Random Things

This is going to be a little different of a post, filled not with stories, but with a few reviews, of movies, music, books, and just random cool stuff.

I'll start with some movies. Up, from the movie giant that Pixar has become. I loved it in general, and there were very few weak scenes. I will say this though, that despite the surface-deep kid-friendlyness of this movie, there is a lot to this movie on an adult level. Several running jokes, and commentaries on various ideas. As a bit of a joke snob, I was on the lookout for some good jokes in this movie, and I wasn't dissapointed. There was a good bit of physical humor from one of the characters that has absolutely no lines. The really good jokes were about the universal characters though. The old man, the slightly crazy little kid, the one we all know and tolerate, (if you don't know a person like Russell, then you are that person), and dogs. The dogs provided some of the biggest laughs, and were pretty consistent. We all suspect that our dogs are that stupid, deep down, and they do all these great things, but you throw a ball, or say treat (regardless of the context) and they become slobbering, brainless dopes. Full disclosure, I had a dog like that, and I loved him. The idiot. The emotional, sentimental side of the story was....interesting, but not really what I expected. In addition, I'm not married (news flash!), and the particular kind of relationship that was being invoked was heart-warming, but I have a hard time identifying with that. It is an admirable goal for a relationships, I will give it that. Finally, the storyline I actually find the most interesting, looking back. The "evil explorer" arch-nemesis, the antagonist of the story, is obsessed with finding this particular kind of bird, fantastic in appearance. Sorry. SPOILER ALERT! That's better. The scientist/explorer guy is obsessed with this bird. He doesn't see the importance of the bird living. To remove nuance, if the bird goes, its chicks die, but this man is relentless. Additionally, he is driven by attempting to restore his reputation as a man of science. How does a man who so loves nature fail to see what he will be doing? I'm not sure, frankly.

Another good movie I saw was (saw was is some kind of fancy word thing. If you turn it around, its still the same) Food Inc. I was actually pretty familiar with a lot of the data, from reading a lot of the material this drew on, but the visuals were amazing, and really helpful. I highly recommend it. Really thought provoking, and helps blow away some of the fog that surrounds our food.

As far as music, this particular band is high on my list of favorites. Interestingly, it feels accessible, and at the same time challenging. A sweet blend of classical and indie pop, The Most Serene Republic has some of my favorite lyrics ever. "Gadzooks, gadzooks, gadzooks!" and "I thought that we'd established we are friends, now go am-scray!". Nuff' said. Its not the most well-known and established group out there, but really good.

Books. I've been reading a lot of different things recently, but two books have been excellent, and I wanted to share. The first was The Manual of Detection by Jedidiah Berry. This book last just about one bus ride. It was so great, I couldn't stop reading. This is an absurdist twist on the classic detective story, with a sly wink at the seasoned reader, and a twist about halfway through that tells you this isn't just another whodunit. The complexity of the storyline was a lot of fun, and really engaged me. Don't try reading this while multi-tasking. If you want a story set in reality, entirely plausible, find something else, but if you enjoy a break from reality, give this a look. The second is For Us, The Living by Robert A. Heinlein. If you've never read any Heinlein, don't start here. This recently found first work by one of the masters of substantive science fiction is more a preview of the topics that almost all of his later, more refined works would cover. Love, violence, science, economics, its all here. If you have read a fair bit of Heinlein, this is worth the time. Basically a short story with a lot of history and data, very much worth seeing the starting point of the journey of ideas that resulted in classics like Starship Troopers, The Cat Who Walks Through Walls, etc.

Cool random stuff. The best I've got is the fact that rain and winter finally seem to have arrived here. I love rain. I wish it was snowing, but, people who live in CA can't complain about weather. I would like to point out that with the right amount of water on the ground, getting a nice skid is about as easy as falling off a log.

One final cool thing is SOC. Check the terms, this should be on the list. Our last meeting was about marine technology. Off the hook! We had 3 speakers, and each had 10 minutes allotted. In total, they went over by 30 minutes. It was really, really interesting. Exploring the ocean presents some interesting problems, and it was really cool to see the methods some pretty smart people are coming up with to work around those barriers, and all we are learning because of that technology.