June 7, 2006
Dear Everyone:
I am instructed to report that “Jeannie” can, indeed, drive a car with only two tires.
It seems she had a job to take in
In fact, she had finished the job in
“Jeannie” spent a few harrowing hours before she could get new tires on the car and get home. But she’s quite fine now.
In other news…
I am currently taking a four-day class in “Business Analysis, the Essentials Skills”. Today was day three. It’s all about the skills that a Business Analyst needs to perform as a “bridge” between the customer and the programmers. Other people who have taken the course pronounced it “the hardest class I’ve ever had”, but so far, I’m feeling pretty comfortable. The terminology may be different, but scoping a project is scoping a project; and identifying requirements is much the same wherever you are. I suspected that I would find that I already know many of the things the class teaches, but perhaps under a different name. The most important part is: Tomorrow is the last day of it.
More importantly, “Jeannie” and I have been going to the movies.
The Da Vinci Code stars Tom Hanks, Ian McKellen, Jean Reno, Paul Bettany and Audrey Tautou, the latter being the only one I’m not familiar with. It is the film version of the book that, as far as I know, is still on the bestseller list. While many critics gave it a yawn, we enjoyed it.
Hanks plays Langdon, a specialist in symbols.
When a Louvre
museum curator is found dead, with symbols all around, the
McKellen is the most fun to watch here. He gets to explain how the Holy Grail is not a golden chalice but a person whose descendants could knock the Holy Roman Catholic Church right off its foundations. In fact, he’d very much like to see it happen. Right now, please.
If you read the book, you’ll know that there is an inference written between the lines at the end. Written with letters five feet high, but nevertheless, between the lines. The movie doesn’t trust the audience to be that perceptive and blurts it out. Apart from that, not many surprises. But a pleasant way to spend a hot summer afternoon.
X-Men, Last Stand also stars Ian McKellen (we’re having a mini-McKellen film festival here.) This may, indeed, be the last stand as several key characters are lost by the end of the movie (or are they?) Once again the super hero mutants are faced with legions of “normal people” who don’t trust the mutants and want to “cure” them. Ironically, the “cure” is taken from another mutant, one whose mutation is to cause other mutants to “de-mutant-ize”. Lots of special effects, naturally.
McKellen leads the “militant mutants” who want to
fight and, hopefully, rid the world of all those pesky non-mutants.
Patrick Stewart leads the more pacifist mutants who just want
everyone to get along. Some
mutants are tempted by the cure, others are repulsed.
Once again, McKellen gets the juiciest part.
He even gets to uproot the
If you decide to watch this movie, you absolutely must stay through all the closing credits. Again, why not spend a hot weekend afternoon enjoying the air conditioning and Hugh Jackman shirtless?
Love, as always,
Pete
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