Staycation

I've been on vacation this week. I managed seen 5 movies in the past 9 days. One - Terminator #4 - was simply because my neurologist's office is across the street from one of the multiplexes. And I had 3 hours before needing to pick up Jr. Gopher #2.

So, sooner or later, I'll have reviews for:
State of Play
Terminator #4
The Soloist
Star Trek
Angels & Demons

[rev] Duplicity

Okay, so Clive Owen might get me to see it - but Tom Wilkinson & Paul Giamatti make the movie. One little flash of foreshadowing caught my eye, and managed to keep dragging my attention back to it throughout the film - with the culmination revolving around the one point I expected. It was still glorious to see how the story arrived at the conclusion.

Two spies (MI5 & CIA) meet, screw & then screw each other (well, actually, he just gets screwed). A chance meet up later finds them back in bed & pondering the price of the luxury around them. A $40,000,000 price ticket seems feasible with their skill sets.

They go to work for bitter rival corporations to steal/sell secrets. ... Wilkinson & Giamatti being the corporate owners. These two actors are beautiful in their parts. Roberts & Owen are pleasant. It is a mildly amusing film with a good story line. Who is going to get caught by which company?

The juxtaposition between the two spies' stories and their current roles was nicely played out. Especially since the Owen/Roberts relationship is the reverse gender roles as one might have expected 40 years ago.

There isn't anything truly amazing to analyze or observe. It's a nice movie which doesn't require tons of brain power.

Definitely see it on video.

Pics

# 2 and ferret and new ball cap (Thanks Tante Wendy - he's wearing it to bed tonight). He popped on the cap & very abruptly looked very American.



















#2 with new ballcap. Yes, in my T-shirt. The 'jamas are in the wash somewhere.



















Jr.Gopher#1














Me & #2

[def.] Terrorism

We should be careful about what we label terrorism. Bombs, planes, and wanton death are too easy to label. The suicide bombers in downtown Tel Aviv; the roadside IEDs in Iraq; September 11th*.
*It annoys me when people call it 9-11, as if it's some secret code, some short-hand notation. It is of sufficiently grave importance, that we ought to take the time to speak the whole thing. No one refers to Pearl Harbor (quite seriously a much graver attack on our nation) as 12/7. Roosevelt didn't say "12/7 is a day that will go down in infamy".

How about Bernie Madov? He personally destroyed thousands of people's futures. Should I believe no one has committed suicide as a consequence of this? How is this not terrorism?

AIG, Lehman Bros., CitiCorp, and all the other usurous evil evil evil SOBs ... am I supposed to believe that isn't terrorism? They have without any doubt whatsoever destroyed America's power in the world waaaaaaay more than Al Quaida. Hell, the world at large poured out sympathy for us on September 12th. No one is going to give a good goddamn rat's ass that our economy is tanking after we let the pestilential plague of leeches loose on our citizens. Fellow citizens, we did that to ourselves.

Despite the self-inflicted nature of the economic disaster ... we created the environment that fermented the situation. But Madov and the CEOs of MegaBankCorp are the terrorists which have attacked and destroyed our country's security. Mexicans crossing the border? Who the f* cares, compared to Mr.Gopher's 401k being decimated?

Birthday #5

The day started dry & progressively became the sunny blue sky day predicted. No one mentioned the temperature might not reach over 60. Jr.Gopher#1's friends came & partied. I've never been in such close proximity to so many extremely loud children. All totally focused on what they want to do, pretty much to the total exclusion of all other things (read: adults). In attendance were: Freddy from up the street (who goes to day care w/ Jr.Gopher#2), Will from St. Albert's, Frau Cinda (honest, he invited her explicitly), and the Kinderstube Crew: Olivia, Elsa, Lisa, Alec, Mäxle, & Ty.

Oy, the birthday presents! He got more loot than at Christmas! Jr.Gopher #1 being helped by Olivia)

















The birthday cake was a hair-pulling experience. See comments on further post w/ recipe.
Cake for his actual birthday, created with no stress:

















Cake for party. Observe failure to achieve aesthetic nirvana. Tasted pretty good, though!


















