Peggy Gordon

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

2.5/4 stars
Uneven film. Great to look at but too many cliches. Reminded me too much of Forrest Gump meets Titanic. I didn't like Cate Blanchett's character.
I liked the concept; I liked the idea of showing a main character whose existence is so far removed from everyone else's. I enjoyed the film on the level of a fable or metaphor. Jared Harris was good, he needs to be in more movies. In the end, the film was very sad, but not particularly uplifting.

Movie Update

Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl: 3/4 stars.
I saw this originally on DVD in January 2004. Unfortunately it was only a day or two after I saw "Master and Commander" for the first time. The flaws in POTC's logic, and its overall silliness really stood out in comparison. I watched it again on the recommendation of a friend and found that I liked it much better this second time round. The plot holes are still there, but it's also an entertaining and very fun, very watchable film. Good but not great.

Movie Update

Kicking and Screaming 2.5/4 stars.
Funny but benign Will Ferrell comedy. A good movie for kids, probably. I liked the fact that it wasn't filled with gross-out humor. This is probably also the most I've enjoyed Will Ferrell in a movie, and I laughed a fair number of times. That said it's totally formulaic and ultimately a little bit dull.

Interesting Photo

This is a picture of Jacob Lincoln (1815-1889). Jacob's father was Josiah Lincoln, brother of Thomas Lincoln, who was Abraham's father. So Jacob and Abraham were first cousins. The family resemblance is uncanny, isn't it? I found this on a website trying to disprove the rumor that Abraham Lincoln's real father wasn't Thomas Lincoln, but someone named Abraham Enloe, a man who Abe Lincoln's mother once worked for. Even presented as anecdotal evidence, this picture would seem to dispel any such notion.

Bad 70s Song Trivia Question

Listen to the following song. Actually, don't listen to all of it, just thirty seconds or so, otherwise your ears will start bleeding.



OK, bad song, bad hair, bad outfit, bad "dancing", right? Now skip ahead and listen to 2:21-2:29. Sound familiar?

The reader with the correct answer wins a new pair of hot pants.

Tinny Memories

During the 1993 holiday season I worked at the Toys R Us on Azusa Avenue near Arrow Highway in Covina, California. There's still a Toys R Us in that general area, but it's a different building than the one I worked in. The one that existed back in the '93 was a great bolshy, orange and brown monstrosity. When I walk into any Toys R Us now, I can't fully reckon with the fact that I used to work in one. Perhaps it's best that way. But I digress...

I worked the graveyard shift that season. And I also had another job working in a restaurant as a busboy/dishwasher/prep cook. My schedule was like this:

5pm- wake up.
5:30pm- go to restaurant job.
10:30pm- Leave restaurant job and head straight to Toys R Us (usually smelling like cooking grease)
11:00pm-7:00am- work at TRU.
7:30am- go to sleep.
Rinse and repeat

Fortunately I didn't do this for more than about two months. I think if I had I would have gotten really sick eventually.

Since this was the graveyard shift, the manager would turn the radio to Power 106, the disco station, and then broadcast it over the store's crappy intercom system. So, as a result I can't listen to any dance music from that era without being instantly transported to that time, that place. It's really eerie, but it gets me every time. Some examples:







and, of course:



The weird thing is, I've kind of grown to like all these songs. I don't normally like this kind of music and I don't exactly look back on that job fondly, but because they were such a constant presence I naturally grew fond of them.