Test Flights

The Avengers was worth seeing after all, even though I'd thought Marvel would drain the concept barrel dry with this one. Yes, there was the expected degree of explosions and violence, and it works well in 3D IMAX. Loved the cloud base, straight out of Captain Scarlet; very Cevera, if you know what I mean. The Acura® product placements were unobtrusive and they stayed more or less true to NYC geography, although I would have had major architectural quibbles about turning the Pan Am Building (that's how old I am) into Stark HQ. I agree with one of the characters that it doesn't look right, not in midtown, anyway. I wonder if Tony Stark had to have a special FAA variance issued to reactivate the old heliport's landing rights, but that's just me. And I was wondering how these disparate characters would work together as a team without tearing each other to shreds. Now we know. Absolutely stay for both Easter Eggs when the credits run. Now I know what Shwarma is.

The Dictator is obscene. I mean foul language, exposed genitalia, on-screen urination, religious bigotry, sexism, racism; all that. Despite this, it was very funny and more politically accurate than anybody's willing to say out loud, esp. his televised speech at the (movie's) climax. It gets a B on NYC geographical accuracy with an obvious continuity flaw in the colours of the Empire State Building during a particular scene. Basically, Sasha Baron-Cohen goes there with no apologies. He stomps all over the line regarding decency. I stlil remember a line out of Borat: "I can still smell your crotch in my mustache!"  The Dictator a stupid, nasty,funny movie.

Dark Shadows was  a daytime soap opera, and a sideshow during life* in middle school when it was on. All the girls talked about it but I saw only a few episodes here and there. I like this version. Johnny Depp makes a wonderful vampire and the story does not depend on its SFX. It's set in 1972, so the Amtrak® trainset they use in the beginning is technically from The Future, but that's the only skip in continuity I could see. Almost none of the characters are what they seem initially. This is the first vampire genre show I've liked in years, having burned out after Interview with a Vampire and Angel. 

( The following account includes references to drug use, psychic activity and possible alternative timelines. )

I just figured out how to make stills from the video camera in my iPod. Sunrise and sunset are the prettiest parts of any planet's day. These show why I bother to live where I do.

An ad in the Village Voice mentioned a "special" for Zerona® laser treatments. I'd seen a commercial and some chat show segments about lying under a matrix of lasers that bust open the fat cells in the belly and allow the contents to drain out of the body, effectively a pain-free, non-invasive surgery-free liposuction. The "special" I saw in the ad was from a homeopathy parlour in Greenwich ViIlage offering treatments for "only $99" each.

THE CATCH: This price is for a set of treatments, with a minimum of six. 

They concentrate on losing inches, not necessarily body-weight.This would be within the reach of my meager income were it not for the fact that I'd need four times that many treatments based on the standard BMI scale they use in order to make an appreciable difference in my belly size. Note that I spoke to someone who was not a nurse or medical practitioner, and I was not measured or examined in any way. And this was a place that did body waxing and such as their core business. No doubt, a place with any kind of medical affiliation would have probably quoted me a higher figure. The most efficacious program I was quoted was three sessions a week for eight weeks, plus an at-home regimen of exercise (e.g., walking) and cycling through gallons of water to get the freed fat to cycle out of the body. This would cost me around $2,400 (plus a "recommended" round of nutrition supplement pills). Call it $2,500 and two months of my time.

Chorus: This I would do, if only I had the money. 

sailgersor has successfully gotten her left knee surgically replaced! She's recovering well and enjoying the blessings of the morphine drip @ St. Michael's Hospital in Newark, NJ. She says she'll be there for another 5-7 days and they've left her a walker by her bed to start exercising the new joint as soon as she's up to it. She talked my ear off last night for only a half-hour (as opposed to her usual hour and a half) and was feeling good, and glad to be away from her usual problems for a while, including her adventure with the tenant who will not leave (LOOONG story). 

Back in my own life, I'm having a good first day under the influence of Truvía®. There is a distinct difference in both the taste (still almost but not quite unlike sugar) and the metabolic side-effects (so far, no migraines or choking, but I can tell the internal system is parsing it differently and there's a sensation in the back of my throat like there's still trace of powder stuck back there, even though the substance was fully dissolved). This is the formulation I should have bought in the first place, not that other stuff using the same packaging colours. There is something to be said for going with the brand name. There is no price or taste advantage over normal sugar, and it's never gonna replace sugar, but it is now an alt. option on the constant trail of cutting back and cutting down. I'll drink my trial gallon o' tea with a mix of 90% Truvía® & a bit of regular sugar to get a tolerable flavour balance. 

