Lady in the Water

I've been watching a lot of movies. One could say an unconscionable amount. My excuse is that it is very, very, very hot outside. The most recent new release was Lady in the Water. Like so many of Shyamalan's movies, the special effects are disappointing, and the plot is nearly incoherent. Of course, as the dialog makes clear, it is supposed to be incoherent because plots aren't always predictable. Nice try. But as fun as literary theories may be in theory, they make shoddy fairy tales. Conventions do, in fact, serve a purpose. BUT--I would still recommend seeing it, probably when it comes out on DVD, for the real life characters populating the apartment complex in multicultural Phily. Thanks to the supporting characters, the movie has both funny and poignant moments. Story, the "Narf" spends her time cowering in a shower looking perpetually frightened.

In my real life right now, I'm about to sign an apartment lease with a Jewish and a Mormon girl. It's in a rather shoddy complex, but is quite close to campus and backs up to the Arb. I figure if I can live with Universalists, people who actually believe in a God at all should be a cinch. Anyway, there shouldn't be any wild parties--which I object to on practical grounds.

In yet other news, I think HMOs create such bad medical care that we might as well be Canada or Britain. I don't have an HMO, but Promedica oversees many of the practices in Toledo. Every time I go to a Promedica doctor I end up waiting...and waiting. This morning I waited two hours for the doctor to tell me I needed a cortisone shot (I'm not so sure I did), and another 1/2 hour waiting for him to give to me. Worse yet, cell phone reception was blocked! The health service at UM, on the other hand, always got me in and out of physical therapy in under 45 minutes. A strange reversal of usual public/private efficiency.