A New Year Has Begun!

I suppose it's literally time for me to start on a clean slate.

I've allowed myself to be put into a position of committing myself to making more postings on this blog by letting more people be made aware of it's existence.

I'm not 100% certain about this, but I tend to think that knowing that there's someone else reading what you've written is the true motivation for any publication to be created. I use to believe the high-profile authors who said that they wrote for themselves instead of for the pleasure of others or to make mucho bucks, but as I've gotten older, I've questioned that notion more than agreed with it. If it's self-satisfaction that the author is looking for, why write? When a work is published, other eyes are looking at it and appraising it by definition. If the authors in question meant that they never allowed negative reviews of their work determine what they wrote, that could only mean that they value literary honesty over pandering to as many bibliophiles as possible. Some would call it the difference between an artist and a hack, but I would describe it as the difference between a communicator and an entertainer. The sculptor Rodin once said, or at least this is an approximation of what he said, that when he looked at a block of stone, he saw a beautiful sculpture trapped inside of it and he felt obligated to remove the unimportant fragments that surrounded it. Perhaps communicators see the words on a blank screen (or page) and feel the need to type what they see while the entertainers sort out from their "box of tricks" what he(or she) can dig up to amuse his(her) "visitors." The exceptional performers can accomplish both without the audience being aware of it. If there were a goal that's worth pursuing, I couldn't think of a better one.

I've seen a film today that's based on a bestselling novel, "Memoirs of a Geisha." I'll post the usual spoiler barrier for those who haven't seen it yet:

********************************Spoiler Warning********************

It's told from the perspective of the title character as an old woman who's looking back on her formative years as an orphan who lost her family and was sold into the life of a geisha, unlike her sister who was sold into prostitution. After being manipulated into one tragic event after another by veteran geisha who saw her as a threat, she was apprenticed to the veteran geisha's hated rival, a kind and wise woman who was aware of her limited station in life and knew how to use it to her advantage instead of being a victim of powerful men as her culture has been known to do to beautiful women.The title character eventually accomplishes her goal of being a geisha and being "owned" by a kind man of high social standing that she was in love with since she met him when she was a little girl. The film's ending could either be interpreted as a happy one or an ironic one depending on your sensitivities. On the one hand, geishas exist to entertain and pamper men in ways that their wives don't but they're not purveyors of sexual pleasure like prostitutes. On the other hand, they can never marry and they can't pursue any ambition other than to entertain and serve a man of power and financial means. While most women in the Western cultures would strongly question whether the geisha's status in life is morally just, it is part of a separate culture with its own rules and standards.  To question them could invite open criticism of the culture of the critic. Except for convents, I know of no example of a society that gave women total autonomy over their lives without male intervention or manipulation through high finance, legislation or brute force. While I don't take any pleasure in the existence of this situation that women worldwide find themselves in, I also don't enjoy the idea that there are situations where an imposed image of gender victimization is considered a justifiable means of combatting it by the women who are the most afflicted because of it, especially when a blameless man is the injured party. 

My overall assessment of this film is that it was beautifully packaged and honestly told, which would make this both a work of art and a poignant source of communication.

*********************Spoiler Warning Ends**************************

Another movie that I've seen over the weekend is "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe." Since this is a classic tale that's part of a series of tales, I won't write down any spoilers to bar against anyone's pleasure of seeing this film but I'll write down my general feelings after watching it. It seems to have a foot in two places: religious allegory and family-oriented action/adventure. Those who are aware of the former would have a banquet of foods for thought after watching it but those who aren't are probably going to be confused over the motivations of one of the major characters: Aslan, the original Lion King. I would prompt those people to read the book after seeing the film. I'd attribute the toning down of the violence, as noted by some people who know the series intimately, to this being a Disney film as opposed to a Touchtone or Miramax film, where graphic violence would be expected. I enjoyed it on both levels and I compliment the way that the CGI effects were handled in this film. It was integral to the story as opposed to being intrusive, which is a drawback that I've felt after viewing several Pixel-animated films which is why I have no plans to watch "Chicken Little."

Before I "call it a night" and see you out, let me wish you a Happy and healthy New Year and briefly share with you my New Year's resolutions:

1. To cut down, if not completely sever, my "in debt" situation before December 31, 2006.

2. To own my Silver 2001 Hyundai Sonata by July 4th, 2006 if not sooner.

3. To purchase several bookcases and file cabinets so that I can get my apartment cleaner and more organized before December 31, 2006.

4. To have a written work of my own creation (or co-creation if it's drawn or illustrated) published and get paid for it before December 31, 2006.

I could also add "to lose weight," but I don't want to make promises that I have no immediate plans to keep. Besides, my weight tends to fluctuate based on how physically active I am and on what I've eaten in any given month. I like to pick my battles and not overwhelm myself with too many goals, thus reducing the possibility of disappointment over not accomplishing any of them.

