Message 371

Because today is a holiday and most everyone gets off work, I had a chance to join Helen and Jim at Starbuck's this morning. Because I did not need to carry groceries home I walked there and back. It felt good to get the exercise. It has been a while since I last made that walk.

Yesterday I finished reading The Economist, and read a lot more in my book. In the evening I watched the movie Between Strangers. The cast and the photography were very good, but the story was lame so I give it 2.9 stars. In other words, it is really not worth watching in my opinion, but I suspect women may have a more charitable opinion of it.

Message 370

Yesterday I continued reading The Economist. In the evening Jason brought Ellie, Caroline, and her friend Amanda over for us all to go out to Ten Fu for dinner. After dinner we came back to my place and watched a movie Jason had brought called The Sixth Sense, with Bruce Willis. I usually like Bruce Willis films and expect them to be worth at least three stars, but in this case I give it only two stars. It is based on the premise that some live people can see and hear dead people, and it is never able to overcome the absurdity that this foundation brings to the plot.

Caroline and Amanda got bored with the movie and went into the other room to watch Spirit, the horse cartoon movie that they have seen numerous times before. All the girls ate several cookies, candies,and peanuts, drank chocolate milk and a soda, and ate apple pie, in spite of having eaten at Ten Fu. Caroline an Amanda are definitely growing fast, and Ellie too, although she did not eat anywhere near as much as the other two did. We all had a good time. It was great to see them.

Message 369

I just got back from Starbucks and grocery shopping on my regular Saturday outing. Yesterday I had a quiet day at home reading Science and my new book. Last night after watching the usual Friday night PBS news shows, I watched a DVD of the movie Frozen River. It was about poor whites and Mohawk Indians living in upstate New York in winter near the Canadian border. It was very realistic and familiar to me since I have lived through about ten winters in that area and six more in Alaska, which is a very similar environment. It even has cars driving across an ice bridge over a frozen river like I did in Alaska. I was not familiar with anyone associated with the movie, and it was a low budget independent production. Even though it was generally very grim and gritty, I thought it was very well done. I am tempted to give it five stars, but I have decided to give it only four because it is not what I would consider entertaining. Entertainment is generally why I generally watch movies, and I feel it is perhaps unfair to downgrade a moving and realistic film because it is not exactly fun to watch.

Message 368

Last night I watched a PBS show about the King Arthur myth, and afterward I watched a DVD of the movie Down in the Valley. It was an unusual movie starring Edward Norton. It was quite well done and well written. It is a western of sorts, but set in the modern-day San Fernando Valley. It deals with a lot of subjects (like identity, coming of age, religion, mythology, and reality) in both explicit and symbolic ways. I give it four stars.

Message 367

I just got back from my usual Thursday morning routine at Heidi's Pies and the library with Annie. Afterward I dropped Annie off at Maureen's so Vanessa could take Beech for his weekly appoint with his shrink. Annie wanted to listen to one of the Kids Bop disks, so Vanessa gave us one. It had Fade Away on it, and that is a song I like, so I enjoyed hearing it again (twice).

Last night I watched a DVD of the movie Babel. It shows the unfortunate effects on three different families around the world connected to a hunting rifle. One family was in Japan, one from San Diego in Morocco, and one in Morocco. Even though Brad Pitt was the lead actor, he had a relatively minor role. I give it three stars

Message 366

Yesterday I followed my usual Tuesday routine of picking Beech up at school, going to McDonalds (this time) for lunch, and then going to his gymnastics class. I tried to influence him to go to Burger King, because I prefer Whoppers to Big Macs, but he wanted Chicken McNuggets with ranch dressing. In fact, he ate all four nuggets, which is more than he usually manages.

In the evening I watched the Nova show on PBS called Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives. I was familiar with the science, but I was unaware of the physicist's son who is a musician. Anyway it was fun, and it reminded me of the phrase in Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: "...the high country of the mind." These things turn me on.

After Nova I watched a DVD of the movie The Door in the Floor. It was an adaptation of part of John Irving's novel A Widow for a Year. I had read the book, like I have read all of John Irving's books, starting with The World According to Garp. Like all of his books this one combines funny and bizarre elements with good characters and a lot of discussion about how writing is done. Unlike previous Irving books that have been made into movies, this one is good. In some ways it is better than the book because it extends it to fit the new medium while remaining true to the original. It has a super cast and I am impressed with the young writer/director who conceived and executed the project. I give it four stars. It also had good special feature discussions on the DVD.

Message 365

You might think from the number of this message that I have now been doing this for one year. Actually, it has been a little more than a year because I have had to skip a few days like when I went to George's funeral. Anyway, it has been a lot of messages.

Yesterday we had our usual Monday routine in which Vanessa made lunches and I went with her and the kids to Nealon Park. As usual I was the only one who did any serious eating but everyone had a good time. Annie was pushed in the swing to her heart's content, with me, Vanessa, and Beech all taking turns at pushing her.

I continued reading The Economist during the afternoon, and in the evening Joshua brought in Mexican food from Una Mas and watched the two-hour conclusion of this season's 24 with me. It looks like Jack may survive because Kim made a last minute decision to go against his wishes and donate stem cells to try and experimental cure for him. It turns out Tony was not really bad after all. He was just getting revenge for the killing of his wife and kid in a series from a few years ago.