The Work Week

I don't hate my job, I hate Mondays and Tuesdays. By Wednesday I'm numb and resigned to working. Wednesday is also not not Monday or Tuesday. Thursday is nice because it's a weekend's worth of days away from the weekend. Friday is fine and gets better as the day wears on.

Sunday nights can be downright depressing.

Barack Obama

Let me be the first to ask: Can we get this guy on a coin or a bill or Mt. Rushmore or something? I know he hasn't been elected yet but we may as well put him up there.

Check this out: www.fightthesmears.com.

Who is "Everyone"?

From NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/10/us/politics/10cnd-campaign.html?hp):

In his speech to the small business group, Mr. McCain denounced Mr. Obama’s plan to pay for his economic stimulus plan by increasing taxes on people making more than $250,000 a year, arguing it would harm businesses, as well. “Under Senator Obama’s tax plan, Americans of every background would see their taxes rise,” he said, “seniors, parents, small business owners, and just about everyone who has even a modest investment in the market.”

I'm not making $250,000 with or without investments and I make above the US average. I know some people who are far better off than I am at this point, but I assume they are not making $250,000 either.

So who is this "everyone who has even a modest investment in the market.”? Rich Republicans are not everyone. International arms dealers are not everyone. Oil companies are not everyone. Certainly the soldiers that Senator McCain has asked to stay in Iraq for a hundred years are not everyone.

Tuesday Mornings

So I’m sitting in a meeting about internal and external questions and how we capture the data for those programs. All I can think is:

God I want to work on a spaceship.

I Wanted to Like this Movie

I wanted to like Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. I really did. But, like so many Lucas properties of late, it got too cutsie. I would review the film, but I can't bring myself to go over its tedious childishness. Perhaps I have grown up since eighth grade, when Indy was last on the screen. I guess nothing could match what I had hoped for.

All I want to say about Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is that I think Spielberg and Lucas had a conversation that went something like this:

Lucas: I want Jar Jar Binks.
Spielberg: I'll give you gophers.
Lucas: I want Ewoks.
Spielberg: I'll give you monkeys.
Lucas: I want a tiny extra terrestrial duck named Howard.
Spielberg: I'll hit Shia LaBeouf in the balls with cacti and we can name him Mutt.
Lucas: I want a Death Star.
Spielberg: I'll give you a nuclear blast for no reason. But it will look really cool.
Lucas: I want X-wings.
Spielberg: You'll get a fridge.

I would also like to point out that James bond movies started getting bad around the fourth installment, Thunderball. While Thunderball was an excellent spy movie and among my favorite action films of all-time, it was the first where the gadgets, girls and grandeur started to get out of hand. Connery went on to do two more Bond films which each grew more tedious. The series then quickly slid into self-parody with the soft, bereft-looking, wide-eyed layabout Roger Moore taking over the part.

Now there is talk of the soft, bereft-looking, wide-eyed layabout Shia LaBeouf inheriting the part of Indiana Jones. Think about it.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull

I am thoroughly prepared to enjoy Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. So prepared, in fact, that Jessica and I have tickets to tonight’s Ziegfeld premiere at midnight. A lot of friends and people on the net have prejudged an aging Indy who fights Stalinists instead of Nazis. Be that as it may, it is a natural progression. It is also a chance to break out of the mold of two of the other three Indy films. I see an opportunity to update a character without updating a character. It’s a chance to look in on an old friend and find what he has been up to since his AARP card was issued. Consider all the updates James Bond have gone through or the upcoming Star Trek and you will understand why this film will actually feel fresh in its acknowledgement of aging and mortality. In the end, I’m not writing the movie off until I have seen it and if it is as good as Temple of Doom, my least favorite, I will be ecstatic.

And the biggest thing I am most looking forward to: No onscreen advertising. In a day when we are so used to seeing Burger King, Nike, Windows etc., I am excited to see a film set when none of these franchises existed and can not possibly show up in the movie. Even if the movie sucks, at least I won’t have to watch Mr. Ford drinking a Grande Mocachino while eating a Gordito and complaining about Simon Cowell.