Tuesdays with Media: The Force Awakens

The day after Christmas, Ian and I went to the local cineplex to watch the latest entry in the Star Wars saga, The Force Awakens.  We planned to see the first showing of the film in standard format, but it was sold out for the next seven hours, so we opted for the next 3-D showing instead.  We still had to wait in line, but only for about fifteen minutes and we still got the exact seats we wanted.  (As a side note, I was running a bit late that morning and I didn't have time to shower before the movie.  In most cases, this would be embarrassing, but I guarantee that I was not the only unwashed patron in that theater.)  Before I delve into the film, I want to share a few words about 3-D.  The fact that the standard format was sold out for several hours shows that most people don't want to pay extra for 3-D.  I didn't mind that we saw the movie in 3-D, but I still would have preferred seeing it in 2-D.

The last time Star Wars was in theaters, it was for the prequels, which most fans do their best to ignore.  It's not that the prequels were terrible, it's that they weren't able to achieve the same level of quality as the original trilogy.  Plus, since we knew where the story was going, big surprises were basically impossible.  In order to succeed, the new film needed to offer some surprises while still reaching the level of quality of the first films.

Thankfully, I can say that it did.  The way that I've summed up the movie to people that I've talked to about it is that it was able to balance introducing new things while staying true to the spirit of the original.  The story starts about thirty years after the end of the last movie in the series, Return of the Jedi (which makes sense since Jedi was released in 1983).  There are characters from the first films that return again (like Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Leia Organa) who help to introduce the audience to the new characters that we follow (like Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron).

Speaking of new characters, the two leads of the movie are Rey and Finn, a woman and black man, respectively.  All of the previous Star Wars films have struggled with including women and minorities, so it was a nice change of pace that our main protagonists are not just more white men.  Not only that, but Rey is not simply a damsel in distress as Princess Leia and Queen Amidala often were.  I have been surrounded by strong women my whole life, so it's been frustrating that so many movies include women merely mere as plot points and not complete characters.  Thankfully, Rey is able to fight her own battles, without the need of anyone else.  Just as Luke Skywalker was a good character for me to look up to as a kid, Rey is good character for my nieces to look up to.

Rey (played by Daisy Ridley), ready for a fight.

One detail in the film that I appreciated was the way that technology was depicted.  Since the first Star Wars movie was made in 1977, all the computers looked like what people in the late seventies imagined computers would look like in the future (that is, with physical buttons and lousy screen resolution).  While there are some updates to the tech we see onscreen, a lot of it is reminiscent of what we saw in the first film.  The filmmakers could have made more changes since thirty years have passed in-story, but I'm happy that they chose to keep things looking more old fashioned, as it helped to make it feel more like Star Wars.

Some important changes that were made were to the special effects shots.  The special effects themselves were mostly computer-based, but the way the camera was used in those shots was really creative.  For example, in the trailer above, you can see a brief glimpse of the Millennium Falcon being chased by TIE fighters.  The way the camera follows the ships and changes angles was really clever.

You may have noticed that I haven't really gotten into the plot of film, but instead stuck to other elements of the movie.  The reason for that is that I liked it, and I want to give my support to the movie without ruining the experience for those who have not seen it yet.  The story isn't perfect and there were definitely some mistakes that were made in the presentation, but the overall experience was still really good.  See it for yourself and I'm sure you'll agree.

With so many geeks wailing that George Lucas destroyed their childhood with the prequels, will they now say that J. J. Abrams saved it?

Star Wars: The Force Awakens is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Christmas 2015

Christmas was a bit weird this year.  My past Christmases in Maryland have been spent with Ian and his family, but because of the way holidays are scheduled with him and his estranged wife, he didn't have his kids.  Since it was just the two of us, we kept things extremely low-key: I made dinner and we watched a couple of movies.

Thankfully, we also made a trip to visit the kids at their mom's house.  Oddly, Amanda's parents were extremely pleasant and I think they were genuine in their friendliness.  I don't have the highest opinion of Amanda these days, but her parents are fine.  I'm also happy that they were so nice because it made things less awkward for me -- Ian visiting his kids makes perfect sense; him bringing his little brother with him might have been seen as pushing it.  Thankfully, they welcomed us both with warm smiles.  We visited with them for about an hour before we headed home for dinner.  It was cute to see Henry continue to ask us to wait because he wanted to show us more toys that he had gotten.

