Monday I saw The Return of the King with family. I was a bit surprised that Allegra the vegan was the biggest fan in the bunch, since all that photogenic carnage tended to crowd out the plot somewhat. — Most annoying change? Absence of the palantír of Minas Anor.
Wednesday Dad and I went to the Tech Museum of Innovation and found it dull. We’re spoiled by the Exploratorium, where nearly every exhibit invites visitors to shape some effect with their own hands, not by pushing a button to start a simulation.
Saturday we saw The Triplets of Belleville, a surreal cartoon. Someone has been kidnapping bicyclists who drop out of the Tour de France; the grandmother of one such traces him to Belleville, the big city, where she encounters the Triplets (who must be related to Morticia Addams) and joins their novelty musical act. — I was dismayed when the film’s first line of dialogue was in English; but there is only one more line. — In a prologue introducing the Triplets, we see a stage below which is inscribed the tensor equation of General Relativity (according to one of the physics professors in our party).