No fooling!

It's my birthday tomorrow!

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Cute.

Light.

Happy endings. Plural.

Frances McDormand is resolute as the uptight Miss Guinevere Pettigrew, an unemployed nanny desperate for a job.

Amy Adams is sparkling as the flittery, aspiring songstress/actress who is torn between ambition and true love.

Miss Pettigrew's life has never lived up to her romantic, fanciful first name but all that could change as she thrusts herself into the orbit of Delysia Lafosse.

With Lee Pace, from ABC's Pushing Daisies, as one of Ms. Lafosse's many beaus.

I know; not really the point.

Not Quite What I was Planning; Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure

Steve bought this book and proceeded to compose 103.

Me, I'm not so creative or original.

But, as I was reading others' memoirs, I kept finding ones which could have been mine.

So, here they are. My six word memoirs, in others' words:

Mistakes were made, but smarter now - Christine Triano, p. 18

Now I blog and drink wine - Peter Bartlett, p. 19

I recognize red flags faster, now - Barbara Burri, p. 28

I lost god. I found myself - Joe Kimmel, p. 54

Time to start over again, again - Dan Petronelli, p. 56

You are all in my imagination - Becky Weinberg, p. 64

Smart, tall, independent woman. Men scarce - Annie Schmidt, p. 67

I'm ten, and have an attitude - Tillie Seger, p. 83

Carbohydrates call my name every day - Mary Petersdorf, p. 84

The weather is better up here - Brad Wieners, p. 92

Quietly cultivating my inner Linda Carter - Joanna Sheehan, p. 105

Really, doing fine, thanks for asking - Fuzzy Gerdes, p. 119

Revenge is living well, without you - Joyce Carol Oates, p. 128

Outcast. Picked Last. Surprised them all - Rachel Pine, p. 129

Thought long and hard. Got migraine - Lisa Levy, p. 199

and one that's mine (not including the title of this post):

Donated my stuff, moved to paradise.

Eden at the End of the World

Last night, the Aspen Environment Forum presented this film in the second of its three Evening Exchanges.

The evening started with a panel moderated by Elizabeth Vargas and made up of a representative of the Wilderness Conservation Society, a former director of the National Park Service , a representative of Goldman Sachs and a National Geographic photographer.

The panel was, for the most part, a fair bit of self promotion but then again, what they were self-promoting was fairly remarkable.

It seems that due to the failure of a business, the investment firm of Goldman Sachs came into possession of 700,000+ acres of land in Tierra del Fuego. At the time, rather than simply sell it, Goldman Sachs donated the land to set up a private land trust and in addition, set up an endowment to manage the land.

It's a fairly amazing example of a company taking the long view rather than seeking the short term profit. And they are rightly proud of themselves.

The film is striking but didn't seem much different from most of the fare of the Discovery Channel. There were two moments which stood out: one, a shot of thousands of parrots wheeling through the air along the cliffs on Patagonia which left me bewildered as to how anyone could enjoy seeing these creatures sitting in a cage in their kitchen. The other one unfortunately completely escapes me right now but I'll let you know if it comes to me.

Bless Me, Utlima by Rudolfo Anaya

A quick read.

Not really my cup of tea.

Not to say I disliked it. Just that I find the sort of superstition indulged in by many in this book frustrating.

But even so, the book had many redeeming qualities. For those particularly drawn to literature about the American Southwest, this is a gem.

Google Books says,

Antonio Marez is six years old when Ultima comes to stay with his family in New Mexico. She is a curandera, one who cures with herbs and magic. Under her guidance, Tony will test the bonds that tie him to his culture, and he will find himself in the secrets of the past. A masterpiece of Chicano literature, this is the emotional, coming-of-age story of a boy facing the conflicts in his life among his Mexican and American heritage, his Catholic religion, and his identity.

I was particularly fascinated by one of Antonio's friends, Florencio and his disaffection with God and religion but felt that there were shades of the tragic mulatto in the fate assigned to Florencio by the author.

I was excited by what I saw as the author's boldness in voicing Florencio and then disappointed by what I saw as the author's cop-out.

Charlie Wilson's War by George Crile

Unbelievable but not.