Watch your step going down the stairs. Yum Yum still likes to sleep on one of the steps when she doesn't doze on the radiator for warmth. I think that she purposely does that for attention and as a reminder to me that she feels neglected, especially when company comes or when I'm surfing the 'net.

Have a safe trip home and mind the roads. The weatherman said that there's a possibility of overnight showers and low temperatures.

Good night and Happy New Year!

Nearly One Month Later...

I've got to develop the habit of typing every week, if I'm going to sell fragments of The Great American Novel and put myself into the position of setting my own hours instead of doing the boring "working for someone else at someone else's fixed schedule" routine that I'm currently experiencing.

Speaking of which, the $3-a-week-group-snack plan has died a relieved death, but the $5-a-month-party-pool is still on. While I'm not wild about having to celebrate several people's birthday and the random holiday while I'm trying to get some work done, I'd feel guilty if the department supervisor felt the need to foot the bill just to "make us happy." This is literally the lesser of two evils, so I'll "join in" until this proves to be unworkable as well. At least I'm setting a trend by being prepared to respond to any requests for aging reports on the vendors that I haven't completely caught up with regarding payment of shipments. That's a step forward and a possible foundation for "being noticed by management." Getting a call from a former vendor contact who's now their Executive Vice President is a potential invitation for considering "moving on," although it takes at least an hour each way to get there and there's no guarantee that the pay will justify the possibility. I'll wait until he meets with the manager of the division before I plan my next move.

Tax season is on the horizon, so it's time for...tax classes! The three that I'm currently taking are "Everybody's Return," a combination tax laws refresher and tax update before the Official Tax Update Seminar, "Disposition of Business Assets," the sequel to "Disposition of Assets for Individuals" course that I took a couple of years ago when it was last offered, which goes over the tax consequences of selling a business along with the property and personal possessions of same as opposed to selling a home and individual possessions, stocks, bonds & heirlooms as was covered in the first course, and "Corporations" as in C-Corps, S-Corps, Partnerships, LLCs and LLPs, which makes it a sequel of sorts to the "Sole Proprietorships" course that I took over three years ago.  What's so frustrating about taking these courses is that there's a slight pressure on Corporate's part to take and pass the tests that are offered at their respective conclusions.  While I can understand the significance of the fact that it'll be only a matter of time before the IRS will make Certification of Tax Professionals mandatory and, of course, the more tests that you pass, the higher your status as a preparer and the more money you'll make before the end of the season. Just what I need, more external pressure to improve my lot in life. The bills, the lack of personal time, and the loneliness is doing enough of that without any further incentives, thank you very much!

The movie scene looks pretty grim along with the non-cable non-satellite TV options. Another pet project that will have to sit in the backburner is to expand my DVD library for video dry spells like this. Until then, I'll invite the possibility of being pleasantly surprised at a movie that either received too much hype or not enough. One such movie that I've seen last week was "The Skeleton Key." It's one of those films where if you haven't seen it, people would feel guilty about talking about it for fear that it'll "ruin the experience." I'll just say that it was one of those obscure plots that make perfect sense when you've "solved the mystery." There's a reason for Gena Rollins' eccentric performance, the non-sequitor conversations she has with her legal representative (can't remember the actor's name), and for the character's husband, played with equal eccentric brilliance by John Hurt, having a hoodoo-induced(?) muteness. Kate Hudson is obviously a much-better actress than her mother, "Laugh-In's" Goldie Hawn, and is making major strides in escaping the two traps that "Mom" couldn't avoid: "the stereotypical leading lady who stumbles into a strange and 'charming' romance" and "the pretty girl caught up in one outrageous situation after another and lives happily ever after with the man of her dreams." While she obviously "cut her teeth" playing those roles, I would never have thought that she could successfully pull off a "suspense heroine" part immediately afterwards, let alone help make the twist ending in this film transcend the "Night Gallery"-type gag that this could have been if the wrong actress played it, and then only for laughs. As for the twist ending itself, I'll say this with a spoiler warning attached to it:

**********************You have been warned**********************

It was a bold move on the part of the screenwriter to not only have the "haunted couple" win, but to add a racial slant to it by having Mrs.Ghost wishing that she could occupy the body of a black woman for a change, while Mr. Ghost makes the equally-controversial statement that no black woman would have stayed long enough to make herself available for a "body switch." I have a feeling that there's more than one legacy involved in that sentiment.

****************You have just left The Warning Zone*****************

I'm looking forward to seeing "A History of Violence" for different reasons than some of the ladies who drooled after looking at Viggo Mortensen in the three LOTR movies. This film was based on a comic book series that had a similar pacing and somber mood that was present in another violence-themed comic book: "Road To Perdition." Perhaps when the movie-going audience find out that there are more to comics than "guys in tights beating the crap out of each other," the medium will get a better appraisal than it has gotten in the not-too-distant past. At least I'll get to hunt down another article that says "Comics aren't kids stuff any more!" written by a well-intentioned know-nothing who hasn't read anything in four colors or black & white with word baloons other than Superman, Batman and Spiderman when his non-elective Algebra professor wasn't looking! We'll see if this lives up to the hype that it's getting from the NYC, LA and those two "Chicago" film critics on syndicated TV.

