The Queen

This week I picked up the video release of Academy Award winner "The Queen", but I haven't yet had a chance to view it.

I love Helen Mirren and am very much looking forward to the film which not surprisingly, never did appear in any of our Augusta cinemas, despite nine screens.

I'm not sure I could say I "love" Queen Elizabeth. I frankly find her a rather sad individual, cool, perhaps "uptight." But my impressions were warmed when I saw this video clip on the MSNBC site. It's about a 4.5 year old British lad who launched a balloon in hopes of finding a pen pan. You'll have to view the video to hear "the rest of the story!"

UPDATE: 6/2/07

"The Queen" is masterful...Mirren is fabulous, as is the rest of the cast. Run out and see it today if you have not seen it. You will want to see it before all the whoop-la starts in August surrounding the 10th anniversary of "that week."

~j

Deleted

They say that nothing in the blogosphere is ever really deleted. Apparently, two hundred years from now some anthropologist will be able to dig through the remains of some server that housed my last blogger entry and reveal that I was a very cranky individual. Well I was, and to some extent I still am. But I did delete the last blog entry made here because, after reading it, it was just plain rubbish. That's a British term for something we in Brooklyn would call "crap."

My last entry was a rather snobby recitation about the fact that the rest of the USA was apparently obsessed with the television show American Idol and I was the only person not "glued to the tube" the last night of the season. But then I picked on that poor Indian boy, you know the one with all the hair, and said some unkind things. It wasn't his fault he was apparently not very talented when it came to singing and that there were people manipulating his image on both sides. But quite frankly, I found the entire American Idol idea rather stupid. I think what made me the most cranky was its popularity - this fact was one more indication the entire American psyche had gone to the dogs.

It is not just that Americans are getting dumber - they are - but that's another issue. What bothers me on a basic level is that this stupidity might suggest that all popular culture ideas, in any generation, are simply rubbish too. Is that possible? Could the Peace Movement of the 1960's that led to the end of the Viet Nam war be nothing more than the cultural equivalent of American Idol? It could be. Could the Woman's Movement, the Civil Rights Movement, even the Gay Power movement have been nothing more than a popular cultural fad of its time, ultimately - like American Idol - meaningless?

I am waiting for the day when of all those Baby Boomers who lived through the 60's sit up and take notice of what a mess this country has become and once again, donning peace signs and tie-dye t-shirts, rise from the background din and call for revolution.

Or is it more like that they will just pass me in the high speed lane of the Interstate driving their SUVs and give me the finger?

Anyway, I am cranky for a lot of reasons, but whining - even though I am good at it - does nothing to cheer me up. So, I'll shut up and ponder my navel.

Peace

~j

Rainy Friday

I think this is the first time I've had five minutes to think for a couple of weeks. It is one of the crazy times of the year work-wise and I'm not sure I have a lot accomplished that I can point to.

The weather here has turned rainy and cold - unseasonably cold with lows in the 30s. I decided last weekend that despite the rather lovely weather of temps in the high 60s and abundant sun, I would wait another week before brushing off my "green thumb" and putting the container garden in.

I did go so far as to purchase topsoil and filled all the pots and flower boxes. I cleaned off the porch chairs and swept the "winter dust" off of the porch, but the flowers will have to wait.

At the local Shop N'Save they have a display of some various cover flowers in some racks outside the store...they looked pretty sad today...almost as if they were begging some one to bring them in out of the cold.

But this is just temporary and I know we will be complaining about the heat soon.

The big news here at the building is the crazy landlord is at it again with another construction project that will no doubt create a summer - or longer - of havoc, discomfort and misery.

They never do any job quickly around here. The porch project - where they constructed new patio/porches on the two buildings - too over three years to complete. The landlord apparently pays for these project on the layaway plan, and when he has enough materials in stock, does a little more.

So this project is a new entry way for the west end - my end - of the building. It's gonna look like Tara from Gone With the Wind - and in no way consistent with the architecture of the building. I'll take some pictures when it stops raining.

~jeb

A Hole in One

Almost.

So, what can be better than a hole-in-one in golf? How about hitting the flag on a fly.

That's what I did on Sunday, May 6, 2007 at the Sable Oaks Golf Course in South Portland. It was the 13th Hole - I used a 7-iron on a 142 yrd hold. There was a steady wind from the right and I tend to pull shots when I tee them up and use an iron. The pin was placed on the front left. I aimed just right of center and tried to keep my head down.

It was like something in a dream, a perfect draw and it hit the flag about half-way up. The ball dropped below the hole and to the left about 5 feet away. I should have birdied, but took a par and walked off with a smile.

So how do I feel?

About the same way I did when I almost won the lottery about 20 years ago. I had five of the six numbers and won $1,000. I loved winning the money, but after a few days realized I would probably never come that close again.

Let's hope the "golf gods" are better to me than the "lottery gods."

~j