Five Things for a PTO Friday
1) This morning, dsmoen posted a link to the Travelers' Century Club, the only qualification for which is that one has visited 100 countries. Oh dear. I'm only at 18 13 (I miscounted somewhere along the way), not counting my own country. I have a lot of work to do. I have visited: Canada, Mexico, Japan, Israel, Egypt, Kenya, England, Wales, Scotland, France, Germany, Lithuania, and the Netherlands so far. There will be more!
2) Saw Gravity with a group of friends last Friday night and thought it was extraordinary.
3) Saw Captain Philips on Wednesday, by the good offices of my friend SA. Good--not great--movie based on a remarkable true story. Tom Hanks is in fine form as a freighter captain whose ship is hijacked by Somali pirates. At the core of the film are Philips and Muse (say "moo-seh"), the pirate captain. They give two terrific performances in a film that, when it gets to the meat of its story, is very good indeed, but is a little superficial around the edges. (The captain's wife's character is barely there, and the military characters later in the film are stock soldiers Doing Their Jobs.) Despite its weaknesses around the edges, I was on the edge of my seat in the last third of the film and in the end actually cried a bit so, yeah, I was fully engaged.
4) You never know who you're sitting next to in a movie theater. When we went to see Captain Philips, a fellow about 10 years older than myself sat down next to me. SA greeted him by his first name. We chatted pleasantly for a bit before the theater went dark. The next day, SA sent me email telling me that I had been sitting next to and chatting with Conservative commentator and film reviewer Michael Medved. Good thing we talked about movies rather than politics. This continues my string of chance encounters with well-known people of whose identity I was oblivious until later.
5) I haven't yet found the charm in Agents of Shield (except for Agent Coulson, owing entirely to Clark Gregg, whose charm is undeniable). I'm entertained but not compelled by Sleepy Hollow. I've enjoyed Project Runway this season and am pulling for Dom to win. I keep missing The Amazing Race and really want to catch up. I'm enjoying, as usual, The Big Bang Theory and Castle though, man, I wish it were on an hour earlier. Staying up that late to watch a show is just murder on me.
2) Saw Gravity with a group of friends last Friday night and thought it was extraordinary.
3) Saw Captain Philips on Wednesday, by the good offices of my friend SA. Good--not great--movie based on a remarkable true story. Tom Hanks is in fine form as a freighter captain whose ship is hijacked by Somali pirates. At the core of the film are Philips and Muse (say "moo-seh"), the pirate captain. They give two terrific performances in a film that, when it gets to the meat of its story, is very good indeed, but is a little superficial around the edges. (The captain's wife's character is barely there, and the military characters later in the film are stock soldiers Doing Their Jobs.) Despite its weaknesses around the edges, I was on the edge of my seat in the last third of the film and in the end actually cried a bit so, yeah, I was fully engaged.
4) You never know who you're sitting next to in a movie theater. When we went to see Captain Philips, a fellow about 10 years older than myself sat down next to me. SA greeted him by his first name. We chatted pleasantly for a bit before the theater went dark. The next day, SA sent me email telling me that I had been sitting next to and chatting with Conservative commentator and film reviewer Michael Medved. Good thing we talked about movies rather than politics. This continues my string of chance encounters with well-known people of whose identity I was oblivious until later.
5) I haven't yet found the charm in Agents of Shield (except for Agent Coulson, owing entirely to Clark Gregg, whose charm is undeniable). I'm entertained but not compelled by Sleepy Hollow. I've enjoyed Project Runway this season and am pulling for Dom to win. I keep missing The Amazing Race and really want to catch up. I'm enjoying, as usual, The Big Bang Theory and Castle though, man, I wish it were on an hour earlier. Staying up that late to watch a show is just murder on me.