Tuesday, May 27, 2008

3:30 wake up call

i'm not really a "cat-person." before i get started, i'd just like to take a second to say that i try judge animals on an animal-to-animal basis. i feel it unfair to judge an entire species based on a lovable or even loathable family pet. thus, i'm not really a "dog-person" either.

there are both dogs and cats i'd like to be guilty of "dropkicking off of a porch and killing it," to quote a favorite prayer of forgiveness for the uncle of a girl that went to our church when i was a kid. on the more humane side, there are animals i do enjoy and, on occasion, like to pet. the past few nights, the family cat has been the former (one i'd like to kick).

it has become silas' pattern to migrate to my room in the wee hours of night to sleep on my window sill. i suppose he likes the view. it is usually a quiet affair.

however, the past two nights at roughly 3:30 am another cat has found it enjoyable to sit directly in front of my window, causing silas to freak out.

i have been awakened to the ambulance-like cry of this awful beast, accompanied by the completely unsoothing sound of him hissing like a cappuccino machine. if there was ever a time for me to be violent, it is at this early hour.

the first night, it lasted for 20 minutes. i tried so many things to get him to stop. i even closed the blind. this only made it louder, with a higher level of freaking out than i've ever heard from a living being. i finally had to go chase away the neighboring hell spawn of a cat, in my dickensian nighttime attire (robe, sleeping cap, slippers and candle).

to my relief, this brought peace back to my slumber. last night, i just started with chasing away the other cat. my great concern, is that this could become routine- every night at 3:30, waking up to chase away a cat. my great relief is that i won't really have to deal with it. i will not be living there much longer and will have no pet in portland, nothing to wake me up in the middle of the night except my own hopes and fears.

thus, i won't need the classic prayer that young girl offered up. i will kick no cat off of the porch, killing it. though it is possible i will kick a certain cat off of my bed, as gently as possible.

Friday, May 23, 2008

Indiana Jones Jumps Jaws & Extra-Cholesterol

wednesday night, just before midnight i gathered at the movie theatre with most of franklin high school, many a geek and some friends to watch the newest addition to the indiana jones lore. the atmosphere was fantastic. people were genuinely delighted to be there. you only get this type of exuberance from crowds like this, unwilling to wait for the sensible matinée the next day.

if someone is willing to put off sleep to watch a movie as soon as possible, there isn't a good chance that they are there to hate it- at least i hope not. how sad it would be for people to seek out disappointment like that.

it is hard not to get caught up in the moment, the excitement of it all in this setting. there was even applause for the previews, little flashes of movies that are completely unproven (ahh previews, i could watch them for hours). there was so much build-up, so much to live up to.

lucas didn't think it could. he seemed to fear this type of hype, this type of excitement. perhaps jar jar has him afraid of any kind of expectation. i wouldn't blame him for that. at times, the guy sounds like the joy of film making was sucked out of him. he said in an interview people think it is going to be like the second coming but that:

"it's just a movie. just like the other movies. you probably have fond memories of the other movies. but if you went back and looked at them, they might not hold up the same way your memory holds up."

this is not the voice of a man who still gets a charge out of making films or that appreciates how cinema can touch people, not like spielberg at least. lucas did say it was a blast to make, that it was fun and that he thinks it turned out fantastic. i just don't know if i believe him. simply stated: i don't trust george lucas.

i had the chance to watch a documentary called "spielberg on spielberg" last night. it is amazing how personal his films are. i also found it interesting to hear him talk about ET (a film my grandma refers to as 'ET: The Extra-Cholesterol'). he refered to it as his most spiritual film. i surely do agree. i love the themes of solitude and community within it. simply stated: i do trust steven spielberg.

thus, i went into this with a natural bias. i was concerned because of lucas, but willing to put hope in spielberg to take care of our beloved action/adventure/archaeologist.

so how was the film? oh, so many ways to answer this question. i generally liked it. the movie was so close to being really good.

but the word that haunted me immediately was plausibility. unlike the first three, there was just too much in this movie that i wasn't willing to believe. primarily, it was shia lebeouf's tarzan act and some waterfall jumping. these things took away from my enjoyment of this film, a film which is still really enjoyable.

the first act is fantastic, perhaps to the detriment of the rest of the film. it is hard to climb over the very high bar the movie set for itself from the very beginning. the last half of the film suffered from the highly entertaining beginning. just one question about the beginning: what's up with all the gofers? perhaps it was an homage to caddyshack- if only they would have danced to kenny loggins' terrible music.

lebeouf and ford were fantastic together. lebeouf has the capacity to be a bona fide star, and i'm alright with that. he had me at "old man." there was genuine chemistry between the main cast and lebeouf's screen presence easily matched ford's.

the diner/fight scene might be my favorite in the film. but i feel like they rode that motorcycle right up a ramp to peru and jumped swiftly over a shark tank- possibly containing one of the relatives of the shark from jaws. (jaws 3 not only jumped the shark figuratively; they did it literally and in 3-d).*

here is my depiction:

i digress.

the ladies of indiana jones iv were great(still crossing my fingers for the calendar). but when is cate blanchett not great? for that matter, when is karen allen not enjoyable? in truth, it was just nice to see her again. add the look on jones' face when he sees marion again to things i loved about the movie. ford really showed up for what feels like the first time in a really long time, no more so then his reaction to seeing her again.

