Contagion

I will never touch a doorknob, each peanuts out of a communal bowl, or shake hands with a Chinese chef ever again.  Thanks a lot Contagion!

Steven Soderbergh's medical thriller Contagion is a tautly spun tail of epidemic and panic, made all the more frightening by its realism that makes you think, "Wow, this could really happen!"  That realism--along with an exceptional ensemble cast and a creepy, ominous soundtrack--is that separates this movie from all other "disaster" flicks.  We all know the world isn't going to really end in 2012 and regardless of what you think about global warming you gotta admit an overnight northern hemispheric blizzard where you literally have to outrun temperature is pretty unlikely, not to mention California joining Hawaii as an island state (for the record, I love a bad disaster movie; always so full of wonderful cheese and you usually get to see a beloved landmark crushed/swallowed up/melted/toppled/imploded).

To be sure the scenario in Contagion is unlikely, but certainly not out of the realm of possibility, especially in light of the SARS, bird flu, H1N1, and swine flu scares over the last few years.

The story starts with a cough.  Seemingly innocent enough, but before long the cougher is overtaken with fever and seizures.  Similar symptoms soon appear in other corners of the world.  Medical officials the world over are stumped by this new virus and there is no known treatment.  As the CDC and it's counterparts around the world scramble to find the origin and research to develop a vaccine, the disease continues to spread rapidly, aided by the virtual closeness of our globalized world.  As the virus spreads, so does fear and becomes as, if not more dangerous, than the virus itself.  Rioters storm grocery stores and pharmacies, stocking up on canned goods and bottled water.  People live in fear of handshakes and the mere breath of neighbors.  Purported by a popular conspiracy theorist blogger to be a cure, a supposed homeopathic remedy becomes a valuable commodity with roving mobs willing to threaten and kill to get it.  Health officials are kidnapped and held hostage, their captors hoping they will be moved to the front of the line when a vaccine is finally discovered.  Meanwhile, the body count continues to rise.

Rather than follow one main character's thread through this nightmare, Soderbergh takes an ensemble approach, looking at the epidemic from different points a view.  The actors are all top notch and give good performances.  Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow are a husband and wife, one who is immune, one who is most certainly not; Lawernce Fishburne is the public face of the CDC both trying to help find a cure and trying to keep the public from going into full scale panic; Kate Winslet is a CDC researcher who is out in the field trying to track down the origin's putting herself in peril; Marion Cotillard is a WHO doctor working in Asia trying to track down the source; Jude Law is the conspiracy theory blogger, bent on exposing the government secrets he's sure are being covered up.  The cast is rounded out by Elliott Gould, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes, and Breaking Bad's Bryan Cranston.

The movie moves along at a good clip, not lingering on one character or story line too long, always keeping things fresh and interesting.  You witness the breakdown of society from every angle and watch the characters wrestle with difficult decisions:  should a government official tell his loved ones privledged information that would give them an advantage over the general populace?  If a cure is found, how can it be fairly distributed?  What's the balance between national health and national security?

Despite the obviously upsetting premise, the movie ends on a pretty positive note, though even that is still bittersweet.

Contagion is a solid movie all the way around, being both entertaining and intellectually stimulating.  Just be sure you wash your hands afterward.

Lake Almanor

I have a good reason for the extended gap between reviews this time.  Honest.  I've been lounging on the beautiful, alpine shores of Lake Almanor for the last week.  What's that you say?  You aren't familiar with this Lake Almanor?  Well let me enlighten you (what a a fortuitous opportunity to share my first Place review).

To be honest, I'm a little hesitant to enlighten you too much.  I feel like Lake Almanor is something of a well-kept secret.  I'm afraid after my massive audience reads this review it'll become another Lake Tahoe.  But I guess that's a risk I'm willing to take.

Lake Almanor is located in Plumas County in Northern California, according to Google Maps 81.6 miles east of Red Bluff and just south of Mt. Lassen.  Resting at about 4500 feet and nestled between the Plumas and Lassen National Forests, the setting is every bit as beautiful as Tahoe, but without the crowds and traffic. The lake itself isn't quite Tahoe's crystal blue, but it's a whole lot warmer and doesn't stop your heart when you jump in for a swim like Tahoe's frigid waters.  This is helpful for when you fall off your boat or jet ski, which there is plenty of space to do, with its 32000 acres of surface area and 52 miles of shoreline.  I've been going to Lake Almanor for over 20 years and there is still plenty of lake I've never seen, either from on the water or the shore.

The fishing is usually good, either in the lake itself or many of the streams in the area such as Hamilton Branch or Deer Creek.  This year was a little slow, with most of our catches consisting of smallish bass near the shore, but my cousin did land a pike which was probably seven or eight pounds.  Since we didn't have a scale handy, we couldn't get an official weight so my family record setting seven pound King Salmon in 1989 still stands!

