Run Lola Run is a breakneck,
hyperkinetic, totally engrossing exercise in storytelling through film. The
movie uses a phenomenally original visual language, switching between live
action and animation, motion and slow motion, jump cuts and lingering shots,
to great effect. As Lola sprints through the streets in an attempt (3
attempts, actually) to save her boyfriend Manni, she makes many interesting
discoveries about herself, and through a quickly-sequenced series of still
photos, the people she bumps into. It’s in German, but the dialogue is
largely of secondary importance, so reading the subtitles isn’t too painful.
(Especially fun is to listen to the English Soundtrack while watching the
English subtitles, which are often translated differently.)

Recently my friend and verbal sparring partner Mark Morgan made mention of the fact that Harry Harrison’s The Stainless Steel Rat is among the most worn and dog-eared tomes in his library.  So I hot-footed it down to the San Marcos library, found a copy, and read it over the weekend. A delightfully fun read, combining good aspects of spy fiction, caper movies, scifi, and humor. Read it today!

I’ve finally gotten enough of my stuff moved over to The McMains Chronicles that I’m ready to part with the domain I used to use for my business: techconsulting.com. If you’d like to watch the auction (or better yet, make a bid), you can do so here.

Last Friday, the management here at Coremetrics had scheduled a meeting
from 1:30-5:00pm. “What on earth could merit that kind of time?” we
wondered. We asked around, but nobody would let slip what the meeting was
about. We finally got there, and our Director of Web Development said “You
guys have been doing a great job lately. We’ve still got a lot of work
ahead, but we wanted you to know how much we appreciate you, so we’re all
going to see Mission Impossible
2! There’s a bus outside. Hop on — we’re out of here.”

Last night Emily, Abby, and I went sailing down the San Marcos river
together in the raft for the first time. It took us about 40 minutes to go
from Joe’s Crab Shack to the dam and sluiceway across from the River Pub &
Grill, during which time we saw numerous fish, turtles, and waterfowl and
enjoyed the Celtic
music drifting over the water from a nearby park concert. We went down
the sluiceway in the raft at the end of the trip, and then did a bit of
swimming in the area while waiting for Kathy to come pick us up. The water
was a bit tamer than I’d expected, but the trip was great fun for all of us.

Continuing the McMains Family Andy Kaufman media series, last night we watched Man on the Moon, the story of Kaufman’s life with Jim Carrey playing the starring role. Carrey did a super job with Kaufman’s character, bringing him to life in a very convincing way. The movie version of his life did skimp on some of the details present in Lost in the Funhouse, making Andy’s charm far more obvious while glossing over some of the less pleasant aspects of his personality. The sheer joy of the Milk and Cookies scene was a marvel.

Last night as part of our date, Kathy and I went strolling through the woods
near the San Marcos river at twilight. The area is charming at any time, but
was near-magical last night as a phenomenal number of lightning bugs were
engaged in amorous pursuits at the same time we were. I haven’t seen so many
of the luminescent critters since visiting the grandparents in Georgia as a
boy. The constant flicker and glow made one suspect that the stories of
fairies and leprachauns might have originated on such nights. Beautiful.

Yesterday my lovely bride picked up The Player from the video store.
It’s an unusual film, in that it self-consciously bucks Hollywood
conventions, all the while making little jabs at the studio system and
California life, but featured more cameos from big name stars than just
about any film I’ve ever seen. My favorite part was watching Lyle Lovett
lurk around being creepy and odd, but ultimately it seems a bit too much
like a Hollywood in-joke to be totally enjoyable for the rest of the world.

One of the hightlights of last week’s "reading" in the car was the biography of Andy Kaufman, Lost in the Funhouse. I had never really been fully aware of Kaufman during the time he was making waves in comedic circles, but was nonetheless quite intrigued by this account of his rise to fame, his eccentric habits and relationships, and his early, tragic death (which some people still believe was faked). He was such a compulsive showman that many of his professional associates never got to know Andy as Andy, but only as one of the characters he played. Told with warmth and obvious affection, this one’s definitely worth a read. (And I’ve got Man in the Moon coming in the mail too, so expect more on Kaufman soon.)

When we moved in to the San Marcos house, the pool was a deep green color, courtesy of the vigorous one-celled flora that had made it their summer home. Our attempts at eviction had proven fruitless until last weekend’s fateful trip to The Pool Shop. From there I carted home a trunkful of chemicals, and Kathy and I have spend last weekend to this one shocking, chlorinating, testing, vacuuming, speaking lovingly to, scrubbing, and generally working to get that habitat cleaned up. On Tuesday, Kathy brought in a water sample after my overenthusiastic first application of chemicals, only to have the tester tell her “don’t let the kids stand downwind from your pool for a day or two.” Our efforts finally bore fruit, and today our water is cerulean once more, and I have adopted the title of Algicide.