sundries

What my mother had for me did turn out to be money from my grandfather's estate. Not a huge amount, but enough that I can buy a new computer, which I've needed to do for at least a year, and definitely go to Britain with Patty (Cardiff!) in April and then put the rest responsibly into savings.

All of which means I need to make some computer decisions. I have no idea what I want, but I'd like to do this before Dragon*Con. There are pros and cons to both Macs and PCs for me (I'm only looking at laptops btw). Uses are Intnernet and word processing mainly. Needs to not get cranky about things like PowerPoint and Photoshop, and if it's a PC has to run Access (don't ask) well. If it wouldn't kick the price too much higher, video editing capabilities are of potential interest. Ideally wanting to spend around $1300 or less, but willing to go higher for some random convincing reason.

My father's self-publishing "empire" continues apace. But, he's decided to do a book of all these vintage pinup photos he's collected from 1910, and I told him, yes, I can help promote that! So maybe my father finally has a good plan. He's also doing a book of his photography -- it's 50 years of New York City stuff, and he's got a good eye, so that might be something I'm willing to help him out with too.

We talked about Mad Men a bit. My father's first job was at BBD&O in 1955 and he worked at J. Walter Thompson during the era of Ehrlichman and has some pretty chilling stories about all of that. He was shocked by how much I remember of Madison Avenue from my childhood. It was pretty interesting, and he should be racing to write this stuff down, not all this other stuff he works on.

I finished the essay -- an hour and a half late, but hopefully the editor will be forgiving.

so no one told me about this?

http://www.foxsearchlight.com/amelia/

And I only found the ad on the NYT because it was placed on an article about India Day and the airport clusterfuck with Shahrukh Kahn, presumably because Mira Nair is the director.

Considering how Amelia's story ends, I really wonder how Nair is going to make this the big inspirational film this seems to want to be (and that she tends to make). I know what choices I'd make to pull it off, but I also feel like... no way, do real creative professionals make those choices?

Also, Hilary Swank -- always good, but she sorta irks me. I'm always aware of it being Hilary Swank Being A Serious Actor.