AVATAR trailer

There's not a better way to end the year than to review the best trailer to the best film of 2009. Cheers to any faithful readers of MusementPark. Happy New Year!

10 of my favorite memories of 2009

1. Cooking out at the firepit, topless, in January.
2. Storage solutions for our house (3 cabinets, more shelves, discarding and giving away lots)
3. A cowboy guest at my son's b-day party, a historical reenactor who was fantastic!
4. Camping out with friends on our property
5. Exploring the zoo regularly
6. Building a carport
7. Making an anniversary gift together w/wife
8. Starting construction of the pirate ship playground (see link)
9. Attempting a Garden w/family
10. Having a new baby (girl!)

Repurposing a baby monitor...

Here's some ideas I've had today for repurposing a baby monitor. As we're nearing the end of our needs to monitor our babies, we'll need to find some alternative uses:

1. Homegrown radio show
2. One-way intercom ("Dinner's served!")
3. Halloween prank (put receiver in dummy on porch and "boo!")
4. Sleep aide (when set on alternate station, whitenoise!)
5. Eavesdropping (general purpose spying)
6. Parent monitor (reverse engineering)
7. Seance (hoax)
8. Poor man's walkie talkie
9. Pet teaser
10. Hearing aide (a bit large, but effective)
11. Drive thru ordering (isn't this the state of the art comm system they use now?)
12. Synthesizer (when waving the receiver next to the monitor)

I welcome additional ideas...

My Theatre's better than yours!

At my theatre, kids get in cheap. At the Warren, they had to pay $12 to see Bolt in 3D.

At my theatre, I got 3 pops, a large popcorn, and nachos all for under $20. At the Warren, a pop that size was $4.

At my theatre, the usher led my 4 year old down to the door to catch his uncle and brother. He later escorted me to the door of our theatre and held it for me (I had all those concessions!)

At my theatre, the custodian found me after the show to return my lost hat.

Friendly staff, more affordable prices, and I'd argue, a better crowd, too. My theatre has it all. I will continue to boycott the Warren franchise at any opportunity.

My Theatre is the Chisholm Trail 8 in Newton, Kansas.

So, here I am at 2am...

In a 3 bedroom house of 9 (3 over 55, 4 under 8), it's hard to find space to be alone, let alone time. I do not know how my wife does it, children clamoring for everything, all the time. I dislike winter, for the Outdoors was my answer to escape and have some "me time" and space, but it's bitterly cold these days.

So, here I am at 2am.

Sleep is highly over-rated. If I can get in 3 hrs early-on, then I'm good. Well, I need a nap mid-day or I get grumpy, but otherwise, I'm okay. Alright, along about 9pm I get really short, but that's just because I'm tapped out. I do try to sleep straight through to morning, but it seldom works, and when there's lots on my mind (much I cannot share here), then it's harder yet to stay asleep. With kids piling into my bed, it's harder yet.

So, here I am at 2am.

I like to think of it as captured time, like time in a bottle. I have this precious time to do with what I will, and no one else is even spending theirs. I think of time as being relative, that somewhere on Earth there are people working, thriving, fighting, etc. at this very moment, where it's 2pm or so. Technically, then, I'm just living my life in both hemispheres, rather than sleeping through one of them.

So, here I am at 2am.

Let's face it, I'm older, I'm restless, I'm awake anyway, so why not write to myself. I could be watching television (or other porn). I could be engaged in questionable web chatter. I could be playing video games or prying into people's facebook lives. Instead, I have a sense of decorum. I have limits. I have a dull-witted PC, a 10 yr old television, and poor Internet bandwith.

So, here I am at 2am.

White Christmas!

I'm documenting it here and now, for in Kansas, it's hit/miss. Today is truly a white Christmas. It looks to be about a 4 inch snowcover out there. I'm thrilled about it on every count, 'cept shoveling.

The kids are very excited to play in the snow (though today it may not get over 20 degrees).

I hope we can get some great pictures of the snow-covered property before everyone arrives and tracks it up. There's nothing quite like a pristine snow.

I don't know why snow on Christmas means so much, maybe it's all Bing Crosby's song (?) but I do know that it's not the same w/o snow. On those barren, brown years, the holiday is less...something. Snow, however, makes it magical.

