September 9, 2016
Dear Everyone:
I’ve been cultivating “Phoebe”, one of the members of my
Homeowner
Association (HOA) Board.
She’s a widow who used to live in Northern California with her husband,
but moved to Idaho
when they retired. After the
husband passed away, her children pressured her into moving back to the
Bay Area
where she would be closer to them should “something happen”.
Since it’s a foregone conclusion that “something” will happen
with elderly people, it made sense to them.
So “Phoebe” bought a one-bedroom condo here at Crestview a few
years ago and joined the HOA Board last year (bless her!)
The third person on the HOA Board is “Pyewacket” who makes it her
mission in life to watch every single penny that we spend.
This is a Good Thing.
Particularly since “Patty”, the self-appointed representative to the
landscaping company, is eager to buy as much unnecessary equipment as
she can.
In the past couple of months, “Patty” has petitioned the Board to let
her buy a gas-powered leaf blower (we already have one, the landscaping
company has plenty and even “Mannie, the Maintenance Guy” has one), a
vacuum to suck up leaves instead of blowing them around; and, most
recently, metal-spiked sandals that she can wear over her shoes to stomp
on mushrooms.
“Patty” is concerned about the mushrooms, and “read somewhere”
that they might be the result of “tightly-compacted soil”.
She wants to “try
aerating the ground
to see if that solves the ‘problem’ with the mushrooms”.
To date, no one but “Patty” has seen the mushrooms and the “problem” has
been referred to the landscaping company for review.
I have little doubt that she will soon come up with another
situation to justify spending HOA money on something.
She also has decided that she should be on the Board.
I have no problem with that as long as we have more reasonable Board
Members to put the brakes on her free spending tendencies.
We have room for another Member since “Riley”, who was HOA
president when I first bought my place, may have sold his last unit to a
tenant. That means he can’t
be a Board Member anymore (homeowners only.)
In the meantime, we have designated him an unpaid consultant.
While he does have a great deal of knowledge about construction
and cost-effectiveness, he doesn’t have a vote.
Hence, my cultivation of “Phoebe”.
We get together every couple of weeks for lunch and last week we
went to the movies together.
Pete’s
Dragon
is a Disney film and a remake of the
1977 film of
the same name. That one
was a musical.
This one isn’t. That
one had Helen Reddy,
Shelley Winters,
Jim Dale,
Mickey Rooney,
and Red Buttons.
This one has
Robert Redford,
Bryce Dallas
Howard, and Karl
Urban. That one had a
dragon, named Elliot, in the form of an
animated
character. This one has
a dragon, named Elliot, in the form of a
Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI)
character.
Robert Redford, venerable actor and
Oscar-winning
director, plays an old guy who happily accepts the concept of
dragons flying around
somewhere in the
Great Pacific
Northwest. The Great
Pacific Northwest, by the way, is portrayed by
New Zealand.
Bryce Dallas Howard, daughter of child actor and Oscar-winning director
Ron Howard,
played Hilly in
The Help,
and Clare in
Jurassic World.
This time she plays Grace, daughter of Redford’s old guy and
girlfriend to a logging company owner named Jack.
Karl Urban plays Jack’s brother and the closest thing this film has to a
Bad Guy. Urban has been
around for years. Some may
know him as Éomer in
The Lord
of the Rings Trilogy, or as
Dr. Leonard
“Bones” McCoy in the newly-reincarnated
Star Trek
universe. I first noticed
him when he played
Julius Caesar and
Cupid, in different episodes, in a New Zealand-based
TV series. More recently
he got to play an
angry-police-officer-with-an-android-partner-in-the-near-future in his
own short-lived TV show called
Almost Human,
coincidentally executive-produced by
J.J. Abrams,
the man behind the newly-reincarnated
Star Trek universe.
But whether he was playing the conquering Caesar, the god of
love, the irascible space doctor, or the angry future-policeman, this
was the first time he ever got to yell, “Follow that dragon!”
I’ll bet he had fun with it.
At the heart of it all, of course, is the little orphan boy, Pete, who
has been befriended by Elliot, a dragon who can fly, become invisible at
will and, when properly motivated, breathe fire.
Because no one can see Elliot unless he allows it, all the adults
assume that he is “imaginary”, with the notable exception of Redford who
is old enough to know better.
Consequently, there are many misunderstandings and chasing around
until the inevitable Happy Ending.
Completely charming and destined for the
Disney Vault.
In the meantime, keep an eye on Karl Urban.
The guy’s got range.
And I predict that next February, when they announce the Academy Award
Nominations, Pete’s Dragon
will get a nod for
Best Sound Effects.
Love, as always,
Pete
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