Dry Drowning

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Dry Drowning?

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Jason had a little accident at a friend's swimming pool--hit his elbow on the diving board, panicked, and sank to the bottom for a few seconds before surfacing. He swallowed some water, and Tananarive had heard about a kid who swallowed water and died hours after leaving the pool. Lethargic and irritable when he went to bed, his mother found him hours later with "white spongy stuff" all over his face...and he wasn't breathing. It's called "Dry Drowning", a rare condition where water in the lungs goes undiagnosed, presumably in children. Does anyone know about this condition? What in the heck is the "spongy stuff"? Lung tissue? Mucous? Oh...Jason was fine, running around like a banshee, and in a great mood last night. We still checked on him closely, though.

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"The Final Destination" is just a terrible movie, with no characterization, shoddy logic, and CGI bloodshed. I'm ALMOST ashamed I went to see it, but hey, we already know I'm sick. An "F" unless you are a fan of fine horror, in which case it's an "F-"

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On the other hand, I saw "Ponyo", Miyazaki's latest animated film. Borrow a child and go see it NOW. It is simply magical, wonderful, the best traditional animated film I've seen in years. While not "Howl's Moving Castle" it is probably on par with "Castle Cagliostro" (I love Lupin), maybe better. The story of a magical fish-child of a magician and the spirit of the ocean, "Ponyo" is a testament to the power of imagination and simple child-like faith in the human heart. I was delighted, absolutely delighted, and so was Jason, and so was Nicki (who had seen it a week or so ago.) An "A", unless you are a fan of animation, in which case it is an "A+", another gift from a master.

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One question, though--what is it with Japanese animation that clearly presents Japanese characters as Caucasian? That is just the wierdest thing. In "Ponyo" this is really noticeable, because there is a baby, and several old ladies, who very obviously are Japanese. What the heck? My theory: this is part of the same "Stockholm Syndrome" that leads black people to straighten their hair, or Asians to have plastic surgery to Caucasian-ize themselves. An attempt to blend in with the dominating culture, in other words. I'd bet anything that if we'd LOST WW2, their animation wouldn't look that way at all. Strange.

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ﾠﾠI love diddling around with my exercise program, and I've come up with a variation on Ryan Hurst's 6DOF program (which is a modification of Scott Sonnon's incredible FlowFit) that is interesting. Only done it twice so far, so it's too soon to comment. But remember I was commenting about the lack of pulling movement? Well, I got a portable Jungle Gym, one of those things you hook to a hotel door, or throw over a branch or pole. Then I added some specific abdominal engagement without violating the "6 exercise, 6 degrees of freedom" protocol. The preliminary results were very impressive, but I'll wait until I've done it at least five times to lay it out.

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Does anyone think we can "win" in Afghanistan? I suppose we can come up with a definition of "winning" that makes it possible, but I thought it was received wisdom that Afghanistan is where empires go to die. Whatever we're trying to do there, we'd better do it and get the hell out, and not let our egos get our asses in trouble.

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Bought a collection of the first Black and White season of "The Saint" television series, and have had great fun watching it: it holds up great on re-watching. Loved this show, and that character, when I was a kid, and in fact corresponded with Leslie Charteris, the creator, back in the day. Roger Moore, who was only passable as James Bond, was stellar as Simon Templar. What a shame that no one, anywhere, has ever really put the REAL Saint on the screen--murdering, thieving, seducing, and charming as hell. That would be remarkable. One episode was a lovely, warm translation of the "Pearls of Peace" story where Templar steals worthless pearls to save a blind man's marriage. You gotta read it, it really is fine work (similar to Charteris' "The Spanish Cow"). Anyway, even watered down for television, I loved it. I hear Roger Moore is in poor health, and that saddens me. But it's great to see him here--young, beautiful, and with that wonderful arched eyebrow when someone accuses him of being "the notorious Simon Templar" just before that glowing halo appears over his head.

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