Wild

I watched Into the Wild earlier this week.  I had never seen it before, nor had I read the book.  I'm usually pretty good about reading books before seeing movies based on them - the books are almost always better.  I think I may have to go back and read Krakauer's book - but not because I liked the movie.

It was a very interesting movie, but I found it frustrating.  Not the movie itself, but the story it tells.  As a technical exercise, the movie is very good - Sean Penn directed it and does a good job of giving the movie the visual scope it deserves, since so much of it takes place in the great wide spaces of the American West.  My trouble is one that many others have - the young man in the movie, Chris McCandless, was gifted and willful and capable and foolish.  He essentially walked away from his life and tramped for two years, ending up in the hinterlands near Denali National Park, where he eventually starved to death.  My reaction, over and over in the movie, was that almost every choice reflected staggering hubris and egotism.  From his surviving letters and journals, plus the recollections of the many people he met and befriended, McCandless was looking for a latter-day Walden experience, to live as Thoreau did.  This does not align with the spirit of Walden in some ways - Walden was basically a suburb of Boston, even when Thoreau was there, just out by Lynn, inside route 128.  He would often leave the cabin and visit town.

Though perhaps McCandless was more right than he knew; he benefited from the kindness of those he met on the road many times, and Thoreau was actually living on his friend Emerson's property.  Yet he still thought he could walk out into some of the harshest country known and survive on his own.  Even if he had the skills and wherewithal to do so, I think I may have a fundamental issue with his desire to isolate himself.  I prefer Donne to Thoreau:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friends or of thine own were; any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee

Krakauer himself has argued in McCandless' favor, saying that he didn't take a map so he could "create" a blank place on the map to explore.  I don't find self-deception sympathetic.  Others who agree with Krakauer argue that McCandless was trying to live in harmony with nature, and acted out of respect.  Nature is one mean mother, and respect first means you never forget that she is trying to kill you (and eventually will).  I feel like his actions were fundamentally disrespectful - he acted as one trying to impose their will on nature, to live as they see fit rather than as they can.  And lastly, for someone who has been described as being so personable and friendly, his willingness to walk away from so many people strikes me as cold.  Even in the movie's depiction of him, I found him selfish.

I have to admit, all I have to go on is the movie.  I have not educated myself on the facts.  So I will definitely read the book.  My real point is that the movie, whether or not you enjoy the story, is very good, because it forces you to form an opinion, to think about what you've seen.  I enjoyed that, and look forward to learning more.

Getting the Runaround

Aaron passed through DC again this weekend for work, and was able to come and visit.  We made our usual visits to Poblano and the Dairy Godmother.  Flavor of the Day: S'mores.  One of my favorites, so the timing could not have been better.

Before he had to go on Sunday, we thought we might go see a movie.  There were movies he had seen that I wanted to, and we're trying to get tickets to the Imax showings of The Dark Knight in a few weeks when he is in town again.  So we ended up getting tickets for the new X-Files movie.  If only it were so simple.

We were early, so we just kind of camped out and waited.  Eventually, more people started showing up.  Aaron noticed that the scheduled start time had come and gone.  The audience started to grumble.  Soon, folks were leaving their seats to go out and complain.  Still, nothing happened.  Then, the pre-movie local ads and trivia cut out, and we were left sitting there, puzzled.

A low-level employee then came in and made an announcement.  After they had sold us our tickets, and sent us to this theater, they had switched the showing to another theater in the multiplex.  And it had started on time.  So we had missed a significant amount of the movie.  Complaints all around as we exchanged our tickets for the next showing.  We left the theater to run some minor errands before returning for the show.

We took our tickets and headed for the 3rd theater of the day.  However, the digital marquee at the door tells us that Mamma Mia!, the same show that took over the 1st theater, was playing here as well.  It seems the staff was not having their past day, logistically.  We ask any member of the staff we can find, mostly stereotypically surly teenagers.  They tell us to go upstairs to a fourth theater.

