Escaflowne roundup (through ep. 20)

We've still been watching Escaflowne via Netflix, I just haven't got around to writing it up. We're through episode 20 of 26 now, and I'm rather at loose ends at the moment, so this seems like a good time to do a quick roundup. [Belated warning: No spoilers, please, or I'll have to kill you with my brain.]

( spoilers for Escaflowne through ep. 20 )

Week in Review

Annual cookout yesterday. It started out very well (though if I'd realized that Chad was trying to convince one of the kids that werewolves are allergic to Nerf, I would've intervened), but a couple hours in my vision started going wonky. I took my contacts out, but I knew even as I did so that it was futile: sure enough, it was a migraine. My standard response is Excedrin [*], but that has acetaminophen and I'd had a glass of wine earlier; probably I was being overly paranoid, but I really like having a functioning liver. So I quietly went upstairs and laid down. It actually passed quicker than I expected, but not enough for me to go back to the party, which was too bad because I was having fun.

[*] My migraines are extremely mild on the absolute scale of migraines, and don't show up that often. Excedrin knocks out the pain almost completely, though I'm not crazy about the side effects. I took a couple ibuprofen last night, though I have no reason to believe they did anything.

Today I had an appointment to give platelets at 9, for the first time since October. It didn't happen, but at least it wasn't my fault this time. ( cut for those who dislike needles )

But at least I got to see half an hour of Ocean's Eleven, which I could re-watch very often indeed. After I got home, caught up on the Internet (our DSL had been out since Friday night), and ate, I finished re-watching the movie (well, I fast-forwarded all the Tess scenes). I just love the groove of the dialogue, especially between Danny and Rusty. I wish the plot of the second hadn't been so bad that it wiped my memory of whether its dialogue was as good.

Some follow-ups:

• Conclusions from the "Erie Canal" poll: people who know the song out-number those who don't 2 to 1. The vast majority know the variant I'm familiar with, which is not about gin. As I suspected, New York was the big leader for those who learned it in school (though not everyone who went to school in New York learned it), but there was a respectable geographical scattering

  Also, though I knew this already: ticking off boxes is fun.

• In related news, rachelmanija has a general poll on folk music familiarity and a follow-up post.
• I've just finished buying all seven seasons of Homicide on DVD for $20 a season (though only the set of seasons 1-2 has arrived so far). homicidereruns, here I come (when things settle down some). Also, if anyone wants to know how to get the DVDs cheaply, give a yell.
• papersky has a thoughtful post about lies springing off the whole MsScribe affair.

Finally, a request for advice. I have a few very small scrapes and dents on my car, at least one of which is fully three years old. I noticed this week that the paint around these is flaking and rust seems to showing. I blame the miserable weather we've been having basically all year, but whatever. The question is, is there anything I myself can do to stop the damage from getting worse, or is this a job for professionals?