Today I started off the second truly summer-feeling morning with my drive to work. As life and dealing with humanity at large would have it, the optimism has been stolen from me and replaced with sorrow and disgust.
Never in my life have I struck a turtle with my vehicle. I have, however, witnessed people blatantly killing these defenseless animals with their trucks (always a truck, since people in Maine need to have them, even though they aren't ever using them for transporting anything; overcompensation runs rampant here). This morning was another one of those occasions.
I will paint a quick picture of the event for you so that you are aware that these things do happen, and people driving vehicles can be - and often are - cruel. I was at the head of a long line of vehicles, five or six, and saw the turtle up ahead, nearly to the other side of the road. I swerved to the breakdown lane to pull over and move it safely out of the way. The cars behind me all moved clear of the animal, and I went to get out of my car. It was then that the last truck in line, a large cream colored beast, decided that since I was getting out to help, it would clip the turtle and speed away, unaccountable.
By the time I made it to the animal, its head had been run over and it was dying, on its back, it had been thrown around so violently. Its blood stained the opening of its shell as well as the asphalt where it tried to travel to the other side, perhaps to start a family, or to make a new home in one of the many local ponds. Alas, its life was taken by a driver who did not deserve the privilege to operate a moving vehicle. All I could say as I laid the creature in the grass on the side was, "I'm so sorry."
If you see a turtle in the road, please don't hit it. These creatures are growing scarce, and they truly do not have the means to get out of the way. They deserve our respect. It is our duty to watch over these animals when technology unbeknownst to them is plowing through their habitats. In closing, if it was you who struck the turtle, I say shame on you. Was wherever you were going in such a hurry worth the life of this creature?
Friday, May 31, 2013
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Catch Those Puppies!
You just can’t be mad at
those puppies!
They just want to play, and
so do you! And yet, you wish you
could make them understand English - that you could tell them simply that you must get to work on your book (if what
you’re doing even ends up resembling a book at all!). You don’t have time to play.
But then they look up at you
with those big eyes, so filled with expression, that you can’t help but break
down and humor them.
They jump around, trying
frantically to lick your hand to death, even as you try to get away for fear
that they will overcome you with their drive to play and leave scratch marks on
your arms and maybe - if they enjoy jumping at that particular moment - your
chest and shoulders.
They can’t help it. They’re
just so excited to see you, to know that you’re home for the afternoon and just
present!
That is the best kind of
welcome, and something that our puppies seem to be the best at putting forward
just when you need it the most.
They may not know how to
read, but they’re positive that whatever you’re pounding into that keyboard, it’s
definitely a masterpiece!
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
Epic (2013)
Epic surprised me immensely. I went in with low expectations and left uplifted and very entertained. Epic is the rare movie that is advertised for children, yet not insulting to the adults accompanying the kids. I went to see this movie with a group assembled of all ages, and everyone found something to love. Hopefully the beauty of this movie is a sign of things to come from Blue Sky Animation.
The film introduces us to two very different worlds which are both connected, and it is delightful to watch how the two become joined. Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is an eccentric nature investigator, constantly checking his surveillance equipment for signs of miniature life in the forest surrounding his remote home. Thankfully he is not the main character of the film, because he is quite a bumbler, as his name suggests. It is his daughter, Mary Katherine, (or M.K. as she prefers to be called, voiced by Amanda Seyfried) a well-developed teenage heroine who arrives after the sudden death of her mother that will bring us through the worlds of the film. The painful subject of the loss of a parent is only hinted at and never referenced directly by any of the characters, and appropriately so. This movie is filled with wonder and action, and more than a dose of humor.
In the miniature world of the forest, the keepers of all that is thriving in nature, the Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce Knowles) is preparing to pass the torch to a new little girl. Everyone has gathered for the pod ceremony during which Tara will send forth the power of growth to bloom during the full moon, yet, all is not as it should be. The nemesis of the film, a surprisingly dark king of decay, Mandrake, voiced by the phenomenal Christoph Waltz, sabotages the ceremony and Tara passes the power onto a very unlikely person - M.K.
