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June 28, 2007
The Floor is now Open
Not much going on to chat about so I figured I would throw the floor open to questions. Feel free to ask about Weekly World News, any already announced projects, my government life or baseball. I'll gather the questions over the next few days and then post the answers.
Meantime, I had a very productive meeting yesterday on the unannounced project. It has finally solidiifed in form and content, although there's a lot of new work to be done to shape the 78% already written to conform to my editor's wishes. Additionally, my end needs to be done and turned in by August 31 so a deadline really exists. I'll be a very busy boy this summer.
So of course, that also means one of my other dormant projects has come to life. I'm very happy to say that this week work has begun on a sequel story to "Things that Aren't," the story Michael A. Burstein and I had published in Analog a few months back. Every day this week, I've been getting chunks of the first draft and it's neat seeing it come to life.
Interestingly, Michael writes in a non-linear manner. He writes scenes that he feels ready to write whether the occur in the beginning, middle or end of the story. As a result, I see gaps and wonder what will happen next. I also see written scenes that I know I want to play with. I warned him about my schedule and that I need to see a finished draft before I get to tinkering since, after all, he could have something in mind for an unwritten scene that may be spoiled if I change a set-up in a previous scene. I think it'll be for the best but it's neat to see it come together.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:41 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 26, 2007
Meeting Marathon
You can feel the cold descending on you. You’re losing energy, the mind starts to wade through cotton batting and that irritation in throat starts to hurt. Yep, it’s a full-fledged summer cold sure to cause aches and pains, keep me up at night and make dry cough all through the day despite my favorite medicines.
A perfect time for a meeting marathon.
Last night the RTM Standing Committees convened at 7 to finish left over business form the previous week so we could attack the full agenda t 8 p.m. Well, the first snag began when it appeared Finance and Legislation & Administration had their public notices messed up, preventing us from formally meeting. Instead, we sat as member of the public listening to a slam-dunk presentation regarding applying for a state grant.
We then had about thirty minutes for our usual caucuses and since there was truly nothing controversial on the thirteen point Agenda, we had time to kill. The main meeting ran a tidy 60 minutes as we whipped through everything that filled in some committee vacancies, paid off on a contract obligation, applied for some state monies and even heard two reports on existing programs.
By 9, as others headed out for the socialable soda, my Special Committee reconvened. To my surprise, we had only three members of the public attend as opposed to the 34 who were there the last time. We spent an hour going back and forth over the Demolition Delay and by the end of that time, I had worked through several tissues and had my mind focused on bed. However, it appears we’re slowly moving in a direction that may wrap this up once and for all. By the time I got home at nearly 10:30 I was beat, but spent time with Katie, to play some catch-up and listen to her concerns over the future.
This morning, I woke up even fuzzier, and discovered an oddly timed piece about the committee running in the Connecticut Post. Page one no less. I find the timing odd since the article ran too late for people to come to last night’s meeting and ran too early to cover the events of last night’s meeting. I took the phrase “weak” leadership personally although others interpreted it to mean our First Selectman. Either way, it didn’t sit well.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:52 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 24, 2007
Successful Saturday
Interestingly, on Friday, my colleague Jennifer and I got into a debate over how people spend their time with me so hardwired to be constantly productive, my family has begun to complain I don’t know how to relax.
I got a taste of relaxation on Saturday.
But, first, there were things to do. After a round of Fairfield errands, I took the ferry over to Port Jefferson where I was collected by Peter David. By the time we made it back to his home, our co-conspirators Mike Friedman and Keith DeCandido were on hand. Soon after, we were joined by long time pal Glenn Hauman who was there for something entirely different.
After he got to work on making a house call to Peter’s computer, he joined us as we began rehearsing for Mystery Trekkie Theatre. We ran through the opening skit a few times, making each other laugh as we got our lines and rhythms into synch. Then, we began to compare notes on this year’s episode. Now, this was our twelfth episode so we had set jokes, stuff that was so obvious, we all came up with the same lines. Then came the lines where one or two of us had conflicting notions, coupled with stuff that occurred to us as the episode played. We were constantly pausing; rewinding, debating and making each other guffaw. Glenn threw out lines and I had a sheet of notes from Robbie, who couldn’t attend but wanted to participate (and he’ll be thrilled at least one of his suggestions made it). All along, I’m forming the master script with time codes, assigning speakers, and scribbling the actual line (which, without the episode is the greatest collection of nonsequitors you can ever find). Peter and Kathleen were the consummate hosts, with plenty to drink and bowls of snacks, with young Caroline doing her part by handing us snacks.
