‘Cat Ballou’, ‘A Walk on the Moon’, ‘The Painted Veil’

(posted from home)
(This post covers 20-23 March, 2009)

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Monday, 23 March –

Today I got to work cleaning up the van. I took down and stored away the sea kayak and the Thule box, then took the van to a car wash. There I had problems with the foaming brush and decided I’d better switch to the next bay, which had just come open. Unfortunately I rushed a little too much and didn’t notice that the wand hose was looped out just enough to catch my mirror. In pulling out my mirror snagged the hose and I broke off the end of the wash wand.
After finishing the wash I drove to the gas station just up the street since I knew they owned the car wash. The owner was very gracious, just telling me not to worry about the wand. He said it happens all the time and he has plenty of replacements. That was completely unexpected, especially since I opened the conversation offering to pay for the damage.
I made a grocery-shopping run, then walked my four-mile route along the creek at home.
That evening we watched ‘The Painted Veil’, another surprisingly-good romantic movie, this one starring Naomi Watts and Edward Norton. The actors do a good job of keeping this one from becoming a boring-albeit-pretty period movie. Recommended. RT=overall 73 & top critics 73.

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Sunday, 22 March –

Today we couldn’t stand being stuck in the house any longer and went into town to look at floor lamps. I ended up buying an Ott Light lamp called the ‘Dakota’ at Lowe’s, a full-spectrum fluorescent which will make a good reading light beside my lounging chair. Labashi was frustrated though—there was nothing else even close to what she wanted to see.
Late in the day I walked the six-mile loop.
That evening we watched ‘A Walk on the Moon’ with Diane Lane and Viggo Mortenson. Labashi had ordered a string of romantic movies from Netflix while I was in Florida and I thought they’d be terrible. This one wasn’t bad, though. A little predictable, perhaps, but certainly not soapy. Recommended. (RT = overall 73, top critics 60)

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Saturday, 21 March –

I worked on reviewing all the accumulated bills, insurance reports, and other paperwork regarding my recent CT scan— mostly just reviewing all the details and making sure everything matches. Looks like I’m stuck with the bill for $542 for my portion of it. And I have to have it re-done in a couple of weeks.
I also spent a very frustrating couple of hours uploading video clips to Facebook. What lousy software they have for this. It locks up both Opera and Internet Explorer and doesn’t work consistently the same. Depending on how you enter the upload mode the screens and messages look and act differently.
This afternoon I was very sleepy for some reason. Maybe the six-mile walks are a little too much. I took a nap and I was surprised to find I was out of it for two hours and very dopey coming out of it.
That evening we were going to watch a Netflix movie but Cat Ballou was on TCM’s ‘The Essentials’ tonight. I’ve only ever seen clips of it; I didn’t even know Jane Fonda is in it. Anyway, we watched this one, wondering what the heck could have caused this one to be developed. Lee Marvin is indeed award-worthy and the one shot of him drunk and asleep on his horse, both leaning against a wall (with the horse’s legs crossed!) makes the entire movie worth it.

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Friday, 20 March –

I blogged the morning away and posted my update, then cruised my regular web sites. In mid-afternoon I walked my six-mile loop. That evening we watched a Dateline special about the incredible foolishness of the mortgage industry, Wall Street, and ratings firms, leading to the current economic collapse. Wow.


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