Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Superman Returns!

Saw it last night -- loved it, loved it, loved it! Quick thoughts: beautifully shot, fabulous directing by Bryan Singer. Good script, nice humorous touches, and I was very affected by the bad stuff that happens to our hero. Of course, great special effects and nice homages to the Superman mythology and to the previous incarnations.

Routh grows on you as Superman -- I can pinpoint my moment of conversion to loving him when he meets Lois on the roof of the Daily Planet. Spacey is very good as Luthor and Parker Posey is a hoot. But Kate Bosworth carries the film. I'm not kidding. I did not expect that at all. But think about it -- what does Superman have to do but look good and perform fantastic feats? He doesn't even have that much dialog. But Lois Lane has to represent everyone -- the people of Earth in the film AND the audience -- in her emotional reactions to Superman's absence and return. Plus, Lois has always been an odd mixture of fire and ice and Bosworth pulls it off.

Interestingly, as I read reviews, I notice that in general women are giving the movie higher marks than men. I'm sure you understand why.

Superman has always been my favorite superhero (I still have some comics I had when I was a little kid in the early '60s and I've been buying the DVD sets of the old George Reeves TV series which I totally loved as a kid). He's also very universal -- the audience last night was one of the most diverse I've ever seen.

Planning to go see it again today. This one was worth the wait!

Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Hilarious Book

I'm reading Sweet and Low, a family history of the company that makes the pink packets of artificial sugar. Its hysterically funny. I could not stop laughing about the immigrant grandma who said ridiculously mean things to people -- like saying to a Holocaust survivor she didn't like "you're one Hitler shouldn't have missed" or when she said to a neighbor (this one is my favorite): "Why do you hate me, fatso?" Oy.

YAY!!!

The Canes are Stanley Cup champions! I was so nervous Monday night I couldn't even watch much of the game. I didn't even tune in until the second period. It was obvious the Canes were playing terrific -- Laviolette called it the game of their lives. Tuned in and out a few more times and finally saw the Cup presentation. YAY!!!

I'm wearing my official Stanley Cup championship "locker room" edition T-shirt today. Definitely not the one that says redneck hockey.

Yesterday's parade and ceremony was great -- very small town. Downtown is tore up, so they had it in the arena parking lot (I kid you not). The players were in cars and yes, pick-up trucks, and people could get up close, talk to the players, get autographs, touch the Cup. Very nice.

I still find it hilarious that its the first day of summer, 95 degrees and we're celebrating an ice hockey championship in North Carolina.

Monday, June 19, 2006

Good, Bad, Ugly

Good: the US soccer team on Saturday. They played very well, especially considering they were down two players for a good chunk of the game.

Bad: the Hurricanes game Saturday. Ugh. Laviolette is being outcoached and it may cost us the Cup.

Ugly: yep, uuuuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhgleeeeeeeeee!!!

Saturday, June 17, 2006

Puppies

I am a cat lover who happens to have a dog, too. Now, don't get me wrong, I love my dog -- in fact, I am in general an animal lover. Its just that I admire cats more than dogs because cats are so self-sufficient while dogs are so dopey in their commitment to hierarchy. Anway, yesterday at the bookstore I stumbled on this book and could not stop looking at the beautiful pictures of puppies!

My dog is a collie-corgi mix -- bigger than a corgi but with those short legs. I have to admit that I was absolutely in love with the corgi puppies' pictures in the book. I realize now why I like corgis so much. I thought it was the short legs and fox-like faces, but I now realize its the eyes. The puppies have huge eyes and cute little eyebrows.

My dog has those huge cow-like eyes and expressive eyebrows. Most people respond to that in him and he in turn loves people. He pretty much ignores the cats, even when they bat at him with their paws, and is totally devoted to his people, especially me.

There's a children's book about dogs called Once I Ate a Pie which documents the adventures of various breeds. The herding dog (which both collies and corgis are) is a German Shepherd who describes his dedication to his owner, including going into a panic when the bathroom door is closed. This is my dog -- he follows me everywhere, almost never takes his eyes off of me and, when I am away, waits by the door until I return.

To me, this is both appealing and annoying. I know many dog owners interpret this dedication as love, which it isn't. Its just a breed trait. Its annoying because he's always underfoot and I prefer independence over devotion.

I find it frustrating that a lot of people need to anthropomorphize their pets. This is actually insulting to the animal who acts the way he does for natural reasons, not for human rationalizations. This is actually the root of many dog behavior problems (as anyone who watches The Dog Whisperer knows). My favorite anthropomorphization is when people don't want to "hurt the dog's feelings." Jeez -- the dog doesn't have feelings like a human. Discipline the dog and move on -- the dog will.

Thursday, June 15, 2006

Hurricanes

Yesterday, we had the remnants of Alberto come through. Since there was no wind by the time it got here, we just had lots and lots of rain. It was actually kinda nice. And today, of course, is gorgeous. It always is, the day after a hurricane.

Less pleasant is last night's loss by the Carolina Hurricanes. A stupid mistake -- a cross-ice pass at our end -- resulted in an OT goal by Edmonton. So back we go to Alberta for game 5. I'm still hopeful that the Canes will win the Stanley Cup. They're the better team, but we all know that doesn't matter.

I've also been watching a fair amount of World Cup matches. I'm not a soccer fan but its a big event so I'm trying to stay up on the matches. The American team sucks big time but you already knew that.