Wedding, Shout, Star Trek

Wedding:

Peggy and I attended a lovely wedding of a young woman we have known since she was a kid and a very nice looking fellow from Iowa. The ceremony conducted by a young, sincere, really bright rabbi
flowed as did the feelings throughout the room -hope, comfort, teary eyed, joyful. The family really created an atmosphere where all could share in the joy.

Someone told me about a vacation that blew my mind. They went to the Yukon and Alaska in order to drive a dog sled. With real dogs and 27 degree below zero temperature.

This photo is not from the wedding but feels serendipitous.

Shout:

At this wedding there was a band. After the traditional first dances :bride and groom, bride and father etc, the rest of us got on the floor. Really two groups on the dance floor...the young and young at heart. The band played Motown and the kids and older folk in my opinion busted some moves.

During perhaps the second set, the band played "Shout." A musical number and sequence made popular by the film "Animal House." I have long contended, primarily to Ben, my son in Highland Park. California, that the film Animal House created an atmosphere in colleges and then high school of WTF. Not everyone. Are there many  Nobel Laureates who went to college in the early 70s? I think not!

The Blutarsky character, played by the late John Belushi, created a mode of speaking that is the almost the opposite of "truthiness" COPYRIGHT STEPHEN COLBERT. "

Bluto: What? Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!
Otter: [to Boon] Germans?
Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.

Let me say that in its day, that line about the Germans bombing Pearl Harbor was brilliant. History is over.

Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Savage (until he proved to be untamed), Howard Stern. These guys get paid a ton of money to entertain us with their opinions. Style defeats substance. "Forget it, he's rolling."

I kept up pretty well with the "a little bit louder " now bridge in the song.. "A little bit softer now" was more difficult but doable, Sort of.

Star Trek:

First a public service announcement. IMAX is different than OMNIMAX. OMNIMAX is more amazing.

I saw Star Trek in IMAX CD. The glasses were  bright yellow and very loose. One size fits all. I didn't love the glass. The credits were fantastic. Basically, I like 3D where something jumps out of the screen and scares you. "The Life of Pi" did that pretty well.

There was a fair amount of space debris and that was pretty cool.

Spock, Kirk, Uhuru, Sulu, Checkov, Bones and Scotty. And a young character named Carol Marcus  played by an attractive actor named Alice Eve. I don't remember Carol Marcus from the original. In the Original, Kirk's girlfriends never fared very well. Death. Deportation, Reassignment. Except for a long-suffering ensign, who could look but not touch. Too much.

The Mermaid of Asia

Recent back channel reports from New York indicate the The Mermaid of Brooklyn is on its way to Asia. According to an e-mail, I heard about an entity that is "shipping books to Asia." That is the dream of all capitalism... to sell mass quantities to the "communist" regime.

Many people in Hong Kong will be able to totally relate the "Mermaid." The apartments are small. It is steamy and no always that clean on the streets.  People with children flock to the parks. Some parents. Many nannies. Sound familiar.

The Mermaid of Brooklyn would be enjoyed in Hong Kong. And many parts of the mainland have their share of big cities.

Fact: The population of Brooklyn is 2.5 million.

Fact: There are 37 cities in China that are larger than Brooklyn. I have been to China a bunch of times  and I haven't heard of many of these places.  Like Hefei.  3.5 Million y'all. 5 million plus the burbs and the rural places.

On a recent trip to China, I found the Mermaid in the oddest places.

Here is an associate of mine where I work.  He lives in Texas. He is a vice-President and I am only a director. He held up a  copy of the Mermaid in front of the main entrance of the Canton Trade Fair.

As you may know, all Americans are followed by armed guards in the "Peoples" Republic of China. This soldier man did not give his name. All special novels are also given this treatment.

In an unbelievable coincidence, this young woman is named Amy. Different last name. She works in her father's business.

We actually found the "Lost Dutchman." As it turns out,  the dude lives in Hong Kong. Good guy. Took a bunch of us on a party bus through Hong Kong.

Good luck to the "Mermaid" in Asia.