It's getting kinda late, so I'll see you out and get some shuteye before I brace myself for doing some tax homework tomorrow.

Take care and drive safely.

Goodnight.

Thought I forgot about this, hunh?

Excuse me while I wipe the cobwebs away from the ceiling and the corners.

There we are.

Well, hello.

It's been over a month and I wish that I could say that a lot of exciting things happened between 7-20 and now, but I've already made a promise that I wouldn't be posting lies on this blog.

Work has been progressing from tedious to socio-politically-economically annoying.

Just when I thought I was nearly done coming up with reasons to look for a new job, here comes another one.

Before I begin with the latest reason, I'll recap with the earlier ones:

1. Some of the people in my work area don't know anything about teamwork.

2. The lady, and I use the term loosely, who sits near me continues to prove to herself that she's the most obnoxious person in the western hemisphere by bragging about her looks(which are passable, but who needs to hear her aggrandize herself regularly?), her ability to party at the clubs on the weekend, her equally aggressive children(who she encourages to fight when they feel that they've been wronged), and her strident insistence that she can say whatever she wants regardless how irresponsible and hypocritical it is.(Even the supervisor complains about it after The Troublemaker leaves for the day and I have to resist the urge to simply say," Why don't you have her fired or transferred?" because I know that the answer has something to do with the understaffing of our department).

3. The software that we use has problems with it at least twice a month, and when it works, there are glitches in it that Tech Support can't always solve.

4. Our rest breaks and lunch periods are mandatory and rigidly-timed(like a football game) instead of flexible and subject to need. Since we get paid for our break time, I can understand the regimentation for those, but we don't get paid for lunch so who cares if we take a 20-minute lunch break or an hour-long one, depending on the need and knowing that it's time that we're not being paid for? One possible reason for this is what I call The Kindergarten Principle: If one person abuses the priviledge, everybody will.  This in spite the fact that there are people who sneak out for cigarette breaks while they're "on the clock" and all eight divisions and the peripheral departments can only clock out and in on one time clock!!!

5. The Assistant Controller is a walking powder keg who's paranoia can be attributed to the fact that The Controller hasn't allowed him to take time off to fully recover from an automobile accident that he had over a year ago! He still needs a scooter to get around on his "bad days" and even on his "good days," he can't carry anything or go up or down stairs.

6. Our company is in the process of either being bought out or merging with another retail chain and nobody knows anything other than that the owners are being retained as "consultants" and there might be policy changes that will affect everyone in the company.

7. We're near the end of our annual audit and we scored a 91! This means that we were 91% accurate in gathering information on the vendors and their merchandise.  Despite the fact that this was an evaluation of all eight divisions and the peripheral departments, which adds up to over 100 employees, THIS IS CONSIDERED A BAD THING! The target goal was 100 PERCENT!!! I don't know any time when any company, including a company that doesn't train ANY of their employees to do the job that's assigned to them, had a 100 PERCENT Efficiency Rating! The fact that this is what management and the supervisors were hoping speaks volumes about how out of touch with reality these people are! As a result of this "black mark," we are expected to do surprise audits every three months! While this isn't an altogether horrible idea to me, this could lead to accusations of Managerial Harrassment by several people in the company, including Ms."I've got a 10-cent opinion that I want to share with everybody!" If this causes her to resign, that will be the only good news that I'll look forward to receiving after this.

Now, the latest reason for possibly going on Monster.com:

8. We're establishing a $5 per month Savings Fund for snacks, group lunches, and Birthday Parties! While I would by no means want to dump the financial load on anyone to set up a party, I'm personally not interested in participating in a non-work-related activity just for the sake of avoiding being the Department Wet Blanket. I may be paranoid, but I believe that I once lost a temp job because I wasn't part of the crowd and I made no secret of the fact that there was too much goofing off and Playing Executive Meeting For The Sake Of Stuffing One's Face On The Company Tab and less of a secret that I didn't like where I was working, so when theevaluations came out, I was gone despite the backhanded compliment from the supervisor that I did the work of four people! This time, I'll offer to pay the $5 per month but refuse to participate in the Birthday Parties, the Pollyannas, and the Department Buffets.  We'll see if history repeats itself and I fail my evaluation when New Management has its interviews of the other people in the department and ask "Which employee(s) are giving you problems?"