Crile presents an insider's view of the behind the scenes machinations and maneuvers which allow our government to operate.

Obviously well-researched, Charlie Wilson's War is a fascinating tale of what's possible when rules are ignored and no isn't an option.

Charlie Wilson was a playboy Congressman who was rarely taken seriously. A Democrat from Texas who was also fervently anti-Communist, Wilson made it his life's work to drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan and in the course of doing so, set the stage for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While the book deals with events which took place 25 or so years ago, there's an awful lot of it which echoes today. I had an eerie familiarity with many of the names and locations such as Abdul Haq, Bagram and Jalalabad.

Wilson and his cohorts were trying to make Afghanistan the Soviets' Vietnam but as I read, I just kept seeing disconcerting parallels between the Soviet experience in Afghanistan and our present day experiences in Iraq.

I had an a-ha moment when Crile states that "Israel's most dangerous enemy was Saddam Hussein's Iraq."

Crile's non-fiction book reads like a spy novel and provides an effortless education into an area of the world which continues to have a global impact.

Aspen Art Museum

The Aspen Art Museum can be pretty lame.

It's often a bit too caught up in the glitz of Aspen. I'm not much of a fan of its current director and chief curator, Heidi Zuckerman Jacobson.

But occasionally it pulls off something cool.

The pictures above don't do it justice (having been taken at night from a distance) but at the Aspen Core Party last Friday night, there were two screens on which were displayed a sort of performance art created by the folks at the Aspen Art Museum.

It was an oil and liquid gel thing which changed, kind of like a kaleidoscope.

It was visually stimulating and interesting to watch.

The Big Read

The Aspen Writers Foundation is participating in the NEA's The Big Read.

The chosen book is Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo Anaya which according to LibraryThing, I just happen to have on my shelf.

Yes, I had to search my own LibraryThing catalog to see if we own the book. (I've had to do that with music, too. I came home from a movie thinking that I wanted to buy a song I had heard only to discover that I already owned it.)

Since I'm such a joiner, I'll be reading as soon as I finish Charlie Wilson's War.

If I can find it on my shelf.

With 1,220 books in the house, that can be a challenge.

Such a challenge, that, at times, I'm tempted to give up and just buy another copy.

For example, I've been looking for Angela's Ashes for over a year . . .

Blue laws

Senate Bill 82 has passed both the Colorado House and Senate and awaits the governor's signature.

What is Senate Bill 82?

"A Bill for An Act Concerning the Retail Sale of Alcoholic Beverages on Sundays."

It amends 12-47-901 (5) (b) (II), Colorado Revised Statutes, to delete the prohibition of Sunday sales of alcohol at Colorado liquor stores.

According to our local papers, our local liquor store owners are remarkably opposed.

I have an issue with this. I mean, they really just want a legislatively required day off. Well, if you want to be closed on Sundays, then be closed on Sundays. But it's extremely paternalistic to require all of your competition to also be closed just so that you don't have to face the economic consequences of your choice.

Per Governor Ritter's spokesman, Evan Dreyer, the governor will be doing some additional information-gathering and will then make a decision."

I hope he signs it. I even told him so on Friday.

Dear X Xxxxxxx,

Thank you for taking the time to send Governor Ritter an e-mail. Your thoughts and
concerns are important to him. He receives a heavy volume of e-mail, and each one is
reviewed carefully so it can be appropriately addressed. Due to the high number of emails,
we are unable to respond personally to each one, but please know that your input
means a great deal to Governor Ritter.

The following information was received by our offices:

First Name: X Xxxxxxx
Last Name: Xxxxxxxxx
Age: XX
Email: XXXXXX@XXX.com
Home Phone: XXX-XXX-XXXX
County: Pitkin

Form Type: Share Your Opinion

Subject: Sunday liquor store law

Explanation: Governor Ritter,

As a consumer, I am writing to urge you to sign into law the recently passed legislation allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.


Your Request ID is 032108-183635-XXX

Once again, thank you for taking the time to communicate with our offices.

Sincerely,

The Office of Governor Ritter

Super Diamond

It's Spring Jam in Aspen.

