But with a porcupine, the pricks are on the outside.

OK, I have serious Porsche envy.

2 people I know have recently acquired these fine, German automobiles and I have a tad bit of envy.

Admittedly, I am very happy with my new Jetta (200 HP turbo, 0-60 in 6.7 seconds, seats made of rich corinthian leather, it is filled with many leather-bound books and it stinks of mahogany) but there's definitely a 'boy with a toy' gene that has somehow been activated after laying dormant for many, many years.

Now, I can't actually afford a new, serious muscle machine. But I might be able to swing a 9 year old Boxster with serious mileage...

Seriously, I think the dog deserves to tool around town in a ride like that, don't you?

Funny, he doesn't look pornish

1000 pardons for the lack of posting - been a busy 2 weeks as I am up to my eyeballs in Poseidon and Superman Returns. (If you really love me, go see them both....twice)

So I recently joined myspace and set up my own page. Don't get excited, no shots of me doing keg stands or wearing revealing clothing. I added just enough personal information to distinguish myself from the 23-year-old Mike Carlin who just got home from Iraq and the 28-year-old Mike Carlin from Tennessee...but not so much personal information that I can never get a job working for the Government.

I actually joined so that I could drop a quick 'hello' to an old friend with whom I've lost touch, but recently learned was very active on myspace.

This was Friday.

By Saturday afternoon I had received half a dozen come-ons, invitations, solicitations, what have you, for all sorts of things which don't bear repeating.

(But I could sketch them for you)

Don't Believe The Hype

Mi3 will probably do 50-53 Million dollars in Box Office this weekend, and there will be a decent amount of ink pushing the angle that it is a disappointment. Bollocks. That's more money than 95% of the other major releases can hope to deliver, regardless of whether no woman in her right mind under 50 would pay to see Tom Cruise without being coaxed into doing so.

I went to see the film earlier today and really liked it. For a dumb genre, this outing was pretty good for several reasons.

- Plot was easy to follow, and the outlandish elements were not overplayed. (Not a single bomb with lots of wiring and a clock with big red numbers ticking down!)
- JJ Abrams bingo - eat a fistful of popcorn for every cast member who was in 'Felicity'
- Several cast members do 'The Cruise' AKA the couch jumping arm-waving fist-pumping pseudo-euphoria...whether they are teasing Tom C or not, at least they are publicly (on celluloid, no less) stating how dumb that move actually looks.
- Truman Capote was one heck of a villain - too bad he doesn't have all that much screen time. One hopes this will keep him from succumbing to 'now that I have an Oscar I am above all that' nonsense.
- Only a few cliches are major beats in the story, and to Mr Abrams' credit, there are no bits of people screaming 'NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!' at any one time, along with above noted absence of big red clocks attached to bombs.
- They had the guts to kill a major character at the very beginning of the movie; I wish other films worked this way, too...(The kid from FIREWALL? I would have offed him myself)

M