April 29
5:15 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" - 8 minutes
8 p.m. - MSNBC - "Countdown with Keith Olberman" - 60 minutes

Wednesday, April 30
5 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" - 10 minutes
9 p.m. - Showtime On Demand - "Doug Stanhope: No Refunds" - 60 minutes

Thursday, May 1
5:45 a.m. - Weather Channel - "Local on the 8s" 10 minutes

I missed one or two shows on Saturday in the wee hours around 2 a.m. like "Masters of Horror" when my brain was mushy from fatigue, but it's otherwise accurate. Basically, I use the television to decide if I need to carry an umbrella to work in the morning. If I didn't have the DVR to record stuff for me to watch later, I'd probably do away with it altogether. Video games and DVDs are most of my entertainment.

I should also point out the Sci Fi Channel movie "Warbirds" was actually better than I expected. Yeah, it's extremely cheesy and improbable, but it's not bad if you can suspend your disbelief into the Godzilla-movie realm.

One podcast I've latched onto lately is "Make it So," which is dedicated to all things Star Trek. Part of the appeal is that the geeks in question are the same guys who do "Movies You Should See." They're incredibly huge Star Trek nerds, and the fact that I can follow all of their conversations and know the episodes in question tells you a lot about my devotion to the series. Even if they don't reach a definite conclusion, their humor and digressions keep me laughing through most of it.

They really hate Voyager, which I can sort of understand. I just don't hate it as much as they do. I can't buy into their absolute hatred of Captain Janeway because I think she was a pretty freakin' awesome captain.

Thankfully, they really like Deep Space Nine and named Sisko as the best captain in their "Who's better?" episode. That's right, Kirk and Picard fanboys... Sisko is the better capatain. Hands down.

Kristofer has also been listening, so our lunch conversations have been dominated by all things Trek. It's seriously making me want to go back and start watching all the series.

In fact, I broke down and ordered the second season of Star Trek: The Next Generation since Amazon is now selling them for $35 per season. They sell a complete series set for $300 -- which is more expensive than buying the seasons individually, and you don't have to deal with the shoddy packaging all the reviewers have been slamming.

I've been tapped to be a Nielsen ratings household, and the TV Diary (and $30 gratuity) arrived in the mail today. It starts Thursday and runs eight days, at which point I mail the booklet back so they can try to glean some amazing patterns from my viewing habits.

Since I'll be writing down all that information, I'll post it here when I'm finished. I'm not sure how insightful it will be since I don't watch that much television anymore. I'm not one of those TV-hating snobs who likes to brag about how awesome they are because they're not enslaved to the boob tube; it's just that most of my entertainment comes from video games and DVDs.

We'll see how it goes.