Grandma MaryBeth supplied us with a piñata. My techno whiz spouse, Mr. Gopher, managed to design something to keep the phocine piñata aloft. One end of the rope could be secured to fence; one end thrown over the rather high limb of the tree hanging over our yard would serve as the hanger. But, how to get the rope over the branch? (which is about 20' up) He tied the rope in a rather complex web around the 8" ball we purchased last night. A couple tries, and voila! The ball carried the rope over. We left the ball hanging - about 4' off the ground, to wait for the party later to be replaced with the piñata.

Our two boys spent at least 30 min. doing nothing but beating the ball with the stick. What fun!! No kidding, it was the life of the party. At least 2 other parents stared at the kids having so much fun simply bashing a ball around, and said "we ought to do that" as a regular installation for playing.

The kids show up for the party. Michael is just over the top happy. We hang up the piñata, and after ascertaining that only one of them had ever done this before, I offered the child-friendly directions:

Shhhh .... [shake the piñata] ... hear that? ... [lots of little heads nodding] ... those are goodies ... [lots of little heads nodding enthusiastically] ... do you know how to get the goodies out? [wave stick] You take the stick and bash it until it breaks!

I've got some pretty good footage of the piñata bashing.
















Alec, bashing the dolphin, is Jr.Gopher's current best friend.







The kids spent almost all of the 2 hours playing outdoors either bashing the piñata, bashing the ball, or playing in the huge sand box in the backyard.

The pinata continued to be useful after its preliminary destruction. (Will from St.Albert's):






















Later in the evening, the boys were watching a movie, and Jr.Gopher#1 abruptly bursts into tears. It's his favorite movie?! He's crying like his heart's broken. He was so sad because his friends all had to go home, and they weren't here any more.

Distance is Love

There is something distant about grading homework. I've been on both sides of the deal - one can dissociate from the student, and just look at her work. From the student's side, one turns in homework, waits (sometimes an awful damn long time), and then gets it back with a grade. There is no participation in the process beyond giving the prof. the work. This is even more pronounced with big classes, where you might even reasonably expect the professor doesn't even know who you are.

For my industrial ventilation course: It's not as though it's a large 300 person intro to chemistry course. There are 8 people in it. This is the 4th course I've had with Pete, and he's my research advisor. No hiding, here.


rewind 30 hours ....

My project was due at 5 p.m. I had 80% of it done and had to stop because I needed a software program to select a piece of machinery for the design. Oh, I needed sleep, too. I had everything set up, so that I could go to the lab, run the program, let it pick my machine, and then I could take the numbers and finish the calculations. Right? Because - of course - the damn software won't run on my Mac, and I can't figure out how to get VM ware to let it run on my Mac, either.

9:00
I go to the lab armed with the administrator's password for the one computer which has the program. Error. repeat. error. turn computer off. turn computer on. error.

9:30
Go to other computer in lab. Program installed. Great! Error. Repeat. Error. don't bother to reboot. Go on line. Find company. Try to download program directly from them onto the computer. After all, I have the password right? Somehow, the website thinks I down loaded it, but the computer spat in my face and tells me it wasn't actually downloaded.

10:00
Call Pete (Dr. Pete, not to be confused with my spouse Dr. Peter). Pete's not in his office. Go to the Sphere, keep writing the paper that goes with this project.

11:00
Pete's still not in his office. Keep writing paper. Keep staring at 15.51" w.g. in utter conviction that this is actually a bad number to have.

2:00
This time I walked upstairs to Pete's office. Thank god, he's there. I ask him what I should do, in the absence of the technical specs for this machine I need. I suggested that I could simply include the directions for picking the machine, then make one up, and continue. (my thought was that this should be the important points - I know how to pick the instrument, and then I know what to do with it once I have it).

