Dead Man's Chest of Drawers

We watched the dvd of Pirates of the Caribbean last night, Dead Man's Chest. I was surprised at how slow the movie was, despite the many fun little things they threw in. Also Johnny Depp's character, Jack Sparrow, was much slighter in this than the last. He's sleazier and the sleazy is less redeemed than it was in the first one. We Americans like the hero to be somewhat disreputable, but turn out to be a man of honor after all. Captain Sparrow can't quite decide, in this story, if he has anything beyond personal self-interest in any part of the world.

There is, late in the flick, a mild love story between him and the girl (Keira Knightley?). This raises the temperature, but only briefly. Of course she can't possibly betray the Orlando Bloom character who is the one honest man in it all. Considering Jack Sparrow's remarkable sex appeal to the female of the race, you would think they would have some sort of exceedingly hot love story cooked up for him in the second one. Frankly the girl is sheer waste in this one. She doesn't really even get to be the strong feminine figure she was in the first one.

Most of the appeal, according to the filmmakers, must revolve around the Kraken, a giant octopus with a lot more than 8 tentacles. This is the groovy special effects part of the movie, but it was not that interesting and frankly unbelievable when they fight it off with gunpowder and rum kegs. Yawn. Yawn again.

I liked the voodoo chick, but the scene dragged on. There's an entire opening sequence among the cannibals that is utterly superflous to the socalled plot. Just a chance to get some black folk in the story, I guess. The only good part of that whole sequence (and it must last ten or fifteen minutes), is when Johnny has gotten away and there's only the poor dog standing on the beach and the group of cannibals, at least a hundred strong, all turn toward it and it suddenly realizes it's what's for dinner and it takes off down the beach. Cute. But that is the level of humor. As good as it gets.

Still the Davy Jones/Flying Dutchman stuff, dominated by extreme makeup and appliances on the actors, is actually pretty good. And the guy who plays Orlando Bloom's doomed father was pretty darn good. That stuff held my interest the best of anything in the movie.

Gotta love Johnny though. It's a good look for him. Two and a half stars. I'll probably never see it again. And I have seen the first one four or five times.

Food
Kimberly made a wonderful soup for dinner. But, more importantly, she made rice chrispy treats with callebaut white chocolate. And they are way too good. Other than that we are essentially broke, so we are just going to try and get by this week. Anyway we both could eat less, that's for sure.

Saturday I bought a ribeye, and I made mashed potatoes with butter and gorgonzola cheese stirred in at the end. We also had baby spinach that I boiled up, drained and stirred some cream cheese and butter into. That meal rocked pretty hard. I used the leftover steak on Sunday for steak sandwiches on crescent rolls with gorgonzola and vidalia onion slices.

We also put up our Yule tree and decorated it, and we shopped for faraway relatives so we could put that stuff in the mail. Mostly accomplished this morning.

Politics
Well Bush is between a rock and a hard place, but I don't think he'll budge anyway. Anything that looks to him like failure is just not gonna play. I think he honestly expects his xtian god to show up and make everything right for him. Honestly, the guy is weird, stupid and incompetent. Nobody really likes him, except people who imagine they are just like him. Interestingly enough this group seems to be shrinking every day. His approval numbers are down to 30% and there is absolutely no doubt these numbers are going to sink into the twenties as time passes and nothing changess. And even if he did change something, I don't think there is any way it can help him now. Too little, too late.

And Pinochet died in Chile. Too bad he never had to pay for the torture and murder he did. I'll bet money that some day indictments are issued for George W. and Cheney in Europe and they'll quit traveling. Not that it matters, you can't escape justice as Augusto is finding out right now in the afterlife. He faces all the lies he told to himself and others and he must apprehend, live, all the suffering and pain he caused. And he must die, over and over again, as many times as there are victims. Glad it is not me. I think it's amazing that people honestly think they can do these things with no ultimate responsibility. Well, they don't know what I know. But too bad for them.

Finally, I must go and be a good dad here. I hope you are well, whoever may read these words, at whatever time. May we all revel in the Lady's world, as the days shorten and the nights lengthen and the sense of renewal builds in us all. To the Goddess.