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Of Mice And Men

Very eventful weekend. Can't translate what my dad would say in this instance, but the word "leasure" would be stretched to such an extreme that it mostly conveys the meaning of, "With kind of rest and relaxation who needs work!"

On saturday we took a lunch cruise of the Spirit of Chicago. The weather was beautiful, the downtown view from the ship was awesome, and the experience, supplemented by a Bloody Mary, was thoroughly enjoyable.

After that, we hit off to one of the munchkin-birthdays we have scheduled for the next two weeks. Again, with the parents already a bit under, our little one was able to find enjoyment in that party, even with a very small afternoon nap.

On sunday we have decided to finally go to the beach, not the pool mind you, but the actual beach in Highland Park. I am not much of a beach goer plus I don't swim really well (I consider myself an extreme land dweller), but I enjoyed playing in the sand and just relaxing in the nicest of seetings.

After that, we went to friend's Summer Farewell party. Drinks flowed easily supplemented by a great bbq. The conversation floated anywhere from computers and NFL to politics. Uncharactersticaly for me, I have taken up and defended a political position; must have been all that conqac I consumed.

Ah! To Mice. We got a little mouse in the house, and he got really obnoxious recently. On Sunday morning the thing actually ran down my arm. We've been trying to catch the bugger for couple of days now, much hindered or helped by our dog. At one point, he just stood there in his best pointer position, with the mouse calmly washing his face. On sunday I finally cornered the little bugger, and put him in the box. I can't bring myself to killing an animal, unless it's a fly or a mosquito. This furry gentlemen, was too cute to kill. So he spend about 2 hours in the shoe box, with holes drilled for air.

In the words of Homer Simpson, "Once again, man triumphs over small furry animal!"

In the evening we went to a forest preserve and released him into the wild. I actually felt a little sad, I entertained an idea of keeping him for a while.

To cap off the weekend I have seen THREE movies. This is highly unusual for me.

Charlie Wilson's War. Great movie, very entertaining, with a great cast. I don't know how much of it is based on the real story of American help to mujihadeen, but it takes itself seriously enough, with great humor. Two things that irked me in the movie. The whole kill Russians sentiment in the movie, just a buit unsettling for me. In the montage of RPG's being fired, the director ran out of shots to use, I guess. One clip clearly showed an F-16 Falcon being shot down. The other clip showed an F-4 Phantom being shot down. That's a bit dumb.

Juno. One of the movies I claimed in the recent posts I don't get. Well, i got this one. I actually understood the reason it recieved great reviews, and was generally liked by everybody. I enjoyed it, the same way I enjoyed low budget films like Fargo.

Enchanted. This one we took to enjoy with the 4 year old. Pricesses, love, toons, unpretentiously sappy story, and music with singing and dancing. Great formula for family entertainment, and its not a let down. Enjoyed that one too.

Short week! Yumm!

Comments

Jason said…
I haven't seen Charlie Wilson's War so I can't comment directly on the "kill Russians sentiment" you reference, but I do recall that this sentiment was pretty common in American culture during the 1980s, which is, I believe when the movie is set, so I suppose you could see it as an exercise in verisimilitude.

I was always uncomfortable with that sort of thing myself -- ever seen the flick Red Dawn? Even as a teenager I thought that was jingoistic crap -- but a whole lot of people bought into it, egged on (I believe) by the constant red-baiting during President Reagan's first term. He mellowed when Gorbachev came into power in Reagan's second term, but in the early 80s... wowsers.
I think i saw Red Dawn some time ago. Don't remember if I liked it or not.

Now, Red Heat is a whole different story!!!

I actually perfectly understand the sentiment of those times, and I understand the type of personalities that are being shown. These people would say "kill russians" the same way we would say "kill mosquitoes". I don't even think that there was any sort of hate behind those words. There were what they were.

I think my irk with the words has caused by a long time forgotten fear of Americans we had ourselves those days.

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