Mid-week puttering

Last Tuesday, Mer and I stayed after school to see the Graphic Arts Show. The Graphic Arts Show displays the designs of CVCA’s graphic arts classes, and added in the portfolios of the J-term photography classes. They also have really good food. I had missed a couple of years of the show, and I was amazed at how popular it had become – there were a ton of people all over the CVCA library. The food was outstanding – cookies, cake, and cupcakes that had miniature reproductions of some student work stuck in the tops as decorations. The student work was really good. There were some really great photos, and the design students did a lot of creative work with CD cases, stamps, playing with word art and fonts, and self-portraits “drawn” out of words that also described the students. It was a very impressive display of talent.

Later in the evening, Mer went to the year-end CVCA band concert. I had to run some errands, but I joined her just before the high school band performed (I missed the junior high band). The band played four pieces that were a lot of fun, and very impressive. Then, the seniors each got to get up and direct a two-to-three-minute piece of their choice. We got to hear the themes from Jaws and Indiana Jones and Superman, “Eleanor Rigby,” the theme to Frosty the Snowman, and several pop songs, as well as others. I am very impressed with our musical talent at CVCA, and many of the students I am closest to are in the band, so it was a good way to support the kids.

On Wednesday, Mer and I went to a balloon-launching ceremony for my former student Mark. Mark died about a year ago of cancer, and last Wednesday was his twenty-first birthday. His family organized a group balloon launch at Mark’s graveside. It was a pretty day, and there were probably about twenty people in attendance, including two of my current students, as well as several former students. It was good to remember Mark.

After the launch, Mer and I headed up to Macedonia, and we grabbed supper at Chik-fil-A, and we even got to eat outside, which is a special little joy of Meredith’s. After supper, we headed over to the local theater, where we met up with Dubbs. We were there to see Thor, the new movie about the Marvel superhero interpretation of the mythological god of thunder. The theater is a modern one, with surround sound and stadium seating, and there were only about ten of us in the theater (it was 6:30 on a Wednesday, and I think the few people who wanted to see Thor at that time probably wanted to see it in 3D).

Dubbs and I were both very excited to get to see previews for the upcoming X-Men and upcoming Captain America movies. They both look pretty good. Thor was a fun movie. The movie focused a good amount of time on the characters and their relationships, which are important for a good film. Too often, movie makers just want to shoot superhero movies as endless fights, and those movies are pretty bad. Thor does have some excellent action sequences in it, but a large middle section of the movie is much quieter and deals with Thor and the people around him. It also has many moments of funny things going on, and good superhero movies don’t take themselves overly seriously. So, all things considered, Thor was a good time (and the actor playing Thor is one of the most buff men I have ever seen – egad!). Thor is an entertaining film, and I recommend it to those who like action films or superhero movies.

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