Message 478

Yesterday afternoon I picked Beech up at his school and took him to his Kung Fu class. Afterward we went next door for our pizza. He was willing to limit himself this time to the allotted two dollar limit for games. He may be beginning to understand that he would be better off financially if he bought the stuffed animals in a store.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the Canadian movie with the translated title The Barbarian Invasions. It is in French with English subtitles. It is very good and deals with all of the important subjects, and it is full of literary and historical references, but they are hard to catch from the subtitles. It is centered around a dying old man surrounded by his family and friends, but it is basically a celebration of his life and includes a lot of humor. I give it 4.5 stars.

Message 477 (the other messsage has a typo)

I just got back from having breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa and Annie. Annie was real good today. Yesterday I worked so more on my memoirs. I am in the tenth grade now. Last night I watched a DVD of the movie The Boy in the Striped Pajamas. It is a holocaust story told through the eyes of the eight-year-old son of death camp administrator. It is very well done. I give it four stars.

Message 476

Yesterday I finished this week's The Economist, and I also read the new Science. In the evening I watched a DVD of an Italian movie whose title in translation is I'm Not Scared. It is about small children out in the country, mostly boys, one of whom finds another ten-year-old boy who has been kidnapped and is being held prisoner at an abandoned farm. The scenery is beautiful, and it has a happy ending. I give it three stars.

Message 475

Yesterday about noon Dennis Rohan called me and said he had a couple of tickets to the Giants game and he would like to take me as his guest. I had been planning to watch the Raiders play San Diego on Monday Night Football, but I decided I should be sociable and accept the invitation. We took the train both ways. Tim Lincicomb was pitching, so it was wonderful to see him in action. He looks like a young boy, but he is really good. The Giants won against Colorado, who they are chasing trying to get in the playoffs, so the game was fun to watch. Also, it did not get cold, so I could have managed without my jacket, although I am glad I had it. On the train on the way home, we learned that the Raiders had lost at the last minute, so I am glad I went to the ball game.

Message 474

Yesterday I watched football all day. It was very gratifying to see the 49ers win. I really admire what Mike Singleterry has done to turn the team around. I was also able to read about half of The Economist while I watched all the football. In the evening I watched another episode of Inspector Lewis on Masterpiece Mystery.

We had strange weather yesterday. It even rained about a tenth of an inch. Today the sun is shining brightly, and it is so beautiful I think I will walk up to Starbucks and have a hot chocolate.

Message 473

Yesterday I met Helen and Jim at Starbucks as usual on Saturdays. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Brick. As I watched it, I realized I had seen it before, but I had completely forgotten it. Now that I have seen it again, I can see why I forgot it. It is very hard to make any sense of it. After watching the special features discussions, I realize it is an imitation Dashiel-Hammet-film-noir-detective story set in a high school. The language is largely invented, but clever. It takes a while to tune in to the way people talk, and it is often incomprehensible. I give it 3.2 stars.

Message 472

Yesterday I went out to an early dinner with Larry, Judi, and Rita, Larry's sister from Denver. After dinner we went to Flint center at De Anza College to hear the talk by Tom Friedman about his new book Hot, Flat, and Crowded. I had seen him on Charlie Rose talk for an hour about this book, so I did not hear any new ideas, but it was a pleasure to see him in person after watching and admiring him on TV for so many years. The only thing that surprised me was that he is so short. Always on TV I have seen him sitting down, so I did not know how tall he was. I suppose I projected on him that he must be tall because I hold him in such high regard. I did not watch a DVD last night, but I read a lot in my book about NSA.