17 March 2010
In class today, we watched the motion picture A Raisin in the Sun. No, not the 1961 version, the 2008 version. We watched the 1961 version last week. That means that in one week, I saw 4 movies for school-related projects.
Here’s what I gotta say about the two Raisins: if you’re in the mood for a film version of Hansberry’s famous play…skip the new one and proceed directly to the older version. Without going in to detail (’cause that’s what I’m gonna do for my class paper), let me delineate a few reasons why the older one is to be preferred:
1961: Sydney Poitier and Ruby Dee
2008: Puff Daddy and John Stamos
I think that pretty much says it all. In fairness, I felt Phylicia Rashad gave a superior performance of the Lena/Mama character, but…that’s about the only good thing I can say about the 2008 version. The newer version was also a made-for-TV production (automatic demerits), it’s longer, the dialogue features anachronistic slang, and the music (to paraphrase one of my classmates) was Disney.
To summarize —
1961: Sydney Poitier and Ruby Dee
2008: Puff Daddy and John Stamos
18 March 2010
I opened our Volkswagen Jetta’s glove compartment this afternoon.
As I’ve indicated earlier, we plan to pawn off our hecho en Mexico money pit in the near future and, consequently, I figured it was time to pry open the dashboard Ark of the Covenant and see what was in there.
To explain: a few years ago (spring 2006?) I went to open the glove compartment, and the handle broke off. I tried digging my fingers in there to open it, and I tried shimmying the lock mechanism with my keys, but I just couldn’t do it. One day, I brought a crowbar out to the Jetta and tried to open it. I would’ve succeeded, too, except a last minute decision to not permanently deface the car gave me a change of heart.
After a while, the glove compartment turned into a kind of forced, unplanned time capsule. I forgot what was in there and, since we hardly ever used it anyway, it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Well, a few days ago, while stopped at a light, I jabbed a small screwdriver in the lock and, viola! (or, presto!, if you prefer), the left-side latch unhooked. With the compartment half open, and ownership soon terminating, I decided to walk out to my Jetta during my lunch break today (with large screwdriver in hand) and finish the job. Unfortunately, the right-side latch wouldn’t budge, so I had to force it, but I didn’t hear anything break, so I think I could still close it again if I wanted.
At any rate, for the first time in years, human eyes laid eyes on the contents of the glove compartment. Talk about a lame-ass time capsule. Contents included:
-A matchbook
-A map of Sherburne County
-Directions to my sister’s house
-Another small screwdriver (jeez, I guess I have a lot of screwdrivers laying around)
-A tire pressure gauge
-A brochure advertising Big Lake Automotive (that’s a great place to bring your car, by the way)
-A receipt from April, 2006 for one of the Jetta’s 500 car repairs.
-Directions to our friends’, the Kimballs, house (they don’t even live in that house anymore)
-Directions to my sister-in-law’s townhouse (she doesn’t live in that house anymore, either)
-Directions to my brother-in-law’s house (wow – did we know where anything was back then?)
-And these: 
They’re candles. Tea light candles, to be precise. Over the years of hot summers and cold winters they’ve apparently expanded, melted and spilled over the edges of their original containers. Notice the candle on the left: the wick has been completely enveloped by the wax. Meanwhile, the other two candles have conjoined to form a hybrid super-candle.
I can’t wait to go hunting for my next long-lost lame-ass treasure! Stay tuned!