Husky, Shiba

Diane came about nine this morning, while I was still pretty zombified. She brought, as promised, her Wii, which apparently has a lot of balance-related exercises. Grandma did better than I did on the skiing game. Sid called to ask if I wanted to come over and borrow this one movie that she and Isaac had been watching. Do you catch the relevant bit here? So I went over a bit later, once I'd gotten dressed and all, to see Isaac. He seized gladly on a new person to bug. Unfortunately for him, I wasn't really in the mood to put up with nonsense. Besides, oppressing innocent youth is fun. After he showed me the mini skateboard park Ralph had made, the glue still drying, we went for a hike. It was the the long way, through the Heller estate up along Rockhurst. Unfortunately there was a cold wind blowing, but it was pretty nice all the same. We saw some people walking a red husky along a different trail, too far off for Lark to go all the way over unless I were actually following. The other dog--also off lead--only stood and watched. Isaac talked nonstop. I would swear in court that his mouth was never shut for sixty consecutive seconds. It was pretty educational. That reminds me--I need to go see the Neopets that have been added in our absence.......Odd. None whatsoever. I have no idea what he was offering to trade for my Kiko. Anyway, that's a sample of his conversation. At one point, we went from Bible stories to bugs to Lord of the Rings, interspersed with Lord of the Beans. I am considering a raid on Veggie Tales headquarters at this time. Oh, yeah, and he thought Deagol has resurrected as Grima Wormtongue. Uh.....no. We were discussing this trudging up Rockhurst, the wind now blowing so hard I had to hold my hat in my hand, as it would not stay on my head. Wolfie was outside, and barked as we passed. Isaac was very impressed by my way down the mountain, calling the path through the scrub oaks a secret passage. I confess, I hadn't thought of it quite like that before. We swapped jackets at the bottom of the slope; he only had a windbreaker, and I had my bomber jacket. I warmed up again as soon as we got going, but I'm sure he was warmer in my jacket than he had been in his. Thermal mass, and all that, I suppose. Anyway, we made it back to Sid's alive, where Ralph told me Grandma had called to say I needed to come home as soon as I got back. So I came home and made lunch.

Did I mention Sid lent me a movie? I think I did. Mom.....do you remember once, you said something about this medieval movie you watched once, with knights and jousting and stuff, to rock music? Electric guitars, anyway. And it felt weird but it sort of worked. Well.........I think that was Ladyhawke. And remind me to investigate the actor Rutger Hauer, because Navarre was my favorite character, visually speaking. Er.....and probably in any other ways you can think of.....he just isn't funny. Which is fine. Wheeeeeee! He did seem high once, though. Besides the end, I mean. Oh, yeah, and there wasn't any jousting. Not proper jousting, at least. Just sword fighting from horseback in the cathedral. And you know, it occurred to me......movie fighting isn't proper swordfighting, either. Maybe it was once, but it's dirty fighting now. Your hero can kick and punch and grab bricks all he wants--and audiences like this, because the deftness is much more evident in a smooth kick to the chest after the swords are forced away than in a clever pass with a foil. Although, speaking of weapons, now seems the time to say, "Wheeeee! Double-stringed crossbow!" And furthermore it's a weapon Philippe la Souris can use, if not well--unlike Navarre's fancy longsword. Now, mind, this movie isn't perfect. The soundtrack is a little incongruous, I wasn't always certain about Philippe's acting, although Matthew Broderick seems pretty.....whoa. Godzilla? The main character? Ditto The Lion King? Inspector Gadget? He got to play Richard Feynman? Okay.....maybe it was just me.

You know.....I never entirely realized how much subtitles distract me until I watched this for the second time without the subs in French. I paid so much attention, sometimes, to trying to figure out the French, that I almost ignored what they were saying in English. Example: I completely forgot that the bad guy was a bishop because I kept looking at the French word for him. Note only to do that on rewatches in future......

After dinner, which was foraged because Grandma wanted cold cereal with banana, I took the beautiful out for a half-hour walk in the dusk. We met a jogger, and that was about it--although it seems there's a very large dog in that one house with the balcony overlooking the head of the trail. Nota bene.

Now-- Sylvester, Warrior's Apprentice, Please Save My Earth, or The Princess Bride on Youtube? More Ladyhawke on Youtube, for that matter. Hm.