So let’s see: Went into the City, met Bill Clinton, saw an advance screening of the Spider-Man movie. Since this is kind of long, I’m continuing it below.
I’d been planning to go into Manhattan on Wednesday anyway because I’d been invited to a preview screening of “Spider-Man 2” (love the title.) Then I found out that Bill Clinton would be signing his book on the same day at 12:30 down at the Borders on Wall Street. Beginning at 7:30 AM, upon presentation of a copy of the book and a Borders receipt, you’d be issued an orange wristband indicating you were good to stand on line. I already had a copy because Kath had purchased it at the local Borders, so I was good to go in that respect. However, since I live an hour and a half out of New York, I was going to have to get up at 4:45 AM to get there by 7:30.
I set the clock and it went off at 4:45 the next morning. Thing was, I was just getting over an ear infection so I wasn’t at my best anyway. I woke up bleary eyed, looked at the time, had a brief chat with Kath about the insanity of hauling myself into the city at that time of morning, said “Screw it,” shut off the clock and went back to sleep.
Later, having risen at a more human time, I decided to give it a shot even though I wouldn’t be able to get down to Wall Street until 11:30, which would likely be well after they were out of wristbands. But no harm, no foul, I’d then get together with friends for lunch or something and hang out until the Marvel screening.
I got there at 11:30 and, to my shock, they were still giving out the wristbands. I got one, got on the massive line, and ten minutes later they ran out of the bands and cut off the line.
All things considered, it wasn’t a bad wait. Lengthy, yes. Over four hours. But it beat the hëll out of the people who waited 24 hours in the rain the previous day for his appearance at Barnes & Noble. And I have to give props to the Borders people for keeping things organized and moving swiftly, or as swiftly as was possible under the circumstances. It was Get Your Book Signed, Shake His Hand, Say Hi, Keep Moving.
Nevertheless, I took a moment to give him copies of my two King Arthur books, since he’s an avowed fan of fiction and the books have a political thrust to them. He smiled warmly and said he would treasure them, which I frankly take with a grain of salt because how much can you treasure something from someone you’ve met for five seconds? But the sentiment was appreciated.
Actually, just as cool as meeting a president was meeting genuine Secret Service guys. I’ve just got tons of respect for those people. At one point we were standing on line, and there was a guy standing in front of an elevator. And I said to him eagerly, “Are you a Secret Service guy?” Trying to maintain his stern demeanor, he thought a moment before answering, “Yes.”
“Kewwwwwwl!” I said, at which point he shook his head and grinned in a “New Yorkers, what can you do?” manner. I thought of telling him I felt bad about Mark Harmon and Zoe’s body guard getting killed during “West Wing” but he probably doesn’t watch it.
Editor Andy Schmidt was kind enough to pick up my ticket for me for the Spidey preview since I was hung up on the line. The screening was at the Lowes Astor Plaza, one of the few single-screen movie theaters in Manhattan. Tickets were preassigned, and my seat was way back up in the nosebleed section. I was a little annoyed about that, but then discovered that they’d put John Romita Senior exactly one row ahead of me, so, y’know, if they’re sticking *him* up there, who am I to complain?
Overall I thought the film played better on the screen than it did for me on the script…especially since they cut scenes and dialogue from the final film that I was pleased to see go. The acting is even better this time around, the CGI has improved, and the sequences with Doc Ock are so seamless that you literally don’t think about the fact that it’s all trickery. Molina is just spectacular as Octavius, and the aerial battles between him and Spidey–especially when they’re plummeting and still whomping on each other–are great. And it’s true: Aunt May delivers a spectacular speech on the nature of heroism which alone is worth the price of admission. My only complaint is that Spidey loses his mask a lot, which is undoubtedly so we can see Tobey emote better, but still, it bothered me a bit. But it probably won’t bother anybody else. And there’s even little things for the fans, including a perfect visual recreation of the “Spider-Man No More” sequence from “Spider-Man #50.”
Go see it. Then buy the book.
PAD
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“Schools that can’t compete won’t get more funding.”
Well, yeah. Why should they? If a school, for whatever reason, is unable to do its job, then why on earth do they deserve MORE funding.
Dunno…if the problem is that the property tax base isn’t enough to fund them, what would taking away that funding going to do? Or if the school is “failing” by having 50 percent of its students pass competentcy tests instead of 20 percent of previous years?
Sorta depends on the details, don’t it? One size doesn’t fit all….
Oh, and to add to my hatred of the “ANYONE who disagrees with the administration” line, I want to add the whole “only the rich benefit from the tax cut” bull-hooey I ain’t rich. I got myself a tax cut. Discussion over.
I’m very glad you got to save your portion of the tax cut. You must live in a state that didn’t raise its taxes in response to the cut, or have gas over $2.00 per gallon, or force you to work at a job without healthcare, so you’d have to get your own…
I’m very glad for you. Because there are many people who “aren’t rich” who also “got themselves a tax cut” who, after paying other expenses, still had no money “to put back into the economy.”
In other words, they didn’t benefit from the tax cut. In fact, I’d venture to say the majority of the people (intruding even into the part that ARE rich) were hurt by the cut, not just financially, but in other ways…
Charles K,
Thank you! For a while there, I thought I was in some parallell universe, where giving money to chronically bad schools magically makes them better, and parents can choose everything for their children, from their doctor to their clothes, but choosing to put them in a better school is prohibited.
Craig,
if you would reread my post, I DO address bad students. And I do feel we should fund schools more, especially those in poor areas. A LOT more.
But the only way most people will agree to that is if they feel the money will actually improve things.
See, people on the left side of the aisle want more money for schools, which is fine, because they need it. But there is a huge resistance to changing the status quo, be that merit pay, charter schools, and higher standards.
Most on the right want high standards, but they refuse to fund adequately to reach these goals.
We need a compromise to have both. Because, truth to tell, even the schools in the district I’m working in now, which has teachers AVERAGING $95,000 a year, is not performing like it should.
Likewise, people
Roger Tang,
No, one side doesn’t fit all. But at least the Republicans are trying to come up with solutions. The status quo is a failure. We need to do better for our children. All of them.
See, people on the left side of the aisle want more money for schools, which is fine, because they need it. But there is a huge resistance to changing the status quo, be that merit pay, charter schools, and higher standards.
Most on the right want high standards, but they refuse to fund adequately to reach these goals.
Aint it the truth.
I think it ironic that a lot of the worst things I’ve seen are the result of parents actually involved….when higher standards ARE demanded, there’s whining that the standards are too tough (um, duh?). And I’ve seen science textbooks gutted because of parental interference…
Auuugh.
And I’ve seen science textbooks gutted because of parental interference…
What, you mean like those that are afraid that the theory of evolution will damage their child’s brain (or faith) or something? 🙂