Sunday, June 15, 2003 - I admit it. I saw Hollywood Homicide with Harrison Ford at a Friday matinee. The one advantage in working 14/7 is that I can take off the two hours I’m not sleeping anytime I want. After years of scratching my chin pondering whether Harrison Ford is a fine actor or the luckiest guy on earth, it occurred to me that he is the new John Wayne. He is the ordinary hero. He is handsome, rugged, laconic, somewhat dim, and he always saves the day. Before I get inundated with eMails singing the praises of Hans Solo and Indiana Jones, allow me to say my favorite Harrison Ford movies are Blade Runner, Witness, and the creepy Presumed Innocent. The worst, The Mosquito Coast and Regarding Henry.

Monday, June 16, 2003 - A double-feature at the local art house can be a mixed bag. First, I survived the dreadfully amateur The Trip (no, not the one with Peter Fonda), and second, I was spellbound by the gritty no-nonsense Sweet Sixteen. The film unfolds with subtitles and the language is thick and melodic. Then I realize they’re speaking English. The film is set in Scotland and the inflection of the local Scottish accent is so heavy that the distributors deemed it necessary to add subtitles. Reading the dialogue and hearing the lilt of the language added an unexpected delight to this dark tale of “a decent kid with no job prospects and no opportunities, in a world where only crime offers a paying occupation.” Rated R.
Tuesday, June 17, 2003 - Ever stop to think — and forget to start again? A bargain is something you don’t need at a price you can’t resist. A budget is things we go without to stay within. A baby sitter is a teenager acting like an adult while the adults are out acting like teenagers. A banker is someone who lends you an umbrella when the sun is shining and who asks for it back when it start to rain. How is it that a building burns up as it burns down? Why call it a building if it’s already been built? Leonard Bernstein sums it up, “Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time. The wait is simply too long.” The perfect relationship of the parts to the whole is humor.
Wednesday, June 18, 2003 - “Aah! I see you have the machine that goes ping.” Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life, their third and final feature film, had something to offend everybody, and with its segmented format, it most resembled their zany BBC television series. The dénouement has Michael Palin in drag telling the audience “That’s the end of the film. Now, here’s the meaning of life. Well, it’s nothing very special. Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations... Oh, well, there we are. Here’s the theme music. Goodnight.” The theme music is John Philip Sousa’s The Liberty Bell.

Thursday, June 19, 2003 - Half awake, half-hearted, and given half a chance, I’ve half a mind to have half a notion. Laurence J. Peter observes “The man who says he is willing to meet you halfway is usually a poor judge of distance.” Half-cocked, Clarence Darrow declares “The first half of our lives is ruined by our parents, and the second half by our children. Half-smiling, E. B. White wonders “Democracy is the recurrent suspicion that more than half of the people are right more than half the time.” Half-spoken, Charlotte Whitton admits “Whatever women do they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily this is not difficult.” A Latvian proverb proposes “A smiling face is half the meal.”

Friday, June 20, 2003 - Marvel Comics karaoke circa 1966. “Dr. Banner pelted by gamma rays turned into the Hulk. Ain’t he unglamorous! Wreckin’ the town with the power of a bull! Ain’t no monster clown who is as loveable as ever-lovin’ Hulk! Hulk! Hulk!” Five Marvel superheroes braved new depths of ‘limited animation’ in afternoon TV, essentially, voice-over and sound effects with camera moves over the original comic book panels and using cut-out replacement mouths (no Clutch Cargo lip action, thankfully). Nonetheless, the Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, and Sub-Mariner were very popular. The quirky Marvel Universe had arrived to challenge the stoic George Reeves Superman and the campy Adam West Batman.
Saturday, June 21, 2003 - I call it: Johnsons & Johnsons baby powder on my black satin sheets.A wealthy gentleman, strolling through the art gallery, stopped by one particular exhibit. “I suppose this picture of a hideous troll is what you would call modern art?” he asked the owner. “No, Sir,” the owner replied, “It’s what we call a mirror.”Fred imagined himself a brilliant artist but his peers thought him so untalented it was a wonder he could draw breath.Two young rascals stumbled into a modern art gallery by mistake. “Quick,” said one, “Run before they blame this on us!”Pablo Picasso defines “Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth.” Frank Zappa adds “Art is making something out of nothing and selling it.”