I've gotten my...oh hell, I might as well give them free advertising...H&R Block Stock Option Information Packet.  It seems that the stockholders voted to split the stock for the last two years and this year, halving the values and doubling the quantities that they were qualified to either buy or sell. I was considering doing another cashless transaction(granting a broker permission to sell my shares at the street rate and paying me the difference from my special employee rate), but it wouldn't be as much of a difference as I had hoped. If it goes up by at least $5.00/share difference from my special rate, I may sell my option for 118 shares this year. If not, I still have between Sept. and Nov. to exercise it and the split shares from this year that I have to wait until next year to act on. It's a complicated process that not every preparer or office person qualifies for due to the mimimum salary/commision and work hours required. I've exercised it 4 times in the 10 years that I've worked for them and this might be the 5th if the market improves. We'll see.

I'm currently reading "Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell" by Susanna Clarke and "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. If I can manage my finances, I might attend a Q&A in New York on Sept. 19th hosted by Mr. Gaiman & Ms. Clarke and a live reading an book signing of Mr. Gaiman's new book "Anansi Boys," which could be a sequel to "...Gods." If I'm able to attend both or either, I'll write a special review in this blog.

I may have to surf the net for upcoming films because I'm not looking forward to seeing the recently released "Brothers Grimm." By the previews, it sounds like yet another film about a pair of dashing adventurers that go on incredible exploits that "the general public has accepted as fiction." Like we didn't get enough of that from dead TV shows like "The Adventures of Jules Verne" and films like "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" and "Van Helsing!"

I guess I'll prepare some spaghetti with leftover sloppy joe and a salad with grated colby/monteret jack blended cheese sprinkled on top. Normally, I'm more creative but it's starting to get humid again and I'll just have to learn to discipline myself to cook for the week on the weekends.

I hope that you'll be able to see yourselves out and have a good week. I'll attempt to do the same, but it's not going to be easy. Good night and drive safely.

I'm Breaking a Promise for a Special Acquaintance

When I started this blog, I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't stand on a soapbox when I made an entry. Self-indulgence is a character trait that I despise in others, so I would be doubly disappointed if I picked up the practice myself.

Well, since I didn't make my customary weekend entry and I wouldn't be the central subject of the entry, I decided to make this an exception.

James Doohan died.

I hope that didn't look like an 11:00 news bulletin.  Then I'd really start telling myself off for being inappropriately cute!

Since the man lived over 3000 miles away from me and I've only seen him a few times at convention appearances, I won't go for the Hypocrite of the Year Award and call him a friend. I can just barely call him an acquaintance, since I was part of the staff that hosted his one and only convention appearance in Trenton, NJ!

It was in the late spring of 1987. The other guests at that con were Patrick Troughton, Paul Darrow, and Caroline Munro.  Pat & Paul landed at the Baltimore-Washington International Airport together. From there, I drove Paul to a fancy restaurant in Princeton while the con organizer chauffered Pat. Caroline flew to New York to stay with friends a week earlier. Jimmy, however, drove in a rented station wagon from California to the Red Roof in near Trenton by himself! It was part of a series of convention stopovers that he scheduled in advanced. I don't remember if it was for financial convenience, but I felt at the time that he was either the bravest man I ever met or the craziest! In any case, Mimi, one of the organizers,  phoned the nearby Ground Round and issued instructions to have an extended table set up for the guests and staff, emphasizing that "Scotty" was going to be among them! The fact that this was practically last-minute made it abundantly clear that The Man had clout by the tractor-trailer load! This was emphasized when the assistant manager stood at Jimmy's end of the table with either an autograph book or a bound menu in his hand. Since I was sitting at the other end, I couldn't make it out clearly. But the smiles and conversation spoke volumes.

When I shook Jimmy's hand, I noticed something that didn't shock so much as mildly startled me. His right hand had a finger missing! I found out later that he lost it on the beach of Normandy during WWII! He showed this "war wound" to the audience at the con in the form of a special Vulcan salute, indicating that he could even find humor in tragedy. A rare gift that he didn't hesitate to share.

I asked him only two questions in the years that spanned between the first meeting and the last time that I saw him make a convention appearance. The first question was," With all of the appearances that you made in radio and television before Star Trek and the appearances that you made in TV and film after Star Trek, does it bother you that most people only remember you as Scotty?" I don't remember the exact words that he said in his response, but I do remember that he smiled and made it clear that the contacts that he made with the fans countered any fear of typecasting that he could face as an actor. I also told him that I saw him in Jason of Star Command where, in his own words, "I played the titular head before I had a head to tittle in!"

The last time that I saw him was between three and four years ago at Chiller Con in Secaucus, NJ. It was like looking at a different person! While it was true that he was suffering from Alzheimer's and it was over 13 years since I last saw him, but when Jimmy was in his sixties, he was more lively and humourously infectious than men 20 to 30 years younger than he was, present company included! At this point, he needed assistance to sit at the Q & A table! Fortunately, when the questions flew all over the room, glimpses of the Old Jimmy peeked out and that Jimmy Smile appeared on his face that I remember to this day. My final question to Jimmy:

"Some of us who are here have seen you in the Next Generation Episode 'Relics.'"

