Shadow Memories

I have never met anyone with a photographic memory. I have met some people that claim they do- but those people have never given me a reason to believe it. I think it would be a pretty amazing gift to have a photographic memory and have the ability to recall everything that ever happened to you with perfect clarity. With all of my efforts I try to recall my childhood but the things I think I remember are practically shadows, barely visible. One of these shadow memories I have involves my Uncle Freddy who was my mother’s older brother. I recall one time when I was a single digit kid when Freddy came by. We lived in a small house at the top of a small hill and this had to be a summer day because I remember being in shorts and not having any shoes on, not unlike any other child, boy or girl, in the summer especially in the south. On this particular day Freddy had a Doberman Pinscher with him. I am not sure if this was his dog or if he was watching it for a friend but I remember having a very strong desire to hold the leash of this dog, likely due to my life long love of animals. I remember begging my mom and uncle to let me hold the leash but they would not allow it. When they finally relented and permitted me to hold the leash I was dragged down the hill by the dog with my mother and my uncle chasing after us to try to get ahold of me, the leash or the dog which they eventually did. The funny thing about this memory is that in my mind the hill that I got dragged down was at least a mile long with gravel and pavement. Recently on a trip down memory lane we drove by the old homestead and my memories were confirmed as inaccurate. The hill could barely be classified as such and it was not even close to a mile. Funny how big things when you are small decrease exponentially as your age increases. Recalling these events make me realize how convenient it would be to have a photographic memory, however I would be curious if total recall would affect my recollection of the hard times. The deaths and the job losses and the sickness- it’s not so bad to not be able to remember those in great detail. I enjoy my poor memory dulling those moments, even though they are part of the forgery forming the metal of who I am and have led me to the people that are in my life. I like to believe the person I am is worthy of the people in my life and the life we all share. 

Floodwater Thoughts

2/7/23

Today someone mentioned Zingers which was all it took for a flood of memories to drown my thoughts with recollections of my Pepaw, Lawrence Frederick Collins. Pepaw was a route manager for Dolly Madison, the creator of the Zinger snack cake. When I was a single digit kid there was no shortage of Dolly Madison snack cakes in our house, Zingers included. The memories I have of my Pepaw are extensive but one of my fondest is going into grocery stores with him when I was a kid and how much he would embarrass me. He would seek out the largest, usually, African American female cashiers he could find and proceed to flirt like a professional. Looking back on this, watching my Pepaw flirt was similar to watching Michael Jordan play basketball, he was exceedingly good at it. He would use terms of endearment with these women who at the beginning of the exchange were not endeared to him but by the end of the exchange they appeared to be completely smitten with him. The irony in this is how badly he embarrassed me as a child, you would think I would abhor that type of behavior as an adult but in fact the contrary is true. I find myself, the older I get, using keywords such as “Honey”, “Sweetie” and “Sugar” when addressing female service workers. I truly have no control over this phenomenon and remember being confused and surprised the first time this happened. The unfortunate side to this is in this day and time, more often than not, this type of interaction is inaccurately perceived as demeaning with a touch of condescension, or perhaps I just don’t have the level of charisma that Pepaw had. On the other hand, maybe I just haven’t actually reached the age where I can get away with it. It’s a funny thing as you get older. You start thinking about the people who raised you both living and passed; all the parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents and even great grandparents. Then you start remembering all of their idiosyncrasies and habits by recognizing them in yourself. If I were to make a pie chart of which relative is responsible for which percentage of my personality, my pepaw would own a large chunk. I loved my pepaw very much and wish he were still here, he left a big void when he passed. It is my sincerest hope that 20 years after I pass, my grandkids remember me as fondly as I remember my pepaw. 

