Husky fans, back me up on this.  Every time you see a headline about the movie Hurt Locker — and there have been a lot lately — your brain only processes those keywords and assumes QB Jake Locker has been injured somehow.

Haven’t seen the movie, but already don’t like it for that reason.

-Nick

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We went to see the latest Michael Moore movie over the weekend.  In Capitalism, he calls into question the economic principles of our country.  I’m not the biggest Michael Moore fan in the world, but he’s a good storyteller, and there were some scary stories to tell.  Among them:

• A city that privatizes its juvenile detention facility, and how that company greased the wheels of the justice system to make sure it stayed full.
• Companies taking out life insurance policies on their employees, so they can cash in when they die.
• Billion dollar bailouts orchestrated in backroom deals by former Wall Street execs with no accountability.

Moral of the story: left unchecked, the profit motive can lead to some pretty terrible behavior.

I think I’ll have to rent Sicko and learn about health care.

-Nick

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-Nick

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So we weren’t hard-core enough to see the midnight showing on Tuesday night.  Or dress up.  But the theatre was still packed with Potter fans for last night’s show.  The movie was awesome.

-Nick

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JetBlue has free Direct TV on their planes, which is a clutch feature that really helps kill the time on long cross-country flights.  Since it was the 4th of July weekend, TNT had Independence Day on repeat.  Great movie.

It might even be the best movie ever.  It has everything you could want in a movie: awesome action, romance, aliens, Will Smith, strippers, a dog, government conspiracy, Jeff Goldblum, sweet special effects, a happy ending, and of course President Bill Pullman’s amazing speech:

Did You Know?

Independence Day was produced for $75 million and generated over $817 million in worldwide box office grosses.  Not a bad return!  It was the #1 movie in the world in 1996.

-Nick

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Loved the New York and New England accents this past weekend.  English is English is English, but it’s fun to hear the different dialects in different parts of the country.

I’m curious how these language changes come about, and where exactly the borders lie between accents.  Where does Midwest become West?  Where does New England fade into New Joisey?  And there are even differences among the same “accent” … Southern Virginia and Texas would both be considered “Southern accented” but one is definitely more twangy.  And Michigan and Minnesota, both Midwestern, but slightly different “dialects”. And we haven’t even ventured into Canada or back across the Atlantic yet.

But I digress.  The point of this story is that we had to stop in at this pub for a bowl of famous New England clam chowder, (…is that the red or the white?) and I was kind of excited when the waitress delivered chowdah instead.

There were also plenty of shirts saying “Bahstun” and “Green Monstah” — presumably only aimed at tourists like us.  I mean, locals already know the correct pronunciation of these words and would have no need for a shirt explaining it.   Have no idea what I’m talking about?  Go rent Good Will Hunting.

-Nick

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What a terrible movie!  I like Owen Wilson as much as the next guy, but who wants to see him in such a sad movie?  I understand some people see film as art, and see good art as something that generates an emotional reaction.  And in that sense, Marley & Me certainly qualifies.

But I have a different theory on movies.  My take is that films are entertainment, and that entertainment should be entertaining — not sad.  If you haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet, don’t bother, I’m going to save you some time.  Just think about losing your best friend and you’ll accomplish in two minutes what this movie does in two hours.

A dog movie I love?  Bolt.  Seriously.  It’s awesome.

-Nick

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Here’s the latest trailer for Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, which comes out in July.  Wasn’t it supposed to come out last November?

To get in the spirit of the upcoming movie, and in honor of next month’s Mexico trip, I’ve got Harry Potter y el Misterio del Principe on hold from the library.  I think reading children’s books in Spanish is a great way to improve your language skills.  And it helps when it’s a book you’ve already read in English, too.

-Nick

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