We saw MI:4 and it was OK

Formally "Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol". I'd avoided MI:3 because... well, Tom Cruise. F'ing insane missionary of an f'ing insane cult and all that. But Pygment wanted to see this one, so we went. It was OK. 3.5/5 stars. It's not bad action-adventure, and they do a moderately good job of being not-Bond. I thought the fight scenes were dragged out a lot, but that was kind of necessary because the entire film seems to be a long string on which various fight scenes get hung at appropriate points. There's no real surprises or plot twists - basically the IMF starts out behind the 8-ball and has to chase after the villains all film in order to catch up.

Bonus points for the co-stars: Paula Patton does the token female agent thing extremely well. She gets to be emotional without being overwrought and whiny, and she gets to kick ass without being exclusively a spinny killbot. Jeremy Renner also turns in a good, if slightly tortured, performance as the surprise smackdown kid. He also gets the best line in the movie: At one point Renner's character is getting tossed about and says "Next time I get to seduce the billionaire!" which is very funny if the mental image of male-male seduction doesn't bother you. Bonus points to the scriptwriters for nodding to "teh gay" in a het-male macho film.

Spoilers under the cut: ( There's suspension of disbelief and then there's what-did-you-just-do-to-a-major-plot-premise )

Arisia environment questions

My recollection from last year is that the lobby seating area tended to be quite cold, mostly due to the large amount of glass and the constantly opening doors, and the rest of the hotel tended to be over-warm. Anyone remember differently?

My recollection was that guest rooms were comfortable, but panel rooms tended to be warm, particularly when packed with bodies. Yes/no?

Anyone know the status of the hotel's restaurant(s)? My recollection is that one was ludicrous (in price and lack of selection) and the other was mostly unavailable last year. Has that changed? Anyone have an up-to-date local eateries list?