Nobody Knows Anything

Welcome to Diane Patterson's eclectic blog about what strikes her fancy

The Hunger Games: the review

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You already saw The Hunger Games this weekend. You don’t need my opinion of it.

Okay: it’s really good, it definitely evokes the spirit of the book, Jennifer Lawrence is clearly a little too old to play Katniss but she’s really good and there are few if any 16 year old actresses who could have done this role. All the movie forgot with the ending was the title card: “Coming next summer: Catching Fire.”

You know that movie execs have been prostrate in front of Suzanne Collins all weekend, begging her to add 5 or 15 more books to the Hunger Games trilogy.

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The previews before The Hunger Games were interesting for how the audience reacted:

  • Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter made the audience laugh. The movie will have to be really good to overcome the audience’s reaction that this idea is too silly for words. The preview is expanded over the initial one, with more explanation of just what in the hell this movie is about.
  • The new Spider-Man reminds us that it’s never too soon for a reboot! In fact, I think the reboot of The Hunger Games should be in theaters this fall. Andrew Garfield looks pretty good as Spidey. I have no idea of who the villains are or why they felt it necessary to bring Spidey back again, but I’ll probably be there.
  • The Avengers preview I’ve just seen one too many times now. I don’t want to see this again before the movie comes out.
  • Twilight: Breaking Dawn: Part II… I don’t even know how to gauge the audience reaction on this one. Embarrassed giggles? People talking right through it? Explosive laughter when Kristin Stewart is eyeing the deer as a tasty, tasty snack?

 

The Intel Museum

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I know, right? Who knew Intel had a museum?

Intro

Welcome

Well, they do — it’s at Intel’s headquarters over in Santa Clara, at 2200 Mission Boulevard. It’s a couple of rooms of intro to microprocessors, how chips are made, how computers talk, the Intel story —

(Spoiler alert: they invented everything and are the most amazing so phbbbbtttt!!!!)

— and that sort of thing. Looking at the photos of Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore and Andy Grove I was suddenly reminded of the time I interviewed Andy Grove for the Stanford Daily, a million and a half years ago.

The kids were mostly interested and happy. How could they not be? The museum has some real dinosaurs on display!

Ibmpc

A blast from the Mezozoic

That’s an IBM PC, kids. Scary, huh? Wait until your parents tell you how to operate that thing without a mouse. Wait until they describe the floppy disks. The tour guide did have a floppy disk as a visual aid…a three-and-a-half inch floppy disk. I called foul and insisted they bring out the five-and-a-quarter floppy floppy disks.

(My first job at Stanford was teaching students at the Graduate School of Business how to use IBM PCs. Good times. Man, seeing that little machine brought back some memories.)

Some of the exhibits were not very well focused (“Uh…which part of this is the transistor in relation to the size of a human hair?”), but they had plenty of interactive stuff for kids to play with. They had some exhibits that I liked.

Mooreslaw

Yes. I am a nerd.

And some that were just kind of silly.

Bunnysuit

One kid got to dress up in an actual bunny suit. She said it was “hot.”

During the part where the kids got to do some hands-on electronics, they built circuits from one of those kits you can buy at toy stores. Simon has a couple of these kits, so he’s really familiar with it. He did try to answer every single question the tour guide gave, but she was fair and made sure other kids got to answer questions too.

Well. Sometimes.

It’s a popular little museum with fourth graders in this area, because the fourth graders are studying magnetism and electrical conduction, and the museum is completely free, including the hands-on demo area.

And you know…this kind of thing is part of our cultural heritage around here.

Noyce

A nice quote to end the day with.

 

My new car

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One day, a few years ago, before we even started the remodel, the four of us were up in San Francisco for the day. After we had a fabulous lunch in the Marina district, we were driving to Fisherman’s Wharf, intent on getting get sundaes at Ghirardelli.

On Van Ness Avenue, I said, “I think I’m having a midlife crisis.”

“You…wait, what?” Darin said.

“I want to buy a convertible.”

“Okay, for one thing, that is a not a midlife crisis, that is just…wanting a change of pace. For another thing, don’t call it a midlife crisis, that had me in another conversation entirely. And for another, convertibles are a pain in the ass. Why would you want a convertible?”

“Dunno,” I said. “I just suddenly do. I was looking at some cars going by recently and I thought, ‘I’d really like to drive around in a convertible.'”

“Well, you’ve had the Odyssey for several years now, maybe it’s time to think about getting a new car.”

“I don’t want a new car. The Odyssey is a great car. It’s just that I want a convertible. Everybody I know has had a convertible.”

“Yes, and then they all got rid of their convertibles and bought good cars.”

“You have a point there.”

“Do you know what kind of convertible you want?”

“Oh yes,” I said. “I want an SL 500.”

From the look on Darin’s face, I could tell he was rethinking the whole “midlife crisis” analysis.

“Are you sure about this?”

“I don’t want to get one right now. I’m just thinking about it.”

Which is part of the reason that after this conversation I didn’t push the issue. I often get weird obsessions about things, and over time they would fade. Probably, most likely, almost certainly, this would happen too.

Or, you know… maybe not…

 

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