Long Weekend Update
Long Weekends
Long weekends are the best sort of weekends, especially if you have no plans or events to attend. Then, you can just lounge around and be comfortable. Give the razor the day off and save your face.
Life can be very good sometimes.
Days
Monday will be day 60 but I will not be at work. Normally, I would not count Monday as being a day in the Non-Deconstruction Project at the building next door because of the holiday. Since the holiday, Columbus Day [observed] has a limited recognition; I am going to count Monday.
Of course, I will post a correction, if by some strange chance or coincidence, work has been restarted.
Donut Friday
Donut Friday went off without a hitch on Friday. Everyone seemed to have enough donuts to eat and everyone got their favorite one so there was no conflict. One of the managers explained to the new employee which donuts she could have and which ones were purchased for specific co-workers.
The new co-worker likes chocolate so I think she and I will get along just fine.
I left the office before the end of the day so I don’t know how long the donuts lasted but I am confident there were no leftovers to put away in the refrigerator until Tuesday. By then, they would be nasty tasting unless one was starving.
Early Holiday Start
I started my holiday early by taking half a day off as vacation time. That meant I left work at noon. I took my “lunch” from noon until 1:00 PM and then was on vacation from 1:00 onward.
I got to class in plenty of time on Friday. This was a primary reason for taking the time off. I did not want to get caught in heavy traffic on Friday and be late to class. Class was pretty good; I picked up some new insights on writing my dissertation and that was very useful.
After class, I went on over to Doug’s house since I was in South Orange County for class and then we went to Albertacos for dinner. It was a late dinner as we caught the end of the scoring in the Angels – Yankees baseball game. I think it was close to 9:00 PM when we got out food. We each had a #8 with an extra soft carne asada taco and a medium drink.
It was just great comfort food that filled you up and made you sleepy.
It had been a while since we went to Albertacos and this was the first time in maybe a year or more since I went there at night. I think it was high school night at Albertacos; there were several groups of young people that looked like they were in high school.
There were a couple of young women who were apparently Capistrano Valley High School [an Orange County high school out near where Doug lives] graduates there. They were wearing their high school class jackets and they looked so un-Southern California.
It felt painful for me as I watched them trying to act sophisticated and not succeeding very well.
I got home from dinner with Doug around 11:00 PM and promptly went to bed. I was tired and slept soundly until 5:30 AM when I woke up. This is close to my regular time to get up. I flopped around in the bed until 7:30 when I got up and got dressed.
Saturday Stuff and Odds and Ends
After reading the paper and munching on a toasted bagel with peanut butter, I went to the market again.
I know peanut butter sounds gross. But, I like peanut butter and it melts into the toasted bagel. Besides, peanut butter is healthier than cream cheese. I should point out that when I am out with people I do have cream cheese with my bagels so I can follow convention when it is appropriate or necessary.
If you will recall, I had sort of invited Sharon over for dinner on Sunday night. Her schedule is sometimes sketchy at times [Doug’s phrase for being unpredictable or unreliable] so I figured it would be best to buy the food I needed for dinner early and not be faced with a crummy selection late on Sunday afternoon.
The market was on the empty side and there were no interesting women in the store. One of these days I may meet Ms Right in the fresh produce section while I am checking out the fresh tomatoes.
I was able to get everything I needed for my stuffed swordfish and pasta. It looks very colorful on the plate and tastes wonderful. I stuff the swordfish with bay [small] shrimp and then bake with some chopped tomatoes, peppers, and spices on the top.
Just before the fish is finished baking, I pull the pan out and cover the fish with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese. I let the cheese melt for two minutes or so and then add a couple of avocado wedges for color and flavor. Add the pasta with a sun dried tomato pesto sauce and eat.
Yummy.
I also have a salad and some sourdough bread to wipe up the tomato pesto sauce. I will wash the meal down with a glass or two of California Sauvignon Blanc wine. Since Sharon doesn’t drink, I will make some iced tea for her and be sure to give her a glass of ice cubes to add to her tea. Sharon likes her iced tea really cold.
