Recap of the week!

Sorry for not blogging recently, I've just been tied up with, well, just relaxing. It's nice to be able to just take it easy for a few days, with no real responsibilities besides hanging with my wonderful Sue, and having fun with her.

On Saturday, we went into NYC to the Lincoln Center movie theater, to see Pan's Labyrnth, which was an excellent movie. I'm always into subtitles, and this was a very fantastical story, about a girl growing up during WWII/Spanish Civil War, and how she deals with it. You never really know if the story is in the girl's head, or if it's real, but that's part of the charm/wistfulness of the film. I recommend it highly...

Today, I had the exciting delivery in the mail of the Genesis 1976-1982 5.1 surround sound box set, which includes the albums A Trick of the Tail, Wind and Wuthering, And Then There Were Three, Duke, Abacab, and a sixth disc of b-sides (also mixed in 5.1). So far, I've listened to Trick, and a song or two off of Abacab (Dodo and Whodunnit, for those of you who are wondering...). The new mixes in surround sound are quite good, it really opens up the music to hear detail that was only hinted at before. I'm looking forward to digesting the rest of the music over the next week, and afterwards...

Each album also comes with an accompaning DVD, with about 15 minutes of band interviews about the album, the associated videos, and any other items of interest, like live concert clips, tv appearances, etc. Very cool stuff, especially since it's all really just a bonus. I've only watched the Abacab interviews so far, and they're actually worth having... Which is nice, for a freebie.

In regards to the conference I attended, I have to give Al Gore kudos for his global warming/Inconvenient Truth keynote speech. What's interesting is that he asks the stage lights to be dimmed, so that you can't really see him talking, but because of that, you focus on the details of his presentation. Which is quite compelling, I have to say. Global warming is real, and many countries are taking steps to reign in the threat. However, the US is reacting slowly, while being one of the major contributors to the problem. I need to buy a hybrid car NOW! And vote for candidates who actually plan on addressing this issue.

I'm not going to go over what Gore says, you can rent the DVD of An Inconvenient Truth easily enough. Watch it, and be educated. Get past whatever political issues you may have with Al Gore, and just listen to the information.

NP: Lenny Bruce - Our Governors (1959)