Ok, so I'm pretty stoked about the new Transformers movie. No, I was never really too 'in' to those crazy robots as a kid, but seeing how they are going to pull of the special effects on this one should be impressive. The theatrical trailers look cool; I'm sure the plot will stink, but hey, you get to see some crazy computer animation, and hear that awesome, classic mechanical transformer noise (it's no "Life of Guy" but it'll probably be alright). I'm a total special effects guy with movies. A good plot helps, but man, I want to be blown away. Remember seeing Jurassic Park for the first time and how real that T-Rex looked? See, that's what I'm talking about. So this is one I'm kinda looking forward to, and maybe I'll write a review about it after I see it, but don't hold your breath.

 
Manatees Are Weird Things
So I recently went on a vacation to Florida and we took this little boat down the Weeki Wachee river. As we were floating along we saw these signs, "Watch out for manatees" everywhere. To tell you the truth, I really wanted to catch a glimpse of and snap a shot of one of these elusive and rare creatures. Several folks floating down the river were telling us there were some up ahead, but we didn't see any; plus we thought they were messing with us. Maybe it had something to do with me looking like a freak standing up on the bow of the boat with camera-in-face looking for manatees. But then, all of a sudden, we saw a big grayish blob floating along in the water...'twas the beast! We floated by and got some good shots of the weird-looking tuskless walrus-type critter. So that's the story. I badly wanted to go and ride it or something, but that's pretty dang illegal out there. Floridians love their manatees and they'll have your hide if you go getting 'em all riled up.