AUSTIN, Texas, August 31, 2004 — An old episode of Norther Exposure...actually it was tomorrow. Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. And snippets of U.S. Open tennis.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 30, 2004 — An at times painfully bad (poor lighting, poor sound of poor music, self-indulgent "I write in my notebook 'poetry'") movie that had somewhere in the heart of it a good idea. AGLIFF feature: Blue Citrus Hearts. Watched some true crime shows including one about the woodchipper murder. Now that's a classic.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 29, 2004 — Watched a lot of the Olympics closing and recap. Watche Six Feet Under. Not even close to my favorite show anymore. Only one more episode of the season anyway. Watched part of To Kill a Mockingbird and part of another 1977 Gregory Peck movie, MacArthur.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 28, 2004 — Watched bits and pieces of TV, nothing much. Watched a DVD of Breathless.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 27, 2004 — Not much TV today. Maybe the Olympics are getting old. I did watch a bit of Ice Age on cable (including the end) while folding clothes.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 26, 2004 — Olympics. Watched a low-budget film made in Tucson called Eating Out. Funny. The director said he had in mind a funny, warm teen movie for gays. (A la Breakfast Club or Sixteen Candles.) He really achieved that (in ten days for $50,000).

AUSTIN, Texas, August 25, 2004 — Olympics. DVD of Breaking Away (picked it up where I left off yesterday). It's interesting watching a movie I've read the screenplay for. I would remember some of the lines and action. This is a great movie, in my opinion. You can't help but fall for the hero. You gotta love his Mom and Dad and buddies, too. You even see signs of humanity in the college kids. It's a simple, improbable story but lovely all the same. I watched fragments of old M*A*S*H episodes and Northern Exposure. Could be an addiction. And cable is offering the addict's supply. I bet you could watch six episodes a day. Not that I'd want to do it. I don't even really want to watch the ones I do. Addictions are like that.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 24, 2004 — Olympics. DVD of Office Killer. I can't recall when I rented this one. It's extremely odd. I wouldn't say I hated it but I didn't like it all that much. It has Michael Imperioli in it. I am notorious for not remembering actors or what they were in. This makes me socially inept to discuss stuff about movies sometimes so I'm trying to improve. Just as I'm trying to watch and appreciate types of movies I never did before. I watched part of Breaking Away which I also rented. I know why. I had seen it before but I recently (a few months ago) read the screenplay and wanted to watch it after doing that. What a young Dennis Quaid!

AUSTIN, Texas, August 23, 2004 — Olympic gymnastics. That was quite a dust up with the Russian guy's score. And the Korean guy who thought he was robbed muffed his high bar routine. Seems like the judges really have problems with gymnastics, huh? Saw some track, too. I watched old episodes of M*A*S*H and Northern Exposure. It looks like I would get tired of these. Or realize that I'd seen every single one.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 22, 2004 — Olympic Tennis, volleyball, water polo, softball. A de-Lovely Cabaret show with local singers. Six Feet Under.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 21, 2004 — Water polo, track and Queer Eye.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 20, 2004 — More Olympic stuff. Saw trampoline, swimming, table tennis, some track.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 19, 2004 — Olympic stuff. Saw about two minutes of field hockey! In a way the weird sports are more fun.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 18, 2004 — Olympic stuff. Swimming, tennis, judo, equestrian, moments of shooting, sailing, shot putt. Beach volleyball. Table tennis. And, OK, I watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire?, too.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 17, 2004 — Olympic stuff. Swimming, tennis, shot putt.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 16, 2004 — Olympic stuff. Swimming, gymnastics, dressage. A bit of judo. We are instant experts, guessing what scores gymnasts will get even though we know nothing of the sport, really.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 15, 2004 — Olympic stuff. Swimming, gymnastics, basketball. ("U.S. Men's Team Humilated" will be tomorrow's headline. I'm not a big rah-rah U.S.A. fan. The women's softball (redundant?) team got a mercy killing. Is that humilating? It is just great to see all these sports.) We watched most of Six Feet Under. I'm getting bored with it. But this episode wasn't too bad.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 14, 2004 — Olympic stuff. You couldn't begin to watch all the coverage. And you wouldn't want to. I did see Michael Phelps swim his first gold. And catch a little of the Men's gymnastics controversy. (And see a U.S. guy and a Chinese guy fall off the apparatus.)

