January 6, 2000
Dear Everyone:
Well, the big
Y2K scare
turned out to be pretty lame, no doubt due to all the fine work we all
put into it. I did read
where some guy in upstate New York got fined over $91,000 by a video
rental store because the computer thought he’d had the tape out for 100
years.
As for me, I did get up New Year’s Day and trudge
into the office to confirm that
Versatile and
extemporé
were working just fine. My
computer (and all three
VCR’s)
handled the change easily.
“Jeannie’s” PC thought it was 1968, but the manufacturer had already
provided a simple patch that reset the year to 2000 and it was clear
sailing from then on.
And I showed her how to use her New-And-Improved
database and how to
back it up. She still
doesn’t believe she should have to back up her data every time she uses
the database; but that’s her worry.
I sure would.
Christmas was pretty uneventful, although we still
haven’t answered the question of who got the Circulating
Stocking
Stuffer. “Alice” is our
prime suspect.
The day after Christmas (which, technically, is
called Boxing Day)
we drove down to
Half
Moon Bay in “Marshall’s” very impressive car.
We stopped in
Moss Beach,
where the
Distillery was jammed (Sunday Brunch) and discovered that it’s not
that easy to get out to where our old house used to stand.
They’ve rerouted a number of streets to avoid the cliff-edge.
Ultimately we found what used to be the end of
Ocean Blvd. They’ve erected
a burn and placed a “go no further” sign to stop people from driving out
far enough to get stuck in the mud like they used to do.
Where our front yard used to be is now a vast collection of
jade
plants, descendents of the one that “Jeannie” once planted.
There is one small patch of concrete that’s all that is left of
the garage floor.
And someone posted a small sign that reads,
“Danger. Stay off.”
We took turns having our picture taken next to the sign, which
basically says, “Don’t stand here, stupid!”
Mother even walked out near the edge of the concrete patch to
look over the side. We
figured she didn’t weigh enough to pose a threat of taking the last bit
down to the ocean below.
“Jeannie” broke a large piece of jade plant off to
take home with her. Then we
proceeded to Half Moon Bay for lunch.
That tiny little town has grown substantially.
What used to be downtown is now a collection of gift and boutique
shops, plus lots of overpriced restaurants.
It’s gone from a working fishing village to yuppie-ville.
And (brace yourselves) the Shorebird is closed.
After lunch, “Marshall” took us on a unique tour of
San Francisco, stopping at times so we could get out and admire some
especially interesting view or piece of architecture.
We also tried to find the boarding house where Mother lived
during the war, but with no success.
On Tuesday, I drove up to
Concord (Mother stayed
with “Jeannie” this Christmas) and Mother and I went up to
"Oakley" to
visit Cousin “Candace” and some of her 13 cats.
“Candace’s” son, “Perry”, and his wife "Gretchen" joined us for
lunch and we had a wonderful time.
On Wednesday, old friends “Art” and “Mame Diamond”
picked Mother up and took her to see other old friends in
Benicia.
(I was able to get the phone number and address from
switchboard.com once I spelled Benicia correctly.)
Afterwards, the “Diamonds” took Mother back to
Hayward with them
to spend the night, and took her to the airport for her flight back home
on Thursday.
OK, enough of that, Movies…
Saw three movies last week, while “Jeannie” was off
doing whatever it is she does during the week.
They were all playing at the theater across the street from me,
so it was too easy to pass up.
Galaxy Quest
is about a group of actors who appeared in a
Star Trek-like TV series 18
years ago. They are now
eking out a living by making guest appearances at sci-fi conventions.
The “captain” is approached by what he assumes are a bunch of
fans dressed up as aliens.
He soon discovers that they are really aliens, dressed up like humans.
And they want his help.
Seems they’re having a bit of galactic trouble and they have an
unquestioning belief in the “historical documents” that they have been
receiving all this time from Earth.
That’s right, all the TV shows that have been beaming out into
space for the past 60-something years are “historical documents”.
These sweet aliens mourn, with all their (many) hearts, the poor
souls still stuck on
Gilligan’s Island.
The “captain” and “crew” quickly discover that the
starship they’re on was patterned directly after the sets they used to
use for filming and try desperately to remember how to use the
“instruments” and “computer”.
And complain when badly-written old episodes land them in hot
water.
I found the movie to be clever and quite charming,
with a little moral about not placing too much faith in what you see on
TV, much less patterning your entire culture after it.
Another clever and charming movie is Toy Story 2, a completely computer-generated animated film.
Woody, the cowboy doll, is stolen and it’s up to all the other
toys to rush gallantly off to rescue him.
They find delightfully clever ways of transporting themselves
from point A to point B without being spotted by any humans (because
we’re not supposed to know that toys have minds of their own).
The film is wonderfully rich in detail, both
visually and plot-wise. It’s
not just a case of grab Woody and run, there’s history involved here.
And there is so much going on up on the screen, you almost have
to see it more than once to catch it all, kind of like the cartoons in
the margins of
Mad Magazine.
There’s a tribute to
Spielberg during a particularly wild ride through a
toy store; and another tribute to
Lucas later on.
In both cases, the adults (of which there were many) laughed.
The littler kids didn’t get the jokes.
Finally,
Pixar has developed a kind of signature
for ending their movies:
Computer-generated outtakes during the closing credits.
Both movies are worth an afternoon in the dark.
Especially if you have the whole week off.
Love, as always,
Pete
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