Sad

Dom Deluise has died.

I've always thought he was probably the class clown growing up, and story about his first role, in grade school, suggests I was on to something.

He was handed the role of a penny in a school play. “The part called for me to roll under a bed as soon as the curtain went up and stay there until I was found in the very last scene,” he said. “It was my hardest role to date. I detested having to be quiet and out of the action for so long.”

This after the glorious Bea Arthur and Marilyn French. Perhaps that's the three?

Sigh. Hatin' the mortality this morning.

Marriage Hath its Privileges

Because I'm married to a Cool Guy who now works at Skywalker Ranch, I get to drive the family up this afternoon to see the Spouse's new work place. We're bringing a picnic dinner, and afterward, we (including SG's boyfriend, who is now part of the family unit, on accounta) get to see an advance screening of the new Star Trek movie.

It'll be cool. I'm hoping the film is good too, but...Skywalker Ranch. Star Trek. I get all 11-years-old and geekyjust thinking about it.

What This Pandemic Needs is a Good Game

Via Barth Anderson and Facebook, I present to you: Swinefighter.

The interface is clunky and I couldn't get better than 10 piggies. But they're pigs with wings!

I Am Eleven Again

That was fun.

Skywalker is a gorgeous place; the old movie posters alone are worth the price of admission. We got to see a couple of mixing and sound editing rooms, as well as the public areas (and of course, the theatre, which is absolutely gorgeous). Maybe the coolest thing we saw was the scoring studio, a vast room with several concert grand pianos, much recording gear, and room for a full orchestra (and choir, too, most likely). It was empty, but the acoustics were such that I wanted to sing.

We ate in the "entertainment area"--I'd brought cold cuts and bread and pasta salad and lettuce and tomato, so we made sandwiches; then washed them down with berries and Girl Scout cookies. And then, into the theatre to see the movie. The audience was mainly ILM and Skywalker staff and family--it's the first time I can recall seeing a movie where everyone stayed for the credits. Because, of course, everyone was going to clap for all the ILM and Skywalker people credited. So everyone did.

And the movie? I grinned for the entire running time, except when I was gasping or laughing or saying "Oh, cool." I will give nothing away by saying it has a serious sense of humor, some terrific performances (imagine making Mr. Spock your own when you're sharing the movie with the guy who created the character!); I particularly loved Simon Pegg, playing Scotty, and Karl Urban (who seems to have beefed up since his Eomer days) playing McCoy. But all of them seemed to be having so much fun, and each of them managed to spit out near-iconic lines without making them feel like lines-the-audience-has-been-waiting-for. Killer opening sequence, with the damnedest space craft I have ever seen. And a wonderful tiny smatch of James Kirk's bad-boy childhood. And just...fun. I felt like I spent two hours being my eleven year old self again, saying "Whee!"