I walked out of the movie Iron Man last night, which is something I almost never do. I was already pre-disposed to be in a bad mood after a tough couple of weeks at work (more on that later), but the main messages I got from the movie were enough to piss me off all on their own:

1. All arab-looking types are evil.
2. Killing one of them is no big deal.
3. American troops are just nice kids driving jeeps through the dessert who get slaughtered by weapons-stealing arab thugs.
4. Personal violence is SO MUCH BETTER than military violence.
5. Ideally, women are cute, diligent assistants who put up with a lot of crap and fall in love with their bosses.

The plot lines were predictable and puerile, the "science" was stupid, and aside from a couple of funny prat falls, there was no redeeming value in this movie for me whatsoever. I suppose it could have gotten better after I left, but that did not seem to be the general trend.

It's a funny parallel that I absolutely *adored* Avenue Q last weekend, which many local season ticket holders stormed out of. I guess that's the difference between my liberal sensibilities and those of most people in a red state.