Aspen SkiCo goes all out for the spring break crowds and packs in the events.

Last night was the Aspen Core Party, for which a stage is set up a block or so from the base of Aspen Mountain, a beer garden is set up (Bud Light being the name sponsor) and hot jams ensue in the cold spring night air.

For the past few years, likely in an attempt to attract the young ripper crowd, the musical acts have tended towards rap and hip-hop. They've even hired scantily clad hip hop dancers and graffiti artists to tag blank "walls" as the warm-up DJ is spinning.

This year, Skico went in a slightly different direction.

They brought in Super Diamond, a Neil Diamond tribute band. Aspen locals are no strangers to Super Diamond as they have played Belly Up Aspen annually for several years. In fact, not knowing that they were performing for free last night, Steve and I bought tickets for their concert tonight at Belly Up. (but you already know that because you're an avid reader, right?)

The 6 member band has been touring as Super Diamond for 15 years, come March 31st and it's clear why they've had such longevity. They're high energy, inspire fun and are obviously enjoying themselves.

As Surreal Neil puts it, don't let anyone ever tell you that Neil Diamond doesn't rock.

Super Diamond brings an edge to Diamond's music, liberally interspersing rock riffs throughout their show. Steve said that it sort of sounded like Billy Idol does Neil Diamond.

Will we go tonight? Right now I'd like to but 10 pm is a long way away.

More press

Opened up Yahoo's main page last night and my attention was immediately drawn to the story about Duke winning their first round game by only 1 point.

But as I was clicking on the link for that story, I noticed the even more interesting story: What Are You Looking At?

Once again, Kevin Connolly scores with some national/international exposure.

Very cool.

Photo Credit

The Counterfeiters

The 2007 Academy Award Winner for Best Foreign Language Film, The Counterfeiters, or Die Falscher, is the fictionalized account of Operation Bernhard, a counterfeiting plot by the Nazis to destabilize the British economy. Using Jewish prisoners in concentration camps, the Nazis were able to create counterfeit Bank of England pound notes.

The movie focuses on the fictional character of Salomon Sorowitsch, a Jewish counterfeiter who goes from jail to the concentration camps where he is eventually tapped to head Operation Bernhard. The movie follows his journey from being concerned solely with his own survival to being concerned with his fellow prisoners to being concerned with sabotaging the Nazi war effort.

Intriguing in its portrayal of actual events, the movie does not pack so much of an emotional punch as a weary horror.

Hypocrisy

Strict constructionists: we're strict constructionists until we're not.

We believe that the Constitution says what it says.

But the Constitution only says what it says until this interpretation takes away or doesn't allow something we want.

Then we'll decide what the Constitution means.

Isn't that the criticism of those who don't fall in the strict constructionist camp?

(what's the opposite of a strict constructionist/originalist/textualist? oh, judicial activist. what, no middle ground?)

Teenage drama

We've got teenage drama going on in our house.

But I'm not allowed to talk about it.

What's going on in yours?

Lame

Twice now I have had tickets for Lez Zeppelin in my hand.

Twice now Steve and I have bailed.

10 pm is just a tough time for geezers like us.

Especially on a "school night."

Yep, we're lame.

I'm thinking I'm not going to buy any more tickets for Lez Zeppelin.

Since I found out that Super Diamond is playing for free at an outdoor concert the night before their BellyUp show next weekend, I won't be surprised if we bail on that one, too.

We'll see them for free and earlier in the evening.

Boy, BellyUp's just making all kind of money on me . . .

One Night of Queen

Last night we sat in the front row for Freddie Mercury and Queen.

Or should I say Gary Mullen and the Works, a Queen tribute band.

Gary's got all the moves down and he and the boys put on a fun show. Just as Freddie did, Gary insists on a lot of audience involvement and does a good job of getting the crowd going.

Even the crowd at the Wheeler Opera House, which with its seats crammed together can present a challenge to an performer who wants the audience go get up and dance.

But Mullen managed it. Multiple times.

Rachel realized when she was halfway to the theater that she forgot her ticket. Thus she was late and Gary called her out in front of the entire audience.

"You're late. The ticket says 8 pm."

