My friend Jason invited me out to lunch, and we ate at the Novell cafeteria. It may sound cheap and cheesy, but the freshly-grilled, hand-made-today patty on my burger was delicious. Seriously, it’s one of the best burgers I’ve had.

After lunch we wandered the halls in Building H for a little bit, and I handed out some damaged copies of Schlock Mercenary: Under New Management. These were copies with bent bindings, crimped corners, or gobbets of glue stuck to them. Each case of 90 books has two or three that are like this, and when I catch ’em I make sure to toss ’em into the damaged book box.

One of the books went to my friend Ted Haeger, who was the inspiration for Reverend Theo Fobius. Ted has since changed his hairstyle, and I haven’t seen him in wraparound glasses in forever, but he’s just as irreverent as I remember. The book totally derailed his day… especially the fact that the Reverend was on the back cover. Yes, Ted knew I was modeling a character after him. It’s one of the only cases, perhaps THE only case, where I’ve been so blatant.

Anyway, the walkabout was fun. My friends appear to be doing well, and that makes me happy.

Granted, it doesn’t make me as happy as “Howard doesn’t have to work for Novell anymore” does, but I’m open-minded enough to be happy for them AND happy for me.

–Howard

Right here.

I hear that Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest is setting records for “biggest opening weekend.”

I read a scathing review in which the reviewer essentially said that by making this film a set-up for a sequel, Disney was just in it for the gold.

Well… DUH. Of course filmmakers want to make money. And if they can make more by providing us with a thoroughly enjoyable film that has a sequel coming, I say “more power to them.” It’s not as if the filmmakers want to make money without having to go to the trouble of making a good movie. The characteristics of “quality” and “profitability” are not mutually exclusive.

Bruckheimer said that he was shooting for around $70 million for an opening weekend — up about 75% from the first film’s $43 million. The $140 million it is estimated to have made this weekend exceeds his expectations, and the expectations of the industry watchers who were predicting around $110 million, IIRC.

What does all that mean? Well, if you’ve got a stake in Disney’s “Pirate’s” franchise, it means “drink up, me hearties, yo-ho!”

And I’m fine with that.

I totally want to have a discussion of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, but I don’t want to spoil it for anybody.

So I’m putting the rest of this post behind a cut tag. Continue reading Pirates with Spoilers →