why is academy award winning best actress hilary swank in this movie? i guess making critically acclaimed indie films just don't pay the rent, sometimes you have to do one of these big budget hollywood movies in order to make some serious money. which is the only reason i can think of why hilary swank is in the core. not that the core is a bad film, it's your standard issue "group of people working together despite their differences in order to save the world" movie, but who knows, maybe there really is a best actress curse.

the earth's core has stopped spinning which means no geomagnetic forces, which means no protection from the sun's deadly rays, birds turn kamikaze after losing their sense of navigation, and some people just drop dead, starting in boston of all places. and wouldn't you know it? it's the US government that screwed up the core rotation, which we don't find out until later in the movie but the plot is so easy to read that it's not hard to figure it out. a team of specialists are assembled: professor josh keyes (played by aaron eckhart, who is an ugly version of thomas jane, or as dan pointed out, an older version of seann william scott) who originally figures out that earth's days are numbered, french nuclear weapons specialist serge (tcheky karyo, the ubiquitous french actor whenever an american movie needs a frenchman), braz (delroy lindo) the inventor of the ship that will take them down to the center of the earth (and please don't ask, no, they don't find mole people, but there are diamonds the size of cape cod, "cape cod" being the new standard in which diamond sizes are measured), space shuttle pilot rebecca aka "beck" (hilary swank), her more experienced and older pilot mentor bob iverson, a deliciously smug carl saganesque doctor conrad zimsky (stanley tucci), with hacker taz "rat" finch (dj qualls, so ugly that he's beautiful) back at mission control "hacking the planet."

the core features a few touchy subjects, which probably at the time it was made was probably a non-issue. it features a scene of the space shuttle crash landing (oh, be sure to listen carefully to the creepy crash landing music, i know i'm going to have nightmares now because of it), which in light of the most recent shuttle disaster i could see why the studio postponed the release of the movie. the core also features a loveable french character, which once again in light of the anti-french sentiments sweeping much of the brainwashed country, seems like a questionable choice of character. lastly, the movie portrays a world where countries work together in order to solve this problem of the earth's core not spinning anymore. the notion that the US plays well with other countries seems so last year compared to developing situation within the past month.

the core is also heavily steeped in analogy. whenever they need to explain something, they resort to analogy, which i guess makes complex scientific concepts more palatable, but after a while it gets a little ridiculous. the earth is at one time like the human body, like an engine, and also like a burning peach. denotating nuclear weapons in order to jump start the spinning of the earth's core is likened to skipping stones.

when watching the core, also keep an eye on the tragic pairing of the expedition team. not to give anything away, but each character has a friend who will through the course of the trip find tragedy in one shape or another.

the bottomline is the core is a fun movie, and a good time can be had by anyone who watches it, whether to be engrossed in this special effects ladened action movie, or maybe to read into the suggestive imagery as the phallic shaped ship plunges deep into the earth's core. for my money though, i still like armageddon, despite the fact that at times its too heavy on the bruckheimerisms.

i woke up to an e-mail reminding me to call the client as soon as i "woke up," as if the fact that i sleep late was somehow grinding the whole project to a halt. i did as instructed, and an hour later a courier arrived at my house to collect the package of dvd's. with project enroute, i had time to go out to barney's to look for some touch-up paint to cover up the slight scratch i inflicted on alex's car yesterday. the guy there, dave, told me i should bring the car around so we could compare the colors. he had a television tuned in to fox news, the latest report was that soldiers have discovered saddam hussein's love shack. a few minutes later i was back, got the color i needed (ford cardinal red), then drove home to test out the paint. it's pretty much like nail polish, maybe a little bit thicker. dave told me that women are usually much better at touch-up jobs, for obvious reasons. no matter how i applied the paint, it just made it more obvious, so i gave up on that idea.

for lunch i had some biryani (some? i mean, all of it, something like 2-3 servings), then i took a shower. i printed out my tax forms, taking into account the slight adjustment in numbers i made last night. i sealed them into envelopes with the necessary payment and then walked down to porter square to drop them off at the post office. i also mailed my latest at&t wireless bill, i was over my anytime limit by 30 minutes, for which i was billed for $15 more. with taxes due tomorrow, i didn't want to wait until the last minute to finding send them off. the day prior to the day of the last minute is good enough for me.

coming back home, i bumped into jeff, who introduced me to another neighbor of ours jane and then gave me a progress report on how his renovations are going. bruce, hearing our voices, left his apartment and came to join us as well. just three neighborhood guys standing in the middle of the street talking, enjoying the very nice weather.

i read some more lullaby on the couch while eating a bag of garlic flavored shelled peanuts. i slept 20 restless minutes before i dressed to go into boston to meet dan at fenway 13 to go see the core. i got a grape soda from the store 24, then bought my ticket at the theatre. coming out from the bathroom, i was surprised to see eric, who dan had also invited but i didn't know. eric apologized for abandoning us in new york saturday night. eric also revealed that he was moving back north of the charles river again, and we'd be near neighbors. dan finally showed up, they cut some backdoor concessions deal for cheaper beverages with dan's friend melissa working at the theatre, and we went in to catch the movie.

after the movie, dan and i went to kenmore, while eric grabbed the green line from fenway. dan stayed in the station to wait for cymara while i went home, listening to my music, scribbling notes into my journal, chewing my gum. once i got back, i reheated some leftover red curry for a late dinner (11pm), along with a few slices of lemon tea cake.