Well we’re just about to leave! But not before a little family phone drama had the chance to occur. Don’t y’all just LOVE those obligatory familial power plays that happen around Xmas every year? I know I do!
We packed very quickly this morning, made a big ol’ breakfast, and everything’s all set. I think. When I think of all the spam that’ll be clogging up my In Box over the next five days …
HAPPY FESTIVUS EVERYONE!
E gods, it feels great to be home. I had a nice hot shower after the gym, and now I’m just basking in the knowledge that I won’t have to go back to work until next Tuesday. I will start on dinner shortly. Then we have to decide how much we will pack tonight and how much we will pack tomorrow morning. All fired up about the train.
Tonight we will hold one of our Christmas traditions: listening to the audio version of “A Christmas Carol,” narrated by Paaul Scofield with Sir Ralph Richardson in the role of Scrooge.
Still planning on Saturday night for our other Christmas tradition: watching “It’s A Wonderful Life.”
“Limitations are wonderful things. Everybody should have them.”
–Duke Ellington
I spent part of the weekend reading about our impending train journey. Thursday afternoon at 1.45 we’ll board the California Zephyr at Union Station and disembark at Denver the following morning at 7.30. (Eventually we’ll end up in Estes Park at my folks’ house). There are very good reasons for taking the train: Andy hates to fly, and airports around Christmastime tend to be seething hellholes of crowds , delays, and claustrophobia. But the main reason is that I’ve always wanted to travel by train long-distance via sleeping car. We have a Superliner roomette reserved, which includes the following amenities:
Meals included
First Class status
Picture window
Two reclining seats which convert to a bed; upper berth which folds down from wall
restrooms/showers nearby in same train car
Electrical outlets
Climate control
Individual reading lights
Garment rack
Fold-down table
Fresh towels and bed linens
Soap and shower amenities
Personal service (turn-down, coffee, paper, make-up bed)
Bottled water
Daily newspaper
My anticipation contains generous dollops of romantic myth drawn from movies like “The Thin Man,” “North by Northwest” and “Twentieth Century.” At Union Station, as we wait for the train, we’ll have access to the 1st class Metroliner Lounge. Onboard I’m picturing a sort of combo airplane/hotel feeling. We’ll make our reservations for the dining car after we’re shown to our cabin. We’ll have wine with our meal, which might be Chicken Provincial or Seared Catfish. And when we retire for the evening, we’ll be gently rocked to sleep by the rhythm of the rails.
But hostile monopolization of travel by airplanes and cars has turned train travel into hardly more than a shadow of its peak years in the 30’s and 40’s. Partly I think it’s the reasonable desire to get to one’s destination faster. The power of oil, business, and obsession with profit helped things along too. If Bush & Co. get their wish, the system will be purposefully bankrupted and fragmented. Stations will be closed. Most routes will end up with cutbacks, and some will be discontinued altogether. Long-distance 1st class train travel could well vanish for good, at least in the U.S. Which, in my opinion, is a real shame. In Europe, Japan and elsewhere, it’s been demonstrated that modern train travel can be affordable, speedy, and energy efficient.
I’m pretty darn excited to see what our trip will be like.
The main software that we use here at the office is down for two hours of maintenance and upgrades. Jolly.
Discussion topic: yesterday, Iran’s democratically-elected president banned ALL forms of Western (i.e. non-Islamic) music on TV and radio.
on the wire tap story:
“It was a shameful act for someone to disclose this important program in a time of war. The fact that we’re discussing this program is helping the enemy.”
on the fallout from Katrina:
“One of the most hurtful things I can hear is, you know, Bush doesn’t care about African-Americans. First of all, it’s not true. And secondly, I am — I believe that — obviously, I’ve got to do a better job of communicating, I guess, to certain folks.”
Conclusion: talking about abuse of presidential powers helps terrorists, and Bush admits that he don’t talk so good. Might there be a link?
This is an awesome little gem that adds the perfect Staples touch to a song that’s already cookin’. And yes that IS David Byrne playing guitar.
Someone named Edward from livejournal sent me an Xmas card, and I don’t know who you are! Please ID yourself so that I may thank you.
Had a great time last night with Bill at “King Kong.” The movie … is amazing. It’s got more ‘movie’ than any movie I think I’ve ever seen, and by that I mean it’s just a constant cinema thrill-ride. The kind of film that could never be anything other than a FILM; couldn’t be a play, or a book, or a video game, or a ride at Disneyland. I think it’s the hugest, most audacious spectacle film has yet produced. The fact that it’s over 3 hours long but contains no wasted moments is all the more extraordinary. A solid, focused script purposefully skips the cheesy, chiched dialogue that is the stock-in-trade of the typical blockbuster. Here, the filmmakers trust body language, visuals, and amazing sound design to communicate what words should not.
It makes a movie like “Jurassic Park” look like the expensive ham-fisted, lazy-script potboiler that it is. Jackson out-Spielbergs Spielberg. And what I mean by that is that he does not merely APPROPRIATE the thrills and scenarios of the classic adventure films of the past and then throw tons of money on the project. No, Jackson honors the originals by twisting his choice of film “quotes” into ramped up riffs of homage that fulfill what those original filmmakers would have done had they the money, resources and technology. And everyone chips in some fine acting. For once the humans are actually as convincing as the special effects.
You need to see this movie on a big screen. I don’t care what elaborate home set-up you have. It just won’t be the same as it is on a big screen with a roomful of strangers. Especially when the creepy-crawlies make their appearance, and everyone in the theatre squirms at the same time.
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2005/12/11/100751.shtml
If I were Mike Wallace, I’d take my son across the knee and give him a good thrashing.