By 2:30 or so, we had not only finished the episode, but also a pizza, and were feeling pretty good. Keith had just missed a train and it was too late to leave for the 3 p.m. ferry so we all had an unexpected hour to kill. With Free Enterprise playing on the TV, a curious sense of timing, we just sat and schmoozed and…relaxed. What a nice feeling to just hang with friends. We tend to all be so busy, we see each other at meals, conventions and other joint events but rarely just hanging out.
I was feeling pretty good on the ride back across Long Island. Now, of course, I’m faced with the reality of obligations that will keep me going for a while before I can do that relaxing thing again.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 10:01 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 22, 2007
Across the World Wide Web...
Been a busy week between work, writing, a trade show and other stuff. Still, it’s also been a busy time for me on line, too.
I did a few columns for Comic Mix which can be found here.
Then, I got interviewed about the now 21-year-old Whos Who which went live this morning at Silver Bullet.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 08:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 21, 2007
A Trip to the Licensing Show
The annual Licensing Show has been in town this week and it’s really the Land of Hopes and Dreams. Vendors large and small, suppliers, merchandisers, intellectual property holders and the like all gather at the Jacob Javits Center to convince buyers that they have the Next Great Thing. The major studios flog their forthcoming releases for 2008 into 2009. People wander the vast hall searching for things that might make great t-shirts or comic books or mugs or calendars and then hope to land a deal before the next guy can beat you to it.
I’ve been to the show before and remain dazzled at the depth and breadth of material for every demographic imaginable. This year I was there to browse the aisles for idea that might help Weekly World News and I also was keeping an eye out on pop culture trends to report on over at (a href=http://www.comicmix.com/>Comic Mix.
With the latter in mind, I admit it was cool seeing the full-size mock-up of the Mach 5 from next year’s Speed Racer movie and the batcycle from The Dark Knight. On the flip side, Marvel barely let you see anything, unless you had an appointment and even then, there was scant new visuals from next year’s Iron Man or Incredible Hulk. And no, not a single image or design from next year’s reimagined Star Trek (Paramount had a mock TOS Bridge set up and you could pose in the captain’s chair and I admit to being so photographed.) Scholastic and New Line were pushing The Golden Compass very hard and one NL rep mentioned that few arriving had ever heard of the book or forthcoming film so it was a harder than anticipated sell.
I realize I am now of an age that what appeals to today’s toddlers and kids is a mystery. Nick Jr. was pushing something called Wubbzy, which I can’t quite make heads or tails out of but I then discovered it was created by the wife of an old pal who I used to compete with in the Fantasy Baseball League – so I wish her well.
Did I see anything new or thrilling or gosh-wow enough to make me excited? No, not really. Pick a category and I saw knockoffs. Like girl power? Try Europe’s Totally Spies! : “Hippest spies wear the coolest outfits whilst battling evil. Totally Spies! is a fast paced comedy and high-energy action series, starring 3 Beverly Hills teen girls who unwittingly become secret agents.”
Can’t get enough Digimon or Yu-gi-oh? Try Di-Gata Defenders: “an action adventure series which follows the legendary quest of four young heroes entrusted with finding four pure stones and returning order to their world. With the help of the powerful Guardian creatures, the young defenders must learn to harness the energy of the Di-Gata stones before evil villains unlock the Megalith and trigger chaos throughout the realm.”
Variations of the anime look and feel included Galacktik Football, a new sport in the future with teen players; and Eyeshield 21, spinning out of Shonen Jump and featuring hi-tech football.
If anything, the freshest animated series I saw being flogged probably Little Amadeus, the adventures of young Mozart. Already sold around the country, they’re looking for someone to pick it up domestically.
There was a life-size Little Amadeus walking the floor, one of more than a dozen such characters to shake hands or pose for pictures. Sadly, I recognized but a few of them and one confused me entirely. I thought he was a Tarzan knockoff but it was the new style of art for the return of George of the Jungle.
