A collection of firsts

Well, the flight went well and the kids were wonderful. Our final decent was marked by a rapid dive the sent our stomach into our chests, lasting much longer than normal. Oh, and while in Atlanta we saw unending reports of the female Muslim suicide bombers, then boarding the plane my seatmate was covered by a blanket for 5.5 hours, and when she finally emerged, she was a middle-eastern woman - probably not Muslim, though (no burka or bomb bag).

Traffic was amazingly light for Seattle.

Good to see Dad and his dog. I was in the garage with him, moments after getting there, and Charli comes out and said she had pushed Ben, and his head hit the table and he was bleeding. I'm thinking a little scrape so I was in no hurry to go in. When I do, Ben is leaning over the kitchen sink, his hand is scarlet with blood and he's breathing heavily. I look at the back of his skull and it looks like a baby's open mouth. It wasn't gushing blood, but it stained a wet paper towel quickly.

So, 15 minutes after reaching our destination we were in the emergency room. To Ben's credit, he was hurting, breathing hard, and praying without ceasing on the ride there. At reception he puts his head on the counter and the receptionist starts hauling out forms. "He probably needs a bucket or something, pretty quick, I'm guessing," I say. "Just a few forms..."

Then Ben threw up. A lot.

We got some quick attention after that. Twenty minutes later he was getting 6 staples to seal the wound. He was great through the whole thing. This is not the kid who feints at the sight of cartoon blood. That and I'm sure he knew he could milk this against Charli for months to come.

Going good so far, but already the lack of time to see the people I want/need to see is rearing it's head. We'll see how it goes...

Contemplation via Hair Cutting

My barber didn't speak much English, which was a blessing because I didn't have to hold up a conversation I didn't want to have.

So I just sat there. And in the sitting, realized several things.

1. I realized I could never be a barber because I don't like to touch people. Not pathologically so, you understand. I don't consider it a hardship or disgusting or anything, I just prefer not to touch others, with the natural exception of my wife and children. I don't mind being touched, in fact, I enjoy a good haircut, but my outward personal space is tighter than my inward personal space.

2. I realized I am not unique. I don't generally look at myself in a mirror, but there's not much else to do during a haircut. I see my brother peeking back at me, bits of my mother, a lot of my dad, some of both granddads. Even my mannerisms echo family members. I don't think I have a single original piece on me. I suppose that's true of the people I look like, too. Probably if we could do a reverse time/person lapse photography thing, we'd discover that every single human being alive today would see themselves in Adam and Eve. How's that for weird?

Dark Knight well named

Very dark; very, very dark.

Really good, excellent script, direction, acting (didn't like the new Rachel and she really wasn't pretty like others were saying, but what can you do). Minimal gore, no bad language, but the philosophy and bad guys make it very adult anyway. If you don't like dark, you won't like this. If you can see past dark to incredible storytelling it's really good.

Amazing work.

Interesting conspiracy theory

I have a co-worker who pointed out something I hadn't considered before. Why is TV going digital mandatory? Why can't company's broadcast in analog if they wanted to? Why should the government make this demand?

Her take is that by going digital, the government can track what we're doing/watching/etc.

Sounds paranoid. I like it....

Spielberg gets it; Fans don't

A little theater history here: 3 is the magic number (in point of fact, it's a universal truth). 3 act structure reins and so does stories told in trilogy. Spielberg understands that very well. Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull IS NOT PART OF THE TRILOGY. That's done and over with two hits and a miss (1: hit; 2: miss; 3: homerun).

SPOILER WARNING: PLOT POINTS ARE GIVEN AWAY BELOW...

IJ&tCS isn't the beginning of a new trilogy, nor is it a stand alone. It is a bridge. Because it is a bridge, it tips the fedora to the first three and sets up the future. You've been given a peak at the new direction of the IJ franchise and it is a clever one.

Indiana Jones is about history; about ancient legends.
Mutt Jones will be about the bizarre; about urban legends. Hence the aliens (and not just space aliens, but interdimensional ones).

Indy is a relic that belongs to the 40s and 50s. He, nor any archaeologist, is going to work in the 60's.

Indy is loosely based on Alan Quartermain, of King Solomon's Mine fame. He is meant to be a hold over of the previous generation. The purple haze of the hippie generation is too far beyond that era, so this movie sets up the next movies as a precursor of the X-Files type stuff.

I really enjoyed the movie. Yes, some big plot holes, yes, a bit over the top (as is common for Indy movies). Rather than annoyed by the thought of Indy as an OSS agent, they gave him a Casablanca riff (Rick is cut from the same cloth, but he does his bit for flag and country) and it worked for me (interesting possibilities for books, I'd think). A nice melding of ancient legend and urban legend. I would have liked Mutt to "get" stuff that Indy didn't, but we can't have everything.

Even Mutt's name is a wink to expect a melding of ideas. Not sure why the whip wasn't used much, maybe Ford can't handle it anymore.

B+