Dessert is still up in the air. I can go to my Italian deli and pick up some really yummy pastries or we can go to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream cones after dinner.
So many dessert choices and such a small stomach. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway, after the marketing, I spent a couple of hours cleaning my place up. Guys are not the neatest people on the planet so I figured some dusting and washing would not be out of order. This was not my best idea for spending Saturday afternoon.
I did do some reading and finished one of the Chinese books that I ordered last month. The book was the Dream of the Red Chamber. It is quite brilliant. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet to a large extent with the two central young lovers dying in the end.
I also found the book presented an interesting look at Imperial China before the arrival of the Westerners and the collapse of China. I was surprised to see how matriarchal society was then. I suppose there is still a hold over of that form of family governance today. For the most part, it seems like the women were the ones who managed the family affairs while their husbands were out having affairs.
While Dream of the Red Chamber is a classic of modern Chinese literature, it is not a book for everyone. I think a reader has to have an interest in Asian culture to appreciate the complexities and subtleties within the family as they go about their normal lives.
There were some aspects of the book that reminded me of Gone with the Wind. These aspects were how the family members treated their servants. In many respects, there was not much of a difference except possibly for the characters’ names.
Doug called me this afternoon to ask me to read his Sitcom Writing class paper. The paper was about conflict analysis in an M*A*S*H episode. I won’t bore with the episode background since it is not relevant for the blog.
We had talked about the paper when we had dinner on Friday so it was fairly familiar for me when I read it. I thought he had nailed the topic well during the dinner discussion; I only added one minor suggestion and he thought it was worthwhile. The paper only required some very minor changes and corrections; adding a couple of commas here and there, breaking up a large paragraph into two smaller ones, and adding a couple of explanatory sentences to clarify a point.
Sharon called me this afternoon and asked me to send her some job postings. I had sent them to her earlier but she did not have them where she was. Being the nice guy, I almost immediately went in and emailed them to her. I suppose she will thank me later.
We talked briefly about her evil new boss. As Sharon describes it, her new evil boss is on the verge of creating an ugly employment discrimination complaint. A little hostile work environment here some aged based discrimination there and pretty soon the lawyers will say “Jackpot!” when they become involved.
I hope she finds a new and better job real soon.
The Immortal Yi Soon-Shin
This weekend was Episodes 100 and 101.
The combined Ming and Korean navy were to take part in a joint attack on a key Japanese fort that protected the main Japanese supply harbor. The end result was a bad performance by the allies. Combined operations are difficult in the best of times and under ideal conditions; neither was present tonight.
The Ming army general was so corrupt that he could be bought off by the Japanese. He did not have his army attack as called for in the plans. Then, he argued over the size of his bribe. His army just fired their cannon and had the soldiers march up and down and shout.
The naval attack went ahead as planned except the Chinese admiral wanted to gain all of the glory so he broke away from the Korean fleet and charged ahead to attack the Japanese. Unfortunately, the Ming admiral did not know the local waters and soon found himself beached as the tide went out. Then, the Japanese army attacked his beached flagship. The admiral would have been killed or captured but for a rescue put on by the Koreans.
A sailor can get reckless in close combat with the enemy and be successful but only if you are Lord Nelson and this Ming admiral was only qualified to make Nelson’s tea. I’m sure Sun Tzu has appropriate statement for this situation in his Art of War. But, I doubt the admiral bothered to read Sun Tzu.
The program ended with the Korean king losing control again. The duplicitous Chinese general had sent a false battle report that blamed Yi Soon-Shin was the loss. Yi’s report is accurate and claims a victory since there were more Japanese casualties than allied.
It certainly is a depressing set of developments.
Sunday’s episode continued the theme of Chinese duplicity. Now, the Japanese are trying to suborn the local Chinese admiral as well as the general in an attempt to evacuate their shrinking beachhead safely.