Friday at Five and Speed of Light Weekends

I love my free time. It seems like when my week begins Monday morning it takes forever for Friday at 5 to get here. Then the time between Friday at 5 and Monday morning 8 o'clock passes with preternatural speed. The age old question is why does time go so slow when you are doing something you do not want to do, but go so fast when you are doing something you enjoy? I love Christmas. I love the family togetherness, the food, the gifts, and the Christmas carols. I love going to church and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior. I love all things Christmas. There are two ways to look at the passing of time and Christmas. One way is to consider that Christmas 2012 feels like it was only yesterday. The other is, do you realize that at this point, we are almost halfway through the year to Christmas again? My family and I went on a cruise in April. We had a wonderful time taking the kids and spending time with my in-laws Chuck and Karen with their daughter (my other daughter) India. I still remember vividly waiting for the passing of time at work waiting for my vacation to begin. Then the second after my work day ended time went into fast forward mode and my vacation ended as abruptly as it began.
What can be done? Should we stop looking forward to things? I just dont see how thats an option. Having something to look forward to is one of the keys to my happiness. When I have something to look forward to, I am in much higher spirits. Right now we are getting ready to go to my great niece Raegan's 10th birthday party, and I am happy because I am looking forward to it. The unfortunate flip side is after the thing that I am looking forward to comes to an end, I go through a minor state of depression. Sometimes the depression is worse than others. After Raegan's birthday party I will be slightly depressed, whereas after the cruise I was totally depressed and in a funk for a week. For those that have cruised before they will understand my meaning. Unless it was the cruise that got stranded on the boat with poop on the walls.
Anyways I have to go now, but memories are worth the post fun activity depression.

World War Z- Didn't disappoint....

Tonight I did something I haven't done in a long time. I went to see a movie on opening night. My father and I snuck out and took in a 7:10pm showing of one of the biggest movies of the summer, World War Z. My normal movie buddy my middle son Conner was swimming and my father and i decided to go in the span of like 5 minutes after dinner, so we left without telling him. I have a little bit of guilt about not taking him, and he was good heatedly upset about missing it, but I will make sure he sees it before it leaves theaters. 

I have to be honest, I was apprehensive about seeing this movie. It was full of hype since, thanks to the massive success of the Walking Dead TV show,zombies are kind of in right now. There was also a ton of controversy about the movie because it was based on Max Brook's best selling novel of the same name, and from my understanding they strayed massively from the source material. Shortly after the movie began though, all of my worries vanished and I found myself emerged into a wonderful movie. After I got into the movie, my biggest concern was that they would mess up the story along the way, but I have good news... They did not. Brad Pitt plays a U.N investigator that specializes in troubleshooting troubled areas in the world. His former boss at the U.N deems him worthwhile of rescue and arranges for him and his family to be airlifted out of Philadelphia. I guess his former U.N job makes him the guy to figure out the virus and come up with a solution. He initially resists leaving the safety of the aircraft carrier they are on off the coast of New York not wanting to leave the family, but is convinced by the guy in charge that if he is not part of the solution, him and his family have to leave, and be returned to less safe accommodations. This sets the story in motion and it does not disappoint. 

I have spoken out in the past about movies where they dull down the violence in a movie to achieve the more profitable PG-13. The primary example that comes to mind is Alien vs Predator. AVP was the crossover attempt at two fantastically violent R rated movies that any movie fan has to love. AVP had potential, but they went for profit and made a substandard movie in my opinion, by making it PG-13. Well you don't have to be a scholar to see where I am going with this because WWZ was also made as a PG-13 movie. Trust me when I say though, it does not affect the story of WWZ. There was not unnecessary gore or any blatant bloody violence, but I still found myself emerged. There were many scenes where I was literally on the edge of my seat. 

I really enjoyed this movie. In the grand scheme of zombie flicks it ranks right up there with 28 days(I understand they are not really zombies in this one, but its still a zombie movie), Shawn of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead. I personally am happy we now have another quality entry into the genre

