Weekend wrap-up

Lesson learned: radiation burns hurt. Even if the radiation involved is ultraviolet. So much for evening out my "farmer's tan" by wearing a tank top while mowing the lawn.

My allergies are back. I had a cough for nearly three months after I got back from Ireland, and I finally got over it at the end of June. So I had six weeks of feeling fine, and now I am sick again. Dammit.

Some friends stopped by for a visit yesterday. Over dinner a topic came up: why do people consciously choose to stay in small, economically depressed areas? This came up in the context of another friend, a girl who used to babysit my friend's daughter and with whom I once almost fell accidentally in love (mistaking her affectionate behavior as being uniquely targeted at me, which, coupled with her charm, energy, and brilliance, was an irresistable attraction) who has chosen to abandon a professional teaching career to be a stay-at-home mom in a small town. But it also applied to another friend, who has set up shop in the Pennsylvania countryside. And, of course, to me. I will have to explore this further in the future.

At the urging of not one but two beautiful women, I watched V for Vendetta this weekend. Not that I wouldn't have watched it on my own eventually, and I had already purchased it last Tuesday as soon as it was released, but it was something of a record for me to watch a DVD that quickly.

I enjoyed the movie. It is an admirable translation of Alan Moore's book onto the screen, although it is substantially different from the book in major details. Even with these differences, it is with two relatively minor points that I have quibbles:

- The doctor's diary should have trailed off after "He looked at me..." as it did in the book. It would have been much more effective that way, even with the unnecessary visuals that followed.

- The roses were changed from the variety "Violet Carson" (which is a real rose named after a real person, an actress, not after the rose's color, and follows the "V" theme) to the fictitious "Scarlet Carson". Why? Do rose patents act like copyrights, too?