I've been watching Jeremiah the last couple of weeks. I'm about to finish watching the first season (2002).
Post-apocalyptic movies have been done before but Jeremiah's hook, the mass death of everyone past puberty, is a new twist (at least for me). It's a compelling, well-told story. Luke Perry and Malcom-Jamal Warner do a great job as the protagonists and, a few dud episodes notwithstanding, I've enjoyed the series so far. I think Jeremiah does justice to imagining how people might live in such a world.
Unfortunately, seasons two and three are not yet available on DVD. I'll be sure to view them when they become available.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:44 2008-09-20 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Layoffs (Work)
I've been down this road before with other companies. I'm not panicking yet, if only because I made it through round 1. If we show a profit after this quarter, round 2 might not occur. It's the first layoff in NVIDIA's history (13 years), so I'm not prepared to pronounce doom and gloom, yet. That won't keep me from freshening up my resumè, however.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 08:12 2008-09-20 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
My Name is Bill W. (Movies and TV)
I watched My Name is Bill W. last night. I highly recommend it. It's a movie about Bill Wilson, one of the co-founders of Alcoholics Anonymous. It takes a somewhat sympathetic but still uncompromising look at Bill's life leading up to when he finally got sober and how AA first got started. It's a drama, not a documentary. The acting is great and the plot is compelling.
I couldn't watch it straight through. I had to take a couple of breaks because I identified with and was struck very forcefully by the film's emotional content. While my story and Bill W.'s are very different, I still felt the pathos of the unmanageable life and the utter chaos and self-destructiveness caused by alcoholic drinking. James Woods won an Emmy for his portrayal of Bill W., and it isn't hard to understand why. I'm still shaken this morning.
Powerful movie. It struck close to home — precisely the reason I wanted and needed to watch it.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 10:27 2008-09-19 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Blahs (Sobriety)
Yesterday was okay. After an AA meeting and time spent with my sponsor, I took a nap and then went grocery shopping so I could make shrimp creole for dinner. The creole was good and I enjoyed watching the Steelers defeat Cleveland for the tenth time in a row.
Today, though, I just feel lost. Went to a meeting and then to work and, while I got work done, I don't feel any sense of accomplishment. Dinner was baked ziti. I'll have some shrimp creole for a snack later on. I'm full, nourished even, but it was definitely a moment in which I was eating to live rather than out of a zeal for good food.
I've just been going through the motions since Kelly left.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 18:58 2008-09-15 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Northern Room (Music)
My newest musical discovery is Northern Room. Here's a sample, titled We're On Fire. They remind me a lot of early U2.
What I like about Northern Room is their layered sound, solid melodies, and thoughtful lyrics. Oh, I like their "rockin' groove" too. I suppose they fall into the indie or alternative rock genre, but I don't claim to understand the proliferation of genres and don't think it matters much, either. I like their music, and hope you will, too. It doesn't look like they tour much outside of the upper Midwest, yet, so I'm not likely to see them live anytime soon.
Enjoy.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 19:00 2008-09-13 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Toe Surgery Update (General)
The details, for those of you following along at home…
The surgery will be November 14th at Waverly Surgery Center in Palo Alto. The post-operative visit will be November 18th in the doctor's Redwood City office. Suture removal will be November 25th, also in the Redwood City office. So, I'll have a weekend to recover from the surgery and be gorked out on pain killers.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 12:02 2008-09-10 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Toe Surgery (General)
Yep, the third surgery on my left big toe (for hallux rigidus) is coming up in a couple of months. I'll get the date tomorrow.
God willing, this should be the last one. Neither removing bone spurs nor implanting an artificial joint fixed it, so the last option is to fuse it. If the joints don't flex, they won't grind and the joint surfaces won't get get stress fractures, so my toe will quit hurting.
I hope the pin(s) or screw(s) won't set off metal detectors.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:10 2008-09-09 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Divorce in My Future (Domesticity)
It's all over but the paperwork.
Kelly's determined that we're to be divorced. She doesn't know when and it might be complicated because she's in Pennsylvania and I'm in California. Regardless, that is her intent.
I can't say I'm surprised. Disappointed, to be sure, but not surprised. I hoped and prayed for the best but prepared for the worst. I'm not whining, either. This is one more of the consequences of my actions. I certainly don't want this, but I'm not going to fight it, either. If someone doesn't want to be with me, well, I don't see anything to be gained in acting like a horse's ass and making a hurtful and difficult process more hurtful and difficult.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 05:17 2008-09-07 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (Movies and TV)
I went to see The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor tonight. I needed some escapist fiction and this movie fit the bill. Perfectly.
What I most like about this series of movies is that they don't take themselves very seriously. Although less prominent in this installment, all are markedly tongue-in-cheek with plenty of humor and sarcasm mixed in amongst the action and romance. I also like plots that are clean and tidy and leave no dangling loose ends, and The Mummy didn't disappoint — the good guys win, the bad guys lose, and both guys get the girls. What's not to like about that?
This is not a Film© — I'm far too philistine for films. It's a Movie©. Don't see The Mummy if you want a symbolism-laden, subtitle-obstructed, angst-filled film. If you want an action-drenched, romance-sprinkled, and humor-infused movie, though, see it soon.
Posted by Kurt Wall at 22:19 2008-09-06 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)
Back to Work (Domesticity)
I've had four days off. I didn't do a whole lot except go to my standard morning AA meeting and then putter around the house. It was needful, for the last almost four weeks have been stressful. I'm ready to go back to work, though. Just a bit too much time on my hands. I didn't get into any trouble (meaning, I didn't drink), but by the end of each day I was a little restless and antsy. Fortunately, because I got up at 5:00 a.m. each day, by the end of the day I was also tired enough that I could go to bed at 9:30 or 10:00 o'clock and sleep.
I did more than just putter around the house. Friday, I drove up to Redwood City and had an MRI of my toe. Saturday, I went to see a movie and then shopped a little bit at The Great Mall of the Bay Area in Milpitas. I guess it's an okay mall, but it seemed more like an outlet mall than a "standard" shopping mall and I had a hard time finding something in my size that didn't look like dreck. In the future, I think I'll stick to the Westfield malls in the area.
Sunday, I went to church and ate breakfast out. It's hard to sit in the
pew knowing I can't commune; I could use the tangible means of grace and
the signs of forgiveness just now… Today, I had a short chat with
my sponsor about how to get started on Step 4, then came home, cleaned
bathrooms, showered, and went shopping. I didn't buy anything, but I
did get a manicure and a pedicure. It was my first pedicure —
I could get used to those if my feet weren't so darn
sensitive ticklish.
Yes, netllama, I'm a girly-man. I think the politically correct (and utterly vacuous) term is metrosexual. Pardon me while I hurl. Please, may I just be a guy who cares about his appearance and wants to be well-groomed without having a label slapped on me?
Posted by Kurt Wall at 21:15 2008-09-01 | Trackbacks (0) | Comments (0)