Message 632

I read some more of The Economist yesterday, but I still have not finished it. Last night I watched a DVD of the movie The Whole Wide World. It was made in 1996 , and I had never heard of it. When I saw that it had Vincent D'Onofrio in it, I was not expecting anything great because I have never found him a believable character in his roles in other films and TV shows, so I was shocked at how good this movie was and how much it resonated with me. I think it may have been the first film Renee Zellweger ever made , and she was stunningly brilliant in it. Likewise it was a stellar performance by Vincent D'Onofrio. It was based on a memoir published by the woman played by Renee when she was 76 years old. It was set in rural Texas in 1933-1935, about when I was born. Even though it seems now like the people had strange old-fashioned ideas, those were the ideas I was exposed to growing up, and the conversations the people had were much like ones I had when I was young, and I suppose I still have to this day. The screenplay is extraordinarily well written, and the dialog is taken from the original book. The fact that it is a true story may be one of the things that make it so powerful. In its way it is a picture of a time and place and society every bit as revealing as a Jane Austen novel. I recommend it highly. It may be one of the best movies ever made. I give it five stars.

Message 631

Yesterday at 8 AM we had a plane crash in East Palo alto that knocked out power for the whole city of Palo Alto. Three guys from Tesla Motors were killed in the crash, but fortunately Elon Musk was not on board. Anyway it knocked out my internet connection, but not my power or cable TV. I just got back from having breakfast at Heidi's Pies with Vanessa as usual on Thursday. When I got home I called I still had no internet connection, so I called Comcast and they walked me through the reconnection process. The upshot is that the message that I thought I sent out yesterday (Message 630) did not go out until this morning. Thus, you will be receiving two messages today. Yesterday evening I read some more of The Economist and did not watch anything on TV.

Message 630

Yesterday I picked Beech up at schooled and took him to lunch at McDonalds. He told me to order him two McDoubles instead of a kids meal. I had never had a McDouble, so I ordered one for myself too. I thought it was quite good and clearly a bargain for $1.00. I am very impressed by how much Beech is growing up. After lunch he did his homework, and then we played wii-games until Vanessa and Annie came home. In the evening I watched Nova about deciphering the Maya hieroglyphics and another PBS show about the new discovery of the world's oldest city, which is in Peru. Because I had already seen the Frontline program that came next, I then watched a DVD of the movie Becoming Jane. I have been immersed in lots of movies about Jane Austen for the last few years, and I confess I have become quite a fan. I did not expect to think very highly of a biopic about her life, so I was amazed at how good it was. I give it five stars. It is based on a recent biography of her, and it has a wonderful cast. I recommend it to any of you Jane Austen fans who have not seen it.

Message 629

Yesterday morning I went down to visit Ginny and Jim and the twins. Julian and Annie were planning to come with me, but Annie got a cold and we did not want to infect the twins. Vanessa and Beech had a previously scheduled activity with her mothers' group. Audrey held on to my finger on the way to the park, which is only a couple of blocks from their house. When I saw her a few days ago, she started crying when I gave her a kiss, so I guess she is getting used to me now. Ginny had some deli sandwiches that we shared for lunch. Jim picked Jamie and Chelsea up at SFO in the afternoon, them Jamie took Ginny and Jim back to SFO in the evening. The took the red eye back because Ginny has to teach today.

In the afternoon I read some more of The Economist, and in the evening Joshua came over and watched 24 with me. He was only seven minutes late, so he saw most of the action. After the show, he worked on his baseball card collection which he stores at my place until nearly midnight.

Message 628

Yesterday afternoon I went to Nealon Park with Julian and the kids for about three hours. We had a great time. In the evening we had the usual family dinner in San Mateo. Beech and Annie had fun in the back yard on the trampoline, and even Maureen joined them in the jumping for a while. Julian and Vanessa fixed a pork stew in the crock pot, and we had peach pie for dessert. In the evening I watched Northanger Abbey, another Jane Austin novel on PBS. I also read some more of The Economist.

Message 627

Yesterday I started reading The Economist. In the afternoon I worked some more on my memoirs and then watched the Sharks lose to Buffalo 1-3. After their good game against Detroit they just did not have their heads in this one. Many of them were already looking ahead to playing in the Olympics for their national team, four for Canada, and one each for USA, Sweden, and Russia. I think there is another one too, but my memory fails me. I thought Josh was going to join me to watch the game, but he never showed up. It was a nice sunny day, so maybe he was riding his bike, or maybe his cold has gotten worse.

In the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Good Dick. It was an independent movie written, directed, produced, and starred in by a girl from Scotland who has been in Los Angeles for the last decade. She and a bunch of friends managed to make the movie for a million dollars and showed it at Sundance a couple of years ago. They did a good job and dealt with important subjects in a new and different way. Although it gave the impression of being an amateur production, I give it three stars.

Message 626

Last night I went to a movie with Larry and Judi. We saw The White Ribbon, which is a German film set in Germany just before World War 1. It is puzzling to watch and a lot of mysteries are never explicitly solved, but it is implied that the kids did the bad things. It shows an aristocratic family in which the Baron abuses and exploits the peasants, a minister who whips his children and forces a lot of religious discipline on them, a doctor who abuses his nurse and molests his daughter, and the Baron's steward who beats his kids, and a farmer who commits suicide because he can not feed his many kids after the Baron quits letting him work on the estate. It also shows a young school teacher who is the only middle class the narrator of the story in his old age. The movie ends with the start of WW 1, and the final scene slowly fades to black which presumably is a metaphor for the terrible things the kids will do when they are the grown-ups during World War 2. It is very well filmed in black and white to give a sense of the time and place. The white ribbon, which is a translation of the German title is a sign of purity which the preacher ties of his kids when he thinks they need reminding that they are supposed to be pure. I give it three stars, although it is nominated for a best foreign film Oscar this year.

This morning I met Helen and Jim, Joan and David, Ginny and Jim (who are in town babysitting the twins so Jamie and Chelsea go to Houston for a band weekend), and Julian and Vanessa with their kids. At the beginning there were a total of ten of us, but Julian and Beech had to leave early to go to Kung Fu. Ginny and Jim left the twins with the babysitter who regularly takes care of them on Saturday mornings. It was fun to have everyone get together, and I got a lot of exercise and had a lot of fun chasing Annie around.