Family Reunion 2008 By The Numbers

96 or so attendees--most of us with oddly similar large noses.

2 sightings of perennial presidential hopeful John Edwards. I can tell you that his hair looks nothing less than amazing in person. He looks like a "Just for Men" ad.

11:53 or so: the time I got to the theatre for my first-ever 12:01 movie event. I watched The Dark Knight. Um, epic.

I think the best way to go into this particular movie for the first time is not to know anything, not to be aware of the lauds and surprises--it's what I did--but I will say that I am impressed with the Nolans' growth as screenwriters and filmmakers. It's so not The Prestige (which I did like, by the way.)

5 en-route Peter Kreeft audio lectures on philosophy and religion. I really like philosophy and religion. Faith is so transcendent; so natural; so weird. Religion is either the greatest lie or the greatest truth known to humanity; why do people believe? why don't they? It's interesting, and it gave me an idea for a sci-fi/fantasy in which finite matter exhausts every possibility in an infinite environment.

3 dreams about The Dark Knight. This phenomenon was eerily foretold by Peter Travers in Rolling Stone. I only really distinctly remember one, in which I was tauting the merits of the movie to a very macho guy friend of mine. "I, I can't go see it," dream-macho-man-friend said, with emotion evident in his low, dream voice. "Heath Ledger... it's too much. Too soon." I've thought about this dream since. I wonder if any real person actually feels like this; if, somewhere, some of Heath's friends and family are quietly, sadly trying to block out the sturm und drang surrounding Ledger's iconic, nuanced portrayal as the Joker, waiting to be reminded of his incredible talent and craft until they're ready.

1 trip to the hospital, an actor's occupational hazard in the wild, wacky world of summer theatre.

3 cans of Diet Mountain Dew.

2 en-route pit stops at Big Lots.

7 group family photos.

3 episodes of "Psych" and 2 of "Shear Genius" thanks to a killer bout with indigestion that left me incapacitated and unsocialized.

3 poem recitations, a family tradition.

2 ventures on winding Cherokee paths, 1 in the dark.

4 kids discussing and/or playing Pokemon at one time. It's happened. Pokemon is retro. Only one of the kids--my uber-cool but enigmatically serious, blond bowl-cutted cousin Sam--had the trading cards, though.

Countless references to "tony ja" and places to tattoo it.

Countless rehearsals my father needed to master "Have You Ever Seen A Penguin Come to Tea?"