The forecast for this week is hot. Hot. And still more hot. {{ $image := .ResourceGetMatch “hot.jpg” }}
Usually I am a huge fan of Pixar movies. However, I have to say that I was disappointed with Up. Well, not with the story, although I have some problems with it too, but primarily with the experience.
Why did this movie have to be in 3-D? What did we gain by having to wear polarized glasses in order to view the movie? In my opinion, nothing. In fact it made the movie nearly un-watchable. I wear trifocal glasses as a result of LASIK eye surgery 3 years ago. One of my eyes sees things up close and the other far away. I was unable to see the screen through my glasses and then the polarized oversized glasses needed to put the images in focus. I ended up taking my glasses off, which allowed the 3-D focus to work, but resulting in a nasty headache by the end of the movie.
Adding insult to this injury was the significant up-charge on the admission price. Instead of $9 per person we paid $11.75 each. The additional charge was for “the 3-D technology.” Right.
Finally the movie had obviously been “Disney-fied.” The portion of the story that outlined Carl and Ellie’s life was beautiful and poignant. No words, no dialog, no talking dogs, much less dogs flying biplanes. Wall-E suffered from the same duality, the first half of the movie was stunning, creative, and incredible. The last half had clearly defined good guys, bad guys, a moral, and some growth. I am looking forward to the day when Pixar gets to make a whole movie that is theirs, and not one that has been fed through Disney’s “It’s A Small World After All” think tank.
It will be a long time before I ever consent to watch a 3-D movie again.
Great story, lousy presentation.
A stunning performance.
In the Gonda Building of the Mayo Clinic there is a piano available. The video below is of Fran and Marlo Cowan playing a duet. They’ve been married 62 years and he was 90 in February.
Last night Sibylle and I went to the opening of Star Trek at the local theater. We haven’t been to the movies in a long time, and seeing as how the opening of Star Trek and my birthday coincided, we took the opportunity to go.
The movie was great fun, and we both enjoyed ourselves immensely. For the first time ever, in all the years I’ve been going to movies, there was applause during and after the showing. Without giving anything away, the appearance of character on screen is greeting with applause from the audience. And when the film ended and the credits started to roll, there was more applause.
Even if you aren’t a fan of the series or the previous movies, I think this one is worth seeing on the big screen. It was well acted, combined humor with a little drama, and paid appropriate homage to the original characters and to the spirit of Star Trek.
0x01: I am learning how to play piano, proving that old dogs can learn new tricks.
0x02: I was born in Brooklyn, but now I live in Manhattan. Kansas.
0x03: My favorite movie of all time is Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
0x04: I read Neal Stephonson’s “Cryptonomicon at least once a year.
0x05: There have been six cats in my life. Shalimar, Kashmir, Abby, Nekko, Taz, and Bootstrap.
0x06: I was socialized as right-handed, but believe I may really be left-handed.
0x07: I have lived in twelve cites. (Brooklyn, Elwin, Decatur, Brookston, Normal, Springfield, Vancouver, Summerville, Pawnee, Overland Park, Olathe, and Manhattan.
0x08: I have 6 websites (5 individual and 1 shared), 12 email addresses, and own three domains.
0x09: I have arthritis in my lower back, and a fallen arch in my right foot.
0x0A: Lasik surgery didn’t work for me, I started wearing trifocals less than two years after the procedure.
0x0B: I can listen to the same music over and over again.
0x0C: I have learned how to cook fish, something I never ate as a child.
0x0D: I have been to Europe three times and look forward to many more trips.
0x0E: I haven’t talked to my brother in more than two years.
0x0F: I have had, and used daily, the same primary computer for over six years.
0x10: I use serial commas.
0x11: I have great difficulty spelling and depend upon spell checkers.
0x12: I do not watch any television.
0x13: I do watch movies (on DVD) and some television content (also on DVD).
0x14: I read, on average, 75 books a year.
0x15: Usually I am in the middle of two or more books at once.
0x16: My favorite vegetable is corn.
0x17: My least favorite vegetables are all the others.
0x18: I like to do crossword puzzles.
0x19: Except for my wedding ring I don’t wear any jewelry.
0x1A: I am a strong advocate of “Net Neutrality.”
0x1B: Voting for President Obama was one of my proudest moments as an American.
0x1C: I own several copies of “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking.
0x1D: I have eight instant message personas. Nine if you count Facebook.
0x1E: Despite using only 5 or 6 fingers I can type about 55 words per minute.
0x1F: Over the course of a year I lost 50 pounds. And I’ve kept it off for two years and counting.
0x20: I prefer email to phone calls.
0x21: In three weeks I will have been out of high school for 30 years.
0x22: For only the second time in 25 plus years of working, I have more than 10 days of vacation per year.
0x23: I have owned (or leased) ten cars in my life. Plus two motorcycles and a scooter.
0x24: I once owned a DN class ice boat.
0x25: I have had my oldest Internet domain (and web site) for more than a quarter of my life.
0x26: If I couldn’t create software for computers, I’d want to create things with software; architecture or industrial design.
0x27: I have only 28 teeth, and three of those are plastic.
0x28: I’ve been to 14 rock concerts in my life.
0x29: My favorite food group is cookies.
0x2A: I cannot stand the flavor of anise.
0x2B: I eat cereal nearly every day for breakfast.
0x2C: I have three computers on my desk at home, running two operating systems, neither of which is a Windows variant.
0x2D: I believe that faith is not believing without proof but rather trusting without reservation.
0x2E: I generally take a computer (or two) with me everywhere I go.
0x2F: I have had my nose broken, along with a thumb and the tip of my right forefinger.
0x30: The oldest posting of mine I can find online is from December 8, 1995.
This is the 5th “things about me” posting on my birthday. Previously we had: 43, 44, 46, and 47. You now know 228 things about me (counting repeats and duplicates).
With the exception of perhaps 30 minutes riding late October 2005, I haven’t ridden either of my bicycles in 12, maybe 15 years. Several of my co-workers are commuting to work via bike, and given that we live only 4.5 miles from my office, I have been thinking about what it would be like to ride to work rather than drive.
Our neighborhood is quiet and tree-lined, so riding there would be easy. There is a major 4-lane road to cross, but I can do that at a light without going out of my way. Just across from that intersection is the only true obstacle on the whole route, a sizable hill. Fortunately it borders the northeastern corner of campus and has a wide walking/running path along its entire length. If I were forced to walk the hill, I could do it in relative safety.
From the top of the hill it would be level or even slightly downhill the remainder of the way. And most of that way is bordered by walking/running paths which would keep me out of traffic.
This evening, after doing some gardening with Sibylle, I got the better of my two bikes out of the shed, inflated the tires, put on my helmet, my bicycling shoes, and set of for a couple laps of the neighborhood. It’s true that you never really forget how. Not having ridding any significant amount since well before my lower back became a concern, I don’t know how it will fare on my sporty road bike. If I am to be successful with bicycle commuting I may end up investing in something a bit more upright, perhaps with some fenders and a rack with which to carry my computer bag.
Even with some uncertainty about riding two and from work, it felt very good get on a bike and ride around the block a couple of times on the eve of my 48th birthday.