Catching Up on Movies

I don't know why the flu is going around in the middle of June, but it is, and I got it. It was miserable, but it did offer me an opportinity to catch up on some movies that I have been meaning to see. I sent Katie to the nearest Redbox to pick me up some movies, and we got Rocky Balboa, Casino Royale, and Stranger Than Fiction. I had heard good things about all of these movies and was excited to watch them.

I started with Rocky Balboa. I have been excited to see this one for a long time, and it didn't dissapoint. Even Katie enjoyed it. I got the sense that Stalone was trying to channel the first Rocky a little more (bringing back "little Marie," spending most of the screen time on exploring characters rather than fights, having Rocky flash back to all the good times from the first movie, having Rocky lose the bout but win the battle). I have to admit, as good as the first Rocky was, I missed the formulaic but exilerating plot where Rocky overcomes incredible odds to beat the bad guy. I didn't especially like that Rocky lost the fight in a split decision. I wanted him to knock Mason "the Line" Dixon out. I also didn't like how they tried to make Mason "the Line" Dixon a good guy. Make him a cocky, arrogant punk who needs Rocky to teach him a lesson.

Then I watched Stranger Than Fiction. I thought it was entertaining and fun. I thought Will Ferrel did a nice job making his character so likeable, which had to happen for the story to work.

Finally, I watched Casino Royal. I thought it rocked. It had great action sequences, but you didn't feel like there were so many action sequences that there wasn't any time to develop a plot (or that they were trying mask the lack of a plot). I thought Daniel Craid was an awesome James Bond, way better than Pierce Brosnan. He was everything James Bond should be: tough, cool, simmering, smart-alleckey, etc. I had a hard time believing that he actually let his guard down and fell in love with the accountant, probably because we've seen so many James Bond movies where he gets the girl but he doesn't let his guard down. Still, it was a good flick.

New Camera

Since Grace was born, our picture-taking output has increased exponentially, and I have been dying to get a new camera. We have a great little point-and-shoot camera that does a great job--and I have no room to complain when there are starving children in Africa--but it would kill me when we would miss a great picture because our camera was so slow. We would get Grace to smile for a moment, but by the time the flash geared up and the camera warmed up, the smile was long gone and Grace was looking off elsewhere. It doesn't take the clearest, most colorful pictures either. So, after much longing, much research, and much saving, I finally said goodbye to shutter lag. I bought myself a new digital SLR. I opted for the Nikon d40. And now that I have a nice camera, I imagine I will channel my inner photographer more, which means that I will probably be posting pictures more often on my blog. I hope that will be an improvement. We've tried the camera out a little over the weekend. Here are some of the results.

Curse Bush

I'm posting a link to this great article that appeared in Time magazine last week. It is really interesting and really well-written. It talks about a recent decision by a federal court of appeals (one step below the US Supreme Court). In the case, the FCC had fined a number of stations that aired a live awards show that featured Nichole Richie, among others, using profanity. But the court said that that the fines were unreasonable. In making its decision, the court looked at societal norms and determined that profanity wasn't such an uncommon thing as to warrant these large fines. But the interesting part of the decision was that, in saying that profanity wasn't such a big deal, the court cited to recent profane gaffes by President Bush and Vice President Cheney (hence my clever title to this post). Basically, the court said that if Cheney can drop the F-bomb on the Senate floor, then Nichole Richie can do so on an awards show. The article riffs on the irony of the court's decision to use this administration as an example of profanity and how we can now curse Bush, who won two elections by playing strongly to the morality/family values card, for making it possible for Nichole Richie to drop the F-bomb with impunity.

Real, China, the First Amendment, and International Diplomacy

The other day, I went with my dad to a Real Salt Lake soccer game where they played the Chinese national team. It was a fun game. The weather was a little cool but not too bad. We sat in front of a couple of really funny guys, who kept cracking jokes. Real won on a pretty cool goal (assisted by our friend Chris Brown). But what made the game really interesting was that some of the officials from the Chinese national team stopped the game midway through the second half because some hecklers were waving Tibetan and Taiwanese flags. The Chinese officials threatened to stop the game if the hecklers didn't put away their flags. The hecklers also had Chairman Mao masks and signs that read "Defect Here," but what really made the Chinese officials mad was the flags. Eventually, Real's event staff made it over and made the hecklers put away their flags, but the hecklers weren't happy about it.

It got me thinking about the interrelation between free speech, political protest, and hospitality. I think these guys were just hecklers and weren't necessarily serious about making a political statement, but lets pretend that they were protesting in earnest. Do they have a right to be protesting here? I think they might; its a private sporting event, but its on the campus of a state school (which means the First Amendment might have some teeth). But is this the appropriate forum for them to be protesting in? The Chinese national team was here as our guests. Is it part of our duty as hosts to put aside political protest while they are our guests? I get the sense that its probably bad form to invite guests and to then allow them to be berated. I can see the argument that developing strong relationships with China will allow us to gently advocate, as a friend, for causes that we feel are important and that allowing protests might disrupt that agenda. At the same time, I'm sympathetic to the political causes of Tibet and Taiwan, and I think its a legitimate cause to be protesting. If you were the philosopher-king, and someone came to you and said that some people were going to be at the Real vs. China soccer game waving Tibetan and Taiwanese flags in protest, what would you do? I don't know what I would do. I would be interested to hear from any of you that are interested. It may turn on your diplomatic philosophy.

Anyway, sorry for the stream of consciousness post, but I think this is a pretty interesting question.

Saturday Morning

I took this picture yesterday morning while we were waiting for Katie to get back from her long run (I ran Friday night). When it was about time for Katie to get home, Grace and I went out front to wait for her. Grace played on her blanket while I weeded our front garden and our lawn. Then, we just sat on the blanket and waited for Katie. It was a great morning, and Grace was excited to see Katie running home.