(I'm also happy that I was able to put my vehicle in the garage...no scraping, ready to go!)

Avatar, some more

Again, Avatar has recycled themes and a very transparent green agenda, and for all that I say, who cares! It's a marathon of eye candy, employing computer animation in over 70% of the film better than I have seen it used ever before. The landscape and wildlife of Pandora are imaginative and colorful and (other than the dinosaurs) very otherworldly.

I've yet to watch a "making of" video or to read any behind the scenes pieces on the film. I can tell it uses the same animation technologies of Polar Express, etc to capture realistic facial expressions and body movement. This was most obvious with Sigourney Weaver's avatar (but then, that figures, for she was the only seasoned actress in the film, and obviously her acting even came through the CGI well).

The picture following is just an impression of the landscape...

What most wowed me was the world of Pandora, particularly the plant life (as mentioned, most of the animals looked like crude dinosaur knock-offs to me). The way the world changed at night to a blacklight ultraviolet show was as amazing to me as it was to the human character first experiencing it in his avatar. It is so very beautiful! I cannot wait to go see it on a bigger screen in brighter projection (we saw it locally on the cheap last weekend). My desktop image these days is of the floating mountains of Pandora (impossible, of course, but cool). I have a crush on Neytiri (behind the scenes and the avatar, actress Zoe Saldana).

AVATAR review

One might accuse me of following the herd, responding to hype, but truth is, I've been eager to see this movie long before the media blitz got so out of hand. I imagine some folks will refuse to see it simply because of too much media exposure. That said, what drew me from the start was the concept of an avatar (easily reviewed in some of my previous entries on Second Life, etc.)

The film is set in 2154 and by that time technology has allowed us to have complete neurological interface with synthetically grown avatars (a wetware/meatspace version of the androids in Surrogate) only they are still outrageously expensive (realistic). Thus, the avatars are only employed in the film's scope by a very wealthy company that is exploring and exploiting the planet Pandora for some rare natural resource. So it's sci-fi, but like the better sci-fi, it's built on plausible technology. It's not as if everything has changed too radically in 150 years. Well, we have somehow managed space travel (kryo for 5 years to travel to this planet).

Annoying to me, the one enterprise that currently spends the most on R&D, the most on technology--that is, the military--was using tools from today. That would be us using civil war weaponry. Surely in 150 years there's been much more advance in weapons technology! The only bells and whistles in that realm were the exo-suit giants some soldiers were driving....and I've seen that before many times (though it never gets old and yes I want to operate one).

Physically, the People of Pandora did have feline characteristics that were engaging to watch, and they had a cool neural connect to nature through something like a ponytail. (Too bad for those who might rather have shorter hair, eh?) Their culture, however, was less creatively developed. They were essentially taller, bluer Native Americans, right down to the war whoops.

Excellent video of 12 Days

Go here for a video of Straight-No Chaser's original 1998 rendition of the 12 days of Christmas. They are an astounding a cappella group with an amusing twist. This is likely my best present to my two loyal readers. :)

12 day countdown to Christmas!

Today is the 12th and thus it's 12 days until Christmas, and so, by rights, we can launch a new tradition today celebrating the 12 days of Christmas. What fun it can be to countdown the visit from Santa, the opening of gifts, the gathering of family around the hearth (if we had a hearth).

I stand corrected. According to David Bratcher: "The Twelve Days of Christmas is probably the most misunderstood part of the church year among Christians who are not part of liturgical church traditions. Contrary to much popular belief, these are not the twelve days before Christmas, but in most of the Western Church are the twelve days from Christmas until the beginning of Epiphany (January 6th; the 12 days count from December 25th until January 5th). In some traditions, the first day of Christmas begins on the evening of December 25th with the following day considered the First Day of Christmas (December 26th). In these traditions, the twelve days begin December 26 and include Epiphany on January 6." (Scroll down on that page for the potential theological references from the famed song, "The 12 days of Christmas."

As a procrastinator, I like this even better, for now I can work up a tradition and deploy it after Christmas, getting more mileage out of the break before I have to return to work, too.

Madman

I'm actually looking forward to this madman's visit to our house this year. Though a sometimes troubled youth, he is a character I'd (honestly) like to have around more. He IS family, and my family is few and far between. As one can guess from the picture, he's...fun-loving.

