Three Parts

18 June 2010

With my wife and son off visiting family, I had some time to myself today. Determined to make the most of it, I am pleased to say I accomplished several little things this evening.

First: ran an errand on the way home. Then I looked around at Borders for a few minutes, wherein I absolutely fell in love with this book. At $29.95, though, I didn’t want to set a new record for highest price paid for a book, so I left without it. But I shall return with a coupon one day! Then: went home and worked on the cradle for a little bit more. Man, it was hot in the garage. Then I went to the workout room and ran a mile. Back in the apartment: I did some cleaning (for company on Sunday) and worked on videos for about 4 hours. While the files of the video were rendering (something that often takes one to five minutes), I pulled out a book and read.

All in all, a rather productive 4:00-9:00.

19 June 2010

I’ve gotta comment on the weather. Yeah, I know it’s a lame topic, but stick with me here.

In the last several weeks, nearly every day has been rainy or too hot. But not so May 16th, which fortuitously was the day of Owen’s birthday party. I was very pleased at what beautiful weather there was that day, as his party was an outdoor one, and I would’ve felt bad if we would’ve had to have brought it indoors.

But today, again was a great day. And this time, too, it worked out great because there was a graduation party for him and his classmates. One of his classmate’s parents’ have an RV at an RV park, and they have the corner lot, so, you know, lots of land. We swam in the park’s swimming pool, and Owen played in the blow-up jumping thing, blew bubbles, played with silly string, went to a playground, ate dinner, had cake and smashed a pinata. All outside! What great weather!

And don’t get me wrong, I’m not the type of person who bemoans any cold or rainy or snowy day. In fact, I generally prefer them. It’s just that, sometimes, temperatures in the high 70s/low 80s with a slight breeze and 10-30% cloud cover with low humidity is just what’s needed to celebrate the day.

20 June 2010

Saw Toy Story 3 today. I gotta say, in all honesty, that I just wish Pixar wouldn’t make sequels. It’s such a gimmick. A sequel – in almost every case an after thought – practically begs to be compared to its predecessor. If too much is the same, it fails. If too much is different, it fails.

I rarely go see sequels and, in the cases when I do, I am more than happy to give up the series if part two leaves me unimpressed. For example: I saw Spider-man, but I don’t plan on seeing the rest of that train wreck. I saw the Matrix, and liked it enough to see Matrix: Reloaded, but was so disappointed I never bothered to see Matrix: Revolting, or whatever it’s called.

And here’s a thing about the third installment of a franchise: it’s (almost) never the best one. Here’s some evidence-

Star Trek: Part 2 is best, though you can make a strong argument for parts 4 and 6

Star Wars: Part 2 is best, though you can make a strong argument for part 1

Back to the Future: Part 1 is best

X-Men: Part 1 and 2 are pretty much tied for best

Indiana Jones: Part 1 is best

Karate Kid: Part 1 is best

The Godfather: Part 2 is best, though you can make a strong argument for part 1

Harry Potter: Part 5 is best

The only time I can think of the third part being best is the new Star Wars trilogy (but aren’t those parts 4-6?), and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. But I thought both of those series were so mediocre, that it’s not like part three was so rewarding as that it just didn’t suck as bad. Oh – then there’s James Bond. I know it’s the safe thing to say part three is the best, but I actually prefer the new ones. Oddly enough, I used to work for a company called Part Three. I’m not sure how that’s relevant, but it makes me somewhat of an authority, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I’m gonna go ahead and say Toy Story 3 is better than Part 2…which itself was better than Part 1. Yep. It’s true. I’m a film snob, and I hate Disney, but Pixar made a tremendously satisfying film. Actually, they made two great films, because Day & Night, the short that preceded Toy Story, was likewise wonderful.

Toy Story 3 had several moments of great humor, adventure (don’t arrive late!) and, my lord!, such pathos! You really can’t leave the theater without being moved (both emotionally and physically -ha!). And here’s the great thing about Pixar: there comes a point in every movie where I think to myself “Ah…I see how they’re gonna wrap this up.” But with Pixar, they outdo my expectations. The final moments (unlike last year’s disappointing final third in Up) were so touching, so satisfying. A great denouement for a great trilogy. Good job, Pixar! Just, please, don’t make a part four.

Here, for the first time ever, I will rank the Pixar feature films:

WALL•E

Toy Story 3

Monsters, Inc.

Toy Story 2

The Incredibles

A Bug’s Life

Finding Nemo

Ratatouille

Up

Toy Story

Cars