I Love You Philip Morris (2009)

Since I didn't really read the netflix description (which are generally terrible anyway), I was really confused because I thought this movie was something in the strain of Thank You for Smoking, so it took a little readjustment when it turned out to be Brokeback Me If You Can.  The problem is that DiCaprio's Frank Abagnale is a charming scoundrel in the Han Solo vein, while Carey's Steven Jay Russell is... not so much.  It would be one thing if one of the goals of I Love You Philip Morris was to underscore Russell's sociopathy, but aside from Carey's performance, the whole tone of the film is that of an offbeat romantic comedy... and it's the offbeat romantic comedy parts that really click.  Leslie Mann is great, Ewan McGregor is perfect, and it's Jim Carey playing his part like Tom Hanks' Forrest Gump (that's not a compliment) that keeps this from being a very good movie.

Innumeracy in the French Open brackets

The tennis majors drive me nuts when their brackets are unbalanced.  If all seeds advance, your #1 seed should play the #4 seed in the semifinals, NOT the #3 seed, and yet here we are, with #1 seed Djokovic playing #3 seed Federer in a rematch of their 2011 semifinal.  Worse, just last year Federer and Djokovic were the #2 and #3 seeds, respectively, so it's not like the French Open planners get this wrong every time.  If you want the rematch, then make Nadal the #1 seed; after all, he was last year's champion and the greatest clay court player of all time.  That could be unfair to Djokovic, because he has won the last 3 majors, but it's actually *more* unfair to Djokovic to force the Federer/Djokovic semifinals rematch because it gives Nadal an easier path to the finals.  Well... maybe it's not so much that it gives Nadal an easier path to the finals, because he owns Federer on clay, but that it makes Djokovic's path to the finals harder because Federer does well against Djokovic.

Radix; A.A. Attanasio; 1981

Another Nebula finalist.  I finally gave up halfway through and read the foreword (I've got the second edition), which explains:

Radix began with an insight from ... Lives of Ancient Philosophers: "Diogenes the Cynic lit a lamp in broad daylight and said as he went about, 'I am looking for a man,'" He says nothing about "the man" being honest.

...and about how Radix follows a man "to represent our polluted age" who is transformed.  Attanasio notes that:

Writing Radix confronted me with the literary challenge of fitting the motive of the novel, which is Diogenes' quest for a man, into a story that most readers would accept as a narrative and not a manual about self-transformation.

This is a noble goal, and the elements are here for a great novel, but I'm afraid that for me it reads like a manual about self-transformation.

The dangers of underground utilities...

... when idiots install them.  I've been slowly turning over the lawn in part of our yard in order to create an herb garden, digging a few inches deep with a spade.  Everything was fine until a couple of weeks ago, when I came inside to find that our cable was out.  Apparently I managed to cut the line, though I couldn't imagine how. Now I know:

The cable line was buried about an inch underground.  Ridiculous.  By contrast, see that red spot?  That's where the Burlington Electric Department marked where their utility lines are buried.  I'd already dug all over the spots where the electric utility lines are buried with no problems, because they buried their lines to a proper depth.  Whoever did the cable lines (Comcast took over from Adelphia, but I don't know whether Adelphia originally ran the lines to the house or if it was some previous company) did a shoddy job.  

We need to talk about storytelling

We Need to Talk About Kevin (2011) feels like a remake of Halloween told from the point of view of Michael Myers' mother.  There are some great shots in this movie, and Tilda Swinton and Ezra Miller are very good, BUT listening to the commentary, it sounds like they wanted it to be that Eva and Kevin's relationship is muddled and complex.  That would have made for a good story, but Kevin is portrayed as a psychopath from birth, and I just don't believe it as anything more than a B-grade horror movie.