See, I'm not dead...

but my computer was.

First, let me apologize. I mean it has been a while, and you are my readership. I realize that it's been awhile (almost six weeks if we're being anal about it), but I want to offer an explanation.

For the first time in recent memory, I had a busy summer. Thankfully, summer ends Tuesday, and my life has finally wound down. As if working the job that allows me to pay the bills isn't enough, I had a summer chocked full of goodness, and personal obligations. Two weddings, and just a bunch of other stuff that escapes me. All I know was that I was grateful to catch a break when a free weekend day rolled out, or gasp, the completely empty weekend.

Then, to make matters worse, the computer I write this blog on decided to take a complete and total dump last week. After to trip to the Geek Squad, I was rewarded for my patience (they took a week. Seriously, you need that long?) with a new 500 GB hard drive. Life is good indeed. With "Backspacer," the new album from Pearl Jam, or as my old friend Rob calls them "the soundtrack to my life," in the background, here is my latest post from the land of blogdom.

I actually did something I haven't been able to do since I was in college a while back---I saw two movies in the space of less than a week. I originally had planned to see District 9 with my friend Bill, but the theater didn't use the times listed on Fandango, so we ended up seeing Gamer instead. I was actually able to catch District 9 at the end of the week.

Gamer. Oh where to begin. It's not a horrible movie, believe me. It does exactly what it sets out to, which is be pure escapism for about 90 minutes, with Gerard Butler for the ladies (un)fortunate to be taken with their dates. The action is very video-gamey, which is good because most of the action takes place in what is supposed to be a real life video game. Also, the performance of "I've Got You Under My Skin" was very clever. Now, on to the other film.

District 9 is the most original film I've seen in a long time. Also, it's one of the first movies in a long time that I can't peg as being like something else. Director Neil Blomkamp has created something very original here, and should rightfully be lauded for it. He got the gig because the studio scrapped his attempt at making Halo a game in what Peter Jackson called in a recent article "pure and simple studio politics." Jackson, to his credit, saw something he like about the director and when Blomkamp pitched the idea for District 9, he jumped on it. Now, the two are laughing--all the way to their financial advisor. The movie is compelling, intriguing, and disturbing all at the same time. It's disturbing in the "humanity could actually be this cruel" sense of the word. Sharlto Copley is a star in the making after his turn as Wikus van de Merwe, a lowly corporate bureaucrat charged with moving aliens from their Johannesburg slum to newer, "better" slum outside of town.

There you have it. Gamer is a rental, and District 9 should be seen in the theaters. And since it is still in Top 5, it won't be going anywhere anytime soon.

Sorry, I've been gone so long.