rocking the moving walkway

Here's another addition to the things-that-are-fun-but-not-acceptable-for-adults: walking the wrong way on a moving walkway (or escalator). I did not jump on the many, many opportunities I had to partake in such fun during my 9 hours waiting in the Detroit airport yesterday, but I probably should have. Unfortunately, it is a game that often leads to the annoying disruption of other people who are trying to get to their flights, thus making the term "childish" a bit more appropriate for the activity. But at the same time, if you are a Schadenfreudist (i think we all are to a certain degree), bothering people who are already teetering on the edge of insanity--i.e. most people in airports--can be fun, presuming, of course, that you don't get punched in the process.

I think in the future I will try to make regular posts whose theme revolves around an activity that you know you loved as a child and still (secretly) love today.

Today I also returned to working out in the weight room for the first time in over a year as I began to feel very very out of shape. It was the first time I do it at MIT... and, to my delight, even at MIT there are douche bags who constantly check themselves out flexing in the mirror and who scream wildly while lifting heavy objects and replacing them to their original location (my favorite, 100% accurate description of weightlifting and its absurdity when you really think about what you're doing). Maybe those guys are in Aeronautical Engineering and are required as part of their thesis defense to tow the spacecraft by hand to the launching pad. It's like World's Strongest Man, but to save humanity.

I know what you're thinking: World's Strongest Man does save humanity... from falling pianos and large stone continent replicas (picture needed!).

catching up on movies

Finally, I sat down and watched all three original star wars films. They were great. The ewoks are adorable. I dont know what it is about short, round, furry creatures that makes them so cute (although the Exploratorium in SF pointed out in one exhibit that you can make anything shorter, fatter, and with rounder edges and it immediately becomes cute), but obviously no one can resist stuffed animals defeating robots and droids armed with laser guns to save the universe.

Last night we also watched "The Band's Visit" which is this fantastic movie about an Egyptian classical music police orchestra that gets lost in Israel and ends up in a little town for a night. It starts off slow (something not really appreciated until later in the movie) but ends up being a very tightly-written story of people from very different cultures--one of the character's covering up the photo of the big israeli tank with his hat being a classic moment--having very common, human problems and dreams. The acting is beautiful, in particular Tawfiq (taw-FEEK), the excessively-formal orchestra conductor, and the scene at the roller-disco with Khaled (the young womanizer) and Papi is priceless. If it's not obvious already, I can't say enough about this film. It's not the greatest film of all time, but it is well-written, explores a lot of interesting themes, particularly about humanity across cultures, but what makes it so great is that this is done with really very few words--in fact, the words that are not said because the characters cannot translate emotions into english carries significance on its own.

Not that Star Wars wasn't stirring in its own right.

For the inner child...

Aha! Ah the glory that is sitting on the toilet on Christmas morning--clearly the best place in the universe for ideas to smack you in the face.

I have had several discussions over the last year about why it is that people are ashamed to admit that, deep down, they love bumper cars. And snowball fights. And sledding. It is so ingrained in us that we are "adults" now and so we must act like it, meaning that having unbridled fun is no longer a part of the life equation.

Here's to throwing enough snowballs at those people to get them to finally let loose and throw a few back. Now shutup and come play Stratego with me.

woohoo, it's a blog! wtf?

Blogging sounds fun. I suppose you're really supposed to blog about something. So I'll get on thinking about that. In the meantime, tomorrow is christmas (err... Christmas), so I better get my inner Jesus ready. Ready, that is, to watch star wars for the first time--so the MIT kids will finally stop mocking me for not having seen it.

At least I've seen Spaceballs.