The Week in Review

Note to a loyal reader: Yes, a post on a recent trip to your town is coming. You have not been forgotten. How could I? It is already in my edit folder, but it requires pictures. Pictures take awhile when you don't have a digital camera, and even longer when the photo lab loses your film.

Random highlights/observations from the past week:

1. Fondue. Sounds gay, tastes delicious. Never been to the Melting Pot before last Thursday night. It was a fantastic evening. It was like a miniature Festival of Meat, except you dip your meat (and other foods) in melty goodness. Again, sounds gay (the last sentence, a bit disturbing), but again, tastes delicious. Points off from the manager, though, who (very) awkwardly tried to shush our party for being too loud. Bad form. Happy birthday, LB.
2. Obesity. Not the best segue from all the food observations, however I noticed this past week that it is a good day when my patients weigh less than 200 pounds. Ugly airways, diabetes, heart disease; there is a long list of bad things that go along with being fat. Smoking is a horrible public health problem; obesity is much worse. For the love people, exercise. It isn't that hard.
3. Walk the Line We went to see this movie on Friday night at the Franklin Cinema, and it was fantastic. Great performances by Joaquin Phoenix and (especially) Reese Witherspoon. We especially enjoyed the ongoing audio commentary from the folks sitting behind us. We concluded that it was their one night a year to come to the big city, perhaps to eat at Golden Corral, and then catch a flick. They were wonderful. However, perhaps part of the blame might lie with us for choosing a theater that serves alcohol.
4. Nickel Creek For some reason I'm just getting around to their music, and I'm sad it hadn't happened before. Their first disc is traditional bluegrass, but they get more experimental over the following two. The last one, Why Should the Fire Die?, is my favorite. Its a great breakup record. Its too bad I'm not wanting to breakup with anyone.
5. King Kong I saw this preview the other day, but I can't find anyone else excited to see this movie. There is a short list of film directors who get a free pass, meaning I enjoy their body of work enough that whatever film they choose to put out next I'll go and see, no questions asked. A few of those directors include Spielberg (can't wait to see Munich next month), Scorsese (The Departed, 2006), M. Night Shyamalan (Lady in the Water: An apartment super finds a sea nymph living in the building's swimming pool. Really.), and Peter Jackson.
Peter Jackson's last film was Return of the King. It won lots of Oscars, and is one of my favorite movies of all time. So he gets a free pass. It helps that King Kong is the movie he's wanted to make since he was a child, so he's emotionally invested. However, his next film could have been The Care Bears Meet the Seasonal Affective Disorder Prairie Dogs and I would be there on opening day. He would find a way to make it good. That's why he gets the free pass.