Transported

A rather mundane day yesterday, despite the singularly spectacular New England autumn weather – favorite time of the year, no contest. The mundanity was expunged with a phone call from my favorite son with the news he’ll be coming to visit us this weekend ahead of his mother’s impending departure to California to greet the First Blog Reader. It’s strange how just the sound of his voice is enough to raise morale significantly. What is it about kids, anyways?

The Trip is Still Weeks Away

Speaking of the impending departure, which is actually a couple weeks away, some people think I’m kidding when I talk about the extensive process my Favorite Panamanian employs when it comes to packing her suitcase(s) for any trip. I offer as evidence the obstacle I face every morning as I try to reach my closet. It’s been his way for over a week now as she contemplates and constantly revises her California requirements.

We have a new contender for best picture of the year. I went to see The Martian last night and it is everything you’ve been hearing about and more. Matt Damon carries the movie by force of understated personality; not an easy feat. He plays an astronaut stranded on Mars who faces impossible odds to survive. The camerawork and special effects are superb but this is a story of the human spirit, embodied by Damon’s heroic solitary struggle as well as the concurrent story back on earth and his fellow crew members on a ship in transit.

All too often movies take the easy way and demonize the politics or the inevitable infighting a disaster entails. Here the nobility of what man is capable of is explored, even lionized and not in a cheap, exploitive manner. It seems the current generation is being beaten down by the forces of political correctness bent on limitation but not here. Faced with life and death Damon’s character doesn’t bemoan his fate, he just gets to work. Maintaining the focus on the human level drawn on an epic sci fi canvas Ridley Scott delivers a true masterpiece. “Riveting” would vastly understate the last 45 minutes of this movie. Go see it!