Stress And Tippi Hendren

 Did I indicate that stressful times were over? They aren't.  I called Yandoo Communications and after a great deal of travail, upgraded my Internet connection. Ellen then called to put me on Zoom, as planned, but in a few minutes, I again got the "Internet connection is unstable" message. El walked me through shutting down my laptop, then putting it on again. I thought I had done that, but I had actually not done it properly. 

After that, we talked on Zoom and she showed me some of her students' haiku--pretty good, some of them. She also read me one of her students' story, which was excellent. Hard to believe a third-grader wrote it and with this virtual school, there could arise the suspicion that a parent or older sibling did. In this case, though, teacher had the children write a synopses while she was on-line with them. It was really remarkable.

Finally finished--for the moment--with electronic crapola, I had lunch, then bused to Telephone Road. Walked from there to the Cricket store to ask something about my phone, then to Office Max. I thought I'd take the 11 home, but my phone said it wouldn't come for 17 minutes and I'm so damn impatient, I started walking. Before I knew it, I was back on Victoria and took the 21 to Telegraph.  (I'm going to resist recording my walking mileage because I think I'm getting obsessive about adding it here.) 

I finished watching Pulp Fiction (bizarre, violent, but somehow interesting) last night and started The Birds. Most of the old movies I bought stand up well to present-day, but that honker isn't one of them. For openers, the story-line is ludicrous, and not just the vicious birdies concept, but the rest of it. I guess I've gotten used to seamless photo splicing, but when Tippi drives a convertible and motor boat, the background is so obviously added in, you cringe. As for the star herself, I read a review years ago stating that her acting would be an appropriate gift for a couple on their wooden wedding anniversary, and there's a reason I remember this after all this time. To top it off, the script is silly and as for Alfred's direction--well, he didn't have much to work with.  (But oh, well, the movie is 57 years old and Tippi is 90, so maybe I should cut it--and her--a break.)