231 Years Young!

It's been a week since I've updated this little gem of a sight and I have to say that I do feel a little guilty.

Monkey-Girl and I saw the first showing of Transformers on Monday night. The theater was packed and we got to sit in front of a gaggle of girls that spent the time before the previews saying how awesome it was that they were there to see the first showing of Transformers and asking each other what the movie was about. (That's teenaged girls, I guess.) The sound went out for one minute and forty-three seconds. (Monkey-Girl timed it.) The crowd was ridiculous. Shouts of, "Rewind it!" went up. When the projectionist didn't, because that's impossible to do with a projector, the crowd whimpered their discontent and generally got over it. On the way out of the theater, Monkey-Girl insisted that we politely ask the manager for some form of compensation. He very happily explained that he was very sorry, they can't rewind a projector, and gave us two free unrestricted passes to any show.

The movie was a nice, brainless entertainment. It's, as expected, only tangentially Transformers. It will make lots of money and inspire kids to ask Mom and Dad for Transformers toys for years to come. Hence, more Transformers toys for years to come. Yay, me!

On Wednesday, we celebrated the signing of a resignation letter by some wealthy landowning Englishmen. I don't mean to belittle the founding of our country, but setting July fourth as the "birthday" for our country seems a bit odd to me. I think the signing of the Treaty of Paris (September 3, 1783) is more appropriate. How about the date of Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown (October 19, 1781)? I'd even take the date the Second Continental Congress voted to ratify the Declaration of Independence (July 2, 1776). What happened was this: they made many revisions to the original document and didn't want to send off a scratched-up copy to "Blind King George." The solution: send it to a calligrapher and have him make a fresh copy. Two days later, they got it back and signed it. It may seem like I'm splitting hairs for the sake of splitting hairs, but I'll have you know that John Adams agreed with me.

Anyway, Naples had a nice fireworks display.