Well, Iron Man the movie is breaking box office records in many ways and destroying all the pundits who swore it would do no more than 40 mil, proving once more that William Goldman was right, nobody knows anything. Robert Downy Jr. is the movie in every possible way and every moment he's on screen it comes alive. The direction is near perfect and the script is wonderful. I do have severe problems with the final fight scene - it is reduced to a senseless battle that has no set up or logic attached - but aside from that, and it's actually a fairly small thing - the movie is really good. Some have said it's the best super-hero comics movie yet, but I think that still goes to a tie between Spider-Man 2 and Batman Begins. Still, Iron Man is very, very close to the top of the list.

I've been catching up with all the TV I missed while in New Zealand. My Slingbox was working so I could have watched everything I TiVoed from there, but the internet rates in one of my hotels was, no joke - $2.50 a minute. And NZ's internet speed isn't up to snuff, either, so there was little buffering which resulted in a choppy look. But ultimately it wasn't worth that much to catch up on that night's Daily Show. I used my Treo to get my email and I went to internet cafes which were only $3.00 for an hour for my regular internet surfing, so I kept up on friend's blogs as well as the news. At any rate I'm mostly caught up.

Now I'm fully back to work and cutting my New Zealand video on iMovie in my spare time. I've always said wonderful things about Apple, and their inclusion of iMovie in their OS is one of them, but now I can actually say something bad about them, too. I've upgraded my OS to whatever the animal of the day is and also picked up their new iLife 2008 which upgrades my iWeb, iPhoto, iMovie and my iDon'trememberwhatelse software. But the new iMovie, although it looks better than the old one I used, is actually inferior in most ways. What's worse is that in this paid version Apple actually took away some of the best features that they gave you free before. In the previous iMovie, which cost nothing, they had an entire video effects suite of programs that let you do all manner of things with special EFX, including reversing the video, speeding it up or slowing it down, etc. That's gone. They also had something called themes which let you create a special look to the opening of your movie. That's gone, too.

At first I thought I just couldn't find it, but I went on Apple's iMovie board and asked where it was hiding. Within minutes I was told everything I had been looking for was removed. But I couldn't believe it so I went to my local Apple store and said, say it ain't so, Joe. But, sadly, it was. Why would they remove programs from their paid version when they already had them in their free one? So as I edit my video I am using my old iMovie, but I'm grumbling that in this case at least Apple made a big, big mistake.

Labels: Apples, etc., Iron Man

I have taken Qantas Airlines several times and they've always been great, but this trip to New Zealand was a little disappointing. Noel and I arrived at the terminal many hours early. The people at check-in were all wonderful and because I showed up early I managed to get myself an aisle exit row seat. I am nearly 6 foot two and have long legs that makes regular airline seats extremely uncomfortable. I cannot imagine how a few of my friends (hi, Ian) who tower over me can travel in anything less that super 1st class. At any rate, the folk at the counter were as always great. Noel and I then had a leisurely dinner. Noel went back home as I headed for the gate listed on my ticket.

There were a number of people waiting there, all heading for Aukland, NZ, which is where you land before switching over to the domestic flight to Wellington, my destination. At some point I realized nobody was showing up at the counter and it was time for us to board the plane. I checked with a few people to make sure this was the right gate, and they, too, were heading to Aukland. One of the women I asked got worried as well and went off to check. Like my trip two weeks back to Dayton where United changed gates three times without telling anyone, Qantas had indeed changed the gate without a word of warning.

We all shlepped to the new gate only to discover the flight had been delayed two hours. That is okay. These things happened, although many of the people who ran to the new gate were still not happy about the unmentioned gate change and expressed it to the people behind the counter. I didn't say anything because several others already had. At any rate, a little more than two hours later we boarded the plane and promptly sat there for another hour. We were all told that there would be Qantas people in Aukland who would tell us where to go for connecting flights and that re were all going to be automatically rebooked to the next flight out. That sounded fine.

I got on the plane, tried to sleep or at least rest but the inevitable crying baby who decided waking and wailing hours were between 11PM and dawn, did his best to make sure I couldn't. So I watched a bunch of movies. The hard part there was Quantas was doing a Heath Ledger film festival in honor of the actor and they were playing all his previous movies. I have to admit I really loved Ledger's films; A Knight's Tale is one of Noel and my guilty pleasures. I have seen a lot of footage of his Joker work and it is brilliant, but I could not bring myself to watch those films now. I wanted fluff and the memories of his tragic death would be too strong. So I watched Enchanted (which was great), 28 Dresses (okay, it is a chick movie, but it was fun) and The Mist, which although spooky as all get out was a collection of every horror movie cliche ever done. Between movies I read the book I brought along, World War Z, which is a first person chronicle of the Zombie war. It was recommended by my friend, Bob Skir (who won't know I called him out here since I don't think he reads this) and Bob was right; it is great.

96 or so hours later we landed in Aurkland. I entered the terminal looking for the Qantas people to tell me what to do next.

Crickets.

I looked around some more.

More crickets.

Nobody. I searched out a Quantas person and they said we needed to collect our baggage, go through customs and then the people would be there to tell us what new flights we were booked on to Wellington. So I got my luggage, went through customs and guess what?

Crickets.

Nobody was there. I made my way through the terminal carrying my very heavy bags (well, pushing the cart they were on is more accurate) and finally, after a long while, found a Qantas person who said I needed to go to some other place and then someone would be there to tell me what to do next. You know what comes next.

Crickets. And more crickets.

After a long while I found a Qantas person who told me I needed to change terminals and that I should take a bus to the new one. As weird as it sounds, I was lucky; people I spoke to later told me they couldn't find anyone so they walked to the new terminal which was very, very, very far away.

I got to the domestic terminal and guess what? Right. More crickets.


Finally, I decided to just go to the ticket booking counter. I asked which line I was needed to be on and a woman behind the counter pointed me to the line next to hers. I went through it and the guy took my bags then told me I needed to go to the woman's counter to get my new pass. Please note these two lines were three feet apart. I get back to the woman and she gives me the ticket and says she doubts I can get to the flight on time but I should try; if not they’ll rebook me.

I am afeared for my life.

I go through the new check in line to the plane only to discover that although I am now four hours later, I am pretty much on the same Aukland to Wellington plane I was originally assigned to which, as luck would have it, was itself two hours late (I originally had a two hour wait between flights). So despite being incredibly late I got in only a little bit later than I would have.

The flights were all good, but I do wish airline personnel, who already make you feel like a Chippendale dancer who has to strip in order to go through the check-in line could at least be there to help you as they say they will. There seems to be a lack of courtesy on all airlines these days, but I had never before now seen that on Quantas which has always been above and beyond. It is sad.


At any rate, I am in Wellington now. My limo driver told me about a few sights I should definitely see, so although I was exhausted from lack of sleep, I showered, changed clothes and made my way to the cable car just two blocks from the hotel which took me to a high peak where you can see much of the city.

Labels: Botanical Gardens, etc., Wellington