Message 874

Helen and Jim could not make it for coffee this morning, so Mimi and I did our weekly Safeway shopping and then had breakfast at El Cerrito. After the Friday PBS shows, we watched a DVD of the French movie The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It came out in 1964, but I had never seen it. I did not realize that it was an opera. The colors in the sets were very vivid, everyone in the cast was beautiful, and the story was very good. I give it five stars.

Message 874

I just got back from attending the Halloween Party at Beech's school. Vanessa and Beech made me a costume so I could be Dumbledore. A lot of the kids thought I was a real wizard. Yesterday I worked some more on my memoirs, and read the new Science, which came on Thursday this week instead of Friday or Saturday as usual. In the late afternoon I watched the Giants shut out the Texas Rangers to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the French movie Indochine. The scenery and Catherine Deneuve were beautiful, and it was an epic representation of the French experience in Vietnam, but it was a sad and tragic story, in accordance with the reality. I give it 3.4 stars.

Message 874

I just got back from attending the Halloween Party at Beech's school. Vanessa and Beech made me a costume so I could be Dumbledore. A lot of the kids thought I was a real wizard. Yesterday I worked some more on my memoirs, and read the new Science, which came on Thursday this week instead of Friday or Saturday as usual. In the late afternoon I watched the Giants shut out the Texas Rangers to take a 2-0 lead in the World Series. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the French movie Indochine. The scenery and Catherine Deneuve were beautiful, and it was an epic representation of the French experience in Vietnam, but it was a sad and tragic story, in accordance with the reality. I give it 3.4 stars.

Message 873

Yesterday I did some more work on my memoirs. Vanessa called and told me that Annie now has an imaginary playmate named Alex, and she wondered if this was normal. I told her it was completely normal, that she was just practicing to be an adult. I told her that I had an imaginary playmate when I was young named Charles Barr. I do not remember it, but my mother told me about him. Vanessa wondered where the name came from. Maybe it is significant that her father's best friends is named Alex, or that she has a cousin named Alex. I have no idea where the name Charles Barr came from either, so it is not really important.

I watched the Giants beat Texas in the first game of the world series, and was delighted with how it turned out. II finished reading this week's Science too. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the Argentine movie The Secret in Their Eyes. I had seen it before in the theater. At the time I gave it only three stars, but on second viewing I think it deserves more like 3.8 stars. It is a complex story about writing and it is confusing at first what is real and what is imaginary.

Message 872

Yesterday I did some more work on my Memoirs. Mimi and I went to Sizzler for dinner. In the evening we watched the PBS Nova show about the rescue of the miners in Chile. After that we watched A DVD of the movie My One and Only, which was the title of the most successful song written by George Hamilton's father, who was a band leader. In fact the whole movie is the story of George Hamilton's teen years. His mother was played by Renee Zellwager, and she is always good. I have always been rather contemptuous of George Hamilton, but I did not know much about him. The movie is much better than I expected. I give it 3 stars.

Last night Charlie Rose interviewed Noomi Rapace, the Swedish actress who played the girl with the dragon tattoo in all three movies. I think now I will order the three Stieg Larsson books for my Kindle. I saw the original movie in the theater, and I liked it, but I have not yet seen the other two.

Message 871

Yesterday I got some more done on my memoirs. In the evening Mimi and I watched a DVD of the French movie Coco Before Chanel. It was very well done and was espeially interesting because it was a true story. I give it four stars.

Message 870

Yesterday I watched NFL games. Again the 49ers blew a game they should have won against Carolina, but the Raiders completely demolished Denver. I went to San Mateo for the Sunday family dinner with Julian and Vanessa and the kids. Julian made chili and cornbread. In the evening I watched a Nature show on PBS about crows and the new Sherlock Holms on Masterpiece Mystery. I also finished reading The Economist.