Later in the show, he put a microphone in front of her face during an audience sing-along and she ducked below the stage.

So I jumped in and covered for her. God only knows what I sounded like.

Rachel found a video today of Queen performing at Live Aid in 1985 and it really helped to see what a good job Mullen did of copying Mercury's moves and mannerisms.

In Bruges

I feel bad telling you anything about this movie.

Not because I didn't like or don't think you should see it.

But because I saw it knowing very little about it and thought it was great.

Really. Great.

And I want you to have the same experience.

Here's what I knew going in:

1. It's about two hitmen hiding out in Bruges awaiting instructions.

2. One of the hitmen killed a child.

3. One of the hitmen meets a drug dealer moonlighting as a movie production assistant.

4. The plot is at no point predictable.

5. The reviewers have been generally favorable.

Here's what else I'm willing to share:

1. It's very funny.

2. There's a fair amount of violence (the main characters are murderers, after all).

3. There's a fair amount of bad language.

Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are the hitmen and Ralph Fiennes is their boss.

Go see it.

What was I saying?

On Wednesday night, Steve and I went out with friends.

We went to the Double Dog Pub, then to Takah Sushi and on to Jimmy's. (Steve started at ZG Grill but I missed that chapter.)

We ended up staying out way too late and drinking way too much.

While at Double Dog, we were having a very intense conversation and I remember saying out loud, "I feel a blog post coming on."

But I'll be damned if I can remember what we were talking about or what I wanted to post.

I asked Steve this evening and he's no help either . . .

Photo Credit

Overoptimistic?

We're kinda old.

We're not very good at staying out late.

So we thought it would be a good idea to get tickets for Gary Mullen and the Works aka One Night of Queen on Saturday, March 15 at the Wheeler Opera House.

and for Lez Zeppelin on Sunday, March 16 at BellyUp Aspen.

and for Super Diamond on Saturday, March 22 at BellyUp Aspen.

We tried to see The Hollywood Stones last Friday at BellyUp Aspen but alas, it was sold out.

We seem to have a glut of cover bands on tap.

It does look like we're going to skip 1964 The Tribute this time around but hey, we've already seen that one.

We also decided to recently miss Appetite for Destruction and Hell's Belles.

Richard Russo

A little bit lost in the shuffle of our busy week last week was the fact that, last Thursday, Steve and I went to see Richard Russo do a reading from his latest novel as part of the Aspen Writer's Foundation Winter Words Series.

Steve is a big Richard Russo fan and has read all of his books. Russo connects with him due to their shared backgrounds of having grown up in economically depressed Western New York.

I haven't read any Richard Russo and am really only aware of him because of Steve's affinity for him.

My lack of exposure to anything Russo made for an eye opening evening. I was struck by the amount of humor in the passages Russo chose to read from The Bridge of Sighs. In addition, being married to the "guy who left," I also noted that in The Bridge of Sighs, the guy who stayed seems to be more contented with his life than the guy who left.

Steve, who hasn't quite finished The Bridge of Sighs but who has read the passages which comprised Russo's reading, noted that the parts which made us laugh out loud Thursday evening didn't have quite the same punch when he had read them earlier.

I guess it's all in the delivery.

In addition, the disparity between Steve's positive experience as the guy who left and Russo's portrayal of Lucy's positive experience as the guy who stayed hadn't even registered with Steve. Probably due to Steve's fundamental knowledge that, for him, leaving was essential.

Although we had to dash out of the Russo event in order to make it to opening curtain at Guys and Dolls and thus could not dally to actually meet the author, seeing Russo and hearing his reading had the intended effect of introducing me to yet another writer I will likely enjoy.

La Vie En Rose

Marion Cotillard deserved the Oscar.

She earned it.

Her performance was amazing.

The movie was not.

Although I had, of course, heard of Edith Piaf, I had no idea what a mess her life was.

As portrayed in La Vie En Rose, or La Mome, as it is called in France, Piaf's life was one melodramatic episode after another.

After having read a little about her online, it appears the movie was fairly accurate, if choppy and disjointed.

Not knowing much before I went in, the movie was quite the downer.

