Message 377

Yesterday I read about half of The Economist. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie The Limey. I give it three stars. It had a lot of style and was an experiment in non-linear storytelling with lots of flashbacks and flashforwards, so it is sometimes hard to figure out who and where and when and why your are watching. It is basically a gangster revenge movie, but the story is revealed slowly as different layers are revealed. If you are cleaver enough by the end you understand what it is trying to say. The special features are plentiful and useful in understanding it. Commentaries by the writer, director, and actors are all interesting, but it requires a lot of watching to go through it all, and at the end you have to wonder if it was worth it. I say just barely, maybe.

Message 376

Yesterday I had a quiet day at home. In the evening I went to dinner at Sultanas with the Morrills and Ariagnos. We first tried to go to the movie in Redwood City, but they were sold out, so we went to San Mateo and saw Angels and Demons. It was a very fast paced and high energy movie based on the book by Dan Brown, and it features the same character as The Davinci Code played by Tom Hanks as the Harvard professor. I give it three stars. It kept my attention and was never boring. It was also fun to see so many of the sights of Rome as background.

Helen and Jim have gone to Seattle to be with Helen's daughter Jodi who is having a baby tomorrow. This baby will be Helen's first grandchild, not counting the boy named Ethan who is Jim's grandson.

Message 375

Yesterday I drove to Los Gatos to attend Ellie's graduation from pre-school. Afterward there was a very nice pot-luck dinner. Last night I watched some more of the commentary on Patton. Otherwise it was a pretty uneventful evening.

Message 374

This morning I followed the usual Thursday routine at Heidi's Pies and the San Mateo Library. Afterward I dropped Annie off at Maureen's house so she could take a nap. Vanessa has a construction working on her house making new closet space for Annie, and they are making enough noise to keep Annie from her regular nap. If she does not get this nap she becomes very difficult to be with.

Yester I watched Annie in the morning and Beech in the afternoon. Vanessa had to take Beech to the doctor for a strange allergy that makes his face red like a sunburn, except around the mouth and nose. Claritin helps a lot.

Las night I watched the commentary on Patton, which included several documentaries and discussions of the movie. It is an unusual movie that both portrayed history and made new history. Oliver Stone pointed out that Patton was Nixon's favorite movie which he watched multiple times in the White House, prompting Oliver Stone to suggest that it helped motivate Nixon to invade Cambodia. Sally and I joined the march in Washington when that happened. Anyway, I give Patton five stars. It is a very great movie. George C. Scott got the Oscar for his portrayal of Patton which was superb. The Oscar winning screenplay was by Francis Ford Coppola when he was young and before he became famous. Altogether, the film won seven Oscars, including best movie. Interestingly it was a favorite of both hawks and doves at the time of the war in Vietnam.

Message 373

Yesterday I picked Beech up at his school and took him to McDonald's for lunch and then to his gymnastics class. I the evening I finished reading the book Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen, which was given to me by Andrea. She and Liz stayed with me while they were here for the Dermatology meeting in March. It was a very nice novel with a lot of historical information about what a circus was like in America in the depression. I remember going to a circus with my family in Fayetteville, Arkansas, when I was in the third or fourth grade, and the book brought back a lot of memories.

I also watched the movie Patton last night, but I have not finished watching the Special Features yet, so I will comment on it tomorrow.

Message 372

I just got back from PAMF where I had to refill my prescription for my antibiotic solution. Yesterday I had lunch with Josh at Chili's. In the late afternoon I had dinner with Julian and his family at their home. Julian grilled burgers and hot dogs on his patio. The weather was beautiful, and the food was delicious. Vanessa had even bought a pie. Also, there is good news. Vanessa and Annie are coming to Sandbridge this summer. Joshua is coming too, so we will all drive down from Dulles together on Saturday the 18th.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Thirteen. I had seen this in the theater with Sally before she died, and I was very impressed by it. However, when I watched Down in the Valley a few days ago, I noticed that Evan Rachel Wood stared along with Edward Norton, so I wanted to refresh my memory on her work in Thirteen. One thing that had impressed me when I saw the movie with Sally was that a thirteen-year old girl (Nikki Reed) had co-written the movie as well as playing one of the leading roles. The movie is very powerful, and as always Holly Hunter gives a brilliant performance. Even though the movie is painful to watch in many ways, it is so realistic and compelling that I have to give it five stars. Seeing the difficulties girls have at age thirteen in the movie makes me appreciate Melanie, Amelia, and Evelyn all the more because of what great kids the are in spite of having recently survived the ordeal of being thirteen years old.

