August 8, 1996
Dear Everyone:
Vacation went pretty
well this year. For once,
the weather was quite cooperative.
It was hot when we arrived in
Ashland; but
each subsequent day it got progressively cooler.
It was even cool enough to need a jacket the last two nights.
Of course, some of us were wearing jackets during the day, too.
These would be the people who think 72 degrees is “nippy”; the
ones who were salamanders in a previous life, still looking for a nice
hot rock to climb up on.
Those of us who were polar bears in a previous life were enjoying the
cold spell.
Shortly before I
went on vacation, I discovered a wonderful site on the
World Wide Web.
You go to “cnn.com”, then click
on “Weather”. From there you
can select the USA, or whatever.
By going to the
Pacific
Northwest, I found I could get a four-day forecast for the
Medford area,
this being the closest “big” city to Ashland.
The forecast was pretty accurate, too.
This is great for
business trips. I can find
out ahead of time if I need to take an umbrella with me when I go to
Boise next month. I’m
attending a Users Conference for two of the software programs we have,
Retention! and
Versatile.
The good news is: I
don’t have to attend a Spectrum Users Conference in “Cincinnati” the
following week. Not that I
have anything against “Cincinnati”, you understand.
I just hate business trips.
As for the Ashland
plays: Everyone liked
The Winter’s
Tale and
Love’s Labors
Lost.
Moliere Plays Paris
was OK. Everyone (except me)
hated the way the director did
Romeo and Juliet.
And as for
Coriolanus,
this is one of
Shakespeare’s lesser known tragedies.
Evidently, it’s even less well known than we realized, judging by
the young man seated on my right.
He apparently thought it was a comedy.
For three and a half
hours, this idiot snickered, chortled, chuckled, giggled and laughed
outright, having decided (as he told anyone who would listen during the
intermission), that the great Roman general was “a mama’s boy!”
In Isaac
Asimov’s
Guide to Shakespeare, the author spent 39 pages analyzing the
complex character of Coriolanus.
But our “expert” in human relations had to let everyone within a
three-seat radius know that 95% of the significance of the play had
sailed effortlessly over his head.
If I ever see him
again, I’ll be sure to dump my Diet Coke in his lap.
Now that vacation is
over, it will take me at least a week to completely unpack and put
everything away. The funny
thing is, when I come back from a business trip, I unpack
immediately, no matter the
time of day, laundering everything, putting the suitcase(s) away, and
generally wiping out any physical evidence that the trip ever took
place. I guess that says
something about the difference between types of trip.
Movies...
Of
course I brought work home with me, intending to spend some of my
“free” time getting this and that done.
And of course, it sat on the dining table until it was time to go
back to work. Instead of
developing an Information Inventory Management Mega-System Matrix, I
went to the movies.
Courage Under
Fire. If you had a choice
between Excel
and Denzel
Washington, which one would you choose?
This is a
Rashomon-style
story with the same scene played over and over, changing as each
character recounts the events.
It’s OK, but I don’t think it’s the
Oscar-contender
that some are calling it.
Let’s face it, they
don’t trot out those hopefuls until near the end of the year, with the
belief that the Academy members have short memories.
Movies that come out too early tend to be forgotten by the time
the ballots go out the next spring.
Of course, the notable exception to that rule was
Silence of the
Lambs, which no one who has seen it will ever forget, no matter
how hard they try.
The other movie I
saw (without “Jeannie” who was burning the midnight oil to get work out
before leaving for Ashland) was
A Time to
Kill, based on
John Grisham’s
novel. The completely
unknown actor
chosen to play the defense attorney is worthy of the director’s trust in
him. He’s
good.
Samuel
L. Jackson is superb as the man on trial for killing the men who
raped his 10-year-old daughter.
Sandra
Bullock gets top billing, but her part is far less important.
There are two kinds
of people in this world that Grisham evidently doesn’t like, lawyers and
preachers. He goes after
both in his book. A lot of
that doesn’t make it across in the translation to the screen.
But it’s still a pretty good film.
A very serious film, as you can see from the closing credits.
Even though a riot nearly breaks out in the movie, there are
exactly three stunt-men
listed. And they all have
the same last name.
If you have to
choose between the two, go for A
Time to Kill.
Courage Under Fire can wait
for the Sunday Night Movie.
Love, as always,
Pete
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