Friday Funtime

Today I did two things that I had been planning to do and one that I had not been.

First was to get the Firefly washed and waxed. Originally that was to be done because of the air show, but it got canceled. I still had the appointment and it needed to be done, so at noon we were at the Auto Spa.

Afterwards I went to see the movie Atlas Shrugged, Part 1. I don't want to give anything away, but I can lay at least some fears to rest...it does not suck.

Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's momentous work, has been named one of the most influential books of the 20th century.

Ayn Rand is a wordy cuss, she sometimes takes entire chapters to say something that could be said in three sentences or less. The good thing about that of course is that there is plenty that can be cut for the screenplay without damaging the essence of the story.

John Aglialoro and Brian Patrick O'Toole did a fantastic job with the writing, and even though some characters and scenes (including one of my favorites, but no spoilers!) were sacrificed everything that is needed is there and nothing that was essential was left out.

The movie covers the first part of the book, from the sense that everything is falling apart to the disappearance of Ellis Wyatt. Unlike the book, the action in the movie is fast paced and moves along well.

Taylor Shilling plays Dagny Taggart exceptionally well, Grant Bowler nails the part of Hank Reardon, and Micheal Learner's Wesley Mouch is so slimy you want to take a bath after
you meet him.

In fact, the only character I did not think was played well was Jsu Garcia's Francisco D'Anconia. His performance seemed rushed to me, as if he was in a big hurry to speak his lines in case he forgot them or something.

All told it was a very well done movie. The only things I didn't like was the (to me) sub-par performance of Jsu Garcia and the fact that the movie was set in modern times. I think it would have been much better if it had been set sometime post-war, but that is mostly because the book was set in that period and I like steam engines. Setting it in modern times, however, gave the movie a certain poignancy that I don't think it would have achieved otherwise. I can't wait for parts 2 and 3 to be released.

With the planned festivities out of the way I took a side trip to the State Capitol grounds to have a peek at the Tea Party rally that was held there today on the south side of the square.

The first (and before today, only) Tea Party rally that I attended was in 2009, and this one seemed to be comparatively sparsely attended. The energy was there, though, as was the news - a marked departure from the 2009 rally when only a single van from any of the news crews managed to show.

Also in attendance was the morning crew from WRDU 106.1. Carmen (6th picture) was zany, Chrissy (5th picture) was effervescent, and KC (4th and 5th pictures) wondered why he even bothered to show up since everyone wanted their pictures taken with Carmen and Chrissy anyway. Also in attendence was Steve Sedahl, but unfortunately I did not get his picture.

Chrissy was worried that her picture wouldn't come out well. Gentlemen, I ask you, does she look like she could take a bad picture? I thought not.

I didn't stick around for the whole thing so I didn't hear Jason Lewis speak.

One thing that was similar to the 2009 rally were the bored policemen. The Tea Party crowd was reserved and well behaved, so they didn't have much to do besides watch the show.

As I drove away I noticed a castle like structure being built on the northwest corner of the Capitol square, I have no idea what it was for but it appears in the last picture.

All in all it was a busy and fun-filled day.