So you think you can WHAT?

It's that time of the year again. Yep, the dreaded "what should we do for the Christmas party" week.

Given the crazy circumstances we've been going through lately, it's nice to know that there will be a Christmas party this year. Last year was a disaster... our version of a party was a hurried lunch at the office, courtesy of Macaroni Grill Curbside pick up.

This year, though, Doc decided to make it up to us... the options included nerdy alternatives like:

• Spending 2 hours at the Planetarium in the Museum of Science and Industry, an indoor version of a quiet dinner under the stars.
• Another two hours at the Florida aquarium, eating seafood in front of fish and perhaps, if we are lucky, feeding the stingrays.

Little did we know that Doc would soar with inspiration. What about a cruise around the Bay with food, music and dancing. Sounds great in deed. The fear factor started creeping in when Doc went something along the lines of let's dance. Since he is flying solo these days, we all got goosebumps thinking about the man shouting CONGA! or ELECTRIC SLIDE, NOW! ( in the line of let's all have fun as a group) Let's hope and pray he catches a date or someone will be either jumping or thrown overboard.

"When someone blunders, we say that he makes a misstep. Is it then not clear that All the ills of mankind, all the tragic misfortunes that fill our history books, all the political blunders, all the failures of the great leaders have arisen merely from a lack of skill in dancing."
Moliere, 1622

The Fountain-- no spoilers, well very little

Prelude...
I rarely go to the movies by myself. Ironically I'm not the type of person that goes to the movies to socialize either. I rely on my Movie Crew, a tight group of people who love movies as much as I do. For some reason this weekend my movie crew abandoned me. Some of them were not in Sci-Fi mood, and this movie looked
Sci-Fi, others were not in the mood for Romance, and this movie had that romantic feeling of holiday season tear jerker.Others were missing in action, believing, perhaps that the movie will bet here next week, after all it is Hugh Jackman... I went by myself on a hunch that non of these expectations were true. I was not disappointed.

The thing about going to the movies by myself is that I am forced to socialize. To size up the people in the audience as I make my way to the theater. There were two teenagers in the upmost corner (nope... they are here for makeout reasons) Couple of college girls in their twenties with their respective boy friends (girls came for the love story line, guys came for either a glimpse of Rachel Weisz, or worse, they were forced to come after they dragged their respective girlfriend to X3) An elderly couple ( too sweet for me to comment) and a pair of nerds that were raving about Anorofsky (Bingo! Although I was in danger... they might smell that I haven't seen Pi yet)

I made my way and sat near the nerds at a safe, non invasive distance. By the time the lights went out , there were about 40 people in the theater. About one third of them were gone by the time the movie ended. This is what I saw along with the 20 odd people that were left in the theater.

NO SPOILERS, means I loved it, and it's hard to love something that so many people are finding ridiculous, petulant and void of sense. I will not apologize for this movie but I might as well tell you what NOT to expect, so you will not be one of the unfortunates to walk out with a quizzical expression.

This movie is NOT

• 2001: Space Odyssey: The Sci-fi elements- whether you believe they are grounded in the "reality" of the story line or are figments of a character's imagination are purely symbolical. The difference resides in the use of the imagery. While Kubrick set us on the path of THE QUEST, reaching out for the audience and demanding of his characters to produce an answer to the most complicated question ever- what are we doing here?-, the answer to the question posed by The Fountain is simple. We know how it has to end, it is a matter of following a character who hasn't yet figured it out and be there when he finally gets it.

• Love Story: You don't get to follow the progression of the characters, you don't see them fall in love, you don't get and idea of what their lives were before the event that triggers the movie. As an audience, we are thrown into the lives of a couple that is trying to cope with the worst of situations. Their love is tested beyond "never having to say you are sorry". The trial is here and now, the revelation that comes out of this test is perhaps my favorite subject in film and literature... the choices we make and the chances we take are ours forever. After all is said and done, you take what was good, regret what wasn't and do your best to forgive yourself for not making it better when you could.

• Highlander: Perhaps the biggest mistake the studio made when marketing this movie was coming up with the tag line "What if you could live forever?" This movie is not about immortality, it is about letting go. It's a movie about death and how beings that can conceive eternity in their imagination are faced with the hard reality that life cannot go on forever. It is a movie about grief and how it can either destroy us if we don't know how to deal with it, or be a welcomed part of the healing process after we have lost someone.

