Long Weekend Quickly Coming to an End

It's amazing how fast a long weekend can go. I don't work on Fridays and I have today off, so that's 4 days in a row. And it's almost over. I've done a lot, in terms of fun stuff, but not accomplished as much otherwise. I keep getting distracted by things like sleep and CNN.

I have cleaned my house a bit and caught up some on laundry, but still have a way to go with that. I hope to get some photos uploaded to Flickr and start reading my library book "The Demon-Haunted World" by Carl Sagan. I finished the first issue of Legal Drug, a manga title that was pretty good. I just ordered several issues of Tramps Like Us, so I don't know when or if I'll get around to more issues of the other.

There is now some publicity about the rescue efforts for pets that were stranded on the Gulf Coast. I'm not trying to say that pets are more valuable than humans who are still in need of rescue and shelter, but having dogs who are like family members to me, I understand how important this cause is as well.

Laughter is Good Medicine

I finally saw The 40 Year Old Virgin last night. I recommend it for a good laugh. When it was initially advertised, I kind of rolled my eyes. But I then learned that Judd Apatow was involved and immediately gained interest. I was a fan of his two much-too-short-lived tv series Freaks and Geeks and Undeclared. The film definitely had its low-brow moments, but also had a heart and characters I cared about. There were several good laughs which we could all use these days.

A couple of movies I'm looking forward to:

I snapped a photo of this poster at the theater last night. I really hope Rent doesn't suck. I'm a huge fan of the musical, which I saw twice. The movie has most of the original Broadway cast reprising their roles, except they're ten years older, so I hope it works.

I didn't get a shot of the ad for the upcoming Cronenberg flick A History of Violence. Two of my favorite actors, Viggo Mortensen and Ed Harris, are in it, so I'm really looking forward to it.

Quotes of the Day or So Much for Not Getting Political

I never thought I'd agree with Newt Gingrich, but...

Gingrich said the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina “puts into question all of the Homeland Security and Northern Command planning for the last four years, because if we can’t respond faster than this to an event we saw coming across the Gulf for days, then why do we think we’re prepared to respond to a nuclear or biological attack?” (AP)

And from Sri Lanka...

"I am absolutely disgusted. After the tsunami our people, even the ones who lost everything, wanted to help the others who were suffering," Sajeewa Chinthaka, 36, as he watched a cricket match in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

"Not a single tourist caught in the tsunami was mugged. Now with all this happening in the U.S. we can easily see where the civilized part of the world's population is." (Reuters)