29 September 2005

Joke of the day

Donald Rumsfeld is giving the president his daily briefing. He concludes by saying: "Yesterday, three Brazilian soldiers were killed in an accident."

"OH DEAR GOD, NO!!!" George W. Bush exclaims. "That's terrible!!"

His staff is stunned at the president's display of emotion. They nervously watch him drop his head into his hands.

Finally, Bush looks up and asks, "How many is a brazillion?"

26 September 2005

Imaginary friends and adoptees

About two weeks after she started school, The Girl came home and announced, "I have an invisible friend." I asked her some questions about said friend and she answered them. Not a mention since two weeks ago.

Today our daughter pretended she was a seven-year-old with the name of a baby we know (whom I happen to think is so cute and have a teeny crush -- do you ever get crushes on favorite babies? There have been a few babies who I've just fallen for). "Miley" was visiting us because her parents had gone to Africa. "Miley" stayed behind and I told her that if she wanted to stay with us forever and be The Girl's big sister, she could. "Miley" liked this idea very much and agreed to be adopted and live with us forever. "Miley" helped me paint today, saying that her little sister, whom she had decided was three, wasn't big enough to paint. I announced the addition to our family to my husband when he got home tonight.

07 September 2005

Telluride: Best of

My vote for the best of the 2005 Telluride Film Festival is [drumroll, please]:

Sisters in Law
In a courtroom in Cameroon, Vera and her courtroom staff do as much good as they can every day. It’s a great deal of good, at a place and time where women and children are routinely beaten and the men continuously pull excuses, tricks, blows, or bribes from up their sleeves to maintain the status quo. The film follows three of the plaintiffs, two abused wives and one young child, in their journeys through the legal system toward justice, hope, and humanity. The force of nature that is Vera, the judge, pulls these women and children into its wake, granting them peace and freedom for the first time in much of their lives. She is an example of someone who is making a difference daily by helping others achieve respect and dignity without a shred of egotism; every world leader has something to learn from her. These women’s and children’s stories are as suspenseful and outrageous and life-affirming as any fictional creation. Fans of mysteries like Law and Order will find it gratifying to see justice done in the real world.

This is what film is all about! I wish Telluride could have shown Seoul Train; it would have been a good companion for some of these. But ST's poor production values probably hurt its chances. Maybe their next film....