Apopheniac

Updated Pat and Jean Photo

A recent photo of the missus and me has been requested and so here it is. Jean's sister Gerry snapped it for us on my cameraphone when she came to visit.

Deluge

Quite a storm blue through last night. 5" measured in the front yard rain guage.

Photos of Grandson Jaxson

Jessica forwarded new photos of Grandson Jaxson and his entourage

Jessica and Jaxson

Jason and Jaxson

I got a great email from Jessica with these new photos of the family.

Hollywood Drought

I have been watching the news and commentary about Hollywood's decline in income and seen it blamed on technology and internet piracy but I think the answer may be somewhat simpler. For the last couple of years Hollywood has been putting out an overwhelming load of crap which many of us have not regarded as worth the price of admission.
Jean and I are ardent movie fans and there is almost no way we would rather spend a couple of hours than watching a good film. Our tastes run from action to comedy to drama to sci-fi though we have a short tolerance for kink, slash, gore and perversity. We are particularly fond of romance. We have thrilled to movies from "Shakespeare in Love" to "Kill Bill."
But recently I find more and more films not only not worth the ticket price, they are note even worth my time. Poor writing and direction and an overindulgence of action, special effects and the cult of celebrity have recntlly brought forth film after film that is dry, shallow and unworthy of our time and attention.
The saddest part for me is that I so yearn for what they deny me: moving cinema, well spun tales of noble characters struggling and winning in lives, even simple lives. Instead I am shovelled thrill rides, perversion and sucker punch endings.
In even the best years there were only a few true gems at the multiplex but there were usually a fair number of movies worth our time and attention. This has not been the case this last year or so, and only when Hollywood re-raises their sights and their standards will they find us reaching for our wallets. I wish them well.
In the meantime, I guess I'll shuffle through my dvd collection one more time.