August 1, 2001
Dear Everyone:
Still plodding along at the data mapping for storage of boxes between our system and That Other Company’s. The windows of opportunity are limited due to two time issues. The first is the difference between Pacific Time and Central Time. They’re two hours ahead of us. The second is the weather. It’s very hot in Oklahoma (…”where the wind comes sweeping down the plains…”) in the summer, so people tend to start work earlier in the day, while it’s still relatively cool.
I say “relatively cool” because I noticed on the morning news the other day that the temperature in “Oklahoma City” was in the upper 80’s (not counting humidity) when I was just getting ready to leave for work. Because of the heat, my counterpart leaves work at 2:00 our time. Throw in conflicting lunch hours, and you have a maximum of three disjointed time-slots of one hour each. Nevertheless, we’re making progress.
In the meantime, I got “volunteered” for another Merger team. This one has to do with moving people, furniture, etc., from one facility to another. Somebody is always moving around. I personally have made something like seven moves in the past 28 years. Multiply that by around 28,000 people (not including That Other Company) and that’s a lot of details to keep track of.
Up to now, both companies have used home-grown methods of tracking and keeping everyone in the loop, mainly based on spreadsheets cobbled together over time. Now they’ve decided to take the opportunity to buy an honest-to-God program specifically designed for this purpose.
And the Project Manager is hell-bent on having everything in place and Ready-for-Prime-Time by October 1st. So that means many meetings in "Hobby" and a week of training in Bethesda, MD. In August. Which blows “Jeannie’s” and my mini-vacation plans for Las Vegas out of the water; or, in this case, out of the desert. Luckily, we can save the airline tickets and reuse them sometime later whenever (if) things quiet down around here.
Now to the Good Stuff: Movies.
We saw Planet of the Apes last Saturday. The theater-complex ordered enough copies and used enough screens so that the movie started every 40 minutes. By the time the last theater started running for the first time, the first theater was ready for the second showing. It didn't matter what time you arrived, the most you would have to wait was 40 minutes. Hence, no long lines of annoyed people. Good planning.
As for the film itself, it is also (very loosely) based on Pierre Boulle’s “novel”. I actually read the book when I was in college. As I recall, it was too long for a short story, but not really long enough for a novel. Nevertheless, however unintentionally, it spawned quite a little empire of movies, remakes, TV shows, etc.
This new one gives a tip of the hat to the original, ground-breaking film. Much like Terminator 2, one character in the second movie utters a line almost exactly like that spoken by a different character in the first movie. If you missed the first movie, you miss the irony, but little else.
While the humans in this POTA can talk, which makes for livelier dialogue, the basic premise is the same: Someone accustomed to living at the top of the food chain, is suddenly, and severely, demoted because Somebody made a really big mistake way back when. It brings to mind a classic bit of advice: “Be nice to people on the way up, because you’re going to meet the same ones on the way down.”
Mark Wahlberg plays the astronaut who crash lands on wrong planet. He’s the lucky one. He doesn’t have to spend four hours in makeup, but he doesn’t have to prance around in a loincloth either. Tim Roth (who was such a good Bad Guy in Rob Roy) plays the villainous General Thane who believes that the only good human is already stuffed and mounted.
Helena Bonham Carter presents quite a contrast from her usual 19th Century heroines, giving a very earthy quality to her character. Since you can’t see much of her face, a lot of it is in her voice and mannerisms. (They actually hired someone to teach the actors how to be apes.)
And even if you did see The Green Mile, you wouldn’t recognize Michael Clarke Duncan under all those hours of makeup and costume. Just believe that he’s the biggest, blackest gorilla on the planet.
All of which makes for a very pleasant couple of hours in air-conditioned darkness.
Love, as always,
Pete
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