There were some ahhhs and applause.

"Could you tell us what that was like?"

He smiled and said,"The cast and crew treated me like a king!"

I thought what I didn't have the heart to say at the time, and now I'm sorry that I didn't say it.

"Jimmy...you ARE a king!"

Jimmy's escort and Q & A moderator made an interesting statement when someone in the audience asked him about his relationship with Shatner. He said that Jimmy's wife [Edit: wouldn't] have sex with him that evening if he said anything nasty about "Bill." Not only did it generate a silent "Way to go Jimmy!" from the darker side of my brain, but it also raised a level of curiousity about how manytimes the words "Let it go,Jimmy! Let it go!" left the young  Mrs. Doohan's lips. Quite a few, I'd imagined, because I've heard that the anger he felt after co-writing "Beam Me Up, Scotty" with Peter David had dissipated enough for them to do some on-camera conversations before The Final Stage set in.

I'll probably dig up that book next weekend and re-read the non-Trek parts, since they're more detailed, and possibly track down those Shatnerized novels that he worked on, as well as watch that Outer Limits story that he appeared in(and remember what the title was), and possibly gather enough courage to buy that badly-titled documentary "Trekkies" that he supposedly made an appearance in.

 

As long as he's in print and on celluloid, he's not completely gone I suppose.

I stopped off at Peter David's blog to see what he had to say about Jimmy.  He only made a quick "Not surprised, considering his condition, but what a hell of a guy he was!" comment since he's currently attending the San Diego Comic Convention this week. I'll copy and paste his "eulogy" when he types it in there.

My eyes are getting misty.  Whether it's due to the humidity, exhaustion, or delayed grief, I haven't the faintest idea, but I think I'll wrap things up here.

Rest in peace, Jimmy.  You were a decent guy who didn't let your celebrity go to your head and you taught me two valuable lessons:

1. When you've met the right lady, you're never too old to find true romance nor to start a family and 

2. If you're doing something that you love, you will always be remembered for it.

I can only hope that some day, I'll be lucky enough to experience both as you have, sir.

Good Night and God's Speed!

 

 

 

So ends another week...

After a four-day work week, a four-day vacation and another four-day work week, I don't feel any more relaxed than I did last weekend!

The work highlights are that I'm beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. I completed my check reports, worked the Unpaid Invoice Statements of all of my existing accounts, and I'm halfway done processing invoices that are due for payment next month! When the checks have been printed and signed, another month will be completed!

My non-work life has been sedate, hence no earlier entries.

I just saw "The Fantastic Four" this morning.  You read that right, 11:00 in the morning.  I've found that there are fewer people who would want to see a film that early on a weekend morning, even a Premiere Showing. I liked it. I would have wanted to say that I loved it, but "I like it" will have to do. To be fair, I'll break down the things that I liked after I post my obligatory Spoiler Warning Screen:

****************************************************************

YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

Bad Things:

1.  They got Doctor Doom wrong!

      a. Granted, it's easier these days to vilainize corporate moguls than it is to have a film about a tyranical monarch from a country that most movie-goers never heard of, let alone would allow themselves to accept its existence for the sake of the story, like FF comic book fans have done for 44 years! However, mentioning that Von Doom is foreign without giving us an opportunity to see what his home country looks like is sloppy writing in my opinion.

       b. Having Reed and Victor rivals for Sue's affections seemed too much like formula "epic hero" writing than faithfulness to the original material.  The most charitable explanation for this re-write could have been that it was an amalgamation of the Reed/Sue/Namor The Submariner triangle (before Reed and Sue "tied the knot") and the Reed/Victor "biggest high school brain" competition that was settled by having Reed pointing out to Victor that his calculations were off by a few decimal places(as opposed to Reed's calculations being off and trying to convince Victor to "abort the mission," which weakens Reed as a character as well as pinning the blame on him for Victor's "transformation"), that first-generation fans will accept for the sake of minimizing any confusion for the casual or non-fans, who have more box-office paying power.

      c.  Organic metal infused into Von Doom's DNA, along with the ability to draw and manipulate electricity, as a substitute for the armoured suit that was placed on him (to cover-up scar tissue due to the unsuccessful experiment that he conducted in college, the one that had calculations that were "off a few decimal places"), might have minimized confusion for the "non-True Believers" as well as avoid possible lawsuits from Lucasfilms (although Stan Lee & Jack Kirby came up with the idea first), but these "adjustments" were adding up and beginning to get on my nerves! If the Hollywood moneymen don't believe that the audience will buy the True Origin of the Original Guy in Armor, what chance will there be of an Iron Man film coming out anytime soon? And if there is one, will they alter Tony Stark's transformation as well for the same silly reasons? Let's hope not!

And to avoid being labelled either a certified curmudgeon, an Ebert wannabe(more about him in a few moments), or a comic-book geek(sticks and stones...), here are the...