Minor spoiler about characters and setting ahead...

There are three men in this movie. They are the same character facing different situations. The way I see it, one man is grounded in reality while the other two are paths laid before him.

There is a man in the Spanish Golden Age who is taking part in a Quest. He has a motive to achieve his goal. He is not afraid of death because he has found a purpose and a foundation for his life. He shelters and protects a woman, who is most of all, desperate under her calm demeanor. His tragic flaw, he is defiant of death, which is as absurd as being afraid.

There is another man, whose life is a void. He travels to the ends (or the beginning) of the Universe. Around him stars explode in golden shades and life surrounds him. He doesn't care. He is alone, holding on to a woman who is no more, feeding off her. She keeps him alive, he has nothing and his shadow darkens the universe of color around him. He lives in a world were memories and regrets, stretch into eternity.

Trapped between them is a man who is much in love with a woman. The woman is dying and has come to terms with it. He hasn't. She wants to make sure she leaves him where he is meant to be, at her same level of acceptance and understanding, but she is gone too soon and leaves him at a crossroad, in front of an open book, with the worst task to be completed by someone who doesn't want to let go... FINISH IT.

The acting was superb, the visuals stunning, although something tells me it will not make it to any particular awards list. It's a shame, because Jackman was at his best. This is the most awesome movie no one will see this year.

I'll leave a quote that I find to be related to this movie, which to me is a treasure....

"You are mortal: it is the mortal way. You attend the funeral, you bid the dead farewell. You grieve. Then you continue with your life.And at times the fact of her absence will hit you like a blow to the chest, and you will weep. But this will happen less and less as time goes on.
From SANDMAN: "The Song of Orpheus"

Let's not weep for the Turkey 2006

Eight hours to go at the office, hope Doc lets me leave early. (Lysania God bless her friggin soul is on vacation) Three days right before a holiday flying solo is not fun, it's like facing the Invasion of the Living Anti-inflammatories. Everyone wants to be fixed and flexible for the holidays, it takes a lotta joint effort to carve a turkey you know.

I'm getting into my usual Zen-like state to face the kitchen. The head count so far is ten, which is not so bad. It will be fun. At least we will have Friday to recoup and catch up with a movie or something. I've got my eye on The Fountain


Thinking back it has been a good year, no complains, no regrets. Tomorrow I'll make sure to thank The Man Upstairs for unexpected and well deserved blessing that came my way. Nothing special, I do it every day anyway.

In the mean time I'll leave you with a great American mind reminding us the historical perspective of this most celebrated holiday

Jon Stewart: "I celebrated Thanksgiving in an old-fashioned way. I invited everyone in my neighborhood to my house, we had an enormous feast, and then I killed them and took their land."

Casino Royale-- No spoilers

Let me get a couple of things out of the way

• The stupid comment I kept hearing all week... are you watching the next Blond flick?


• A general disclosure of my Daniel Craig fangirl status. I've seen them all from The Power of One to Munich. The man has talent. According to some, he is not the best looking guy around, I particularly like to see him running around(there's something about that , I don't know...) and looks damned gorgeous soaking wet.

Now, how can I convince you that my review of this movie will be neutral? We all go back to Bond.

I am an undercover James Bond fan, the Bond craze comes through both my parents. Mom is obsessed with Connery and dad is more of a Moore fan. The time came when I had to choose a Bond of my own and since at that moment License to Kill was the rage, I took a look at Dalton and said hell no!, stuck with Connery and kept it low profile. I've seen them all too, from Dr. No to Die Another Day, from pure, calculated skill to err...Invisible cars.

Growing up I watched two types of Bond movies. With dad it was all about location, supporting cast and the perils of too much production value (translate as where are they sending Bond now, who are the girls and how fantastic the whole thing with the car is going to get-roll eyes, just a bit). With mom it was about character development (translate as there is a story behind this guy, whatever it is that makes the Bond girls crazy). Dear mother, they brought it this time, and dad, Bond is all over the place, the girls are there and the car is what is meant to be, an Aston Martin.

Casino Royale is a "beginnings" movie what makes it wonderful is that it came to us Bond fans when the franchise was at it lowest. We all saw Connery serving a well structure Bond, suave, precise, calculating... we were sold into the idea of the super agent as a complete package and then, eventually, we got so used to the character that we put up with all. We knew all about 007, so the films became more and more about his accessories.

