Sunday, October 6 2019

Dear Journal,

Good morning readers! I just let the dogs out, fed them, and caught up on dishes. As I was unlocking the baby gate up stairs, from the corner of my eye through Rodney's cracked door, I could see him lunging back into bed, as if he was doing something wrong playing with books. Marissa and I have told him a bunch of times that now that he's in the big boy bed, he's allowed to get up and play quietly, but he still feels the need to sneak around I guess.

Yesterday we hit the road sometime in the late morning, getting home around one. The rest of the day was pretty lazy. We let Rodney watch TV on the couch, Marissa napped, and I slowly chipped away at unpacking the car. I expected to get a surge of motivation and finish it all, but it never came, and I still have probably 30% of the way to go. Sometime around 10:15, I came to the realization that it wasn't happening the same night, and I instead joined Marissa on the couch to finish watching our movie pick Blackkklansman. As we watched the last third, I assembled my new raspberry pi case, which will replace my journaling computer once my micro-HDMI cable arrives by mail.

Blackkklansman was a good movie. I had listened to a podcast about this story, so I was a little biased. Mostly, the movie stuck to the facts. And I don't mind a little creative liberty for the sake of fitting something into a movie, but I think all the things Spike Lee added didn't really add much to it. Also, he went a little overboard on the racist dialog. For example, there were a lot of ten-to-fifteen minute long monologues from the various klansman characters peppered with probably the most racist dialog you could imagine, and as the camera is sitting still or just slowly zooming in during the delivery, it got a little too intense. I guess if the goal was to make me uncomfortable, he succeeded.

Despite being over the top at times, the movie was also insanely cool at times. There were a lot of cool throwbacks to the genre of 70s buddy cop films, and the music was undeniably delicious. There was a moment where the main character was walking through a wheat field in a leather jacket while this slow electric guitar was playing, and I think I wouldn't mind if that played on for several more minutes.

After watching Blackkklansman, we decided to start another movie while I finished my beer. Marissa picked the original Blade Runner with Harrison Ford, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I don't think I've seen it. Neither has Marissa, and in retrospect it may have been good to have watched this one before the new one. I was a little rusty on Blade Runner lore and had forgotten what "replicants" were and what it meant to "retire them". "For a movie made in the 80s, this looks really amazing," remarked Marissa and we both marveled at the dazzling special effects and scenery. As the movie opened with Harrison Ford getting arrested at a noodle bar, I remarked "you ever notice that every good sci-fi movie begins with a regular guy getting hauled off somewhere while he's trying to eat?" The other example I had in mind was in Hitch Hiker's Guide when Arthur is still wearing his bath robe when Ford helps him escape earth as it's getting demolished.

I can hear Rod opening and closing the drawers under his bed. Those drawers are usually pretty empty. One of them just has his pair of spider-man slippers, but for some reason he feels the need to rearrange things. In a few moments, I'll head up to his room and put away his laundry, then the plan is to take him to Jenny Street. We're going to buy things to make breakfast and lunch. The Bears play today at noon, and it would be nice to have everything I need to make breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Today is a good day to get back on the cooking wagon.

Hope you all have a wonderful day today. Bear down, and I'll see you all Monday morning.