Sunday, February 29, 2004

In the beginning was the void The two best films I've seen in the past year were both British: "Dirty Pretty Things" and "Touching the Void". The latter is not, as one might assume, about Bush's brain.  It won the BAFTA, which sounds like it should stand for British-American Free Trade Agreement but is the British equivalent of the Oscar, in which case it should be BOSCAR. The climbing re-creations are enough to dissuade anyone from mountaineering, and the sound is so realistic that you can feel the ice axes and the crampons digging in.  Too bad there's no Oscar category for Best Documentary Sound. Highly recommended if you're inclined toward this sort of thing -- pun intended. 3:20:16 PM

Upward Mobility According to a report by the National Review Board, an organization of laypersons organized by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, nearly 11,000 allegations of sexual abuse against more than 4000 priests have been made in the last half-century. Q: Why have so many priests turned out to be abusers? A: That's how you get to be a cardinal. 2:55:07 PM

A Shining City On A Hill Headline from today's New York Times: "Seeing `New Beginning,' Bush Sends Marines to Haiti." Or as Ronald Reagan would say, "It's morning in Haiti." 11:10:47 AM