"It's Gonna Be A White Christmas"
or, "Suck it, Florida!"
Cameron and I arrived safely on Friday. The plane rides were pleasant, and I got a window seat on both flights, although I think I'm obligated to give Cameron the window on the flights back. This was the first time I've flown at night, and it is in some ways much more interesting than flying during the day. Seeing all the little lights of houses and stores bunched together in sparkling city-pools and then spread out in little light-droplets throughout the countryside, I was fairly mesmerized. I've often heard that when you look down from great heights and see people the size of ants, it makes you realize how insignificant we are. This gave me the opposite feeling. Seeing the tiny headlights of cars, each filled with a person or a family, each heading towards a tiny beacon-light of home or work or somewhere else, each with their own stories and hopes and pains and dreams--seeing the amazing complexity and beauty of our society in so many points and constellations of light. It was beautiful.
Minnesota is gorgeous. Everything is covered in a blanket of white snow, and the air is amazingly crisp and cold and perfect. I love it here, and being with Cameron and his family for Christmas makes it even nicer. His family is really wonderful, the kind of happy stocking-hanging eat-at-one-table family you see on tv. They've been very generous, letting us stay with them and making us wonderful dinners (best meatloaf ever) and so on. Their Christmas tree is actually a real tree, too! This is foreign to me. Cameron strung it with lights and then his mom and little nephew did most of the ornament-hanging. It looks really beautiful against the snowscape beyond the window.
In sadder news, we all went to see The Golden Compass. I was so, so disappointed. Some things they changed are understandable, but so many of the changes seemed completely arbitrary and poorly chosen. And the plotting was nonsensical and frenetic. And worst of all, they end the movie before the book ends! The climax and revelation of the book never happens in the movie. Wtf! I mean, sure they'll probably make a trilogy of movies to match the books, but if they keep cutting the endings off and including them in the next movie, they'll still run out of space. It was a horrible adaptation. Cameron blames Hollywood, and I think he's right. As he says, a big part of why the Lord of the Rings movies were so amazing is because they weren't made in Hollywood with all its bullshit. (Apparently the actor who portrayed Gimli made a teary-eyed and heartfelt speech to precisely this effect.)
Anyway, I wish everyone else a winter break as wonderful as mine.
Cameron and I arrived safely on Friday. The plane rides were pleasant, and I got a window seat on both flights, although I think I'm obligated to give Cameron the window on the flights back. This was the first time I've flown at night, and it is in some ways much more interesting than flying during the day. Seeing all the little lights of houses and stores bunched together in sparkling city-pools and then spread out in little light-droplets throughout the countryside, I was fairly mesmerized. I've often heard that when you look down from great heights and see people the size of ants, it makes you realize how insignificant we are. This gave me the opposite feeling. Seeing the tiny headlights of cars, each filled with a person or a family, each heading towards a tiny beacon-light of home or work or somewhere else, each with their own stories and hopes and pains and dreams--seeing the amazing complexity and beauty of our society in so many points and constellations of light. It was beautiful.
Minnesota is gorgeous. Everything is covered in a blanket of white snow, and the air is amazingly crisp and cold and perfect. I love it here, and being with Cameron and his family for Christmas makes it even nicer. His family is really wonderful, the kind of happy stocking-hanging eat-at-one-table family you see on tv. They've been very generous, letting us stay with them and making us wonderful dinners (best meatloaf ever) and so on. Their Christmas tree is actually a real tree, too! This is foreign to me. Cameron strung it with lights and then his mom and little nephew did most of the ornament-hanging. It looks really beautiful against the snowscape beyond the window.
In sadder news, we all went to see The Golden Compass. I was so, so disappointed. Some things they changed are understandable, but so many of the changes seemed completely arbitrary and poorly chosen. And the plotting was nonsensical and frenetic. And worst of all, they end the movie before the book ends! The climax and revelation of the book never happens in the movie. Wtf! I mean, sure they'll probably make a trilogy of movies to match the books, but if they keep cutting the endings off and including them in the next movie, they'll still run out of space. It was a horrible adaptation. Cameron blames Hollywood, and I think he's right. As he says, a big part of why the Lord of the Rings movies were so amazing is because they weren't made in Hollywood with all its bullshit. (Apparently the actor who portrayed Gimli made a teary-eyed and heartfelt speech to precisely this effect.)
Anyway, I wish everyone else a winter break as wonderful as mine.