Some companies exist to represent brands in case you want to put logos from ice cream chains or candy companies on your product. I thought it interesting that mixed in between Mr. Clean and Mrs. Butterworth were performers Nicollet Sheriden, being sold as a brand. Of course, this being the 30th anniversary of his death, it made sense to have a large presence for Elvis but cooler were the displays for Dean Martin and John Wayne, icons deserving of their own spaces.
There were athletes, chefs, ultimate fighters, wrestlers and the like all in attendance. Mort Walker drew Beetle Bailey while we watched. But the people who thrilled me were the former DC and Marvel staffers I saw scattered across the floor and in booths. It was great catching up with many familiar faces.
Speaking of comics, it was hard to tell that was the bread and butter for DC and Marvel but Virgin Comics was there and they had tons of comics to read and deals to make. Tucked in another corner was newcomer Praxis Comics, which debuted within the last year. Their sampler had some interesting concepts but the art was weak. In an entirely different corner sat my old pal Matt Haley who was pushing his co-creation, G.I. Spy, published by Boom Studios and that was certainly worth a look.
You could graze your way through the building. Sony had cotton candy to push their first all-CGI kids’ film, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. Several had candies of all sorts from CBS Consumer Products’ I Love Lucy chocolates to Spam’s spam-sushi. Someone sponsored a constant supply of cookies stationed in the aisles and others had gum or even the marshmellowy Peeps.
All in all it was a fun way to spend several hours and I’ll be curious to see if any of this stuff actually catches lightning in a bottle.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 18, 2007
Father's Day
Since some asked how Father’s Day went, I thought I’d cover the weekend which had its own rewards.
Deb and the kids were in Florida since Thursday and weren’t due back until Sunday night so I had loads of time on my hands and an agenda of stuff to accomplish. Thursday night I worked late at the office for maybe the second time in the year I’ve been at Weekly World News, so the timing was excellent. Then I got home and did my first prep for Mystery Trekkie Theatre, to be performed at Shore Leave in just a few weeks.
Friday night, after work, I sat down and wrote what I thought was going to be the first half of the Captain Midnight story due at Moonstone in a little while. Given that this was my first time with the character, working from a bible that was an amalgamation of the differing incarnations, I found myself flipping between bible and word document quite a bit. Still, I got 2500 words done and then managed to still watch some TV.
Saturday, after some puttering around and waking up, I went down figuring it’d take a few hours to knock out the second half. Well, it took a little longer than I thought, but not because of the Bible. I was well into the story by then. In fact, writing prose after my other time consuming project felt great. When I was done, I had managed to amass a 7590 word draft for my 5000 story. But I had a draft to whittle down to shape.
I ran errands for a few hours and then came back to return to the basement office and back to work on the Unnamed Project. I worked on that until about 7 and then made myself dinner and watched The Unbearable Lightness of Being. I had seen it before, years ago, but had read something referring it recently so it had been on my mind. It was still a very well done film with some great performances.
Sunday, I finished the last few episodes of Veronica Mars to start the day. (Side note: given my comments the other day about finales, let me say that this was how not to do it. The series just ended with too many threads left dangling and no sense of satisfaction.) It was then off to the gym, home, shower, start the laundry and back to the Project. Pretty much the rest of the day was writing, folding and lunch until about 6. However, once I shut down the system, I was 74% done with the project and suddenly I saw the light flick on at the far end of the tunnel. Boy did that feel good. Even better, my editor recently said it will be announced soon and then I can finally talk about it.
Collected Deb and the kids from the airport, picked up takeout and settled in the family room to bond over Chinese food and the Mets/Yankees game. While our team forgot to play, it was great being with the family once more.
Robbie couldn’t wait and as I was dishing out the food, he presented me with my gift. Back as a kid, for whatever reason, my favorite Met was first baseman Ed Kranepool. Don’t ask me why, but the burly slugger was my fave and Robbie gifted me with autographed pictures of the man which was really sweet.
Kate said I’d have to wait until today for my gift. Turns out, I’m still waiting. She did give me a placeholder gift: a pound bag of blue and orange M&Ms, continuing the Mets theme this weekend.
You might imagine, all in all, it was a productive and satisfying weekend capped off in the nicest way possible.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:44 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
June 16, 2007
Slings & Arrows covers
Paramount has approved all six covers for the 20th anniversary eBook celebration of Star Trek: The Next generation. These were all executed by my old friend Mike Collins, who also continues to create the Matthew Daemon, SOS over at Weekly World News.
