1) See Mean Girls before the #1 Hype sets your expectations too high. No, screw that -- mine were high and still I left the theatre quite satisfied. I haven't laughed that consistently at a comedy for quite some time.
2) I did, however, laugh quite consistently at the last 15 minutes of 10.5; I tuned over after a particularly bad Queer as Folk (yes, a lonesome TV watcher has no shame) and found the acting bad by comparison. Yes, worse than Ted. Worse than the gay extras. Worse than that. Not that I'm a particularly huge fan of Kim Delany, but this is her worst effort ever. The cast seems to be phoning it in. But they aren't even using phones. Hell, they're not even using telegraphs. It's like they're using tin cans on strings. And the string is yarn so it can't get tight enough. The group effort is so bad that, by comparison, John Schneider looks like a great thespian while playing the First Husband to the Governor of California (and wouldn't he and Arnie make a handsome, if overly tanned, couple?)
Technically, it's even worse. I won't even get into the psuedoscience (though if you're looking to see Seattle collapse, you missed your chance -- see, the earthquake is moving its way down the coastline. So Seattle got wiped in the opening apparently.) The lame ass cliffhanger (Will the president use nuclear bombs on northern California to fuse together the plates so the aftershocks might not be so bad? No, I'm serious...) was made even worse by the overuse of 24-style split screen technique. Atrocious!
3) More earth-shattering, The Sopranos had a recurring male character blowing a male security guard in a construction site parking lot at 5 am, followed by one of the creepiest seduction scenes ever. I seriously had a nightmare about it. (I'm playing semi-spoiler-free zone here -- because I know folks often catch it later the week. Do so.)
4) Alias was also good, if slightly predictable. Delightfully, Sydney showed up in a swimsuit for no good reason other than the way it looked. The return of the evil Asian dentist (finally, lamely, given a name -- Dr. Lee, indeed) -- and Vaugn's descent into madness -- was nice. I appreciate how the crazier Vaughn gets, the better Jack looks. (Having dealt with a similar, more devastating betrayal, he still managed to keep himself somewhat together.) Unfortnately, the evil Asian dentist also caused nightmares -- which is doubly upsetting as I've been grinding my teeth like crazy in my sleep the last couple of weeks, so I woke up completely sure my teeth had been extracted.
5) And speaking of bad dreams and movies, the friend I saw Hellboy with had nightmares about Kroenan and I can't say I blame him -- though as far as surgically-addicted villains go, I'm much more afraid of the ladies on The Swan. Hellboy was enjoyable -- though it might make you, if you're like me, long for a live action GI Joe movie.