Ear Plugs, Harry, Taylor/Jacob and Wireless

I went to the movies today and when the first preview came on, I'm pretty sure that my ear drum ruptured. It was so loud I literally felt a stabbing pain in my left ear. I covered my ears for the entire trailer and then started frantically digging around for something to rip up and stick in my ears for fear that something equally loud would happen and I would be deafened by the whole experience. I understand that the volume is often set for a filled-to-capacity theater, but I'm pretty sure there is a volume control that should be visited if there are only 15 people in the theater instead of 350. I ripped up a mini-pack of tissues and plugged my ears with the bits (like my parents did when I was little and we went to the stock car races - except they used unused cigarette filters, not tissues). I kept the kleenex in my ears THE WHOLE MOVIE and it was still too loud a few times and I had to cover my ears to block out the screaming or louder-than-humanly-necessary music. My head still hurts from it.

On the Harry Potter front, I saw the first trailer for the last book, presented in two parts. It looks brilliant. I decided today that I will go back and reread all 7 of the books before the first movie is out in November. Yay!

As I watched "Eclipse" today, I was reminded that it was my favorite book of the series. I was also reminded that I am so glad that Taylor Lautner was not released from the film series. He is absolutely the best thing about the franchise, IMHO.  Not only does he have enough charisma to carry off such a big role, but he is good to look at and he is actually a good actor.  And did I mention that he isn't hard on the eyes?  I will say that I found the constantly changing wigs (particularly on Bella) a bit distracting. For about 1/4 of the film, Bella's hair looked real, but the rest of the time, it moved from bad to worse. For the record, Team Jacob! All the way!

Finally, since this is a RANT post:  Verizon now has a new (coincidence? - the commercial just came on so I can see the damn slogan...) ad campaign - "Rule the Air" which shows unsuspecting pedestrians walking along using their "apps" and not paying attention to all the transformer-like buildings, cars and other items changing into cell-towers and satellite dishes.  First of all, just because we CAN doesn't mean we SHOULD. I believe I have said this before. I still believe it. I want an iPad but I DON'T NEED IT.  So, upon watching this commercial, like, 12 times today (not really, but I'm ranting), my first question is: Have we started to tally the number of pedestrians killed or maimed because they were focused on their device and (choose one) 1. fell into a hole  2. crashed into a pole 3. got hit by a car 4. insert other possible obstacles here?  My second question is What the hell does "Rule the Air" mean, anyway and why would I want to do that?  You just can't convince me that all this wireless energy flying around is harmless. We ARE energy. At a time when Oprah is trying to get us off the phone while we drive, we are inventing more and more ways to distract ourselves in our cars, when we walk, when we are at home, when we are at work. It all seems so crazy and lacking in sense.  I know I'm just being an old fuddy-duddy. I can't help it.  The loudness of the movie is still ringing in my ears and that commercial has been on ALL DAY LONG. Ugh. I like real, live, actual people better than all my devices and internet. And books come in second.