Yi Soon-Shin will not allow the Japanese to evacuate at all. He intends to sortie is fleet and engage the Japanese transports and warships in an attempt to sink as many Japanese warships as eh can and kill as many Japanese soldiers as he can. His sailors and officers support his efforts to rid their nation of the Japanese invaders.
The Korean navy has the Japanese forces blockaded so effectively that the Japanese are unable to communicate with other forces. The scattered Japanese forces are faced with two challenges. First, their food supplies and access to reinforcements are at risk since they do control the seas. They can not receive material aid.
Second, they are isolated and this makes them more open to Korean attacks where the Koreans can bring a large force to bear on a smaller one. The Japanese forces are tied, cold, hungry, and weak. This is not a good position to be in.
The Japanese position is further complicated by Korean partisans who are seeking out small patrols to ambush and attack. These attacks, while limited in size, will do significant harm to the Japanese who are still in the isolated garrisons. Seeing dead comrades suddenly on a previously safe path or road is not very helpful for sagging morale.
In an uncharacteristic move for the Japanese samurai who value honor above all else, they have resorted to using captured Korean prisoners as human shields. This strikes of desperation on their part.
The Japanese commanding general, Konishi, has become so desperate that he has authorized an assassination attempt on Yi in a plan to break out of the beachhead. By killing Yi, Konishi believes he will be able to safely evacuate his soldiers and return to Japan with the bulk of his army. With Yi Soon-Shin dead, the Koreans will not have the fire to continue the fight and will be happy to end the seven year long war that has devastated the Korean peninsula at a cost of countless lives.
The Japanese will evacuate safely.
The suffering will hopefully end for the Korean people.
The Chinese will claim all of the glory for the victory over the Japanese without having to suffer horrendous losses of men and ships.
Everyone wins.
Utah lost again
My University of Utah Utes lost on Saturday to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. This was their second road loss in a row for the Utes. They now have three wins and three losses.
The Utes are a better team and should have won. The Utes had complete control of the game for the first three quarters and then fell apart in the last quarter. It is a sign of a good team if it can rise from adversity and overcome the challenges. I think the Utes lack a fire and intensity in their football game plan. Last year’s team was seeking to put their opponents away in the first quarter by burying them in wave of touchdowns.
The most telling element was the fact that Colorado State stopped Utah three times at the one yard line for what would have been the game winning touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. If a team can’t push the ball one yard in three tries, then they perhaps deserve to lose.
Part of the problem is the new head coach I think. I have read where he does not want to be an emotional coach. This is completely wrong. You can be unemotional if you are a Bear Bryant or Joe Paterno and you know how to get the most out of your players. But, the coaching winners have almost always been emotional leaders like Vince Lombardi or Knute Rockne or Steve Spurrier [college only] or Urban Mayer.
Maybe the Utah coach should check out HENRY V [either the Olivier or Gibson versions] from the film school library and watch Henry’s speech before the Battle of Agincourt as a motivation experience.
On second thought, maybe he should screen it for the team. It couldn’t hurt.
Sharon
I called Sharon from the comfort of my balcony on Sunday afternoon where I was reading another of my Chinese books on military strategy. I called her cell phone number because I never know where she might be.
Sharon was in her office in downtown Los Angeles on a Sunday afternoon working on a project that had ridiculous timelines. She sounded harried and pressed when we spoke. I could imagine how high her stress level must have been and where her blood pressure might have been.
I called for one reason, three reasons actually but only one was discussed. One was to wish her a fun Sunday but I gave up on that idea without mentioning it when I found out that she was at work. Second, I called to see if she was going to accept my invitation for dinner on Sunday night. I passed on even asking her because of the tone of her voice that sounded of pressure and extreme tension.
Third, I called to suggest that we consider postponing our scheduled lunch for Monday since new evil young boss was giving her such a hard time at work. Sharon agreed with me that we postpone things for a while.
