Sunday, January 28, 2018

Movie Review: The Commuter – Taken, Not Stirred




Liam Neeson’s rise to action hero has surprised and delighted me. I have always enjoyed his work in films such as Schindler’s List and Rob Roy. I first noticed him in a supporting role in A Prayer for the Dying, in which he played a doomed member of the IRA. He more than held his own in scenes with Mickey Rourke, a damn fine actor in his own right, but the film that made him one of my favorites was Star Wars: The Phantom Menance, playing Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn. After seeing that performance I wanted to go to all of his movies, and the Taken series of films really turned him into an action movie superstar at age 55, and since then Neeson has never looked back.

Which brings me to his latest film, The Commuter, in which he plays recently fired businessman and former New York City cop Michael MacCauley. The role is reminiscent of his work in Taken, but Michael is not as adept at handling bad guys as Bryan Mills in those films and takes as many punches as he gives. Michael is similar though in that he is fighting for his family against a seemingly overwhelming number of villains working for some shadowy nefarious group.

Set in Metro North railroad cars heading away from New York City after a working day, the train is filled with regular riders, many of whom Michael knows from seeing them on a daily basis. At the beginning of the film director Jaume Collet-Serra – with whom Neeson made the equally claustrophobic mystery Non-Stop set on an airplane – makes the unfolding of days and seasons intertwine with Neeson having repetitive conversations with fellow passengers including Walt (Jonathan Banks). It is a clever way to show the endless cycle that the commuters with whom Michael is familiar experience travel through all kinds of weather, and though the montage seems like exposition it will become important later in the film.

After losing his job after ten years Michael goes to the pub to have a drink with his former police partner Murphy (Patrick Wilson). Murphy chides him for not telling his wife (Elizabeth McGovern) about losing his job. They chit-chat some more and are interrupted by Michael’s old sergeant Hawthorne (Sam Neill) who has since made captain. Judging by Murphy’s attitude toward Hawthorne, we get the idea he’s not the best guy in the world, but Michael is cordial with him, and the interaction provides foreshadowing that audiences will recall in a scene toward the end of the film.

Once on board the train Michael encounters a woman who calls herself Joanna (Vera Farmiga) who engages him in some banter, and though trying to read a book Michael is polite with her. Joanna then makes him a proposition – he can earn $100,000 if he can find someone who doesn’t belong on the train who goes by the name Prin. All he has to do is place a tracking device on that person’s bag and he earns the money.

Michael stares at her incredulously at first, but Joanna insists this is a real deal and that he can find $25,000 in the train bathroom. If he accepts the cash then he is in on the deal. She quickly gets off the train at the next stop, and Michael goes into the bathroom and does discover the money.

When speaking with Joanna she posed an interesting question: “What kind of person are you?” Michael thinks about the money that he really needs since he is now unemployed and what is being asked of him. Neeson does a great job of conveying his emotions with a tortured expression on his face to answer that question. He cannot in good conscience go ahead with the plan because he is not certain what will happen to the person he is supposed to find.

After a couple of tense phone calls with Joanna, Michael is made to understand that he is in on the plan because he took the money from the bathroom and there is no turning back. When a stranger delivers his wife’s wedding ring to him at the next station, Michael realizes what the stakes are and he decides to go forward with the plan but to do things his way.

The rest of the way is spoiler city, and I do not want to ruin anything because part of the joy in this film is seeing Michael struggle to figure everything out. He goes about his plan but gets interrupted by those on the train that may be working for Joanna, and the tension gets ratcheted up several notches when Michael has to fight someone.

The fight scenes are particularly well plotted out, considering that they are taking place on a moving train in tight spaces. Roque BaƱos’s intense music and Paul Cameron’s deft photography capture the intensity of these moments and produce palpable tension. Michael maintains his own but he gets beaten up as well and seems thoroughly exhausted after these encounters.

The characters on the train all seem very much from New York – Adam Nagaitis stands out as Jimmy the conductor who provides comic relief – and that lends credibility to the story. Michael’s search for Prin is tense because the clock is ticking for the train passengers as well as for his wife and family. Will Michael be able to find the target and still save everyone before it is too late?


