Remember

I finally got over my headache while watching The Secret Life of Sherlock Holmes (which I believe I watched a couple years ago) with an ice pack on my head. I woke up relaxed and not thinking about anything and thus did very little today but finish my biscotti, start some vanilla gelato, and while William's friend Rowan was over, I explode a diet coke with mentos (see video). I also finished off the roll of super-8 film I started around William's 8th birthday that Margaret suggested would represent his "super-8th birthday".

This evening I tried to watch some Clone Wars with William. I missed recording season 2 episode 3 about 3 weeks ago and couldn't find a copy of the whole thing on the internet anywhere. One source "watchcartoons.tv" seemed very deceptive as although it claimed to give you free tv, you need to either pay them or give them your "mobile number" to which they send you a code. I was really put off by them, since I don't know my cel phone number and have never received a text on it so I don't even know how that works. I'm getting too old to use technology. I found the first 3 parts of the show, missing the last six minutes. William sensed how frustrated I was and suggested we skip it and watch the next one (which I have on my dvd recorder).

catch up

I worked at home this afternoon, finished an article on Ian Toews which is expanded from the program notes I wrote a few months ago. He was over here two nights ago, we had a wine and talked about video and stuff for a while. This evening we had a Filmpool meeting. William went a played Lego at Paul's for a while since Margaret was also at work.

I watched recent episode of Clone Wars with William. It is targeted at 6-10 year old boys but they play it on CTV at 9pm Sundays after Desperate Housewives?!? For the third episode in a row it has a strong message that the clones are people too, they have individuality and feelings and that there is a strong interest in protecting them. I was wondering if the storm troopers are the clones, just a bit older, or if they are regular people drafted into service? I'd like to think they are the old clones and I came up with a new ending to "Return of the Jedi".

GEORGE LUCAS, ARE YOU LISTENING, YOU COULD GO PUT THIS SCENE IN FOR THE BLUE RAY RELEASE...

I think the storm troopers are like the flying monkeys in Oz.
When the Emperor is finally killed and Vader dies, Luke should look behind him and see that 5000 storm troopers have come up behind him. Luke would be weak from the fight but he struggles to his feet and sparks up his light saber to face the mob. Instead of shooting at him, the storm troopers, for the first time, all remove their helmets. Luke walks through them as they applaud in that all-at-once clapping like in military or prison scenes ("hooray for Dorothy, the wicked witch is dead").

William's birthday

Today is William's 7th birthday. I took the day off to do stuff with him. We took him and his cousin Quinn and friends Daniel and Rowan to the noon show of "Star Wars: Clone Wars" animated feature. I've been trying to figure out my opinion of it all day. It's not the sort of film I'm interested in seeing multiple times, but it generally worked on a couple of levels. It introduces a new apprentice for Annikan Skywalker (takes place between movies 2 and 3) and she gives some freshness to the old debates about responsibility and rash behavior. I heard that it is a set up to a new series for this fall, don't know if that is true, but the essential problem of the next film remains. There is only limited growth that the characters can have since we know what happens next. If George Lucas and the filmmakers were brave, they would have made a series that takes place after the 6th chapter with new characters and an open future. Then they might have a chance at developing new legends. Now they are just trapped. Also, I had been hoping for some new insights into Jabba the Hut. I looked at the opening page of the novel of this movie and it contained a conversation between Jabba and his son. However, not only is that scene this not in the movie, but the son is too young to even talk and he does not appear to communicate with his father at all. Conclusion, it was exciting to the kids, inoffensive yet forgettable to me as an adult, and ultimately lacking in bravery.

269

On Thursday for breakfast I sampled the honey that is always available beside the syrup, wondering if it is from the native bees that live here. The language barrier came into play, questions of this nature can never be answered by the staff. They will confirm that what I am eating is honey, but nothing about its source. The most important trade item the Mayans had was honey, as they had no metals and the shallow soil made agriculture limited (which in turn is likely a key reason for the collapse of their cities). We saw the bees along the path, they create large hives of their own in the trees, probably 2 feet across. These bees are small, the size of house flies, and do not sting. The honey I ate was dark and intuition tells me that it is honey from regular, domesticated bees such as we have here (European in origin), since the honey was plentiful and to be poured freely onto pancakes.
Sharon bought a blow up raft for the pool; I floated on it for a while and I think it was responsible for my rubbing of my sunscreen off the front of my shoulders and my only sunburn of the trip. I got a lot of sun today. Grandma (my mom) gave William a small, second-hand Star Wars Lego set, he went out of his mind with joy. We made him wait until after lunch (for Siesta) to assemble it. I made sure the parts were all apart and he put it together while I napped - a nap I really needed since I got up at 5:30 in the morning for no good reason. My ears still have not opened up since the flight and when I'm tired I get cranky for being so unable to hear people.
After supper at the seafood restaurant, we played cards in the lobby (see below). William was tired so I took him back to the room and we both were asleep by 9:15.

250

You need to be the droid before you can be the Yoda.

231

Ice and Fire Festival was today. Margaret worked really hard to get the kids area working, the weather was perfect and even warm enough for the snow to get sticky for snowmen. Chrystene Ells did a terrific snow bear. This evening William dressed as Darth Vader with glow sticks taped to his light saber and we all went out for the evening procession. My video played while Michele Sereda danced. From this vantage point, I shot so you can see the dance and animation, but due to the shape of the surface (a snow rock) the walrus animated character isn't as visible.