Good Things: 

1.  The film was character-driven rather than heavy with plot, the latter kind of film tends to drag me down when it's a plot that I'm more familiar with than the average movie-goer (which is definitely true in this case).

2.  Chilkis looked great as The Thing! The CGI combined with the SFX suit that he wore made him look very convincing on camera. I wish I could say the same about the other characters, but that's show biz!

3.  Stan Lee actually played a character that he created in comic form! Not a non-descript security guard (like in the Hulk movie), or a man crossing the street (like in the Daredevil movie), or even a street peddler(like in the edited scene in the first Spiderman movie)! He played Willie Lumpkin, the charming old postman who delivered Reed's mail at The Baxter Building, Reed's home/laboratory. As a side note, Willie starred in a Stan Lee-created, non-superhero comic book series before Stan co-created the FF, but he decided to include him inthe book in the mid-60's for "local color" and mild comedy relief(in one issue, he said that his super power was "the ability to wiggle my ears").

4.  Despite Roger Ebert's "short-sighted" review, Johnny Storm's ability to create flames of super-nova intensity was explored in the story!  The fact that Sue suffered a nose-bleed while trying to contain it in a force-field should have generated some notation from the Guru of Film Critics, but apparently he was too busy being bored by a storyline that he was unfamiliar with or decided that he didn't like because it was based on a comic book that he didn't want to read since it first came out!  That was probably the main point that escaped him:  The Fantastic Four was the First Original Comic Book That Stan Lee Created, so the film-makers wanted to at least attempt to give The Origin Story all of the attention that it was due as well as emphasize the difference between how the FF operated vs. how the XMen handled things!  The FF are a make-shift family who had to learn how to not only use their powers individually, they had to function as a team without killing each other, as a family of superheroes without secret identities would act.  The XMen were an extension of a Special School for beings who were born with physical differences who had to assume secret identities to avoid being victimized by the general public at all times, a luxury that the FF didn't have(partially by design).

Stan Lee broke several rules when he created the FF:

1.  Everybody knew who they were, even off-duty!

2.  The Human Torch was a superhero in his own right, not a sidekick like Robin.

3.  The Thing was one of the first superheros who was considered a "monster," even before The Hulk hit the scene!

4.  The Invisible Girl/Woman was also a superheroine in her own right, not the stereotypical superhero's girlfriend who needed to be rescued!

5.  The group faced non-superhero problems that the readers could relate to, like intimate relationships (inside and outside of the group), financial problems(there was an issue where THE FF WENT BROKE!), and unwanted attention(Ben's run-ins with a group of hoodlums called The Yancy Street Gang was a running gag in a number of Kirby-illustrated issues).

6.  When they encountered villains that they couldn't defeat with their powers, they used their brains and attempted to relate to the superheroes/supervillains/aliens that they're fighting as people instead of as punching bags.

Hopefully, should there be more FF movies(and I seriously hope that there are), these characteristics will be addressed and developed, along with one interesting twist that the movie-makers created in this film. They altered one of the original comic book characters but, unlike the Doctor Doom alterations, not for the worse: they made blind sculptress Alicia Masters an African American! While this wasn't the case in the original books, this change doesn't hinder the quality of the story. In fact, it could be argued that it improves it! While interracial relationships are only controversial when special interest groups make them that way today, I don't believe that this theme would have been acceptable in the '60's FF issues, which is probably why Stan didn't use it back then.  He did, however, use that controversial theme in the '70's with another superhero team book, The Avengers(no relation to the British Spy-spoof  TV show), by having a synthetic android, The Vision, fall in love with(and eventually marry) a mutant with spell-casting powers, The Scarlet Witch. He also had Spiderman deal with bigotry by having Spidey ask a bigoted troublemaker if he knew what color he was under his mask. Making Alicia black was a bold and interesting choice on the part of the screenwriters and I hope that this relationship will be at least a subplot in a later sequel.

****************************************************************

YOU HAVE JUST EXITED "THE SPOILER ZONE!"

A note that I forgot to enter on Saturday:

I had an interesting but slightly frustrating experience: I helped my mother register with the local public library in order for her to use one of their computers and printers to type up her resume and query letter for substitute teaching.  While I'm proud of her for not deciding to make the living room couch her constant companion, it wasn't easy showing her the ropes on Microsoft Word 2000. She's the kind of person who would rather create more work for herself than simply ask for an easy way of doing things on the computer.  This, of course, is part of the major problem that she and most people of her generation have: a pathological fear of advanced technology.  I had a similar problem when I bought her a DVD player and, later, a combination VCR/DVD player. Once she's familiar with it, she's fine. When she isn't, she gets defensive and thinks I'm "copping an attitude" because I use a computer at my job every day and she doesn't! She did express her thanks when she completed her task and treated me to lunch afterwards, so the day didn't turn out too badly.  It's just a strange feeling when a child has to teach her/his parent(s) new things and both parties feel the need to express their anxieties in the form of "typical family squabbles." It's like going into business with a relative. Objectivity and "focusing on the problem" tends to take a back-seat to "personal feelings." If she has any further questions, I'll just pray that she'll decide to sit in on a few of the "PC Basics" courses that are taught in several of the branches of the local library system during the summer or check out "Windows for Dummies" or an instructional video on her next library visit.