Message 371

Because today is a holiday and most everyone gets off work, I had a chance to join Helen and Jim at Starbuck's this morning. Because I did not need to carry groceries home I walked there and back. It felt good to get the exercise. It has been a while since I last made that walk.

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist, and read a lot more in my book. In the evening I watched the movie Between Strangers. The cast and the photography were very good, but the story was lame so I give it 2.9 stars. In other words, it is really not worth watching in my opinion, but I suspect women may have a more charitable opinion of it.

Message 370

Yesterday I continued reading The Economist. In the evening Jason brought Ellie, Caroline, and her friend Amanda over for us all to go out to Ten Fu for dinner. After dinner we came back to my place and watched a movie Jason had brought called The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. I usually like Bruce Willis films and expect them to be worth at least three stars, but in this case I give it only two stars. It is based on the premise that some live people can see and hear dead people, and it is never able to overcome the absurdity that this foundation brings to the plot.

Caroline and Amanda got bored with the movie and went into the other room to watch Spirit, the horse cartoon movie that they have seen numerous times before. All the girls ate several cookies, candies,and peanuts, drank chocolate milk and a soda, and ate apple pie, in spite of having eaten at Ten Fu. Caroline an Amanda are definitely growing fast, and Ellie too, although she did not eat anywhere near as much as the other two did. We all had a good time. It was great to see them.

Message 369

I just got back from Starbucks and grocery shopping on my regular Saturday outing. Yesterday I had a quiet day at home reading Science and my new book. Last night after watching the usual Friday night PBS news shows, I watched a DVD of the movie Frozen River. It was about poor whites and Mohawk Indians living in upstate New York in winter near the Canadian border. It was very realistic and familiar to me since I have lived through about ten winters in that area and six more in Alaska, which is a very similar environment. It even has cars driving across an ice bridge over a frozen river like I did in Alaska. I was not familiar with anyone associated with the movie, and it was a low budget independent production. Even though it was generally very grim and gritty, I thought it was very well done. I am tempted to give it five stars, but I have decided to give it only four because it is not what I would consider entertaining. Entertainment is generally why I generally watch movies, and I feel it is perhaps unfair to downgrade a moving and realistic film because it is not exactly fun to watch.

Message 368

Last night I watched a PBS show about the King Arthur myth, and afterward I watched a DVD of the movie Down in the Valley. It was an unusual movie starring Edward Norton. It was quite well done and well written. It is a western of sorts, but set in the modern-day San Fernando Valley. It deals with a lot of subjects (like identity, coming of age, religion, mythology, and reality) in both explicit and symbolic ways. I give it four stars.

Message 367

I just got back from my usual Thursday morning routine at Heidi's Pies and the library with Annie. Afterward I dropped Annie off at Maureen's so Vanessa could take Beech for his weekly appoint with his shrink. Annie wanted to listen to one of the Kids Bop disks, so Vanessa gave us one. It had Fade Away on it, and that is a song I like, so I enjoyed hearing it again (twice).

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Babel. It shows the unfortunate effects on three different families around the world connected to a hunting rifle. One family was in Japan, one from San Diego in Morocco, and one in Morocco. Even though Brad Pitt was the lead actor, he had a relatively minor role. I give it three stars

Message 366

Yesterday I followed my usual Tuesday routine of picking Beech up at school, going to McDonalds (this time) for lunch, and then going to his gymnastics class. I tried to influence him to go to Burger King, because I prefer Whoppers to Big Macs, but he wanted Chicken McNuggets with ranch dressing. In fact, he ate all four nuggets, which is more than he usually manages.

