Bush lone cowboy swagger getting a reality check
The Christian Science Monitor says that the Bush administration is being forced into more multilateral diplomacy by the magnitude of the challenge. That's welcome. Many many fences to mend, though. More here.

9:46:58 PM      trackback [] 

My mother doesn't read my blog
Actually, I haven't told her about it. Anyway, found this bit on Debbie Weil's blog from her mother:

"Debbie, I enjoyed your piece on 9/11 and congratulations on getting mentioned in the Washington Post. To my dismay I got into your blogs and I can't imagine what a smart and capable person like you is doing engaging in this infantile and boring activity. love, mom." [ed., my emphasis]

5:21:35 PM      trackback [] 

Under the Grafton Sun

Yesterday I went with my friend Lori to see the movie Under the Tuscan Sun. There’s a lot to love – the scenery, Diane Lane’s performance, the always enjoyable theme of picking oneself up and starting all over again. Of course it helps if you have a ton of money and you’re stunningly beautiful. And serendipity sends you to Tuscany, where you happen upon a villa, with a handsome realtor, and you get it at a great price because… Well, I don’t want to give anything away. Just be warned that you have to squint away some real “oh as if” moments. Then it’s very enjoyable. Did I mention the scenery? And, gals, I mean all of the scenery.

Closer to home, it was 30°F overnight in Grafton. Flannel sheet weather. This morning it’s bright and sunny, but lovely as it is here it ain’t Tuscany. And my house ain’t a villa either. The movie didn’t make me want to move to Tuscany – I’m too practical for that – but it did have the fortunate effect of making me want to come home and clean, if not redecorate. It also stirred up my travel fever a bit, though I have to squelch that until the economy picks up. Something our heroine in Tuscany appeared not to have to worry about.

Italian weekend

Saturday night I went to a party in R.I. where we watched the original and the remake of The Italian Job. The original was made in 1969 with a very young Michael Caine. The remake was just released on DVD and features Mark Wahlberg, Charlize Theron and Edward Norton. I nearly fell asleep during the original, partly due to having just stuffed myself with Marianne’s scones, cream and jam, and someone else’s pumpkin pie. (Hey, it was an Aussie tea and New England pie and Italy kinda night.)

The original often rambled pointlessly, and ended about as pointlessly, but the escape scenes with the Mini Coopers were great fun. The charming Michael Caine had it all over Mark Wahlberg, who I usually like but who was awfully bland here. The remake, which begins in Italy but otherwise is set in the U.S., was fast paced and suspenseful, more amenable to our modern attention spans. Unlike the completely embarrassing ditzy women in the 1969 version, Charlize Theron got to kick some butt in this one while being both intelligent and sexy. And the Mini Cooper scenes are just as fun in the remake as in the original.

10:53:01 AM      trackback []