That about covers things for this week.  Drive safely going home.  Tropical Storm Dennis might affect the local weather over the next two days so be carefull.

Goodnight and "Thank you for your attention."

Dave

 

A Day of Independence...of a sort.

I won't lie and say that I went to a fireworks display, attended a concert by the Philly Pops or the NJ Symphony Orchestra or even Sir Elton John or anyone who appeared at the Live 8 concert. I won't even say that I took a trip to New York and saw the fireworks go off near The Statue of Liberty in The Harbor.

I did prepare some Lasagna Rolls (think boiled lasagne noodles with individual scoops of a mixture of shredded mozzarella and ricotta cheese plopped at one end, wrapped the noodle around and covered with spaghetti sauce and shredded mozzarella on top, baked and served) for lunch while my mother prepared hot dogs and cheeseburgers for dinner.  After going to the movies to see "Rowl's Moving Castle" we saw "The Phantom of the Opera" on DVD.

The problem with "going out" is that it's getting too expensive! Even going out to eat can be costly. I've been starting to get into the habit of going to Old Country Buffet for the holidays since it costs me less than $11 dollars and less than that for children and seniors. Hopefully, I'll be able to do that when I've caught up budget-wise.  Maybe starting in September.

"Rowl's Moving Castle" was an interesting film. It's probably based on a children's book, but unless there's a lot of exposition in it, it seemed far too sophisticated for any children I know. It gave me the impression that the world that I saw on the screen was one that couldn't be pinned down to one age or one place. There were flying machines, steam engines and automobiles, but there were also flying machines, flying battleships, and a walking castle that was powered by a fire demon. When it settled in one place, it allowed access to several locations. There were witches and sorcerors who could change their shapes and cast shape-changing spells. To describe this movie any further would spoil the experience for someone who hasn't seen it, so I won't go any further. Let's just say that in some ways it's reminiscent of other classic Japanese films and in others it's unlike anything that I've seen before.

"Phantom" was as magical as I remembered it when I saw Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman in the New York Wintergarden Theatre version. Ironically I preferred Crawford's Phantom, but I preferred this new actress who played Christine over Brightman. Not since I saw the Hallmark Hall of Fame production of "Peter Pan" did I hear songs that literally made me cry.  I felt slightly embarrassed when it happened, but I'll still buy a copy for myself near the end of the year.  Hopefully, they'll release a special edition with behind-the-scenes extras like most DVDs have these days.

Fireworks from Columbus Park and possibly Mercer County Park down the road are echoing in the distance, reminding me what day this is.  Very little else did other than the banks and the Post Office being closed, as well as my day job. My 4-day vacation is at a close at midnight. This will be followed by a 4-day work week.  It's funny, but part of me wishes that I could work ten hours each day this week to catch up on my work and make it less guilt-free for me to use my vacation days in the coming months. I don't know if I'll use some of them for job-hunting or for looking into ways of making extra money before, during and after tax season. I saw an interview with singer/writer Jimmy Buffet.  He passed on some advise given to him by a writer friend of his: commit yourself to write at least one page a day. They add up. If you write more than one page, you've had a very productive day.

I'll probably have more to say in the coming week. Then again, I probably won't. Either way, I'll make the effort to write at least once before the week is over. Why have a journal otherwise.

Watch your step as you go down to the front door. YumYum!  What have you done NOW? Sorry about that. I'll go upstairs and scrounge up some cleaner newspapers and a plastic bag to scoop up the pages SHE used! In the meantime, watch your step, take care and I hope that your week will be as productive as I try to make mine, if not more so.

Good night.

Dave 

At least I've remembered to wrap up the week!

It was a dark and stormy afternoon...

Or at least it was when I woke up at 5:30pm.

Yes, I said pm as in Post Meridian Time Period.

I'll start with the beginning of the day so that I can clear the cobwebs in my head and make some sense of the above.

Last Friday, I received an email from the American Red Cross. I'm a registered blood donor, so I brought that form of accessible harassment on myself. I said that blood donation was at a major low this year, so they've scheduled an additional blood drive between June and August. I became a donor two years ago when my day job, the national clothing chain that I refuse to mention without financial renumeration, set aside three of its conference rooms, rolled back the retractable walls, and converted them into a blood-gathering facility. A selfless act on the part of my employer?  Doubtfull.  More than likely a means of generating revenue by renting out the space as well as a means of generating good publicity for the company. In any case, I registered as a volunteer then and this past weekend for two reasons:

1. If I were in a bad way healthwise, I'd appreciate it if someone did it for me

2. I found out that I had "O Positive" blood, which is not only Universal Donor Blood, but the most difficult to keep in supply due to the limited number of volunteer donors available.

