We went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory yesterday. Once again, I was not terribly impressed, but visually, the movie was impressive. Johnny Depp did a great job. Too good -- he played a reclusive single man with a weird attraction to children, who invites children into his home, and offers one boy the chance to live with him in the factory. He has an overbearing and abusive father whom he resents, and an absent mother. He really gets into music. Depp's skin tone was this weird and artificial slightly-green tinge. I'm tellin' ya, it was Michael Jackson all over, and it disturbed me.

The movie took advantage of serious racial stereotypes.

The Oompa-Loompas were all computer-generated from one guy, and he pulls off some impressive dance moves, but he's not exactly a great dancer. More like watching your dad or an older uncle dance disco. And the music was updated. But, again, it was another remake, and I think my fancy returned to the previous version.

I decided to use the stationary bike again this morning, rather than swim. I had pulled out my Polar heart rate monitor, given to me for Christmas last year. I had entered my age and it calculated my target heart rate at 115-150 bpm. Even with the bike resistance set at 1 or 2, I was still able to keep my rate between 105 and 115. I'll have to work myself up to keep it at around 120 for 30 minutes. I'm more interested in how much my knees will tolerate. They didn't hurt any more than usual after yesterday's workout, and they feel fine now. Hopefully, I'll get some additional flexibility. I don't know if they make such a thing, but I really need a bike where you can adjust the pedals, being able to select a smaller circle (shorter range of motion) when needed. Right now, the pedals take me from almost locking out my knees to about 90 degrees. It's a bit much for me.