Have you no sense of decency, sir?

This past weekend, the husband and I decided to revive my stagnated NetFlix queue and watch "Good Night, And Good Luck." (Sad to say, the previous movie on my queue was a Spanish movie that sounded great but languished on my entertainment center for about two weeks and was finally returned unwatched.) The film we did watch was George Clooney's acclaimed take on Edward R. Murrow bringing down Joe McCarthy. I thought it would inspire all kinds of journalistic fervor in me, which I need a boost of, but sadly, it fell a bit short. I laud the CBS folks for standing up to McCarthy's Red Scare, and I found it appaling how people had bought into the hysteria of those show trials, but the movie didn't live up to its material. Why? It was slow. Really, really slow. The envelope said it was just 1 hr. 33 mins., but man, it felt a lot longer. Probably even more so for the reformed smoker Brad since every character lit up like a chimney in every scene. They were trying all kinds of dramatic angles and lighting and so forth, but they left the drama out of the plot.

It was, of course, interesting for its historical matter. And for how what were no doubt Murrow's exact words were so applicable for our current administration's tactics. And it was fun seeing the film clip of McCarthy's censure, which I otherwise only knew from R.E.M.'s song "Exhuming McCarthy."

After a period movie that's supposed to arrive today, the next film on my queue happens to be "All the President's Men." Yet another aspect of journalistic history that I lack any real knowledge of. Sadly, I owned this book but hadn't gotten around to reading it before Mark Felt outed himself as Deep Throat. Kinda takes the thrill out of reading it, so I'm opting for the visual version. Hopefully this will stir me up a bit more.

Me, me, me, me

Well, now this is absolutely lovely and totally self-centered! :)

HowManyOfMe.com

There are: 3,533 people with my name in the U.S.A. How many have your name?

And, hey, mom! There are only four of you. Even better, just one with your maiden name! Just 13 of me pre-marriage. And just 42 for Abbey (lots more for Abigail).

Clearing my throat

Just a little something to let you know I'm alive. Brad's been on the computer non-stop lately, though hopefully I can ship him back to the office Monday and reclaim some screen time!

Two my-child-is-cuter-than-your-child stories: This morning at breakfast, Abigail held her arms out in front of her like she was hugging something. "Do you know what I'm hugging?" "The air?" "No, I'm hugging God!" she replied laughing. How great. And then a couple of days ago, she decided she was going to read the bedtime stories to me. So I was treated to two almost perfectly remembered books. I was so proud!

I'll take waiting game for $1000

I have returned triumphant from my audition for Jeopardy!

Not that this means I know if I made it on the show, of course. All I know is they won't tell me how I did on the test, I may or may not be in the contestant pool for the next year, and the only way I'll ever know is if I get a call a couple weeks in advance of when they'd want me on the show. All right, thanks for all the clear-cut decisiveness!

I do think I did fairly well. I know for sure I missed 5 out of 50 questions on the test, but I got the feeling people around me were stumped by more than that. I aced the use of the buzzer during the mock test, though I was clueless on a few questions and guessed wrong on a couple more. I did get several right, however, and I made them laugh during my mini interview, so that's a good thing. Hopefully I'll get a call in the not-too-distant future and go on to win thousands of dollars!!! Or just forget about it and not be overly dissapointed.

It was certainly an interesting experience, though, especially seeing the types of people that would try out for a show like that. There were just a couple of truly hermity-looking, over-eager folks, including a woman who makes lace for a living. There were a couple of PhD students, including one in neurobiology, just so we all felt inferior. But there were also a few run-of-the-mill administrative types, a claims adjuster, a guy who worked for Habitat, and me, the mom. A surprisingly broad range of experiences, though I bet we all survived our share of gifted classes.

And hey, I got a free pen the size of the signalling button! Score!