So, instead of confining myself to doing my twice-a-year obligation to "do the right thing," I decided to take my 4th of July vacation early and schedule myself for a four-day work week followed by a four-day vacation and another four-day work week (symmetry, ya gotta love it!)! While most vacations entitle one to sleep "until the bed rejects its occupant," I made it a point to schedule myself for an 8:00am "blood-letting." Since grogginess or light-headedness was a side-effect that I didn't want to risk while I was "behind the wheel," I decided to catch a bus to the College of New Jersey at the Brower Student Center. This involved getting up at 5:30am and getting cleaned up, dressed, fed(myself and my two cats), and hoofing it to the bus stop before the 7:10 bus arrived(missed the 6:40 by 5 minutes, of course).

To kill the time before, during and after the "controlled bleeding period," I brought a book to read, "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman. When I've finished it, I'll write a review on a later entry. I went through the necessary preliminary paperwork/interview process along with choosing the "Use My Blood" sticker to place on the form(as though someone thought I would go through all of this and ask them not to use it; of course, they have legalistic CYA policies like other organizations that must be honored if not tolerated I suppose), lie/lay (I always get those two mixed up) on the triage cot that they provided, had my right arm impaled(by choice, of course) and felt like a gurnsey cow for 30 minutes while I learned how to turn the pages of a paperback book with my left hand. Afterwards, I bellied up to the Orange Juice Bar that they provided and drank my fill to compensate for my "contribution." They also provided bags of pretzels, chocolate chip cookies, muffins and brownies! Suddenly, the stinging sensation on my right arm went away quickly! Seriously, it was a very nice gesture on the part of the Red Cross staff to set up the day as they do all year round in different parts of the country and I would recommend doing what I did for the troops in Iraq as well as the people here who need medical assistance to overcome a routine treatment if not during an emergency.

After I got home, I went straight to bed to catch up on some zzzz's as well as to rejuvenate myself from walking back from the bus stop to my apartment. Which brings me back to the first paragraph, where I woke up due to a surprise thunderstorm at 5:30pm! It eventually subsided and power was restored, but I was grateful that I didn't go to work today and had to drive home in the middle of all that lightning and thunder!

The work week was short, but by no means sweet! I was researching the shipments that the stores received in April so that the vendors could get paid within the next two to three weeks. In a few cases, the shipments were sent to the wrong store, so I had to request proof in the form of UPS Tracking Reports and follow-up with the stores that received the merchandise. In the case of two of them, they were new stores that didn't order the merchandise, so the supervisor of Buyer Relations (the middle-man between the Merchandise Buyers and the Receiving Managers) had to add them to the Purchase Order entries so that the merchandise could be received into our computer systems. Another function that I performed was to examine the sales reports that the computer system sets up automatically at the end of each sales day. If the sales and on-hand figuresdon't balance with the number of goods electronically received(meaning their combined totals exceed it), I have to make a manual adjustment to balance the figures and not create a shipping debit that the vendor would dispute. Thanks to numerous interruptions from telephone calls from angry vendors, auditors "testing us" by having the manager inform our supervisor to inform us that our Unpaid Invoice Statements will be up for inspection and the vendor names should be grouped in alphabetical order(I'm responsible for vendors whose names start with "A" and "B" so you know how much fun that was for me), and other day-to-day obstacles like receiving and responding to emails from other vendors and people from other departments and the receiving managers from several stores, I was short 3 invoices in my processing late Thursday afternoon! Normally, that would be a source of celebration, but in my case, it was a reminder that the job never stops, I have one more thing waiting for me when I get "back to work," and I might not be able to finish them before I'm required to process the payment reports, that lead to the checks that will be signed and shipped out to the vendors in two-to-three weeks! Maybe I'll get caught up in the fall...maybe next year...WHO AM I KIDDING??? I would probably be out-of-work if I got completely caught-up!

I'll probably vegge out this weekend, when I'm not in the kitchen cooking for the week as well as for 4th of July lunch so that my mother can relax before preparing the traditional hot dogs and cheeseburgers for dinner. I'll probably give a run-down of the festivities on Monday, but I don't want to make any more promises, considering I didn't keep the last one.

I'm going to go back to bed and try to re-adjust my internal clock so that I won't sleep too late...later today. I can't believe it's Saturday already!  Where did the time go?

I'm sure you can see yourself out. Take care. I heard some minor rumblings outside a few minutes ago, so I hope you'll beat the next storm that's coming and, hopefully, the people who are going to Philadelphia, PA to attend the Live 8 Concert will be able to make alternative arrangements in the event of a rain-out. I don't plan to watch it on TV. I'll probably watch a tape or DVD if there's nothing else on the Tube.

Good night and "Thank you for your attention."

Dave.