That theater is labeled as playing Mamma Mia!.  The groups of women headed inside humming "Fernando" was also a good clue.  We head to the service desk, and are told to return to the 3rd theater, though it is still listed as showing the ABBA musical.  At this point, the "answer" comes in the form of shrugs, "I dunno where it's playing" and a resigned handwave towards one theater or another.  We settle into our seats, and begin to observe our fellow audience members.  They do not look like stereotypical X-Files fans.  They do look like they know all the words to "Dancing Queen."  Someone was in for a disappointment.

Eventually, a very nice woman, a customer, comes in and asks if anyone is here to see Mamma Mia!, because she has spoken to the manager and that is being shown at a fifth theater.  About half of the audience gets up and leaves.  One woman laughs as she left, "I did think there were an awful lot of men here for Mamma Mia!"

The movie itself was all right.  Basically a decent episode of the old show stretched to feature length.  The story to get to the movie was probably more entertaining, though.

Big Time in the Jungle

On his way back from Grandma & Grandpa's 60th anniversary party, Chris was able to stop by this past weekend. He had spent some time in Columbus as well, watching minor league games and visiting his old friend Virgil. He got here late on Thursday, and I left him to his own devices on Friday.

Saturday, we had hoped to go out to Shenandoah and hike Old Rag, but the forecast said there could be strong thunderstorms because the atmosphere was "energetic." Instead, we went up to Rock Creek Park.

I've ridden through the park plenty of times, but never really stopped there. We hiked out from the Nature Center (which includes a planetarium!) and went to the ruins of a Civil War battery, Fort Drury. Not particularly impressive, just mounds of dirt really. But interesting for as a touchstone of local history.

We headed down into the park, and ended up going along the creek for some distance. Not rough hiking, by any means - easy grades, well maintained trails. Really quite nice. It was easy to forget we were essentially in the middle of the city - felt like a "real" forest. We even came upon a deer on the trail - clearly used to people, since it let us get within about 15 feet before shambling off. And while it was hot and humid, but proximity to the creek and the plentiful shade helped ease things a little.

Unfortunately, the free park map doesn't include a lot of detail on the trails, things like the badging used to mark the way. And the signage and badging was fairly poor. So we ended up doing a figure eight instead of a loop, since I took us left when we should have gone right. Still, it was a lucky mistake - the distance ended up being just about perfect, about four and half miles of easy trails. And that extra loop was very nice - it reminded me of some of the cross country trails we ran in high school.

The timing could not have been better - we got home, and just as we finished cleaning up, the sky opened up. The storms were brief but intense. I'm glad we weren't stuck out in anything like that out on the Blue Ridge.

After that, we had lunch, and went to see the new Indiana Jones movie at the Odeon Uptown, the big movie palace up by the zoo. Pretty fun movie, if you know what to expect (basically a 50s B-movie with modern effects and a huge budget). And the Uptown is just a fun place to see a movie - huge curved CinemaScope screen, real balcony, etc. They even show the awesome 70mm prints sometimes - better than HD.

And we ended up back in Del Ray, having dinner at the Afghan Restaurant and Strawberry Shortcake (with fresh Del Ray Farmer's Market berries) at the Dairy Godmother. So, pretty good visit.

Trust in the Swedes

Once again, Ryan and Bethany have made an outstanding video. This one has some technical and editing flourishes which I haven't seen them do before - they are getting better and better. Go check it out, vote for it or something, maybe they'll win some furniture for their new home.

Heroes of Science

I recently read about an soon-to-be-released movie titled The Fall. I was immediately interested for a number of reasons. The trailer makes it clear that visually it is quite stunning. Some descriptions of it call it a combination of Pan's Labyrinth, Big Fish, and the comic version of The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (far far superior to the movie). And the lead is also the star of a tv show I enjoy a great deal, Pushing Daisies.

The movie appears to follow a band of five heroes (at least in a story-within-a-story structure). Which brings me to what may be my favorite part: one of the heroes is Charles Darwin. I just think that is a fantastic idea; I just haven't come up with the proper cliched action-hero catchphrases for the good doctor. "You've been naturally selected... for an ass-kicking!"

