the excitement began friday morning, trying to advance order the ticket for that night's show. for some reason moviefone.com wasn't selling advance tickets online for fenway 13, the theatre we wanted to go to. fortunately, you could order it via phone. okay, easy enough, but in order to select the movie, you have to say the name of it (damn voice recognition software!). i was reluctant to actually say "tomb raider" over the phone for fear of fellow coworkers hearing. seeing no other way though, i reluctantly whispered, "tomb raider." "i'm sorry, that movie is not available," the moviefone voice said to me. ugh! turns out the movie wasn't listed under "tomb raider" but rather "lara croft: tomb raider." i finally found the movie through a genre listing and ordered a ticket for myself.

so here are some of my comments about the movie. apologies to dan and elias, who've already heard a lot of this:

• there weren't enough outfits. yeah, lara croft had a few different choice garments, but i kind of wished there were a little bit more.
• not enough weapons. lara croft basically uses these two guns throughout most of the movie. now these guns are pretty cool, but i kind of wished maybe they used a few more different guns, just like in the game. also, i don't think the screwdriver gun (as seen in the movie!) is in any of the games. i could be wrong.
• was this suppose to be a women-empowering movie? maybe not. lara croft is a creation of male action gaming fantasies. that might explain some of the phallic references. the long swinging column that's suppose to puncture the buddha's "thingy" in order to claim the first half of the magical triangle. lara croft's extra long observatory telescope in her mansion. maybe it's just me, maybe i'm reading into this a little bit too much.
• nothing i hate more than a temple explosion! it's the lamest action movie ending device, a million different movies use it. okay, if you're going to do it, then at least show the payoff demolition. in this movie they sort of cop out and the next scene is lara croft safely back home in england. don't tease me! show me climax!
• elias made this point: how many times do they have to say "tomb raider" in the film? everytime they said it we let out a groan and a chuckle.
• i wished they gave more background as to how lara croft became a "tomb raider." there are some scenes of her as a child, but in-between being a child and being a full-fledged ass-kicking adventuress, i think we're missing a few steps. there are also some scenes of her training (particular the very first scene of the movie), but that still doesn't explain how she got to where was.
• lara croft's ex-boyfriend -- what's his story? she saves his life at the end of the movie (going back in time no less, and getting a nasty cut on her hand to boot), so obviously he's important to her. there isn't even a payoff kiss, although i sort of find it kind of refreshing, that they don't jerry-rig a romance into the film that doesn't really need it.
• there's no leary character. what do i mean? it'd be nice to have a character that's in on the joke, that is, that there's this sexy woman adventurer running through the jungle, dogsledding, bidding on priceless antiques, fighting stone monkey statues, etc. not one person does a doubletake! it's like, in this world, this is normal! it'd be nice to have character that we pervos can relate to, some every-day-joe who says what we all want to say, "did you see that? whoa!"
• finally, that song u2 wrote for the movie? well, it plays when most of the people have already left the audience, during the second half of the final credits. wow, yeah, that tune ties in with this movie perfectly!

did i like it? i was entertained, that's the most important thing. especially on the big screen, where each of her assets is the size of my room. but so far, if you want to see a good action movie this summer, i'd recommend swordfish. there are still a lot of movies to go this season though.

i've never been much of a crossword puzzle guy. occasionally i'd do the tv guide puzzle, but that's about the extent of my involvement in the seedy world of fitting little words into a square grid.

so it comes as a surprise for me that it's become a daily ritual now between amanda and i. crossword fever is spreading throughout the office and i am not immune! in the mornings we grab a copy of the recently available (and free) metro newspaper, which has a crossword puzzle in the back. the metro puzzle is just the right level of difficulty that when we combine our two brains together we're able to solve it most of the time. sure, occasionally the crossword is asterisked because we might go searching for the answer on the internet, but the main thing is we're able to finish the puzzle! nowadays, the metro crossword just isn't enough anymore (we've built a tolerance for it, the high just isn't like it use too), so we've been printing out the boston globe daily crossword to supplement our daily crossword craze. what's great about the globe puzzle is that after we reach a point where we can't go any farther (most of the time), the answer can be revealed via their website. the b.g. crossword is a little bit more challenging: while the hints for the metro puzzle are very straightforward, the b.g. puzzle occasionally incorporates puns as hints. hey, buddy, the crossword's hard enough, i don't need to solve a riddle in order to get a hint! sadistic crossword puzzle designers!

the urban cape is a good look for laurie rogers. she says it's because her "shoulders get cold" but i know it's part of her superhero outfit. hey, girls gotta have their hobbies! i just think maybe her cape can be a little bit longer, maybe stamped with her special crimefighting symbol. until then, carry on the good work -- what exactly is your superhero name? anyway, i'm sure the citizens of cambridge sleep better at nights knowing you're out patrolling the streets.

i have an affinity for insects, especially beneficial ones. things like spiders and ladybugs, i would never kill, i'd either leave them alone or set them free somewhere else. so friday morning while taking a shower i noticed a lacewing on the plastic waterproof curtain of the bathroom window. i love lacewings. i think they're so beautiful, this light green body, with transparent wings (hence the name), and red eyes like two rubies. i gently caught it before it drowned and let it fly out the window. ah! nothing like sparing the life of an insect to make me feel good about myself. fast-forward 30 minutes. i'm on the subway, patiently waiting for my stop, when i look up at the emergency exit sign and see a lacewing! how did it get here on the subway? i felt sad because i couldn't reach it and chances are it'd die eventually on the train if it wasn't smart enough to fly out. so i managed to save one, but then lost another.