When he lived here we only saw him once in a while, and now that he's up by KC, only once in a great, great while (oh, 4 times a year, maybe). The picture above is from Christmas 2008. I look forward to seeing how we might top that moment this year.

The boys love his visits, obviously, for he's good at getting down on their level for a while and whooping it up with them. He tires easily, for he's not been condititioned for long-haul parenting, but next to Santa, he's one of their favorite visitors.

Punch drunk

o yjoml o eo;; etoyr yjod rmyrtu gtp, pmr lru pgg yjr mpt,s;////gpt zo s, grr;omh pgg yjr ,stl ypfsu. yjsy d gpt ditr/ ( rough translation: i think i will write this entry from one key off, for i'm feeling punchdrunk)

It's the time of year I forget where I parked (out back) and that I'm out of fuel (MUST pump up before the long cold drive home). It's a day when I don't remember how or when I got here, just that I know I must be here again and again and again. *sigh*

It's finals week. Huzzah for students. Hell for me. I'm not even going to give a count on how many papers are left to score--it would sound like whining and it would only further bum me out.

I've written entries around this time of year before, and I've offered myself lots of motive to do better. In truth, I've not procrastinated, just been burdened. Still--I think next term I will grade everything as soon as it hits my hopper; prevents complaints and keeps my in box empty.

So, there's little to learn this time, nothing to chastize. What am I to write about then? Maybe that I'm just a goob about now. I'm a dweeb. I'm a bit loopy. I don't know how else to say it, for all my good words are asleep in the recesses of my brain somewhere about now. Yet I grade.

Yet...I grade.

I am humbled by the Bowerbird.

I was reading a very engaging blog about how special animals are today. I was awestruck at David's entry, Same, different purpose, which elaborates on how much we share with other animals, how we set up an artificial distinction between us.

Within that entry, he made specific reference to a bird that builds bowers artfully. These constructs are not just functional nests or impressive ant hills or other marvels of simply architecture...they really are intentional works of art. (Check out his entry and see for yourself.)

He provided a link to this YouTube video clip on Bower birds. If nothing else, spend the 4 minutes to watch this--incredible!



I had never heard of the bower bird. I am amazed. They spend so much time carefully constructing this shrine, this artwork, all to woo a female. I wish mankind was likewise so intent upon creating beauty instead of wealth to attract the opposite sex. It would be great if girls found art more attractive than gyrating meatshop Neanderthals smelling of smoke and beer. Wouldn't it be something if a man were compelled to take up a paint brush rather than run to the jewelers or car dealer in order to express his love.

I think we should all slow down and appreciate the natural world around us. Sure, it's not the ideal season for this, but then again, snowflakes are each an amazing construct. Sparrows we take for granted are still with us. Flip over a piece of bark or turn a pile of hay--insects are always up to something noteworthy.

School Readiness

Most of my returning, non-traditional students freely confess that they were not ready for school the first time around. I know I wasn't. I waded through, holding facts like water through my fingers, from test to test. I had no purpose, no value for money, no concept of the future...

My traditional students typically acknowledge a lack of purpose/direction at one time or another. Of a class of 20, likely 2 know their curricular course of action toward Fulfillment (which is almost always the sacred Job). In any given semester, I might meet (not even just in my class, but of all students I'm exposed to) an individual who sees higher learning as an enhancement to their life, rather than a means to an end. I do not work at a trade school, but then, I am not at the University anymore, either--but even there, I remember very few who were in school for enrichment.

Now that I'm working, with a family, with so many economic and chronological (?) burdens--it's too hard (so I whine) to find time to be Enriched. However, I do not walk down a hall w/o listening in on lectures I wish I could absorb. I really want to know about history, now. I am curious about biology, now. I want to be knowledgeable about the universe, for now I'm all growed up.

I think we have things so backwards in this country. We should all be granted jobs out of high school, taking away the college prep feel entirely. We should be civil servants or civic servants or military fodder--some kind of national service should be mandated for at least the first two years out of school. Somehow, I have a feeling this would affect drop outs, teen pregnancy, suicide, all sorts of things, for the pressures would be radically different. High school would be able to slow down and work on quality rather than SAT's and ACT's and transfer potential.

