Future Poltergeist

My brother got a cool oppurtunity this week to meet the President. He's the one on the right with the smirk (my brother, not the President). Very cool.

This was the movie that kicked off the disaster film spree of the 70's. It involves a star studded cast in danger, in this case an airport that's dealing with a blizzard, a jet blocking a runway and a bomb on a plane. Of local intrest is that large portions were filmed at the Minneapolis airport (named Lincoln airport and moved to Chicago for the story). It's very strange to not see the sprawling terminals and parking ramps that the modern airport has. In fact, the whole movie is a strange look back in time. There are curtesy phones (do they still have those), flamethrowing trucks for the runway and pagers(!) roughly the size of grenades. One plot of the movie deals with noise abatement, another tie to today. The movie is dated, to be sure, but that just serves to make it more interesting. The plot is complicated with airport/community issues, troubled marriages, stowaways and that bomb I mentioned. It handles the complications well and is interesting throughout. Th...

I know, even more, but I've realized that I have more to say! 'Raging Bull' was rated much too highly. It's not even Scorsese's best film much less the fourth best ever. 'Goodfellas' (#92) was a better movie and frankly I'm shocked that it didn't rate higher. I love 'Singing in the Rain' but I'm not sure if it's a top ten movie either. The dancing is fantastic, it has plenty of great songs and is lots of fun. But...the story is incredibly thin, little more than a framework to hang the songs on. There's a good half dozen musicals (at least) that I'd rate higher. I fell asleep during 'Vertigo' a few years back. My impression of it wasn't that high even without the snoozing. Apparently, it's the ninth best American film ever though. We have it on the DVR, so I'll give it another look. Hitchcock made some great great movies. Just can't help but wonder if they picked the wrong one here. Where'...

Been meaning to link to this for a few days (found at Mighty Optical Illusion ). It's a spinning woman silhouette . Click over and look at which way she's spinning. Then look at the shadow beneath her and look which way she's spinning again. Kind of freaky.

Help me out with this, please. The FP Gal and I are trying to decide if a Nintendo Wii would be good for the baby. I think it'll help develop hand/eye skills and she thinks I'm full of crap.

On his 500th .

I've been in bad crashes before but nothing like these . Well, not as interesting to look at anyway.

Via Libertas (your one stop shop for conservative film criticism), I find that the Alliance of Women's Film Journalists has come up with their own list of the top 100 movies . The Tenth Anniversary of AFI’s 100 Greatest Movies List got us to thinking, especially when we noticed that of 400 films nominated for AFI’s list, only 4.5 were directed by women. Without knowing who’d been on AFI’s nominating committee nor what instructions they were given, we thought it would be interesting and fun to see whether AWFJ members– a diverse group of strongly opinionated and outspoken professional women film journalists who care passionately about the movies and industry they cover– would develop a list substantially different AFI‘s. This list doesn't have some of the handicaps that the AFI worked under. For one thing, they've got movies from all over the world so they get to include some of my very favorites, like Amelie. It's also constructed with a brief description of why the...

Another article in the Strib, this time blaming the situation on absent pilots . Northwest Airlines continued to struggle with flight cancellations Tuesday, and the carrier for the first time cited a higher-than-normal rate of pilot sick calls as one of the key factors for the disruptions. Northwest was very careful not to lay blame here, but later in the same article: Northwest pilots, who said Monday that they had warned management of the potential for a system breakdown, continued Tuesday to say that the airline's executives are to blame. "If there are more people calling in sick, it's because of a situation that Northwest management created," said Wade Blaufuss, a Northwest pilot and a spokesman for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA). Translation? Quite a bit of mistrust between management and employees. Which never makes for a pretty picture. I hope they get this figured out quickly because it's ordinary travelers that take the brunt of it. Again: Show...

Via Air Mass , a plea to track down location and dates of some old pictures. There are three pictures at the link. I think I recognize this one from Austin. Doesn't that look like St A's down the street? And isn't that the (now) Paramount theater? Any of you folks who knew Austin back when have any insight?

