Ryan's Journal

They try hard to avoid simple answers in The Dark Knight, the latest in the Batman series, thankfully brought back to life after the proof of X-Men and Spider-Man that comic books can work on the big screen when done with proper gravity. They don't quite succeed - there's an appropriate but pat summation at the end - but I came away more than satisfied. One day someone will do a take on the comic book world that swings too far into seriousness and lands in melodrama and camp, but that's not today, and Christopher Nolan scores another hit. I'll keep watching that guy's movies.

The story and, achingly, Heath Ledger paint The Joker with great nuance, avoiding simple explanations for the origins of such a creature as seen so often in flashes, like Magneto in the first minutes of the first X-Men, to the Jack Nicholson Joker who fell in a vat because of the Bat. Origin myths are even lampooned as The Joker offers different accounts, all plausible, about his appearance. In the end, there is nothing about this villain that can be tidied up neatly, other than that he strives to enable a world where things aren't ever neat. That's a complex thing to do in a film where audiences are searching for and frequently receiving neat answers to abhorrent behavior, for a nice wrap up to an impossible situation. There is none of that here. But you'll still leave satisfied.

It's impressive. It's worth seeing in the theater.

I was wandering around the capitol last weekend, bumming around after checking out the Library of Congress, led on a tour by a docent who strove to but fell short of cracking wise. I'd like to know what it takes to get into the reading room proper instead of being relegated to the tenth story viewing balcony. It seems beautiful; right now, it's half-covered in construction dust sheeting.

Wandering past the Supreme Court and Congress, I heard what sounded a lot like a crowd cheering a home run; more strained listening showed it to be a speech of some sort. Rounding to the Mall side, I saw a large crowd of something, and upon nearing found it to be a Ron Paul rally.

I hung back to observe and apparently arrived at the wrong time. DC police conferred with one another about setting up a "command post" in the general vicinity in which I stood, and the three of them agreed it was time to get anybody not a cop out of there. "Goodbye, get out of here, you're gone." Other uninvolved foot traffic were also rudely dealt with, complaints of, "Are you serious? I just told you to leave and you're walking that way?" emanating from the civic servants. They were expecting the Ron Paul revolution to break out on that walkway. I walked to the back of the rally; I was much less dangerous there. Later on, I glanced at the command post - it was the same three officers standing there looking at each other. On so many levels, amazing.

When Rep. Paul wrapped up his mini-tirade, I figured it would get significantly less interesting and left, only to find his supporters leafleting. One another. That's one bit of Election '08 to take home, I actually got to see one of these guys in person. Now to find another who still thinks he's running - anyone know where Mike Gravel is?

There's an old media narrative about how kids hate to eat brussel sprouts, from Leave it to Beaver to any old 80's sitcom. I never had brussel sprouts as a child but, based on television, assumed they were some sort of disgusting, up until a friend served them to me a few years ago in Colorado (though I'm sure they were ingested prior in some clandestine form).

They're good, especially when roasted. I don't know anybody who actively hates them and am mystified by the general assumption everybody does. Not that I've surveyed extensively, but it just seems odd that brussel sprouts were chosen as the sacrificial bad veggie; was there one writer in the 40's whose mother boiled the brussel sprouts into bitter mush, and everybody since then has taken his biases as well-known facts of life? It's not even that easy to find them; shopping for sprouts in Boston and Seattle, grocery stores seem to stock very little volume, if at all. It just doesn't seem like brussel sprouts are part of the common American experience enough to merit such a bad rep. Don't overcook them and they're magic. Blame your chef if they aren't.

Based on the same totally incomplete survey, the one vegetable that seems to get the most hatred is celery. I don't quite understand it, but go ahead, haters, speak up and be heard.

Myself, it's eggplant. Bleh.

By some handwaving magic, my home town is the CNN Money top place to live of the top 100 in the country. I have leads on hot property if anybody wants to take up that statistical assertion.

I'm more curious about the bottom 100. Surely a numerical analysis for determining the "best" would have a full ranking of the "worst" as well. Release that and some more info on what's going on in data acquisition and algorithmic determination, and maybe it will qualify as potentially actionable.

Apparently my standard of living started off at the top and will only go downhill from there.

Major cities are unfriendly to drivers, the ones not bought out by the auto industry decades ago providing useful public transport systems to keep metropolitan residents from revolting. DC has evolved differently by, presumably, a combination of building height ordinances (no taller than Capitol Hill, so no high rises) and federal land ownership. As it turns out, this means the district can't domicile its mass of white collar employees, and now it's home to the very wealthy, renters, students, and blue collar workers for whom it makes no sense to live outside the district. The surrounding areas in Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia seem to be a giant exurb. Since no sane municipality invests heavily in sparse suburban public transport, and with no good, cheap way to park a car in DC, it's almost a burden to have one here. How do I get in to have dinner with a friend?

Parts of DC are rapidly undergoing a gentrification process that, according to Christi, is driving a notable racial and economic divide further east. The middle class has all fled outside the Beltway; squeeze too hard, and those of lesser means will have nowhere to go. There's a serious difference between urban renewal and driving people from their homes to make way for apartment complexes. It will be interesting to watch over the next few years.

About driving. Why is George Washington Parkway, a hilly, curvy, narrow, and vital corridor along the Potomac, completely unlit? And why is Cabin John such a mash of information overload on what times which roads turn or reverse flow? Someone in the traffic department needs to invest in tollbooth red X's and green arrows. Those of us wishing to remain ambulatory are unwilling to stop in 50mph traffic to digest the short stories on your signs, many of which are hiding behind tall shrubs.

I passed the 1k mile mark today. For some reason I thought that would come later, but I am estimating 12k+ total, so I guess it's not so far ahead of schedule. I'm about 450 road miles away from my point of origin; that sounds about right.