The Commuter is a thoroughly enjoyable, fast paced thriller that never stops moving. It should take away any winter blues you may be having. Get on board and enjoy the ride.

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Larry Nassar Sentenced – Now More Heads Must Roll



Having written many sports related articles over the years, this is one of the few that were painful to write. In general sports stories are feel-good ones and people like to read them and I enjoy writing them. Unpleasant topics – like athletes using steroids, Jerry Sundusky, the passing of Gary Carter – seem necessary and compelling to write about and so I tackle them, but never has a story sickened me as much as this one, and it needs to be told more than any other one I have written. 

Disgraced former USA Gymnastics and Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar was sentenced to 40 to 175 years in a state prison after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting young girls under his care. His dereliction of duty in terms of abusing his patients so flagrantly and so often – 150+ girls were his victims – more than earned him this sentence, but the pain and suffering for his victims goes on and on.

During the seven-day sentencing hearing, more than 100 of the victims came forth and got a chance to face their tormentor and address him publicly. Accentuating the depth of Nassar’s depravity, photographs of the girls taken at the young ages when they were abused were projected on a screen for everyone in the court to see. These young victims looked like any girls with braces and freckles and missing baby teeth, but knowing about their suffering at this monster’s hands proved a picture is indeed worth more than a thousand words.

The victims spoke eloquently and passionately, elucidating how Nassar played the role of doctor and family friend, setting himself up for situations to abuse the girls. When some of the girls told their parents about what Nassar was doing, they were accused of lying because Nassar had cultivated such a wholesome image that the adults couldn’t imagine him being anything other than what they had been duped into believing he was. Nassar’s plan was so nefarious as to cause not only anguish to his young victims but to disrupt their family lives as well.

While Olympians like Aly Raisman and Simone Biles were famous victims of Nassar, those who were previously unknown publicly made their names known in order to confront their abuser in court. The length and breadth of Nassar’s abuse became more apparent with each speaker detailing the horrors of her experience, and the accumulative effect was to shatter all illusions and destroy Nassar over and over, but there also was an opportunity for these victims to rise from the detritus of his actions that shattered their lives and achieve a catharsis they probably never expected.

Now that Nassar is off to his well-deserved fate, the story is far from over.  Did all the coaches and trainers and administrators know nothing about Nassar? It is hard to believe that with so many girls being abused that no one knew anything about it or tried to stop it.

The case of MSU student Amanda Thomashow did reach a complaint filed with the university police and a Title IX investigation ensued, but in the end Nassar was cleared, with Ms. Thomashow being told that she misunderstood a medical procedure to be sexual assault, in some ways violating her all over again with such an insulting decision.

There seemed to be a total lack of awareness and compassion at MSU, and the former MSU president Lou Anna Simon had no choice but to resign from her $750,000-a-year position (why is any administrator paid this kind of money?) after mounting pressure. Yes, the captain is supposed to go down with the ship, but there are plenty of others who are likely to join her. Her head is the first to roll, but no doubt many more will follow.

Reports of sexual assault and other infractions by MSU athletes on the football and basketball teams have surfaced. Head football coach Mark Dantonio and head basketball coach Tom Izzo are very likely going to be joining Simon out the door; however, these high-level departures must be only the tip of the iceberg. A fractured culture so widespread as it appears to be at MSU happens over time and many people have to be involved to allow it to fester for so long. 

Someone like Larry Nassar didn’t get away with decades of abuse without people knowing, looking away, or perhaps even assisting him either directly or indirectly. Many of Nassar’s assaults occurred with other adults in the room (including parents), but there are indications that he was so skilled at his perverted methods that he could conceal his actions with a turn of the back or working under a blanket. Even with this deception, why was Nassar allowed to work on these minor female patients without another female staff member or nurse present in the first place?  

As for the U.S. Olympic Committee and USA Gymnastics, news came today that the USOC demanded that USAG board members resign immediately, which they agreed to do. USAG now must also comply with an investigation into the organization to discover who knew about Nassar and also have its members undergo special training to prevent anything like this from happening again. All of this is a beginning, but much more needs to be done to understand how a culture of abuse cannot only begin but continue without there being any safeguards for the most vulnerable.