From there the audience is whisked away ala Honey I Shrunk The Kids style shrinkage, and we follow M.K. as she meets her new companions for the journey of bringing the pod to bloom. It is now her responsibility to do so, though she doesn't know why she was chosen. Colin Farrell voices Ronin, the stern soldier who had a relationship with Tara and is now mourning her loss. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Nod, voiced brilliantly by Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games, who is a rebellious soldier in training, learning how to be responsible and valiant as he accompanies M.K. Also as the comic relief are the slug and the snail, Mub (Aziz Ansari) and Grub (Chris O’Dowd), who provide an abundance of laughs that never feel like they were thrown in just for the sake of a shallow gag.
The comedy is woven throughout the narrative, and when it takes you by surprise, it’s a breath of fresh air that counters the character’s inner wounds and family issues. One laugh in particular involved Mub and Grub at a party where they ask a fruit fly what it’s like to have such a short life span. The fly, starting as a child, ages within ten seconds, ending as an elderly fly and then falls over, succumbing to the circle of life. I grew up in the woods, and still live there because of its beauty - and I saw many naturally occurring events in Epic that morph into the unseen acts of the little people. It was fascinating, and a world I wanted to spend more time in. The film's creators even find a good usage for video-chatting by the end of the story that had me chuckling.
If you have children, or are a child at heart, Epic is the movie for you. It reminds us to appreciate the rejuvenating power of nature and that if we fight for it and team up together, no darkness can overtake the world’s natural beauty. We are responsible for protecting the natural world, even though sometimes we don't know why we were chosen.
The film introduces us to two very different worlds which are both connected, and it is delightful to watch how the two become joined. Bomba (voiced by Jason Sudeikis) is an eccentric nature investigator, constantly checking his surveillance equipment for signs of miniature life in the forest surrounding his remote home. Thankfully he is not the main character of the film, because he is quite a bumbler, as his name suggests. It is his daughter, Mary Katherine, (or M.K. as she prefers to be called, voiced by Amanda Seyfried) a well-developed teenage heroine who arrives after the sudden death of her mother that will bring us through the worlds of the film. The painful subject of the loss of a parent is only hinted at and never referenced directly by any of the characters, and appropriately so. This movie is filled with wonder and action, and more than a dose of humor.
In the miniature world of the forest, the keepers of all that is thriving in nature, the Queen Tara (voiced by Beyonce Knowles) is preparing to pass the torch to a new little girl. Everyone has gathered for the pod ceremony during which Tara will send forth the power of growth to bloom during the full moon, yet, all is not as it should be. The nemesis of the film, a surprisingly dark king of decay, Mandrake, voiced by the phenomenal Christoph Waltz, sabotages the ceremony and Tara passes the power onto a very unlikely person - M.K.
From there the audience is whisked away ala Honey I Shrunk The Kids style shrinkage, and we follow M.K. as she meets her new companions for the journey of bringing the pod to bloom. It is now her responsibility to do so, though she doesn't know why she was chosen. Colin Farrell voices Ronin, the stern soldier who had a relationship with Tara and is now mourning her loss. On the opposite end of the spectrum is Nod, voiced brilliantly by Josh Hutcherson of The Hunger Games, who is a rebellious soldier in training, learning how to be responsible and valiant as he accompanies M.K. Also as the comic relief are the slug and the snail, Mub (Aziz Ansari) and Grub (Chris O’Dowd), who provide an abundance of laughs that never feel like they were thrown in just for the sake of a shallow gag.
The comedy is woven throughout the narrative, and when it takes you by surprise, it’s a breath of fresh air that counters the character’s inner wounds and family issues. One laugh in particular involved Mub and Grub at a party where they ask a fruit fly what it’s like to have such a short life span. The fly, starting as a child, ages within ten seconds, ending as an elderly fly and then falls over, succumbing to the circle of life. I grew up in the woods, and still live there because of its beauty - and I saw many naturally occurring events in Epic that morph into the unseen acts of the little people. It was fascinating, and a world I wanted to spend more time in. The film's creators even find a good usage for video-chatting by the end of the story that had me chuckling.
If you have children, or are a child at heart, Epic is the movie for you. It reminds us to appreciate the rejuvenating power of nature and that if we fight for it and team up together, no darkness can overtake the world’s natural beauty. We are responsible for protecting the natural world, even though sometimes we don't know why we were chosen.
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