Pete groans - this is of course merely the latest in an on-going saga wiht this software program and me. He says "well, why don't we just pick it now?" He has the program on his office computer.

He turns back to the computer. There is just something horrifying about the idea of standing behind your prof, looking over his shoulder, and giving him directions which prevents you from hiding the fact that you're an idiot.

After about 2 minutes, I simply cannot stop laughing. In utter mortification and embarrassment. Pete looks back over his shoulder and up at me, asking what's wrong. I answered

"It's one thing to turn in your homework and have your prof realize what an idiot you are. It's a completely different story to have to stand next to him and see him realize what an idiot you are."

4:47
Turned in project. We'll see how much of an idiot I am in a few weeks.

5 min.

There appears to be hope for my GPA this semester. While I - as many/most of my classmates - have succumbed to the philosophy of "I don't give a damn what my GPA is, as long as I pass" ... I would still like to get better than the minimum.

My last project is due in 17 hours. I finally accomplished in about 36 hours of work (if not more) what in all likelihood should have taken about 6 or 7. It's a handicap starting off with no clue about what the hell you're doing.

Tomorrow night I will sleep like the dead.

Healthy Gopher's Food Rules

If you need a chemistry degree to decypher the ingredients list, you shouldn't eat it.

If a chemist doesn't know what it is without consulting an MSDS, you definitely shouldn't eat it.

If you're told "You'll get used to the taste" ... you shouldn't.

When in doubt about it's biological origin, don't eat it.

If it won't decompose - don't eat it.
corollary: if bacteria/fungi won't eat it, you shouldn't either

If the only nutrient on the label is sugar and you don't think it's candy ... you shouldn't eat it.

=================================
Given the choice between:

butter & margarine - pick butter.
100% fat is 100% fat. Might as well get the good tasting natural stuff. Ever heard of organic margarine?

sugar & anything else that is supposed to 'sweeten' food - pick sugar.
Sugar = sugar cane, molasses, & honey. Sugar does not equal corn products.

Presidential laughs

part 1 - god, what a laugh

[review] Star Trek

Too much of not enough

Okay, so let's get straight to the point. Time travel annoys the hell out of me in science fiction.

There's the traditional version in Butterfly Effect (title? a short story about dinosaur hunting & a squashed butterfly). Microscopic changes in the past produce macroscopic changes back in the present. This often assumes there is only 1 present.

There's the modified version in Outlander and Dragonfly in Amber, where changes to the past might or might not be the cause of the present. Usually the inexorable pull of history theory - that you can't really change the past.

Then there's Star Trek, the new movie. WTF happened? I'm not even sure if I get it. And, the fact that this all revolves around Spock just pisses me off more. Why can't someone else in the universe have the brain power or amazing insight necessary at the critical time?

This version of time travel precludes originality. It's the science fiction equivalent of No Free Will. The predestination version of time in a loop. You'll invent some gizmo; someone from the future tells you about it, giving you the missing piece of information you needed to finish the project. Is it really yours? Is it hers? It might be an interesting philosophical discussion to have over great scotch. It totally blows as a plot device.

Sure, the movie needs to appeal (heavily) to the Trekkies. So, I expected a smattering of in-jokes or blatant jokes. "Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a physicist." The Kobyashi Maru exercise. Kirk as a ladies' man. However, there were simply too many of them; at some point I wondered if this was supposed to be a comedy or farce. There were points where I scratched my head desperately trying to recall information about characters whose names I recognized, but nothing else (e.g. Capt. Pike). I'm sure if I was an adherent of the Trek Faith, I probably would have noticed much earlier the divergence between TV and this movie.

The story - if I understood it - goes back to Kirk's entry to Starfleet & pushes the reset button on the Star Trek mythos. How in god's name does this mesh with the last 43 years of Trek creation?

I really, really wonder how the Star Trek Loyal took this? Does this make DS9, Voyager, TNG all into some alternate reality now?

