computer stuff: Our old HP 855 cxi printer died a few months ago so we bought an HP psc 2175xi scanner/copier/printer. Amy is having fun scanning pictures from her extensive collection. It does lots of fancy stuff but for now, printing school papers and scanning photos in enough.

movie: Bend It Like Beckham. Indian girl in London wants to play soccer but her parents won't let her. Jess (Parminder Nagra) is on the television show ER these days. Nice gradual build up of romantic tension at the end. The DVD extras include Gurinder Chadha's family recipe for Aloo Gobi. 4 stars.

movie: Real Women Have Curves. A cranky mexican teenage girl graduates from high school and wants to go to college but her parents want her to work. 3 stars.

movie: South Park, season 1, discs 1, 2. I love South Park. It is so wonderfully irreverent! It is also fun to see who 'old scratch' will be this time. 4 stars.

movie: Lagaan. a Bollywood block buster. 3 hours and 40 minutes, phew! They sure like long films in india. I generally don't like musicals and I was a bit leary of seeing a Bollywood flick but I was pleasantly surprised that there was only about 1 song and dance routine per 30 minutes (perhaps less). Some indian friends tell me "yes, Lagaan did not have as much singing and dancing as a typical Bollywood movie". The plot was very predictable but, like a shakespeare play, we are not here to be surprised. The singing and dancing was actually very good. I see more Bollywood films in my future. Here is a movie poster Since IMDB doesn't have an image for this movie. 4 stars.

movie: Exotica. I think one of the critics on Netflix recommended this film. It was kind of fun trying to figure out the accountant character... Elias Koteas (who was in Crash) is in this one. Usually I like strange films but I only give this one 2 stars.

movie: Dazed and Confused. A cultural reference point. While I was not of high school age during the period depicted, I don't think the types of hazing shown in the movie were common in the S.F. bay area where I grew up. Lots of good cast and nice vibes. 4 stars.