really, there wasn't a bad performance in the movie, if you don't include some of the cgi. john hurt, jim broadbent and ray winstone were very solid though their characters weren't really given much, especially broadbent's. as a bonus, it was nice to see scrubs let neil flynn out of his jumpsuit for a small part. you could hardly ask for better cast and performances. but the story took, what i feel, are unnecessary and distracting turns. as much as it couldn't live up to its hype, it just couldn't match the spectacular first half of the film.

ultimately/unfortunately, i think lucas was right in his fear. the movie is fun to watch, in many ways fantastic. it doesn't measure up to the first or third of the series. temple of doom still dwells at the bottom for me. even with its faults this one was good, a solid third for me.

exiting the theater, the words "i blame lucas" came falling out of my mouth. i suppose i blamed him for all the shortcomings- mostly because he has become an easy target. but i also blame him for making me go into it guarded, not expecting to love it, prepared for it to be 'just a movie.' i was left confused a bit about just how i felt. of course, it was three in the morning.

it definitely belongs with the other films. it is an indiana jones movie, not just an attempt at one.
i guess i'd give it a b.

thank you for indulging my nerdity. i'd also like to hear opinions of the film from the bold among us.

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* "jumping the shark" is a phrase used to denote when a movie or tv series plot veers off into an absurd direction, some ridiculous storyline is introduced, or it becomes out-of-the-ordinary or unbelievable. it refers to an episode of the
fading 'happy days' when the fonze jumps over a shark on water skis. i fear 'lost' might do this someday (they are teetering on the edge perpetually and i love them for it).

Monday, May 19, 2008

i'm gonna be an aunt!!

it was a typical college afternoon. i was simply sitting at my desk, working diligently on what i'm sure was a well thought out, reasonably argued paper with quite profound depth and insight while listening to various concertos. yes, that is how i remember school to be.

suddenly my door burst open as a close friend of mine, mike, came rushing towards me with the type of excitement only matched by elementary-aged children on Christmas morning. without an inch of composure, mike blurts out the following sentence:

"I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!!!!"

i was confused, mainly due to gender related reasons. trying to slow him down, make him think about what he was saying, i asked him to repeat his sentence.

this second attempt was the same. mike, my clearly male friend, was going to be an aunt. i asked him to explain.

"my brother and his wife are having a little baby girl. I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT!"

"ohhhh, i see where you're confused, mike." i try to inform him about how this whole family tree thing works. "you'll be an uncle, always an uncle. you'll have a niece. if it were a boy, you'd have an nephew and you'd still be an uncle. the terms uncle and aunt are relative to your sex."

i think he knew he had it wrong. he simply didn't care, telling me so. in fact, he left the room with the same energy he entered. on the way out he offered me one more "i'm gonna be an aunt." i'm sure he went on down the hall, interrupting hard-at-work samford-ites, confusing every last one of them with his proud declaration.

so in honor of mike's gusto and joy let me join him in his cry: I'M GONNA BE AN AUNT! my own brother and sister-in-law are having a baby girl: addison (not sure if that's spelled correctly).

it is nice having people around you that have the capacity to be so happy that simple things like gender-appropriate terms for family relationship get lost in the joy. i've always been more stoic than i'd like to be, which sometimes looks like me not being happy. but it genuinely does make me happy to see my friends and family doing well and enjoying life, not caring about much else.

i was asked, not long ago, what kind of thing makes me happy. this is right up there at the top of the list. i love seeing people filled with joy. i feed off that. i've found nothing better than seeing people genuinely content, especially when it is in Christ. it is amazing the type of energy people with this type of joy will inspire in everyone around them.

i aim for that in my own life. i desire that "i'm gonna be an aunt" joy in my life all the time. as far as i know, the best source for that is the Author of Life, the One who came that we might have life, and have it to the fullest. so i'll, seek that.

besides, it is too much to ask of my siblings to constantly be having kids. it just doesn't make any fiscal sense, not with the economy as it is and gas prices.....oy vey. (please excuse the yiddish)

Monday, May 12, 2008

the news

so i'm sitting in this random coffee shop, one of three customers. this gentleman before me looks like the type that could be part of some mafia, italian or otherwise. he has been riveted to his work, minus the continual second-long glances at the television, on the news and inaudible above him.

all of a sudden, i see his gaze lock on the television. curious now, i look too. there must have been something serious going on for this man to prolong his look towards the tv.

it turns out it was an ad for the new sex and the city movie.

i did not see that coming. of all the things one would expect to interest this man- the floods, the disasters, the latest o.j. simpson story- it was this ad for what i can only assume will be an awful movie.

the second it ended, he was back to work and never looked again at the television. i suppose this is what he was looking for with all those glances. it just didn't add up. i don't understand why anybody would care about this, especially this man who, as i just learned thinks that using ketchup for french fries and bbq sauce for chicken nuggets is a 'no-brainer.' this coffee shop makes me uncomfortable.

all that to say, i've been accepted into multnomah biblical seminary in portland, oregon. so i guess i'll be moving to portland in the fall. i just don't know if the unicorn will make it (a reference that will confuse only some).

Thursday, May 01, 2008

Appliance Direct! (White Porcelain)

coincidentally, they use to call seth worley 'white porcelain' in high school. i'll say this for the guy: he's got charisma. i suppose that means i'd feel comfortable buying any number of appliances from him.
oh, why the heck not?

I LOVE APPLIANCES!!

his love has inspired me on this day.