Chapter 83.4: A Few Moments Alone

The classical music has soothed the savage babies. The wife is out for an hour or so. And the coffee still tastes good. I will try to keep from wasting too much time from the one day when I can accomplish something on my own.

Later, in between diapers and bottles, I'll mow the lawn, which has grown once again to jungle lengths. Till then, however, I'll enjoy the skirl of the cicadas and crickets from my air conditioned home — pushing back the annoying question of how I'll pay for such amenities — and see what else I can accomplish in the time allotted.

How's your day?

Chapter 83.1: Time Passes

A couple weeks ago, an anniversary passed without notice. It wasn't important in any great sense. No parties were deserved. No parades planned. Barely a word was really necessary. But this blog turned five.

Life has been busy for me lately. Those who know me and my family understand why. The parties on that end were deserved, and parades of a different sort took place. As for words — nothing really quite captures the feelings. And blogs aren't the answer to such issues.

But still, it's true that I enjoy sharing the occasional thoughts or words here with the world of mostly strangers, and especially with those few, precious friends who stop by and leave word of their visit.

So happy fifth "blogoversary." And I'll see you as the spring and summer get even warmer.

Chapter 77.2: A Sense of Normalcy

It's official: Tom Brokaw will take over the hosting duties of Meet the Press, the most important Sunday morning news and public policy show in the United States. Of course, one of the main reasons why it had become so significant is because of the effort the late Tim Russert put into it.

In my post offering my thoughts on Russert's untimely death, I openly pondered whether Brokaw would host. While I didn't come straight out and say it in the blog, Brokaw was who I was hoping would take the job.

To me it makes the most sense. Brokaw is the first person I thought of as capable of doing the job well while maintaining the sense of decorum that it requires (automatically cutting Chris Matthews out) through at least the election. I for one will miss Russert on election night. Brokaw will offer a sense of normalcy to what I suspect will be yet another odd election. At least President Bush can't win this time.

Soldier on, Mr. Brokaw, and I wish you well. America is watching and looking for you to pick up that torch and carry it forward.

Chapter 73.5: Winter Forward?

It's not quite the same, changing daylight savings time in early March. I don't mind getting up one hour earlier on a Sunday, even though I had to get up particularly early today. But since the nasty storm caused blackouts throughout much of northern New Jersey, I went to bed early anyway.

But is it really necessary to make the change in early March? What brought this on? Why not do this at the end of March, or return it to early April. I believe Europe does it at the end of March; what's our rationale for doing it on the second weekend of March? If memory serves, the reason it was moved was because it saved more energy, but I also remember reading that another study said this isn't necessarily so. Are there any truly definitive studies on this matter? I'm all for conserving energy and saving money, but is this really safer?

Anybody else care to venture an opinion

Chapter 72.9: Jump In, The Movie's Fine!

Valentine's Day is a lot more enjoyable when you're past your twenties and happily married. A long day at work turned into a wonderful evening when I got home, because unbeknownst to me my wife had decided that if I ran late, we'd see a movie. Funny how fate works and time changes everything.

With that seemingly inoccuous item, I jump to my point: Jumper. The story of a young man who discovers that he has the ability to circumvent the laws of space (but not time, thankfully) and zip from here to there faster than I can type. A lot faster.

I suppose this type of thing has been done before, but I don't care. I also don't care that it's received mixed reviews. I enjoyed this film.

It has flaws, however. Hubris, for one. It's rather ballsy to assume you'll have an audience for a trilogy, which is what this film is proposing to do. But with its comic book feel (though it's based on a novel by Stephen Gould) perhaps developing an audience isn't so tough, I don't know. More importantly, the film feels incomplete. A good first episode of a trilogy -- see Star Wars or The Lord of the Rings -- needs to feel like a story was told. Jumper felt like a TV pilot.

Another flaw is that the main characters are left woefully undeveloped. You come out of Star Wars and the Fellowship of the Ring feeling like you know something about Darth Vader or Strider/Aragorn. But Jumper leaves you with two scenes of the lovely Diane Lane, who plays David's estranged mother. And you know virtually nothing. I'm sorry, that's lazy writing and directing. You needed a scene to establish some connection, some love, some something. Screw mystery, an audience needs to connect with the characters. All this did was set up film No. 2. Insert $10, press play. Go screw yourself. (Like I said, there are flaws.)

But there's enough potential in the first movie for me to see the second film. The cinematography is excellent, for one thing. The effects feel as natural as possible, and the exciting thrill ride aspect of the chase scenes is wonderful. You don't have to be twelve to think this film is cool.

And Jamie Bell, who plays Griffin -- David's mentor/friend -- is excellent (despite being occasionally incomprehensible, what with that thick accent of his). Film fans may know Bell best as Billy Elliot (Dance, Billy, dance!), but he's become quite a strong actor since then. Rachel Bilson's cute, of course, though I hope she's given more of a role to play in the future.

But the real thrill in this film comes from the always amazing Samuel L. Jackson. I truly believe this man could play just about anything, but he's best with an edgy character. And as Roland he plays a (potentially) complex role of the nemesis to Hayden Christensen's David; Roland claims to be moral, but the audience can't help but feel he's basically a cop, and who knows what morality means in a world where people flit from place to place without law.

I'll leave it at that, since that's the type of ending this film engenders. Suffice it to say, I enjoyed Jumper. I'll watch the second installment, but there needs to be some pay-off for this investment. I like the characters. Now show me something other than pleasant gimmicks.

Chapter 63.7: Time! Gentlemen, Please

While walking from the train to the PATH this morning, I saw a guy with a t-shirt that said "Time is an invention." Brilliant.

Because it's true. Define time. What is it? It's a measurement, but of what? It's a construction we use to measure our past and our future. And time can be changed. Calendars are not static. We pick up a day every four years, a leap second every couple of years, because time as we define it is imperfect. Time is a human construct; God is timeless.

I mention God quite purposely, because there are wackos among us who believe that the earth has only existed for a few thousand years, not the hundreds of millions of years that science has proven. Many of these same wackos decry evolution calling it "just a theory." Time is a theory, too, but they don't seem to see it. Theory ... think about that word. What do you see in it? I see God, therein.