... tennessee

apologies for the prolonged leave of absence. I've been on vacation in tennessee where I'm supposed to have internet access, but there's something wrong with their router. besides, I haven't had much time after full days of packed action and nights of watching movies and the olympics. so far, we've been to ripley's aquarium, great smoky mountains national park, and dollywood. I'll admit, I've had attitude. I've been pissy for no reason. but the funniest part is when I've been all mad and my dad's all confused and then I'm not mad and then he's again confused. how am I supposed to say that I felt like being mad, and now I'm all done?

I don't know, tennessee's not too bad, it's pretty. I'd just much rather be in vermont. and I think it's hilarious that we come all the way here to do all this stuff when we could go to the baltimore aquarium or the maryland science center, spend a day hiking and skyline drive, and king's dominion. minus the southern accents. the only thing I really wanted to do on this vacation was go hiking and it's the only thing my family has managed to patently avoid. a whole day in a national park and they wouldn't go hiking. instead, I am forced to participate in the massive enterprise of hypersensory stimulation for the sake of ... what? stifling the beautiful reality of the world? or ... enjoying southern culture and country music? both are awful. I might not ever take my kids to amusement parks. they're dirty and there's too many people and you waste most of your day being miserable waiting for a brief minute of manufactured fun. I have to go back again tomorrow. I might just ride the train all day.

I rented dan in real life and peter jackson's king kong from the registration office here at the resort. dan in real life was quite good - I laughed a lot and I love juliette binoche. I even liked steve carell in every aspect of his role except lover. it was just kind of weird. for some reason, it didn't fit him. king kong was also excellent. it was really long of course, but really good. it never felt too long. mom was skeptical of all of peter jackson's creature/monster scenes, but I thought it was well done. the only extraneous scene was the pit of giant insects. adrien brody was perfect. naomi watts was very convincing. it was hard to believe she was doing all of that interacting with nothing, or andy serkis, who looks kind of creepy. she is very lovely, but I can't figure out how these women manage to get so skinny in some places and keep all the meat in the right places. it must be exhausting. jack black was ... jack black. I don't know who played the ship's captain, but he had very nice eyes. the best part of it was how well peter captured the emotion of king kong, how you got to see how ann(e?) connected with him. how he was more than a savage animal. that probably sounds really obvious and stupid, but king kong movies have always been awful, so this was excellent. and poignant. my favorite part was when anne mistook the sound guy for jack driscoll. or maybe my favorite part was just jack driscoll.