The FX were pretty good. The space battle scenes were lightyears ahead of the last scenes I saw of Voyager. The major purpose of the movie was the (re)introduction of the crew of the Enterprise. These parts are interesting - how some of them met; seeing events which will provide deep driving character purpose in later years.

Top kudos go to the writers for Scotty and Spock. Given the complete overhaul of reality as the Federation knows it - the re-invention of Spock was really nice, in giving him more of a 3 dimensional personality regarding the struggles with his human nature. Scotty was just wonderful - an improved version of the original. Karl Urban is equally good as McCoy as a Russian mob hit man. I admit the casting director was amazing for just about all of the characters.

Major boos go to the writers for any reference at all to time travel. It's just so "I can't think of anything for this week's show, let's create havoc and then pretend it didn't happen".

I was highly amused at the costumes. Totally right out of the original show, especially the women's dresses. Pandering to sexism or simply trying to present the universe as it was when the show started?

rating:

see it on DVD if you're a trekkie
see it on DVD if someone else is paying, if you're not a trekkie

Latino award titles

Who came up with these award names?

The Setting Us Back Award for Negative Stereotyping in a Movie

The 'Worst Fauxtino of the Year' Award for Worst Portrayal of a Latino

The 'No Espeak Espanish' Award for Poor Spanish Speaking Skills in a Movie

The 'I'd Rather Be Watching the Weather Channel' Award for Worst TV Show

Award for Ickiest Onscreen Chemistry in a Movie

Epilepsy

NPR's Talk of the Nation broadcast recently Living with the Uncertainty of Epilepsy. A classmate of mine called me in the middle of the afternoon to tell me it was on. It's a great discussion.

More people die every year from epilepsy than breast cancer., according to the guest speaker. Hmmm... According to the American Cancer Society, 40,930 people are expected to die from breast cancer this year. How many people die from epilepsy? Well, drowning because you have a seizure is likely to be reported on the death certificate, since the person drowned, regardless of the cause. There is a small number of people who do die directly from seizures. It is quite certainly not over 40k. Who among the listeners questions that statement, if they have a loved one with epilepsy?

Well, I did, simply becuase I wanted to know how many people do die. I've seen the figure 812/yr, but it was from a semi-reliable source (which means it might be right). It wasn't from MMWR or some other über-reliable source.

There isn't even a single definition of what constitutes epilepsy. It's usually like Stewart & pornography: I won't try to define it, "but I know it when I see it."(1)

Take one guess about who gets more money? Dispersal of money for medical research is a boutique solution. It's like pets: the cute animals get picked first. The obsession with modern feminism has made breast cancer chic. Women with it look just like women without it. Unless she's going through chemo, it isn't going to be noticeable. Breast cancer shows up later in life; she's likely live most of her life without it. Epilepsy shows up with little children and often lasts the rest of your life. Breasts are more attractive than brains.

A description of the drug I take: The exact way lamotrigine works is unknown. You tell me whether people have anti-cancer drugs that are used without understanding how they work?

In the past two years I've had more problems with managing my epilepsy. ("more" being a pretty relative term, compared to others' "1 per day" or "4 or 5 per day".) I switched medications. I've had wierdo events that I'm not even sure if they're seizures, I'm assuming they are simply because I have epilepsy. But my neurologist opines that one simply doesn't remain aware during seizures, therefore this couldn't be a seizure. I had a seizure when I was 8 months pregnant with Jr.Gopher#2. The idea of going swimming with Mr.Gopher in lake Michigan was nice ... but so far away from the rest of the world with relatively trecherous water ...? No. One of the editors at the Lansing State Journal had a daughter who drowned at the age of 25, from a seizure. I was at her funeral. While I cry at funerals anyway, this seemed to be the end of such a full life. I was 37 or so at the time.

