Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (2008, Movie)

The Indiana Jones movies were directed by Steven Speilberg and written 
by George Lucas and a small army of screenwriters, but they exist in a 
universe of their own. Hell, they created it. All you can do is compare one to the other three. That's why no Indy adventure can match "Raiders of the Lost Ark" (1981). True, "Raiders of the Lost Ark" stands alone as an action masterpiece, but after that the series is compelled to be, in the words of Indiana himself, "same old same old."



Up against the Russians, Indiana Jones is once again played by Harrison Ford, who is now 65 but looks a lot like he did at 55 or 46, which is how old he was when he made "Last Crusade." He has one of those Robert Mitchum faces that doesn't age, it only frowns more.


The crystal skull is one of 13 crystal skulls, and the other 12 are in a subterranean chamber. When the set is complete, amazing events take place. What is the function of the chamber? "It's a portal--to another dimension!" Oxley says.


Director Steven Spielberg and star Harrison Ford have no trouble getting back into the groove with a story and style very much in keeping with what has made the series so perennially popular.

Xmas 2010

Trying out Japanese curry dishes is Daddy's idea. It turned out kids loved it too, although beef goes much better with curry than chicken. All of us enjoyed this shiny pre-Xmas eve day after a week of gloomy rainy storms.

Again, some photos from our lovely home.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets(National Treasure 2) (2007, Movie)

It seems that Benjamin Franklin Gates's great-grandfather, long venerated as the man who in 1865 burned a page of John Wilkes Booth's diary in order to prevent the Confederacy from acquiring a cache of gold, was actually in on the scheme. For that matter, it's never explained why so many people over so many generations have spent so much time and money guarding the City of Gold. 


There's certainly nothing to treasure about this movie.

The Future of Food (2004, Documentary)

Why is it that we have abundant food yet there are one billion hungry or starving people in the world, most of them living in rural areas?


It is widely accepted that organic agriculture contributes to the alleviation of poverty, but there are still mis-conceptions that organic agriculture cannot feed the world. According to Markus Arbenz, who is Executive Director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM), "It can! Organic agriculture currently has similar yields to conventional agriculture and often much higher yields in regions of the world where production environments are tough." And he adds, "Conventional practices deplete soils and thereby undermine long term food security."


According to Arbenz, "We need a paradigm shift - a new strategy based on affordable production systems for the poor through the smart use of biodiversity and the solutions that nature offers while acknowledging the diversity of cultures and leveraging the knowledge and practices they bring." Eco-intensification is the alternative that the organic movement suggests. It sees immense potential to achieve greater productivity and resilience by enhancing the biological activity of farming systems rather than outsourcing performance to costly, toxic inputs with wide-ranging adverse effects.

Xmas at Knott's Berry Farm