A Man on the Moon

This past Friday I received a parking ticket from my friendly meter person.

But it was not in vain.

I received it while sitting in the comfortable darkness of the Ritz 5, watching a
thoroughly wonderful documentary which is in theaters now, called
"In the Shadow of the Moon".

We all know that I am an emotional person. And goodness knows I love me
my elders! But I cannot express to you how wonderful this movie made me
feel. And that it should be a real and true thing that lifted me up so high (high
enough that even a parking ticket courtesy of our bloated bureaucracy couldn't
bring me down)-- I just want everyone to see it.

Reviews are calling it "enthralling" and all that... the whole time I could not help
thinking "Oh my god..." Here was history, with outcome known, making me
feel joyous and worried, exhilerated and nervous. I think that means it's good.

In a nutshell, In the Shadow of the Moon mixes video and audio from the heady
NASA days of the Apollo missions to the moon with interviews from the guys
who balanced at the top of the rockets and landed on the moon. These men
are so charming, funny, and human as they recount what it meant to be test
pilots and finally astronauts-- all the crap and filth of celebrity as we now know
it seems to never have touched them.

Let it be known that I am a big fan of the movie "The Right Stuff". But the real
stuff wins every time, hands down. For fans and skeptics of the space
program, or even the mildly curious (which was me, and trust me, I was MILD),
this will make you a believer. It's just delightful, and fits one more piece into
the puzzle of what the 20th century was about for our country. I want to see it
again.

Posted by jvoris at October 1, 2007 01:24 PM