Into the Wild, in one word: Awesome

In a few more words: Beautiful and with a great cast. I loved the book so much I almost didn't see the movie. That said, this is one of the best adaptations I know of, one which I feel almost enhances the book.

Walking around town

In the Life-in-Wyoming category of things, I love a town where you can walk around. When I got back to Laramie after four months my car registration was expired, my auto insurance was expired, and my battery was dead. Without a car for a week? No problem, I just walked everywhere (fortunately my housemate took me grocery shopping). Yesterday I walked to one of the high schools for work as a substitute and in the evening we walked to the further of the two theaters in town to take in a movie. I love it.

There was a falcon, not sure what kind, sitting on my back fence for five minutes today.

...too bad my camera was on the wrong shelf.

Martin Luther King, Jr.......and a small Pinkville update

A friend pointed out recently that I haven't posted in a while so I thought, on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day, that I'd point everyone to an episode of This American Life, the Chicago Public Radio show usually broadcast once a week on your local NPR station. The episode is here and part 1 (not the prologue) is the relevant bit. On the left (not the top) click on the orange "full episode" link to listen.

This American Life is available as a podcast automatically downloaded into iTunes or into Google Reader or other such RSS service. This American Life uses an hour to cover one topic from different perspectives. Sometimes its funny, sometimes poingant, sometimes an in depth look at an under-reported news story. Always good.

And this story about Oliver Stone's next movie makes clear that Pinkville (in which I was cast before the writers' strike) is not going to happen. About Pinkville, Stone says that he "had a great script and one of the best casts of any of [his] films, with 40 young actors and Bruce Willis." I'm pretty sure I'm one of those 40 young actors. Damn. It's not everyday you get an important role in a major filmmaker's next movie. I wasn't looking for a life changed forever - my getting cast was a complete fluke. But dealing with the aftermath of this movie would have been more fun than my job applications. And a new civic would have been nice.