Germaphobaphobia

I have a new condition. I just invented it. Perhaps you have it too. It is: germaphobaphobia. The symtoms are:

• increased stress levels when surrounded by people wearing face masks
• a noted disinclination to accept the offerings of flight attendants wearing face masks
• a refusal to even acknowldege the existance of the person sitting next to you on a plane, simply because they are wearing a face mask
• a desire to cough, sneeze, sniff and blow you nose just to annoy people who are wearing a face mask.

On the flight from Melbourne Hong Kong and at Hong Kong Airport, Debbie and I shamelessly walked around with our facial orifices on public display. Wierdly enough, we learned that while we were both in the throes of an allergic reaction to those who wear face masks, the world’s most famous face mask wearer was dying in his home in Los Angeles. Rocking robin is gone!

In the tradition of The Castle, I will include a full report in the movies I watched on plane trip, as if this were a part of the holiday. Here are my film reviews.
The Wrestler
Mickey Rourke looked like he was wearing a fake “He Man and the Masters of the Universe” prosthetic chest”. The movie has a stripper with a heart of gold, a wrestler who seemed to let everyone down but was really lonely on the inside and his daughter who wanted to believe her dad could change, but really he couldn’t. A Hollywood movie but thankfully not a Hollywood ending.
Milk
Terrific. It is hard to say a bad thing about Sean Penn. He captures the time so well and manages the role without too much affectation. Even though I lived through the time and knew about the assasination, it was good to see the characer and the events leading up to it.
Defiance
A really wonderful story, even if you already know about the Jewish partisans, it’s terrfric. Terrible sentimentality in the shooting though, which was a pity because the story is already about people doing the impossible. Showing enormous courage, starving and freezing to death while they lived in the forest and took waged warfare against the German forces. Thus, the story did not need to be embelilshed with slowrolling tear drops and moments of fraternal reconciliation. and I felt Daniel Craig was miscast.
The Class
A French Cannes winning film. But really a bit boring or me. A classroom of naughty, lippy, multi-ethnic, underprivledged kids and a staff of teachers who try really hard to reach them. I think it was only interesting because it was French not British or American.
Sixty-six
The was a pretty funny, quirky story about an English/Jewish kid approaching his Bahmitzvah. Cute and funny.
The International
Clive Owen: thinking woman's crumpet, or for that matter, breathing woman’s crumpet, Naomi Watts: what a honey, and other good actors were not nearly enough to save this dross. The whole film is a international spy thriller where you get to learn that banks, governments and police agencies are bad. It has one central good, even interesting idea stuck in the middle. The idea was that the banks will do anything at all to control conflict because whoever controls conflict controls debt and whoever controls debt controls everything.
Seven Pounds
This is a film about redemption, I don't need that. Possibly is is more about atonement than redemption, but I don't need that either. Will Smith plays himself as a character who has accidentally caused great grief to himself and others. He tries to make up for it in a curiously mathematical way. It is a soft film that does not stand critique, but does pass the time on a long flight.