Hot Sunday

Started off my Sunday with Banana-Applesauce Pancakes and a call to Mom. Mom's fine. My brother Keefe had a bad weekend, though. He stepped on some long nail or something that went so deep into his foot, it was hours before Mom and Dad could get it out. Not surprisingly, he's not walking well at the moment.

Work was steady-to-busy, with no real problems. After work, I rode home. The apartment was devilishly hot...so much, that I HAD to turn on the air conditioner, whether I liked the idea or not. I rode out the rest of the heat of the day watching Wall-E.

Wall-E is the tale of a little robot on a destroyed Earth who spends his time compacting garbage, collecting various bits of junk, and cultivating taste in movies - he constantly runs his one Hello Dolly! video. (Incidentally, yes, they did manage to work footage and music from the real Dolly! movie into this. Kudos to the Pixar wizards for that, and to Fox for letting them have the scenes and songs.) The lonely little fellow finally gains a friend when a gorgeous, sleek white robot named EVE appears and captivates him. He gets a lot more than he bargained for, though, when he discovers what EVE does...and what happened to all the humans who once lived on Earth...

I can understand all the accolades this one received. It was a touching, heartbreaking, and surprisingly cynical view of how mankind treats nature and each other. EVE and Wall-E's relationship was one of the sweetest, dearest things I've ever seen in any movie, and there was some genuinely amazing animation as well. As cute as the robots were, the depiction of humans as slothful and lazy was not only more than a little pointed...but entirely too close to the truth, especially as people try to cut down on both food intake and spending in real-life.

I went for a short walk after Wall-E. While not quite as hot as earlier in the day, it still wasn't anywhere near the usual temperatures for this time of year. I hiked down to the river, then into the development near the school and back down West Clinton and Manor Avenue. There were still a lot of people outside, despite the heat. Kids rode bikes. Teenage boys shot hoops. A dad taught his daughter to ride a bike. A young couple nuzzled in the shade by the river. An older couple and their dog drowsed on a porch on Manor.

The scenery is lovely, too. The leaves are getting fatter and greener. The tulips are bright and spicy. The lilacs are just starting to bloom. Some yards have so much grass, they're starting to look like miniature jungles.