Cap'n Bob & the Damsel

Entertainment

March of the Penguins

The March of the Penguins documentary about the Emperor Penguins in Antarctica – Awesome! Damsel and I watched the feature first and then the behind-the-scenes footage on how they shot this amazing film. The following is a comment from sam-650 via IMDB, which closely echoes our sentiments:

This is perhaps the most amazing animal documentary ever. The footage was gathered in what truly must be “the harshest place on earth”. It is barren, cold beyond cold and then there is the endless night of winter. The underwater footage was my favorite, but every single frame is magnificent. I can’t wait for the DVD, so I can see how the filmmakers did this.

The narration is less objective than it is romantic – making it less a true documentary than a story, but that is fine in this case, and Morgan Freeman does a great job. You really should make the effort to see this on the big screen – it is absolutely stunning!

29 Dec 2005 by Entertainment Environment Photography

Damsel’s New Best Friend

Well, today’s my birthday and I got a wonderful gift from my husband. It’s a Roomba robot floor cleaner! Roomba almost seems to have his own personality, and he is relentless in his quest for dirt! However, Bear, one of our dogs, was somewhat apprehensive of the new “rug rat.” As Roomba worked his way around the family room and by the door, the Cap’n and I had a few laughs watching Bear’s reactions.

First, Bear tried to determine the nature of the gizmo by sniffing it – dogs do this in lieu of a handshake. She then watched it for a few moments and then carefully backtracked away from it so as to watch from a distance while she figured out if it was adversarial or not. Finally, she decided to ignore it completely, since it didn’t seem to be invading her backyard space.

As for Roomba, he is a soldier determined to find and eliminate every speck of dirt. He gradually works his way around the entire room before returning to home base when the mission is accomplished — really, the literature refers to the cleaning task as a “mission.” Roomba is even unafraid to venture under furniture in order to complete the mission. When the mission completes, this little robot pilots his way back to “home base.”

I really like this Roomba guy since he reminds me of our military in their mission to seek out and eliminate terrorism and protect us against its consequences. Maybe that’s a silly analogy, but it seems like a fair thing to say that our brave men and women in the military are relentless in their quest just as this ingenious little robot seems to be. God bless them and protect them this Christmas Season and speed them back to “home base” as soon as their mission is complete.

24 Dec 2005 by Entertainment Science

Pat Morita 1932 – 2005

Back in 1985, Damsel and I took time off from work to take her son JJ to the West Imperial Terminal at Los Angeles International to watch some scenes being shot for Karate Kid II. We met the Karate Kid and Mr. Miyagi that day. We had a friend that was working as part of the production crew, and arranged for JJ to meet them. Both actors were outgoing and friendly and each took the time to talk to JJ and seemed to be glad to meet him and chat for a few minutes. Our friend Ralph Nelson, the still photographer for the production, snapped this shot of Pat and JJ. Our sense of Pat Morita and Ralph Macchio was that of good down-to-earth folks who enjoyed meeting their fan base.

Read a little bio on Pat Morita from WikiPedia. Rest in peace, Mr. Miyagi, wax on – wax off – must have focus . . .

25 Nov 2005 by California Entertainment People Photography

Star Wars Anthology Extended Weekend

Damsel and I settled in last evening to begin our extended weekend of viewing the entire six episodes of the Star Wars Anthology. We decided to watch them all – in sequence (I through VI) – to see the complete story of the fictitious events that took place in a galaxy far, far away, a long, long time ago. Now that we have Episode III, we can see them all.

Update: This sort of reminds me of this wonderful parody of the Movie Poster from Episode IV.

04 Nov 2005 by Entertainment

Hollywood’s Conservative Film Festival

The 2005 Liberty Film Festival was held this October 21-23, 2005 at the Pacific Design Center in West Hollywood. The Liberty Film Festival showcases films that celebrate the traditional American values of free speech, patriotism, and religious freedom. Visit the Libertas blog for discussion and information.

Damsel and I were recently in Monument Valley, Utah; since we’re big fans of John Wayne and John Ford, we especially enjoyed the article at Libertas entitled The Real John Ford & John Wayne.

Damsel exclaimed “Omigod, it looks fake!” when we got to Monument Valley on our first trip there. Libertas seems to share her view of the seemingly impossible beauty of this wonderful area:

And then there’s this single spot in the valley. This breathtaking spot. And if you take the tour it’s the last one on your stop because it’s the single most beautiful thing you’ll ever see. At the end of a long day, you drive for miles in a bumpy open bus on dusty roads. You’ve already seen natural beauty beyond belief and now you’re tired and hungry and sun burnt and pretty much had enough. But then you arrive at this place where if you’ve seen The Searchers a hundred times you immediately recognize. But in the movie you thought it was a special effect because it seemed too perfect to be real. But now you’re actually here, and it still seems too perfect to be real.

You stand on this spot and look over the entire valley because God laid it out like nothing any man ever could. And you think to yourself: He must’ve spent one of his six days just on this. You can see the monuments and the valleys but can never quite take it all in no matter how long you look; no matter how hard you try. It is unlike anything elsewhere. It is unforgettable. It is impossible to describe. It is the most beautiful thing the Navajo own and it is named after John Ford. “John Ford Point” is what it’s called, and it’s here you’ll meet an even bigger tribute to The Duke than any monument or view.

23 Oct 2005 by Arts California Entertainment

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