On Boxing Day, Ian and I went and saw Star Wars: The Force Awakens (come back tomorrow for my review) and had the kids visit to open presents from me and their dad.  It was really nice to see for Ian because, despite all of the toys they opened the day before, the kids' favorite gift came from their dad.

Christmas this year was mostly a stag party, but it was still fun and I'm glad that it worked out how it did.

Finding a New Routine

I joined a new gym today.  It's not the nicest gym that I looked at, but it has what I need and it's close to my apartment which will make it harder to excuse myself from going.  Plus, after I used a one-day free pass to try it out, I said a quick prayer and received confirmation that this was my new gym.

Too bad it has a dumb name: Spunk Fitness.  That said, if my biggest complaint is that the name of the place is stupid, I'm doing pretty well.  Plus, by going to a gym rather than working out at home, I can push myself harder with professional-grade equipment.

The biggest benefit, of course, is that I'm already starting to feel my mood level out.  Not working out has made it easy for my anxiety and depression to return, which has made it hard to function.  With my new gym membership, I can regain control of that aspect of my life.

But seriously, Spunk?  What is this, the 1940s?

Second Verse, Same as the First

I got an email on Wednesday to inform me that Allison has been served the second time.  As you may remember, I had Allison served before, but because of mistakes I made, the service wasn't legally binding.  So, I had to do it again, and I was running out of time if I wanted to do this divorce with only one filing (I wouldn't be barred from getting divorced, I just would have to refile and pay the processing fee again).  To avoid trouble, I used a process server.  It meant that I had to pay another party to get things taken care of, but I must say it's worth it because they got the job done.

Things feel weird again, though not like last time.  I'm not sad that it's over with Allison; I've come to terms with that and I'm ready to move on.  No, it's weird because I'm ready to move on.  I want to get on with my life and start dating again, but I've got to wait through a minimum of 90 days (very likely longer) before it's all over.  Knowing that I have that long ahead of me is pretty depressing.  You don't need to worry about me -- I'm still going to work everyday and I'm managing okay.  It's just that I've been alone for so long already.  In fact, in late January (just a little over a month a way), it will be four years since we got separated.

I just want to be free from this torture that is loneliness.

Professional Review

About a month ago I found out about an upcoming change to Danfoss' policy for managers to review their subordinates annually.  This was especially a shock for me since I never knew about the original policy.  Apparently, my last boss never set up my goals with me, despite this being one of her specific responsibilities.  Instead, some time after she left and my new boss, Magda, started, the head of marketing in Denmark assigned some, I assume, arbitrary goals for me.

When I discovered that I was supposed to have goals assigned, I freaked out a little.  I talked to Ernie, a manager with whom I've collaborated on multiple projects, and he offered to help me out.  He gave me some documents to fill out and agreed to talk to Magda to help with the review process.  After a trip to the Temple where it was confirmed that I should team up with Ernie, I started to relax.

Then I went on vacation.  I still haven't completely gotten back into my normal routine yet, and I've only worked out once in the past three weeks.  As I've written about before, exercise is a way for me to control my anxiety.  The combination of not using one of my prime coping mechanisms and the fear about the future of my job meant that I've been really stressed out for the past couple of weeks: I've had a couple of panic attacks and I even had the same nightmare on two different occasions, something that I don't think has ever happened before.

Yesterday was my annual review.

I had prepared the documents that both Magda and Ernie had sent me and I felt ready, but I was still nervous.  I said a prayer that things would go well; I felt assured that it would be fine, but I couldn't calm down.  In the meeting, Magda had several questions about not only I had completed this last year, but what I had been expected to do.  Thankfully, Ernie really talked up my accomplishments and expressed his appreciation for the work I had done.  Magda kept saying that I had "exceeded expectations" while she was writing notes to herself.  Apparently, I had nothing to worry about!  And, to make sure we don't have this problem next year, Magda is planning to meet with me next month to discuss my short- and long-term goals and how we can make them work for Danfoss.  I guess that means I'll need to figure out some goals beyond "do a good job."

Looking back, I was never in danger of losing my job, but I was still nervous because I was ill-prepared, something that I do my best to avoid with regards to my job.  I'm glad that this review is behind me and all signs point to it having gone well.  Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go exercise.