Larry Nassar will rot in jail, but the memory of his horrific actions will haunt these young women for the rest of their lives. Confronting the monster and even destroying it does bring some closure, but the thought that the monster operated with impunity for so many years clearly makes some other people monsters too.


The young women who told of their torturous experiences are brave and strong and have looked the beast in the eye and stared him down. Nassar is off to state prison where he belongs, and maybe sooner or later he will be joined by others who either enabled him or knew but looked the other way. They know who they are, and hopefully soon we all will know them as well. 

Sunday, January 21, 2018

Tide Pod Challenge – Latest Fad is Dangerous



As incredulous stories go, the one about people eating laundry detergent as a challenge is difficult to beat. Why would any healthy person put Tide Pods into his or her mouth? Well, perhaps I should have asked “What sane healthy person?” would do this because this practice is insane.

For those who do not know, the “Tide Pod Challenge” involves people – mostly teenagers – putting these detergent packets into their mouths and either spitting them out or ingesting them. Since the thin membrane coated pods are filled with not only soap but also chemicals, they can cause a variety of serious injuries and can even lead to death.

Why Tide Pods?

There are always new challenges that come and go, but hopefully this one is not here to stay. The allure of the pods is supposedly because they look like a treat and appeal to children; obviously, they are also attracting the interest of older kids too as well as adults. Personally, I have seen these pods and do not understand the appeal. No matter how pretty they look, my mind sends a warning signal that they are filled with laundry detergent.

Parents of young children usually take great caution to keep all hazardous items away from them. When my kids were little, we had locks on all the kitchen cabinets to prevent them from getting to detergents, cleansers, and the utensil drawers. Once our kids got older, all those locks were removed because we believed our kids knew better. Obviously, the “Tide Pod Challenge” proves that some older kids do not.

A Form of Punishment

I have no idea why anyone would want to put soap in his or her mouth. When I was a kid I used to get soap put in my mouth when I used a bad word, just like Ralph in the classic film A Christmas Story. While the soap used in the movie seems almost pristine, that was not the case in real life.

My Mom would make me sit on the edge of the tub and take the bar of soap from the shelf – complete with hair and every bacterium imaginable on it – and shove it in my mouth. Those would be the longest five minutes of my life until she came back to remove the soap and tell me to brush my teeth. 

The “challenge” in those days was not to puke after Mom took the bar out of my mouth. Those punishments – which still make me shiver – are the only reason why I know how bad soap tastes.

Pop Rocks and Soda

This “Tide Pod Challenge” does make me think of something stupid I did as a teenager, which at the time seemed scary and thus exciting. This involved putting Pop Rocks candy into my mouth and drinking soda with it. Anyone who has tried Pop Rocks knows they fizzle in the mouth, but the addition of a carbonated beverage was said to cause a combustion that made kids’ heads or stomachs explode.

The rumor going around was that the kid Little Mikey from the iconic Life Cereal commercial tried the Pop Rocks and soda challenge and died. Despite what would become an urban legend – and no, John Gilchrist who played Mikey
did not die – wacky teenagers everywhere across America (including yours truly) tried it. All that happened to me was I laughed so hard that the bubbling stuff came out of my nose, but at least the items in this challenge weren’t
poisonous.

A Serious Matter

It is not just because of the colorful soft pods that the “Tide Pod Challenge” clearly appeals to teenagers, but it is more an outrageous act that defies logic and reason. Why would people put those pretty but poisonous things in their mouths? Well, that’s exactly the reason why – to defy, to dare, to do something crazy just for the sake of the craziness of it.

The New York Times reports reports that in the first half of this month poison control centers handled 39 cases of teenagers exposing themselves to the pods, which is as many cases for all of last year. If that doesn’t get parents’ attention, I do not know what will.

I think parents will need help with this situation, and it probably would be a good idea for school districts to also address this issue as the serious health matter that it is. This can be done in a variety of ways, but it is essential because some kind of instruction is needed K-12 to avoid having many more cases that involve serious injuries to the mouth, esophagus, and stomach.

