Walk Score

Check out this nifty little website, that tells you how good your neighborhood is at the pedestrian lifestyle!

http://www.walkscore.com

We scored an 85%!

Summer at the Movies

I've finally been able to start picking up the pace on summer movies, and there's a lot to talk about this year!

Ratatouille - I do love the good animated movies, although most of my adult friends aren't too interested. But I loved this movie. It was sweet and playful, the animation was terrific, and the story was really engaging. What's more, it goes back to that age of animation where there aren't lots of pop culture references and big stars doing the voices. It's just straightforward quality. And what delighted me the most was a hilarious animated short before the movie started. It was excellent, and apparently you can buy it on iTunes.

Sicko - No one lacks for an opinion on Michael Moore. I've heard many complains that his movies are one-sided and don't fully explore the issues. But I go into these films wanting to hear his argument. In the case of health care, it's a slam dunk to argue that we need a better system, so what makes the movie compelling is the smaller stories he builds into it. Michael Moore is a talented film maker, because he tells non-fiction stories.

I'm not convinced that the government would do a better job with health care than the private sector, but he makes some interesting points about insurance companies out to make a buck by denying coverage, and asks us to consider why we are willing to be a society that turns people away from hospitals if they don't have insurance. It certainly persuaded me that there's got to be a better way.

Ocean's 13 - Although this movie is better than your average fluff at the theater, I was very disappointed that it didn't even come within view of the bar set by Ocean's 11 and 12. You should know that I consider Ocean's 11 a masterpiece of the highest order. But what made it so good is that you can see how elaborate the plan is, and how unlikely it is to succeed. There is tension in the story because there's a chance the plan could fail. And the end is that much more satisfying. In this follow up, I thought it failed miserably because they are so slick, there is never any doubt they'll succeed, so there is no tension, and many of the details are unexplained -- we just accept that it's easy for them to do. Not nearly as much fun.

The Simpsons - I have to say that this movie blew away my expectations! I've watched very little of the show over the years, but I've always enjoyed it. Even so, I was expecting a movie pretty similar to happy hour in my own living room. But I was laughing and engaged through the whole thing, I just loved it. This movie is definitely one of my favorites for 2007 so far.

Harry Potter (No Spoilers)

What a crazy experience. It turns out that if you have nothing to do on a day when you're scheduled to receive a package, it's easy to start fixating on it. I pre-ordered my book through Amazon, and waited for the mail starting at 8am on Saturday 7.21, checking at least once an hour. And amazingly I only narrowly avoided missing it! For some crazy reason the mailman didn't want to leave it in our mailroom, and knocked on my door with the world's lightest knock before heading back to his truck. If I wouldn't have gotten the "we tried to deliver" slip and yelled to him from my balcony, I would have been out of luck! But he came back to give it to me.

So I wasn't able to start reading the book until 4pm on Saturday, when I could have bought it at grocery store at 9. *sigh*

When I opened the package, I realized how much I love this series of books, and how I would opt for an unspoiled ending, versus slowly savoring. (Incredibly, the NY Times published a review of the book before it was even available to buy, and someone on the radio apparently revealed the ending Saturday!) So I decided to have the authentic Harry Potter experience, and hunkered down for the weekend.

Dave, the saint, worked on getting our rental unit ready for the next tenants by cleaning and painting while I sat on the couch snacking all weekend.

So I read 7 hours on Saturday, and another 10 or so on Sunday. It was actually pretty tough to stay comfortable and focused for so long. But I did it, just like millions of others, and it was worth it.