Yet I am left with a large minority who have well-controlled seizures for whom the only major inconvenience is remembering to take my medicine twice each day. Well, actually pacifying the Minnesota DMV is really annoying, but only an annual intrusion. I'm horrified at the stories of the majority of people with epilepsy, especially parents/kids coping with the idiots inhabiting our society. I told my classmates I have epilepsy, and their response was either "oh?" or "are you doing okay with school?" I didn't have anyone run away from me. I'm sure their response would have been the same if it was one of my kids. Jr.Gopher has epilepsy? Sure, we can get together on Sunday for the kids to play together. As opposed to people who get freaked out about it.

If you have the chance to convince some millionare to spend her money on something worthwhile, try the Epilepsy Foundation.


(1) Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 U.S. 184, 197 (1964)

Bumper Sticker of the Month

Jesus Is Coming

look busy!

Josie's salad

chick peas
black beans
cherry tomatoes
chunks of red onions
chunks of red pepper
olive oil
lemon juice
cilantro
parsley
salt to taste

it's a pretty colorful dish. Serve cold.

Nepal coffee

We went to The Himalaya for dinner last weekend to celebrate Anniversary 6.1 After seeing Coraline [review to be forthcoming after Finals], we opted for adventure dining. The food was apparently from the Nepalese kitchen. Sort of a mix between China and India, unsurprisingly.

On the appetizer list: dumplings, either steamed or pan-fried. These can be delicious from a good Chinese restaurant. Here, the filling options were: chicken, vegetarian, beef, and yak.

Yak tastes pretty good. A stronger flavor than most beef, but with a more distinct flavor than buffalo. Goat curry was tender and tasty. Too many rib bones, but I like it. The yak meat was better, as far as just the meat goes.

I ordered coffee. More adventure, I didn't ask what "Nepalese Coffee" was.

Strong black coffee, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves & evaporated milk

I experimented with the coffee:
For a small pot (4 8-oz. cups) - I recommend starting with the following ratio & adjust to taste. The cinnamon is the primary flavor, with enough of the others to be sure you notice. They're pretty strong flavors, so don't use them in equal proportions (unless you really really really really like cloves).

large 1/2 t cinnamon
short 1/2 t ground ginger
1/4 t ground cardamom
short 1/8 t cloves

I'm sure you could use cream, rather than evaporated milk - the goal being creamy without diluting the coffee. (note: this is evaporated, not condensed milk!)

2 drive or 2 drive twice?

DUI twice in one day

MCMINNVILLE, Ore. - Police said a man was stopped and cited with driving under the influence of intoxicants charges twice in one day. In both instances, police say, the 52-year-old man was driving the same pickup and stopped near the same state liquor store.

Police said they first stopped the man at 11:05 a.m. Friday after he ran a red light. He was released into the custody of his grandmother and his vehicle was impounded.

A while later, authorities released the pickup to another party on condition the man not drive it. But he did. A tow company employee saw Reeves take the wheel and called police.

Police spotted the pickup and followed it back to the state liquor store, where he was cited again.

The second time around, the man was booked in jail on $6,250 bail.

[review] Indian Runner

Directorial debut from Sean Penn, this small, independent film is based upon - it states in the credits - a song from Bruce Springsteen. Movies are based upon books (The Road), plays (South Pacific), short stories (Minority Report), epic saga poems (Beowulf), and even in these days, video games (Wanted). But songs? I'm sure there are more and I just didn't notice them. The song is Highway Patrolman, off his Nebraska album. The movie stars Viggo Mortensen & David Morse (if you're old enough, you saw him on St. Elsewhere). Though with Charles Bronson & Dennis Hopper on the supporting cast, you'd think it couldn't be toooo horrible. Sure, I picked it up because Mortensen was it in - this was in the pre-LotR days - and I'd just seen him in American Yakuza (which I'd picked upon because I'd just seen him in G.I.Jane). So, basically, I saw this several years after it was made.

It's a simple, though not simplistic, story. Two brothers divided by experiences struggle at the division between them as adult men. One left to fight in Vietnam, the other stayed home & became the hometown sheriff. One is rather a hard-drinking drifter who enjoys the feminine delights of Saturday nights; the other settled down and married his sweetheart (his own, not his brother's). Best friends at the end of childhood, the two men struggle to be friends as grown independent men.

