Journal of a Sabbatical

July 3, 2000

too darn hot

Yesterday's Bird Sightings:
Watchemoket Cove:
mute swan (49)
great egret (5)
herring gull (9)
great black back gull (4)
common tern (2)
ring billed gull (4)
mallard (17)
house sparrow (1)
Canada goose (38)
snowy egret (1)

Today's Reading: Summer: From the Journal of Henry D. Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, The Herring Gull's World by Niko Tinbergen, Post-Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Today's Starting Pitcher:
Ramón Martinez

The heat is making me crazy.

We saw The Perfect Storm last night at the new cinema in the Providence Place mall. This place is gigantic. They had two theaters showing The Perfect Storm and the one we were in was packed. I suppose that's not surprising given Rhode Islanders' abiding interest in weather trauma.

A teenage girl comes around before each show selling popcorn and soda from a cart just in case you forgot to buy some at the refreshment stand or changed your mind or developed a sudden craving. The medium popcorn is $6.00. I've heard eating crackers helps with seasickness but don't know if that applies to popcorn.

On balance I liked the movie despite the price of the popcorn and the bad acting of George Clooney. Or should I say the non-acting? It irritated me that Clooney didn't even try to learn the North Shore accent. But the accent wouldn't have helped his performance. He just wasn't believable at all. Then again, he didn't exactly have great dialogue to speak. I mean, come on: "Are we not men of Gloucester?" That line landed with a thud and George Clooney isn't entirely to blame. Nobody talks that way, especially sword boat captains from Gloucester. Even poetic ones.

The storm was good though. The waves were big and scary but - at least to me - obviously computer generated. Nonetheless it took away all desire I might have had to get on a boat this weekend.

Our ritual trip to the Brown Bookstore yesterday yielded only Post-Dykes to Watch Out For , the latest DTWOF collection by Alison Bechdel. Reading it was like catching up with old friends. At least a movie made out of that, if they ever did one, would not be likely to involve George Clooney.