July 29, 2006

Wow, this cooling trend is nice. Of course we had a statewide death toll over 120 for that two weeks of heat that just passed. It wasn't even up to 90 (cool for a summer day) in Sacramento. We had made plans to go to the Bay Area earlier. It was even cooler there (the low 70s). There was fog in the Berkeley hills where we were. It was delightful. It was also funny because locals were caught flat-footed and shivering in the weather. I had planned ahead with layers and windbreak so we were fine. This is funny because it's a local sport in the San Francisco Bay Area to watch the tourist in shorts during the summer, as they freeze their rear ends off. The normal summer weather pattern is that as it heats up inland, it creates a "fog machine" near the coast as the hot air from inland hits the cold ocean (flowing down from the Gulf of Alaska).

I watched Mystic River the other day. SPOILER COMING:

Very disturbing, and not just for the violence and theme centering on childhood sexual exploitation. The ending lines with Laura Linney giving her blessing to husband Sean Penn killing the wrong person boils down to he was weak, you are strong, so might makes right. Terry's comment, "How come the weak never seem to use this excuse?" Would they if they could I wonder? Anyway, some folks thought the ending was out of context on IMDB. I think it was disturbing, but set up for in earlier scenes, and lord knows there are probably folks in South Boston, and South Sacramento who believe this line of thinking.