When something like this happens, it is easy to think it is amusing or that it will not affect us, but we need to talk to young people and try to guide them as to the dangers involved with this and all kinds of challenges. The very nature of challenges is that there is some risk involved, so that is why intervention is needed especially in case like this.


Parents of the little ones have to make sure those attractive pods are nowhere in their reach. Those with teenagers have to sit down and have a serious talk about it. Common sense and safety take a great deal of time to implement, but the catastrophic consequences that they can prevent are more than worth the effort. 

Monday, January 15, 2018

Winter of Discontent – Baby, It’s Cold Outside (and Inside)





As a life-long New Yorker, I never thought I would say this but “I want out of here.” This is not because of the tourists, the crowded trains, or high cost of living; those are things that I have always accepted and understood. No, the thing that is driving me away is this relentless winter weather. I am numbly cold, mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore – Florida, here I come!


Now I will explain how I have come to this decision. My frustration with this wacky winter of 2018 has reached a breaking point. Only the other day it was a balmy 63 degrees, and I went outside in my T-shirt and took down the Christmas decorations. They had been covered in snow and ice and it all magically melted away. The next day I went out to get the mail – once again wearing a T-shirt – and it felt like I had stepped into Old Man Winter’s living room. This erratic and unpredictable weather is annoying and driving people, including yours truly, crazy.

Global Colding?

At the coffee shop I frequent people keep debating global warming. Some say it is because of global warming that it is so cold, while others say there can be no such thing because these intensely cold days prove otherwise. Since I don’t know enough about the topic, I stay quiet, sip my coffee, and just listen.

As usual, I like to check in with Manny, the former Brooklyn Dodgers fan who at ten years old cried for a week when they packed up and went out to LA. Manny, dressed in Mets cap and bundled in a Jets jacket and matching sweat pants, held the newspaper up in front his face with both hands sporting Knicks gloves. 

When I asked him about the weather and global warming, he looked up from the sports page of the NY Post and said, “I don’t have to hear facts and figures from a meteorologist because all I know is that I’m freezing my butt off. Let’s talk about global colding.”

I can always count on Manny for a quotable response. Personally, I leave the debate about global warming to others who know more about it. Whether this extreme cold is due to global warming or not, all I know is that Jack Frost isn’t just nipping at my nose; he’s trying to bite the whole thing off.

Cold House Problems

The other day when I came home my wife and kids all had on their scarves, hats, and heavy sweaters to beat the cold, but the problem was that they were sitting inside our house. We have made it through cold New York winters before, but this is the first time I can remember being so cold inside the house.

In normal times I like to keep the thermostat at the recommended levels – 56 degrees at night and 68 degrees during the day – but it has been impossible to comply with these guidelines this year. We are all cold and my wife keeps telling me “the kids are shivering,” so I put the thermostat up to 70 degrees but that didn’t help. Even when pushed up to 73 degrees, it felt cold in the house and, despite pumping radiators, the temperature in the living room still remained at 68 degrees.

Temperature Variations

Eventually the living room achieved a 73-degree reading, but that was only in that room where the thermostat is located. Other rooms in the house registered different temperatures. The kitchen was 70 degrees but felt colder. It was a relatively balmy 67 degrees in my son’s room, but it still felt slightly cold in there as we heard the wind whipping against the side of the house, while the upstairs bathroom came in at 63.7 degrees with the outside temperature at 17.6 degrees.

The attic, which is finished and functions as my son’s playroom, is officially the coldest room in the house with a 57-degree temperature. The warmest area is the basement where the furnace is located. The finished area was 75 degrees, so it is not surprising that everyone decided to go down there to watch TV.

Even with the thermostat set to 73 degrees, various sections of the house remained cooler, making a heavy robe or sweater necessary. I started to envy Ebenezer Scrooge’s bed curtains and wondered if they would make a difference at night if we had them.

Shoveling

It has snowed so many times already this winter, that I am on a first name basis with my shovel. I call him Norton – in honor of the lovable but annoying character on The Honeymooners played by the late great Art Carney – and every time it snows I say, “Here we go again, Norton!”