I always feel much worse after a medical visit than I do going in. Today I'm knackered, yet I know I have to go out, walk, resupply fruit, etc as the weather threatens to get nicer and nicer until it gets so hot I can't go out any more. Yesterday they drew blood, only one vial but that seemed to be enough to drain my powers.

I just had a phone chat with sailgersor who's about to have knee replacement surgery Thursday A.M. in Newark, NJ. She's been prepping for pre-op starvation and wishes all and sundry to send good vibes. Her boyfriend wants to gather an expedition to go see her on the weekend post-op, but the hospital has a two-visitor limit for each patient, plus she's trying to stay germ-free for her recovery. Best to transmit good vibes instead and see her later on the outside.

Coincidentally, Dr. G finally confirmed today that the arthritis in my right knee is bad enough to hand me off to an orthopedist. Hopefully I won't need was Sailgersor's about to have.

Yes, I got to my god-daughter's Bat Mitzvah, drove in on time, the driving directions worked and everything. I resolved the problem of rising early by taking my medicine and staying up all night. Jerné wanted to see the special features from my new Star Trek: NextGen movie set, called Evolution of the Enterprise. This led to the segment from the Firefly set called Serenity: the 10th Character. Then we hit the pseudo-jargon rich technical breakdown of the race cars in the Speed Racer movie, a featurette on pimping a rice rocket from The Fast & The Furious and the making of the first Electric Mini Coopers for The Italian Job remake. But before seeing the whole movie, I found a DVD brochure for the 2007 VW Jetta as a way to review the instrument panel for the new VW Golf I would drive in the mourning. Allowing for model changes, the difference was negligible. By 6:30 AM I was up and ready to go. 

The ceremony was for two: Sydney, my god-daughter and another local kid. Her father followed along from the audience on printed notes and gave her a thumbs-up at the end. Some of the guests asked how I was connected to the family. I told them I'm the Catalyst. Had I not introduced Mom & Dad, Sydney wouldn't be on stage today. Or if she did, she'd have looked a whole lot different. She was always a cute kid, but now that her face has filled in, she looks like a young Renee Zellwegger.  She's a uniter; she made sure no child was left behind at her after-party. And her kid brother's smart, articulate and something of a nerd. We spent five full minutes talking about where to find copyright dates in books. His main interests this year are Tin Tin & Star Wars, so his Non-Mitzvah gift hit the spot. Sydney got a dual gift, "One for work and one for play" : Sakura Wars: the Series on DVD and my introductory set of Japanese CD lessons.

The drive there and back was comfortable and without delay until the Holland Tunnel approach, where I got a truly good look at the Manhattan skyline as I waited to get onto the island. I needed the rest anyway.

I despise, hate and detest whatever the frack is going on with my local airspace. Over the past two or three weeks, aircraft overflight disturbances have intermittently been killing the TV reception on Channel 2, usually the strongest on the (dial? no they don't have dials any more) RF signal-strength scale. Other channels are affected, too and I have to piece together the dialogue, like out of Oookla the Mok's song $1.50 Movie.

 It's Digital TV at its worst, folks and it can happen night or day without warning. Everyhting's coming in perfectly, then suddenly IT DON'T. Just yips and blips with the threatening putter of helicopter blades patting down the atmo, or the mysterious howl of an Airbus A 340 flying the river route. At any other time, these would be among my favourite sounds in the world. I love airplanes; I hate their interference. I live under three approach patterns but I will not move and I will not pay. Hovever, If my antenna wasn't already dangling out the window, I would have thrown it there many times.

They promised me this would get better as time went by. They lied. They just wanted me to switch to cable; it's the subject of every seventh commercial on daytime TV, and I don't even live in a zone where they offer FiOS! Not like I could afford another monthly bill, anyway. I still haven't got Channel 7 back. I was hoping it would do a seasonal return, since it reappeared last spring until November. Not so far.

My long Digital TV nightmare continues... after this.



This work was Produced Under The Influence To Influence Others Positively (PUTITIOP). Weak signal.