The Rant

Today, it sounded like a cloud of angry hornets were buzzing outside of my office window on Ocean Blvd. in Long Beach, California. However, the cause of this pestilential sound was not insects but race cars. Friday was the beginning of the Grand Prix: practice runs and qualifying races. Although neither of us is a racing fan, per se, since the Grand Prix has taken over our neighborhood completely, I bought two three day passes for general admission and plan to spend some time wandering around, watching the races, have a few drinks at the restaurants which were trapped within the venue, and especially, watching what sort of human being enjoys to come out for the Grand Prix. Unfortunately, we are going to miss the Miss Toyota contest tomorrow night, as we have a prior engagement with friends. The weather is cooperating this year. The prediction is cool but sunny, in the upper 60's, which should encourage more people to come out. Last year, it rained quite a bit the entire weeken

"Sin City" and the primal man. 4-3-05 I saw the “graphic novel” movie Sin City yesterday. This sort of comic book for adults evokes a certain kind of primal male sensibility. The male hero in this kind of book is a warrior, a fighter, good for nothing but destruction and mayhem. There are few mothers or children to be found in “Sin City.” There are no office workers or even politicians, except corrupt ones. The authority figures are all corrupt, the Senator with a psychotic serial murderer son, which he uses his power to protect. Even the Cardinal, who hides his corruption behind the cover of religious respectability. Women in the movie are young, beautiful, sexy and usually prostitutes or cocktail waitresses in seedy bars. The outer world is corrupt, including the police, who cannot be relied upon to fight crime. So beneath the thin veneer of civilization, do men long for the good old days of their warrior past? Are women really the fountainhead of civilization, of cul