Friday, July 31, 2009

Still Struggling

Man, this is getting tedious. Sorry about the blog fade for the past couple of weeks, but I'm still having medical problems that are embarrassing, messy, and painful in a certain (ahem) sensitive region of the male anatomy. This all started with a pair of infections, back to back, and even after two rounds of antibiotics, I still don't feel particularly good. In fact it feels as though the infection is trying to make a comeback. I'm planning to see my doctor on Monday, and we'll discuss where to go from here.

On the bright side, I did get to visit my family in North Carolina for birthday number (mumble, mumble) and I treated myself to the DVD of The Incredibles with a the Wal-Mart Gift Card my sister gave me. The Incredibles is rapidly becoming one of my favorite movies. Writer and director Brad Bird combines a smart script and stellar computer-generated animation to serve up a spankin' comedy action/adventure/superhero movie, even as he gently pokes fun at the action/adventure/superhero movie—and, as if that weren't enough, his turn as the voice of Edna Mode, costume designer to the supers, is almost worth the price of admission by itself:



I think the secret to the Pixar gang's success is that for all their mind-blowing technical skill with computer animation, they never forget that the real essentials of any story are character and plot.They rarely fail to give us interesting characters and to make the journey on which those characters embark interesting as well. Unfortunately I missed the latest Pixar vehicle, Up, during its theatrical run, but in light of all the enthusiastic reviews I read, it's definitely slated for rental the minute it comes out on DVD.

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