Pre-Pitt Visit

We visited Pittsburgh for a mandatory session required for all incoming freshpeople this past weekend, during the great heat wave of 2011.  Last summer we made our campus "do I want to come here?" visit during similar conditions.  We seem unable to visit Pittsburgh when the temperature is less than 100 degress F.  I was actually glad we had spent the extra money to stay in a Holiday Inn that is literally right on campus.  My daughter Olivia stayed in the dorms and got a bit of a taste of what that will be like.  She enjoyed her roommate and they were apparently visited by a couple of boys who "just wanted to talk, honest!"  (HA!  Shotgun, please.)  She was scheduled into her Fall Semester classes, which include Biology 2 and its appropriate lab (thank you, AP exam!), social psychology, an advanced English composition course (again, thanks AP exam), and, since she is in a Learning Community appropriately named "Konnichiwa," she is taking Japanese 1.

Olivia met with her advisor and got along well with him.  She is signed up for a bank account that links to her student ID (which she also received) and thanks to Dad's credit card, her books will be set aside and paid for by the first day of classes thanks to a program that the Pitt Book Store conned, er, talked me into joining.  It will save her waiting in line to buy her books.  I remember the insane lines at the University of Virginia bookstore when I was an undergraduate, and having her books pre-purchased will be a considerable convenience.  Of course, I also remember having to collect punch cards in order to reserve my seat in a class in order to build my U.Va. schedule  Technology just shy of sacrificing a goat....

We still have lots to do and to prepare, but it looks like we will make it.  Moving in to a 14th floor dorm room on the same day that 7,000 other families are doing the same should be...interesting.  In a Chinese curse sort of way. 

Humanity

I am amazed at the wide disparity that exists between the everyday obscenities that can hide in the human heart and the remarkable act of selflessness that surfaces sometimes.  I'm thinking of the true American hero who was interviewed by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show this week, Sergeant First Class Leroy A. Petry.  Sgt. Petry was wounded in Afghanistan when he helped lead an assault on a compound in Paktry.  After being shot through both legs, he continued to lead his inexperienced men to safety and lost his right hand when he picked up an armed "pineapple" grenade and threw it away from his men, only to have it explode just as he released it.  This action, while costing him his hand, did serve to save his men by directing the force of the explosion away from them.  After tying on his own tourniquet, Sgt. Petry continued to fight until relieved.

Then I compare that level of behavior to that of, say, the idiots who see you trying to merge your car into traffic and speed up to prevent you from doing so.  Or who cut in front of you at the checkout line.  Or who engage in any number of idiotic, unnecessary and uncharitable behaviors on any given day.  Not to mention the greater, grosser evils of murder and abuse and other criminal activity.

We are capable of greatness.  It's why I love science fiction, particularly things like Star Trek or Green Lantern, things which automatically assume that there is hope for human beings, that we have a future where we finally set aside our differences in the pursuit of greatness.  Selfless acts like those of Sgt. Petry give me hope for us as a species.

Then, of course, I go to the grocery store and see a fight over fresh corn.

It does give one pause.

Ageing Gracefully (Ha!)

Coming up on my 58th birthday later in the week.  This is how I look at it:  at 57 I can round my age down to 55.  After the birthday, I will be mentally rounding UP to 60.  I'm 60.  I can read all the comic books and play with all the robot toys I like, but I'm still pushing 60 in a handcart.  60.  Yikes.

How am I celebrating?  Not too much.  I already got the phone call yesterday from my gastroenterologist's office reminding me that I'm due for a colonoscopy in September.  (Happy birthday!!)  They will be sending the necessary instructions and prescriptions via snail mail, but the bottom line is that one night in September I will be essentially tied to the toilet while chugging a gallon of lollipop-flavored horse sweat.  Oy.  (I was actually going to type "Oh joy!  Oh rapture!" just now, but my hands beat me to "Oy."  A Freudian slip of the fingers??)

So there's that.  And yes, I realize fully the importance of regular examinations, particularly as a sufferer from Crohn's Disease, which means, among other things, that my risk of colon cancer is approximately a hundred times greater than that of the general population.  So if you're over 50, see your doctor and set up an exam.  Colon cancer is a lousy death.  Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to anything but the exam being over for another two years, though.

I'm sure my family will do something lovely for me, and we're planning to dine out on the semi-big day, but for some reason I can't get that colonoscopy out of my head today.

Best of 2011 (So Far)

Now that 2011 is half over, I was thinking about what pop-culture-type things really got me excited this year.  And here they are, in no particular order:

• The new season of Doctor Who on BBC America

• The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman

• Green Lantern, the movie

• The Tiger's Wife by Tea Obreht

• "Brightest Day" in DC Comics

• Thor, the movie

• Outcasts on BBC America

• The Chieftains, live in concert in York, PA

• Steve Martin's "Atheists Don't Have No Songs" (and singing it with Jim Haines and Phil Hoskins-Helm!)  (and nailing that F at the end!)

• Bridesmaids, the movie

• "Hands," the new single from The Ting Tings

• Bones on FOX

• The Lord of the Rings extended trilogy on blu-ray.  Heavens, it's just lovely.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops on the Wii

I'm sure I've forgotten some things, but...that's why the Edit function exists.  ;)

Heading Out

Heading out for a few days to relax (I hope!) at a lake in the Poconos.  We are bringing the dog, which should be an experience.  The dog is recovering from yet another lumpectomy surgery; we should hear the biopsy results next week.  I wish him well.  I do.  I've seen too many people and pets die from cancer, and although I resent the hell out of being saddled with this animal, I do not wish him pain or suffering.