Steven Soderbergh and the weekend

Last night we took a chance and watched Side Effects, one of Steven Soderbergh's most recent movies. The cast was pretty good and the story was decent. The movie features Rooney Mara as damaged goods and Channing Tatum as her recently paroled white collar criminal hubby. Jude Law and Catherine Zeta Jones round out the cast as psychiatrists who both have worked on Rooney Mara's character. I really like Rooney Mara as an actress. She has a unique look about her. I really enjoyed her Lisbeth Salander in the American version of Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and cant wait to see the forthcoming Girl Who Played With Fire. Jude Law is always a reliable actor. The best thing I can say about Channing Tatum and Catherine Zeta Jones is they do not negatively impact the movies they star in. Steven Soderbergh directed this film and he is a very hit and miss director for me. He has the capacity to knock one out of the park like Traffic, but he can also strike out swinging with a movie like Haywire(if you haven't seen this don't bother). The cool thing about Soderbergh is when his movie is crap, no one trashes him in the media, its like people just overlook his short comings. Now if M. Night Shyamalan makes a crap movie, he gets destroyed in the media, not Steven Soderbergh though. Soderbergh however doesn't misstep much. Even the movies he makes that I don't care for like Magic Mike and the crappy Oceans  movies (that I think everyone besides me loved) enjoy a level of success in the box office. So anyway Side Effects was a good effort, but fell a little short of being a great movie. Honestly though one of my favorite things about the movie was that it came in under the 2 hour mark at 109 minutes. I think that is just about the perfect running time for a movie. When you get into the 2+ hour movies, they require much more of a commitment than I can sometimes offer. On the other hand if a movie is only 109 minutes long, as long as I start it before 9:30pm, I can still watch it and have enough time left over to put the dogs out and set the coffee pot to be in bed by 11:00pm. It is sad that sometimes my love of a good night sleep limits the movies that I watch, but there are few things I love as much as restful sleep.
This weekend World War Z starts in theatres. I am greatly looking forward to this movie and hope to see it this weekend. I know there were a lot of liberties taken with the source material by Max Brooks but it still looks like it could be entertaining. The thing that scares me is the rumors of the re-shoots they executed just prior to the movies release. These reshoots could be good in that they fixed the crappy ending, or they could be bad with the people responsible not being able to figure out how to wrap it up. Time will tell.

Oz Great and Powerful

I watched Oz Great and Powerful last night and was pleasantly surprised. I really enjoyed it. I was not expecting much and if I'm being honest really wasn't even giving it 100 percent of my attention for the first 30 or so minutes, but it caught my undivided attention and totally engaged me. I think one of the reasons I was so pleasantly surprised was that I really wasn't expecting to like it. I didn't even bother with it in the movies thinking it was going to be like Alice in Wonderland (which I was also surprised that I liked). It has become obvious to me that in the case of movies like Alice in Wonderland and Oz Great and Powerful that I am not excited about, if they exceed my low expectations they are remembered by me to be fantastic. On the other hand if I am really excited about a movie like Man of Steel and my expectations are high, then it is much more difficult for me to walk away from the movie experience satisfied. Unfortunately the later is most often the case. It is becoming increasingly rare for me to be excited about a movie and overwhelmed by the same movie after viewing. In fact in recent memory only one film comes to mind that I have been excited and overwhelmed, and that was Star Trek 2.
Oz Great and Powerful begins in Kansas with Oz who is a carnival magician and demonstrates his unscrupulous behavior by handing out cheap music boxes that were "His Grandmother's". In the first 15 minutes at least 3 of these boxes have been handed out, when the strong man of the carnival, who is the boyfriend/ husband of one of the ladies who receives a music box chases Oz away. Oz escapes by retreating to a hot air balloon promptly getting whisked away by a tornado to The Land of Oz. What follows is about 2 hours of fun building up to a point in time that would slightly pre-date Dorothy's arrival. You get to see the birth of The Wicked Witch of the West. You get to see the origination of The Wizard's scary smoke and mirrors machine. If you pay attention you will also catch many references to The Wizard of Oz movie.
I'm going to make a statement now that many people would disagree with. I don't care for James Franco. With the exception of 127 Hours, Spiderman and Rise of the Planet of the Apes his entire IMDB page is garbage. The movies of his that I like his characters would have been better if cast with a different actor. In fact I would even wager that in each case, James Franco was the second choice. I know for a fact Sam Raimi wanted Robert Downey Jr. originally, but settled for Franco. I still remember when Franco hosted the Oscar's a couple of years ago and just appeared completely disengaged. He is just  NOT as awesome as he thinks he is.
On the other hand is Michelle Williams. I used to not care for Michelle, but that all started changing after My Week with Marilyn. Ever since that movie I have started taking notice of her and have become a genuine fan. I think my dislike for her goes back to the smug character she played on Dawson's Creek. Yes I was a "Creek Geek", but for 1 it was filmed in NC and for 2 it came on either before or after Buffy the Vampire Slayer which is one of my top 25 shows in the last 10 years. So Michelle Williams- If you get a chance to read this- Keep up the good work, you are quickly moving up my list of favorite actresses.
Sam Raimi is a genius. There are few directors in the world that I will watch their movies without question and Sam Raimi is one of them. Evil Dead- Great. Darkman- Great. Spiderman- Great. He has a list of fantastic movies and I would say with Oz, he has added another to the list.