It also doesn't hurt that the score to the trailer is one of my favorite pieces of music, the second movement of Beethoven's 7th Symphony. Supposedly Schubert and Wagner thought it was the greatest piece ever written.

Busboys, Poets, Mexican Gangsters, Assassins

I spent a really enjoyable afternoon in Shirlington yesterday. For those who don't know it, Shirlington is an odd little oasis of restaurants, theaters, and businesses in Arlington. It's not really connected to the nearby neighborhoods. It just sits by the side of the I-395, near the Condo Canyon. Recently, it has been changing a great deal. Previously, it was a collection of businesses in high-rises (WETA headquarters is there) with a single street of restaurants and some shops, terminating in the movie theater. Now there Signature Theater has built a new home there, sharing space with a branch of the city library. New shops like CakeLove, more cafes, high-rise condos, a big grocery store - all have opened up recently. So it is quite lively, a sort of suburban downtown, not as far as DC, not as congested as Old Town.

I went to lunch at the cafe/bookstore Busboys and Poets, which was fun. It was extremely crowded - so much so they had to use the little "Your table is ready" buzzers like Ruby Tuesdays. They fixed me up with a delicious barbecue chicken panini. I was tempted by the peanut butter and banana panini - the Elvis Special. Maybe next time.

Because of the crowd, I just barely made it through lunch in time to get over to the movie theater for the showing of No Country for Old Men. I'm a big fan of all of the movies the Coen Brothers have made. I find they fall into two types: comedic capers (Raising Arizona, The Hudsucker Proxy, The Ladykillers, O Brother Where Art Thou?) and tragic thrillers (Fargo, Miller's Crossing, Blood Simple). No Country is clearly one of the latter. Of course, it retains a great deal of their signature humor, mostly of the gallows variety.

After watching the movie, I am forced to agree with what many reviewers have said. The Coens are less interested in the mechanics of the plot - who gets what, wins, loses, etc. - than in the question "why do they do these things?" It doesn't hurt that the many switches and turns of the story have the players reversing roles constantly. To steal a line, it is less a game of cat and mouse than a game of cat and also cat. It's a very tense film, but not in an artificial way - scenes play out slowly, ratcheting up, without feeling drawn out or stretched. If you like any of the other movies by the Coens, I recommend you beat feet down to the movies and see it on the big screen while you still can.

Oil!

After a full morning of chores, I had an extremely helpful PE study session with Sarah, Jane, and Jackie. Between the four of us, we had lots of references and plenty of received knowledge and tips on how best to prepare. I use the term "we" pretty liberally. Jackie had all kinds of references, Sarah knew a bunch of stuff cold - I think because she actually used a lot of it as port engineer, and Jane shared some brilliant ideas on how to organize and prepare. Needless to say, I will shamelessly copy these techniques, and buy/borrow/steal the same references. Jane also provided cookies. So it was time very well spent, though I don't think I brought much to the table. Where these ladies were organized and methodical (Sarah is preparing for the test next year), my study habits are slapdash and sloppy. I hope we can do it again, because I found I worked longer, and better. I am sure that I learned more in those 4 hours than I would have on my own.

Afterwards, I went and saw There Will Be Blood. It was incredible. I won't say 'I've never seen anything like it,' because it is kin to many other great epic movies. It was like a cross between Citizen Kane and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, with oil and betrayals and greed and madness.

The movie looks amazing, taking good advantage of the stark California desert landscape it is set in. Though one sequence, involving an oil fire, was a pure visual and visceral thrill. At first, it seems the movie will rely on pictures alone - the first 20 minutes or so have almost no dialog. I've heard other people remark it could have been made as a silent movie, like the lost classic Greed. As the movie goes on, the dialog becomes better and better (which is not to say the visuals lose anything). By the end, there is dialog paraphrased from historical Senate testimony over the Teapot Dome Scandal involving drainage and milkshakes. It sounds dry, but I assure you it's fantastic.

