June 2005 - Quincy - New Yard

Just a few shots of our new back yard and patio.

Movie Review: Batman Begins

Whoa ... that didn't suck! Plays pretty close to the myth, with minor tweaks to make it work properly on the screen. It started, despite some action, as a bit too talkly but hit its stride by the end of the first reel. This Batman is not for laughs, and is neither invulnerable nor omniscient; in fact, he's quite vulnerable in a number of scenes. The screenplay finds some new nuances in Batman's rage/guilt/obsession.

Christian Bale makes a very good Bruce Wayne and a reasonable Batman (who can tell under all that costume?). Supporting actors do their job, with a few good lines to Micheal Caine. Suzy liked Katie Holmes more than I did; I felt she was pretty flat. Morgan Freeman is always Morgan Freeman. Gary Oldman was, as usual, unrecognizable as the lone, uncorruptable Gordon (long before being Commissioner Gordon).

I felt the action sequences were too jumpy, too hard to follow; we still seem to be living in the shadow of Gladiator (which I found laughable). You can do complex action without it turning into The Matrix, and I'd like to seem more effort there ... we're supposed to identify with Batman, and his whole shtick is being cool and controlled in a crisis.

This one is certainly up there with Spiderman and X-Men 2, and I honestly can't wait for a sequel.

April 2005 - Portland - Public Art

This is a short one; I had a quest to take pictures of every piece of public art I saw in Portland. That would be pointless ... there's just so much at every turn, even the half gig card would fill up almost instantly. It's great seeing people do a little extra. It's fun what can be done with one half of one percent.

April 2005 - Portland - Cannon Beach

This is a batch from Cannon Beach, which is about one and a half hours west of Portland, on the Oregon Coast. Haystack is the giant ("Godzilla-sized") rock on the beach, the core of a dead volcano.

April 2005 - Portland

This is a small batch of photos from our Oregon trip.