Message 380

Yesterday I followed my usual Tuesday routine and picked Beech up at school and took him to McDonalds and Gymnastics. Afterward I did some babysitting for Beech and Annie at Nealon Park.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Sexy Beast. This was a crime caper movie of sorts. The only name I was familiar with was Ben Kingsley. The movie was mostly shot in Spain, and the pictures were great. It was not the usual thriller movie. A lot of it had to do with the cockney speaking patterns of the characters, and there were a lot of funny, almost slapstick scenes. I give it three stars.

Message 379

Yesterday morning I had lunch with Vanessa and the kids in Nealon Park, as has become our usual Monday routine. Again Annie mostly wanted to swing, but we did try the seesaw for a while.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Ripley's Game. John Malkovitch was the only person in the film that I was familiar with. It was beautifully photographed in Italy and Germany, and the performances were very good. I give it 3.9 stars because I was puzzeled about a number of things that I never quite grasped. Is this the same Ripley (derived from the same book) as the movie with Matt Damon (or was it Brad Pitt?) a few years ago. The Ripley in that movie was a smooth killer like the John Malkovitch character in this one. It annoyed me that the special features were not on this disk but had to be accessed over the internet in a way that I could never make work on my computer. In other words, this was basically a four star thriller, but I expect a little more before I will grant that rating.

Message 378

Yesterday I read some more of The Economist. In the middle of the day I babysat Beech and Annie for a while, and we all had a great time. They love to have races up and down the hall outside my front door. The neighbors are very indulgent and understanding.

Ginny and Jim are in town for a long weekend, and invited me to join them for burgers. It was good to see them and to see the twins and Jamie and Chelsea again. The are all doing well.

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.