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True Crime
For centuries the death penalty, often accompanied by barbarous refinements, has been trying to hold crime in check; yet crime persists. Why? Because the instincts that are warring in man are not, as the law claims, constant forces in a state of equilibrium.
-- Albert Camus
Friday, April 16, 1998
One year ago: Managed
Instead of lunch today, we had a small leaving party for the two developers and one program manager that are moving on from the small team I've been working on. I'm still bummed that they are leaving! I tried to talk to my real manager about this, but I need to try again. It isn't just the changing of the guard that disturbs me; that's to be expected when a project ships. But we have a real loss of expertise on the team.
Weekend plans were still undefined, so I was pleased to get email from Jack, proposing a late-afternoon movie. (The matinee pricing appealed to him.) Would I like to see True Crime, the latest Clint Eastwood film? I don't know if I'd have chosen it on my own, but I was agreeable.
I think my range of movies that I'd enjoy is broader than Jack's is. If we see previews or commercials for features that aren't out yet, he'll say "That doesn't interest me" to many more films than I would. Romantic comedies are rarely given the nod, though he specifically wanted to see You've Got Mail a few months ago. I think Tom Hanks was the deciding factor there.
Jack's cold is a bit better than on Wednesday; he only had to leave the theater once for a coughing fit.
The movie was good! I liked the suspense, but it wasn't excruciating to me. I do have trouble sometimes when someone is begging for his life, or about to be killed -- it really affects me! But I was able to deal with the death house scenes in this film. Clint Eastwood plays a reporter who has made mistakes in his private life and in his career. He tries to sniff out a big story in the countdown to execution of a man convicted of shooting a convenience store clerk, in order to keep his job after screwing up, not for the first time. Eastwood isn't afraid to play a flawed character (morally and physically), and even goes topless when the female character is dressed!
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It was a beautiful balmy evening. We had a really nice dinner at Gibralter's in downtown Redmond. The food was good, but the service was really fine -- attentive without going over the top to obtrusive. I suggested a walk afterwards, so we strolled over to the skateboarder's park a block away. After admiring the weather there, Jack wanted to drive over to his favorite parking spot, the thousand-acre field in the valley below his place. We listened to the frogs, and a mystery bird (a curlew, perhaps?) that was singing its heart out. I was thinking of the time we were hanging out there last fall, but I didn't remind Jack about that.
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