Like I said, my family and I have been going to Lake Almanor since the mid-80's, and it's just about the perfect spot for a big family group.  We used to rent a house from a family acquaintance, but with all the kids getting bigger and having kids of their own, we outgrew those accommodations.  However, there are plenty of places to stay on or very near the lake.  Anything from rustic tent camping to RVing it to fancy lakeside resorts.  Ok, I don't know how fancy they really are--this isn't Tahoe after all--but there are some very nice places.  The last couple trips we've stayed at the Carson Chalets, which offer very comfortable and clean triangular domiciles just a brief walk from the private beach.

If just sitting in or boating on the lake isn't all you would like to do, there are lots of other outdoorsy activities close at hand.  Mt Lassen and its National Park is nearby, with plenty of hiking trails, waterfalls, and Bumpass Hell, a festering, bubbling canyon full of sulfur pots.  Pretty stinky, but worth checking out.  Here's an overly dramatic video describing the area:

Ok, thanks for that.

If you're up for a bit of a drive through the mountains--though on surprisingly straight roads--Burney Falls State Park is about an hour and a half away.  It's a beautiful drive and the destination is absolutely worth it.  Burney Falls are (or is it "is"?) one of the coolest looking falls anywhere and the hike to the base takes all of about 10 minutes, so you get maximum reward for very little effort.  Here's a video of the falls...just mute the audio.  Very annoying music.

The nearest town of any size, which really isn't, is the hamlet of Chester.  You'll find your standard grocery store and a couple of sporting goods stores there to stock up on supplies.  There are a couple of decent eateries, like the Kopper Kettle for breakfast (I recommend the biscuits and gravy) and either the Pine Shack or the Lassen Gifts soda fountain for milkshakes.  The Pine Shack has over 30 flavors!

But if you're more interested in sticking close to your campsite/cabin/chalet at the lake, you certainly will not be disappointed.  Lake Almanor is Lake Tahoe without the crowds, heart palpitations, and gambling.  Right, so if you like gambling go to Tahoe.  If not go to Almanor.  Wait!  No, don't.  Bah...too late.  Now it'll be overrun with Critical Errors fans.  Just when you see me soaking up some sun while fishing for The Big One, don't all rush up for your autograph at once.

The Intellectual Devotional: American History Edition

I'm something of a trivia junkie.  I DVR Jeopardy every day.  I've even taken the contestant test a few times (still waiting for my call).  I'm the All-Star cleanup hitter in the annual New Year's Eve Trivial Pursuit my wife and I play with friends every year.  Give me a movie, and I can tell you who's in it.  Give me a song, I can tell you who sang it.  Give me a war, a book, a country, I can tell you who fought it, who wrote it, and what the capital city is.  Most of this information, I have no idea how I know it.  It just floated through space one day and my specially tuned magnetic brain plucked it out of the air.  None of this information is very useful, however, except in trivia games.  I was hardly a brainiac in school, and straight As were never on my report card.

The one subject I did always do well in however, was history.  Maybe that's because with all its names, facts and dates to memorize it fit naturally into my intellectual wheelhouse.  Whatever the case, I've always loved it.  That's also probably why I love the book my family gave me for Father's Day, The Intellectual Devotional:  American History.  It combines my love history with my love of factoids into one concise volume, perfect for a quick glance while drinking your morning coffee or for a longer look while retiring to the lavatory to consider more personal matters.

The Intellectual Devotional series of readers--there are five editions--are modeled after their spiritual counterparts, but instead of a passage of scripture and a brief ecclesiastical thought for the day, they devote a page every day of the year to one fact and an explanation of it.  In the case of the edition I received, American History.

The book covers topics in seven "fields of knowledge":  politics and leadership, war and peace, rights and reform, business, building America, literature, and the arts.  Within each topic, which are spread throughout the book, are the subjects of the one page synopses on everything from Jamestown to Mark Twain to the Smithsonian to the Panic of 1853 to Bob Dylan.  There are of course the well known people and things you'd expect to find, like George Washington and the Civil War, but also things you probably were supposed to learn in school but forgot about, like Brown v. the board of education and the Lend-Lease Act, to things you probably never heard about like Jacob Riis and the Utopians.

Now, it's a pretty good trick to be able to boil something as complex as the Civil War down to a one page capsule, but the authors David S. Kidder and Noah D. Oppenheimer do a pretty good job of hitting the high marks for each topic.  This obviously is not intended to be an exhaustive look at each of these aspects of American history, but it serves as a good jumping off point for further study on something maybe you weren't aware of.

Whether you're an aspiring Jeopardy contestant like me or want to brush up on your knowledge of the USA (or are looking for something to read in the bathroom) this is a book you should checkout.  I know I'll be purchasing the other editions at some point in preparation for next year's Jeopardy test.