Maria picked up tickets to see Last Easter during its preview week. I’m interested in reading the reviews when they come out. The heavy subject of one character, Jane, dying of cancer was leavened with quick dialogue and bad jokes. It wasn’t as bad as that sounds. My only complaints are: * The internal monologue by Jane made one think that there was some kind of close parallel of her death with that of of Jesus. The dialogue particularly set up the betrayal of Jesus by Judas but, if it was present, was not a turning point in this plot and instead was used as a good opportunity for humor. * The character Joy was desperately funny but underdeveloped. It is obvious why she has a change of heart (her friend is dying and she grieves for a lover who took his own life) but I did not see the character move toward that decision, it just happened- on time and with not much effect.
September 2004
Thu 23 Sep 2004
Tue 21 Sep 2004
Over the Labor day weekend I planned to get some reading done. Events intervened and I didn’t read quite as much as I hoped but this week I got through my backlog of magazines and two books: * Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich. It’s a few years old, now, but, given our political climate, as current as ever. Bravely, and sometimes stupidly, taking the jobs that no one notices she describes the experience of women not getting by on minimum wage. Scary if you’ve been there. More scary if you haven’t. * Working Poor: Invisible in America by David Shipler. Ehrenreich’s forte isn’t lengthy case study and analysis and Shipler fills in the larger picture of men and women succeeding and failing to get by.
Mon 13 Sep 2004
I’ve commented before on the SUV arms race and remember seeing, I think it was on one of SomethingAwful’s Photoshop Fridays, an artists rendition of a Peterbilt cab incorporated into a super-size SUV. That was humor but here is International (as in International Harvester) with plans for a new “extreme” pickup truck. It’s big enough to put a Hummer H2 into the bed and drive off. Read about it here on CNN and here on USA Today. Their spokesman, Mark Oberle remarks, “For personal use, it’s for people who want to make a statement.”
It makes a statement about the driver, alright, but probably not the statement they think.
Sat 11 Sep 2004
I bought a used motorcycle! A 1992 BMW R100GS/PD. I’ve always wanted an airhead and
this one is in beautiful condition. See the inline picture!
It does mean I’ll have to sell the Honda but that means that someone else will get a great bike in excellent condition.
Fri 10 Sep 2004
Not very nice of “dice dot com” to pick up my general use email address somewhere and send me advertisements. It’s not very nice that their opt-out link can’t locate my email address in their records. And it’s not nice that their email address for marketing is some kind of black hole. No Dice.