The last snow storm dumped 15 inches of the white stuff on our area, and the snow didn’t stop falling until like 5 p.m. At that point it was getting dark and extremely cold, and my son wanted to build a snowman, but the conditions were truly painful. I told him that we had to wait and would do it in the morning. Grabbing Norton, I had to go out into the arctic cold night and shovel away. I have never liked shoveling snow, but this year I have grown to hate it because even bundled in layers and wearing gloves I was freezing.

The next morning brilliant sunshine fooled us into thinking the snow would melt, but it was 9 degrees outside and the snow in the yard had turned to ice, making it impossible to build a snowman. Grrr!!!

Frozen Pipes

The next problem we had was frozen cold-water pipes. Both the powder room sink and the kitchen sink’s lines froze. Unfortunately, both lines run close to an exterior wall and get blocked if the temperature falls below 20 degrees outside. Using my daughter’s hairdryer, I heated both pipes and now they are flowing again. A friend who is a plumber told me to keep the cold water dripping slightly to stop the pipes from freezing up again, so now we have water dripping in both sinks and that will slowly cost us more money, but it is better than having busted pipes and a flooded basement.

The Solution

After being cold to the bone and then feeling like the bone is frozen too, I realized that this will never get better. Over the last five years each winter seems to have gotten progressively harsher and piercingly colder. It is like Old Man Winter is torturing us, and I must say he is succeeding beyond even his pernicious expectations.

I don’t like extremely hot weather either, but there are ways to cool off and they seem much easier than trying to stay warm. There is something quite overwhelming about trying to stay warm, and wearing multiple layers used to give me some respite from the cold, but it doesn’t seem to work this year, and wearing multiple layers is extremely uncomfortable and can limit movement. Oh, and boots – I hate boots.


So, after deliberation and discussion with the family, we have decided that it is time to start the process of getting out of this iceberg. We will be moving south – as far south as possible. I don’t care about the alligators and the hurricanes and the intense summer heat. As long as I can wear shorts all year long and never have to touch a snow shovel again (bye, bye, Norton), everything will be just fine, but damn it, I’m going to miss Manny. 

Saturday, January 13, 2018

Movie Review: Paddington 2 – Great for the Kids But Parents Will Like It as Well



Sometimes I wonder why they even make a sequel, yet that thought never crossed my mind while watching Paddington 2 with my son. Sitting in a theater filled with children who were as enthusiastic as he was, I found the film to be a delight as well.

Having loved the original 2015 film, I wondered how director Paul King (who co-wrote the script with Simon Farnaby) could pull off a sequel to something that seemed nearly perfect. Happily, King brings back original cast members and adds a couple of dynamite new ones – Hugh Grant and Brendan Gleeson – and the result is pure joy.

Paddington (voiced by Ben Wishaw) is amazingly realized and never once did I think about the CGI that went into creating him. Paddington moves around and interacts with the human characters flawlessly, and everything from the hair on his body to the bubble from his nose under water to the tear on his face, does nothing to suggest that this is not the real little Peruvian bear we have all come to love.

As the film begins we see Paddington happily ensconced in the Windsor Gardens neighborhood of London that the Brown family calls home. The Browns – dad Henry (Hugh Bonneville), mom Mary (Sally Hawkins), son Jonathan (Samuel Joslin), and daughter Judy (Madeline Harris), along with cranky housekeeper Mrs. Bird (Julie Walters) – all love and care for Paddington as another family member. Paddington has endeared himself to their neighbors as well, making small but significant differences in each of their lives, except for the surly self-elected neighborhood watchman Mr. Curry (Peter Capaldi).

All is going well until Paddington discovers an old pop-up book of various London landmarks in Mr. Gruber’s (Jim Broadbent) antique shop and decides to get it as a birthday gift for his beloved Aunt Lucy (voiced by Imelda Staunton) back in Peru. Gruber explains that it is very expensive, so this makes Paddington take on jobs for which he is ill suited and results in laugh out loud antics (judging from my son and kids in the theater audience) that slowly earn him enough money to buy the book.

