I just got back from a very enjoyable dinner with Derrill, Chris, and their wives whose names I’m afraid to try to commit to print because 1) with those names you could maybe identify these people and their families, and 2) I think I may have forgotten their names…

Anyway, dinner: they treated me to Korean food at Sam Hawk on Freedom Boulevard in Provo (it’s on the 500 block in the strip-mall where Storehouse Market used to be). It was delicious. I tried to eat with moderation, but ended up feeling quite full. Thanks, guys!

It’s nice meeting readers. I never know what to expect, and as much as they may think they know about me from my writings online, I doubt they really know what to expect either. It qualifies, therefore, as an adventure. I may be a 37-year-old, computer-softened, short, balding, white guy, but I’m an ADVENTURER!

(And I roll 20s).

–Howard

We finished watching Alexander tonight, and it was incomprehensible right up to the end.

I got more drama, more emotion, more ecstasy and anguish out of 10 minutes of working my shoulder out with a giant rubber band than I got out of that entire movie.

–Howard

One of the most poignant memories I have from my early teenage years is when my best friend’s Dad died. He had Multiple Sclerosis, and I didn’t know him for very long before he’d shut himself away from the world, wanting to be remembered healthy. Their family really got the shaft, because following his death, their mom remarried (the boys and I lovingly referred to their stepfather as “Doctor Dick,” and no, his first name was not “Richard”) and then there was this nasty series of bouts with cancer and divorce.

My best friend’s mom was a total rock for me later when both my Mom AND Dad died. One of my favorite memories of her is from my early 20’s, when I commented that she didn’t LOOK like she’d had a double mastectomy. She reached into her dress and pulled out a fake boob, which she then threw to me with a smile.

Well, I just learned that my best friend’s younger brother has been diagnosed with MS. I haven’t kept in close touch with their family, but I really, really feel for them. It’s one thing to be brave when you’re facing a potentially debilitating, deadly foe that may kill you. It’s another thing to find that you’re facing the same foe that killed your Dad and tried to destroy your family. I look at what they’re up against, all of them, and wish I could do something besides call them up on the phone and cry. And I’m too much of a coward to even do THAT yet. I’ll get to it… just not right now.

I’m praying for them, though. On my way into work at the Temple tonight I’ll scribble a name on a slip of paper, and that name will end up on the prayer rolls of the temple. If you’re the praying type, and if you believe it’ll help, you can join me. “Please bless Matt,” will do. I’m sure God will know who you’re talking about.

–Howard

I had a free rental coming to me (Blockbuster Rewards) and I spent it on the Director’s Cut of Alexander.

This film is beautiful, gorey, sexy, and utterly incomprehensible. For the life of me, I can’t figure out why these people are doing what they’re doing, or what the significance is of what they do next. Sure, there are a couple of driving forces behind Alexander’s push into Asia — his belief that if he goes far enough he can sail home, and some weirdness in his relationship with his mother — but that’s about the extent of what’s making sense. Yeah, yeah, it’s a war of conquest, I get that. But these court and field intrigues need just a wee bit more explaining.

The Director’s Cut was billed as being “faster paced” and “more action-packed.” I have to wonder if they shortened the film by taking out all the bits where Anthony Hopkins explains why so-and-so does such-and-such.

(Aside: Did Rosario Dawson get a nose-job? In Men In Black II, The Rundown, and Frank Miller’s Sin City I remember her left nostril being canted up more sharply than her right, so much so that it was almost comically distracting. In Alexander I’m barely noticing it. Good camera work, digital nostril-tweaks in post, or surgery?)

We stopped watching 2 hours into the movie, because it’s now past bedtime and the film still isn’t making sense. I’ll tune back in tomorrow to see the elephant, provided it’s still in the Director’s cut.

–Howard “I’m really happy I didn’t see this in theaters” Tayler