Marvellous

Spring finally seems to be making an effort after an extremely lethargic introduction.  I even found photographic evidence that my daughter, who ascribes to her mother’s aversion to anything approaching cold weather, was outside in NYC at a charity event.  The Keene Friend marked one of his rare days off to journey down and spend the day with us, much to Buddy’s intense pleasure.  Keene Friend filled us in on his feats of legerdemain on the Railroad Square basketball court where his Saturday efforts fell a minuscule short of delivering a Bud Light Girl equipped Cadillac.

Spring Must be Here - My Daughter (left) Is Outside!

We went to see Marvel’s latest cinematic opus, Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Each Marvel film seems to get bigger and yet they’re still immensely entertaining.  This film was every bit as much Scarlett Johansson’s movie as the redoubtable Capitan.  The action is virtually non-stop as the Captain and his crew confronts an infiltration of Shield by an old nemesis from World War 2 days.

This film is heavy on CGI but still amazes.  They somehow superimposed the massive Shield headquarters right across the Potomac from the Kennedy Center and made it look real.  I used to run through the area daily so it was especially jarring.   I liked the message (yes Marvel movies can have a message) that security shouldn’t be purchased at the cost of freedom.   There’s a lot more of Samuel L. Jackson (without a single M.F. that I can recall) and a coolly evil Robert Redford.  You had to know any organization that has Garry Shandling as one of its leaders is in trouble but I digress.  A great thrill ride which provides solid evidence that moving summer blockbusters earlier in the year is a good thing. 

My wife despises Will Ferrell which made the Keene Friend’s visit opportune since I was finally able to see Anchorman 2 with a kindred spirit. We both love the inane humor of Ferrell and it was a lot more fun watching it with someone ho “got it” versus a woman looking daggers at one of her favorite objects of scorn.

Once the house settled down for the night I pulled on the headphones and stayed up late to watch the season premiere of Game of Thrones which did not disappoint.  There was no way to go but up after the Red Wedding and the start of the new season was spent jumping around Westeros catching us up on all the major characters left standing.  I loved the introduction of the Dornishmen and Arya’s first couple of kills.  I can’t wait for Joffrey’s wedding.  They’ve done a fantastic job of casting this series with the characters just leaping off the pages of the books I loved.  Hopefully this march of seasons will light an fire under George RR Martin to write the next book in the series since HBO is getting uncomfortably close to catching up with what he’s published.

Now if the Red Sox can figure out how to win again (still not complaining!).  Milwaukee!!  Milwaukee, really???!!!!