Had such an enjoyable day. In the morning, I went to Holy Spirit, Pat's and my alma mater, and met with the principal to set up a scholarship in Pat's name. She was very cordial and we had a good chat. She knows some of the nuns who taught me in high school in the long-ago days when Holy Spirit was in Atlantic City. I also met a woman in the alumni office and gave her Pat's obit and "Legacies" article, plus some vintage pictures of him. She's going to put a piece in the alumni magazine about him.
After, I went to a fabric store and got some black material for the library showcase I reserved for the month of November. In the first half of the month, I'll display info on "Deathtrap" and in the second, the "Riders To The Sea" presentation. I then went to the movies--yes, by myself--and saw "Capitalism, A Love Story."
It seems to me that all Moore's films tend to be spotty. There's some great stuff in this one, but it seemed hastily put together although, considering the ten minutes of credits at the end, all of which I stayed to read, maybe that's calculated. Anyway, it was sad and funny and outrageous, and overdone, as many of his movies are. I thought the most effective parts were about the Moore family when he was a boy. He included home movies and emphasized the pathos of his family, which was thoroughly middle-class and expected to stay that way. They didn't, however, as is well known, and that led to Moore's career and, I guess, his mission in life. His father worked at the automobile plant in Flint and he appeared late in the movie, now an old man, pointing out to his son the vast vacant areas that used to be filled with factories.
I was disturbed, however, that Moore portrayed Bush as the villain--and a ridiculous one, at that--and gave Obama the role as the saint who will lead us out of the wilderness of economic collapse. He seems to think O. is the great white hope--well, half-white hope--of the country, and not the obvious pol he's proving to be.
That's the thing that worries me about Moore: I think he's bought into the illusion that the two parties are actually different and in opposition, rather than two fingers of the same iron fist.
However, it was a good way to spend the day and, all in all, I enjoyed the movie.