What the Flick

In a summer full of action schlock and teen and kiddie movies, 2 grown-up pictures stand out and deserve a viewing: THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE and COLLATERAL. Big stars, intriguing direction, and dramatic, but not explosive, storylines make these two the complex carbohydrates of summer's sugarfest.

I'm new to this and not sure exactly where it's going to go; I will endeavor not to waste readers' time and hope to occasionally entertain and enlighten. Or annoy or whatever. Mostly I'll talk about the things that amuse or enrage or educate or enterain me, which generally include movies, TV, traveling around, California, politics, books, fashion, science, and people, in no particular order.

Today I was thinking of ways to improve the debates -- they're full of good information this year, but also start to get boring as the 2 candidates blah blah on for 90 minutes. It's like doing crunches -- you know they're good for you, but oy, it's hard to make yourself keep going.