In the evening I watched the Nova show on PBS called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. I was familiar with the science, but I was unaware of the physicist's son who is a musician. Anyway it was fun, and it reminded me of the phrase in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: "...the high country of the mind." These things turn me on.

After Nova I watched a DVD of the movie The Door in the Floor. It was an adaptation of part of John Irving's novel A Widow for a Year. I had read the book, like I have read all of John Irving's books, starting with The World According to Garp. Like all of his books this one combines funny and bizarre elements with good characters and a lot of discussion about how writing is done. Unlike previous Irving books that have been made into movies, this one is good. In some ways it is better than the book because it extends it to fit the new medium while remaining true to the original. It has a super cast and I am impressed with the young writer/director who conceived and executed the project. I give it four stars. It also had good special feature discussions on the DVD.

Message 365

You might think from the number of this message that I have now been doing this for one year. Actually, it has been a little more than a year because I have had to skip a few days like when I went to George's funeral. Anyway, it has been a lot of messages.

Yesterday we had our usual Monday routine in which Vanessa made lunches and I went with her and the kids to Nealon Park. As usual I was the only one who did any serious eating but everyone had a good time. Annie was pushed in the swing to her heart's content, with me, Vanessa, and Beech all taking turns at pushing her.

I continued reading The Economist during the afternoon, and in the evening Joshua brought in Mexican food from Una Mas and watched the two-hour conclusion of this season's 24 with me. It looks like Jack may survive because Kim made a last minute decision to go against his wishes and donate stem cells to try and experimental cure for him. It turns out Tony was not really bad after all. He was just getting revenge for the killing of his wife and kid in a series from a few years ago.

Message 364

Yesterday afternoon I went to Los Gatos. It was a hot day so the kids and some adults went swimming (but not Me). Julian and Vanessa and Annie were there, also Linda and Walt. Walt brought his ice cream making apparatus and made desert. Linda had made a quart of chocolate for topping off the ice cream. Jason grilled hamburgers, hot dogs, and salmon, so we had a feast. Beech was still up in the mountains with Maureen and his cousin Vivian, so he missed out on our fun.

I got home in time to watch another episode of Wallender on Masterpiece Mystery on PBS. I was tired, so I turned in early at 11:30 PM.

Message 363

Helen and Jim are out of town this weekend, so I did not go to Starbucks. Also The Economist did not arrive in Friday's mail as usual,so instead I read a lot in my new book. By 3 PM Saturday's mail had brought The Economist, so I finally got started reading it.

In the late afternoon, I went out to dinner at a hamburger place in Burlingame with Julian, Vanessa, and Annie. Beech is up in the mountains with Maureen and his cousin Vivian.

Last night I watched the 1941 movie Suspicion with Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine on PBS. I give it three stars. The ending was changed by Hollywood so that Cary Grant was not made to be a murderer. After the movie PBS had an interesting documentary of Cary Grant's life. It was excellent and had a lot of stuff I did not know about him. If it were a movie I would have given it 5 stars.

Message 362

Yesterday I went out to dinner with the Morrills and Ariagnos. The restaurant was in Palo Alto within walking distance of The Aquarius. The movie was Every Little Step. It was a documentary about auditions for a revival of Chorus Line. It was interesting, but I have never seen the stage production, which was OK, but by the end I was thinking I would like to see what all of this effort accomplished. I was left thinking that show people in general and dancers in particular have a hard life. Also, I would not like to be a producer, director, etc. who has to decide who gets the part and who gets rejected. Anyway, I give it three stars.

Message 361

Last night I watched a DVD of The Ballad of Jack and Rose. It had a very good cast, including Daniel Day Lewis. It was written and directed by his wife (who is also playwright Arthur Miller's daughter). It is an ambitious film. It dealt with several important subjects, but not in a successful or satisfying manner. I give it only three stars even though I appreciate the efforts of all involved.