Man of Steel

I saw the new Superman movie "Man of Steel" over the weekend, and was happy with the overall finished product. It did not however exceed, or really even meet my expectations. Exceeding my expectations in a movie however has become an increasingly difficult feat for Hollywood to accomplish. I have seen so many movies that the bar for exceeding my expectations has become so lofty that it rarely happens anymore. If there is anyone reading this that has not seen "Man of Steel" I am getting ready to discuss spoilers that may affect your viewing experience so be warned.
First the movie seemed to be a bit of a hodgepodge of different stuff that was (how can I say) borrowed from other movies. The Krypton scenes felt like a mixture of the backdrop from "Prometheus" with the drab grey colors combined with the flying creatures from "Attack of the Clones". Then there was the scene with Zod ordering the release of the planet former. I think his exact line was-"Release the Planet Former" and my friend immediately looked at me and said "And don't forget the Kracken", referencing of course "Clash of the Titans". Then the scene after Kal-El breaks Zod's neck and screams out, I swear I thought he said "KHANNNN"! Of course most of these similarities are mainly just nit-picking, which according to my son Conner is something I do to the extreme whenever he and I disagree on movies (He loved Man of Steel by the way). Combine all these things with the fact that this story has already been told effectively in Superman II, I guess I would summarize everything with the statement that the movie as a whole just felt very familiar to me.
Now to the body of the movie. Russell Crowe was great as Jor-El. He to me embodied the spirit of the character and Michael Shannon's Zod was a great counter balance to Jor-El. They both believed they were acting for Krypton's greater good. I would have to say the casting director really did a great job over-all. Amy Adams as Lois didn't feel right to me though. I know she is a hot commodity now, but I think they could have done better. Maybe Mila Kunis or how about Jessica Biehl, but again just nit picking.
The story was good. The character development which many people have complained about was effective for me. They balanced action and drama well enough for my liking. I didn't care for Lois finding out who Clark really was right from the get-go. It seems like in this version everyone in Smallville knows Clark's little secret from the start. It was also a little goofy to me how he just stumbled on the alien craft too. He just happened to overhear people chatting about this discovery that sets in motion the realization of his identity. I understand that this was the catalyst that set the story in motion and eventually brought Zod to Earth in the first place, but it seemed to me that they could have done something a little different. My single biggest problem with the whole movie was how he dispatched Zod by simply snapping his neck. The battle that Kal-El engages with the Kryptonians effectively destroys the landscape of Metropolis. There are scenes when Kal-El or one of the Kryptonians get thrown through buildings and punched into the air and all this comes to an end when Kal-El slaps on a rear naked choke hold to Zod and snaps his neck. It just seemed a little anti-climactic to me. I'm not even complaining about his use of lethal force like some people are, I just think it was a little too easy after the enormous fight they had just participated in.
I did like the way the Kryptonians had to use a respirator because they could not adjust to Earth's atmosphere. I also liked how Zod's buddies were expelled back to the Phantom zone. So to sum up there was enough things that I liked to balance out the things I didn't like.
When I was younger, I remember DC comics were the best. Marvel had Spiderman, and Hulk but they didn't come close to comparing to Superman. I have put some thought into this recently and have come up with a possible solution as to why Marvel comics have surpassed DC, specifically Superman. Marvel comics like Iron Man, Spiderman, Hulk etc, deal with humans who are very flawed therefore extremely relatable. Superman is an alien who is basically invulnerable to anything that could harm him. He possesses strength and abilities that make him unbelievably powerful. He can fly, shoot lasers from his eyes and has X-ray vision. His powers are basically over-kill even in the world of comics. I can just about buy a multi-millionaire that has a super suit becoming a super hero called Iron Man. But Superman has no real weakness. Even the whole Kryptonite weakness is nearly impossible to exploit. I think it is Superman's strengths that make it difficult for me cinematically because Superman can't loose. His biggest problem is subduing his opponents without killing them.
The long term likability of this movie for me depends on where they go from here. I understand that from here we have to introduce Lex Luthor, but beyond that I want to see some new villains. I want to see the story of Darksied,  Apokolypse, and Braniac. There is more to Superman's storyline than Zod and Lex Luthor and those are the stories I want to see on the big screen.
The success of this movie demonstrates two principles. 1, The world wide love of Superman and 2, The effectiveness of mass marketing. For the last three months you have not been able to log onto the internet or turn on your TV without seeing some type of ad for "Man of Steel" and it has paid off for the studio, but I would be surprised if it enjoys much more success than it already has.