So, I joined Community Boating on the Charles.  For about $190, you can rent out their sail boats all summer long.  I used to belong to this organization several years ago, but quit when I moved up to Andover.  The place is really quite popular.  I go once a week on Wednesday evenings, and there is always a significant group of people waiting for classes.  Last Wednesday, I sailed out too far too close to sunset.  The punishment for my imprudence: having to be unceremoniously towed back to shore by a tugboat, together with a small flotilla of other similar scalawags.

So long story short, my week has finally settled down into some semblance of a definite pattern.  Monday, work late or go home.  Tuesday, Boston Sports Club at Copley.  Wednesday, sailing.  Thurday, more gym.  Friday and Weekend at Boxford.

I saw the movie "Elizabethtown" yesterday.  I knew the reviews about it were mixed, so I went in with low expectations.  Mixed is probably the right word for this movie.  The movie is very long, and basically seems to be two movies grafted together and fighting for dominance.  One film is a very sweet, winning romantic comedy.  Kirsten Dunst and Legolas, I mean Orlando Bloom seem to have genuine chemistry between them.  Kirsten Dunst is probably the most attractive actress that I know of on the screen right now.  This film also has a quirky, quick witted sense of humor, and a meaningful story in which the main character learns how to let go of his fears and transcend both failure and loss.  The other movie is some weird welcome to middle America slapstick, in which we meet all of the main character's relatives and their attendant nutty quirks and take a road trip across the American South.  This is certainly a film that could have benefited from having about a fourth of it excised (and with my biases, portions of the second movie would have been the first to go).

Another film that I recently saw that I would recommend would be the feel good "Last Holiday".  Queen Latifah is the main character, and I was very much surprised by her acting ability.  She plays Georgia Byrd, an employee in the cookware department of a department store.  When she bumps her head and has a CAT scan, a misdiagnosis leads her to believe that she only has three weeks to live.  As a result, she decides to cash in her bonds and go to a ski resort in the Czech republic.  Once there, her free spending and familiar ways lead important dignitaries vacationing there to assume that she is also a mover and a shaker.  She also manages to touch each of their hearts with her simple humanity and vigor for life. 

Paradoxically, this film actually reminded me the most of Spirited Away, a Japanese animation film -  not in any way with regard to plot or environment, but in terms of the attitudes of the main characters.  In each case, the main character comes into their own through adversity and develops into a constant, caring individual that even their enemies cannot help but care for.  This film was certainly a surprise to me, and I would recommend to to anyone.