Message 360

I just got back from my usual Thursday outing with Vanessa and Annie at Heidi's Pies and the library. Beech and Annie were both real good this morning. I took Beech with me to drop him off at school on our way to Heidi's Pies.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. It was an extended version that had all the scenes that were cut out of the original U. S. release in the 1960s. I give it three stars. I have now seen all of the three spaghetti westerns that started Clint Eastwood's career. I think they are worth watching mostly because of their place in the history of movies. They are interesting, but do not rise to the level of intrinsic greatness.

Message 359

I forgot to mention earlier that I got a call from PAMF that all three of my skin biopsies came out negative, in other words none were cancer. That is nice. Now I will not have to go back for the surgery. The doctor did ask that I come back in May so she can freeze the one below my lip.

Yester I did my usual Tuesday routine with Beech. We had lunch at Burger King. He saw the Star Trek movie and knew that they are giving out toys based on that movie. Afterward I took him to his gymnastics class. When I took him home he said I did not need to walk him to the door. He thinks he is big enough now to do it by himself. Vanessa had a couple of Mexicans there working on her lawn and garden.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Sex Drive. It is a teenage road comedy. As a new twist it had a funny encounter with an Amish community. I give it three stars.

Today I am getting the house ready for Orlindo's cleaning crew to come in at 2 PM

Message 358

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist. Before noon I went to Nealon Park with Vanessa and the kids. She had mad sandwiches and other stuff for lunch. Annie loves to swing. After pushing her for a while, I ask her if she would not like to go play with Beech or go down the slide, but she always says MORE SWING. Sometimes Beech helps with the pushing. I am the only one who does much eating. The kids and Vanessa mostly nibble small amounts, but I always eat and drink all of mine. Vanessa always stops at Starbucks and gets coffee for us and chocolate milk boxes for the kids.

Last night Joshua came over to watch 24 with me. Next week is a two-hour last show of the season. Because jack is being set up to die from inhaling a lethal gas that takes a day to work, this may be the end of the program too.

Charlie Rose was good last night again. He had two women that I had never heard of on different segments that were impressive, especially the Harvard law professor that is monitoring the banks' compliance with the TARP contracts.

Message 357

Yesterday I forgot to mention that it was my Boniva day. Once a month is better than once a week, but it is still a drag. Yesterday I helped Joshua take the Camry to the auto wrecking yard down near San Jose. He had gotten the papers from the DMV so they would give him a check for $1000 whit the idea that they want to get clunkers off the road. It had nearly a quarter of a million miles on it, so is had been the best car I was ever connected to. It still ran good, but it had a leak in the radiator that Josh was told it would take over a thousand dollars to fix. The problem was that it had to be driven to the wrecking yard to collect the money, and it overheated whenever driven. We finally solved this problem by borrowing a couple of five gallon empty water jugs from his work, along with an oven glove to open the hot radiator cap. Then whenever it heated up Josh would pull over. I was following in my Sienna so I would pull over with him. After a couple of times of pouring new water into the radiator, I managed to fold up a couple of pieces of a McDonald's Happy Meal box to stick in the main holes in the radiator, which slowed down the lead enough that we could go three or four miles between pullovers instead of one mile. The wrecking yard gave him the check and told him the car would be crushed first thing this morning. This adventure reminded me of what my life used to be like in Alaska.

When I got home, I read some more of The Economist and watched Masterpiece Mystery on PBS.

Message 356

Yesterday afternoon I watched a DVD of the Indian movie Lamhe. It is by the same director (Yash Chopra) and has the same female lead as the movie Chandni that I reviewed a couple of days ago. The two movies are similar in many ways. They are each over three hours long. They are both musicals with a lot of singing and dancing The photography is beautiful and it is filmed both in India and Europe (England in this case instead of Switzerland). I think Lamhe is even better than Chandni, so I give it five stars.

Last night I picked up Julian, Vanessa, and the kids at SFO on their return from Kona. They all had a wonderful time, but seemed glad to be home. I also got started on reading the new Economist.

Message 355

I just got back from having coffee with Helen and Jim, and picking up my prescription refills at CVS and doing my weekly grocery shopping.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Pineapple Express. It was a stoner farce, but not very good in my opinion, so I give it only two stars. I only laughed once during the whole movie.

