Open Letter to 2013

Dear the year of 2013,

  Allow me to welcome you.  I'm sure you're nervous, but there's no reason to be nervous.  2012 was a pretty hectic year and humanity wants you to rest assured that we believe in you.  Trust me when I say there is no wrong way to be a year.

However, in light of the 'devil may car' attitude adopted by 2012, you may want to keep a few key points in mind.  These are merely suggestions, but I would appreciate it if you kept them in mind.

Tone it down with the weather.
While we do need equal parts rain, sun, snow, and occasional wind, 2012 threw bizarre weather patterns at the United States of America.  There was the drought all across the U.S. then 2012 decided to fix things by slamming the East coast with Hurricane Sandy.  Remember 2013, we're not built on a ramp, we're relatively flat.

Don't threaten the end of the world.
I understand that the Mayans stuck 2012 with that awful "December 21" nonsense, but 2012 didn't do much to alleviate our worries.  The world's attention was brought to what would happen to the point that many of us wish the Mayans were right.  If any groups have declared 2013 to be the last year people exist, then don't make such a big deal out of it, try to keep public panic a a minimum.

Don't forget your roots.
2013 is a big year!  Babies born in 2000 are now teenagers.  The people who remember rotary phones, cars without GPS built in, and a time when newspapers mattered is rapidly shrinking.  The internet did not always exist outside of science fiction, but some people today have only known the internet, and not the monotonous search method of a library.  People do things faster now, including wrecking stuff everywhere.  Keep that in mind and try to occasionally take things slow.

Have fun!
You're barely a week old, but you're already down to 51 weeks until 2014 comes barreling through.  Don't worry so much, have fun and try new things.  I promise people will get used to writing 13 at the end of the date for checks and other official signed documents.

Also this is mainly concerning the U.S. because I don't live anywhere else.  As long as it doesn't affect us, do what you like with the rest of the planet.

With warmest regards,
-Blake T. Hunt

Quickie Review: Butter

So I rented the movie Butter, that semi independent movie starring Jennifer Garner, Rob Corddry, Olivia Wilde, Ty Burrell, and Yara Shahidi.  The movie centers on a group of people living in Iowa during the big rush of an annual butter carving contest.  I'll sum up this movie in two words.

Watch it.

I saw the trailer almost a year ago and thought it would either be great or disappointing  but Butter nails every note.  Never looking for scale, this movie feels like my own small town, where everybody knows each other and the skeletons in the closet are many and growing.

While Butter is a comedy, it has it's share of drama, sex, and suspense in scenes involving family history, crazy strippers, and carving mounds of butter.  Destiny, the ten year old butter prodigy, is played meek and clever by Yara Shahidi, and it's clear the movie is about her in the best way.

Other highlights include Jennifer Garner nailing the repressed mid western trophy wife, Oliva Wilde as the vibrant hilarious stripper Brooke, aka "Tokyo Rose", and Hugh Jackman as Boyd Bolton, the earnest car salesman and idiot with good intentions most of the time.

What really grabbed me was how Rob Corddry was playing a calm loving husband and foster dad.  As opposed to his usual characters that curse, fight, drink, and act like monsters.  I enjoyed seeing him play something different.

I can't imagine who wouldn't want to watch this movie.  Maybe if you don't like the occasional swearing or partial sex scenes, then you'll want to avoid this movie.  But Butter is so well written, acted, directed, shot, and edited that even the more risque scenes were funny and occasionally heartwarming.  Butter could have melted quickly, but held firm up to the very end.