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ABout 3300 miles - Minnesota to Alaska.

I studied German from 7th grade through high school, went to school in Germany the summer after I graduated, and applied for a job at the Munich Olympics (which I didn't take, thank goodness, since the terrorist events at those Olympics would have been far more than I could have handled at the...

Having started my second half century a couple of years ago, I like what a wise old person said (actually, I think it might have been Katharine Hepburn): the older you get, the harder the climb, the shorter the breath, and the better the view. I wouldn't go back in age for anything! And in a...

Man, what a crazy trip this movie is. It shares some of the same audacious hyperrealistic bad taste as Hustle and Flow, and it more than once veers into the ludicrous, but it really grabbed me. Samuel L. Jackson and Christina Ricci are a great pair - bruised and messed up, transparent...

Hi Jay! It's pretty common to cut away (or not install at all) the carpeting in front of an outer doorway. Often you will see tile or hardwood or linoleum on the floor in that entry area, which makes it a visually separate entryway or vestibule area. I'd recommend taking the carpet out in a...

The show is tape-delayed here, so it won't start on TV here for 3 more hours. What's the best site on the net to monitor the show live?

Limbo.

As Ofelia ate the grapes, I kept thinking of the myth of Persephone - duality, the underground, the failure to take care, temptation . . . .

Spend some time on your state or local (county or borough) websites and look for information about landlord/tenant laws in your area. Most states that I am familiar with have good information - pamphlets, web pages, etc. that give solid guidance from both the tenant and the landlord perspective...

You will also want to check into the possibility that the adoption of a special needs child may make you eligible for special adoption assistance and other long-term benefits through your state child welfare department. These subsidies are available through the federal government, and are...

Chinatown.

In an autobiographical essay that my father wrote (he was born in 1918, died in 1997) he described how every fall, he filled gunnysacks with walnuts from the nearby woods, spread the nuts out to dry, stomped off the husks, and picked out the nuts, which stained his hands for months. His mother...

Years ago my father worked with a guy named Marian who was married to a woman named MaryAnn. And they both went by their full names, no nicknames. As as aside, non-gender-related, we have three new family members (new spouses) who are all named Doug. It makes family gossip very complicated.

Cutter's Way

Perhaps this is not an invention in the usual sense of the word - rather it's a refinement - but there is no doubt in my mind that it's the development of reliable, available, legal contraception.

I love the AFLAC commercials, the GEICO caveman commercials, and the puppy at camp who is singing the "Hello Muddah"' song. And I have always hoped to see a commercial a friend told me about. I think it was for a BBQ grill. It showed a grill with a hamburger or some kind of meat cooking on...

Almost a quarter century ago, I was engaged to a man who committed suicide after we'd been together about a year. At the time of his death, his father had been out of touch with the family (my fiance's mother and five siblings, of whom my fiance was the eldest) for more than two decades. He'd...

I have an old business card that my dad had a skinny, geeky big band singer sign for him in the late 30's or early 40's. Who knew he would ever amount to anything . . . . some kid named Frank, Frank Sinatra. And when my father was depressed and ill from having lost a leg due to circulation...

I'm an old person . . . for me it was "The Birds!"

I have a question about shower/tub sprays that you spray around on the shower/tub walls after each shower. I have used these products for years, ever since they came out, and I thought they were relatively harmless and nice (maybe there is a placebo effect, I don't know). But yesterday a...

I'll probably get blasted for this, but I have to say how much I enjoyed the new Antonio Banderas film "Take the Lead," which I saw at a sneak preview on Saturday night. Yeah, it's a plot you've seen before, with characters you recognize, implausible resolutions, and happy endings you can...

For Christmas I ordered ice cream for my boyfriend from Mashti Malone's in LA (near Hollywood). It's Iranian ice cream, in very unique and interesting flavors. We'd discovered the place when we were in LA in October. It had to be delivered to Talkeetna, Alaska. Mashti regularly ships ice...

I have talked with friends whose children (5,7,9) were not overwhelmed by this movie. Of course, these are Alaskan kids who are a little closer to the dangers of life in the wild than many American kids are. I survived both the death of Bambi's mother and Old Yeller without lifelong scars...

Fun movie, beautiful dogs, nice scenery. Some aspects shouldn't be analyzed too hard, but it's worth suspending your disbelief. And yes, it's a tearjerker. There is an article in today's Anchorage Daily News (adn.com) about the dogs from Soldotna, Alaska who played one of the dogs in the...

Ah, it's the new Jay. Ever since he bought his first house (a few months ago) all he talks about is home-related stuff: painting basement floors, financing, toilets, and now toothbrush handles! Is your bicycle leaning sadly in the corner, wondering when it will get out to play? Is your...

Treadwell was a nut case. And his behavior will only encourage more death-wish nut cases to come to Alaska to "commune with nature." Great documentary, but I fear it will only popularize this kind of behavior in the minds of people who are close to being nut cases themselves. We spend...

I got a kick out of this movie. It's a throwaway, but fun. Lots of flaws and weaknesses, but who cares? And I gotta say . . . the scene with the nail polish had every woman in the theater going "Oh my . . . . " It even had me fluttering a little, and I am the least girly-girl (no makeup, no...

Hey, I'm with Tino. This is my "super bowl" and I get a kick out of it all - the pre-show junk, the silly "here comes . . ." sound bites, the clothes, the audience shots, the speeches good and bad, even the commercials. I watch the whole damned thing from start to finish and enjoy it all, even...

I had it four years ago, took off and have kept off a bit over a hundred pounds. I was healthy (but heavy) when I had the surgery - I had not yet developed diabetes or other problems. I found it the ideal combination of physical limitation (reduction in stomach, ability to put food in) and...

I have detested Woody Allen for years, mostly because of his insufferable whininess (and a little bit because of his personal choices). I haven't really liked a Woody Allen movie since Interiors . . go figure. But this one really grabbed me. I was impressed with the intricate balancing of...