Last evening our good friends and neighbors came over for a showing of the DVD, Across the Universe. When this movie was first released in 2007 it did not register on my must see radar screen and quite frankly, I really do not recall seeing any advertisement or coming attraction ads for it. That being said and with a ‘little help from my friends’, I watched a true masterpiece unfold right before my eyes.
The story is primarily based around two main characters (Jude & Lucy) through a time span from about 1962 to 1970. There are four other characters (Max, Sadie, JoJo and Prudence) in the movie that have important rolls yet centered around Jude & Lucy. The premise of the movie is first and foremost a musical love story about relationships, friendships and commitments. Where it gets its twist from is the music, its all Beatles songs. The movie takes you through the lives of the characters through the Beatles music and every song they used matched the specific story line perfectly. Many of the Beatles songs used throughout the movie was from the White Album but the producer/director did not forget to include their more ‘popular’ songs. Not once during this entire movie did they use the original Beatles recordings. Each characters did their own singing and each song was rearranged to fit the stories mood. One of the most moving moments in the movie was based around the song ‘Let It Be’ . This four minute segment took you on an emotional rollercoaster ride that I’m still screaming to get off…but please, please don’t let it end!
It was fun watching this movie evolve around the music of The Beatles. How they created the story line based on a specific song while keeping with a plot was in my option brilliantly done. In some weird way the movie was like the animation film called Yellow Submarine in how music creates a story and your imagination fills in the blanks. If you’re a Beatles fan, a fan of off-beat movies or both, this is a must see!
Last evening we went to the opening of Pixar’s latest movie, WALL-E. We have been waiting for this release ever since Disney’s promotion machine started hyping their latest and greatest CG animation production. There was much anticipation of having to fight for a seat together and being surrounded by a sea of soda spilling, popcorn throwing rug rats. Much to our surprise neither was the case! The theatre was about half full and all of the little darlings behaved themselves.
Now for my personal spin on WALL-E. For the most part I really enjoyed how they created a story around a robot. It was absolutely amazing the personality they were able to capture and bring to life. Right from the very beginning I was sold on this character and through all of WALL-E’s trials and tribulations, he (it) stayed on task. All of the other characters, including Eve (WALL-E’s sweetheart) did not reach this level of believability and overall were weak in animation detail and depth. The other area I was dismayed with was the story line itself. Without giving too much of this movie away, if your political position in life is ‘left of center’ this movie will be a masterpiece. If on the other hand you reside ‘right of center’, you’ll find this movie a sad attempt to push a political agenda on you. I’m really surprised Al Gore did not have a cameo in this movie!
All of the above aside…WALL-E was entertaining, lots of fun and loaded with one liners that most of the kids just did not ‘get’ yet made me laugh out loud and giggle inside as the statements got a little ‘mature’ in nature. If you want to see how great CG animation can bring a robot to life, please by all means catch WALL-E.
We had a real bad storm rock through the Brown Bark Plantation this past Saturday that left a wake of fallen trees, tree limbs and damaged plants. Around 5:00PM I was finishing mowing and trimming the ‘lower 40’ when the wind made a sudden shift in our direction and shortly thereafter all HAIL broke loose! In as little as an hour we had marble size hail, wind sheer at an estimate 100 mph and lightning cracking down from the heavens and thunder that shook the house right down to the foundation. With the storm coming in from the Northwest we closed off the entire downstairs and took refuge in the kitchen next to the wine rack. This was a smart place to be until the winds shifted and started to circle back form the Southeast. It was at this time I knew that no amount of the grape was going to be safe. So we started to offer them up, a bottle at a time, to the Weather Gods in hopes they would show pity upon us. FAT CHANCE! First went cable then the power and then the trees…Oh my…
Once the sun started poking through the clouds we knew the worse was over and began to take personal inventory. All was well with the inside of the house but outside was an all together different story. Armed with my camera and a tall glass of red, Ruth and I along with the entire neighborhood convened on the street asking one another the same question…“Are you all right?” After a brief exchange we started to see the damage that this storm left behind. Check-out the pictures below from an understanding of what went down.