Book five will be all mine, entitled A Weary Life and yesterday I received word the outline is at long last approved so I can now add it to the To Do list. Thankfully, Keith, my editor, has given me a deadline that allows me sufficient time to really dig into this.
You can see all six here.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:23 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 14, 2007
Two Endings
This has been an interesting week for endings with a lot of discussion going on as to how a long-running series should end. Of course, the general public has been fixated on the way David Chase chose to end The Sopranos after eight years.
Now, I haven’t seen this last mini-season – it’s all stored on the trusty DVR – but it was on my mind as I sat down last night for the final installment of an even longer running series.
During my first stint at DC Comics, I was always keeping an eye out on what other publishers were up to. In some cases, it was to see who was working and what they were up to. In other cases, it was because my steady diet of super-hero comics left me desiring to read comics about something else. When Patty Jeres started raving about this new miniseries form a small press, I decided to give it a try.
I haven’t missed an issue of Strangers in Paradise ever since.
This week, the final issue came out, putting an end to the long running drama about some real people who endured a lot out of love and friendship for one another. The work was nothing short of riveting, often times stunning. Terry Moore, the writer and artist, explored many themes and took his characters to some very unexpected places as he let his saga of Katchoo and Francine play out.
Along the way, I got to meet Terry on the convention circuit and had the pleasure to share a few meals with me. He was a great, unassuming guy who just wanted to be a storyteller. I was pleased to have had some time getting to know him and have been a supporter of his work ever since.
And now it is over.
Unlike Chase, Terry chose to neatly wrap up all the storylines and put his characters in specific places to leave the reader satisfied.
While his series was a little melodramatic compared to real life, how his characters acted and interrelated always felt real. And unlike real life, the ending was neat and tidy. I found myself tremendously satisfied and pleased that Terry left us with the gift of closure. I’ll miss them all, but am pleased to know how it ended.
The Sopranos, also melodramatic, was more like real life in that life goes for all the people still left breathing when the screen went blank. Like real life, we don’t always know how things turn out. I totally lost track of Duane, who for one semester was my college roommate or Heidi, my first series high school girlfriend. Their lives continue but my involvement with them, ended long ago. Am I satisfied in not knowing what became of them? I’m certainly curious.
However, after eight years of investment in Tony and his clan, viewers had come to expect a finish. After all, we watched the WJM crew turn out the lights in Minneapolis and followed Hawkeye’s chopped as it lifted above the 4077th. Even the one-armed man was captured. We’ve been trained to expect the period at the end of the sentence and get disappointed when we’re not supplied the resolution (one reason why people get pissed when serials get canceled before they can end -- The Nine, for example.
Chase followed his artistic instincts and gave us the ending he wanted. No multiple endings shot, only an inconsequential page of Meadow actually entering the ice cram parlor, which changed nothing. He gave us the lives of these people and chose how he wanted things to finish…fading to black and letting our imaginations complete the story.
Terry went a different way, equally as valid. And again, thanks to conditioning as a consumer of mass media, perhaps more satisfying. I salute Terry for his achievement and can’t wait to see his new series, promised for the fall.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 03:46 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 13, 2007
Another Iron into the Fire
As if I was not juggling enough balls in the air, I’ve wound up adding one more.
There’s an open call for a media tie-in anthology that I thought would be fun to try out for. This particular one is seeking stories on a specific theme so it focuses one’s thoughts. The theme got me to thinking about something that caught my eye while in Egypt a few months back and that spawned the germ of a story.
It then occurred to me that I really didn’t know the property with the kind of depth necessary to know which characters from the supporting cast this would best work for. I mentioned this to a pal over lunch a few weeks back and he liked the kernel and got very excited at the notion, especially since he knows this property far better than I. When he suggested collaborating, it seemed like a natural.
I sent him the open call specs and then fleshed out my kernel and he threw back a lot of variations on the theme with this or that character. He then pointed out where the property touched on similar ideas and found twists to make the idea still viable. Over the course of the last two weeks, one or the other of us would throw some ideas back and forth. We liked the basics but couldn’t find the one story that made both of us excited. This morning, though, he e-mailed with three ideas: one dramatic, one comedic and one not quite there. Suddenly things clicked into place and I told him I really liked the dramatic notion and he agreed although the comedic notion still tugged at him. We may pitch both to the editor and see if either sells.
