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June 30, 2003
Little Bill
The worst of tropical storm Bill has passed Baton Rouge and we still have power, telephone service and internet access. It took a hard turn east before making landfall, which put BR on the weak side of the eye. I pity Mobile and Pensacola, but we're doing fine.
Whenever we have severe tropical weather, I have vivid flashbacks to the 8 days without power we endured after Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The near-total destruction of Homestead, FL grabbed national attention, so people forget that Andrew caused extensive damage to Louisiana as well.
I didn't blog it, but we had a very scary hurricane last year: Lili. It seemed like any other boring category 3 that hardly causes much fuss, nor decent hurricane parties. But about 12 hours before landfall, Lili jumped up to a strong category 4. For a few hours, there was genuine panic around southern Louisiana, because if Lili continued to gain strength at that rate, it would be one of the strongest hurricanes to ever make landfall in the US. Thankfully, and for some unknown reason, she actually DECREASED in strength before making landfall. I can't remember a hurricane ever getting weaker just prior to landfall, but Lili did.
Because of nail-biters like Lily, piddly-ass tropical storms such as Bill Jr. don't cause much excitement.
Posted by Christopher at 08:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tropical Storm Bill
I'm sitting at work looking out the window of my office at the parking lot lights jerk back and forth in the 60+ mph wind. The rain is coming down sideways and visibility can't be more than 250 feet.
Where the hell did this thing come from?
Posted by Christopher at 03:05 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 25, 2003
Dad's treatment begins
Dad's treatment for prostate cancer started today. I went to this hospital with my sister for his initial stage of prostate brachytherepy. I did some research into his treatment of choice and found out that the success rate for someone with his prognosis was good. I realize that good domain names are getting more and more rare, but couldn't the guys at http://www.prostateaction.org come up with something a bit less gay porn sounding?
I wanted to be there for Mindy, but I had mixed feelings about spending time with dad. This was the first time in, what, two years? that I had spoken to him.
I ended up staying with him for about an hour while Mindy got some lunch. It was good to talk to him, but it felt strained. I told him that I'd go see him this weekend and probably will. I don't know if I'm ready to resume a "normal" relationship with him or not.
Posted by Christopher at 11:30 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 24, 2003
College Algebra
I've known Dave for about 18 years now. We both cut our teeth on the local BBS scene in the mid 80s and have been good friends ever since. Having done more colorful things with his life until the present, Dave is just now getting around to attending college at LSU. It's local and cheap and the community around Baton Rouge holds degrees from LSU in high regard. I can't complain, that's where I earned my master's degree.
I got a call from Dave asking for help with Math 1021, the first college algebra. No problem. I had plenty of higher math in my undergrad curriculum. We sat down and began working through problems and it became evident that he was struggling with the material. I slowed down and he caught on quickly.
Then, he really freaked me out. I was going back to check the answer I had just gotten from solving a problem.
I plug the number 7.4 into the equation and reached for the calculator to get the answer. Without missing a beat, Dave said, "7.4 times 18 is 133.2, and 7.4 times 5 is 37." He figured out the math mentally before I could grab the calculator and turn it on.
I was amazed. Is everyone on the planet except for me is gifted with the ability to solve multiplication so quickly? I don't know, but Dave certainly is.
He went on to demonstrate multiplying random three digit numbers by two digit numbers without missing a beat. Decimals were no problems. "28 x 4.2 is 117.6. 117.6 x 4.2 is 493.92. 493.92 x 4.2 is 2074.464."
I suggested he quit school and take up blackjack.
Posted by Christopher at 09:24 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 21, 2003
The Hulk
!- Spoiler alert -!
This review contains spoilers. If such things piss you off, please read at your own peril.
It is a foregone conclusion that The Hulk will be a huge hit at the box office. The real question on everyone's mind is, "Is it going to really suck or just moderately suck?"
Good news, fans. It does not really suck, it only moderately sucks.
Eric Bana was admirable if not somewhat geeky in the angst-ridden lead. Nick Nolte did an good job in his role as a psycho father slash Mad Scientist (tm). Nolte's character does not seem to own a comb, or have a working shower. As Paul Clinton said in his review for CNN, Nolte looks just like he did in his recent wild-haired DUI mug shot. The final scene between human Eric and human Nick was outstanding. The final scene between Hulk Eric and ElectroMan-cum-RockMan-cum-WaterMan Nick was pretty silly.
Jennifer Connelly confused me. In both of her scenes with Hulk Eric, she plays them like she wants to jump in to bed with him. It. Whatever. When the three dogs show up at her house, she's looking at Hulk Eric like, "Hiya big boy. Is that a scuba tank in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?" Same thing when she's walking down the stairs toward Hulk Eric at the end of the big chase/fight with the army. Shouldn't she be feeling compassion or pity and not lust? Not that I mind seeing Jennifer Connelly all worked up and lusty-looking, mind you. It just seemed inappropriate for the scenes in question.
There were some things that bothered me about the flick.
1. Why couldn't't the bad-ass mutant French Poodle (no, I'm not kidding) break the freaking windshield of her car? What the hell does Honda add to those things now-a-days?
2. How could Nolte amass enough equipment to run experiments at his house? The guy was a janitor for christ's sake. He had some pretty bad-ass gear in his lab, and was throwing laptops around his living room when Connelly visited him.
3. Why, why does General Ross (Connelly's dad) allow Nolte to go piss off Eric after he has been captured? What was the point other than setting up the finale of the film? The way that scene was worked into the story made no sense at all.
4. How did Nolte get the three dogs into Eric's hospital room for their initial meeting? Some hospitals won't even allow my two kids during visiting hours. But somehow a drunken looking, shaggy-haired janitor was able to bring three dogs and not be noticed? Why did he need to bring the dogs? What was the point?
5. When you spend $150 million on a film, you shouldn't be stingy with the CGI. When Bana and Nolte are (separately) bombarded with gamma radiation it just looked retarded. I've seen better effects in Dr. Who episodes.
The movie was pretty to look at. The Hulk itself was very convincing. It was not in the same league as Gollum from LoTR, but it was good.
I give it a 5/10. It would be 6/10 if we could have seen Connelly naked or if it were missing some of the stupid plot devices.
Posted by Christopher at 05:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack