HAL, are you there?

I was working late at the office tonight. At around 7:30 p.m., a window popped up on my screen: “PLEASE LOG OFF NOW.” Yikes. That scared the bejeezus out of me, considering I was the only one left in our department. It was all very “the call is coming from inside the house!”. Ha. Well, I had forgotten the fact that our server was being taken down for scheduled maintenance tonight, so it was a routine network alert, and not the makings of a teen slasher flick.

Where “tall” is small. The new Starbucks in our office building is finally finished and ready to open. They installed the big green signs yesterday. The entrance is right next to the main door to the elevator lobby, so it’ll be tempting to wander in for coffee every morning. Then again, maybe not. As much as I like coffee, I don’t like paying for it. Our department uses Starbucks House Blend in its coffeemaker anyway, and that I get for free. Still, it’ll be nice to have a place close by (that’s not my desk) to just chill. I’ll have to avoid the peak times, though — the Starbucks space is rather small (and the weather not yet warm enough for outdoor seating), and due to our proximity to the high school it’s bound to become something of a hangout. We’ll see. I’m sure I can justify a caramel apple cider every now and then.

At the movies. My current Netflix holdings include The Cider House Rules and Citizen Kane, so I’ll get to those this weekend. As far as theatricals go, I’ll try to see The Hours and another movie of which I’ve heard interesting things, Russian Ark. It takes place over several time periods inside the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg. Here’s the technical achievement (or gimmick, depending on your view): the movie runs 90 minutes, and the whole thing is filmed in one long, uninterrupted take. It plays the AFI Theater at the Kennedy Center through next week.

However, I’ll pass on the mediocre Recruit, despite Colin Farrell’s status as my new obsession. Even The New Yorker, a publication not prone to hyperbole, says, “With his dark hurting eyes, the stubble on his upper lip and chin, and his slender, lithe body, he can’t miss as a star, and he gives promise of cunning and resourcefulness as an actor” (Jan. 27, 2003, p. 94). Next up for Colin is Daredevil, due out Valentine’s Day, with Ben Affleck, Jennifer Garner, et al.

America’s war ‘over there.’ “Remember, war on the continent of Europe is a much weightier word than here [in the U.S.]. Here war is basically a foreign expedition. When we say ‘war,’ we mean our cities destroyed, tanks rolling.” — Radek Sikorski, former Polish deputy defense and foreign minister, on last night’s NewsHour.