Firstly, before I forget, Ben wanted to see me with the Big Red Machine:

I just got through with XXX: State of the Union. As far as mindless action movies go, it was actually pretty good. I firmly believe that all such films are only as good as their villains, and you can't go wrong with Willem Dafoe (he even made Speed 2: Cruise Control somewhat watchable). The writers never let anything get in the way of moving swiftly to the next explosion, which I appreciated, though at times the dialogue was a little cheesy. Ice Cube did a much better job of being a true badass than I was expecting - it looks like he did some training for the role and his fist-fights are actually pretty cool. I think they were guilty of making Samuel L. Jackson into too much of an action character - I thought Gibbons was perfectly cool as the guy pulling the strings. Of course, the whole time I was wondering why they chose to do the sequel after Vin passed on it. It just felt a little wrong. However, it looks like they now plan to keep rotating heroes like this, should the franchise continue. Here's hoping this one stops before they resort to Edward Furlong in XXX: Wicked Prayer.

Some time during the course of Monday night, Nibbler managed to procure his feathery toy from its hiding place atop the dresser. Upon arriving at the apartment this morning, all that I could find to testify to its ever having existed were a few mournful feathers strewn around the carpet. So I'm out of things for him to bite (except for my fingers, hands, arms, ears and face, of course). He was a little hyper-active in the morning, but when I returned later in the day was more apt to chill with me on the couch in front of Darkness Falls. I used to believe I could forgive Emma Caulfield anything, but that one was tough. This has been Nibblerwatch.