UP

Kat and I had visitors this weekend--Brielle's grandparents came to see the girl, and since they had her Friday night, Kat and I decided to go see a movie.

We saw Up, the new release from Disney/Pixar. It's the story of Carl Fredricksen, a blocky 78 year old balloon salesman with one great adventure left to be attempted. It's also the story of Russell, a pre-teen Wilderness Explorer; Doug the Dog; and Kevin, an improbable denizen of Paradise Falls in South America.

It's a really wonderful movie, with dazzling (and entirely appropriate) 3-D effects--by all means, see this in 3-D if you can!!--but what it has in spades is heart. Carl's story begins in great sadness; I dare anyone watching it not to cry at least four times, and that's possibly in the first fifteen minutes.

The way the story unfolds will not tax those who like to anticipate plot points... but it should delight and impress regardless, as the characters (and the actors behind them) make the story come alive. Doug, in particular, has a host of delightful and quotable lines.

Being a Pixar movie comes with very high expectations. Up, very happily, lives up to all of them.
Strongly recommended.

Watching Justice League Unlimited Again and...

Damn that show was good.
Despite one or two clinkers in the lineup, the show as a whole was an incredible piece of animated storytelling that was (even better) faithful to the DC Universe. More faithful than the comics, in some respects.
I'm glad that Mattel and Target between them are keeping the JLU flame alive. It'd be nice if it were easier to get the toys--my sporadic trips to Target leave me staring at empty spikes where JLU toys should be stocked, and even MattyCollector (Mattel's fansite for toys) doesn't have anything beyond the SDCC Giganta toy. The customer service in that respect is pretty weak, but at least it's possible to find the toys on eBay.