This one goes back to basics. For most of the movie Bond is not Bond, but James, an MI6 agent who has recently been granted 00 status. His life expectancy is short, and he knows it. Sometimes he is reckless, cocky and half of the time he is pretending to know what he is doing while keeping an "I made up the rules to this game attitude." Most of the subtle humor in this movie is derived from inside jokes directed to Bond fans. The humor is never ridiculous, but circumstantial. When the man puts on the dinner jacket for the first time there is a slight discomfort about it and you can perceive that he is thinking Gosh, I don't want to wear this again. We all know how the story goes... no spoilers but keep an eye out for Bond's first Aston Martin and his take on Martinis... it is gold.

M. is finally given some love. Dench's relationship to Craig's James is more of that of a mentor who sees possibilities than the quasi-rigid "I'm the female boss of you" that she had with Brosnan's. She is both annoyed by and secretly proud of her boy.

The bad guys have no big gadgets geared towards world destruction, no ray guns, no overdeveloped plot. It is simple, terrorists must be funded, money must be made and Bond has to stop them from from acquiring it. Money is made assessing risk at the stock market, perhaps making the right investments and then manipulating a crash, or by playing the coldest poker game ever (total suspense of disbelief, I could hear people around me whispering about who they thought was bluffing).

The girls are there and James' got it but he is not sure how to work it just yet. The stages to that level of emotional detachment that so bothered my mom are being built before our eyes.

All die hard Bond fans will know exactly when this movie makes the wrong turn in Albuquerque, I heard someone say "what the hell?" but don't worry it all builds up to the most intense two final minutes of Bond film since Connery delivered that first "Bond, James Bond."

PS. Is Craig a good Bond? Beyond good. Go watch.

Quote from the movie

"I'm sorry.... that last hand.... nearly killed me." CASINO ROYALE
There's also one about balls that is really cool, but I'll leave that to those who go and see it

Operation 30 pounds in 60 days has begun

I'm not even acknowledging how much I weight, it is ridiculous. As far as the story of my life goes I've never been a size 3, but come on, at least I used to like myself.

I've been in so many steroids lately (nope, I have no intentions of being the female Canseco) because of the RA that my weight just ballooned. Add to that the exquisite cocktail of immunosuppressants that keep me out of the sun and you have a bloated salamander, not unlike the one pictured above.

Fortunately, Doc (my illustrious employer) is not only a Rheumatologist, but also a nutritionist, and he gave me the green light to get going. So I'm off prednisone for good and back into the mobility thing, let's see how far I get and if it's worth to put up some before and after pictures by my Birthday. (My birthday is not in 60 days but that is what will take me to fully do the transition from film to digital, so I can finally download real pictures) I love the smell of developing liquid, and change comes to me in little steps,OK!!!!!

"The fool wonders, the wise man asks." - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield

Do I need a reason?

Come on sing along...

Bela Lugosi's Dead
White on white translucent black capes
Back on the rackBela Lugosi's dead
The bats have left the bell tower
The victims have been bled
Red velvet lines the black box
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead
The virginal brides file past his tomb
Strewn with time's dead flowers
Bereft in deathly bloom
Alone in a darkened room
The count
Bela Lugosi's dead
Undead undead undead

Here's a link to a wonderful rendition of THE Gothic Anthem... did I mention Trent is there too?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3JRR6s0rtJM

"Fools rush in where angels fear to tread. But all the angels are in heaven, and few of the fools are dead. "

Sometimes you BETA and loose it all

The following disclosure applies:
Google Beta Blogger is fabulous. I bet a lot of people are enjoying their blogs without consequence. Me, I am the illustrated definition for Technologically Challenged, usually when things read "user friendly" I manage to make them my sworn enemies in a couple of key strokes.

Now it's more like...
Welcome to the present incarnation of my blog.This is the blog formerly known as Time Consuming Trifle Things, which I managed to single-handedly destroy and send into Cyber Space Limbo while trying to change it to BETA. After much cursing and confusion I decided to literally turn a new page, so here it is.

Just to celebrate my DUH... I'll leave some quotes about fools. If memory serves me right, this is one of the precepts of Murphy's Law, which fits my situation perfectly
"Foolproof systems do not take into account the ingenuity of fools. "