We dealt with hundreds of Northwest cancellations yesterday and word is that we should expect more this summer. I hate to say this, but it seems like NW is in a worse spot right now than the other bigs. I'm not saying that you shouldn't book them for the next few months, but you might want to check other options out. The current round of problems looks like it's being driven by a pilot shortage. Those usually happen late in the month because pilots hit their maximum hours. Be aware of that. Also, show up very early for their flights for the next few months. This will give you more leverage if your flight is cancelled (or worse, oversold). How early? Probably an hour and a half to two hours. The real problem with cancellations is that the industry doesn't have a lot of capacity to take up the slack. If your flight isn't flying, then 100+ people need to find spots on other aircraft. Often that space isn't there unless you're willing to wait a couple...

(You guys will probably get tired of this subject, but it interests me.) One of the criticisms leveled at the AFI for their most recent list was the lack of newer movies. Something along the lines of 'Well, I guess there weren't any great movies made in the last ten years!'. Since the last list came out in '98, only three movies have been made that were honored here (Saving Private Ryan, The Sixth Sense and Fellowship of the Ring). There's a simple reason for not honoring more movies. One simple sign of greatness is how well a movie stands the test of time. A five year old movie hasn't had that chance yet. Well, I got a look at the list of 400 nominees (freely available at the AFI website , free reg req). Here are the recent nominees that were available for voting. Along with commentary of course. American Beauty - Great movie, but too early to tell if it's all time. The Aviator - Didn't see it. A Beautiful Mind - Didn't see it. Being John...

A young girl and her very pregnant mother travel to the countryside in post civil war Spain. During the journey, the girl finds a very large insect which she takes for a fairy. They arrive at a lodge to meet the girl's new father, a sadistic army capitan. The girl also finds a stone labyrinth. That first night she's woken by the fairy and led to the labyrinth where she meets a faun and is told that she's the reincarnation of a fairy princess. Probably. She must complete three tasks to prove herself worthy. But can she trust the faun? Meanwhile, the capitan is trying to track down a remaining group of rebels in hills outside the town. He ruthlessly and savagely attacks any possible partisan. He's possibly the worst man in uniform since the concentration camp commandant in Schindler's List. A mole within the camp provides the sympathetic note for his enemies. The two stories intertwine as the girl is pushed harder and harder away from the real world into a bi...

I'm still reading about the AFI list from last week and ran across this post from NY mag complaining that New York wasn't given it's due credit. The movie who's abscence bothers this writer is Woody Allen's 'Manhattan'. Now, I haven't seen it and the post makes it sound very good, but honestly, did anyone else look at this and think "there should be more movies about New York"? Anyone? I find it interesting that the author describes this as a Los Angeles based list. According to the AFI, they polled 'leaders from across the film industry-artists, scholars, critics and historians' to create the list. That seems like a reasonable cross section for this type of task. It also seems inevitable that they would be Hollywood-centric in their choices. Maybe 'Sunset Blvd' and other show biz related films are given too much credit because of that. However, googling around for other reactions, the one film that has created the most ...

Which basically says I don't care about other people much at all. Test here .

Horrible story here . A teen who lost her feet in an accident at a Kentucky amusement park has undergone surgery, a park spokeswoman said Friday, while two park operators closed similar rides around the country. The girl's feet were completely amputated just below the ankle Thursday afternoon while riding the Superman Tower of Power at Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom in Louisville. What an awful thing to happen. Can you imagine going to the park and having this happen. Just horrible. This is one of the FP Gal's favorite rides. Guess we'll tuck our feet in from now on.

Last night the FP Gal and I caught the latest AFI movie list . They kicked this whole movie list thing off back in '98 with the top 100 list. They've done a new series each year (last year was movie quotes ) but they went back and did the top 100 again . Full list here . While AFI officials have not decided if they will continue the annual lists in coming years, Firstenberg said the institute will do a new list of all-time best American films every 10 years as a guide to changing tastes in future decades. I like this idea and hope they do continue it. It'll be very interesting to see what new films make the cut and what gets discarded as time goes on. For instance, some of the cuts this time were 'Amadeus' and 'Close Encounters' (which I both liked) and 'Dances with Wolves' which I hope time forgets. Breakdown by decade? Of course! 10's 1 20's 3 30's 13 40's 11 50's 16 60's 16 70's 20 80's 8 90's 11 00's ...

