California Dreaming

It's nice here, don't get me wrong. And there is a lot to be said for German summers. Most of the time they are not too hot. And ...um...sometimes it doesn't rain here...(thinking hard now..) oh yeah, the street cafes and beer gardens are VERY nice. whew. But now I may get harassed by Dirk who yelled at me yesterday for publishing photos of the Fachwerk houses in Schiltach because he said I was doing Germany a disservice by perpetuating its stereotypical image of things like cuckoo clocks from the black forest and those typical wooden houses and certainly talking about beer gardens does not move us past the cliches. But, as my mother would say, "cliches are truth," at least some of the time. So while I liked riding my bike back after the movies tonight (State of Play - can really recommend, even though Russel Crowe looks like HELL) along the river, I still really miss the beach. I will never forget the first time in California. I was there for two weeks before heading back to university. Of 14 days, my sisters and I spent 11 of them at the beach, reading, picnicking, dreaming.

The movie was really good, perhaps particularly for me because at the moment I am really fascinated by how journalism is continuing to evolve in the new world of changing news business models. Reading a lot of Jeff Jarvis most days. So interesting to watch how the politics and the business side of news affects what is being printed-or not. Can't help but be sort of disgustingly fascinated by the columns written by Maureen Dowd and Gail Collins of the NYTimes these days. Biting wit and incredible talent both of them. But sometimes it's easier just not to read some things and wonder about motivations for articles (well in their cases, editorials) Anyway, enough for now. Go see State of Play. Good.