There comes a point where both can almost see over the fence into the other's yard (figuratively speaking, of course). One man we see and rather immediately identify with his concepts of 'love and family'. With the other, we recognize his struggle to figure out love beyond good sex. Yet while we watch his struggle, we also accept with bland equanimity the other's existing relations without really questioning what sort of struggle he had to get them. Or even if he had a struggle at all. Can I hold as a mentor or hold as an example someone who never had to struggle with my own nightmares? How far does sympathy take you, without congruent knowledge?

I struggled to imagine what kind of song would have painted this picture for Penn, who both wrote and directed it. Since I had a very clear image of the story from the movie long before I heard to song, I'm not sure if my opinion is unbiased - but I found the song's imagery to be close to the film

It doesn't look high-budget, despite the cast ("high" being a relative term). I wonder if it was one of those "Hey, I'm making a movie, I'd like you to be in it, but can't pay much", where the "yes" answer is out of friendship or at least a professional respect.

4 - Definitely see it on video.

[def.] hegemony

... a diverse culture can be ruled or dominated by one class in part through common sense, that everyday practices and shared beliefs provide the foundation for complex systems of domination.

I like the phrase "complex systems of domination". I look at the news and wonder at the insanity of the population who think "freedom" is something real.

holy cow ...

It's always nice to know one's professional opinion is valued. Sure, the annual "you didn't totally screw up" review from you boss is the ticket to the "oh, well, you can't have one" bonus.

10 Ten best things about swine flu: #1 is from yours truly.

I'm suddenly struck by the fear that someone is going to write MPR and say "what a total screw up, why did you listen to her?" Although one would also hope that they asked someone else before quoting me..... Somehow the idea of telling my employer/employees this pales in comparison to the biggest radio station in the state quoting me.

[review] The Bank Job

okay, so this isn't a new movie. I'm so totally panic-attacking life, I don't even want to think about movies. It will just make me more depressed. Unless you want to do my Ventilation Final Project Cost Accounting Estimates. That will be more than a movie length of time. Really, it's interesting!

"Based on a True Story". Well, I am willing to believe more of the story is true than just scandalous photos of Princess Margaret. And I'm perfectly willing to believe the English government behaves rather insanely when it comes to "protecting the image" of the royal family. God, do they actually think they have a sterling image? You'd think no one could ever imagine them doing anything stupid. Broad Street must be running on cold fusion, if it isn't the rich and famously stupid. Anyway ...

This was the cat's meow. Gripping on the edge of your seat suspense by the end of the movie. Who's going to live? Because by then we realize maybe they aren't all going to. Will his wife ditch him? Did he really do that in the middle of a bank heist? Wow. Will they manage to pull this off? How badly are they really being screwed? How much of this is true?

The background bad guy is some Black Panther-esque Caribbean fellow who's got compromising photos of someone in the royal family, and is using them as blackmail to keep the English gov't off himself. (The events leading to the photos are the only sex you see in the movie, designed to grab your attention at the opening credits.) The undercover agent sent to infiltrate his group plays the epitome of the late-60s "I'm Going to Show My Support to the Oppressed to Annoy my Bourgeois White Parents" white women who flung themselves into bed with Latino Communists or Black Panthers. She deserved recognition for her acting.

The basic plot: a bunch of small-time crooks are lured into a major bank job in London c. 1970. This isn't really all that original. Even Statham in a bank job isn't original. What is enjoyable is simply how it's presented. The crime boss in the back, with his fingers throughout the plot; the fact that one of the crooks was a small-time porn star; the leader's (Jason Statham) wife actually knows he was a crook...

The major suspense mechanism during the bank job appears anachronistic. In today's world of global positioning cell phones, trying to find a pair of hand-held walkie talkies seems de classe: and yet, is likely far less traceable than a cell phone. Definitely fun.

Rating:
3 - Buy your own on video.