She looks great!

The famous Lileks Olive Garden screed . Very funny. Ken Jennings 'helpful' suggestions for Jeopardy! .

News out of the Vatican today is the release of 10 new commandments today, focusing on driving. The "Drivers' Ten Commandments," as listed by the document, are: 1. You shall not kill. 2. The road shall be for you a means of communion between people and not of mortal harm. 3. Courtesy, uprightness and prudence will help you deal with unforeseen events. 4. Be charitable and help your neighbor in need, especially victims of accidents. 5. Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin. 6. Charitably convince the young and not so young not to drive when they are not in a fitting condition to do so. 7. Support the families of accident victims. 8. Bring guilty motorists and their victims together, at the appropriate time, so that they can undergo the liberating experience of forgiveness. 9. On the road, protect the more vulnerable party. 10. Feel responsible toward others. I bet Hans trouble with number five. Might keep him from becomin...

I'm trying to understand this . I'm failing.

Ellison's book is about a man who believes that he has become invisible. Invisible to the people around him and especially to the society at large. This invisiblity is tied into a loss of identity so deep that the narrartor never even names himself. The novel is a history of a black man from the south. The first chapter (very powerfully) tells of a speech that he gave at his graduation dealing with 'humility'. The speech was so well received that the local (white) businessmen invite him to reprise it at a function of theirs. Before the talk he's invited to join a 'battle royal' where a number of black men are made to fight each other blindfolded in a ring. After this savagry he gives his speech and is rewareded with a scholarship to a black college. That's only the beginning of his lifetime education as he encounters betrayal after betrayal. People he respects see him only as a tool and try to use him for their own purposes. He's not seen as a man ...

We took a small vacation this week without leaving the metro area. A while back, I got a certificate for a free weekend stay at the Residence Inn near the Mall of America and this is when we took advantage of it. With the current heat wave, we enjoyed turning the air conditioning all the way up and the chance to float in a pool. Have you ever stayed at a Res Inn? They specialize in longer stays. The room we were in had a full kitchen and seperate living room area. When I say 'full kitchen' I mean it. We had a range and a microwave. Our own dishwasher and a full size refrigerator with ice maker. If you were in town for a week on business you could easily load up and cook for yourself. They'll even go and get the groceries for you! They also have a large breakfast buffet. We had a choice of waffles or french toast, scrambled eggs, sausage, oatmeal, various fruit, cereal or basic toasting options. We ate well both mornings (probably too well). Mon-Thur they also ha...

Very well done.

This is going around (I saw it here ) so I thought I'd jump in too. Ten book questions: 1. One book that changed your life . Probably 'Atlas Shrugged. At an impressionable age, I was shown that ability drives the world. I was taught to distrust any attempt to cheat value and that reality persists despite the efforts of anyone. 2. One book that you've read more than once . Another big one in my life, 'Time Enough for Love'. A book about a cynical rascal who has lived for thousands of years and is forced to share the things he's learned. It taught me alot about people and their good and bad points. Showed me that you have to expect something less than perfection in human activities. Another one that's big on ability. 3. One book you'd want on a desert island . Lots of candidates here but I'd probably go with 'Les Miserables'. Long enough to take some time to read with many wonderful passages to meditate on. The first hundred pages o...

Great post about how to structure a movie . The best illustrations are from this article . Basic plot was handed down to us from the ancient past (the Greeks?). It's survived this long for a good reason. It works! One of my biggest movie pet peeves is when there is a large amount of time between the climax and the credits. Once the audience knows how the story ends, it's time to let them out of the theater. If someone could email this to Peter Jackson, I'd appreciate it.

