Donald Duck, You’re Next

The entire basis for my elementary education was shaken today, when a bunch of men in white coats decided that Pluto is no longer a planet. Now, children everywhere will have to remember the planets by the mnemonic device “My Very Earnest Mother Just Served Us Nine Pickles, but then took the pickles away 76 years later.” Largely because it has a funky orbit that intersects with Neptune (clearly the one interesting thing about what otherwise is a big rock), Pluto now is classified as a “dwarf planet,” as are Cerers (an asteroid, which I thought was classified as “asteroid”), and Xena the Warrior Planet. I’m sure Happy, Dopey, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Bashful, and Doc are happy to have them along.

The biggest problem with this decision? Fifty years from now, when these scientists’ children discover that Pluto once sustained life, we can’t say that there’s life on other planets, just that there was once a thriving society on some ice ball.

Hello City

Welcome, one and all, to MovieHawk. I’m your host, Jeff Martin. For those of you who don’t know me…wow, thanks for coming to the site. I’ve written on two other services before now, so if you’ve kept with me all that time and are one of the tens of people influenced by my opinion, well shucks, thanks so much.

MovieHawk is my place to polish my writing skills and share opinions, primarily on movies but also on television, sports, and whatever else I encounter in my life and times. If you want to know more, let your eyes glance to the top of the page and click on the “About” link.

There are a few subtle differences between this and my former site, namely that the movie rankings don’t have a place in the sidebar. Instead, you will see a rotation of the three most recent movies I’ve seen. It gets too difficult to arbitrarily decide whether one three-and-a-half-star movie was better than another, totally different film that got the same rating. If you still want to see my opinion on that, you can always click “Movies 2006 (or subsequent year)” at the top of the page. The site is up and running, so please feel free to poke around while I decide what to post next.

A great man one said that news is a conversation and so, too, should this site be. Please comment early and often. I want to know what you have to say; otherwise, I’m just talking to a firewall.