The Visitation
Friday night the immediate family and I went and saw Johan Santana, of all people, get schooled by the friggin' Tampa Bay Devil Rays 4-2. We've got to stop making the Twins our family outing of choice. We're like poison to them. But the following night, when we weren't at the Metrodome, the Twins pounded them 12-5, so balance was maintained in the universe.
Saturday we got some actual real pictures taken by an actual real photographer. As in someone we paid money and who had equipment and all that. We hadn't had a family portrait taken since the bro and I were kids, and now that there's a grandchild around and stuff it seemed like a good time. Very nice woman, but she's used to photographing sports events, and is only just now branching out into portraits. So a couple of our outdoor shots were imperfect. But we did some very brief indoor reshoots on Sunday, and everything looks fine. There's a two shot of me and my brother that I honestly think is one of the best pictures ever taken of either of us, and they're both in one picture. And there's a few I can use as acting head shots, so that's one excuse I can't make anymore.
The rest of my bro and sis-in-law's visit was uneventful. I mean spectacularly so. It's like we spent the whole weekend napping. We didn't even watch anything of note on cable. Babies and age will do that to people. It was great to see everyone, of course, but what did we do exactly?
Sunday was taken up with last minute Trivia Contest ephemera (I think it'll be a fun one), a Dr. Who viewing (season three looks like a solid improvement over season two), and another revisiting of Dark City. Dark City remains one of those objectively impressive movies that just doesn't do for me what it seems to do for everyone else I know. It's fine, but I can't figure out why I don't respond to it more. I think I want it to be more psychological and less visual. Alex Proyas sets up the rules of the universe too quickly, so the WTF moments don't really... uh... WTFerize me the way I want them to. But I still recognize it as a noteworthy example of SF noir, and I certainly don't begrudge the film for having its cultists.
Saturday we got some actual real pictures taken by an actual real photographer. As in someone we paid money and who had equipment and all that. We hadn't had a family portrait taken since the bro and I were kids, and now that there's a grandchild around and stuff it seemed like a good time. Very nice woman, but she's used to photographing sports events, and is only just now branching out into portraits. So a couple of our outdoor shots were imperfect. But we did some very brief indoor reshoots on Sunday, and everything looks fine. There's a two shot of me and my brother that I honestly think is one of the best pictures ever taken of either of us, and they're both in one picture. And there's a few I can use as acting head shots, so that's one excuse I can't make anymore.
The rest of my bro and sis-in-law's visit was uneventful. I mean spectacularly so. It's like we spent the whole weekend napping. We didn't even watch anything of note on cable. Babies and age will do that to people. It was great to see everyone, of course, but what did we do exactly?
Sunday was taken up with last minute Trivia Contest ephemera (I think it'll be a fun one), a Dr. Who viewing (season three looks like a solid improvement over season two), and another revisiting of Dark City. Dark City remains one of those objectively impressive movies that just doesn't do for me what it seems to do for everyone else I know. It's fine, but I can't figure out why I don't respond to it more. I think I want it to be more psychological and less visual. Alex Proyas sets up the rules of the universe too quickly, so the WTF moments don't really... uh... WTFerize me the way I want them to. But I still recognize it as a noteworthy example of SF noir, and I certainly don't begrudge the film for having its cultists.