I should probably review some movies or something...

I've been watching a lot of movies lately via Netflix. Some really obscure stuff, too.

For instance, lately I've been on a little Parker Posey kick. I have NO idea why, but I've been seeing a lot of her stupid movies. Recently I rented Henry Fool, the quirky 1997 Hal Hartley flick starring Posey, Thomas Jay Ryan and James Urbaniak ("Robert Crumb" in American Splendor).

After seeing that, I found out that Hartley made a sequel focusing on Posey's character, Fay Grim. So I watched that.

Then, to absolutely convince myself that she can just barely act her way out of a paper bag (but only if the paper bag is soaking wet, and has a small rip in the side...and if she has the director hollering instructions to her from just out of camera range on how to properly act her way out of the bag), I rented The OH in Ohio, the odd 2006 sex comedy.

OK, I'm convinced. Parker Posey is cute as a button, but she doesn't have a lot of range in her skill set. Which is fine, if you want to watch her basically emote her way through a movie but never really connect with her character.

And for these movies, that's pretty much alright.

But did they HAVE to do the exact same "vibrating beeper in the panties" gag in TWO movies she was in that were released in the same year? (see "Fay Grim" and "OH in Ohio")

Next up: Who would win in a bar fight? Rachel Weisz or Kate Winslet?

Another sailing video

This is Joyce and me sailing during a race. We screwed up the start and finished last, but it was warm and sunny and a nice day, so we enjoyed ourselves anyway.

Here's a quick sailing video

This is a video that I cooked up in about 10 minutes tonight after our sailing race; I shot it using my little digital camera and imported the video into my editing program. I added some cheesy '80's music for a soundtrack. It was fun.

"Fat March" rolls through town

My dad called me yesterday and said there was a big film crew down on the pier near where he lives, and suggested I go down there and see what's up.

So I drove to the beach in my 1987 Dodge Aries K sedan and saw a bunch of production vehicles parked in the lot. I got out and walked over to the pier. There were a couple of guys standing near the entrance to the pier, so I walked up and asked what was being filmed there.

One of them (Steve) said, "It's a reality TV show."

"Really?", I asked, "Which one is it?"

"I can't say."

"Fair enough," I said, and noticed a group of large, like, REALLY large people digging in the sand flats next to the pier while being filmed. I remembered my wife telling me about a newspaper story describing a reality show where fat people were in a walking race from Boston to Washington, DC, and along the way they had a bunch of challenges/contests.

"Hey," I said, "Is this that fat person race?"

"Yeah," said Steve, "And they're digging for clams."

I looked over at them. They were some BIG people. I joked, "Hey, maybe I should see if they need another contestant!"

Steve looked at me and said, "You're not that fat!"

Hmmm, I thought, that was quite a left-handed compliment. By saying I wouldn't be accepted, he basically agreed that I was fat; but not SO fat that I would qualify for a reality TV show about fat people.

I'm still not sure how I feel about that...but I AM thinking about going on a diet!

They had a massive 16' crane on the pier, which is a nice piece of equipment. I tried walking down the beach to check out the filming, but several production assistants quickly materialized and asked me not to take pictures. I snapped a few quick ones anyway, but I didn't want to upset anyone so I didn't make a point of arguing.

The contestants slogged their way back from the sand flats, looking exhausted after digging on their hands and knees for clams. Some had mesh bags of clams in tow.

I asked Steve about the challenges. He was good and didn't reveal much, but he did say that they had to compete to see who got the most clams. And that they DID bury some live clams ahead of time on the flats. There was a scale hanging off the pier to weigh them for the cameras.

Which made sense, because those people were collecting huge amounts of clams in a short time. Probably anyone who wants to make a clam-killing can rake the sand today and get a decent haul.

Look for "Fat March" on ABC this Fall!