What's up?

Not much, which is why I haven't posted anything this week. Last weekend I watched Hud. I might have seen it on tv once years ago but it was likely cut and if I did see it, I was too young to appreciate it. Newman's an effing hunk. Hud himself is an effing monster. Patricia Neal is beautiful and she and Melvyn Douglas deservedly won supporting actor Oscars for their performances. I remember at least one review referring to her character as a "slattern" and always wondered what was meant by that? Untidy, sluttish, lazy, sloppy? It seems to me that the Neal character is actually none of these in the movie. What she is, is a hard-working slightly older woman who is trying to keep her life stable by caring for a family of men, one of the three who worships her. Newman only won the Academy Award for his performance in The Color of Money, but should have won it for so many other performances, possibly including this one. He's mean, heartless, possibly evil: a genuine sociopath. Yet he's utterly sexy.

Last night I caught up with Slumdog Millionaire and quite liked it. I've never been to India (and frankly, have no desire to go) but it seems to me that Danny Boyle does renders the slums of Mumbai as realistically as one could without losing his audience. I hadn't listened to talk about the movie or read any reviews so even though I knew it won awards and I know what's been going on with a couple of the child stars I knew only the minimal information about the plot. Which was a good thing.

I've been watching the second season of Pushing Daisies and tonight I will watch the final disk. I'm devastated by the loss already and am hoping for a satisfying (as possible) ending.

During the week I've been working on my various anthologies and nursing a cough I developed Monday as a result (I'm guessing) of cigar smoking in my vicinity of a party Sunday evening--and it was outside! I've become more and more vulnerable to cigarette and cigar smoke in the last ten years, possibly because of the pneumonia I've several times. I've been drinking hot water with lemon and honey, taking herbal cough medicine when it's bad, and trying to take it easy. It's been a dry cough (which for me is worse than a wet cough) and the idea is to get the phlegm coming so I can hack it up. Luckily, everything's been remaining in the throat so far and not migrating into the my bronchial tubes or lungs, which would make it worse and make me feel worse. I feel fine in fact, except for when I unexpectedly start coughing (like in the middle of the night).

Anyway, aren't you glad you asked? I told you nothing much was happening :-)