Closed Captioning

Today my mother and I went to see "WALL-E". We hadn't planned on going to the movies. It was a spur of the moment thing.

We were in the car on the freeway (going west on the 91 to be exact). We did not have Internet access, a newspaper, or the phone number of the movie theater. We weren't even sure if there was a movie we wanted to see. So, we played movie roulette. Luckily, "WALL-E" was playing, and we had 20 minutes to spare.

I could barely hear the girl selling us our tickets. As we walked away from the box office Mom repeated what I did not hear. We had bought tickets for the captioned showing.

I did not know that they did this, but I guess it makes sense. The entire movie was captioned.

Of all the movies to see with captions, this was probably the strangest. It really doesn't have all that much dialog. So, for most of the movie, we saw things like: (electronic whirring) or (mysterious music plays)--the parentheses were theirs.

There are some movies that would be better with captions. I know that for some British shows I'll turn on the captioning on the TV--any show where the accents are too thick or the dialog is too fast. But for "WALL-E"? It was kind of annoying.

Mom enjoyed the captions. She found it fascinating how various sounds and things were described.

Closed captioning for the movie theater. Who knew?

Not Hot

Yesterday I only had the windows half open due to how cool the breeze was. The night before that, I slept with the covers on. The day before yesterday, I don't think the sun came out at all. It's been rather cool here.

I keep hearing things, though. Flex-alert stuff. The power grid is at capacity. Turn off the air conditioner (mine hasn't been on in a couple weeks, and it wasn't needed this week at all).

Has it been hot? Or rather, has it been hot where you are at? It hasn't been hot here. Not at all.

I've been enjoying the cool weather. It's nice to have a mild summer, especially after those very hot weeks a few weeks ago. I just figured that it was the same all around, at least in Southern California.

Yeah, things have been pretty slow for me. Can you tell? I'm talking about the weather.

Catagories

I was in a book store yesterday. At one point I was in the New Age-y area (a section I like almost as much as the science fiction/fantasy section), but I had the hardest time finding it. I almost missed it entirely as I bypassed the Christianity section.

Who put the Tarot Card books next to the Christian books? And why would they do that?

I know there's an argument to be made for this. I can kind of see the logic. But the juxtaposition of the thing struck me as funny.

Sweater Progress

Sorry, Chris, this one's about my knitting.

I haven't talked about my sweater in a while. That's because I've been steadily making progress. I finished the last sleeve about a week (two weeks?) ago, and I've been staring at the pieces.

I don't knit too many sweaters. Not because I can't. Not because I lose focus or have problems finishing what I start. No, the reason I don't knit very many sweaters is because I rarely need one. And since it's been pretty warm, the idea of working on a sweater has not been all that appealing.

But that's my pattern. I'll finish the thing just in time for the warm weather.

So, one of these days I'm going to break down and start putting the thing together. I'll post a picture when I finish.

Selfish

There are way too many idiot drivers out there.

Today we were getting off the freeway. We were making a right turn into the left lane (it was a busy enough off ramp that this was permissible), and there was a lot of traffic. The guy behind us was trying to get into our lane, but there was no way as there wasn't any room, so he just sat there at an angle waiting. Never mind that the lane to the right of us was completely empty from where he sat to the intersection.

Well, this idiot with Nevada plates finally realizes that he's blocking the intersection, and he moves up to the car in front of us (another idiot, this one with Colorado plates), and when the light turned green, the idiot from Colorado lets the guy in. And they both sat there.

We were in the left-most lane, but not the left turn lane. But these two out-of-state idiots decided to make our lane a left turn lane, too. And this just pissed off the guy behind us. At least, that's what I think he was feeling as he blared his horn at those of us who were in this situation with him. He practically rear ended us and almost side swiped us as he got over into the lane to the right of us. (Yes, we were stuck--at a green light!!)

So, when the left turn lane got a green arrow, the idiots moved on--both made a left turn and got on the freeway--and traffic was unblocked. This is why we have road rage. We have too many idiots on the road.

Where is a cop when you need one?

Vague Question

"Remember that terrible movie with the two really good actors?"

My dad asked me this question while we were watching this trailer before "Hancock" today. In the darkened theater I couldn't give my dad the blank stare that that question warranted. Instead, all I could do was snark about how that was a pretty vague question. I mean, wasn't there more than one?

I know where Dad was going with the comment (watch the trailer). I just wish I knew which movie he was referring to.

Another Search Function

Recently the DVR's software was upgraded by DirecTV. A couple new features were added. One was something that I wanted--a way to search a specific station for all of its upcoming programs. But the thing I really want? I'm still waiting.

I will probably be waiting for a while. I've been asking for this for years. I would do it myself, but I don't have the technical skills to make it happen. So, I'm stuck just whining about it. As it's been a while since I've whined about it in public, I figure that I'm due.

Have you ever been watching some show on TV only to see an actor and wonder where you've seen him/her before? And you just can't place him/her?

This happens to me all the time. First I try to remember everything I've seen lately. Usually this doesn't work, mostly because if I had just seen the actor, I would have placed him/her right away. Then I'm stuck resorting to imdb. Actually, that's not a bad method, assuming that the computer is on and I'm not busy with other things. But I have a different wish.

There has got to be a way to program the DVR or other device to do that search for me. I see an actor who I know I've seen in something before. I push a couple buttons on the remote. I get a listing of all the actors in the show. And then from there I can select the actor who I know I've seen before. Then a filmography pops up, and I'm no longer going, "What was that actor in before?"

Really, is that too much to ask?

I know, I'm living in a dream world. But I can't be the only one who wants this.