two movies
Mark's already talked up March of the Penguins, and I heartily concur. Really begs to be seen on a big screen, and it's one of those movies where you want to sit through a making-of doc immediately after watching.

Speaking of making-ofs, we finally got to see a movie I've always been intrigued by the story of: Peter Bogdanovich's first film, Targets. Roger Corman decided to let PB make a movie, with the following conditions:

1. Shoot approx. 20 minutes of footage with Boris Karloff, who still owed Corman two days of work.
2. Use approx. 20 minutes of stock footage from The Terror, a period Corman/Karloff film, also starring a young Jack Nicholson.
3. Do what you like for the remaining 40 minutes.

I suppose from this, the fact that the end product is at all tolerable is impressive enough. But it's actually a solid film through and through. Bogdanovich cast Karloff as essentially himself, an aging actor ready to retire, and wrote a suspenseful B-story inspired by Charles Whitman. The Terror footage became "Byron Orlok's" intended swan song. The whole thing holds up remarkably well.

Here is an interesting article on the new-look Battlestar Galactica. If you're not watching this show, you probably should.

Somewhat related, I'm surprised that searching on this earworm yielded as little as it did. Now I'ma have that damn jingle in my head all day.

As you may know, I'm a medium-to-large fan of mental hygiene and other ephemeral films. Thanks to the Prelinger Archive, I recently found the first social-instruction film I ever remember seeing, in kindergarten. My 30-year-old memories of it were naturally hazy, but I don't remember it being particularly effective. Here it is!

Stockholders approved Federated's (owner of Macy's) purchase of May Department Stores (owners of Marshall Field & Co. and Lord & Taylor). The contrivoversy (thanks, Jon!) in Chicago is whether or not the new owners will retain the venerable Field's name. According to this story, Federated is polling "customers in Chicago, Minneapolis and Detroit about the importance of the Field's and Lord & Taylor names."

Don't hold your breath, Field's fans.

Only one-third of the people polled will consider the MF name of value. The name is relatively new and still unwelcome to people in Michigan and Minnesota, who shopped at Hudson's and Dayton's stores until 2001. That was when then-parent Dayton Hudson (now Target Corp) changed the names to the more nationally-known Marshall Fields. I can't speak with much authority about Hudson's, but I can attest that Minnesotans looooved their Dayton's. Fierce brand loyalty. Pretty much everyone's first charge card -- you could get 'em at 15 or 16. People still insist on calling them Dayton's, especially the 7th & Nicollet flagship -- "It still says Dayton's on top of the building," my mom says.

They're going to do this poll and most people are going to pine for one of the long-gone names. Respondents aren't going to prefer Field's to Macy's, since the old faves are not an option (Target still owns Dayton's and Hudson's trademarks). They're gathering data designed to lead them to the decision they've likely already made. So with the possible exception of the landmark State Street store, kiss Marshall Field's goodbye.

So that's what was going on
The building where I work is situated right between the Davis El and Metra stops, and I live two blocks from the Dempster El stop. When we left work yesterday we noticed a number of helicopters flying around the area (and if you've been here, you know that Evanston is maddeningly far from the interstate, so I knew it wasn't the usual Shadow Traffic brigade). Once home, I could still see them hovering in the south. Turns out there was a bomb threat on the Purple Line.

Dean's Chicagoland Vacation has come and gone. The trip went something like this:

Sat: Arrival. Lunch at Superdawg, which he seemed to enjoy, although what's the point of a Chicago-style dog when you're at the age where you only like ketchup. Bought some groceries. Hit the beach. Play some PS2.

Sun: more PS2. Back to the beach. Party at the Haus house. Copious amounts of food consumption.

Mon: Six Flags with Scott & JC. This turned out to be a perfect day to go, despite (or perhaps because of) the ominous weather forecasts. Lines were short all day. Dean was just tall enough to go on everything, and he did. When the sky did open up for a few hours, we went to S&J's place nearby, got some dry clothes, and went out to lunch. When we returned, the rain had finished and our clothes were dry, so we went back to the park. S&J bailed around 8, but we closed the park. Near the end of the night Kirsti and I watched the park's (quite good) fireworks while Dean went on Batman again. Eventually there was no one else in line, so he got to jump to the front of the ride and go about 4 times that way. He ended up riding it about 8-9 times all day. I ended up on it twice, Superman and the giant-drop thing twice, and the other coasters once each.

Tue: Museum of Science and Industry. We finally got to do the coalmine, and also took in Game On (videogames, a nobrainer for the three of us), U505 sans guided tour, and BodyWorlds, which was interesting but creepy. I think Dean liked it the least of the three of us. In retrospect, we should have skipped BW in favor of the sub tour.

Wed: Lunch at Ed DeBevics (look, he's 10, okay?), then Shedd Aquarium, where we leeched off the generosity of Alexis and her membership.

Throughout the week was much Playstation. The little monkey beat me at whatever NFL and MLB games I have, but I won the home run derby and consistently thumped him at Katamari. So there. I should have hidden my GTA games, because about Tuesday he started begging to play them. He called his mom, and she caved, much to my surprise -- he could play it for a half hour. He had said something about how he was allowed to play if "he was good": no jaywalking, no instigating violence, only jacking parked cars. This of course went right out the window once he started playing. I tried to guide him to the innocuous taxi and pizza missions, but he wanted no part of them. Once he started chainsawing passersby, he was done. No more Rockstar Games until he's at least 11, I say.

Overall he's a pretty good kid, and I suppose he was easy to host. I was surprised how good he was with his spending money; some snacks here, souvenirs there, but frivolous stuff held no interest. I was worried about the games at Six Flags, but he didn't even look twice at them.

Thu: Drive to MN.

Fri: Hang out with my dad & stepmom. Attend a bookfair where we're surprised to run into a coworker.

Sat: Family reunion. It was okay. Grandma wants us there, and she's the last grandparent I have left. Plus you don't mess with grandma -- she killed a rattlesnake when she was a girl just to get the rattles. But the pattern is pretty evident that as members of her generation have passed away, the descendents in the given wings have stoppped coming. So under those circumstances, I hope to go to many more.

Sun: drive home, play with cats. sleep the glorious sleep of the childfree.

Today's lesson: always use the voicemail option indicating you're spending money.

I had to call the airline today to confirm Dean's info, which both Katie and I had misplaced. On hold for over an hour. Eventually I put that line on hold, used the second work line to call again, and this time hit 1 for Making a Reservation. I was connected in less than two minutes. I got what I needed, hung up, and sure enough the first line was still on hold. On the lighter side the office closed at 2, so my important afternoon slacking schedule has a venue change.