Mark L. Van Name's Blog, page 76

"Every kid deserves a childhood that's worth remembering"

Davey shares this thought in this video about his sabbatical charity work, and I could not agree more with him.



I'm very proud of Davey and all the other PT staffers who chose to use part of their sabbatical time to help do good in the world.

The first X-Men: Apocalypse trailer is here

and it's a doozy.  Seeing as how I'm still sick as a dog, I'll leave you with it.



Tomorrow or Monday, I hope to start to catch up on blog posts I owe.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 4

I went to bed late and felt horrible as I crawled into the sheets.  I felt worse when I got up for good less than five hours later.  I've lost most of my voice to drainage, and tomorrow night is our big annual work celebration, at which I must speak, so I have a very short time to heal fully.

Consequently, I'm crashing.

Over the coming days, I hope to catch up on my Vegas report.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 3

I have so much good stuff to write about today, but I'm exhausted, and I have to get up very early, so I'm crashing.

Sorry about that.

More later.

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 2

I slept late today after a very late bedtime, and I enjoyed every bit of that sleep.

After some work, we headed out for a light lunch and a lot of walking, some of it through the shops in Caesar's.  Walking was a good thing, a bit of exercise in a trip with plenty of calories.

Dinner took our group of now four folks to China Poblano, a Jose Andres Mexican/Chinese fusion place.  The meal was good, though not exceptional.  That said, I sure would be happy to have one of these restaurants back home, where it would be a stand-out.

This evening, we went to see Rock of Ages, a play that was on Broadway, toured, became a movie, and now is an installation at the Venetian.  The play was very different from the movie, which I had very much (to my surprise) enjoyed, but I also had a grand time at it.  Like the musical, The Commitments, which I saw in London, the music and the sheer energy of the cast made this show a ton of fun.

Tomorrow, UFC fights!

On the road again: Las Vegas, day 1

Kyle and I, and soon others, are here in Las Vegas for our annual trip for his birthday and some UFC fights.  I tweeted a few of the key moments from my flight, so check there for what I enjoyed experienced.

We both landed in the late afternoon, so after dropping our stuff in the hotel room, we headed to dinner at Jaleo.  The food there was as delicious as always.

Next on our plan was the Cirque show, Mystere, which we've seen before but still quite enjoy.  It was, as always, wonderful.

We walked back to our hotel and along the way stopped in the Bellagio for some gelato, another Vegas tradition.

I'm exhausted, so that's it for today.

An observation on the occasion of watching Serenity again

and having to leave the house fairly early tomorrow morning to begin the annual trek to Las Vegas with Kyle and friends:  The obsession at the heart of much of Joss Whedon's work is family, generally extended family.  The stories contain plenty of action, but at core heart is always an extended family.  Membership in that family is rarely cheap or easy, and conflict among its members is common, but when is it not in families?

This focus is, I believe, a key part of what makes Whedon's best works so memorable and so compelling.

And now to pack.

A very good fortune indeed

After watching Serenity tonight, a group of us went around the corner to Peking Garden for some perfectly serviceable (but not better) Chinese food.  After dinner, I chose a fortune cookie at random and received this delightful message.

Click the image to see a larger version.
I don't believe at all in the validity of fortune cookies, of course, but it's still fun to see one that is both an actual prediction--so many are not--and a positive message.

That said, I'd love for the universe to prove me wrong in this area, so if anyone would like to visit unexpected riches upon me and thus make the fortune come true, feel free.

Another movie I very much want to see

Kyle turned me on to this upcoming Shane Black film, which looks like just my cup of comic action tea.



May could be a very good film month indeed.

Bad Santa and writing

As I've mentioned in several previous entries, one of the two movies I re-watch every Christmas season is the black comedy, Bad Santa.  Last year, I gave 
Warning:  Bad Santa uses all the words and is full of coarse scenes.

Now, to those lines.
I'm going back upstairs.  I need a melon baller and a loofah.No, I love the hat.She lives in God's house with Jesus and Mary and the ghost and the long-eared donkey and Joseph and the talking walnut.What a man does with his own penis--Oval Office, Women's Big & Tall--it's not for the American people to say.I want a gorilla named Davey for beating up the skateboard kids who pull on my underwear. He could take his orders from the talking walnut, so it wouldn't be my bad thing.In context, they're both odder and funnier than they are here.

As long as you can stand sex and violence and trigger words and foul language, Bad Santa is an amazing comedy.