(no subject)

[davidschroth]

A quick perusal of today's paper shows that I can now use my pass/supersaver to see Spiderman at the Regal cinemas in Eagan. So I think that's probably what I'll do tonight.

I have mixed feelings about seeing the movie. From what I remember of the trailer, they took some liberties with the original story. I'll try to suppress my impulse to nitpick over everything that's different from the original that I started reading as a ten year old stuck in a foreign culture in a foreign country.

And tomorrow, I get to attend a 50th birthday celebration for someone I don't know. I'm assured that I'll like them a lot, and that I'll have a good time. I'm guessing they won't be set up to allow experimentation with bread, salsa, and chocolate fondue.

And Sunday, it appears that I'm committed to helping various neighbors clean air conditioning units.

The fun never stops

Comments

[mizzlaurajean.livejournal.com]

Why do I get the feeling that you are often committed to doing too many things you don't want to do? Remember life is short and it may well be the only one you get.

It doesn't bother me when the movies aren't the same as the reading material. I don't expect them to be, it's called creative license, besides it saves from setting oneself up to be dissapointed. It's hard for us humans to do all that hard wiring but I find the more I do the easier it is and that I'm dissapointed about very few things in movies and life.

[davidschroth.livejournal.com]

Um, because I whine too much?

The birthday party was a commitment I didn't ask for. But I'm now in my second marriage, and I've been married for a total of 26+ years. In spite of being a slow learner, I have learned something in that time. When your spouse asks you to accompany them to a social event, everyone is better served if you go and make the best of it. And usually, everyone is better served if you don't try to deaden your social anxiety ahead of time with intoxicants.

And sometimes you have a good time, and sometimes you don't.

And maybe some year, I'll figure out this relationship stuff, and I'll have a good one.

Normally, I don't expect movies to be the same as their source material. They're a different medium than books, or records, or television, and different strictures apply. This particular movie is causing me a great deal of ambivalence because the original source material was a part of my life for a very long time, starting at a very difficult time in my life. I first starting reading comic books in France, in the summer of 1963. I'm pretty sure I started with the first issue of Spiderman (which was not the first appearance of Spiderman - I missed that), and I pretty much read Marvel comics in general, and Spiderman in particular, up until 1987. It's a very big chunk of my life, and has undoubtedly affected how I approach the world (this may explain more about me than I want explained).

The movie was better than I had any right to expect. It is somewhat disorienting to watch the movie, and know that *this* piece came from this era, and *that* piece came from another era, and gee, that's a nice tip o' the hat to a different part of the Spiderman canon. And parts of the movie were jarring to me because I remember how it really happened, back in the day. And other parts work better in the movie than they did in the original.

And at least once, they did the right thing at the right time. I was sitting in the theater, remembering Mary Jane Watson's first fully seen appearance in Spiderman (after months of teasing), and noticing that the MJ in the movies didn't use the catch phrase that MJ used in the comics. Not too surprising, because the catch phrase is definitely from a different era. And then they had her say the catch phrase - just once, but it was at the right time, in the right situation, and it was enough.

We followed up Spiderman by sneaking into About A Boy. A totally different movie, which I enjoyed.

I do hope you enjoy yourself today. Treasure your time with your family - remember life is short, and act as if you only get one.

And do try to get some sleep beforehand :-)

I imagine I'll need to work up another modified itinerary for ConJose this weekend.