Our Disney Cruise for Julie’s mom’s 75th birthday was a big success! I can pretty safely say that I’m not a cruiser, but the person this trip was actually about had a great time. I’m happy we could make this happen. Here’s some thoughts to wrap up the trip:

• The port arrival process was way less hassle than I thought it would be. We arrived at the port around 1:20pm and was on the ship by 2pm. It would have been even faster if there hadn’t been an issue with the scan of Julie’s passport
• Disney=lines. Lines=Disney. There’s no way around it. Lines to get on the ship. Lines to get off the ship. Lines to check into kids club. Lines to meet characters. Lines for dinner. Lines for ice cream. Lines for the water slide. Lines to get a beer.
• The cabins are bigger than you think they would be, but not laid out as well as you’d hope. I like that the toilet and shower are in two separate rooms. I like the way they have a curtain to segment the main bed from the living area/other beds: this does a good job of giving the illusion of two rooms. But on the main bed side of the cabin (i.e., the adult side), there’s almost no counter space and only one (yes, one) outlet. Along with other oddities, there wasn’t much we could do after the kids went to bed without waking them up.
• The food on the ship was actively bad. Everything was low quality, bland, and not memorable. The sole bright spots were the chicken tenders (no, really) and lunch on Castaway Cay, the latter highlighted by fall-off-the-bone babyback ribs
• I understand that cruises and all-inclusives are two sides of the same coin. But while I can tolerate (and even like!) all-inclusives, I just don’t understand the appeal of cruises on a fundamental level. I get the benefit of being able to travel to different locales while coming back to the same room at night. But you’re so time limited at each port and required to stay close to the ship that even in the most ideal scenario, the trade off of space and freedom do not seem even remotely worth it. It’s like travel with training wheels. That’s a good thing for some people, but that’s not the way I like to do things.
• On the flip side, it’s kind of cool that something this big is able to move from place to place. It’s neat to think about a cruise ship like a floating city: taking a bunch of people from one place to another.
• There’s something about the packaging of Disney live experiences that makes my skin crawl. I like their movies. I find the engineering that goes into creating their parks and cruises really impressive and interesting. I don’t want to hate on things that other people find meaningful, but it feels so empty and corporate to me. Like a facsimile of something that has meaning rather than something that is actually meaningful.
• On a similar note, it also feels kind of exploitative. Movies in general and Disney movies specifically create these incredible worlds and characters that people connect with and relate to. I saw Moana shortly after finding out that Julie was pregnant with Vale and I spent the whole movie connecting with this story of a daughter trying to find her way in the world. If there had been an actor dressed as Moana on this cruise, I would have sought her out. But that actor wouldn’t have been the Moana I connected with. It’s hard to swallow the reality that the whole point of a Disney-themed cruise is to charge you $20 every time you want to take a picture with an actor dressed as a character that holds meaning to you. It’s well done and clearly performed with care, but it’s half a click away from the chain-smoking Transformer in Times Square pick pocketing you while you’re getting the one-eyed Minion’s autograph.
• The whole schedule is not as tight as you think it would be for a family-focused event. There’s a lot of “must do” events that take place after 9pm. There’s no reason they couldn’t move that schedule up to accommodate kids' earlier bedtimes.
• The Beauty and the Beast Broadway-style show was legit impressive. We didn’t make any of the other shows, but considering the limitations of staging a show on a fucking boat, it was really well done.
• The best part of the whole trip was Disney’s private island, Castaway Cay. I wouldn’t say it felt under crowded, but definitely not over crowded. There was plenty to do and the food was good. Definitely the highlight of the trip.
• Disney does a pretty good job (read: they’re actively aggressive about it) of getting people to wash their hands. But can confirm– cruise ship sickness is a real thing. One of the people we were traveling with got strep throat. We’re several days post-cruise at this point so I think my immediate family is all good.
• I had a plan to blog and post pictures while on the trip—but I weirdly found it difficult to do. Not because of the internet situation (which needless to say was sloooooooooow), but because there was a lot of repition in the day and nothing that I thought was interesting enough to share.

