Martha @ MindSay

Blindness is Don McKellar’s screenplay adaptation of Jose Saramago's science fiction novel with the same title. The movie, like the book, questions what would happen to society if a super bug that causes blindness were to suddenly infect a large urban center?

It starts like this: A man goes blind while waiting in his car at a stoplight on a sunny morning. The effect is bright instead of dark; the man sees only white light. He’s blind and holding up traffic. After some commotion, Thief (Don McKellar) offers to help the man and drive him to the hospital, and he becomes the next character to catch the disease.

The movie introduces more characters before settling on the heroes of story.

Mark Ruffalo plays The Doctor and is the first ophthalmologist to attempt to understand the affliction. The Doctor’s Wife, Julianne Moore soon becomes the vast exception to the rule, and indeed the premise on which this wonderful film hangs; Julianne Moore’s character does not go blind, and yet she suffers even greater pain as she tirelessly cares for the sick, and silently bears witness to the decomposition of society.

It could happen anywhere at anytime - people in Toronto will remember the fear that paralyzed the city during a sudden outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in North York General Hospital. Every American was shocked when they heard testimony of the bizarre and horrific occurrences in the New Orleans Super Dome during Hurricane Katrina. Blindness puts human characters in those same mental and moral conundrums where they hate themselves and the selfishness they need to survive.

Actually Blindness goes well beyond those scenarios and into the realm of genuine horror. Those who control the food rise above the others. Gael García Bernal, Sandra Oh, Danny Glover, Alice Braga, Martha Burns, and Maury Chaykin round out this amazing cast of characters. Each story offers a different perspective on the phenomenon.

Blindness reminds viewers of the fragility of modern civilization; this movie depicts the evolution of evil in an unknown, terrifying environment.

I have some questions.  Who would want work for Martha Stuart in the first place, and what position is she hiring for?  Mabye financial advisor? Check out this USA Today story, Martha would rather be in jail.  http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2005-07-05-martha-vanity_x.hml

Be sure to go to engadget and put in your ideas for the worst gadget

ever contest.

http://www.engadget.com/entry/1234000740049570/

G'day Mates...

...well it seems that Spring is finally here. Granted technically it came yesterday and all, but luckily for us hardcore Northeastern Runners the past week or so has been a load better than the winter, with temps in the 40-45 range.

Today was no different in ye olde Westchester, where we found our young handsome hero enjoying his "Day Off". Yep one of those days, where u know although I don't have to go into NYC, u can't really call it a "DAY OFF" per say.

So I "SLEPT IN" till 10AM which is actually not sleeping in at all. I figured I'd at least get to 11 or better yet NOON. Anyways I woke up and felt pretty good, so I decided to start the day. Right off the bat running (as it often...okay ALWAYS is?) was on my mind. I caught my friend: Jorge Torres online as he was back in the U.S fresh of his 13th Place in the 4k Race @ the 33rd IAAF World Cross Country Championships held this past weekend in France. I had originally planned on doing this race but I got off to a lil bit of a slow start after getting back to NY from my training trip to Boulder Colorad last fall.

Anyways after we caught up and all, I decided to go lounge in the living room and have some B-fast. A couple of hours later I was on my way out the door to tackle the day's workout. The weather was an awesome (for this time of year) 55 degrees and SUNNY! I'll get to the ACTUAL workout soon, but first I feel I must mention another living in: "NORTHER WESTCHESTER MOMENT".

So I've parked my car @ the HS and I'm off for the nearby dirt roads to do my nice and easy 4 Mile warm up. It consist of an easy out and back (out 2 miles back 2) on Succabone Rd. A road I've logged (no joke) like well over 1,000 miles since HS. So yep...I own it or at least know it soooooooooooooo well. Today was such a nice day that we actually had pedestrians on it. A woman walking her dog (that's a 1st) another woman who was umm..."SPEED WALKING" I thought to myself, "just run, even if it's slow run, why walk aggresively like that?" Anyway s I digress...

