2003-03-23 | 10:35 p.m.

corduroy licorice imagined that if he were ever to become king, he would dance around subjects. most monarchs would be too uptight to boogie on down in front of their countrymen, but not king corduroy.

***

my friend d-girl took me to see the new steve martin vehicle bringing down the house this weekend. it's been pretty much panned by critics, but it wasn't that bad. as d-girl said, "it's better than watching cnn." true dat.

there were a couple of funny scenes. i guess the greatest takeaway is that queen latifah oozes screen charm like nobody's business. she matches dolly parton both in curves and pure likeability.

***

"that time of the month" and war stress is not a good combo. i realized this when i was driving home from work on friday night. it had been the first day that "shock and awe" had been unleashed on baghdad. as i drove down a side street, out from under a darkened freeway bridge about 50 cops in riot gear came running in my direction like a mass of black ants. i turned off the street as quickly as i could, but not before being shaken enough to burst into tears. i found out later that they were heading off a moving peace march. just a little peek at life during an international crisis. a little glimpse at what the baghdad blogger was seeing 24/7. he hasn't updated since that day. i hope he's alright.

saturday night as i tried to ease into sleep, i could hear the bombs dropping on my neighbor's tv. was there no escape from the onslaught? maybe it's good that i can't turn it off? no one in iraq can turn it off.

tonight during the academy awards, more tears were evicted thanks to michael moore's incredibly brave rant. it was so cool that he got the other documentary makers up on-stage with him. adrian brody's speech was touching, too, if much more politically correct. it was pretty impressive how the subject was handled throughout. i was proud of our recently maligned celebrity set. after all, they really are important as artists and their work will only become more important as people seek relief from constant coverage of craptacular world events.

i recently realized that if my life is ever to flash before my eyes, besides the requisite personal memories, i'm going to be seeing glimpses of my favorite film moments. so i'd like to thank the academy and its members for giving me so many good memories. here's to many more!

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