Sorry for the sabbatical. Is there an echo in here?

Now back to bullets:

• I went to Dunkin' Donuts the other morning, since, after a single trip to New England, I've recently become rather fond of Dunkin' Donuts coffee with cream in a styrofoam cup, this despite the fact that I can get free (some would say better) coffee at work... I went to Dunkin' Donuts the other day during a rush, and I ended up walking into the store behind a hulking man in military duds with his head shaved-- so shaved that you can see the skull-fat crouched in rolls on the back of the neck. Anyway, when the guy walked in, the store reacted like a movie star was just arriving at the local Dunkin' Donuts; check that, the kind of movie star who you actually might feel comfortable approaching and shaking hands with and talking to, someone like John C. Reilly or Tom Selleck. This is exactly what people were doing at this Dunkin' Donuts. People asked, "How long were you over there?", "How hot is it in Iraq?", "How long you home for?", "Were you in the shit?," talking to him like he was a close friend-- with not a crumb of conversational hesitation people might usually exhibit at a Dunkin' Donuts during the thick of rush hour-- and then shaking his hand when finished. After he left, the store just simmered in his wake. This was the night after Kerry accepted the nomination at the DNC; my only thought was, was I looking at a person, a soldier, or a political symbol (or just a warm loaf of neck-fat?). Anyway, I don't really have a political spin for this, I just thought it was a blogworthy experience.
• The Village I saw Friday night. Rationally, I should not have liked this movie, but despite the fact that Friday's audience hated it and laughed at all the wrong places, I couldn't help liking it. I went into it 'sort of' knowing the ending and thinking it was ridiculous, but I left pleased by it. Primarily, I think the movie was marketed all wrong. It's not a scary movie, but I don't think it should be totally dismissed just because it fell short of M. Night Shyamalan-proportion expectations. I still wasn't sure about it when I walked out of the theater, but the fact that I'm still thinking about the movie in my spare time and seeking out different reviews to read makes me like it more and more; this is more than I can say about most of the movies I've seen recently-- other than Harry Potter and The Station Agent.
• I went out with my parents for Mexican tonight, just the four of us and one poor acoustic guitar player hired for a terrible gig at an empty restaurant. Maybe it was the carnitas crossed with the sultry Rubber Soul covers, but I got powerful homesick. Ever been homesick at home? An open question, I'm serious.

Well, C-SPAN is showing a Bush rally from Saturday, and it's distracting me. Time to go in for a Serkedakis visit next week, I think. Check back here after November, I suppose.