Bonus airplane one:

• Southwest’s 737-800s are way better than their 737-700s– more pitch, more width, more modern cabins. It’s the best domestic coach I’ve flown on in the past five years.

The White Lotus, Season 1: I kept hoping for this to cut a bit harder against the “the rich”, but that was probably the point: when you’re rich, you don’t get cut

Currently reading: Extremely Hardcore by Zoë Schiffer 📚

Just when I thought I was out, they* pull me back in

*pistachios

Napoleon: there’s something about these type of historical biopics that just can’t clear the bar. It may have something to do with trying to fit an entire lifetime into a three-hour runtime

On a better note: I knew Napoleon was a weird dude and I appreciate the lengths this movie went to show that

there's something about these type of historical biopics that just can't clear the bar.  It may have something to do with trying to fit an entire lifetime into a three-hour runtime

On a better note: I knew Napoleon was a weird dude and I appreciate the lengths this movie went to show that

Happy New Maggie Rogers Album Day to all who celebrate (which should be everyone)

Grey day out– supposed to be getting a storm a bit later.

Completed a coffee run* this morning!

*doing Wordle, Mini Crossword, and Connections in the time it takes the coffee to brew

Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 12: today is Julie’s birthday and our next door neighbors brought her some cupcakes…and a doormat. A doormat they’ve already put where doormats normally go. A doormat that I do not like. But what do I do?! I can’t take it off! They live right next door! They’ll know!

Solar panels took an eclipse-sized hit in production yesterday

Got a bit lucky with the clouds and the tinted roof of our car that I was able to take some pretty great pictures of the eclipse with just my iPhone. Taken at max coverage for Washington DC– about 89%

I have pretty vivid memories of learning about eclipses in first grade. It was 1990 and I was already very into space in general and Star Trek: The Next Generation specifically. Ms. Cruce taught us that in August 2017 our school would be in the path of totality of a solar eclipse. I remember being so excited! I would be 34 and definitely (probably!) be old enough to see it.

I don’t want to say that I constantly thought about that eclipse for the next 27 years, but I definitely occasionally thought about it: even though I’d moved from my small town in Kentucky to my college town in Kentucky and then to Florida and then to Washington DC– my parents were still in my hometown. I could go back and stay with them.

Then in late 2016 we found out we were pregnant with Vale. Her due date? August 21, 2017. The exact day of the 2017 eclipse.

I don’t quite remember being bummed– it’s hard to be bummed about the birth of your first kid– but I did think about all the times over the many many years I’d been excited about seeing the eclipse. And now I wouldn’t.

Vale was born two days early and so eclipse day was the day we brought her home. We went outside to see it and I remember being new-parent-crazy worried about a two-day old baby looking up at it. It was neat, but not as neat as the pictures my family were sending me from my hometown.

I’m writing this right as we’re reaching 89%– the max it will reach in Washington DC. Vale is–funnily enough– in first grade, the exact age I learned about eclipses. I never really considered going to the path of totality for this one. Too much disruption in our daily lives. Too much to do today at work. I’m still absolutely awestruck at space and nature and these cosmic coincidences. But, life got in the way today. That’s OK. My life is also a pretty great thing.

There’s a part of me that wants to plan a trip to Alaska in 30 years to see the next one. Maybe I will. But probably I won’t.

Reichardt has this way of letting her audience in on the joke while completely respecting her characters that makes you feel so smart and welcomed.

Michelle Williams knows how to inhabit Reichardt's characters better than anyone. It's so rare that actor/director are this in sync.

Showing Up: Reichardt has this way of letting her audience in on the joke while completely respecting her characters that makes you feel so smart and welcomed.

Michelle Williams knows how to inhabit Reichardt’s characters better than anyone. It’s so rare that actor/director are this in sync.

First time at the White House Easter Egg roll on Monday. Kids were weirdly very into the actual egg rolling part!

Ugh, Letterboxd needs to allow five favorite movies on your profile. I keep going back and forth between having Alien or Raiders of the Lost Ark as my fourth!