The movie may seem a bit over-the-top at times. Actually, the main character played by Daniel Day-Lewis is the one who does so. But not to give away the plot too much, but that is the story. The movie itself stays very grounded, as some of the characters, in very realistic ways, snap their moorings and go adrift. It is fascinating. It is a dark film, and I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. But it is compelling, with excellent performances and an intriguing story arc.

I saw the movie at the always-entertaining Old Town Theater in Alexandria. Independent - no previews, no commercials, and they don't start the movie until everyone gets in and seated. The concessions sells wine and beer, and the owner comes out and takes questions before the show. It won't last forever, though: he's moving away in a year and a half, donating the theater to a non-profit organization. The plan is it will continue as-is, though it won't be the same without this character coming out with his plaid slacks and salesman's patter to tell you what will be playing next week.

Bloody Business

I went to see Sweeney Todd the other night with Chris, Ryan and Bethany. Bluntly, I would not give a unreserved recommendation.

I thought it was great, and is exceptional technically. Many of the performances are excellent, and the story is gripping and well told. Easily one of, if not the best movie Tim Burton has ever made.

But I hesitate to recommend it to everyone, because it is so dark, so gory, so cynical about human nature. I know not everyone cares for the kind of black humor that this movie is full of. It is a tragedy in the classic sense.

However, if you aren't put off by a little (or a lot) of blood, and enjoy cinematic tension, dramatic irony, and morality delivered via catharsis, then I do urge you to go see Sweeney Todd.

TIRED CHAP IN FUEL FLAP

It's two in the morning on Sunday. I'm halfway into the trunk of my car, hacking at the liner with a utility knife. In my teeth I've got a star head screwdriver.

Early Saturday morning, I went over to Steph & Aaron's for brunch with them and Heather. This was followed with about 5 hours of helping to assemble wedding invitations. My job was tying the knots for the ribbons. One hundred thirty two square knots. That is easy money, even if I was getting paid in bacon and banana bread.

Aaron and I made ourselves scarce before various bachelorette activities began. We went to Union Station to pick up his brother David, who accompanied his wife Alex to town to celebrate with Steph. Unfortunately, the lines got crossed and we waited for forty minutes in a torrential downpour while David rode the Metro to his hotel in L'Enfant Plaza. After some driving adventures, not to mention almost having a truck back into us, we picked up David and went to see Spider-man 3. Driving over the Potomac in the storm, it was coming down so hard I couldn't see the lights in Virginia. I was convinced the power was out, since all I could see were a few streetlights along the interstate. Luckily, that was not the case.

I choose to withhold commentary on Spider-man 3, save to say the trilogy seems to follow the pattern of the original Star Wars. Good start, great middle, ending... not so much.

As we left the movie, Alex called David and a not entirely clear sequence of events began. We were going to take him back to L'Enfant anyway, so would we mind picking her up in DuPont Circle? Of course not. But it would be rude to pick just her up - it's only fair to give all the women a ride. So, shortly thereafter I'm driving down 16th Street, then past the White House, with 8 people sandwiched into my car. I'm sure I will catch hell for this from my folks when they read this [Happy Mother's Day, Mom!].

So people are talking and laughing, and I'm paying VERY close attention to my driving, as you should do when you are being stupid. Because I am so attentive (and a great planner), I am the only person in the car privy to very important piece of information. The computer indicates the car has about 10 miles before she runs out of gas. We are running on fumes.

But we get to L'Enfant Plaza without trouble, and offload 3 people there. So, everything is fine. A quick trip to the King Street Metro station, then I drop off the remainder and head for the closest gas station that is open at 0100 in the morning. Stop the car, hop out, swipe the credit card, select my fuel... hmmm, that's odd.

The flap over the gas cap is locked. I try the power locks, to no avail. I check the fuse, no change. I break out the owner's manual, and luckily it has instructions for this exact situation. But the instructions call for a utility knife, which I don't have in the car...

So we return to our intro. I make it home (4 miles left in the tank) and begin the work. I do what the manual says... and it still won't open. Out of exhaustion, frustration, and my traditionally poor judgement, I simply pry the flap open with a screwdriver. No real damage - it won't lock again, but that is no great concern to me. It is spring loaded, so it stays closed, and that is enough.

Cyclopath

I read a brief mention of a movie today, called The Flying Scotsman. It was written up by one of the local biking sites, TheWashCycle. It is about a Scot, Grame Obree, who set the Hour Record in 1993 and 1994, on bikes he designed and built himself. He went 52.173 km (32.75 miles).

I had never heard of Obree before, or seen his bike designs. They are brilliant in their simplicity. But I think they would be extraordinarily difficult to ride. I'm not sure I would ever want a bike like that... but I'd love to try one out for a ride or two.

Speaking of bikes, though, May 18th is Bike to Work Day. Many areas will have events including free breakfasts and bike convoys. I wouldn't suggest joining a commuter peloton on a bike like Obree's, but maybe your beat up beach cruiser will do.

Ancient Greek Klingons Vs. Orc Ninjas

I went out last Friday and saw 300 at the Uptown in DC. Before I get into the larger topics, it bears repeating: the Uptown is a fantastic place to see a movie. Huge old movie palace, balcony and all. The screen is enormous, curving around the front of the auditorium. If you sit close enough, it feels like the screen is surrounding you, to take it all in you must swivel your head. I don't recommend sitting too close. Friday was the opening of the movie, so the house was full. I sometimes forget how enjoyable seeing movies with a large, enthusiastic audience can be. This was a fairly brutal, violent movie. The crowd cheered at the particularly spectacular deaths. This crowd was involved, and that made it all the more enjoyable.

The movie itself was very interesting. If you've read many of the reviews, you'll see a lot of critics don't care for it. Some of the main indictments against it is that is historically inaccurate, militaristic, racist, and fails to offer any current cultural commentary or resonance. While it may be, I disagree with the overall critique of the film. I think these critics are judging it on what they might have wanted it to be, rather than what it is.

History: The movie is fairly close to historically accurate. More so than, say, Gladiator, which was pretty much spun from whole cloth. Three hundred Spartans, accompanied by a few thousand more other Greeks, did fight a vast Persian army at Thermopylae and were defeated. Spartans were trained from childhood to be warriors, unfit children were abandoned to die, and youths were sent out into the wild as a right of passage. The 300 fought off assaults be elite Persian warriors called the Immortals, and were betrayed by a man named Ephialtes and encircled on the third day after their Phocian allies retreated from the goat path that led to their rear. The movie gets all of these details right. Others are quite incorrect - Spartan hoplites wore about 50 pounds of armor, not just capes and leather thongs. Ephors were not inbred priests - they were politicians, elected for a single term and shared power with the two hereditary Kings. And the Persian army was not made up of mutants, giants, and orcs.

Militarism: Some critics have decried the portrayal of the Spartans as sociopathic warmongers, while still being presented as the heroes. But the Spartans were very nearly sociopaths - men were compelled to serve in the army from ages 21 to 30, and trained from age 7. Men only received headstones if they died in battle - otherwise, they were buried in unmarked graves. The Spartan state owned its citizens from birth to age 60, essentially, and unless they were elected ephor, they were in the army. That is the most perfect example of a militaristic state in all of human history. Of course they were obsessed with military glory and combat - their whole society was structured around it. We can abhor it, but it is intellectually dishonest to criticize the movie for historical inaccuracy, then again for the historically accurate portrayal of Spartan culture.

Racism: The movie does seem a bit racist in its casting choices. The Greeks are all white (King Leonidas is played by a Scotsman, for instance). The Persians who aren't dressed up as goblins are black, Indian, or Arabic. This is partially accurate - the Achaemid Persian Empire covered what is now parts of Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, India, Israel, Syria, Jordan, Turkey, Armenia, Greece, and Egypt. The casting for the Persian army is fairly accurate. But the Greeks should not look be Scotsmen. I am tempted to give the movie a pass, here, since Hollywood has a long history of this. Edward G. Robinson as Dathan? Really? But by the same token, if I defend the movie for its correct details, I have to point out the shortcomings. And this movie uses racial stereotypes as a kind of shorthand for many characters.