Message 354

I just got back from PAMF where I went to refill my prescription for my bladder antibiotic. Last night Joshua came over and went to The Dutch Goose with me for burgers. I do not know for sure, but it seemed the burger was not as good last night as it has been in the past. I hope this situation does not persist or I will have to start going to The Oasis again instead.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie August evening. It was a movie by people I never heard of, but it was quite good. I give it five stars. It was beautifully filmed and very slow paced, but it gave a very powerful presentation of the lives of Mexican immigrants in the United States. The only drawback was having to read the subtitles.

Message 353

Yesterday noon I had an appointment with my dermatologist at PAMF. She was very good and gave me a body scan with liquid Nitrogen sprays where needed as well as doing biopsies on three sites that might be cancerous. If the results show cancer, she will refer me to surgeons at PAMF who do Mohs (SP?) surgery to get rid of them.

Last night I watched a DVD of the Indian movie Chandini. It was about three hours long very good. It was mostly singing and dancing, and it was beautifully filmed both in India and in Switzerland. It also had a kind of triangle love story, but it was most memorable because of the style. I give it four stars.

I am late getting this message off today because I went out to have my van washed this morning. I am gambling that the rains are finished for the

Message 352

Yesterday I walked up to Sharon Heights Plaza before noon. The rain had stopped and the weather was warm. I think we are about finished with winter weather. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie It Should Happen to You, which is an old black and white film made in 1954. It was written by Garson Kanin, who I heard speak at the library of Congress in the late 60s. He talked about his friend Somerset Maugham, who had died not long before. Anyway this movie starred Judy Holliday, who was more famous for Born Yesterday. It was also Jack Lemmon's first movie. Anyway it was a nice oldie, but not worth more than 3 stars.

Message 351

Yesterday I watched a DVD of the movie Zack and Miri Make a Porno. It was a comedy and fun to watch. I give it three stars. In the evening Joshua came over and watched 24 with me. After he went home I finished reading The Whole Truth by David Baldacci. Unlike his other books, it was not about a lawyer. It was an action adventure novel like you would expect from Tom Clancy. It was fun to read though and kept me from falling asleep while I read it.

Message 350

    Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and in the afternoon I went to the Jamie and Chelsea's for the first birthday party for Jack and Audrey.  They all are doing very well.  Jason and his family were there, except Caroline who was visiting a friend.  The food was great and the cake that Chelsea made was exceptionally good.

 

    In the evening I watched the dickens novel The Old Curiosity Shop on PBS.  I was not familiar with it, so it was fun to watch.  There has been a lot of shows about Dickens on PBS lately, and I have watched them all.

 

    After the news I read some more of the David Baldacci book.  I should be able to finish it in the next few days.

 

Message 349

Yesterday afternoon I read some more of The Economist, and in the evening I went to dinner with Mary and Eddie Solomon and Dennis and Theres Rohan at Gambardella's. I am not sure about this spelling. It is next to the railroad tracks in the relatively new big building on Oak Grove Avenue. Mary organized the gathering because a friend of hers has formed a band for which she is the singer. The band has a cocktail music sound, maybe like Nora Jones, but the music is old and jazz like. It was nice, but it was hard to have a conversation while listening. Eddie is still going down because of his Parkinson's disease. It is hard to understand what he says, and he has trouble sitting still. Mary had to take him out for a walk during the meal to let him stretch out some. I had to help him get his box of pills out of his pocket. He still has a positive attitude though.

Message 348

Yesterday I stayed home all day and read Science and read some more of the new David Baldachi book. In the evening I watched PBS. The shows were so good I did not even watch a DVD.

This morning I took Julian and his family to the airport to fly to Hawaii for a week. This year they are going to the big island. The peak season is over, so they got a good deal at a condo near the hotel they stayed at before.

As usual on Saturday, I had coffee at Starbucks with Helen and Jim.

Message 347

Yesterday I had breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa and Annie. Afterward I took Annie to story time at the library. In other words, I have returned to my usual routine.

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie The Reader. It was very well done. I give it four stars. If guilt were a subject that I were more interested in, I would give it 5 stars.