Keep looking UP

I watched UP this evening for the first time in years. For some reason, the Pixar movies are not on Netflix, so I hadn't been able to revisit them in my ever expanding queue. But then I thought, "To the Library!" Wall-E was first, and I need to get in line for the other wonderful cartoon adventures.

Being the social media butterfly that I am, I posted "First fifteen minutes of UP. Gets me every time." A friend commented not long after, "I don't watch that crap."

And it made me sad.

If you are one of the few that haven't seen the movie, the first fifteen minutes are the meeting, courtship, marriage, life and ultimately loss of a loving partner. The life between ages 10 and 70 is portrayed with no dialogue, and yet you completely understand the joy and then loss of love and companionship. The rest of the movie is still a fun romp, including a lovable dog that you can listen in on his thoughts. The dog portion alone would be enough to grab me, but nothing tugs at the heartstrings like the first fifteen minutes.

The reason the comment made me sad (and it is completely possible that I am reading too much into it) is that the person writing it has had a tough go at love. Many of us have. I have. I don't imagine the storybook running through the fields of flowers ideal, but somehow, I still hold out hope for that growing old together and looking back on a life well lived picture in the scrapbook.

Anyway, the odds can seem long at times, and it is entirely possible I will be that cranky old man in a run down house shouting at "progress", but I still hold out hope for the happy ending.

You know, the stuff of movies.

Incredible journeys

I just saw the end of a couple of epic journeys last night.

I finished up the book, Without a Paddle: Racing Twelve Hundred Miles Around Florida by Sea Kayak by Warren Richey. From GoodReads.com:

As far as Warren Richey knew, his life was on course. A reporter with a beautiful wife and talented son, Richey couldn’t imagine how it could be any better....Then his marriage falls apart and he can’t imagine how it could be any worse.

The divorce leaves Richey questioning everything, while struggling to find a way forward. To get his bearings, he enters the first Ultimate Florida Challenge, an all-out twelve-hundred-mile kayak race around Florida.

The race is literally around Florida in any a boat without a engine. Ten participants start out in Tampa, travel south around the Keys, then head north along the east coast. Of course Florida is peninsula not an island. The racers have to paddle upstream on a winding river toward the center of the state, carry their boats overland for 40 miles, and then head downstream on another river to reach the Gulf of Mexico once more.

The author does a nice job describing the challenges he faced racing around the clock, covering 1200 miles in a kayak. The race is a free-for-all of fatigue and sleep deprivation. Along the way, he looks back on his past failures, but spends as much time planning for his future. It sounds like a pretty incredible race and the book does a good job of taking you there.

Then tonight we watched a movie called 10mph. Two friends drop out of the corporate, cubicle life, move to Denver and start a production company. Then they come up with the movie concept - they would ride a Segway across America, from Seattle to Boston.

They run into plenty of obstacles and have to constantly scrounge for cash to pull off the 100 day trip. The movie is an entertaining look at the not only crazy way they decide to cover the 4,000 miles, but the characters and places they see along the way. They end up meeting many great people who support them and take them in. I thought it was great.

"If I had the chance now, I would ask him: Where did you find the strength and courage to keep moving? In many ways it is the obstacles that define the man. How far you walked is not nearly as revealing as how far you crawled." ~ From Without a Paddle.

"...why not live it up, take the risk and do the thing that you're supposed to do."  ~ Hunter and Josh from 10mph

SQUIRREL!!

Today is apparently Squirrel Appreciation Day. A perfect day to watch UP. SQUIRREL!!

Messing with a classic, part I

This is my favorite scene from one of my favorite movies. The fact that someone would mess with it should piss me off, but this is pretty good.

The Chatty Duelists

Career advice from Lloyd Dobler

"How many of them really know what they want, though? I mean, a lot of them think they have to know, right? But inside they don't really know, so... I don't know ,but I know that I don't know."


 "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."

~ Say Anything

Merry Christmas everyone

It's a Wonderful Life

Clarence: "Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?"

George Bailey: What is it you want, Mary? What do you want? You want the moon? Just say the word and I'll throw a lasso around it and pull it down. Hey. That's a pretty good idea. I'll give you the moon, Mary.
Mary: I'll take it. Then what?
George Bailey: Well, then you can swallow it, and it'll all dissolve, see... and the moonbeams would shoot out of your fingers and your toes and the ends of your hair... am I talking too much?

George Bailey: You call this a happy family? Why do we have to have all these kids?

George Bailey: Merry Christmas, movie house! Merry Christmas, Emporium! Merry Christmas, you wonderful old Building and Loan!

Clarence: You see George, you've really had a wonderful life. Don't you see what a mistake it would be to just throw it away?

Harry Bailey: To my big brother George, the richest man in town.

Christmas Story

"I want an official Red Rider, carbine-action, two hundred shot, range model air rifle." – Ralphie
"You’ll shoot your eye out kid." – Santa

A Charlie Brown Christmas

"Charlie Brown, you're the only person I know who can take a wonderful season like Christmas and turn it into a problem. Maybe Lucy's right. Of all the Charlie Browns in the world, you're the Charlie Browniest."

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

Bethany: "Is your house on fire, Clark?"
Clark Griswold: "No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights."

Frosty the Snowman

Santa Claus: "Don't cry, Karen, Frosty's not gone for good. You see, he was made out of Christmas snow and Christmas snow can never disappear completely. It sometimes goes away for almost a year at a time and takes the form of spring and summer rain. But you can bet your boots that when a good, jolly December wind kisses it, it will turn into Christmas snow all over again."
Karen: "Yes, but... He was my friend."
Santa Claus: "Just watch."

Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer

Rudolph: "But you fell off the edge of the cliff."
Yukon Cornelius: "Didn't I ever tell you about Bumbles? Bumbles bounce."

Scrooged

You have to do something, you have to take a chance, you do have to get involved. There are people that are having trouble making their miracle happen. There are people who don't have enough to eat, there are people that are cold...you can go out and say "hello" to these people.

How The Grinch Stole Christmas - both versions

"And the Grinch, with his grinch-feet ice-cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling: "How could it be so? "It came without ribbons! It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags!" And he puzzled and puzzed, till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't thought of before! "Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store. "Maybe Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!"


Welcome Christmas
While we stand
Heart to heart
and hand in hand.

Christmas day is in our grasp
So long as we have hands to clasp.

Christmas day will always be
Just as long as we have "we".


Lou Lou Who: "I'm glad he took our presents. You can't hurt Christmas, Mr. Mayor, because it isn't about the... the gifts or the contest or the fancy lights. That's what Cindy's been trying to tell everyone... and me. I don't need anything more for Christmas than this right here: my family."

And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day.

Miracle on 34th Street

Doris: "Would you please tell her that you’re not really Santa Claus...that there actually is no such person?"
Kris Kringle: "Well, I hate to disagree with you, but not only is there such a person, but here I am to prove it."

Kris Kringle: "Now wait a minute, Susie. Just because every child can't get his wish that doesn't mean there isn't a Santa Claus."

Fred Gailey: "Faith is believing when common sense tells you not to. Don't you see? It's not just Kris that's on trial, it's everything he stands for. It's kindness and joy and love and all the other intangibles."

Fred Gailey: Look Doris, someday you're going to find that your way of facing this realistic world just doesn't work. And when you do, don't overlook those lovely intangibles. You'll discover those are the only things that are worthwhile.

Kris Kringle: You see, Mrs. Walker, this is quite an opportunity for me. For the past 50 years or so I've been getting more and more worried about Christmas. Seems we're all so busy trying to beat the other fellow in making things go faster and look shinier and cost less that Christmas and I are sort of getting lost in the shuffle.

Kris Kringle: "Oh, Christmas isn't just a day, it's a frame of mind... and that's what's been changing. That's why I'm glad I'm here, maybe I can do something about it."


HAVE A WONDERFUL, JOYOUS, BLESSED CHRISTMAS!

Failure

The latest library movie rental was "Who Killed the Electric Car". It is centered around a GM model called the EV1 introduced in the mid-1990's. By all accounts, it was a great car and GM was on the leading edge to capture the market. So why did GM not only stop producing the cars, but took all of the models back and destroyed them? Who killed the electric car? Like the current economic collapse/recession, there is plenty of blame to go around.

Still, after watching the film, it makes me feel like GM (and other car companies) have spent/wasted incredible energy to keep things exactly the way they are. Even when they develop their own great, innovative product, they do their best to sabotage it. It seems they've done their best to fail, and maybe we should've just let it happen. It will be interesting to see if anything changes going forward.

run fatboy, run

So I'm about 2/3 of the way through my 16 week marathon training program. This past weekend's run was 16 miles, which is nothing compared to what this guy did last weekend.

My run went reasonably well. It was kinda warm and I didn't bring enough electrolyte-dosed fluids. My face was covered with salt and as soon as I stopped the muscles in my calves tightened up like twisted rope. I hobbled home and eased into a cool bath which is supposed to squeeze some of the toxins out. It is a painful bit of medicine.

Looking back to this time last year I'm about :30 faster per mile at this distance. I am also about 10 pounds lighter. I saw this chart today, and it looks like I am reaping the promised rewards.

I'm still far from having a runner's physique. I probably need to drop another 10 pounds to get out of the overweight bracket on the BMI scale, but at least I'm no longer pushing obese.

One of the movies I picked up at the library was run fatboy, run. In the weeks leading up to a marathon, I'm always on the lookout for a running/inspirational movie. It was about Dennis who runs out on his pregnant bride at the alter. Five years later he impulsively decides to run a marathon to compete with the new boyfriend in her life. He initially hopes to win her back, but settles for regaining a little self-respect by finally finishing something.

It was pretty good, veering close to formula before turning away just enough. Certainly worth a rental, or the $0 I paid for it. And it turns out the main character also plays Scotty in the new Star Trek, which I saw the next day.

And Star Trek was great. Two split fingers up!

Hope and redemption

I recently contacted Verizon because the charges for our FIOS service varied wildly month to month, and we hadn't seen a bill - ever. When we signed up they required a credit card since we didn't have a home phone bill, so various amounts have been coming out of the account. While I was on the phone trying to straighten things out, the guy on the other end mentioned that they had a new special that they could upgrade us to, and it would actually save us a dollar a month.

We now have a HD package, even though we don't have an HD TV set yet. We also have faster internet and a movie channel package for some indeterminate time (I got lost in the details). My wife is out with some friends from her old job tonight so I thought I'd see what was on.

I found Shawshank Redemption playing on Encore. I had missed the first 45 minutes or so, but it is one of my favorite movies so I couldn't pass it up. It is the story of Andy Dufresne, a young and successful banker whose life changes drastically when he is convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of his wife and her lover. It is a story of holding on to hope in the darkest of places. Highly recommended if you have never seen it.


"Remember Red, hope is a good thing. Maybe the best of things. And no good thing ever dies."