The problem is that this book is also sought by has-been actor Phoenix Buchanan – played with panache by Grant – who somehow knows that the book contains a secret code that will lead him to a vast fortune. When Grant dresses in one of his old stage costumes as a disguise and breaks into Gruber’s store to get the book, Paddington attempts to stop him and ends up getting arrested for the theft.

One of the kids in the theater blurted out, “That’s not fair,” and indeed it is not, but it sets up the premise of Paddington in jail as he gets thrown in with a bunch of thugs and gets to wear prison pinstripes - which he turns pink along with all the other jailbirds’ clothes in a laundry room accident – setting his fellow prisoners temporarily against him.

Of course, just as Paddington won over the hearts of the Browns and the Windsor Gardens neighbors, Paddington somehow manages to do the same with inmates by taming the irascible prison chef Knuckles McGinty (the hilarious Gleeson) by teaching him the recipe for his delicious marmalade sandwiches.

While Paddington does “hard time” in jail, the Browns take it upon themselves to try to find the real thief and clear the lovable ursine’s name. We are getting into spoiler territory now, but the rest of the ride is joyful for the kids and throws in enough subtle tidbits to keep adults happy too.

Grant’s performance is his best in years, and the key is his willingness to go with the hammy actor concept, but shading it with nuances that reveal the underlying suffering of a once celebrated thespian who is forced to take on dog food commercials to survive. As the villain of the story, he is mean enough but sprinkles tongue-in-cheek humor in each scene that is refreshing.

At the core of a film that is funny, sad, and at times intriguing – as the Browns get better at playing detectives to solve the mystery – is a little bear who has heart and soul. Paddington teaches by example, showing that kindness, respect, and acceptance – even for the incarcerated scoundrels he encounters – are important ways to live life. It's a lesson that will be understood by kids and hopefully their parents.

While some little ones might get a bit worried that Paddington is in trouble here and there, it is always understood that Paddington is safe. It is also quite clear that his innate goodness shines brightly and touches everyone, even the most hardened criminals who end up becoming his friends, and this gets him out of difficult situations. King has done an excellent job of bringing the essence of the warmth and love found in Michael Bond’s books to the screen.


Overall, Paddington 2 delivers joy and delight and is as good – or perhaps even a tad better – than the original film. Your kids will love it and you’ll be leaving the theater with a smile on your face as well. Oh, and stick around for the closing credits for some additional scenes. They are a hoot.  

Sunday, January 7, 2018

Stars Wars: The Last Jedi Is Not the Star Wars Movie You Wanted But One You Needed





*This article contains some spoilers.

Since I wrote a rather glowing review about Star Wars: The Last Jedi I have gotten some feedback – in person and online – and most of it is from people grumbling about the movie and angry that I liked it so much. I realize that they believed that it was not what they wanted and that especially the character of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) greatly disappointed them.

Recently Hamill added fuel to the fire in an interview when he said the character “…is not my Luke Skywalker.” Afterwards he backtracked and apologized for talking about “creative differences” with SWTLJ director Rian Johnson, but the damage was already done, and the people who didn’t like the film pointed to Hamill’s remarks as corroboration of their opinions.

Honestly, there was something in both The Last Jedi and its predecessor The Force Awakens that I wish had been different. One of the key things I wanted was an onscreen reunion of Luke, Leia (Carrie Fisher), and Han Solo (Harrison Ford) in these films. Since Han met his end in The Force Awakens, I knew that would not be possible this time around, but that is probably my biggest disappointment.

When I got to thinking about it though, I understood the reasoning behind the big three not getting back together. I understood a most salient point that directors J.J. Abrams (The Force Awakens) and Johnson were making – this is not the Star Wars movie you wanted but it was one you needed. Life moves on, people change and get older and, sadly, they die.

Now I am sure I will get more flack for saying this, but I see the logic of it all very clearly. Mostly, Luke could not stay the fair-haired teenager we first saw on Tatooine 40+ years ago. He has grown older, experienced tragedy and loss, and is not the same person that we first met in A New Hope. If he were then the directors would not have been depicting a truthful progression of the character. Luke has gone so far from wanting to join the Academy to becoming a Jedi to basically saving the galaxy. Eventually he grows older and wiser and begins training new Jedi, but that ends in disaster.

