This Could be Really, Really Good ...

... or really, really bad.

I called in sick for work on Friday, hence the lack of posts. I was so angry with Annoying Coworker, who was pulling some nasty office politics, that I developed a major headache. Add to that the dogs freaking out because One Ring was out of town, and it was an easy decision to call in due to pain and lack of sleep. I spent the weekend plotting my revenge and trying to decide the proper way to get my revenge - keelhauling, hanging from the yard arm, or a straight up duel (swords, of course, I prefer them to guns.). As it turns out, my being absent was revenge enough, as he was slammed with all my work on top of his admittedly light schedule. So he has't spoken to me all day. Now if I can only make this last.

The rest of the weekend came and went fairly quickly and with limited fanfare. Went to dinner with some friends from graduate school Friday night, then skipped a get together with the same friends on Saturday. Worked on my guitar, took care of the dogs, mowed the lawn - the usual weekend stuff. Nothing to report.

So I figure I'll move on to another subject - The upcoming Tim Burton Film Alice in Wonderland.

The Hollywood powers that be have just released still shots from the film. Despite my love of the story, with all it's drug induced psychodelic philosophical chaos, I'm still not sure what I think of this. On the one hand, the scenery looks incredible, as do the CGI effects that bring many of the characters to life:

However - and this is a big however - take a look at Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter who once again work with Burton (Depp for the 7th time!) as The Mad Hatter and the Red Queen:

I'm just not sure I can get over the look. Maybe it's because I have a lifetime of thinking of the Mad Hatter like this:

or this:

Oh, well. I have until 2010, when the movie comes out, to get used to the strangeness. I've liked everything else Burton has put out - with the exception of that Pee Wee Herman movie and the Batman movies, but that was more of a casting issue and the inability of the script writers to completely get rid of the campy-ness of the original television series than anything else. So maybe I'll be able to enjoy this, too. Time will tell.