Meantime, in the last few days I’ve continued steady output. The Unnamed Project chugs along at about 67% complete. I’ve drafted some stories for Weekly World News and even rewrote the Demolition Delay ordinance since we’ll be discussing that again in a few weeks.
Deb and the kids will be away for a long weekend starting tomorrow so I’ve been mentally allocating the time to ensure everything gets done and we’ll see, by Sunday, if I was judicious or overly ambitious.
I do know this, the next few weeks look to be chock full of activity so by month’s end, I’ll be ready for a nice break.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 04:19 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 10, 2007
Well, that Worked
Long before Kate came home, Deb had it in her head we should have a family barbecue so she could see the three Uncles in the vicinity. When Kate mentioned something similar, plus her desire for an all-American barbecue, things started to click and a surprise gathering was planned.
It became difficult to pull off once she was actually in the house as extra-large quantities of food stuffs began to appear here and there. Then, your’s truly, accidentally left the notation ‘barbecue’ on the master family calendar followed by a slip of the tongue on Wednesday. By Saturday, as we began prep around her, she knew something was up. Of course, she had no idea how many were coming, or who was on the guest list. We decided to do all the prep around her, without acknowledging her queries.
By 2 p.m. and the first guests turned up, she was ready for anything. It was a smallish affair, compared to some of our other gatherings, with invitations sent out on the fly. Robbie feverishly worked Facebook to secretly invite her closest pals, only to learn how many were actually out of town this summer (ironically, most in Washington). Which worked as the headcount fluctuated, especially when one Uncle admitted he had forgotten all about it and booked work that day while another attendee had a death in the family.
Still, it was a smash success as everyone not only mixed well and got along, but had a great time. The weather was iffy all day; cool, cloudy with occasional drizzles so we kept things indoors except the actually barbecuing. The menu did include hamburgers, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, green salad, fruit salad, etc. capped off by a ton of desserts.
The friends that could attend were instructed to come at 5 for a second wave. I happened to be seated next to Kate when she spotted her friend Kelly’s car pull up. She was delighted but then was out of her chair and through the house like a bullet when she saw who came out of the passenger side. Robbie suggested and then helped arrange that Mikey, Kate’s ballroom dance partner, come up from Washington as a surprise. Kelly agreed to host/hide him until arrival.
People chatted, mixed, ate, chatted and ate some more. Our pre-dinner time included an impromptu Cold Stone Creamery run so there was ice cream both before and after dinner, which seemed to fit the mood.
By 8:30, it was down to the family, Kelly and Mikey so we finally settled in and watched the video of Guys & Dolls, featuring our delightful daughter as Adelaide. As college productions go it was pretty darn good. She deserved all the positive accolades she received in Egypt and I’m very thankful we had a copy to see it.
All in all, a terrific welcome-back-to-America day.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 09:36 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 07, 2007
I Give Up
I’m not normally a quitter but even I know when to give up a losing battle (especially when I’m hit over the head about it by my wife).
Since joining the Cable Advisory Council last year, at roughly this time, I have seen the group as incredibly well meaning but incredibly unable to properly represent the cable rate payers in Area 2 (from Orange to Fairfield). At the time I joined, Cablevision and Sound View, the third party provider of public access programming, were being reviewed for refranchsing. As I have lamented here before, despite the CAC, Cablevision and state attorney general begging the Department of Public Utilities Commission (DPUC) not to renew Sound View, in the fall, the DPUC ignored us all.
Not only that, the CAC was somewhat defanged during this process and SV somewhat empowered. This despite clear examples of fiscal malfeasance on the part of SV.
Meantime, we were asking Cablevision to consider senior discounting and the DPUC told them to improve their customer service. We were ignored and the JD Power Company just cited Cablevision for having terrific customer service.
Locally, Fairfield has been inching toward town-specific public access programming on the government channel, and that has been stymied by a lack of resources from SV and the town government slow to act on the FairTV, the committee formed by citizens to bring this to life.
Meantime, the amount of hours I’ve devoted to the RTM Special Committee has grown and I have my freelance obligations and this day job. Something had to give and Deb pointed out that the CAC takes a few hours every month, but has achieved nothing. When I asked our CAC chairman what we’ve accomplished in the last year, his answers were theoretical and with specificity but remained optimistic about the future. I wish I shared that optimism.