I had a nice dinner by myself. The planned meal turned out just fine. In the end, I will have an extra portion of stuffed swordfish to eat now. That is probably acceptable since I do not have swordfish all that much.
Cinema
I saw two films over the weekend. One was WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. It was very enjoyable and a well made claymation film. I will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. While the film is clearly aimed at children [at least half of the audience were children when I saw the film], it does have a number of adult jokes, some of which are visual and some of which oral. Much of the humor is English in style. I’m not sure if that is a help or hindrance in the American cinema. I also liked the music selection for the cartoon. It seemed to be well placed and appropriate.
The other film was SERENITY and I saw it today. This is a follow-on to the FIREFLY television series that lasted only a year on the Fox channel. In some respects, it is like STAR TREK only without Captain Kirk and his crew and no Klingons and Romulans. All of the cast from the television show were back for this film. Unfortunately, some of them were killed off so they have no future if there is a sequel.
The film answered some of the questions from the television show like why was the Alliance after River and her brother. Some of the characters were more developed than in the series, especially with Simon the doctor and Kayly the ship’s engineer.
I will admit that it is hard to like a science fiction film that doesn’t have a Scot as part of the crew. I will also go see the sequel if and when it is released.
The Three Kingdoms
I started reading The Three Kingdoms this afternoon out on my balcony while I smoked a cigar.
I was only able to get in about 76 pages [there are over 2,300 pages] before it got too cool for me to sit there in shorts and a golf shirt. Obviously, this is only the introduction section of the novel. Even so, it is interesting and very easy to read. I think I will enjoy it immensely.
The Three Kingdoms is significant in Chinese literature for several reasons. It is a cultural icon for the Chinese people and it makes the character trait of righteousness a central theme. It was the first Chinese novel to have chapter. I think there are over 100 chapters and I am only at Chapter 5 now.
And, that, gentle readers, was my weekend. I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine. Be well and stay happy.
Long weekends are the best sort of weekends, especially if you have no plans or events to attend. Then, you can just lounge around and be comfortable. Give the razor the day off and save your face.
Life can be very good sometimes.
Days
Monday will be day 60 but I will not be at work. Normally, I would not count Monday as being a day in the Non-Deconstruction Project at the building next door because of the holiday. Since the holiday, Columbus Day [observed] has a limited recognition; I am going to count Monday.
Of course, I will post a correction, if by some strange chance or coincidence, work has been restarted.
Donut Friday
Donut Friday went off without a hitch on Friday. Everyone seemed to have enough donuts to eat and everyone got their favorite one so there was no conflict. One of the managers explained to the new employee which donuts she could have and which ones were purchased for specific co-workers.
The new co-worker likes chocolate so I think she and I will get along just fine.
I left the office before the end of the day so I don’t know how long the donuts lasted but I am confident there were no leftovers to put away in the refrigerator until Tuesday. By then, they would be nasty tasting unless one was starving.
Early Holiday Start
I started my holiday early by taking half a day off as vacation time. That meant I left work at noon. I took my “lunch” from noon until 1:00 PM and then was on vacation from 1:00 onward.
I got to class in plenty of time on Friday. This was a primary reason for taking the time off. I did not want to get caught in heavy traffic on Friday and be late to class. Class was pretty good; I picked up some new insights on writing my dissertation and that was very useful.
After class, I went on over to Doug’s house since I was in South Orange County for class and then we went to Albertacos for dinner. It was a late dinner as we caught the end of the scoring in the Angels – Yankees baseball game. I think it was close to 9:00 PM when we got out food. We each had a #8 with an extra soft carne asada taco and a medium drink.
It was just great comfort food that filled you up and made you sleepy.
It had been a while since we went to Albertacos and this was the first time in maybe a year or more since I went there at night. I think it was high school night at Albertacos; there were several groups of young people that looked like they were in high school.
There were a couple of young women who were apparently Capistrano Valley High School [an Orange County high school out near where Doug lives] graduates there. They were wearing their high school class jackets and they looked so un-Southern California.
It felt painful for me as I watched them trying to act sophisticated and not succeeding very well.
I got home from dinner with Doug around 11:00 PM and promptly went to bed. I was tired and slept soundly until 5:30 AM when I woke up. This is close to my regular time to get up. I flopped around in the bed until 7:30 when I got up and got dressed.
Saturday Stuff and Odds and Ends
After reading the paper and munching on a toasted bagel with peanut butter, I went to the market again.
I know peanut butter sounds gross. But, I like peanut butter and it melts into the toasted bagel. Besides, peanut butter is healthier than cream cheese. I should point out that when I am out with people I do have cream cheese with my bagels so I can follow convention when it is appropriate or necessary.
If you will recall, I had sort of invited Sharon over for dinner on Sunday night. Her schedule is sometimes sketchy at times [Doug’s phrase for being unpredictable or unreliable] so I figured it would be best to buy the food I needed for dinner early and not be faced with a crummy selection late on Sunday afternoon.
The market was on the empty side and there were no interesting women in the store. One of these days I may meet Ms Right in the fresh produce section while I am checking out the fresh tomatoes.
I was able to get everything I needed for my stuffed swordfish and pasta. It looks very colorful on the plate and tastes wonderful. I stuff the swordfish with bay [small] shrimp and then bake with some chopped tomatoes, peppers, and spices on the top.
Just before the fish is finished baking, I pull the pan out and cover the fish with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese. I let the cheese melt for two minutes or so and then add a couple of avocado wedges for color and flavor. Add the pasta with a sun dried tomato pesto sauce and eat.
Yummy.
I also have a salad and some sourdough bread to wipe up the tomato pesto sauce. I will wash the meal down with a glass or two of California Sauvignon Blanc wine. Since Sharon doesn’t drink, I will make some iced tea for her and be sure to give her a glass of ice cubes to add to her tea. Sharon likes her iced tea really cold.
Dessert is still up in the air. I can go to my Italian deli and pick up some really yummy pastries or we can go to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream cones after dinner.
So many dessert choices and such a small stomach. Decisions, decisions.
Anyway, after the marketing, I spent a couple of hours cleaning my place up. Guys are not the neatest people on the planet so I figured some dusting and washing would not be out of order. This was not my best idea for spending Saturday afternoon.
I did do some reading and finished one of the Chinese books that I ordered last month. The book was the Dream of the Red Chamber. It is quite brilliant. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet to a large extent with the two central young lovers dying in the end.
I also found the book presented an interesting look at Imperial China before the arrival of the Westerners and the collapse of China. I was surprised to see how matriarchal society was then. I suppose there is still a hold over of that form of family governance today. For the most part, it seems like the women were the ones who managed the family affairs while their husbands were out having affairs.
While Dream of the Red Chamber is a classic of modern Chinese literature, it is not a book for everyone. I think a reader has to have an interest in Asian culture to appreciate the complexities and subtleties within the family as they go about their normal lives.
There were some aspects of the book that reminded me of Gone with the Wind. These aspects were how the family members treated their servants. In many respects, there was not much of a difference except possibly for the characters’ names.
Doug called me this afternoon to ask me to read his Sitcom Writing class paper. The paper was about conflict analysis in an M*A*S*H episode. I won’t bore with the episode background since it is not relevant for the blog.
We had talked about the paper when we had dinner on Friday so it was fairly familiar for me when I read it. I thought he had nailed the topic well during the dinner discussion; I only added one minor suggestion and he thought it was worthwhile. The paper only required some very minor changes and corrections; adding a couple of commas here and there, breaking up a large paragraph into two smaller ones, and adding a couple of explanatory sentences to clarify a point.
Sharon called me this afternoon and asked me to send her some job postings. I had sent them to her earlier but she did not have them where she was. Being the nice guy, I almost immediately went in and emailed them to her. I suppose she will thank me later.