As the credits began to roll at the end of the movie, my companion and I just looked at each other and said, "Well."

It's a small world . . .

Stacey and Barb left today.

They were visiting for the last ten days from Maui.

Steve met them when he was working in Maui through friends. A big group of neighbors in Lahaina gets together every Tuesday night for dinner.

They call it Tuesday night dinner.

Since Steve spent a total of about 7 months in Maui over the last two falls, he had a lot of Tuesdays to attend Tuesday night dinner.

When Rachel and I visited Steve in Maui, we went to a Tuesday night dinner and met Stacey and Barb among others.

Rachel, Steve and I also went to the Old Lahaina Luau. At the Old Lahaina Luau, we met a couple from Chicago on their honeymoon. His name is Daniel and he is Swiss. Being Swiss, he's a skier.

Her name is,

wait for it, now,

Bridget.

And, she grew up the next suburb over from me.

So, we had a far amount to chat about. At the Luau. Last October. In Maui.

But, I'm talking about March. In Aspen. Where our friends from Maui are visiting.

And where Daniel showed up. At Aspen Highlands on Tuesday with a few Swiss guys.

And then again, on Friday night, at the Starlight Evening at the Sundeck. Where Steve and he literally backed into each other.

So, on Friday, we were hanging out with our friends from Maui and our friend from Switzerland via Chicago who we met in Maui and his friends from Switzerland and their Swiss friend from Aspen whose acquaintance we had never made in our years of living in Aspen.

And I'm not even going to talk about Stacey's friend from Maui who she unexpectedly ran into on the street in Aspen on the day that he moved here . . .

It was just that sort of week.

If you would like to hear a duck quack

I've turned the sound off on my digital camera. When I take a picture, I don't get that fake SLR sound. I like it that way. It allows me to take stealth photos although it does confuse those whom I ask to take pictures with my camera.

Perhaps to make up for my silent camera, I changed the sound associated with my cell phone camera. I don't take photos with my cell phone very often but when I do, my phone quacks.

Yep, quacks.

It cracks me up.

It startles the subjects of my photos. Luckily, it quacks just after it captures the image so all my cell phone photos don't turn into a gallery of shocked looks.

Tonight, since Stacey was taking my picture with her cell phone, the only camera she brought on her 10 day vacation in Aspen, I decided to take her picture with mine.

She about jumped out of her skin when my phone quacked at her.

Her reaction then led to my recounting the story of The National Discount Brokers Group.

Do you remember the National Discount Brokers Group?

Back in 2000-2001, an email made the rounds, telling of a real live toll free number that, at the end of its phone tree, offered the option of hearing a duck quack.

"If you would like to hear a duck quack, press 7.''

Really. I tried it. So did everyone in my office after I told them about it. You pressed 7, a duck quacked and the call ended.

It was hilarious.

I googled it last night and found the number. So I called it.

Alas, the duck no longer quacks.

Oh well, I still have my cell phone . . .

BUSINESS: DIARY; The Duck Quacks And Has a Big Bill

By JULIE DUNN

Published: November 12, 2000

''For trading, press 1. For a new account kit, press 2 . . . If you would like to hear a duck quack, press 7.''

Not your normal menu option, but the National Discount Brokers Group says it is more than happy to reap the benefits of having its toll-free number (800-888-3999) turned into an e-mail craze.

What started with a trickle of callers turned into a flood last month when e-mail messages about the toll-free quack began circulating. The online brokerage firm is now averaging two million calls a week.

And even though the calls are costing N.D.B. $10,000 a day in phone charges, the company says the mallard mascot is worth it. In the last few weeks, new accounts have increased 75 percent.

In redoing the brokerage firm's telephone system last summer, Chris McQuilkin, the president and chief executive, noticed that it had an option empty on the menu. He decided that hearing a duck quacking might be just what customers needed.

''This thing has really taken on a life of its own,'' said Richard Tauberman, a spokesman.

The company, based in Jersey City, merged last month with Deutsche Bank in a deal valued at $1 billion. There are no plans to silence the quacking. Julie Dunn

Guys and Dolls

Aspen High School did Guys and Dolls as this year's musical.

Steve and I went on Thursday, opening night and it was well done.