188

William and I watched Star Wars Episode 2 today. For all its flaws, it is a really beautiful looking movie. I was amazed at how pretty things were, all the time. I also got thinking about what I would change to make it a better film. The big factory felt so much like a video game that I'm certain the crew were just embarrassed. I had a lot of problems with the central love story, Anican is such an offensive piece of crap, totally stalker, but then she suddenly changes from looking at him with disdain to being in love with him. What!!!??? However, an alternate and more natural progression of the story where he stalks her and rapes her, resulting in the children in the later films, makes it a film I can't show my son. So then what? George is not that dumb.

186

William and I watched Star Wars Episode 1 this morning when Margaret was at work. I don't mind the film, I actually really like one or two scenes in it. As with a number of other films in the past couple of years, watching them with a kid allows me to see them through a kid's eyes. It allows you to just enjoy the silliness or the innocence and the spirit of fun that is intended. I think Margaret may have enjoyed watching it again, it had just come out on dvd when William was born and was in the machine for a couple of weeks. Margaret would listen to George's pontifications on the commentary track while nursing, it was apparently great for getting the baby to sleep.

182

While William and I were watching "Return of the Jedi" this morning, a lady bug landed on my neck. We put it on one of the plants. It's the first one I've seen in two months, it is -20 outside.

This evening I watched "Sherlock Holmes and the Deadly Necklace" with Christopher Lee as Holmes, directed by Hammer Film's Terrance Fisher in 1962 as a weird German/French/English co-production. It was a bad dvd with scratches and faded blacks. The dubbing was so peculiar I often felt I was watching a Guy Maddin film. Flashbacks were even shot with a canted angle! I couldn't quite put my finger on what year it was taking place, they had cars that sometimes looked 1950 but often looked 1230s. The costuming in the pubs was 50s/60s, but Watson looked 1890s. The musical score was uneven with occasional ultra-modern rhythm moments akin to those on the Maya Deren experimental films. I liked Lee as Holmes, he was less aloof and more human, even angry (note: 1962 Britain).

175

Today William and I took Margaret to work. I told William that I'd pick him up a new Terry's chocolate orange (dark) so we ended up at Superstore. There were barely any spots left, I parted farther than I ever have before. Line ups weren't bad though, everyone seemed evenly distributed (didn't go into toys). We watched "Empire Strikes Back" after that, William wasn't scared. He talked through much of it. The Yeti type creature on Hoth seemed like the abominable snow man so that didn't bother him (he thought it was like a Lego monster with arms that come off). He questioned why they would want to carbon freeze Luke to take him to the emperor, and I admit I don't have a good answer for that except it was a device to have Vader oversee Han being frozen. Otherwise it is quite ill conceived.
I baked mini-cheesecakes (double batch, four variations of flavours) and ginger snaps, both for the second time for the season, and have declared my baking to be complete.

173

This morning I was able to look a couple of scenes in progress from Chrystene Ells' "Sisu" production. It's looking quite good. Of course, it's hard to tell with just a couple of scenes, a feature needs an overall rhythm and tone that takes quite a while to get right. Hopefully there will be an overall rough cut in a month or so and then she'll have a better idea where she stands.
Got William "new" skates today, traded in last years so it was a good deal. He's got a skating date at Teagan's tomorrow after school, which is of course going to end early as its the last day before the Christmas holiday. This evening William and Paul worked on modifying his Lego Batcave into a Lego Star Wars set, with amazing success! See the attached photo of the station where Vader fights Luke and Chewbacca is at the controls. R2D2 and a stormtrooper and a rebel fighter are standing by beside the fight. William doesn't own any actual Star Wars Lego (yes, they make a lot of it) so I was extra surprised. I took part, building a Lego George Lucas, but William didn't want to have filmmakers, just real Star Wars, so he took George's head off.

99

My manic state continued last night as I did laundry until 2am and finished off a number of more tv shows. Bionic Woman was quite good, done with obvious attention of style and mood and setting up a dozen or so potential sub plots to deal with later. It felt well planned, perhaps even over planned. I feel it might be better suited to have stayed small at first, concentrating on Jamie's internal turmoil and making the company seem like an honest benefactor like the old show. However, we are already suspecting its motives. Basically good tv. Following Bionic Woman I recorded the first episode, but not the second, of "Life" about a cop who was sent to prison for 12 years, learned to be very philosophical about everything, then is released when it is proven he was innocent. He gets millions of dollars in compensation but returns to being a cop anyway so that he can solve the crime he was sentenced for. It is really well written and acted. I was playing out scenes of this this morning to Margaret, they stuck with me so strongly. The other gem of tv last night was the one hour opener of "Family Guy" doing a Star Wars parody. This was the best Star Wars send up since "Hardware Wars". It returned to the film with reverence, which made it more cutting than most other satires I've seen. A few weeks ago I was watching a bit of "Space Balls" and comparing these two is really eye opening. Satire really must be done by people who embrace the original, the satire is an honor to the original, not a excuse for opportunists to repeat the same jokes over and over again.

Thanksgiving supper with both sets of parents today; turkey was nice but I have a sore throat and conversations were limited.

I bought the board game "Carcassonne" box set with 4 extras today. Margaret, William and I played it - I learned it in Seattle from Tom and Veronica and liked it a lot. It is a fairly high end strategy game but there are no secret cards or negotiations, so we are able to help William along and play relatively cooperatively. We just played the basic game before supper, but will likely ramp up to the dragon supplement this week.