Now all and everyone are fine. No structure damage, some hail damage to a few cars but our next door neighbors dogwood tree and natural area is toast from our mature hickory tree that fell into their yard. Not to mention that our dog pen has been re-designed by a large fallen tree limb. This is nothing that a little TLC and insurance money can’t fix but rest assure that everyone came away unharmed minus a few sacrificial bottles.
p.s. Rebecca, the City of Greensboro just signed a resolution that bans you from reentering the City limits for life! Every time you have paid us a visit, something has happened and they have had enough. We plan on confronting them on their decision so we’ll let you know when it is safe to return…
After watching Game 1 and 2 of the NHL’s Stanley Cup, it may be a safe bet to say that the Detroit Red Wings are clearly far better then their rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins. In two games Detroit has managed to score a total of 7 goals to Pittsburgh’s ZERO…as in none! The challenge for the Penguins is not so much scoring goals as it is just getting a shot on goal. The Red Wings style of play highlights what hockey is all about…Team. Every time Detroit mounts an offence attack at least two or more players are involved in the play. The same holds true on the defense end of the ice. No offence push by the Penguins is without three and many time four Detroit players jumping back and covering a place on the ice. This style of play does not come natural…it’s coached. And their coach, Mike Babcock, has everyone buying into his system right now. Back when Scotty Boman coached the Red Wings he devised a system called ‘the left wing lock’. His system is alive and well under the watchful coaching eye of Babcock. He calls it something else but in fact it is a very similar formation. When a coach has a winning, proven system with player’s who can execute it flawlessly well, get out your brooms and listen for the fat lady to sing.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I want Pittsburgh to win the Stanley Cup. They were one of my ‘pick’ teams during the regular season along with the Dallas Stars and nothing would please me more then to see Detroit take a swan dive. Yet after the first two games I don’t see this happening and right now Pittsburgh might consider it a victory just to score a goal…never mind winning a game!
As a side note, my hat goes off to the Versus (VS.) network for broadcasting NHL hockey games in HD. Another tip of the hat goes out to Time-Warner Cable for opening up this broadcast to their digital HD customers. The game of hockey and HD were made for each other and watching it any other way is just wrong.
This past Tuesday and Wednesday the building where I work, Greensboro Sportsplex, was closed to the public. For months leading up to these days there were a great deal of meetings, seminars and planning sessions to prepare us and our building to be a RSS (Receipt, Stage and Store) distribution site for the Public Health Preparedness and Response program. The purpose of this exercise was to simulate that there was a bio-hazard attack somewhere in North Carolina and to use the designated Sportsplex as a receiving and distribution center for critical drugs and medical supplies from the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) via the SNS (Strategic National Stockpile).
Having said all this background information, in essence the Sportsplex was turned back into what it was initially build to be, a warehouse distribution center. There was one key eliminate missing from this whole process. Where the building was once again a warehouse distribution center the staff on hand manning this operation were no were near qualified as warehouse personnel. Yet because of the advance training, team work and the promise of pizza for lunch, we learned and performed or assigned job with remarkable efficiency. During this simulated exercise the building and surrounding landscape was under lock-down by local and state police, a full contingency of fire department personnel as well as US Marshals on call if needed. In essence, if you did not have an authorized badge and/or toting a gun you were not getting anywhere near the building or surrounding property. It was most impressive to watch and be involved with this process from both inside and outside the building.
When the dust settled and the consumption of eatables underway we received word from the organizers that our simulated receiving and distribution activity produced two shipment errors. Somewhere between Receiving (my department), Picking (my assistant managers department), Quality Control (my managers department) and Shipping (one of our soccer coordinators department) two boxes of simulated drugs were sent out to the wrong location…oops! However when you take into account that no one working in the warehouse side of this exercise was remotely qualified or trained to perform these tasks prior to this event, having only two errors was not bad at all.
I’m damn proud of my warehouse team mates. I’m also quite confident that in the outside chance that such and exercise goes live we will be ready to perform or duties in getting vital drugs and medical supplies to their destination points across North Carolina.