Cultural Relevance: The movie is about a founding Western Civilization going to war with Persia. The heart of the Persian Empire was Iran. The current political parallels are obvious, but the movie declines to make use of them. Admittedly, the parallels are not perfect. And incorporating some them into the script might have been a bit clunky - some talk about how the Persian war elephants present a clear and present danger to the security of the Greek City-states? I think this objection is more about how at a time when relations between western nations and Iran are strained, the movie glories in the idea of westerners fighting invading Persians. But any nod to pacifism, diplomacy, or more modern ideas would have been unfaithful to the true history. There is a legitimate argument that now might not be the best time for a movie like this. But that doesn't change that Xerxes did invade Greece 2500 years ago. There are lessons to be learned from that historical truth, perhaps. But maybe this movie is not the vehicle best suited for that.

This bring me to a more interesting point. So far removed from the battle, why do we still choose sides? The Spartans are the good guys, the Persians are the villains. Is it a cultural thing - the movie was made in a western society that can trace many of its roots to Ancient Greece, so it naturally takes the side of its cultural forebears? Maybe it is just rooting for the underdog? Doesn't choosing sides prevent us from objectively learning history's lessons? The parallel may be that the United States are the Persians.

That kind of historical "study" has never appealed to me. It doesn't matter who was good or bad, or even right and wrong. It happened, and their bones have long turned to dust. It smacks of the kind of pop history where "experts" rank the presidents or pick the Most Decisive Turning Points in History. Who the hell cares? What does that teach us about anything? We can learn important historical lessons from the tenure of the worst president (that S.O.B. Franklin Pierce?), and history never turns on a point, since each moment is informed by all that came before it. "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it," so learn as much of it as you can. Really learn it - don't waste your time picking favorites. If it takes a frankly dumb (but awesomely fun) movie like 300 to get you interested, then so be it.

Barfolomew

I was having such a nice weekend. On Friday night, Tyson came to visit, after finishing up his training at Yorktown. We went to Annapolis and visited the Oberlanders. Melissa made a really delicious dinner, and Kirk and Tyson got to catch up on 4 1/2 years of sea stories. Good times. On Saturday, I finally got the HD digital video recorder from Comcast, so I can watch the HD and record the HD channels. They seem to have accidentally turned on the premium HD channels as well, so the first thing I watched was The Empire Strikes Back. It's rough seeing Han get frozen in carbonite, but the asteroid chase in the Falcon makes it all worthwhile. Hmmmm, it seems I geeked out all over my keyboard there... sorry.

Steph & Aaron stopped by on Sunday morning so Steph could borrow my oven to bake a chocolate cake. The plan was I would come over after I finished my chores, and we would play Halo 2, watch a movie, eat, watch the Superbowl, etc. However, while I was doing my laundry, I started to feel awful. Weak, nauseous. But I rallied, because I really wanted some of that cake, and to have some fun.

And I did have fun, but I had to excuse myself a few times when I thought I was going to be sick. The pulled pork, the cake, everything was great. I just couldn't work up any appetite, which made me feel worse, since Steph & Aaron put so much effort into putting out a great spread. I felt ok while I was distracted by the game, or while we watched The Guardian (hoorah Coast Guard). But once I got home after the game, I barely got any sleep for the sickness.

I'm not looking for sympathy - everybody gets sick from time to time - but I wonder if maybe I was selfish. By going over for dinner, I'm worried I infected Steph & Aaron. So a word to the wise should be sufficient: if you get sick, quarantine yourself. Try not making your friends sick, too.

