Slow but sure

I went to see the new James Bond movie, "SkyFall", yesterday.  It was good.  It wasn't great - I still think that Bourne would kick Bond's a$$ any day of the week but that's just me.  And although it contained all the bang and boom you'd expect from a Bond movie it was a much more personal, introspective movie.  It dealt with some very personal, and dark, issues.

Part of it had to do with aging.  Bond hasn't really aged in person so it's hard to believe that the Franchise of Bond has been around for 50 years.  I remember Bond spy gadgets from when I was 5 or 6 years old.  But one thing I'm glad to see is that the movies have matured.  I really like Daniel Craig as Bond, and the introspection about relevance and duty and humanity....those themes transcend the genre.

Anyway, of course the movie found more than its fair share of reasons for Bond to take his shirt off to reveal his well sculpted shoulders but those shoulders were scarred, and they showed the wear and tear that life has taken not only on the body, but on the psyche.  Shoulders are symbolically where we carry our "load", and at some stage in life we realize that our shoulders aren't what they once were.

Anyway, that's a lot of philosophizing about something that's probably fairly simple but it's true.  I enjoyed the movie, and make a special point to see it in IMAX.  I don't go to IMAX all the time because if I did - it'd make the movies I see there less special.  But some movies scream to me to be seen there - on the huge screen with the thunderous sound.  Mission Impossible 3 was one.  This was another.  The panoramic night shots of Shanghai were particularly memorable for some reason....

I don't like to take my work home with me, but at the end of the day Thursday I was livid.  Seething.  I wrote a couple of work emails that I knew I shouldn't send while as angry as I was so I put them into my draft folder for further consideration with a less cranky mind.  I never sent them.  When I get mad I can do some pretty impulsive things....I guess we all can.  Hopefully the ability to pause and recognize that it's probably best to do many things with a calmer attitude is something that's part of maturity, and I've come to realize that maturity doesn't end.  It keeps on going.  Thankfully.

It's supposed to be a beautiful weekend here and I hope to enjoy it.  I'm helping some friends who own a wine/cheese shop at an annual Steeple Chase event here known as the Charleston Cup.  I'm not sure what they need me to do, but regardless of what it is I'm up to it.

Lastly, there was an article on Huffington Post that caught my interest.  It's about a little boy who wanted wear a dress for Halloween (story here).  At 12 years old I was that little boy.  And I asked my mom if I could be a cheerleader for Halloween.  The strength of her sense of "No", and "Inappropriate" is something that forced me into a deep closer from which I wouldn't emerge for decades.  It seems almost silly that something so trivial can have such a profound impact, and although as we've discussed it in recent years she has no recollection of it but for me - it was life-changing.  I see stories like that, and it warms my heart.  As much as the outcome of the election or other things happening in the bigger world, that kind of thing gives me hope....

I also took time last night to move some of my photos to the hard drive that archives ALL my photos.  I take lots of pictures, and one of my frustrations is that I've got so many of them but haven't done anything with them recently.  I'm moving forward with them....slowly but surely.  :)