Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Weight training: yes no maybes. Breakfast at home: nonfat organic vanilla yogurt with Grandma Goodie's super granola and fresh, sliced banana. Telecommute day. Answered a computer requirements question from entering student WD. Linkchecking, Flickr work, kiosk work. Prepared social media icons for insertion into our footer on the staging server. Lunch at home: stir fry with firm tofu, baby bok choy, sweet white corn from frozen, mushrooms, onions, shrimp-soy-garlic-cilantro sauce, white jasmine rice. More social media icons work, finished staging, sent to Susie and Eric for review. Web edits for the email setup pages. Dinner at home: leftover TJ's organic shells and cheese with organic vegetarian chili, hot water. Nap. Attended the #Super8Secret sneak preview of Super 8, the latest film written and directed by J.J. Abrams and produced by J.J. Abrams, Steven Spielberg, and Bryan Burk. Alex R found me via Foursquare then found me in line and pulled me ahead about 250 people. We chatted in line then sat together during the film. I met some of his co-workers and their families. In line, some people received free baseball caps. In the theatre, people received free mini posters for the film. Super 8 is a loud and fully entertaining film with plenty of nods to popular films and television of mostly the late 1970s and early 1980s. Some elements and scenes will seem vaguely familiar without being outright copycats. The film has the human element right in many places, but at the end all the relationships are still only about 85% baked. The film has moral guidance to its various plot threads, but they're merely suggestions—more "Oh, that's interesting" than "I understand your point." These are the film's only disappointments. The film doesn't fit squarely into any particular genre. It's like having a pretty good taste of many different things on the menu, which is not an easy thing to accomplish in a single film. I was particularly impressed by the young cast as well as the supertight editing. I think J.J. Abrams learning more from Spielberg can only bring good things, and I look forward to his/their next effort. Stick around while the credits roll.