Of Mystery Men and Cell Phones

In preparation for Script Frenzy, which begins this Friday, I'm currently reading the script for Mystery Men. The film is a comedy about a group of struggling superheroes (Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, and Paul Reubens) who attempt to stop a supervillain (Geoffrey Rush) from destroying the city and killing the city's only real superhero (Greg Kinnear). It's one of the Top 5 films I forget to mention when asked to list my favorite films.

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I hope you had a wonderful Memorial Day weekend. Mine was pleasant. I spent Saturday and Sunday attending graduation ceremonies and spent Monday recuperating from Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday's ceremony, which took place at San Jose State's Spartan Stadium, had the highest concentration of cell phones I've ever seen. Everybody had a phone and nobody was self-conscious about using it.

Parents were calling their sons or daughters to congratulate them or tell them where they were in the stands; graduates in the School of Business were sending text messages to their friends in the School of Humanities; and everybody was taking photos with their phones, trying to capture as many moments as they could for posterity or to post on their MySpace pages.

It made me wonder how people survived graduation ceremonies before cell phones became so ubiquitous - when the only sources of amusement available to ward off boredom were toes to stare at, thoughts to retreat into, and the occasional beach ball to bounce around.

Taking a second to reflect, I don't know how I survived my own college graduation because I don't recall there even being a single beach ball. (That's what you get when you attend a tiny, Jesuit university.)

All I have to say is thank goodness for cell phones. No one should have to endure all of that sitting, listening, and toe-staring like I had to and no one will, as long as commencement ceremonies are held in places with strong reception.