Some of our fall plans are coming a bit more into focus: Julie’s brother confirmed his wedding for late November in the Palm Springs area. I’ve been to Joshua Tree a few times– looking forward to Julie’s family being able to see it too!

(oh yeah, also congrats to the newlyweds)

Constellation, Season 1: I mostly liked this, but I constantly found myself writing a better show in my head which is never a good sign. Still, there’s a lot that’s done well and no problem that can’t be fixed in a Season 2.

Currently Reading

• One of these days I’m going to start reading again. But today is not that day.

Currently Watching

• Constellation, Season 1
• Curb Your Enthusiasm, Season 12

Currently In Queue

• Skinamarink
• Showing Up
• Godzilla Minus One
• Napoleon

Currently Listening

• Apple Music recently released a new daily mix– Heavy Rotation– that captures what you recently have been listening to. Sounds like a perfect addition to Current Things! Looks like this web embed is automatically updated as the mix is updated, so that’s less work for me!
• I always try and listen to the Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack during Holy Week. There’s a lot of division on the quality of this musical, but I’m definitely on the masterpiece side. I find most of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s compositions to be a bit maudlin (which isn’t always a bad thing!! Especially for big crowd-pleasing Broadway musicals!), but JCS is his absolute best.
• I’ll still and try highlight entire albums that I’m listening to. In March, I’ve dug back into Maggie Roger’s Surrender…

…and one of my all-time favorite albums, The Avett Brothers' Emotionalism

Currently Planning

• April: Disney cruise for Julie’s mom’s 75th birthday
• July: Kentucky to visit family and drop off kids for two weeks
• August: West Coast: Portland, Bay Area, Los Angeles, Disneyland (and maybe Yosemite!)
• November: Palm Springs for Eric’s wedding (maybe Vegas on the front end?)
• December: post-Christmas trip to Kentucky

Concurrently

• It’s not often that my favorite movie of the year lines up with what the Academy picks! Feel like I gotta highlight that one again!

It’s time again for my 100% correct ranking of this year’s Oscar best picture nominees:

1. Oppenheimer
2. Anatomy of a Fall
3. The Zone of Interest
4. Killers of the Flower Moon
5. Past Lives
6. Poor Things
7. Barbie
8. American Fiction
9. The Holdovers
10. Maestro

Finished in March:

The Marvels: equal parts nonsensical and weird. Weird is good. Nonsensical is not. At least it was under two hours

Dune: Part 2: Sometimes movies transport us to places that just aren’t possible. Other times they shine a light on us that we couldn’t normally see. And then there are times they do both and they transcend

Dune Part 1: Rewatched before our showing of Part 2 on Friday– there was a LOT of this movie that I’d forgotten in the haze of COVID.

As he did with Arrival, Villeneuve does a superb job of tying grand epics to the personal.

The Holdovers: There are periods of the year where time gets a little hazy. We need those times to find meaning

Killers of the Flower Moon: …it’s the inevitability of it all. There were people to be exploited, so they were.

Previously, in Current Things…

March 2024
February 2024
January 2024
December 2023
November 2023
October 2023
September 2023
August 2023
July 2023
June 2023
May 2023
April 2023
March 2023
February 2023
January 2023
December 2022
November 2022

equal parts nonsensical and weird. Weird is good. Nonsensical is not. At least it was under two hours

Plenty of time

Had a meeting in New Jersey this morning, so yesterday took the NE Regional up to Penn Station and then MNE out into NJ.

Doing the reverse now and pretty sure I’m going to chance leaving Penn Station to get a slice of pizza before taking the Acela back to DC. An hour is more than enough time!

Yesterday was a good day

(got to ride the train)

Complete list of people getting royalties from the Bible:

1. Esther (had the foresight to close deal in early 300 BC)
2. King David (leveraged his position to get a profit share, but lost half in torrid affair)
3. Gutenberg (can’t sell the Bible if it’s not printed)
4. Donald J. Trump (had idea to sell the Bible for a markup)
5. Jesus (duh)
6. Solomon (wrote the book with the most DAUs)

Trump’s Newest Venture? A $60 Bible.