No baby class tonight (or anymore). We're kind of glad because the drive over was not an easy one. We're hoping the FP Gal doesn't go into labor during rush hour. Not sure what we'll do if she does unless it involves flagging down a cop. Just over eight weeks left and it becomes more real every day. Everyone at work asks if I'm ready yet and I honestly tell them 'no'. How can you be ready for something that you've never done before? Also there's a saying about 'pride goeth before a baby' or something. Remember the movie project? When I finished the 80's I was very ready to be done with it. Now? I kinda miss it. It's been nice to watch some other random movies but I miss the structure. So in a few weeks I'll be starting back up with the 70's. I hear they're pretty good. Was it just last week that I was writing about the nice weather we've been having? I must have offended some weather god or something. Eve...

for Jodi ( link ). The last ten seconds kill me. Do you need to borrow a cat?

in one of my favorite areas . On Tuesday, Tucker was back on the island as NSP's successor, Xcel Energy, dedicated Water Power Park and opened its gates along historic Main Street for the first time. The 1.4-acre park begins as a walkway that skirts the company's hydroelectric plant and then opens into a wider portion of the northern tip of the island. It brings visitors close enough to St. Anthony Falls to feel the spray of its water and be humbled by the rumble as the river drops nearly 50 feet across a spillway. Sounds very nice.

(Not a reference to the post below.) So we had some free time today (while celebrating) and decided on an impromptu movie. On our radar was a movie from the same people as '40 Year Old Virgin'. A movie about an accidental pregnancy, called 'Knocked Up'. The movie is about a stoner who meets a stunner who just got a promotion. She's feeling good, has too much to drink and they end up back at her place. Birth control confusion happens and eight weeks later, she embarrassingly tracks him down again to tell him that he's a dad. The two are horribly mismatched. Not only does he not have money, he's not the least bit interested in doing something that might put him on the path to having money. She doesn't want people to know about him and his malnourished ego keeps him in the game. She decides to keep the baby and maybe if they spend enough time together, something will click. Life lessons are learned and the story, while not surprising, is sweet and en...

found here .

Hard to believe it's been two whole years! And yes, I'd do it all over again.

So I had a few hours to kill yesterday during the baby shower, so I went off to a cheap theater in hopes that something there would be worth two dollars. 'Perfect Stranger'? No. 'Are we Done Yet'? No. Ah, here's one I actually wanted to pay full price for, 'Fracture'. The movie stars Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling. Hopkins has killed his wife for having an affair. There's no question that he did it, he admitted as much. The case goes to a hotshot lawyer (Gosling) who has been so good as a city prosecutor that he's being hired by an important firm. Sounds like there's no drama, right? There really isn't. Until the case starts unraveling. And Hopkins starts twisting the knife. And twisting some more. Actually, Hopkins is his usual brilliant self and even would have been worth full price. The rest of the cast is good, if not remarkable. Did I enjoy this movie? I really did. After being a bit disappointed with Spiderman 3 and se...

Last night I went to Austin to celebrate the 40th anniversary of Summerset theater, the summer community theater. (40 years! That's almost half of my mother's age.) This was a wonderful opportunity for me to connect with some people that I hadn't seen in years. They put on a show that interspersed the theater stalwarts with some song and dance numbers. The funniest bit was an old vaudeville bit called 'living statues'. It involves an ingenue (Lia) singing a song while three men in long underwear strike figures of famous statues and historical scenes (discus thrower, the thinker, Washington crossing the Delaware, charlie's angels). Very funny stuff! I was struck by a few things. The huge amount of commitment that some people have put into that theater is impressive. These are people that sometimes spend mornings building sets, afternoons creating costumes and evenings in rehearsals. Understanding spouses are a must. I miss those days! Not that I was ever...

Paint ? The Earth has an albedo of 0.29, meaning that it reflects 29 per cent of the sunlight that falls upon it. With an albedo of 0.1, towns absorb more sunlight than the global average. Painting all roofs white could nudge the Earth's albedo from 0.29 towards 0.30. According to a very simple "zero-dimensional" model of the Earth, this would lead to a drop in global temperature of up to 1 °C, almost exactly cancelling out the global warming that has taken place since the start of the industrial revolution. A zero-dimensional model, however, excludes the atmosphere and, crucially, the role of clouds. [But!] It would be interesting to see if more sophisticated models predict a similar magnitude of cooling. My father in law has helped with a green roof project in the past. I wonder if we'll start seeing more and more of these micro efforts to halt warming.

