Random thoughts on a rainy Sunday

Three little things on my mind at the moment.

The first is the news that The Dark Knight has passed the $1 billion mark in worldwide box office take (Variety, IMDb). It is the fourth film to do so, after Titanic, RotK, and the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Its re-release in IMAX following the Oscar nominations as well as new grosses in Ecuador helped it top $1 bil. Pretty impressive.

The second thing is the new Mass Effect 2 teaser. A teaser indeed. An unnecessarily cruel teaser. How long do we have to wait for this thing? Between this teaser, the far-off promise of Diablo III, and the delay of DAO to Q4 2009, I'm going out of my mind with anticipation. I need a new game right now to take my mind off of things. Now!

The third thing on my mind is the Academy Awards show tonight. Who will win? What beautiful dresses will we see? What horrendous dresses will we see? What is the deal with all these surprises the show organizers have hinted at? I'm excited to see Hugh Jackman and whoever else singing and dancing. I hope it won't be a letdown. We'll see what kind of an audience they get, but I'll certainly be watching tonight. If I liked to throw parties, I'd have thrown an Oscar party. But seeing as I'm way too lazy to do that, I'll put on some fancy clothes and watch the show with maybe one or two friends. If they're interested. Which they may not be. Oh well, whatever. It's not like it would be pathetic for me to sit alone in front of a TV for three hours wearing a fancy dress to watch an awards show to which I have no real relation. Right?


Addendum (Thoughts on what briefly turned into a snowy Sunday and then suddenly became a very sunny Sunday):
I have not blogged about the second episode of Dollhouse. I haven't really made a habit of blogging weekly about episodes of the dozen or so TV shows that I watch. But since the subject has come up... This week's Dollhouse put Echo into a "Most Dangerous Game" situation (spoiler: she doesn't die) and introduced what it seems will become a recurring plot involving an ex-Active called Alpha. Mysterious. In his review of the first episode of Dollhouse in Entertainment Weekly, Ken Tucker had expressed concern that, because each week Echo would be given a new personality, audiences would find themselves oddly detached with "no consistent hero to root for every week." I think with this second episode, we start to see what that's going to be like, and I think it's going to work. Eliza Dushku's new characters have been readily likable and interesting, but there is also clearly some element of her that isn't being totally erased, and we the audience can latch onto that part of her that is fighting to persist and to be recognized. We have also gained some insight into her relationship with her handler Langdon, which I think will be another consistency to keep us emotionally engaged with the show. Let's hope they can keep it up.