I realize that Hamill has an emotional investment in Luke (as do the fans) and that what he said about Luke came from an honest place, but then he also took into account the arc of the whole story and understood his place in it. All I have to do is see my own truth in Hamill’s dilemma – I am not the same person I was when I first went to see Star Wars as a teenager in 1977. While there are facets of my personality that are similar, I have grown older and do not approach these films with the same starry-eyed optimism I once did. So, sure, I will always like A New Hope and remember it fondly, but no other film in the series can ever be like it again and rightly so.

Some of those people complaining to me have mentioned they want A New Hope type of film in the series because it ended on such a positive note. I understand that but, if you examine the seven other films honestly, you can consider the ending of A New Hope as an aberration. Think of the dismal ending of The Empire Strikes Back as evidence that even by the second film George Lucas had a different idea for the trajectory of these characters.


Some may argue that the ending of Return of the Jedi is hopeful, but I have always wondered about the impact of Darth Vader’s death on Luke, the inability to really get to know his father and losing him so quickly after Vader’s turn to the light side. When Luke sees the vision of the Force ghosts of his father, Yoda, and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), it is foreshadowing of the fact that one day he will join their ranks. By the time we see him in The Last Jedi, he has renounced the Force and that would not have happened, if not for Rey (Daisy Ridley) saving him by getting Luke to reconnect to the Force.

I know that nothing will stop those who hate the movie from hating it. Still the over $1 billion dollar (and counting) box office for SWTLJ indicates that people are going to see the film – and sometimes more than once like yours truly – and that they like something about it.

There is much to enjoy in The Last Jedi – new characters, great battle sequences, different exotic planets, and strange new creatures. The characters introduced in The Force Awakens get more development, and it seems clear that Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac), Finn (John Boyega), and Rey are now ready to replace Luke, Leia, and Han as the series’ main characters. Rey is truly the new Luke, an orphan child raised on a desert planet. She is one with the Force with a good and true heart just like his and, though she may have a tinge of darkness in her, that will not turn her to the dark side but rather will make her an even more potent opponent against it.

With the sad loss of Carrie Fisher we realize that she cannot be part of the ninth film – due in December 2019 – so we must face facts and realize that the old gang we knew and loved is gone. I do understand this upsets fans, but all fans must remember a crucial truth – Star Wars is bigger than Vader and Luke, Leia and Han, or Rey and Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) too. This truth has always been there but some loyal fans do not like thinking about it.

Star Wars is and always will be a story of light and dark, good verses evil, and that is an eternal struggle in the galaxy far, far away as well in our own. With a planned new trilogy to come after the ninth film, we must understand this battle will go on and on, and all I know is that I want to be along for the ride no matter who is the pilot of the Millenium Falcon.

May the Force be with you all now and always!



Tuesday, January 2, 2018

New Year’s Resolution Already Broken – The “New” Wallet



According to a report in the Journal of Clinical Psychology, more than 50% of Americans will be unable to keep their New Year's Day resolutions by June. Well, I am not even 48 hours into 2018, and I have already broken one of my New Year’s resolutions – to use the Wallet app on my iPhone instead of having a wallet in my pocket. 

I have had a smart phone for about ten years now, but I was told that I’m not very “smart” about the way I use it by one of the tech savvy millennials in my family. This well meaning relation explained that my phone can do so much more than just text, take pictures, and make phone calls, dashing my belief that I knew what I was doing with it.


So Many Apps and So Little Time

Okay, I realize there are many apps on my phone that I never use – and probably will never use like Watch (I don't have an Apple Watch) or Numbers  but I was okay with that. When I received a new wallet for Christmas (from someone in my age group), I was told by a youngling that I didn’t even need a wallet anymore. There was an app on my phone that could take that annoying thing out of my pocket for good, leaving new space for – wait for it, my phone.

I never really thought twice about carrying a wallet before since it is something I have done all my life, but when I thought about it a wallet is a nuisance to carry around. It is heavy and bulky and creates a bulge in my pocket. Why wouldn’t I want to get rid of it?

