Message 524

Yesterday I had another quiet day at home working on my memoirs. In the evening I watched a DVD of the French movie for which the English translation is And God Created Woman. It came out in 1956 and was Bridget Bardot's first movie. I had heard of it but I had never seen it. I am amazed that it is so bad. The plot is absurd and the acting is awkward. I give it two stars.

Message 523

Yesterday Julian and Beech came up and brought lunch and watched the 49ers game with me. Our team did well against the Colts, one of the best teams, but they lost anyway. Later I watched the Raiders for a while, but they were so bad I switched to watch Brett Favre beat Green Bay. Afterward I went to the Sunday family dinner in San Mateo. Julian grilled steak and Vanessa made rattatooie(SP?) and rice. Beech and Annie had lots of candy from their Trick or Treat outing the night before. In the evening I watched the PBS shows, one a derivative thing about Jane Austen and the other was Part 1 of a mystery.

Message 522

Yesterday I started reading The Economist. In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie The Piano Teacher. Is a French movie with subtitles. It has a good cast and is elaborately produced. Its best feature is that it has music as an important element of the story. However, it is about pathologically warped people who have very painful lives. Even though it is based on a book by a Nobel-prize-winning author, it has too degenerate and pessimistic a picture of humanity to make it worth watching. Even though it is realistic and depicts human characteristics that do exist, it is hardly worth the three stars it give it.

Message 521

I just got back from having coffee with Helen and Jim and Joan and David at Starbucks. Beech and Annie joined us until Julian came after his haircut. I did not watch a DVD last night because I watched the Sharks win their game with Colorado 3-1. After that I watched the news because I had not seen it at dinnertime, which is my usual custom.

Message 520

This message is setting a record for lateness. It is now about 9 PM PDT. Susan and her mother have flown back east for a family funeral. Jason brought all four girls up last night for a dinner at Ten Fu. Walt Umbach was also able to join us. Caroline and Ellie were out of school today so they spent the night with me. We had breakfast at El Cerrito this morning. After that we went to San Mateo to attend the Halloween Party at Beech class. In the afternoon Vanessa joined us to go back to the school to watch the Halloween parade. It was like watching the Normandy invasion. There must be a thousand students at Beech's school. Beech's class was the first to march out and around the field before taking their place in the middle. Beech's costume was Maximus Prime. He refused to tell the nurses at Packard yester what his costume was going to be. I confess I had never heard on Maximus Prime, and I was impressed that Jason knew who it was when it came up in the dinner conversation. Each of the other classes followed in their footsteps. When it was over, Beech joined Caroline and Ellie and me to spend the rest of the afternoon in Los Gatos. Shortly after we arrived I went to pick up the twins at their school. When Jason got home from work we all went to Live Oak Kitchen for dinner. I had liver and bacon and onions as usual when I go there. I am home now after taking Beech home. I caught the last few minutes of Washington week, and now I am watching the Sharks play Colorado while I write this. Ryan Clowe just scored his first goal of the year just a few seconds before the end of the second period. The Sharks are thus ahead 1-0 during the second intermission.

Message 519

Yesterday I finished reading Science. In the afternoon I took Annie to Nealon Park for a couple of hours while Vanessa took Beech to his therapy. Today I am going with Vanessa to take Beech to Lucile Packard Hospital to have new ear tubes put in. He has been getting lots of earaches again, so they need to replace the ones that fell out again. I did not watch a DVD yesterday. Instead I watched the Sharks beat Los Angeles 2-1 in an overtime shootout.

Message 518

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and started reading Science. In the evening I watched a DVD of another Italian movie by the same writer/director as Cheeky! that I watched the day before. The Italian title of this one id Cosi Fan Tutti, the same as the famous Mozart opera, but the title for the DVD version is All Ladies Do It. This one is shot in Italy and has the same style and themes as Cheeky!, but is less light-hearted and is less successful. I give it 2.8 stars.

One of the guests on Charlie Rose last night was a Berkley professor named Alison Gopnik. I highly recommend that you watch her on the Charlie Rose web site. Her interview is only about eleven minutes long, but it deals with babies brains and how they work, a subject that has long interested me. I think all of you would find it interesting.