Georgemacdonald's blog

The actor/director Sydney Pollack died in May. I have been remiss in not marking his passing, for he was the director of my favorite movie of all time, 1969's "Castle Keep."

Funny, but for some reason, I can pretty much remember the first time I ever saw the most
important movies in my life. I am sure that is no big deal, you probably can, too. Still, I can close my eyes and see a mid-1970s version of me eagerly awaiting the day when I could watch

You might have heard that Congress hauled a bunch of oil company executives before them
the other day to answer for the high cost of gasoline and the profits which the companies have been enjoying.

Of course, this is not the first time we have seen this. It seems every time the price of gas reaches a new high, these cats are called on the carpet and bashed in front of the cameras for all to see. One can almost hear the members of Congress saying, "Look, America! We have your back! Look at us raking these guys over the coals! Don't they look uncomfortable? Even un-American in their greed?"

As I do most days, I was listening to NPR yesterday on my way home.
Just as I was entering Modesto, 'All Things Considered' co-host
Melissa Block began a segment on a husband and wife
searching for their lost son and parents in the rubble of their
apartment building which had collapsed during Monday's earthquake in
China.

You can find the story here: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/

I watched the two-part Frontline production of "Bush's War" on PBS
this week. It was pretty good. I guess it was kind of a Frontline clip show, with segments drawn
from the library of shows they have done on the war. Still, it is
Frontline. Those folks could make a shopping list sound interesting,
especially if Will Lyman in narrating.

In any event, one thing became really apparent while watching the

One of my hobbies is finding books I think could be made into
movies. I find it kind of interesting to read a book and think about
how things would be shot if they were to appear onscreen, what would be left in, what
would be left out, etc. Usually, I will go to used bookstores or
thrift shops and look at the books, just scanning the titles, reading
the backs, maybe a few pages of a chapter, just to get a feel for it

I am sure I am not alone when I say that I watched the presidential
debates last week. Interesting format, I really enjoyed it.

One of the things that really intrigued me was Ron Paul's analysis of
the price of oil. You can find it here:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=NIwlKyz6LvU

Interesting stuff, isn't it? In fact, I have the chart Paul refers
to printed out and taped up near my desk. I like to look at it and