We talked briefly about her evil new boss. As Sharon describes it, her new evil boss is on the verge of creating an ugly employment discrimination complaint. A little hostile work environment here some aged based discrimination there and pretty soon the lawyers will say “Jackpot!” when they become involved.
I hope she finds a new and better job real soon.
The Immortal Yi Soon-Shin
This weekend was Episodes 100 and 101.
The combined Ming and Korean navy were to take part in a joint attack on a key Japanese fort that protected the main Japanese supply harbor. The end result was a bad performance by the allies. Combined operations are difficult in the best of times and under ideal conditions; neither was present tonight.
The Ming army general was so corrupt that he could be bought off by the Japanese. He did not have his army attack as called for in the plans. Then, he argued over the size of his bribe. His army just fired their cannon and had the soldiers march up and down and shout.
The naval attack went ahead as planned except the Chinese admiral wanted to gain all of the glory so he broke away from the Korean fleet and charged ahead to attack the Japanese. Unfortunately, the Ming admiral did not know the local waters and soon found himself beached as the tide went out. Then, the Japanese army attacked his beached flagship. The admiral would have been killed or captured but for a rescue put on by the Koreans.
A sailor can get reckless in close combat with the enemy and be successful but only if you are Lord Nelson and this Ming admiral was only qualified to make Nelson’s tea. I’m sure Sun Tzu has appropriate statement for this situation in his Art of War. But, I doubt the admiral bothered to read Sun Tzu.
The program ended with the Korean king losing control again. The duplicitous Chinese general had sent a false battle report that blamed Yi Soon-Shin was the loss. Yi’s report is accurate and claims a victory since there were more Japanese casualties than allied.
It certainly is a depressing set of developments.
Sunday’s episode continued the theme of Chinese duplicity. Now, the Japanese are trying to suborn the local Chinese admiral as well as the general in an attempt to evacuate their shrinking beachhead safely.
Yi Soon-Shin will not allow the Japanese to evacuate at all. He intends to sortie is fleet and engage the Japanese transports and warships in an attempt to sink as many Japanese warships as eh can and kill as many Japanese soldiers as he can. His sailors and officers support his efforts to rid their nation of the Japanese invaders.
The Korean navy has the Japanese forces blockaded so effectively that the Japanese are unable to communicate with other forces. The scattered Japanese forces are faced with two challenges. First, their food supplies and access to reinforcements are at risk since they do control the seas. They can not receive material aid.
Second, they are isolated and this makes them more open to Korean attacks where the Koreans can bring a large force to bear on a smaller one. The Japanese forces are tied, cold, hungry, and weak. This is not a good position to be in.
The Japanese position is further complicated by Korean partisans who are seeking out small patrols to ambush and attack. These attacks, while limited in size, will do significant harm to the Japanese who are still in the isolated garrisons. Seeing dead comrades suddenly on a previously safe path or road is not very helpful for sagging morale.
In an uncharacteristic move for the Japanese samurai who value honor above all else, they have resorted to using captured Korean prisoners as human shields. This strikes of desperation on their part.
The Japanese commanding general, Konishi, has become so desperate that he has authorized an assassination attempt on Yi in a plan to break out of the beachhead. By killing Yi, Konishi believes he will be able to safely evacuate his soldiers and return to Japan with the bulk of his army. With Yi Soon-Shin dead, the Koreans will not have the fire to continue the fight and will be happy to end the seven year long war that has devastated the Korean peninsula at a cost of countless lives.
The Japanese will evacuate safely.
The suffering will hopefully end for the Korean people.
The Chinese will claim all of the glory for the victory over the Japanese without having to suffer horrendous losses of men and ships.
Everyone wins.
Utah lost again
My University of Utah Utes lost on Saturday to Colorado State University in Fort Collins. This was their second road loss in a row for the Utes. They now have three wins and three losses.
