Iron Man

I saw Iron Man last night and it was a night well spent. It was one of the best comic book movie adaptations that I've seen (and come to think of it, I think I've seen them all). Robert Downey, Jr. was such a fun surprise. He was quick and witty and really natural and funny. I loved watching the scenes when he was working in his lab, or in the cave, tinkering and creating. I actually believed that he was that smart, and his "lab assistants" were great comedy relief.

I did wish that there were more scenes of him "saving the day", but hopefully there will be a sequel with more of that.

The only part that was hard to take was the whole "glowing piece of metal in the chest" part. I was really squeamish during those scenes and actually still shiver a little when I think about them. But it was easy to know when to look away.

It was also great to see a cast of one of these movies that was older and more mature. There were no teeny-bopper types which I think gave the story more gravitas.

Two thumbs up!

Books Live On

"The world of books
Is the most remarkable creation of man
Nothing else that he builds ever lasts
Monuments fall
Nations perish
Civilizations grow old and die out
And after an era of darkness
New races build others
But in the world of books are volumes
That have seen this happen again and again
And yet live on
Still young
Still as fresh as the day they were written
Still telling men's hearts
Of the hearts of men centuries dead"
-Clarence Day

Movin' on Down

I went to the store last night to buy new jeans and I've gone down a size. I swear I think I heard the Hallelujah Chorus in the dressing room.

Stupid Allergies

Today is the first day since I started this new job that my allergies have been affected (or is it effected) by my workplace environment. I work with old, dusty, dirty books and papers and I'm not usually bothered. But today was bad. We had a nice older gentleman come to the library to do an appraisal of a collection of about 1,500 books. They are all in my office, but they usually just sit on the shelf. Today he was pulling them off the shelf, opening them (shocking!) and doing other things to distribute the dust. We're also doing a project where we are "weeding" the old, unused items in the library collection to make room for newer stuff. My part of the project is to go through each one and change the entry in the catalog so that it doesn't show up anymore. These books are also old and dusty (because of the lack of use) and I'm now surrounded by them. All these dust carriers coupled with the spring weather junk in the air outside means that my allergies were acting up all day.
And it was bad...pathetic bad. I had a runny nose all day, and an intermittent, annoying cough. And my right eye was irritated and watery. Not both eyes, just my right eye, which means, half the day I looked like I was crying because my eye was watering and I was sniffling and the rest of the day I was unintentionally winking/blinking at the book appraiser. I really hope he doesn't get the wrong idea.
It got a little bit better after I went home and took my contacts out, but I'm not looking forward to tomorrow. I'm going to have to schedule breaks every hour to leave my office and stand somewhere with better air quality for a while. The bright side in this situation is that my apartment is awesome and clean so that's not adding to the problem like my old place did.
Ah well...I guess it's the price I pay for an awesome job.

Heroics for Beginners

By John Moore
2004 – Ace Books

I have kind of a loud laugh and I really like to laugh and I tend to laugh at just about anything (movies, tv commercials, stupid jokes, people falling down), but when I’m reading and I come across a funny part I am more reserved. I tend to smile and quietly chuckle. Every now and then, I come across a book that makes me laugh out loud quite heartily. It happened when I was reading the first Harry Potter book and it’s happened each time I read a Stephanie Plum novel. It happened again with this new book that I randomly picked up last summer.

It’s called Heroics for Beginners and it follows the story of Prince Kevin who is normally a laid back diplomatic type, but is forced into action when an Ancient Artifact (Model Seven) is stolen from a neighboring kingdom and the king promises his daughter’s hand to the hero who can bring back the artifact and defeat the Evil Overlord and stop him from completing his Diabolical Plan. Kevin’s problem is that he is in love with the Princess (they’ve actually been secretly dating for a year) and has no desire to see her married off to some other candidate.
This book is intensely tongue-in-cheek. It pokes fun at itself like a less raunchy Mel Brooks parody, but at the same time you’re rooting for Kevin and Princess Becky who secretly follows him trying to be his comic sidekick even though she can’t tell a joke to save her life. It’s full of minions, evil assistants, kidnapped scientists, a really menacing Diabolic Device, and an Evil Overlord who started as an Evil Schoolteacher (he gave pop quizzes, and no partial credit for math problems).

I actually liked this book so much that I had an intense desire to read portions of it out loud, and I hate when people do that. Nevertheless, here’s one of the parts that I loved. Kevin and Becky have been captured and they are in the torture chamber of the Fortress of Doom being interrogated by the Evil Overlord, Voltmeter:

“I don’t know anything.”
Voltmeter made a motion with his hand. Stan [the chief minion] brought over a small wooden desk and set it in front of Kevin. He set an inkwell down on it and put a pen in Kevin’s hand.
“You will spare yourself and your friend a lot of pain if you cooperate.”
“If I talk, will you release my companion?”
“Kevin!” said Becky. “Don’t do it!”
“I’ll release you both,” said Voltmeter.
“Yeah, well ok then.”
“Kevin!”
…
[Voltmeter] produced a blue examination booklet from under his cloak and laid it down in front of Kevin. “You have ten minutes to write down everything you know.”
Kevin raised his hand. “Does spelling count?”
“Certainly. You may open your booklet…now.”

See what I mean. Hi-LAR-ious!

Matthew 6:25-34 (ESV)

25"Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27And which on your by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31Therefore do not be anxious, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33But seek first the kingdom of God and his righeousness, and all these things will be added to you.
34Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble."

Blues Brothers

Since moving to the Joliet area I've been told quite a few times that I need to watch The Blues Brothers movie. Apparently it's set in Chicago, and one of the main character is named Joliet Jake. I haven't gotten around to it yet, but it's on a to do list somewhere. I did run into the brothers (or at least their life size statues) at Midway airport so I feel slightly justified. I also saw a police car that I swear was from the movie, but I haven't gone back to take a picture yet (and it's possible that I was lost when I saw it so I may not know where to go to find it again).