Geek Heaven and Duck Pursuit

Granddaughters - FBR (l) & the BRS

We’re in the middle of one of those phases where the FBR does not feel inclined to communicate with my wife and I. I’m guessing her extended stay with us has diluted our box office appeal but it creates a lot of fun trying to get her to talk during our nightly calls. I feel bad for her parents as they charge around trying to get dinner and otherwise administer to the almost constant demands of a two year old while still making the effort to get us some screen time with the FBR.

Duck Spotting

She did emerge from her self-imposed cocoon as our daughter tried to get her to talk with us when the subject of ducks came up. The FBR was tooling around one of the neighborhood parks on her new tricycle when she spied some ducks in a nearby pond and they made a big impression upon her. Maybe I should invest in a duck costume to regain some of my lost status. Since the weather has finally turned spring like in New Jersey the fantastic neighborhood is starting to rev up the get togethers which make it such a great place.

Wingman Wagon Service

Snack time

The BRS continue in her efforts to establish herself as one of the most charming three month olds around. My son was finally able to capture one of her energetic smiles on camera. The smiles were the nicest development for the new parents after the first challenging weeks of the BRS’ arrival. I clearly remember my own time as a first time parent when I was asking myself what had I done to myself by welcoming this screaming poop machine into the world who so skewed my existence. It was at this point, a couple months into the skewering, when the real bonding began and has yet to abate for either of the two poop machines I was able to go through this with.

That Smile!!!

Mom Time with the ABFA

Not All Smiles

I finished up my latest foray into life in Caesar’s legions with the next in RW Peake’s excellent Marching with Caesar books, with Marching With Caesar: Antony and Cleopatra Part 2. Our hero Titus Pullo, leading centurion of the 10^th Legion, finds himself embroiled in the final conflict between Antony and Octavian and also a target of the deadly Cleopatra. Pullo manages to survive by sheer Roman stubbornness and provides a fascinating behind the scenes viewpoint on the well-traveled road of the star crossed Egyptian queen. Pullo is also getting up in years and the hard life as a Roman legionary is taking its toll.

I couldn’t wait any longer and abducted my wife from her annual, and overly dedicated, spring cleaning so we could see Avengers Infinity War. We had to travel to the Solomon Pond Mall theater since the local one seems to withhold MoviePass from new releases. This would be problematic if the mall wasn’t so close as an alternative. I loved the movie which is a glorious send up of geekdom in general. It’s absolutely relentless as the Marvel characters I and fellow geeks have invested so heavily in over the past eighteen Marvel movies are brought together for dizzying confrontation with Thanos. Thanos plays the ultimate environmentalist as he plans of solving the universe’s population problems by eliminating half of said population. This doesn’t sit well with our heroes but Thanos is not your garden variety tree hugger. The death toll is constant and at times troubling as the big stars with contracts running out fall by the wayside in increasing numbers. I do find it strange that despite both sides having galaxy spanning technology the final confrontation always seems to come down to a fist fight and spears but with Marvel there’s an undeniable need to suspend disbelief. It was magnificent and too much fun. Marvel also smartly put out this was the first of a two movie arc so we don’t have to worry too much about all the dead heroes. In the immortal words of Miracle Max, I’m sure most of them are only “mostly dead”. Go see it, total popcorn escapism at its very best.