I explored my phone and realized maybe I should be using something like the GarageBand or Pages app, but the first one I would tap and get into would be the Wallet app. I had made a list of several resolutions, and the first on the list was to get rid of my wallet. 


Reality Hits the Fan

My father and his generation were very reticent about doing things online. I remember telling my Dad that he could do his banking, research and buy and sell stocks, and even buy a car online. He reluctantly got a laptop and I showed him how to use it, and he quickly learned (at age 85) how to send email and to search topics and read the news. Once he realized what he could do Dad loved the laptop but he did not embrace all its possibilities – refusing to do banking or his taxes or anything financially related on it.

So now when I tapped the Wallet app and prepared to get started, I kept thinking of Dad as I plunged in. The problem was as I read the fine print on the screen, I felt a deep pain in my stomach. Dad always said “Trust your gut” and it just seemed like I was giving Apple way too much of my personal information. It didn’t feel right – no matter how convenient or logical the app may be – and so I tapped “Cancel” and that was that, so much for my first resolution for 2018.


The New Wallet

Since I did receive a new physical wallet for Christmas, I decided to use it instead of throwing it in a drawer with several other new wallets that I received as gifts and that still languish in unopened boxes. I've resisted getting rid of the old wallet that I used for the last 15 years because changing wallets is almost as bad as moving, but this new wallet is supposedly a “security” one that will prevent malevolent individuals from scanning it to get my credit card numbers and other personal information. That seemed like a good idea to me.

Taking credit cards and other things out of my wallet brought back memories, including a little card my daughter had made me in third grade. I couldn’t believe the little notes and old bills that had been stuffed in there. I resolved that my new wallet would not be a storage place for anything other than what was necessary.

As soon as I put the two wallets side by side there was an obvious problem – the new wallet was substantially bigger than the old one. The intention of my original resolution was to free up pocket space for my cell phone, but now I wasn’t sure if this new wallet would even fit in my pocket. I tested it quickly and it did fit, but would it be the same once I filled it with all my items?

Once I got all my pictures, credit and other cards, and license and registration into the wallet, I realized that it had expanded like an excited Mrs. Puff on SpongeBob. Now as I put the wallets side by side the new one looked way bigger than the old one.


A Trial Run

I needed to go to the grocery store and also had to put gas in my car, so I got up and tried to get the wallet into my back pants pocket. I could not do so without reaching around with my other hand to hold the pocket open. As I walked toward the door I felt as if I had something large on my hip, and despite my wife and kids saying it looked fine, their poor attempts at hiding smirks and snickers told me otherwise.

I drove to the gas station and got out to swipe my credit card in the pump; I struggled to get out my wallet and had to use both hands to extract it. I felt like I was being watched and, as I looked up, the other people pumping gas turned away. I swiped my card and decided to put my wallet in my front coat pocket for easy accessibility.

In the grocery store I usually take off my coat and put it in the shopping cart, but because my wallet was in the coat I could not do that. As I walked up and down the aisles I felt very hot in the coat, and I realized the same thing would happen to me again and again going into stores or restaurants. I don’t like wearing my coat indoors and so the wallet in its front pocket was not a good system.


And in the End

I went home, put the groceries away, and then took the wallet from my coat pocket and went into my office. I sat staring at it and my old wallet on my desk. I viewed one as a trusty old friend and the other as a nuisance. I had already broken one resolution, but using a new physical wallet had not been on my resolution list. It seemed like the smart thing to do, but reality got in the way.

You probably guessed I put everything back into the old wallet. All my items slipped back into their places effortlessly, and then I closed it and put it in my back pocket with ease. I took the new wallet and threw it in with the others I had received as gifts still in their boxes, and I felt okay about it as I shut the drawer.

So what that I broke a resolution in the first 48 hours of the new year? Who cares that I now carry around an old wallet that is not tech secure? It fits in my pocket and I can extract it with one hand – that’s all that matters to me.

Because of this situation, I have made a new resolution – if something is working okay, I resolve not to do anything to make it otherwise. As my Dad’s father always used to say, “Change for change’s sake is always a mistake.” Yes, indeed!