Especially when you consider how anxious everyone was and how chaotic it seemed as rehearsals neared their end. That and the fact that everyone was losing their voices and getting sick.

The four leads were well cast and did an admirable job.

Rachel was the first person onstage (basically). She's hoping for a bigger part next year when she will prepare for her audition rather than deciding to audition 10 minutes before and going in cold.

I gave each of the girls (Rachel, Dara, Sydney and Erin) a tacky pink glittery High School Musical frame with the above picture in it to redeem myself since Steve and I forgot the obligatory flowers on opening night.

We're such bad parents.

Starlight Evening at the Sundeck

Every so often, Aspen Ski Co runs the gondola on a Friday evening and has a party at the Sundeck.

Now, evening parties at the Sundeck are not all that uncommon but most of those are private events.

Private events to which I'm generally not invited.

Actually, not ever invited.

So, in an attempt to reach out to the lowly masses, Ski Co has a public party at the Sundeck. They run the gondola, the cafeteria style restaurant serves dinner, there's a cash bar and live music.

Tonight, it was packed. They used to have the event on the closest Friday to the full moon each month but this year, they're only doing it twice, tonight and once in April.

The first time we tried to go up a couple of years ago, we were told when purchasing our tickets that it was really crowded and they had run out of food. The next time we went up, a bunch of our friends had a table near the dance floor and we had a great old time. The third time, it was really kinda quiet, not much of a turnout.

Tonight was quite the party.

Starlight Evening at the Sundeck on Aspen Mountain! Enjoy a nighttime ride on the new Silver Queen Gondola cabins and enjoy superb dining, drink specials and live music by Bobby Mason . . . all at 11,212 feet! Choose dinner from the well-priced, extensive cafeteria menu or just listen to the band and enjoy a beverage.

The price for the gondola is $10 for non-season pass holders, $5 for picture pass holders and kids ages 4-12, and FREE for children ages 3 and under. Tickets can be purchased at the Aspen Mountain Ticket Office. Upload from 5:30 - 8 p.m. and download until 9 p.m. Food is served until 8 p.m.

For more information, call 970-429-6974.

Sneak a peak at the Sundeck by clicking here.

For more stats and facts on Aspen Mountain click here.

Filler

1.What is in the back seat of your car right now?
Nothing.

2. When was the last time you threw up?
the last time I flew into Aspen on a Turboprop.

3. What's your favorite curse word?
shit

4. Name 3 people who made you smile today.
no one yet, but I haven't left house yet.

5. What were you doing at 8 am this morning?
listening to NPR, drinking coffee and blogging

6. What were you doing 30 minutes ago?
folding laundry

7. What will you be doing 3 hours from now?
no idea

8. Have you ever been to a strip club?
No.

9. What is the last thing you said aloud?
what do those signs say?

10. What is the best ice cream flavor?
coffee

11. What was the last thing you had to drink?
coffee

12. What are you wearing right now?
jeans and a fleece

13. What was the last thing you ate?
english muffins

14. Have you bought any new clothing items this week?
No, but my husband bought me a shirt and a vest yesterday.

15. When was the last time you ran?
I don't run.

16. What's the last sporting event you watched?
the Super Bowl

18. Who is the last person you emailed?
Kamen Lee

19. Ever go camping?
Yes.

20. Do you have a tan?
well, I did get a little color in my face the last time I went skiing.

24. Do you drink your soda from a straw?
I generally don't drink soda but when I do, I guess that I do.

25. What did your last IM say?
Bye.

26. Are you someone's best friend?
I think so

27. What are you doing tomorrow?
working

28. Where is your mom right now?
Probably at bridge

29. Look to your left, what do you see?
My kitchen

30. What color is your watch?
I don't have a watch

31. What do you think of when you think of Australia ?
cool accents, bad tippers

32. Would you consider plastic surgery?
no (but ask me again in 10 years)

33. What is your birthstone?
diamonds, of course.

34. Do you go in at a fast food place or just hit the drive thru?
depends. if i'm on a road trip, i go in for a break. if i'm running errands, drive thru to save time.

