Avengers (extras) Assemble!

I woke early this morning, to attend the casting call for extras in the new Avengers movie to be filmed in downtown Cleveland in August.  Since I missed the call yesterday, this was the last chance.  The only request was to dress in business attire.  So I went with by recently pressed black suit, and bold blue dress shirt with a colorful tie, and my black patent leather shoes.

 I arrived early for the 10:00AM start (I thought), arriving at the hotel before 9:30AM, but should have known when I was already re-directed out into another business parking lot, that I was going to be far back in line.  At the time I had no idea how far back in line.

But everyone was in good spirits, despite the high temps, beating Sun, and hot pavement.  Much talk about movies, and in particular superhero movies, kept things lively.  About halfway though the waiting line, the hotel staff sent out some employees with a cart of cool waters for $2.00.  They radioed back that they needed more.

Finally at about 12:45PM my group of 30 was allowed in the hotel.  We filled out an easy application sheet requesting only the most basic of contact information (blue sheets for boys, pink for girls!), age, height, etc.  Then they had everyone line up, take a number (mine was in the 2200's, and I think they started the morning at 0001!), and two at a time they snapped our photos.  Then I was done.  This part of the process only required about ten minutes.  I was back in my car by 1:10PM. 

Whether or not I actually get called, it was just fun to see the process, and have tried out.

McDoogle

Book Review: A Farewell to Arms

A story about love and war. Or the senselessness of war… and love. As at the end the main character Lieutenant Fred Henry loses both.

I’ve always heard rave reviews of Hemingway’s writing, and decided I would try to squeeze one of his novels into my reading list if I could find one. Eventually I found ‘A Farewell to Arms’. I was surprised to discover this book was first published in 1929, thinking Hemingway was more a contemporary, maybe just a generation older. However the paperback edition I found was even older than me, published in 1955 (only 35 cents cover price).

I researched a bit and this story really is a reflection of Ernest Hemingway’s experiences from World War I. Like the main character, he was an ambulance driver in the Italian army. He was seriously wounded in the legs, received medals, and while recovering a few months in a field hospital fell in love with a lovely nurse.

The story varies (I think) a bit from there, as a retreat, the loss of his ambulances, almost being shot for being at by the Italians during the retreat for being an officer, he gives up on the war, after only escaping during a moment of confusion by diving into the river.

It was interesting to read about all of the soldiers together talking about wishing the war was over, and debating the merits of just giving up to end it all. It was refreshing to see that even in WWI there was opposition to war and other than the leaders no one wanted to be there.

The narrative style was very interesting. At one point I noticed that I was reading a paragraph where at least five people were talking, yet I could make sense of it all and knew exactly who was saying what. I’m sure if I’d written a paragraph like that someone would crit that I’d lost my point of view. Also a lot of short sharp to the point sentences in dialogs.

I’m glad I read this book, and will be on the lookout for more Hemingway’s - even though I‘ve heard there‘s not much chance they are going to be any more cheerful.

Grade: C+

McDoogle

Your challenge:  Sneak behind enemy lines.  Defuse a bomb.  Return to home base via the sea.