joy and shadows

Husband and I went out to see Batman Begins last night. We'd heard it was a tremendous improvement on the franchise, especially after Joel Schumacher made such a pathetic wreck out of it.

After seeing it, I would definitely agree. The movie is loosely based on "Batman: Year One" and details how Batman got to be Batman. It details the fundamentals of the Dark Knight through exposition:

1. Bruce Wayne/Batman is driven by the death of his parents.
2. Batman is the greatest martial artist ever.
3. Batman does not kill.

Before I start talking about the movie:

You know you're an irrevocable science nerd when Lucius Fox is sitting at one of his instruments at Wayne Enterprises and you notice that 1. the instrument is a gas chromatograph with an autosampler 2. it's an old model, probably an Agilent because of the autosampler design, but might be an HP because of its age 3. the instrument details well that Lucius has been packed away in the back basement because if his department was worth anything, he wouldn't have a shitty old HP to work with.

( Onward )

Back from Montreal. We left at about 10 AM this morning, and husband was his usual grudge-you-a-potty-break self on the drive back. We got back to Bedminster at about 4:30, and then he went above and beyond the call of duty and hauled the three air conditioners out of the attic. After four sweltering days with no relief in Montreal, we need a little AC-lovin'.

On the way back, I was able to make use of my laptop and watch about 10 episodes of Bleach. Started to get very interesting by ep 19, so I'll have to download some more. When the laptop gave out, I read my husband's copy of Travels with Charley by John Steinbeck. It was a more than appropriate book for a road trip, and by the time Steinbeck was wrapping up his narrative, we were wrapping up our trip.

One part of the book resonated particularly with me. At the end of the book, Steinbeck loses his taste for the trip and pushes on for home with no real interest in stopping. In his case, he had just seen some distasteful events in the South, but I identified with the feeling. No question that we had a blast in Montreal, but by this morning, I was more than ready to leave.

Part of it was the morning-after-Christmas feeling of the race and the party being over, and now it's back to business. Part of it was the annoyance of not knowing where to go for a meal. As tiggymalvern has observed about French wines, so it goes for French food, even in Montreal - when it's good, it's great; when it's not, it's bad indeed, and there's not a reliable way of finding that out. All we had was our Fodor's guide, which tended to recommend very expensive restaurants that require reservations. Next year, we'll get a Zagat survey.

Part of it was the language barrier. Not to generalize about Canada too much, but it's very like America, except in Quebec. Most of the Quebecois speak some English, and I speak enough French to get myself in trouble, so there's a level of understanding, but it's very strange to find that island of French-Canadian with the juggernaut of the US to the south and English in all the surrounding Canadian provinces.

It wasn't just the language, though... hard for me to put a finger on it. I would have to say that on some level, I felt I was unwelcome in Montreal, like the restaurants etc. were tolerating the tourists and the English for the Grand Prix weekend. This may well have been true, as it's a huge burden to host the Grand Prix, with its Chinese-scale crowds and litter and noise. Yet the Quebecois are also known for being proud and for considering themselves still a part of France, to the point where that secession referendum comes up every couple years. (Incidentally, most of the French I've talked to about Quebec look on the Quebecois as provincial and funny-talking, not a part of France at all.) Maybe that explains why I felt we got a much warmer reception in Paris than in Montreal, although again, that could have been a race weekend thing.

Either way, I feel like Steinbeck did on a smaller scale, happy to be home where I know the rules, where the waiter will bring me water without me having to ask, and it will be a big glass with ice in it. It's something of a relief also to not get my languages confused after a few days of immersion - once the French starts coming back, it's hard not to start speaking a patois of French and English.

Anyway, that's all with my F1 fannishness until next year. :)

Today:

Caught end of fourth practice

Bought shirt for Sarah

Bought Minardi hat

Died of heat

Put feeties in sculling basin

Watched qualifying and died more of heat

Went to Vieux Montreal for dinner

Followed husband down side street and OMG SAW JEAN TODT AND MICHELLE YEOH AND WOW ARE THEY ONE WEIRD COUPLE BUT AT LEAST SHE'S SORTA HIS AGE

Waited and chatted with nice couple from Toronto b/c Schumi might have come back from dinner to the hotel

Schumi must have been having dessert b/c we didn't see him

Walked down Peel St. and Crescent St, both mobbed

Tried to hail cab for at least 10 minutes

Back up hill and oh shit must be up at 6:45 tomorrow. I could sleep for a week at this point, except it's too fucking hot to think.

If I told you all that tonight I saw a man who was wearing a Spider-Man muscle suit and a sailor hat doing the Robot while smoking a cigar, you all probably would not believe me.

However, tonight I saw a man who was wearing a Spider-Man muscle suit and a sailor hat doing the Robot while smoking a cigar.

We are mightily hoping to run into him again this weekend for a photo.

Things you enjoy, even when no one around you wants to go out and play. What lowers your stress/blood pressure/anxiety level? Make a list, post it to your journal... and then tag 5 friends and ask them to post it to theirs.

Sewing of any kind (embroidery, costuming)
Sitting on the couch in PJs watching trash TV and eating cereal out of the box
Yoga
Reading. Most anything will do.
A little... quality time alone. Yeah.

Tagging

fadingembers
angstymcgoth
lul1aby
pointedview
rashaka

Off to the boat for the weekend. See you all Monday!

Stolen from mistressrenet: Anime meme.

Bold what you've seen all the way through; italicize what you've seen part of; underline what you own; add three of your own.

( cut for length )

[Unspawny] The ultimate game would be a game sorta like The Sims.
[Unspawny] Except it would be called 'Angst'.
[Unspawny] And you would see how many angsty people you can befriend, screw over, and then befriend again.
[frog] you just described Livejournal: The Game

Why am I on your friends list?
Then post this in your LJ to see what people say about you.

Yesterday, I was thinking about how fadingembers said that Jin and Shino would have pale, quiet babies.

Then I started thinking about what kind of babies Mugen and Yatsuha would have.

Then I thought about Jay and Silent Bob.

IT WORKS