Then, whenever a young person felt ready for school, after at least their two years of national service, well...then they could try on higher education, richly subsidized by the govt. If they screw up, they are out in the work force doing menial labor (that woke me up, let me tell you!). If they screw up, they have forfeited their financial aide from the govt and must then find their own resources.

Two years of national service might be a good sobering period, a time for people to get their adolescence over with. It might help them figure out how great school had been, and thus, when they return to it (like so many returning students now) they would appreciate it.

But then....nobody asked me.

Hats off to Hans Zimmer

I'm listening to the soundtracks of Batman and Pirates of the Caribbean as I'm grading. These are by Hans Zimmer. His style is bombastic, over the top, dramatic. Some find his soundtracks tiresome, too much the same. I find them striking. If I need some gusto for grading (or anything else) I just fire up the Zim-master. I've listened to these two so much I have them memorized, so I don't even need my iPod to go tripping.

I'm hoping to get some green for my iTunes account, so I can buy up more instrumental music like this. Meanwhile, I've also discovered a new Internet radio station, The Big Score, at GotRadio (hardly new, but new to me) that plays movie music, largely instrumental, 24/7. The problem with Internet radio compared to iTunes--bandwith. When everyone's here on a weekday, my connection gets dicey and I'm better off going offline.

I've mentioned it many times before, but I really like going completely offline, into my own playlist in my head. I think everyone should have one, whether it's full of rap lyrics, hymns, showtunes or country-western (or all of the above).

Seasonal Downers

In contrast to yesterday's post...

Cold brings death. Trees are skeletal. Grass is brown and crunchy. It hurts to just be in the elements, and everything's too brittle to work with (soil, wood, me...).

This time of year, I always have an enormous backlog of grading--I mean literally hundreds of pieces to grade, and a very clear and present deadline looms just 11 days, 20 hours and 57 minutes away. It is more-than-overwhelming...it is uber-whelming!

The lingering gloom of my dad's death at Thanksgiving haunts me. It really does. I don't like to admit it or write about it, but there are times I just wish he was still around to talk with. He always had interesting ideas and he was a good listener, too.

My health always deteriorates due to the weather and the workload. I don't get out much, and thus I don't work physically as I do in the summer...and I sit on my tookas a lot grading. The grading gives me knots in my stomach. I quit eating right. My circulation shuts down for sake of grading (I don't even understand this one). I sleep 4 hrs nightly these days. Whine, whine, whine.

I miss my students and they are not even gone yet. It's silly, but I know that this is history in the making, that this is the stuff some of them may remember years from now. I know that (at least for a few) I make a difference in their all-too-often miserable academic lives. Lots of them are fun and engaging. Almost all of them will move on, and I will be left here grading the next round. *big sigh*

Holidays are going, but I am grading. Parties, staff functions, etc. are practically daily, and I cannot attend them all, cannot afford them at all (time or money).

This is the time of year I most regret not working harder/more and thus earning more, for I have a generous spirit but tight purse strings. I can think of things, thoughtful gifts, that I would get for everyone...but it all costs money, too much money.

Nostalgia overload--from claymation Christmas cartoons to my favorite ornament, from It's a Wonderful Life to so many songs of the season...the taste of peanut brittle and fruit cake...the stories of Christmas' past. Altogether, there's more sentiment, memory and nostalgic glaze over this season than all the others put together, and sometimes, it's just too much for me.

Ahhhh, December!

December, when the wind whips the snow into drifts. The cold air nudges us indoors around fireplace and hearth, to cuddle with loved ones and drink hot cocoa. It is the season of giving, the images of Santa and Jesus and Valentines all throb with love.

Today, however, there's not an inkling of all of the above. It's in the high 50's and super nice outside. This is dangerous for me, for I need bone chilling cold that makes my very breath brittle, makes my nose bleed from frostbite. I need to hole up indoors and grade papers. Days like this are just too tempting. Every time one pops up, I think it may be the last for a long run, so I skip out and enjoy it. This is Kansas, after all.

How could I sit idle inside while the sun is so welcoming, the temperature so inviting...and the work so daunting indoors!

I will escape today, knowing I will only have to redouble my efforts the remaining 12 days to grades due. That's okay, so long as I can make the most of this moment, this weather, this day!