BV

As I watched "Blue Valentine" tonight, I reflected on what makes relationships work. You'd think I'd have a better clue at my age, especially when I'm surrounded by successful examples. But the truth is, I don't really know. I'm certain common goals, laughter, growth, passion and dedication form parts of the equation - although that seems overly simplistic. Then again, perhaps I'm over-thinking and it's an even simpler quadratic, and I just have too many variables.

Regardless, it's an uncomfortable film - especially if you'd had the good fortune of being in a relationship long enough to grow apart.

I'm not a movie critic, but Mick LaSalle is. And I thought his review of "Blue Valentine" in the San Francisco Chronicle was the best I'd read - you can find it here.

The story behind the soundtrack song, "You and Me", is also an interesting one. Enjoy.




Btw, Ron's birthday was yesterday, and today is my sisters' birthdays. Salud!

November fortunes

Looks like it's going to be an interesting month. Is it a coincidence Ron is coming up from Houston tomorrow?

Feeling puffy

From the "no good deed goes unpunished" department.

Woke up today with a swollen right side of my face. That's the side where I got stung a couple of times in the temple. Odd that it took a couple of days to puff up. Nurse said it looked like I had gained a lot of weight and was blushing. Now, I know what I'll look like when I become a fat drunk. Doctor gave me a bunch of steroids. The swelling has already started to come down quite a bit.

Mary, Mary, quite contrary

I'm up late because The Wall Street Journal is launching their ePub version of All Things Digital at 2:30 AM this morning. And I have the honor of building it for the launch. While I wait for the ATD feed to go live at 2:15 AM, I'm watching late night coverage of the Olympics on NBC. Which got me wondering - who is this Mary Carillo person? The one who hosts the insomniac's coverage of sporting events pre-judged to be not prime time material. The one who makes all those quizzical comments. Well, a quick internet search turned up the following clip:

What are the odds?

First, I get an email from Tami. Next, she tells me she's in Ohio with her S.O., and she sees a car with a surprising license plate. Through the magic of Photoshop, I am able to re-create that moment for you all. Spooky shit.

phoney beatlemania has bitten the dust

14 miles with The Clash's London Calling (r.i.p. Joe Strummer). Last week was more of a proof of concept. This week was about sustainability.



Speaking of sustainability, looks like 'evolution' lives to fight another day. In case you haven't been following, The Texas State Board of Education voted on language recently to scrap a longtime requirement that students be taught the "weaknesses" in the theory of evolution. You can read a summary article here. Or you can follow the excruciating details here.

Oh, I forgot to mention. On my run today I was almost hit by a blue heron that was flying an intercept pattern off my left side. Stopped me in my tracks. Blue Herons are known to nest in Hyde park, but I had never seen one up close before. Trust me, they're big birds.

Good acting hunting

Ben Affleck is a terrible actor. I was watching "Bounce" while cleaning out the spare bedroom today. It was actually a very watchable film, mostly due to Gwyneth Paltrow, but Mr. Jenny Garner gave it his best effort. I did notice that the t-shirt he was wearing in the water park was dripping wet in one scene and completely dry in the next (it could be because he's so hot). I'm sure the incontinuity queen (not to be confused with the incontinent queen) would have easily caught that one and more, but I'm just a rank amateur.

I also happened to catch "Alvin and the Chipmunks" earlier in the day. Kinda scary what they can do with live action/animation these days. I watched it mostly because I was serenaded on the phone with the Chipmunk's Christmas song 10 years or so ago. Best line from the film: (by Alvin after being told to stop it by Dave) "Stop what? Stop being awesome?"

And finally, the best definition that sounds dirty but isn't: "honey traps: boxes that smell of females." Rest of the article can be found here.

Crazy

Look what showed up with my new phone books. Yes, a digital copy of the phone books on a cd. I know for a fact that SBC and AT&T have produced cd versions of their phone books since at least 2001. In years past I used to have to call them to request one.

<soapbox>They're quite handy and save a bunch of trees. The question for me is why it took so long for them to advertise the cd to the general public (btw, the directory listings are also available on the internet). The cds probably cost pennies to produce. Weigh that against the cost of printing and distributing a hardcopy, and it seems like a no-brainer to me. Yes, there will always be people who do not own a computer or prefer the tactile feel of a hard copy, but imagine the forests they could save.</soapbox>

Also, I went running for the first time in a couple of months this morning. Soundtrack: Crazy by Gnarles Barkley (Charles' younger and hipper brother).

The Weight

is over.