Last night we covered caring for newborns. Everything from how they look when they come out (unfinished) to what we needed to do for them/with them when they come home. Apparently, they're a lot of work. We opened up with a video that showed how parental interaction helps the baby learn and develop. Focusing on shapes, having 'conversations' with those around and general playing all help turn this cute little thing into a human being. Seeing five or six families (same ones from the birthing videos) just insanely in love with their babies was enough to warm the hardest heart. (I'll admit that these videos brought tears to my eyes several times.) Then we looked at pictures of newborns so we could see various possible blemishes. Blue hands and feet are common with newborns. They fade in time so show biz isn't a certainty. They can also get 'stork bites' which are reddish blotches. (I meant to ask if stork delivery was an option but forgot to.) Basica...

"Hon, you look ten months pregnant." This shows my inexperience, both with what to say and how to judge pregnancy levels. I'm not alone in this as people at her office think the same thing. She looks awfully cute though!

I complain about the weather up here from time to time but I've got to say that I've really enjoyed the last few days. Drizzly and cool with periods of sunshine. Very nice sleeping weather and plenty of negative ions . Wish we could bottle this for the inevitable heat wave in July. Have I linked to this site before? It tracks popularity of names over time. Mine peaked in the '60s (kind of). The FP Gal's name peaked in the 80's. Most popular current name starting with an 'L'? Lacey. Who knew? Another YouTube clip? This one shows centuries of women in art . Almost hypnotic. Guess we'll have to change our policy with new agents at work. We watched The Imposters this weekend. A fun, quirky movie about two actors who accidently stowaway on a cruise ship where almost everyone has a scam of some sort. Billy Connolly kills me in this movie. That's it!

Interesting , if nothing else.

Yes, I cheered for the lions.

So I'm killing time at work today on hold with an airline, so I tool over to wikipedia to find out something new and interesting. See the featured article there? Look to the left and you'll see a little link that says 'Random article'. That's where the fun lies! (Quick hit it ten times and see if you can avoid hitting an athlete or pop culture reference.) Today's journey brought me to the page of Perce Blackborow , a sailor on the Shackleton expidition. Note the picture of him with the cat on his shoulder. The cat named Mrs. Chippy . A cat with his own page. At the bottom of that page is a list of historical cats . Only eighteen are listed but there's a good half dozen interesting stories there. Hodge - who belonged to Samuel Johnson and was 'a very fine cat, a very fine cat indeed.' Humphrey - whom Cherie Blair was accused of murdering. India - W's cat, who caused protests and 101 dogs to be named Bush. (Um, ok.) Muezza - Mohamma...

A list of the top 15 is found here . Also listed are three honorable mentions. Was surprised that Rio didn't make the cut. I'll always have a soft spot for this skyline right here:

Link .

Your cars all have names, right? That's only normal behavior, isn't it? A few weeks ago one of my coworkers bought a car and was very excited about it. The only damper on her joy came when I asked if she'd picked out names yet. She looked at me blankly so I asked everyone in our row. Name after name. Some were cute names. Some were based on the license plate. Some had adjectives (i.e. 'Sassy Girl'). She'd never heard of this before so she started taking suggestions. I gave her 'the red menace' but she's too young for that to have meant anything. To my shame though, my car doesn't have a name either. Somehow in the four years of owning her a name never popped out. That simply wouldn't do! And it didn't have to be that way. After discussing it with the FP Gal, I chose a name that she'd shot down for the baby. Now that I've bought her, she will be called Pagoda . Bonus observation: people tend to drive cars of the oppo...

doesn't it ?

We had our fourth class last night (only one more to go and then we're allowed to have a baby). Last night we focused on Cesarean birth. As I mentioned last week, I don't do well with surgery or cutting so this wasn't an easy class to sit through. Did you know that they have the dad accompany the mom into surgery? And that they don't put her out for it? Didn't know I was signing up for that! The FP Gal has given me until the actual birth to get over my fears about this. (Deep breath. Focus.) The common joke is that in many years they have yet to lose a single father. I'd hate to ruin that streak. Our teacher is so funny and wise in many ways. She's had three of her own, the most recent just a few months ago. This lets her give us advice that she wished she had known. She suggested that mom go to bed very early or sleep very late so that she can still get seven or eight hours even with breaks for baby. Makes sense to me. Also talked about post pa...