Monday : 10 July 2006
Not a bad day for the beginning of the week.  The work day was pretty quiet, as was the post-work day.

On Saturday, and I headed to downtown SLC to take in a few acts at the 6th Annual Salt Lake City International Jazz Festival.  It was good.  Crowded, but good.  The venue we visited was on the grounds of the City & County Building.  I wanted to see – and saw – Patty Austin (1, 2), who did a tribute to Ella Fitzgerald and The Rippingtons.  Both musical sets were very good.  It reminded me of going to the jazz club back home… before it closed.  *sigh* 

The best thing about the festival: It was free.  Lots of good music… out in the open air…. FOR FREE.  When we first got there, we had to stand – it was that crowded.  After Ms. Austin’s set was done, Groove Station performed on the second stage.  This was apparently peoples’ cue to move around.  As such, we were able to find a couple of seats a little closer to the stage for The Rippingtons’ set.  This was all well and good… until a little before their set started.  Then, people started closing in a bit.  *shrug*  There were still places for them to stand or sit and not completely obstruct our view.  Then people started sitting/lying on the grass.  The roped-off-so-that-people-wouldn’t-sit-on-it grass.  This was fine until security came along and informed them that they couldn’t sit there.  So they moved.  Right into my line of sight of the stage.  *sigh*  I started to get a little irritated at the lack of courtesy that these people showed.

Then I had an epiphany:

  • The festival was free (I covered this above, didn’t I?).
  • I still had… something… of a view of the stage, even with the people standing (mostly) in the way.
  • I could still hear the music.
  • And, did I mention:  “Free?”

At that thought, sat back and enjoyed the music.  It was a good way to spend a summer night in the city.

Sunday, we saw Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (I keep referring to it as Pirates 2: Electric Boogaloo, though).  It was a fun movie… but it lacked something.  I had a good time, but by the end, it just felt like something was missing.  And that it was a little too long.  The effects were good.  The sets and scenery were good.  The acting was also good.  So, it must have been the (lack of) story.  There wasn’t very much there… other than a convenient way to set up Pirates 3: The Search for Spock.

Four-Color Coverage
I was talking with Matt, a coworker who is also a comics fan, last week.  We were talking about the books that came out a couple of weeks ago.  Specifically, we talked about Captain Atom: Armageddon.  We both felt that the story had a great build-up and some really great potential… until the end.  Then, lo and behold: Here’s the deus ex machina to save the day and make everything all better.  Riiiight.

And then, I realized something:  The whole story, from the way it was set up in Superman-Batman through the final pages of Issue #9, was nothing but a retelling of The Wizard of Oz.  I explained:

  • Captain Atom was “Dorothy,” all he wanted – and almost whined about – for the duration of the series was to go home.
  • There were heroes – and regular people – whom he met who became friends. (Think “Scarecrow,” “Tin Woodsman,” and/or “Lion” … no flying monkeys, though.)
  • There were others, like The Authority, a WSU supergroup,  who decidedly had his worst interests (“Let’s just kill him and get this whole business over with…”) at heart.  These people could be considered as many forms of The Wicked Witch of the West.
  • The general populace of the WildStorm Earth were the Munchkins – always in awe (and more than a little scared) of the powerful beings from afar or in Oz (represented by The Authority’s orbiting space station, The Carrier).
  • There was even a scene were a building collapsed on someone.  No ruby slippers, though.
  • And in the end, it wasn’t the Wizard (Jack Hawksmoor and company) who sent Dorothy Captain Atom home, it was the Glinda the Good Witch figure, represented by the new incarnation of Void.

Once I made my pitch, Matt considered it and agreed.  And we both came to the same thought:  Maybe rereading it not as a Captain Atom story, but as a twist on Oz might make the whole mini-series more palatable, less flat and might actually breathe some life into it.

Stray Toasters

  • I’m craving ice cream.  Again.
  • I’ve been enjoying the fan-fic from the City of Stories podcast.
  • For : Dark Times for Star Wars Line
  • Head over heels
    Where should I go?
    Can’t stop myself
    Outta control
    Head over heels
    No time to think
    Looks like
    The whole world’s out of sync

  • Who Wants To Be a Superhero?  Um… yeah.
  • I also believe that Nox will appreciate this:
  • If you live in the SLC Metro area:  Porcupine Pub and Grill.  Two words: Raspberry Wheat.
  • “Ladies?  Join you?”
    “Damon, men are from Mars.  Only Venusian is spoken here.”
    “I speak Haagen Daz, I-UNHH!”
    “Have a seat.”

Quote of the Day
While driving home after dinner, Troy (‘s six-year-old) came up with a list of things one can and can’t do in a car.  He’s going through the list and out pops this gem:

“We can’t do everything at the same time in the car.  We can rub something…OR we can drive.  But we can’t rub something AND drive.”

Did I mention that he is six?!    As best we can tell, the subject had come up over the weekend, while he was visiting his father.  *shrug*  I was laughing so hard that I almost had to pull the car over.

And that’s a wrap.