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A Smattering Of Things
Wednesday, 4 July 2012 02:26Weather Here
Temps still peaking in the mid-90s. We had a chance of thunderstorms and rain in the last 24 hours, but it didn't work here in Allendale. There was lightning when I went to bed at 4am -- no rain. And a big peal of thunder at 9am -- no rain. But it's "abnormally dry" right now. One stage below a drought, I gather.
Weather There
Hard to believe what's been going elsewhere in the U.S. Named storm Debby drenched Florida. But massive fires in Colorado, Utah and elsewhere. I've never had so many online friends having to pack up and evacuate or have their gear ready to go. Fire is a terrifying event and even when it's not right up on you, the smoke can be overpowering.
Then there was the derecho. Last week we were supposed to get hit by a line of thunderstorms, but they tracked south of us and only the counties by the Indiana border looked to be getting any of it. Then came the reports that an intense straight line wind storm called a derecho blasted 700 miles from Indiana to the East Coast. I've run into derechos a couple of times. Once in Medina NY as a little boy, trying to walk home into a 60mph wind. Here in West Michigan, we've gotten 60-70mph continuous winds a number of times. It's why the new roof we put on the other year has hurricane rated shingles.
So the storm hits June 29th and millions of people are without power. Most of Ohio is out of power. And they're sweltering in high heat and humidity. And... I've a number of friends who are looking at power restoration dates of the sixth or seventh. Over a week. Strange how hard it is to get knocked out of the 21st century at home -- it's why we have a 12kW automatic backup generator -- and yet I'm hearing about this because there are pockets of power and Internet.
Excitements On TV
It's the beginning of July and that means it's the Tour of France. The rerun of Stage 3's finish in on right now.
And as Le Tour de France was beginning, last weekend NBC was showing the last part of the a series of races connected with next year's America's Cup. At first I was disappointed with the new AC class boats, as they're doing catamarans again. But gosh, the technology of showing yacht racing has gotten even better than before, between the projected lines where you can actually see who is really ahead to the cameras on the boats themselves.
I'm in no physical shape to do bike racing, yacht racing or Olympic events, but I surely enjoy seeing those who can.
The Avengers 2D [PG-13]
Of course I saw The Avengers in 3D (DW) back on 11 May, but Mrs. Dr. Phil was off in Nicaragua at the time.
Very enjoyable the second time around. Works well in both 2D and 3D. Cast is terrific, Joss Whedon actually wrote dialogue. This is, so far, the class act in summer adventure movies. Do stay to the very end of the credits in order to see both Dr. Phil Specials. (grin)
Highly Recommended
TRAILERS: Mostly things we've seen before. New trailers for the new Spiderman and Batman movies. I will say that this may be the first time I've seen the Frankenwienie trailer in 2D and not 3D. Though the 3D work is quite good, should you be inclined to see that movie, you might want to do it in 2D, because the artwork is dark and much more visible in 2D. Just saying. And for years it's been something of a joke about movies based on video games sucking. Well, Wreck-It Ralph about a bad guy in an old video game who is tired of being the bad guy, may finally be able to make a great video game movie actually about a video game. Think Monsters, Inc. but for the 8-bit crowd. (grin)
Dr. Phil
Temps still peaking in the mid-90s. We had a chance of thunderstorms and rain in the last 24 hours, but it didn't work here in Allendale. There was lightning when I went to bed at 4am -- no rain. And a big peal of thunder at 9am -- no rain. But it's "abnormally dry" right now. One stage below a drought, I gather.
Weather There
Hard to believe what's been going elsewhere in the U.S. Named storm Debby drenched Florida. But massive fires in Colorado, Utah and elsewhere. I've never had so many online friends having to pack up and evacuate or have their gear ready to go. Fire is a terrifying event and even when it's not right up on you, the smoke can be overpowering.
Then there was the derecho. Last week we were supposed to get hit by a line of thunderstorms, but they tracked south of us and only the counties by the Indiana border looked to be getting any of it. Then came the reports that an intense straight line wind storm called a derecho blasted 700 miles from Indiana to the East Coast. I've run into derechos a couple of times. Once in Medina NY as a little boy, trying to walk home into a 60mph wind. Here in West Michigan, we've gotten 60-70mph continuous winds a number of times. It's why the new roof we put on the other year has hurricane rated shingles.
So the storm hits June 29th and millions of people are without power. Most of Ohio is out of power. And they're sweltering in high heat and humidity. And... I've a number of friends who are looking at power restoration dates of the sixth or seventh. Over a week. Strange how hard it is to get knocked out of the 21st century at home -- it's why we have a 12kW automatic backup generator -- and yet I'm hearing about this because there are pockets of power and Internet.
Excitements On TV
It's the beginning of July and that means it's the Tour of France. The rerun of Stage 3's finish in on right now.
And as Le Tour de France was beginning, last weekend NBC was showing the last part of the a series of races connected with next year's America's Cup. At first I was disappointed with the new AC class boats, as they're doing catamarans again. But gosh, the technology of showing yacht racing has gotten even better than before, between the projected lines where you can actually see who is really ahead to the cameras on the boats themselves.
I'm in no physical shape to do bike racing, yacht racing or Olympic events, but I surely enjoy seeing those who can.
The Avengers 2D [PG-13]
Celebration North Theatre #15, 3:00pm
Of course I saw The Avengers in 3D (DW) back on 11 May, but Mrs. Dr. Phil was off in Nicaragua at the time.
Very enjoyable the second time around. Works well in both 2D and 3D. Cast is terrific, Joss Whedon actually wrote dialogue. This is, so far, the class act in summer adventure movies. Do stay to the very end of the credits in order to see both Dr. Phil Specials. (grin)
Highly Recommended
TRAILERS: Mostly things we've seen before. New trailers for the new Spiderman and Batman movies. I will say that this may be the first time I've seen the Frankenwienie trailer in 2D and not 3D. Though the 3D work is quite good, should you be inclined to see that movie, you might want to do it in 2D, because the artwork is dark and much more visible in 2D. Just saying. And for years it's been something of a joke about movies based on video games sucking. Well, Wreck-It Ralph about a bad guy in an old video game who is tired of being the bad guy, may finally be able to make a great video game movie actually about a video game. Think Monsters, Inc. but for the 8-bit crowd. (grin)
Dr. Phil