35.How many kids do you want?
none (but I have three: my daughter, my husband and my dog)

36. Do you have a dog?
Yes, Ellie, a 5 year old Cairn Terrier

37. Last person you talked to on the phone?
my boss

38. Have you met anyone famous?
Yes.

39. Any plans today?
No. It's my day off.

40. How many states have you lived in?
4 or 5: Illinois, Florida, DC (does that qualify as a state?), Maryland, Colorado.

41. Ever go to college?
yes

42. Where are you right now?
my dining room

43. Biggest annoyance in your life right now?
the perceived necessity of year round work

44. Last song listened to?
Dark Road by Annie Lennox

46. Are you allergic to anything?
yes, pollen, household mattresses, rugs and upholstery, cats

47. Favorite pair of shoes you wear all the time?
winter = merrell boots

48. Are you jealous of anyone?
no

50. Is anyone jealous of you?
maybe

51. What time is it?
12:24 pm

52. Do any of your friends have children?
yes

53. Do you eat healthy?
no, too lazy.

54. What do you usually do during the day?
office work.

55. Do you hate anyone right now?
no, it's not really worth it.

56. Do you use the word 'hello' daily?
yes, if you count hi.

58. How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
46

59. Have you ever been to Six Flags?
yes, Six Flags Great America (many times) and Six Flags over St. Louis (once)

60. How did you get one of your scars?
tripping on a hike in the Grand Canyon while on a river trip in 2001.

(completed Wednesday, 2/20/08 at 12:34 pm)

Michael Clayton

I recently read Joel Stein's article in Time Magazine, The Last Movie Star. Stein draws favorable comparisons between George Clooney and movie stars of yore such as Gary Cooper and Gregory Peck.

The similarities were well in evidence in Michael Clayton.

Clooney plays the title character, a conflicted charmer whose career and life has not measured up to expectations. A once promising lawyer, he is now, as he terms it, "a janitor" who cleans up messes for his high powered firm.

The movie focuses on a series of events which force Clayton to face his choices and their consequences.

While at least one of the trailers attempts to market the movie as an action packed thriller, in actuality, it is a much more character driven study of the motivations of powerful people in deciding how and when to defend their entrenched interests.

Tilda Swinton won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of the sympathetic villain and Tom Wilkinson is spectacular as the bi-polar lawyer whose manic episode precipitates the crisis at the core of the movie.

Writer/Director Tony Gilroy does an artful job of portraying relationships without resorting to unnecessary exposition. Clayton's ex-wife appears in only one scene which elegantly juxtaposes the equilibrium of her life with the angst of Clayton's life.

Outsourced

The New York Times calls this movie "a wonderful surprise."

I quite agree.

Todd works as a call center manager in Seattle for a company which sells seriously tacky American kitsch - think cheeseheads - who gets outsourced to India and, against his will, has to travel there to train his replacement.

He's the typical reluctant traveler, clueless about his destination and initially resistant to learning about it.

The movie stays upbeat and lighthearted the whole time, treating potentially disastrous situations with wit and humor.

Throw in a little love story and you've got a gem of a movie.

Spiderman 2

Not so much.

I really had to suffer through this one, especially the first half.

I almost turned it off. Why didn't I? Morbid curiosity? I wanted to see if there was any redemption in store.

The first half was painful. The movie was attempting to convey Peter Parker's struggles, his conflict. It succeeded only in making him pathetic. The poor Peter thing was grossly overdone and frustrating to watch.

Then the movie makers added an over the top, grisly murder scene where the villain of the movie tears up an operating room and kills multiple innocent people.

Who is their target audience? Yeah, the murder scene speaks to the adolescent boys but I'm betting that they found the plot development of the first half of the movie tedious.

As the end of the movie resorts more to the formulaic comic book plot devices, the movie became slightly more enjoyable but it never redeemed itself.

I turned off the DVD saying "Spiderman 3? No way."

Odds and ends

Rachel came home last night with a disease.

The high school musical set painting disease.

She looked like this head to toe.

Yesterday, it was 60 degrees out. Sunny and beautiful, albeit slushy and puddly.

Last night at midnight, it was 42 degrees.

