Tardiness, Zimbabwe, Batman (Batman is FANTASTIC!)

First I want to apologize to everyone for only getting one video up this week. It was just one of those weeks where time just disappears. But something occurred to me this week at work. Almost nobody cares about being on time anymore. I work at a day camp, which starts at nine in the morning (not an unreasonable time in my books). I understand that sometimes it can be hard (especially with kids) to get somewhere on time, but TWICE this week I had kids show up incredibly late. I'm not talking half an hour or anything like that, I had two kids show up FOUR HOURS late. Now one had to go to the doctor or something, so his parents called and said he wouldn't be there; but the other one, the parents didn't call, or even apologize, they just showed up with him 4 hours late. You know what? In the days when I went to day camp if I showed up 4 hours late, they wouldn't take me. They'd say to come back tomorrow. Now, I don't think being late is the problem in itself, but it is a symptom of one. To put it bluntly, a lot of parents these days are more concerned with their own convenience than with having a well-adjusted child. What sort of message does it send the kid when their parents don't see anything wrong with showing up 4 hours late for an organized program? It tells the kid that there is nothing wrong with blowing off appointments and showing up whenever they want to. I think this is only going to get worse, and it is going to lead to a generation of (even more) self-centered, self-indulging whiny people.

Anyways, in things that actually matter, Zimbabwe has started printing 100 billion Zimbabwean dollar notes. And they'll barely cover the cost of a loaf of bread. Zimbabwe is (or has) fallen apart as a country.

Oh, by the way, The Dark Knight is fantastic. Christian Bale is gruff and kid of wooden, but Heath Ledger is absolutely brilliant as The Joker. He really takes over every scene he is in, and the character veritably oozes evil. Ledger is fluid, the way he moves, speaks, it is all perfect, absolutely the best incarnation of the joker yet. It is really a shame that such a great acting talent was lost so young. One issue I have with the movie is that some of the fight scenes do suffer from the "shakey-cam syndrome" that has become popular in many action movies these days (Batman Begins had a far worse case of this). In some of the fight scenes, it is hard to tell who is winning, or even who is fighting. I wish Hollywood would stop this practice. Now, other fight scenes in The Dark Knight are pretty good, moving towards a more Bourne-esque style of fight; brutal, quick and a very focused lethality, while still being interesting to watch. Personally I think that the fights in the Bourne movies are pretty much the pinnacle of modern movie fights, and I hope that the next Batman movie moves farther towards that style.