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Digital weekend meander

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  1. When I get the most depressed about the future of the country, I cannot help but step back and remember who is in the White House. I rarely if ever use this word, but it seems appropriate here: The nation is indeed blessed.

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/28/us/politics/28seder.html

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  2. Yea, I feel pretty good about who we have in the White House as well. Nice to a good measure of respectability return to the Oval Office.

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  3. Ireland is one of the last places on earth I would have imagined smoking in public places being banned, but here it was the first.

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  4. I've never been to Ireland but used to live in London and remember trying to see the movie screen through the haze of smoke. And the pubs were little captive chimneys in their own right. I also used to work in bars so I've always assumed I'd get lung cancer even though I've never been a smoker.

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  5. Now this is what I call a cookin' show:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/29/opinion/29mon4.html

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  6. Received Stoner and another John Williams book at the same time -- his "western" -- Butcher's Crossing. Thanks for the lead on these, Rick. They look perfect. Nice paperbacks, too.

    Also received Tony Judt's Ill Fares the Land, which I just started reading this p.m. Early impression is this is what the nation has been waiting for. My fear though is that only a handful will actually read it.

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  7. Judt was on NPR's "Fresh Air" today. Sorta painful to listen to, sorta not at all.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=13

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  8. It really is an amazing tribute that he chose to focus on this kind of book as part of his legacy. I don't think I can listen to him talk -- I think it would be very difficult -- but I love reading what he has to say.

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  9. This is the researcher on terrorism I'm always talking about. I wish the Obama administration were listening:

    http://www.nytimes.com//2010/03/31/opinion/31pape.html

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  10. I watched"Little Big Man" for the first time ever this morning on TCM and while I thought it was oddly written in a few spots I can sort of see the 4 star rating.It was entertaining and Diane in many parts of the film I kept thinking of Andrew Garcia.I think they sort of cribbed from his book but can't recall if I read about this.Chief Dan George as always was my favorite.I love his voice as much as his acting in every film.

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  11. I recorded that along with True Grit, but haven't watched it yet. Maybe today.

    There has been much speculation that Berger based it on Garcia, but the book hadn't been published yet so it's unlikely he would have heard about him. More likely that the Garcia book did well in part because of the book. It was in the ether you might say.

    They tried to do a movie of the Garcia book too (with Tom McGuane as screenwriter) but it never became of anything. The editor didn't want to give up control of it and he hated McGuane.

    True Grit by the way was wonderful once John Wayne arrived. Seemed a bit flat until then. Who knew he could save a movie?

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  12. I too loved Dan George. He always appears to be a man of great wisdom -- even when he was in jail in Harry and Tonto.

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  13. BO:

    Just saw the announcement of the earthquake in LA. Be sure to check in and let us know you are okay.

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  14. "Harry and Tonto" is among my favorites in what are referred to at our house as "geezer flicks."

    I second the request for an update from down South. (We're having so much rain up North that my daughter had added UC San Diego to her list of colleges to consider. (I tell ya, junior year is testing and college search hell.)

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  15. The building did a lot of rolling motion.The jolt was in the middle of all the rolling.Someone on Facebook I know who lives in Santa Monica said it triggered a seperate 4.1 off Santa Monica and she may be right because the reports are coming in here on the west side of high rises swaying during it.My brother in San Diego said dishes were shaking but no damage in their neighborhood.

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  16. Hmmm, no idea how the moniker on the preceding got pasted on my post. Can someone advise how I can delete the post? Thanks.

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  17. I thought it was you but wasn't sure.I like it.

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  18. NY - log back in as clover and hit the garbage can. Or I can do it for you. But then don't forget to repost! I liked Harry and Tonto, too.

    Bo - glad you're safe. The initial headline at the Times was major earthquake reported in L.A. Fortunately your area didn't get the worst of it.

    Just watched Little Big Man. Nice when a movie lives up to your remembrance of it.

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  19. People in CA and Nevada have posted comments to this article in the NY Times:

    http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/05/us/05quake.html

    I saw Little Big Man at a theater while I was in college in Greensboro. I can't help but think of the scene where he was spinning while suspended. I should check out TCM more often.

    I've been watching The Pacific on HBO and just read E.B. Sledge's book about his time in the Marines in battles at Peleliu and Okinawa. Sounds like they all went through hell. I just bought "Helmet for My Pillow" by Robert Lecki who is shown more than any of the 3 Marines it focuses on so far in the HBO series. But I've taken a break from this to read an Alexander McCall Smith novel about residents of a building in Edinburgh (44 Scotland Street). Light read but he does make great fun of the silly characters.

    Happy Easter.

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  20. Happy Easter to you too, Marti. Nice to have you and Bo drop in.

    It's been a long time since I've seen Little Big Man.

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