This morning, we woke up to 9 new inches of snow.

And it continued to snow all day.

And blow. Snowing sideways blow.

We're now up to 14 inches of new snow.

Skiing was cold and awesome. I went out and hooked up with a few of my co-workers. We skied and rode Kessler's, Deception, No Name, The Wall, Soddbuster, Sepparator, FTIS and various lesser runs.

And we had time to stop for lunch.

We've got company who arrived yesterday from Maui and are marveling at how quickly our weather changes.

Off to finally see Michael Clayton at the Wheeler Opera House tonight.

Primaries, not caucuses.

Caucuses suck.

Well, ok, maybe that's a bit too strongly stated.

But, for the purposes of choosing a candidate, I prefer primaries. Those of us who regularly vote are much more familiar, and therefore comfortable, with the mechanics of a primary. We show up between the appointed hours, we get a ballot, we go into a booth and we make our selection. Then we leave.

Much less intimidating than the whole mysterious caucus process. Also much less likely to be co-opted by the die-hard few.

Upon thinking about it, the primary-caucus combo used by Texas appears to be a good compromise. If I understand it (and I probably don't), it's a two step process in which you vote in a election type primary during the day and then, if you voted, you can attend the discussion type caucus in the evening.

Since caucuses are also designed to help the party formulate its platform, I can understand why some don't want to abandon them.

Who woulda thunk that I'd be advocating something Texan?

Coming to the aid of the party

Su Lum

Aspen, CO Colorado
February 27, 2008

The most interesting and humbling thing about the local and national political process, in this time of intense and unprecedented interest in it, was how little I understood about it, and how many holes in the system need to be repaired.

I would have said I was pretty savvy on the subject, and it turned out I didn’t know squat. I didn’t understand the caucus system, didn’t have a clue about the superdelegates and their potential deciding role in the August democratic primary, didn’t know that the rules were different for every state (and for the different parties). Colorado has been left out of the loop for so many years, with the nominees sewn up before we had a say, so it came out of the blue when the caucus was advanced to February and we became a swing state.

We ended up with the sardine-packing caucus at the former youth center, and I know that I didn’t know I was supposed to check a delegate box or stay to vote for precinct delegates; I just wanted to vote and get OUT and so did everybody else. Lesson: To make the caucus process really work, more of us should have stayed.

Ever since I began learning about it, I’ve said that Colorado should scrap the caucus and have a civilized primary election where everyone can participate. I suggested this at the assembly meeting last week, where delegates officially were chosen to go to the state meeting, thence to be whittled down for the national convention in August.

I would have prepared better if I’d realized (duh) that the 50-odd people left in the pack had a high tolerance level, if not downright enthusiasm, for this sort of thing. The suggestion was shot down, but the group agreed to get rid of the superdelegates and, very important, endorsed Woody Creek’s suggestion to encourage county precincts to hold their own smaller caucuses in the future instead of trying to squash everyone together into one room where the “chatting” purpose is nonfunctional.

If Colorado is going to stick with the caucuses, we need to make it work the best way we possibly can. Woody Creek, Precinct 7, broke away from the pack and held its own caucus on Super Tuesday, which, from all reports, was a success. Not as many participants as a primary would have allowed, but a big turnout with room for discussion.

We have venues in the county (the library, the schools, plenty of big homes, Redstone Lodge) to encourage smaller, more participatory caucuses. If we’re going to have a big caucus, fire up the Music Tent.

Some say we’ll probably never have an election like this in decades, but I hope (note the “hope”) it’s not true. I wish ALL elections were this exciting and that we would ALL take part whether it’s a caucus or a primary.

I’d rather boil in oil than go to any of the conventions, but I think this election season has shown us that to fight the system you have to maybe not JOIN it, but participate in it. We found out that Independents had absolutely no vote or say in this election.

I’m a registered Democrat, but I’ve always thought of Aspen as a party-less town (in the political respect) and of myself as an Independent. Now I’m thinking I’d better get my butt over to the party meetings (whenever they might be, more to find out) and get involved on a more grassroots level.

Su Lum is a longtime local who does not relish the role of activist. Her column appears every Wednesday in The Aspen Times.