So I'm about 1/2 mile away from the turn around point. I'm feeling good and looking fwd to my workout, when all of a sudden I see a woman on a horse up a head. So sure this isn't shocking in my neighborhood and certainly not in our lil area at all. I just think, "ohh somone enjoying taking their horse out of their propety for the day.." Well just as I'm thinking this some dude drives his car FLYING right by me. I quickly thought of the incident about a month or two ago when I was "hit" or "pegged" by a driver. So I see this car heading towards the woman and horse and think, "oh shit!".

Well no worries, nothing bad happened. The driver eventually slowed down and cut it a little too close. The woman was visibly upset and since the driver was long gone, guess who she was going to let her aggression out on? YUP! So here I come about a minute later but having witness the whole thing I can kinda see why she'd be mad. The following is an excerpt from our convo (this all took place as I was running towards her, passing her and then running slowly while looking back):

WOMAN: you can't just come up from behind on me and my horse, you have to warn us first!

ME: Excuse me!?

WOMAN: Excuse you is right! You could scare my horse and thus knock me to the ground. You have to watch out for people's safety you know!

Me: Are you serious? You clearly saw me coming since you spoke to me before I had a chance to say anything. Also I'm tiny and running slower than any of the cars, I think you should direct your issues at the driver that just passed you by.

WOMAN: Oh you've got an answer for everything don't you?

Me: Only if you've got irrational complaints and displaced anger and besides how much slower do you want me to go? It's a public road.

After that I kept runnign and didn't catch anything she might have said to me. I was midly annoyed because I know that whomever she is/was clearly has the property to ride her horse around. Trust me nobody around here owns just ONE horse and if they do they don't own a horse or horses in a ONE BEDROOM STUDIO APARTMENT. The properties around here are massive...just as Martha Stewart.

So I kept running and figured we'd run into each other again as I was basically at my turn around point anyways. 1/2 mile later I'm heading back and I can see her up a head of me. This time she's actually PARKED her horse dead in the middle of the street! She's talking to some neighbors through their GATE, yup a GATED HOUSE with a driveway longer than my...well you get the point.

So I"m thinking, "Great she's just going to stay there and there's no car coming so I"LL HAVE TO ASK HER TO MOVE!" Well granted this was ONLY a warm up so I didn't mind having to slow down or anything like that.  So I'm about 100 meters away from this lady and approaching slowly (I was only running 6:25 miles @ the time) so I figured, okay I'm NOT flying and I'm not huge so I won't scare the horse. I decided to remedy the situation wtih SARCASM (shocker eh!?)

I"m approaching and then she clearly sees me but before she can get a chance to acknowledge me or move I shout:

"BEEP BEEP, I'M A RUNNER...NOT A CAR I'M HEADING TOWARDS YOU AT APPROXIMATELY 9.50 TO 10 MILES PER HOUR, I SHALL BE PASSING YOU ON YOUR LEFT WHICH IS ALSO MY RIGHT, I LOOK FOWARD TO PASSING YOU IN 5...4...3...2...."

To which she just replied, "Oh how thoughtful of you...". That ended that exchange. The only thing I'm not sure about is whether she was being sarcastic or actually appreciative. I'd hope she was being sarcastic, but you never know.

Anyways the workout I did went well and for you anonymous RUNNERS that read my blog (I know who you are) here's the workout:

1 x 2k Loop around HS Campus then 400m-800m-400m on the Track

1 x 2k Loop (same deal) then 400m-800m-400m on Track

1 x 2k Loop (same deal) then off 30 sec rest an all out 400m on the track.

I COULD post the times, but I'll only do it for those who actually want to know. I'll say this...I surprised myself and can only imagine what mycoach will say.

All in all another day in the life!

Tomorrow will be a long day and an early one @ that, so I'm off to bed.

Peace n Love Mates!