The Dial of Destiny

This afternoon we went together to see what may be the final chapter of the Indiana Jones story, or at least the cinematic journey.  There have been plenty of other stories in comics, novels and games, and there may be other adventures still there.  But today was possibly the last time we see Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, and that had a lot of impact on us.  For our generation, Indiana Jones and Star Wars are the greatest movies ever, and of course this actor had a massive part in both.   I did many a Halloween with my bullwhip, leather jacket and fedora.  I think I still have all three, certainly the fedora that later came when Mom got me that for Christmas one year.  

This is the first time the three of us watched a new Indiana Jones movie together in the theater, such has been the length of time between each release.  The last movie was "The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull," and that was in 2008.  Maddie wasn't with us yet, and Mom was still recovering from her illness at that time.  There was a lot of hype for that movie, and we went to the theater together - but Mom got sick and went home with my mother so I could stay and watch it.  That put a damper on things.  The previous movie I saw in Athens, pretty much by myself.  And the time before that we were watching it in New Jersey with the family, up in Pompton Lakes on our visit to the grandparents.  And the time before that... countless times before that... was in Hightstown where we would go and see that same movie over and over again.  I still remember the popcorn and the theater there, everyone ready to see a movie we've all seen over and over again, but not really caring because it was so good.

This movie was okay, and we did have the bar pretty low before going, not expecting the dynamic sort of movie from the past, simply because the main actor is now 80 years old.  Many jokes were made at our President's expense, as he's the same age.  Anyway, right away when the Paramount logo did not give way to a mountain of sorts within the movie, I knew things would be different.  The missing factor was Steven Spielberg, and my goodness John Williams too.  He is credited with the music, although he's 91 and I couldn't imagine him doing all of that.  There were certain things we expect missing from this one, and I think those would have helped a bit.  Which is not to say it was a terrible movie.  We enjoyed it, and of course loved that things ended the way they did.  And of course, it was just awesome to see Indiana Jones back again, fighting against those same villains.  Certain action sequences were done really well, and it was a good movie overall.  Too early for me to rank it amongst the previous.  But certainly nothing like the originals, of course.  Still, a great adventure with an old friend.  Forty-two years ago.  That's how long Indiana Jones has been making movies with the same lead actor.  Wow.

The rest of the day was a busy one.  Of course we started out with Team Edge, and a two-hour practice.  I was working on this script for tomorrow throughout the day, one involving Betsy Ross.  It's been a slow sort of process, this writing.  But it's coming along.  Maddie had fun with friends this morning, training and exercising too.

We visited with Nana for a good bit today, and she seems okay, her memory about the same and her mobility also about the same.  Both are fairly limited, but not worse than before, so that's a good sign.  We were there for about an hour and a half, doing mad-libs and watching something on British television that happened a week ago at Windsor Castle.  We always try to have something Nana likes on the television.

Dinner tonight was pretty special - there was this huge deluge of a rainstorm that came thundering into Dawsonville, but we evaded it by diving into the Kani House, returning to a hibachi grill for a really nice meal.  We were celebrating Maddie's adoption - fifteen years ago today we made it all official in China.  Maddie took some cell phone pictures of the chef as he prepared our food with the large flames, the volcano, the onion train, and all the little tricks and gags along the way.  He tossed a piece of chicken to Maddie, who caught it in her mouth.  I managed to make a solid catch myself, both of us not expecting to be so accurate.  But it was fun, and we all loved the food and had a nice time together.

We got home later on tonight, and I finished up things with the skit.  We read from "Life, the Universe and Everything," which is a pretty surreal book at times, but it's fun.  And then it was time for bed - we were all pretty zonked, and tomorrow is going to be a big day.  So off to be we went.  Fireworks are going off already - the Fourth of July is coming soon!