What a clunker of a movie!

No, not X-Men — we haven’t seen it yet. The reviewer in the Mercury News really disliked it; but I’m not sure I’ve read a review from him yet for a movie he actually liked, so I’m not convinced that’s significant.

I’m talking about today’s experiment on Mystery Science Theatre 3000, The Girl in Gold Boots. There were many weird things happening in the Sixties; there were also weird tax laws allowing bad movies to be made as tax shelters. This was one of them. Miss it if you can; not even Mike and the ‘bots could save it.

I guess I can't read well, either

I finished Harry Potter IV this morning, while I should have been getting ready for work. It was a struggle to put it down unfinished last night, but I managed (with help).

In case there’s anyone who’s curious about how the book ends but doesn’t actually plan to read the book, I tell How Harry Potter IV Ends in the next message.

Getting Energized

I spent most of the day talking with the Extreme Blue/West students. I gave a short talk on the value of standards — they kept me honest by asking lots of hard questions. Then I got to meet three of the six teams and learn about their projects; what they’re doing is certainly more interesting and undoubtedly more significant than my summer jobs during college.

Though I guess I was pretty lucky, myself; I worked for The Computer Company (R. I. P.) in their APL timesharing group, doing things to make their offering more competitive. One year, I helped them convert from DOS to OS/360 (writing programs in SNOBOL to help manage the process); another year, I added ASCII terminal support to the system; I also remember writing a text editor in APL which got offered to the customers.

At any rate, I wasn’t able to spend the whole day with them because they had a previous engagement to go see X-Men, and I wasn’t able to come along because I had to go back to the optician and try on new frames. My bifocals should be here in about a week.

Tonight, we go hear about Jewish Bedtime Rituals and Lullabies during services at Shir Hadash. I hope I can stay awake to drive home afterwards.

Shabbat Shalom!