After a lot of debate and delay, I just tendered my resignation to the CAC. I wish it were otherwise but suspect it’s for the best. Of course, I am also the third of the four members from Fairfield to resign the CAC, all largely out of disgust with the DPUC and SV. I just wonder if the DPUC will notice. Or question what’s going on. Or care.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 08:49 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
June 06, 2007
Caribbean Thoughts
Since Kate got home, we’ve happily reverted to out old patterns and routines. In some ways, it feels as if the nine months were merely a short blip in life. In other ways, it’s really different. Deb and I have readjusted to matching four schedules, not two, and dealing with a louder house. The kids have bonded nicely and have resumed leaving their things in every room but their own.
The dogs are thrilled to have the extra company.
Once Kate’s computer is done being overhauled, no doubt she’ll be posting her own thoughts and observations about suddenly being back in the land of peace and tranquility.
Given the 24-hour travel from Cairo to New York plus the seven-hour time difference, we’ve been careful to ease her back onto our time and routine. As a result, on Sunday, after she went to Church, we took in an afternoon showing of the third Pirates of the Caribbean, figuring it was a safe way to keep her focused while fighting the urge to crawl into bed at five in the afternoon.
The movie itself is far more successful than the first sequel. While other critics made a lot about the complicated story, at least this movie was about something. The second film suffered from too many action sequences that went on for too long and didn’t advance the story at all. In fact, the second did a nice job bringing up the notion that the time for pirates was rapidly passing and there was no longer a place in the world for Captain Jack Sparrow. Then the movie didn’t do much with that and instead, dipped into more pirate mythology with Davy Jones, his locker and so on.
This time around, we had the new world in the form of Lord Beckett, allying itself with that very pirate legend, and taking a superior position in order to bring about the very end of the pirates he had foreseen. Beckett and the East India Company were representing progress and the future, stomping all over such gnarly beasts as Jones and his unsightly crew.
We also had the shifting allegiances among the pirates, which played to the stereotypes of them being merely out for themselves. Yes, it got convoluted and you weren’t always sure which betrayal advanced which deal, but at least the story kept moving forward and most of the characters were well served in this way. Having said that, I wish we saw more than exposition coming from Captain Barbossa – how did he feel about being alive once more, what were his goals and dreams?
Will Turner proved to have some spine as he willingly betrayed Sparrow to try and rescue his father, which made him somewhat noble and heroic.
The real character growth here was Elizabeth Swann as she came into her own as a woman and as a natural-born leader. She was the most entertaining to watch from beginning to end.
Together, they actually had an arc through the three films that ended in the most satisfactory manner. Additionally, some of the best humor in the film came from their characters.
Sparrow, the focal point of all three movies, and the most original character, actually didn’t show us anything new or different this time around, except for one brief glimpse as we saw him interact with his dad, Captain Teague. For the second film in a row, this was actually very disappointing.
The Calypso myth, central to one thread of the film felt tacked on and unresolved. Her legend should have been hinted at in the second film so it paid off better this time around. This was perhaps the most disappointing part of the movie.
Second most disappointing thread had to be the underused Chow Yun-Fat’s Captain Sao Feng. He was a delightful stereotypical Asian menace but then didn’t have anything to do. It was also interesting to see the United Nations of stereotypes, giving the film some heft the second was lacking.
Beckett’s arc ended as expected although his final actions left something to be desired and never really addressed the theme that was so nicely raised.
All in all, this was a strong leg of the trilogy, something that could not be said of Spider-Man 3. It was worth every kernel of popcorn consumed over nearly three hours.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 04:20 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 02, 2007
The Return of CairoKate
Our delightful daughter has returned to home soil. Her flight from Cairo to Jordan to NYC went without a hitch. When we collected her at JFK, she was bright eyed, chipper and ready for some family.
After all the counting down in anticipation of her return, it feels just a tad off to have her suddenly here, before us. She's up in her room, looking at through the four-foot tall stack of boxes that has accumulated over the last few weeks (a new cell phone, new iPod, yarn, more yarn, some yarn, a computer keyboard, etc.)
Of course, this also means the next countdown has begun...eleven weeks before she returns to Washington, D.C. for her final year of college, and the beginning of her career. We intend to make the most of it.
Posted by Bob Greenberger at 06:50 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack