Sunday, November 12, 2006

Odds and Ends

Well, I didn't get the job I was hoping to get. I'm a little bummed, but recovering quickly. I've been discussing the future with my new boss (Did I mention that the company re-org finally hit my level and I'm being moved to a new team?), and it sounds like he'll be using me the way I like to be used; as an actual analyst/problem-solver rather than a live dictation device. So regardless of my disappointment over the other job, things are looking up.

It's been raining much of this week, so other than when one of my home teachers and his son came over to help me paint for a few hours on election night, I haven't made much progress on the fence. I have to wonder if this is as far as I'm going to get this year.

My take on the elections? I'm optimistic--not that the Democrats are going to improve things, just that people may finally realize that they really don't have any answers of their own besides blame Bush. After two years of them showing no leadership we should have a decent chance of putting a non-liberal in the White House and perhaps shifting power back in congress. That or at least one party reforming themselves to the point where people can feel good about voting for them again.

Oh, who am I fooling? I suspect the bottles of hand sanitizer and de-greaser will be standard issue in all voting booths for a good, long time. To actually feel good about my vote? That's just crazy talk!

Speaking of crazy talk, Terhi and I watched "The Terminal" for our date night last night. Interesting movie, but we agreed that Catherine Zeta Jones' role was completely unnecessary. Don't get me wrong. I'm in favor of the pleasing visage of Catherine Zeta Jones being in a movie for any reason, even gratuitously. But her role did nothing for the movie. She didn't change, she didn't change Viktor (Tom Hanks, who even though he is Tom Hanks, came across as not just Tom Hanks with an accent--that's acting!), and I didn't feel all that sad for her or Viktor when she left. She was there to play the love-interest and nothing more; to make a 90-minute movie a two-hour movie.

Not to say the movie isn't good. It's very good. But Viktor's relationship with every other character in the movie was at least if not more important.

Did I miss it, or did it ever explain why Viktor is such a whiz at carpentry?

Still, a fun movie worthy watching.

2 comments:

Benneducci said...

I haven't seen it in months, but I think it was implied/breezed over at some point that Viktor was something like a contractor/carpenter back in Krakozhia...

Benneducci said...

Well, I kinda think Helen Hunt worked mainly because she had even less of a role in Castaway than CZJ did in Terminal... Not sure where we'd find a female lead in Hollywood right now that would be enough for Tom Hanks, though Meg Ryan didn't do too badly in You've Got Mail...