Just a random shot of Jay walking his basset hounds (a.k.a. Robbie’s short-legged buddies) the other day:

Release the hounds!! :)

I for one welcome our cigar-shaped brilliant white light overlords.

P.S. Speaking of spacecraft… the Space Shuttle Atlantis is about to land in California.

UPDATE: The Shuttle has landed safely.

Becky and I just got back from West Town Mall, where we watched Evan Almighty at Regal Cinemas. It was okay, but not great. It had its moments, but among other things, it suffered from a problem that I think an increasing number of movies, especially comedies, are suffering from these days: overexposure in its own trailers. I felt like I knew 80% of plot, and had heard at least 50% of the good jokes, before I even walked into the theater. Memo to Hollywood marketers: when you give away a bunch of your best laugh-out-loud moments in the trailer, your movie turns into a collection of mildly amusing scenes that everybody already knows the punchlines to, thus seriously diminishing the viewing experience. Save some stuff for the actual movie!

It also suffered from a plot problem that bothers me in many works of fiction: a tendency to exaggerate the degree to which people will disbelieve supernatural, paranormal or spiritual interpretations of observed events that blatantly have no plausible earthly explanation. This is something that’s bugged me about the TV series Kyle XY as Becky and I have gotten caught up on the first season on DVD, and it bugged me about Evan Almighty, too. I’m sorry, but if a previously normal guy suddenly started being followed around by hundreds of animals — wild animals with no business in the D.C. area, no business behaving in a docile fashion, and no business traveling in pairs — my reaction when he explains that God told him to build an ark because a flood’s coming wouldn’t be, “Haha, that guy’s a coot, clearly there’s nothing unusual going on here, la-di-da.” It would be more like, “Hmm, well, that seems outlandish. On the other hand, he’s being followed around by hundreds of inexplicably docile wild animals, traveling in pairs… and his facial hair is growing at a literally impossible rate… and he’s been surrounded by a demonstrable series of extremely odd coincidences involving the numbers 614 (as in Genesis 6:14)… and his clothes just magically changed themselves, like POOF!, while the cameras were rolling and he was on live TV… so, while his explanation for these events sounds a bit batty, I actually can’t think of a better one… maybe he’s not so crazy!”

Oh, and the fact that he supposedly ran for Congress while still a news anchor bugged me a little bit — no conflict-of-interest issues there! — but that’s probably just me. :) On the bright side, Morgan Freeman is great as God, again.

In any event, the trip to the mall was worth it just to get a peek at the new, drool-worthy storefront display at the Apple Store:

Mmm… giant iPhone.

Not like I’m actually going to buy one, but still… it’s cool.

According to the article in The Irish Independent, Tony has been a closeted (not to say, Cloistered :) follower of the Faith for a long time, but feared to make it Official whilst still PM because of potential constitutional difficulties:

Tony Blair is “certain” to become a Roman Catholic shortly after he steps down from office next week, friends of the British PM have said. They believe it will happen “sooner rather than later”.

Mr Blair is likely to discuss his conversion with Pope Benedict XVI, with whom he will hold talks in Rome tomorrow after attending his last summit of European Union leaders in Brussels.

…There have been persistent rumours that the Prime Minister would convert to Catholicism but Downing Street has always insisted that he remains a member of the Church of England.

Now friends say Mr Blair will formalise his already close affiliation to the Catholic Church. They say his “spiritual guide” in making the decision has been his wife, Cherie. They have brought up their four children as Catholics.

…It is believed that Mr Blair decided to remain an Anglican while he was Prime Minister because of the possible legal and political difficulties of converting while in office.

Although Britain has never had a Catholic prime minister, the church has said there would be no constitutional bar to Mr Blair joining while he was still in office. But some lawyers believe the 1829 Emancipation Act, which granted civil rights to Roman Catholics, may still prevent a Catholic from becoming Prime Minister. It says that no Catholic adviser to the monarch can hold civil or military office.

…As Prime Minister Mr Blair has been cautious about his religious beliefs. As Alastair Campbell, his former director of communications, once famously said: “We don’t do God.”

Read the whole lot.

PS: In other news of British spiritual practices :), the Ministry of Justice has created its own home team of morris dancers ~

A team of morris dancing civil servants from the new Ministry of Justice have been given permission to call themselves the Lord Chancellor’s Folk.

The Lord Chancellor, Lord Falconer, gave the go-ahead after considering a two page report prepared by an official in his private office.

…In the two page submission, leaked to The Times newspaper, a member of Lord Falconer’s private office briefs him on the history of morris dancing.

The document says the newly-formed Ministry of Justice group dance in the Cotswolds’ Tradition and in the Barmpton Style, which involves the “use of handkerchiefs and sticks”.

…It adds: “Morris dancing is currently one of the Icons of England on the Department of Culture, Media and Sport site, alongside a cup of tea, a stiff upper lip and a bowler hat.”

….a Ministry of Justice spokesman denied time had been wasted on the issue and said staff members were entitled to a hobby.

[Spot on. / ~ the civilservantpensioner guestclogger :]

…The Ministry of Justice has recently been under fire after Lord Falconer announcing 25,000 prisoners could be released early on licence to ease prison overcrowding in England and Wales.

View the whole dance. :)

Just last week, as Becky and I were watching the Simpsons movie trailer for about the 30th time (before Surf’s Up), we were saying they’d been running that particular trailer for too long and really need to come out with a new one. Well, they finally did. (Hat tip: Andrew Hiller.)