G Love and Special Sauce

How was your weekend? Mine was fantastic. Not that anything spectacular happened - just a good, solid couple of days. I spent Half Day Friday (the good half, anyway) doing some light chores, watching some TV, and finishing The Ruins. Saturday was kind of rainy most of the morning, but I took Stella the Saab to get her emissions inspection. While she was in the shop (just two blocks from my house, sweet), I went to the Del Ray Farmer's Market across the street. I got an excellent loaf of cinnamon bread, some apples and peaches, and organic fennel sausage from the Free-Range Meat Lady. I'm looking forward to trying that.

Saturday afternoon and night I finally watched Barry Lyndon, directed by Stanley Kubrick. It's long (3 hrs), and kind of challenging since the main character is such a dick. But like it for it's technical skill, a given with any Kubrick film. I hesitate to recommend this one for everyone - but consider it. Kubrick's films reward your efforts.

This morning, I met Steph and Aaron at Fireflies for brunch. I caved and finally tried the steak and eggs that I've been eyeing for a while. The steak is served with bearnaise sauce and it was mighty fine. Of course, I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day - very filling, and very delicious. Even more enjoyable was the company. However, it was a little bittersweet since Steph is going on Temporarily Assigned Duty (TAD) to the Academy for quite some time. They've had some serious problems at the Academy lately, and she's on the task force that is going to figure out how to set things straight.

After doing more chores, I got a 40 miler in on the W&OD trail. I haven't done anything over 30 in a while, so I'm a little sore. "Pain is weakness leaving the body" and all that, I guess.

Save Room for the Desert

After doing some yard work and visiting Steve and his family down in Springfield yesterday, I met Steph & Aaron in Silver Spring for dinner at Mandalay, followed by Lawrence of Arabia at the AFI Silver. I had been to Mandalay once before, with Nessa, and it was as good as I remembered. Really tasty, and a huge selection of dishes.

The movie was fantastic. I've seen Lawrence plenty of times before, but always on TV or DVD. Seeing it on the big screen, especially at a restored movie palace like the Silver, is really the only way to do it justice. The cinematography is epic in scale, and the 40 foot screen puts it on spectacular display. It is a taxing movie to watch at the end of a full day, though. They started a little later than they advertised, so we were watching from 7:20 until 10:30 or so. When the 15 minute intermission started. After which we powered through another hour or so. I gave Steph & Aaron a ride home, and got home myself a little after midnight.

It was a long movie, epic in every respect. I recommend it without reservation. And then you should read more about T.E. Lawrence and the Arabian Campaign in WWI. So many of the contemporary issues in the region started with that war and its aftermath. That is the mark of my favorite kind of entertainment, be it movie, music, television, or print: something that drives you to go out and learn more.

Understanding is joyous. -Carl Sagan

That's the Sweat of the Blues Explosion

The forecast calls for record highs this week, matching the temperatures from my first summer in DC. I do not have fond memories of the walks from my internship at NAVSEA to the Navy Yard Metro in SE. It was only a few blocks, but by the time we got back to our trailer at CUA, we would have sweat right through our clothes. Nasty times.

Didn't follow through on many of my plans this past weekend. I did go to Jane & Ian's for a very fun little party on Saturday night. There was pirate cake, dark & stormies, and a fun crowd. And there were a few hidden connections that surfaced over the course of the evening: one of Jane's friends from HS shared an office at Tech with my good friend Tyson while they were working on their post-grad degrees. And Jane's new coworker Megan was a big Bob Ballard fangirl (as I was a fanboy) while she was growing up, and knew one of the cadets I knew once upon a time at USCGA. It's a small world.

Mike Cintron called from Overseas and we caught up some. He'll be coming to town in October, apparently, so I look forward to hearing his about his adventures. Ryan also called; he and Beth are getting ready to move to their new apartment, which is exciting. This will be their 2nd place in Boston, but this one will have more than just one room, so they are stoked.

Lastly, I finally saw a movie Dad has been talking about for years, The Ruling Class. It was... interesting. Very much a product of its times, I think. I really like parts of it; any movie that features a characted named "The Electric Messiah" can't be all bad, right?