Message 637

Yesterday I picked Beech up at school and took him to McDonalds for lunch. He has now switched back to the Happy Meal so he can get the toy. After lunch I took him home and helped him with his homework until Annie and Vanessa got there about 1:45 PM. In the evening I watched four shows on PBS. Nova was about the extinction of the mega fauna in North America (mammoths, saber toothed tigers, etc.) about 12.9k years-ago. The next show was about the last day of Pompeii, which was interesting because Sally and I spent a day exploring Pompeii a few years ago. Frontline then had a report from a reporter embedded with the Taliban. To top it all off, Charlie Rose had another show in his series about the brain, which dealt mostly with the development of babies' brains.

Message 636

Yesterday I had a quiet day at home watching my usual news shows on PBS and reading The Economist. In the evening I watched 24. Josh never showed up. Maybe he has already flown to Amsterdam. I did not think he was scheduled to go this soon, but I may not have understood his plans.

Message 634

Yesterday I met Helen and Jim and Joan for coffee as usual on Saturday. Dave was too sick to get out of bed. In the afternoon I started reading The Economist that came on Friday. At 5 PM Vanessa brought Beech over to spend the night with me. We went to McDonalds for dinner and he had two McDoubles but only ate one, so I am saving the other one in the fridge. In the evening we watched the movie Shane. I last saw it about 30 years ago I think when I made Joshua watch it with me. I first saw it in 1951 when I was 15 years old, and it made a big impression on me. I still think it is the best western ever made. After Beech went to bed at 8:30 PM, I watched the commentary and learned several new things about the film that I did not know before. I think Beech enjoyed it, even though he is still too young for it. He is the same age now that Liz was when I took her to see Spartacus in Fairbanks. I give Shane 5 stars.

Message 633

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist and Science. After the usual Friday PBS shows in the evening I watched a DVD of the movie Appaloosa. This was another independent movie with Renee Zellweger. Ed Harris starred and directed, and Vigo Mortenson and Jeremy Irons were also in it. It is one of those movies that has such a good cast because everyone agrees to work for small salaries for the sake of their art. It is a western made in the classic style, but with a lot of realism in terms of language. It is the first western I have seen in a long time. I give it 3.6 stars.

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.