Best in Beard

As many of you know, I grew a beard for a contest at work.  The Friday after we returned from Thanksgiving, we all lined up and were judged to determine who had the best beard.  Judges were to assess us based on four categories: length, fullness, manliness, and overall appearance.  Most of the judges were employees at the office, but we did have two "celebrity" judges: a local DJ and a former local news anchor, both of whose names escape me.  With the judging completed, the scores were tallied (by someone in accounting, to make sure it was done right) and the top three winners were named.

I didn't even place.  I may have been fourth or dead last, but I'll never know.  I think I lost because my beard is so light-colored these days and because the shape makes it appear less full than others.  I don't regret participating in the contest, but I doubt I'll join in next year.

One nice thing about the contest was that we raised money for the American Cancer Society (ACS), nearly $3,500 this year.  I didn't raise much, but I did get a couple of people to sponsor me, so I helped out a little.  Though again, I doubt I'll be back for more in 2016.

Left to right: Jeff, one rep from ACS, Jason, Neal, the unknown DJ, Matt (first place), Morten (second place), the unknown anchor, me, Don, the other rep from ACS.

Can't Stop Baking

For the Thanksgiving celebration at my sister's, we had fifteen pies.  Even with us cheating by buying a few pies from the store, that's still a lot of pies to make.  My sister, Margot, made three pies and her nine-year-old son, Peter, made one too.  That left me to make six pies myself.  What flavor of pies did we have?  Nearly all of them.

• 3 sugar-free, crustless pumpkin pies (Margot)
• 2 double-sweet pumpkin pies (me)
• 2 chocolate angel pies (me)
• 1 sugar-free apple pie (Peter)
• 1 pecan pie (me)
• 1 eggnog pie (me)
• 1 razzleberry pie (store)
• 1 coconut creme pie (store)
• 1 mince pie (store)
• 1 sugary cherry pie (store)
• 1 sugar-free cherry pie (store bought, but we had to put it together)

The week after I came back, I barely cooked for myself and I ate out way too much since I was worn out from all the time I spent in the kitchen.  Well, I guess I'm over it because I brought muffins to share with my coworkers on Monday, I brought some weird pseudo-brownies in today, and I have plans for more stuff for Friday and Saturday.  I guess after a long day at work, nothing relaxes me like making sugary treats.

A rare bearded baker at work in his natural habitat.

Tuesdays with Media: OED's Word of the Year, 2015

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the odd choices the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) made with new the entries they were adding for the first time.  This time around, I'll simply be focusing on the word the OED declared as the word of the year for 2015.  The word is .  For my readers that don't know, that little picture is called an emoji, and it's mostly used in text messaging.  Even when it shows up in other places, it only appears in text-based communication since it can't be spoken.

This year's word choice (excuse me, "word choice") is stupid.  According to the OED, they chose it because it "best reflect the ethos, mood, and preoccupations of 2015," but it's still really dumb.  I accept that emoji are a part of life nowadays, but that doesn't make them words.  I think of words as a form of communication that is used verbally and can be represented on page or screen with text -- that is to say, words are verbal first and visual second.  According to the OED's definition, a word can be either spoken or written, so I suppose by their standard it fits, but it doesn't make it any less stupid.

And it's especially frustrating because one of the words that made it to the shortlist was "they" to refer to an individual of unspecified gender.  I've been arguing for years that this definition should be recognized because as a culture we've been using for as long as I can remember.  "They" is not only a real word, it's been in use for much longer -- emoji were first available English speakers (adopted from the Japanese) in 2000, but only really became popular in the last few years.

As with last year, this year's recognition feels like a bunch of lexicographers that are trying hard to be relevant in word that increasingly doesn't care about them ... and it's actually working.  I just wrote an entire blog post ranting about how stupid their decision was, but would I have done so if they had chosen "they" like I wanted?  Maybe, but I'm an English nerd.  I'm betting that this year's word got a lot of people talking, though I'd guess most of it was negative.  If the OED was going by the mantra "there's no such thing as bad publicity," then I guess they accomplished their goal.

But it's still stupid.

Vacation's Vaction

Hello, faithful reader: I have returned!  I didn't mean to worry anyone with my absence; I was simply exhausted from my Thanksgiving trip -- during which time I also did not write.  Basically, I took a vacation, then I needed a little vacation to recover from said vacation.  I still had to go into work, of course, but pretty much nothing else happened.

However, with my much needed rest (and much enjoyed vacation) complete, I'm back to updating regularly.  There may be a few hiccups as I get back in the swing of things, but I don't anticipate missing any more posts.