I am hoping to just sit under the trees and read and rest while he chases the chipmunks in his little Elizabethan Collar of Shame.  Watching my wife and daughter relax waterside will also be a great pleasure.  I hope these few days will recharge my batteries and give me some new things to think about, and perhaps even to share.

Green Lantern--My Review

I really wanted to wait a couple of days to digest this movie before trying to say something about it that hasn't been said, but there have been so many reviews, in so many places, that are just all over the map, that I fear that I have little new to contribute.  But I'll try my best.  So here goes:

Right off the top, I will tell you that I would give this movie a solid B.  Is it perfect?  No.  But it is great fun, and I do honestly believe that it was given short shrift by too many reviewers.  I wonder if many of them simply felt that it was time for a bad review after so many pleasant surprises this summer, with great films including Super 8, X-Men: First Class, and Thor.

As for Green Lantern:  One of my peeves with films in general today is the reliance on stables of writers, and multiple focus groups, and revision after revision after revision of a script.  I think film by committee is always going to be subpar.  One reason why Super 8 works so well is that it is the vision of one individual, J.J. Abrams.  This doesn't always translate into success; the mess that was Sucker Punch is proof enough of that.  But when a movie really, really works, it is almost always the vision of one or two individuals.  Green Lantern is a classic case of too many cooks spoiling the broth.  Words and scenes that work brilliantly on the comics page did not translate well into live action.  Green Lantern was, in my opinion, overwritten.  It tried too hard to blend the updating of the character (as done recently in the comics pages by Geoff Johns) with a more classic 1960's take on the character, and some cribbing from the Iron Man origin portion in the bargain.  So in trying to be too much it wound up being too little.

I also hate movies that make changes for the sake of making changes, as though this somehow translates into someone's personal artistic vision.  There is nothing wrong with the original costume for the character (the Hal Jordan version, not the Alan Scott) and there is nothing wrong with the original design of the Lantern power battery.  While putting Wolverine in yellow spandex would have been a disaster, I feel like a Green Lantern costume closer to the original would have been more successful.  Also, there was no need to change the origin story to the extent that they did -- they should have had Hal brought to Abin Sur's crash by the ring while he was in a flight simulator.  The idea of the simulator training machine actually taking flight is a fantastic one, and it was thrown away.  I also feel that adding all the doubt into Hal's character was a misstep; the ring chooses Hal because he is capable of overcoming great fear.  And I believe it was a mistake to change Hector Hammond's origin so drastically.  He could still have been connected to Parallax in some way -- his burgeoning telepathic power would have been enough to do it -- and he could still have been mutated by a combination of meteors, as in the original comics, albeit meteors that came down with Abin Sur's craft.  Or even meteors that BROUGHT down Abin Sur's craft.  Parallax could have been responsible.  I also saw no need to change Parallax's origin.  It is NOT a renegade Guardian; it is the universe's living embodiment of Fear.  Willpower has one as well, called Ion.  Finally, the design of Parallax itself was a disaster.  Parallax should look more like a cross between a hungry locust and the Alien from Alien, not a cloud of smoke with tentacles.  Something more like this design:

But now the good news:  Although the script was talky, and there was not enough time spent on the alien Lanterns, in space, or on planet Oa, what there was of those things was just brilliant.  Mark Strong's portrayal of Sinestro was absolutely spot on, and bodes well for a sequel, if there is one.  I thought the CGI special effects were extremely well done, and gave a good sense of how the Ring works.  I thought that Ryan Reynolds' version of Hal Jordan was great, when he wasn't fighting the clunkier parts of the script.  He did a fantastic job of portraying an average guy who is called upon to step up and, not only be all that he can be, but also find his own hidden depths to be even more.  Blake Lively's Carol Ferris was terrific, and she had great on-screen chemistry with Reynolds.  Geoffrey Rush gave phenomenal voice talent to Tomar Re, an alien Lantern who is entirely computer-generated, and really made him come alive for me.  It was how I always imagined Tomar Re would be.  And Peter Sarsgaard was fantastic, just child-molester-creepy fantastic, as villain Hector Hammond.

The movie was a lot of fun.  It was a good, solid summer popcorn movie.  I thought so, and so did both the adults and the kids in the audience.  Those who stayed for the credits cheered at the little Easter Egg button at the end.  The folks with whom I did brief impromptu interviews all said they liked the movie and would recommend it to their friends, and many planned on seeing it again.  I know I plan to as well.

So there you have it.  If you had any doubts or reservations, put them aside and go check out Green Lantern.  I honestly believe you will be pleasantly surprised.  I think the action scenes are epic enough that you should see it at least once in the theater, even if you skip the 3-D, instead of waiting for the DVD to come from NetFlix.  So this weekend, skip Cars 2 -- you know it's going to be around until Labor Day! -- and give Green Lantern a look!

And Now, Some GOOD Reviews:

UGO.com:

JoBlo.com:

Den of Geek.com:

My review is coming, I promise.  And it ain't bad.