June 26, 2004

Bush, Bumperstickers, and Books

We went to see Fahrenheit 9/11 tonight. It's showing at six theaters in Austin, two in North Austin, one in South Austin, one on the UT campus and one in Pflugerville, a suburb of Austin. We went to the theater closest to us, just down the street. We arrived for the 4pm show 30 minutes early hoping for a good seat. The movie is showing on two screens there and it was sold out all day until 7:45pm. So we bought tickets then, went home for a while and went back, again 30 minutes early. We walked in to find the line to get in for the movie snaking around the entire lobby of the theater. Rob held our place in line while I went to buy concessions. The 5 person concession line moved much slower than the line of at least 50 people waiting to get into the film, so I gave up and we went in and ended up in the front row.
The movie is great, even better than Bowling for Columbine. It has funny moments, but more incredibly sad ones. It left me feeling angry (I had no idea I was still bitter about Florida), a little helpless and desperately hoping there were some undecided voters in the crowd tonight. They can't possibly be undecided now. If you haven't seen it, you have to. Go right now, this weekend. Pamie is right, this box office counts. This film is already sending a message. Let this weekend's message be from us.
After the parade of liberal bumper stickers we saw at the theater, I'm feeling a little guilty for not being gutsy enough to display my politics on my vehicle, so I'll have to peruse EvolveFish.com.
In other important news, Pamie has started this year's book drive, to benefit the San Diego Public Libraries, which have experienced drastic budget cuts this year. She organized a book drive last year that netted over 650 books for the Oakland Public Libraries. I'll be donating on Friday (pay day). I'm really excited at the idea of donating books that I might not have gotten to read if I hadn't had a library card. I'm also thinking about going through my shelves to find some books that can be donated to the Austin Public Libraries. What about you?

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