Various and Sundry

Now playing: Hans Zimmer and James Newton Howard - Why So Serious
via FoxyTunes


The hour draws nigh when I finally have some wheeled freedom (at least in the legality department, back room negotiations for wheels in my name are still underway). The classic texts call to me; Statius has gotten rather stale, though I'm still curious to see the outcome of the Seven against Thebes. I'm approaching Xenophon with some wariness, knowing in my most academic of hearts that I really should be translating the Greek, but summer is still in my psyche and the authors Greek is easy enough that I feel accomplished simply to skim and match my knowledge of the language with the English translation.

I finished Allende's Zorro with relish, and wonder how much of her influence was the original pulps and how much the cinema. I still have plenty of reading material plundered from the UCD Bookstore before my departure, though I wonder how enjoyable it might be to slog through Les Miserables unabridged or Gravity's Rainbow (though if I wanted a modernist mindscrew, I'd probably be more entertained if I tried to finish Dhalgren). Time with the girlfriend and her wonderful family have expanded my appreciation of L. Sprague DeCamp, though seeing as he's currently out of print, my chances of easily finding works of his are slim. I could always trouble Mr. 'taub for a borrowing from his extensive collection, but my respect for vintage books makes me reluctant to ask. Oh, and note to self, must have a meeting of our respective families, I suspect they'd get on quite well.

The Dark Knight seems to be going on like gangbusters, considering my ill-thought-out foray on opening weekend and the sold out show I attended in the middle of the week, of all times. As the man sitting next to me quipped, "What, does no-one go to work or something?" The IMAX experience is overwhelming and majestic, as always. The limited number of scenes filmed in that glorious format seems to work for, rather than against the film, in my opinion. The breaks in between make the transitions to the monumental images that much more fresh upon their return. Even though they inflated the standard 35mm to fill AS MUCH OF THE SCREEN AS POSSIBLE, there were still audible gasps at the sheer size of the IMAX footage when the opening helicopter shot made it's presence known with a quick cut and resounding bass boom from the soundtrack. Well worth the $15 admission, and if you're considering seeing the big-ass screen version of TDK within the next week, I'd advise getting them a few days in advance and coming at least an hour before hand to get good seats. Yes, it's that popular.

In other news, I'm coaxing the hummers back to our backyard. About a week ago, I chauffered my mom to a bird supply store in what has become a long quest for the perfect birdbath. Seeing the hummer feeders reminded me of one we used to have when I was younger, and a mothers indulgance found me with a new feeder and insta-hummer-food-mix. I've since set up the feeder outside my bay window and have been waiting patiently for the few Anna's that have been flitting around to re-fuel. I've had moderate success so far, and hope to see a gradual influx as the weeks go by. I'm diligently cleaning out the feeder every 5 days, and was pleased to find the majority of my first batch of sugar juice all drunk up by our resident pint-sized birdies. The one snag I've run into is finding the right level to hang the feeder, as currently the cross-bar to my main window blocks my view of the feeding turret itself. There's a little circular perch around the flower-shaped drinking holes, and I like the sight of my few feathered visitors with their little feet firmly grasping it, their wings stilled such that they resemble very sleek and aerodynamic grapes with heads and beaks. True to their nature, when more than one showed up it became a fierce (but tiny) dogfight for dominance of the feeder. I'm looking forward to more hummer watching as the weeks go on.

There's more on my mind, but I've blathered on enough for the moment. I'd make promises for what I'll blog about next, but as I've become rather unreliable in following up, I'll refrain from doing so. One week 'till my drivers test (it only took 3 years).


Enough, More Later.
- James