I’m going to go out on a limb and say that today’s comic is quite possible the most clever thing I’ve written in a long time. The incentive sketch that goes with it isn’t half bad, either.

Normally I’m not one for such hubris, but I’m really happy with the way it today’s comic turned out. Okay, so maybe it’s not the most original. But you know how when Bill Cosby tells a joke it’s not so much the punch line that’s funny but the way he tells it? I feel like there’s a little bit of that going on here.

Saw II comes out today and it’s one of the few horror movies with enough sense to wait until the Halloween season to drop in theaters when audiences are pre-disposed for a good scare. For the life of me, I will never understand the sense in marketing that says it is okay to release a movie like The Ring 2 in March. What’s scary about March? NUTHIN’!

I can understand that maybe studios aren’t stacking up horror films around October 31 because they don’t want the competition. But even a family movie with dark undertones like Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride could have benefited from a more apt holiday release. Just my opinion.

I don’t have a lot to say about Saw II in particular, except at first glance it seems like a hastily thrown together sequel to a moderately successful film from last year. I question it’s effectiveness to ratchet up the tension since the original Saw utilized the benefit of surprise. Now that we kind of know the killer’s M.O. will we be as caught up in the fate of the characters he tortures?

I’ve heard some rumblings that the sequel is slightly better than the original – but just. It wins points for not suckering the crowd with a similar cop out ending as the original did. One of the worst non-twists in horror history.

I doubt Cami and I will see Saw II this weekend. Believe it or not, it isn’t really Cami’s cup of tea. Truth be told, I’m not one to stomach splatter and gore at a 4:3 aspect ratio. Call me a pansy if you must, but I’m more comfortable watching horror from the confines of my living room where I can fast forward through the rough spots or get up and vomit if I have to.

Horror is kind of a tricky bag for me. I’m interested in these movies. I think it would be really cool to sit and watch the complicated Rube Goldbergian methods Jigsaw uses to dispatch his victims in this latest installment. It’s much like those moral quandary questionnaires that ask you "If you and your wife were trapped in a room and the only way to save yourself was by pushing a button that would kill your spouse, what would you do? Failure of either of you to push your button results in both your deaths. WHAT NOW?!" That’s interesting. It’s high drama, people.

But the gore. I just can’t stand the…

LOOK… I don’t need to know what your brain pan looks like, okay? I don’t need it confirmed that the small intestine unspooled runs the length of a football field, thank you. Those are visuals I can do without.

At any rate, if we have time this weekend, Cami and I are thinking about seeing either The Legend of Zorro (tepid family swashbuckling that anyone can handle) or perhaps Mysteries of the Nile – an IMAX documentary our science center recently received about a group of rafters who attempt to travel the entire 3,260 miles length of the Nile from the source in Ethiopia to the Mediterranean Sea. Only we would opt for this kind of PBS-inspired entertainment as a weekend option. It’s not a field trip. No one is forcing us to go. We choose this for ourselves.

That’s all for now. I’ll be back later with an important reminder! Ooooo! Spooky!