>On the flight to Toronto I watched Black Swan. I must say that I don’t believe my life or my soul have been enhanced by the experience. I was tempted to bail at about the 1/3 mark but stuck it out to the end. It goes on a list with A Clockwork Orange, Deliverance and Taxi Driver as highly-aclaimed movies that I hated watching and would not voluntarily watch again.

One movie-discovery-on-a-plane that I made last year was Carts of Darkness. (Only a few of you will appreciate the title. Comment if you do.) It was a documentary of some homeless men who practiced the extreme sport of racing grocery carts down the hills of North Vancouver. Watching that made me feel that I learned something and maybe gained a touch of compassion (unlike the aforementioned movies).  One of the characters observed about himself “Becoming an alcoholic – there’s a lot of worse things you could become.” Get the movie here http://www.nfb.ca/film/carts_of_darkness

Now I have just seen American Idol, which I haven’t been following at home. (Due to the minor detail of not having cable or, now, a TV). It was a good show but that guy Paul really overdid the tooth-whitening and I am so blinded that I can’t listen to him!