Punderings

Really, I do.  It depends on my mood, of course, but it’s one of my favorite all time movies, always in the top ten and sometimes undisputably the best ever.

They really knew how to write dialog back then – something you don’t see often in movies today.  While some of the fit and finish – bits of continuity, dated film quality, etc. aren’t the same as top movies today, almost nowhere else can you find the regularly spectacular dialogs.  I mean, where else can you find stuff like this – completely in character and fitting, not sounding corny at all, as it might if you’ve never seen it:

Yvonne: Where were you last night?
Rick: That’s so long ago, I don’t remember.
Yvonne: Will I see you tonight?
Rick: I never make plans that far ahead.

It reminds me of Sunset Boulevard, another classic with tidbits of amazing dialog – just great wordplay between the actors.

So if you haven’t seen it, you should.  Oh, yes, it’s a drama, and suspend your disbelief, it’s in black and white and to the ininitiated some of the techniques feel dated compared to modern movies.  But much of the cinematography, editing, and acting is truly deserving of such a classic as well.

Plus, I must have a touch of British in me with a strange hidden desire for the desert.  Casablana and Lawrence of Arabia and such stories are what I think of when you say “mysterious” and “thrilling”.  I just finished re-reading Stirling’s Desert Raiders, a story of WW2 daring by David Stirling, who founded the SAS.  Good show, old chap!

Got back from a Dr. appt (nothing big) and one of the health handouts he had written himself for a journal.  His FAQ’s included one about “As a busy Dr., how do you keep yourself healthy?”.  He said he pays himself first – an old concept, but one I always forget in the larger scale.

Done getting caught up in all the stupid stuff – in quadrant IV or whatever it is on that Seven Habits chart (that training class was a looong time ago!).  Onwards to quadrant I and things that are actually important.  Time to ignore some of the stuipd questions.  Time to actually do constructive stuff again.

Just sent my resume out (internally), and had plenty of coffee (regular) so far today, so that must explain the chipper and can-do attitude!

Went to Mimsley’s for the weekend – very nice.  A bit hot, even down there at the house that’s always cold.  Roxanne had a lot of fun playing with the cousins who came over in the afternoon.  The little push-car was a big hit as always, until we had to hide it when she won’t do anything else.  And of course she saw me filling up the blow-up pool in the yard right away, and insisted in splashing in it, even though the water was still cold from the hose – brrr!  We had to start emptying the pool before she and her cousin Helen turned too blue.

Many thanks to Mimsley for putting on such a delightful picnic dinner!  She had stuff in the fridge marked “No peeking!” and created a picnic table on their new patio.  Very nice.
Traffic was fine, mostly because we drove late Friday night and mid-day Sunday.  Ended up using the air conditioner though.