Dead Man's Chest

Carina skipped town to spend a weekend with her aunt in Florida. She’s soaking up the sun, and doing a lot of nothing. She’s earned it.

The twins spent the night at Carina’s parents’ house last night. We donated Dinky, our turtle, to the grandparents in order to provide companionship for the turtle they have. Tyler called home shortly after the turtles were introduced to announce with great delight that the two terrapins were getting along just fine.

With no one to look after, I went out to watch Death in the Midwest. (It pains me to have a link to a MySpace page, so here’s another, albeit stale, link for Death in the Midwest.) Someone in the band met someone who knows someone who might know a music producer, or something like that, so they were filming a DVD to show what their concerts are like. Tom came out, too, in order to show our support for our old friend Andy, the lead singer for the group. Since there was a video camera at the gig, I didn’t think anyone would mind if I brought my camera. See all my Death in the Midwest photos at Flickr.

I had the good sense to wear earplugs to the show, so I woke up Saturday morning without the ringing ears I usually have after a concert. Remind me to wear earplugs again the next time I go!

After collecting the kids Saturday afternoon, I decided I wanted to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest with them. So after a quick dinner we hurried to the theater. The movie is good – arguably as good as the first, keeping true to many of the same elements of swashbuckling bravado that made the first so enjoyable; though this one did run on a little long. I’ve heard two complaints about particular scenes being entirely too long: one about the millwheel and one about the kraken. I probably wouldn’t have recognized the millwheel scene for its length if it hadn’t been pointed out to me ahead of time: the scene is thoroughly enjoyable, in no small part for the sheer ridiculous spectacle of the whole thing. The kraken scene, though, was too long. It could have been shaved by several minutes without diminishing either the story or the tension at that particular place.

I’ll likely have to see the movie again with Carina. You won’t hear a complaint from me – it’s worth seeing a second time!