The Adventures of Sebastian Cole. It's a lightweight movie but OK. I'd seen parts on cable which was kind of a spoiler. I also watched it sort of indifferently this time.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 13, 2004 — Old M*A*S*H episodes. Olympics opening ceremony. I thought the show was fabulous. Wow. I liked the Brazilian uniforms and several others a lot. There were countries I never heard of! (As always.)

AUSTIN, Texas, August 12, 2004 — Part of that old Gary Cooper/Audrey Hepburn/Maurice Chevalier flick Love in the Afternnon. Part of a horrible movie called 100 Women. Without a Trace. Old episodes of M*A*S*H and Northern Exposure.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 11, 2004 — Most of Bande à part, a Jean-Luc Godard film (The Outsiders in English?) on cable. A panel discussion of the Olympics with Mary Lou Retton, Sugar Ray Leonard, Carl Lewis and Michael Phelps and a short appearance by Ali.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 10, 2004 — Watched some film fest films. Watched most of Dead Ringers, a Jeremry Irons tale based on a true story of twin gynecologists.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 9, 2004 — Watched some film fest films. Heard Marc Devine play some mean piano at Reed's.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 8, 2004 — Watched Six Feet Under. Ho hum. Watched Ulysses by James Joyce as a film. Actually pretty interesting.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 7, 2004 — Film festival films. A kind of bad film with cool Barcelona scenes called Gaudi. Most of it anyway. The play made from verbatim interviews called House Arrest. Good in parts. I liked Ann Richards' bit (played by my buddy Karen Kuykendall). But what was the point of this thing? That presidents are under a microscope? Then why have a woman in jail for child endangerment with a long speech? Why have a dithering Studs Terkel? Oh, well. Amusing in places.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 6, 2004 — Film festival films. DVD of Spellbound. (This was very hard for me to watch. One of my dyslexic symptoms is that out loud spelling is hard for me to do and comprehend. Great documentary, though.) DVD of Citizen Ruth. I read the screenplay of this one. Make a sort of amusing film about the abortion debate? Who would have thought it? Also watched some old episodes of Law and Order. An old episode of Northern Exposure.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 5, 2004 — Watched a couple of films for the festival. CSI and Without a Trace. And an episode of Northern Exposure.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 4, 2004 — Watched a couple of films for the AFF screenings. Went out to hear music. Saw a couple of old TV episodes on Hallmark.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 3, 2004 — Watched a couple of films for the AFF screenings. Saw Danny Deckchair sneak. (Fun romantic comedy romp.)

AUSTIN, Texas, August 2, 2004 — Ending of the 1962 movieThe Manchurian Candidate. I think it's better than the new one. I also had forgotten exactly how it went down. And I had thought that the 'trigger' for the brainwashing was the queen of hearts but it wasn't. It was the queen of diamonds. We also watched part of a show about Peggy Lee on public TV and part of a show about the Impressionists. I watched CSI: Miami in my office while also doing stuff on the computer.

AUSTIN, Texas, August 1, 2004 — The Manchurian Candidate. I thought the brainwashing scenes (surely that much isn't a spoiler) were unrealistic and not nearly as cleverly wrought as the original. I thought the denouement too pat. They wanted too badly to tie things up. That's a problem with movies today. But, all in all, I was entertained. The original is one of my favorite movies. I also thought that there was an eerie echo of today's politics (Kerry's veteran buddies on stage) in the "Raymond Shaw is the bravest, kindest, etc." speech. In this movie, the corporation seeks control through the liberal voice. Hmm. We watched most of The American Friend. It's a Wim Wenders piece I got from Netflix. I don't know that I'd ever seen it. I liked some things about it. I was surprised to see Bruno Ganz (one of Wender's favorite cast members) in The Manchurian Candidate. We watched Six Feet Under. I'm tired of this one. Just as well because soon they will stop making new episodes for a while.