Win Win?

This is another weekend I'm glad I'm not driving across country.  The weather shows a significant line of rain across the entire middle section of the country and it's moving it's way east.  It'll be here by this time tomorrow.  Yuck.

I went to the free pre premiere of the movie "Win Win" in Carlisle tonight.  It was a special event hosted by Dickinson University because one of the co-writers is a Dickinson grad and participated in a Q&A afterwards.  It was actually kinda surreal because they had all kinds of security there to make sure nobody recorded the movie - they strolled the aisles during the movie, they passed out a warning that they were using "night vision" and "infrared" to detect recordings, there were guards in the booth for the entire thing. The Carlisle Theater was built in the 1930's and is one of those old art-deco theaters that's a centerpiece for an entire downtown.  It's got personality - a far cry from the stadium theater seating that we're used to today.

Anyway, the star of the night was the movie.  It was very well done.  I suppose the fact that part of the plot was about wrestling made it extra interesting to me but wrestling was a backdrop more than a theme.  There's a scene where the coach asks this kid, "What does it feel like to be that good?" and the kid answers, "I don't know.  It just feels like you're in control.  Of everything."  Very well written.  Very well cast.  And very well received.  I did notice a half dozen scenes where the microphones are conspicuously visible at the top of the screen but that's more a quibble than a complaint.

The co-writer guy was actually very interesting.  He's a lawyer.  The story is a combination of things he's observed in his attorney life along with parts from his own childhood.  He put it all together into a screenplay and sent it off and - voila - now there's a movie.  It's one of those one-in-a-million stories but it's proof that they really can (and do) come true.

Anyway - when it gets released nationally I expect that it will be equally well received.  At the moment it has 100% on Rottentomatoes.com (see it here).  I don't expect that it will stay there, but I do expect it to be a surprise to many....

In other news, I'm glad it's Friday.  I'll just leave it at that for now....

Gas prices going up a nickel or more every night and it's not going to stop any time soon.  Why?  Because of the continued unrest in the Middle East?  That would be the most obvious answer, but that's not it.  No.  Because people will pay it.  It's that simple.  It's gonna get ugly.  And the saddest fact of the matter is that it's never going to come back down.  I remember a time when the thought of paying much more than $2.00/gallon was preposterous.  Here we are - facing upwards of $4 or $5 or more a gallon.  I could swear I remember the President talking about stressing alternative fuels.  But here we are again.

The last time we went thru this is when airlines started charging for baggage, and getting rid of pillows.  Just wait until they start charging for carry-on luggage too.  Why?  Because they can.  And they will.

That's not win-win.  That's lose lose.

Back to the writer of this movie - it's amazing how life can bring you to places you never expected.  Sometimes they're good, and sometime not.  The key, I think, is in the trying not the guessing.  I've done a number of things over the years that have worked themselves out to be pretty amazing and I've done things that I thought would be amazing that turned out NOT.

I made the mistake of looking at the 10-day weather forecast for Scottsdale (see it here).  Oy.