Good movie, bad movie deal - theater should offer Atonement

I'd been thinking of canning this blog, because it seems like I have so little time to devote to blogging nowadays. I'm back. I've got to kvetch about this.

I went to the movies yesterday, and saw Atonement. It's a great flick -- multi-layered, with a dose of mystery -- not a saccharine romance. I recommend it.




Atonement: go see it.



Here's the bad part: After paying $9 to get in (I know, not bad by New York standards) and paying another 9 bucks for a small Diet Coke and popcorn, I had to sit through commercials.

Commercials, mind you, not trailers or coming attraction, which I like seeing. We were inflicted with actual commercials.

Oh, the horror.

Maybe the financial picture is gloomy enough that movie-theater operators feel they have to do this to survive.

It makes me want to stay home and watch DVDs, or just read.

That's the best idea -- read the book.

Just because

From the "Aaack - what were they thinking" department

Please, darlings. Leave this look alone. Bear in mind that mini-skirts don't really look good on anyone older than 15, and no, darling, they won't think you're 15 because you're wearing it. Really.

The dress, with an elegant halter top, could look sumptuous if the balloon hem swirled around the model's knees. It just looks kinda tacky, instead.

I saw an actress wearing anultra-mini sundress with a balloon hem on one of the TV soaps as I scanned channels today. It made this dress look classy by comparison.

Evan Almighty

Go see Evan Almighty

I read the Washington Post's scathing review Friday morning, then Friday evening, I went to see the movie.

It was great.

Ignore the bitter crankiness of the uber-intellectual critics.

No, this is no intellectual heavyweight. It's a feel-good family movie. A co-worker and I laughed through the whole flick, which was directed by Tom Shadyac.

The title, Evan Almighty, might lead you to think it's a sequel of Bruce Almighty, which starred Jim Carrey. It isn't, though it has some of the same zaniness. The new movie might be better titled "Evan Obeys the Almighty," for Evan, played by Steve Carrell, doesn't gain any supernatural powers.

Instead, Evan's chosen by the Almighty because, after being elected to Congress, his wife told Evan he should pray. Evan, pushed by his wife, prayed to change the world. Moral: beware what you pray!

In the great tradition of prophets and holy men, Evan is reluctant to do the weird stuff God (Morgan Freeman) tells him to do, such as build an ark in the lot next to his shiny new home. Evan, who's on the superficial side in the beginning of the movie, focuses a lot of attention on suits, vehicles, and houses, all to make the right impression as he begins a term in Congress.

God isn't one to be ignored, and the humor rolls as Evan tries to wiggle out of the new Noah gig. Life is changed for everyone, including Evan, his family, Congress, the nation and the world.

No, this movie is not an intellectual heavyweight. It's a good, funny movie with a good message, and without preachiness. Steve Carrell, of 40 Year Old Virgin movie fame and The Office (which I hate) on TV, is perfect in the part, without the frenetic over-the-topness of Jim Carrey.

Wanda Sykes as Evan's Congressional assistant is as funny and biting as always.

The movie has a great soundtrack. Don't get up and leave as the ending credits begin to roll, or you'll miss a very funny bit.

Designer dumb: Daughter of Data caption contest

A lot of what designers come up with in their quest to be daring is just really stupid.
I call this (think Star Trek: the Next Generation) Daughter of Data Visits the North Country. What would you call it?

Not so much a fashion statement

Michael Moore is at it again -- exposing the ugly truth, and pissing off governmental officials while he does it.

Michael Moore: not so much a fashion statement.

In Farenheit 911, Moore exposed the greed, corruption and lunacy that brought us the war in Iraq.

This time, in a timely production called Sicko, he's going after the medical-insurance-pharmaceutical (MIP for short) fascist oligarchy.

This is a lot tougher and more dangerous than going after Bush Baby. This is going after some of the big boys who pull the Bush strings. The MIP capitalist complex is one of the most powerful groups in the country, and among the biggest contributors to the Bush campaign.

So, no wonder the Treasury Department has been sicked on Moore. They're investigating him for violation of the trade embargo on Cuba, for taking some 911 heroes there, ones who apparently couldn't get medical care in the grateful ol' USA; the point being they COULD get treatment in a third-world communist country.

You gotta admit, Moore has a great capacity for irony.

I take it it wasn't the medical facilities at Guantanamo to which Moore took the sick people.

Hmmm. Would the Gitmo detention center be a trade violation? Seems like as much of one as sick people going for medical treatment in Cuba. Any lawyers out there?

But, then, the MIP oligarchy couldn't stand the idea of us going across the Canadian border to get the exact same prescription drugs we would get in the US, but for a fraction of the cost. And they claimed it was because they were frightened for our safety.

Apparently, the cold, dry Canadian air has a deleterious effect on pills sitting inside Canadian drugstores, on pharmacy shelves.

I can't wait for Sicko to come out.

But be careful, Michael. MIPs are the kind of people who "probe" other people in ways you really wouldn't like.

Socks and sandals?

Saint Pat has been devoting some prayer time to this doctrinal question, and has the answer:

"Yes," if you live subtropical or tropical climes. I'm noticing more priests tapping into the trend.

Here in Florida, where it is pretty hot 9 out of 12 months of the year and hellish hot the other three, it's just too fazoolin miserable with heavy dress shoes on. One simply dies, darlings, behind the altar rail, what with heavy robes on over street clothes. Wearing shiny black shoes that don't let any air circulate is the straw that broke the camel's back.

Even on weekdays, wearing closed-in shoes all day makes for hot, stinky-fungual feet. Let the air in! Let the sun shine on those dogs whenever possible.

Sensitive to the fact some parishioners might not want to look at the priest's toenails while receiving the communion wafer, priests wear modesty-protecting socks with their sandals. Socks are usually black, to match their slacks, I might add; no priests in shorts, though I have seen some chalicers in shorts, beneath their robes. No hairy calves showing.



Wearing socks prevents chafing from sandal straps. It also keeps tootsies warm on those occasional chilly mornings in winter.

Socks and sandals are apparently a major controversy in the halls of academia, also. I found these photos to filch at The Daily Transcript, a site devoted to hot ongoing debates in scientific circles, such as, "Is it only men who wear socks with sandals?" and, "Does wearing socks with sandals in the lab really protect tootsies from acid spills?"

As for me, I only wear socks with sandals in the wintertime, when I want a little warmth, but still want some air. But I usually opt for closed-in shoes when it's that chilly.

In hot weather, I chalice whilst wearing sandals or slide-ons, no socks.