The Utes are a better team and should have won. The Utes had complete control of the game for the first three quarters and then fell apart in the last quarter. It is a sign of a good team if it can rise from adversity and overcome the challenges. I think the Utes lack a fire and intensity in their football game plan. Last year’s team was seeking to put their opponents away in the first quarter by burying them in wave of touchdowns.
The most telling element was the fact that Colorado State stopped Utah three times at the one yard line for what would have been the game winning touchdown in the last two minutes of the game. If a team can’t push the ball one yard in three tries, then they perhaps deserve to lose.
Part of the problem is the new head coach I think. I have read where he does not want to be an emotional coach. This is completely wrong. You can be unemotional if you are a Bear Bryant or Joe Paterno and you know how to get the most out of your players. But, the coaching winners have almost always been emotional leaders like Vince Lombardi or Knute Rockne or Steve Spurrier [college only] or Urban Mayer.
Maybe the Utah coach should check out HENRY V [either the Olivier or Gibson versions] from the film school library and watch Henry’s speech before the Battle of Agincourt as a motivation experience.
On second thought, maybe he should screen it for the team. It couldn’t hurt.
Sharon
I called Sharon from the comfort of my balcony on Sunday afternoon where I was reading another of my Chinese books on military strategy. I called her cell phone number because I never know where she might be.
Sharon was in her office in downtown Los Angeles on a Sunday afternoon working on a project that had ridiculous timelines. She sounded harried and pressed when we spoke. I could imagine how high her stress level must have been and where her blood pressure might have been.
I called for one reason, three reasons actually but only one was discussed. One was to wish her a fun Sunday but I gave up on that idea without mentioning it when I found out that she was at work. Second, I called to see if she was going to accept my invitation for dinner on Sunday night. I passed on even asking her because of the tone of her voice that sounded of pressure and extreme tension.
Third, I called to suggest that we consider postponing our scheduled lunch for Monday since new evil young boss was giving her such a hard time at work. Sharon agreed with me that we postpone things for a while.
I had a nice dinner by myself. The planned meal turned out just fine. In the end, I will have an extra portion of stuffed swordfish to eat now. That is probably acceptable since I do not have swordfish all that much.
Cinema
I saw two films over the weekend. One was WALLACE & GROMIT: THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. It was very enjoyable and a well made claymation film. I will probably buy it when it comes out on DVD. While the film is clearly aimed at children [at least half of the audience were children when I saw the film], it does have a number of adult jokes, some of which are visual and some of which oral. Much of the humor is English in style. I’m not sure if that is a help or hindrance in the American cinema. I also liked the music selection for the cartoon. It seemed to be well placed and appropriate.
The other film was SERENITY and I saw it today. This is a follow-on to the FIREFLY television series that lasted only a year on the Fox channel. In some respects, it is like STAR TREK only without Captain Kirk and his crew and no Klingons and Romulans. All of the cast from the television show were back for this film. Unfortunately, some of them were killed off so they have no future if there is a sequel.
The film answered some of the questions from the television show like why was the Alliance after River and her brother. Some of the characters were more developed than in the series, especially with Simon the doctor and Kayly the ship’s engineer.
I will admit that it is hard to like a science fiction film that doesn’t have a Scot as part of the crew. I will also go see the sequel if and when it is released.
The Three Kingdoms
I started reading The Three Kingdoms this afternoon out on my balcony while I smoked a cigar.
I was only able to get in about 76 pages [there are over 2,300 pages] before it got too cool for me to sit there in shorts and a golf shirt. Obviously, this is only the introduction section of the novel. Even so, it is interesting and very easy to read. I think I will enjoy it immensely.
The Three Kingdoms is significant in Chinese literature for several reasons. It is a cultural icon for the Chinese people and it makes the character trait of righteousness a central theme. It was the first Chinese novel to have chapter. I think there are over 100 chapters and I am only at Chapter 5 now.
And, that, gentle readers, was my weekend. I hope your weekend was as much fun as mine. Be well and stay happy.
posted by Chuck Reinhardt at 7:23 PM
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