I just finished watching the new PBS documentary about the making of the Alaska Canada Highway. This highway is very close to my heart. The first time I traveled it was in utero, and there were two more times after that.

And there was still a lot I didn’t know about how it was constructed. For example, the reason they are showing this documentary right NOW is because it’s black history month. And the highway was contructed by a lot of black engineers and regiments. It was really the first time the army had allowed black soldiers to be engineers and to operate big machinery.

I sure didn’t know that growing up in Alaska.

Building roads, building methods of transportation is a hugely important task. More than just tanks and trucks, the ability to transfer necessary things from one place to a far place is something we’ve been perfecting at higher and higher rates of success.

First it was trails, then horse and wagon trails. Ships cut distance over the waters, and then sails gave way to engines that could pull gargantuan loads.

Trains ate up the land. Then, because we moved away from the regimented standardization that trains required, we all got cars and built highways.

Let’s not forget planes. And sattelites.

At the moment, packages and information are shooting around the world at incredible rates, unthinkably fast and with a phenomenal success rate.

Did we do that? who did that? Was it us? Maybe it was.

Right now my meandering thoughts are being sent over the internet for anyone in the world to read. I live in America, where I am not censored, so those thoughts can flow and fly to anywhere in the world unchecked.

I was talking with Chris about how the Alcan highway was built, and I called out all the problems they were going to encounter before they hit them.

“Maybe the Russians would have known how to build a road over the permafrost,” I said.

But no. The Russians did not build roads. They gave up on the permafrost problem and stuck to planes. Planes flew in the goods for whoever lived far away.

When it was the monarchy, the technology wasn’t even there yet to need the roads built. They started the Siberian railroad, that’s as far as they got. Stuck on the standardization, no surprise.

But the Soviets didn’t avoid roads just because of the permafrost. They had concerns with the idea of allowing people access to get in their cars and just go somewhere. That sort of freedom was a bad idea in their minds. Keep people where there were, where you knew where to find them.

The ability to get around and the ability to get your deas and your stuff around is very powerful.

I am truly grateful for the men who build the Alcan highway. It got me around, that’s for sure.

Very freaky name for an incredibly serious play. This takes place on the grounds of a South African amusement park called playland, and it’s a deadly serious story about a black man and a white man trying to come to terms with their murderous hate.

They are kind of crazy, both of them, and it comes out very slowly, in a building tension. The whole play is just the two men, with a voice over the loudspeaker of the amusement park being the only other part.

this playwright also wrote “the Road to mecca”, which I also like.

Saw a piece of this on the TV, and then I had to run out and borrow the whole movie.

This is what You’ve Got Mail with Meg Ryan ripped off of. Oh, I really like this movie! I fell in love with Jimmy Stewart all week. He is so handsome.

The people in the movie seemed to act like people I know. A lot of the movies I have seen, the old movies, seem to be people that could never possibly exist in real life. But this one was dead on. I loved it.

This is the most amazing play. So much is going on.

South Africa has a lot of issues, on top of all the normal issues every human society has. The story of Helen, an old Afrikaaner living in her house in the bush, is faced with the problem of whether to go live in an old folks home.

But Helen is an artist. SHe has been making fabulous artwork, sculptures on her land. SHe calls them Mecca. Her friend, the only real friend she had, met her because of the beautiful statues. THey were drawn to one another because of the meaning of the art.

The troubles in South Africa, the treatment of women and blacks, and what art means in human life- all these are what make up the story. It’s dark and beautiful and powerful.

Boy, this is a real tear-jerker. I didn’t know that when I started though; it just came on TV when nothing else worth seeing was on. It seemed like it was a sweet teenage love story.

And I kept thinking, “I’ve seen that girl before…Where have I seen that girl before? Turns out it was Reese Witherspoon in ’91, playing a 14 year old. She was pretty young, and I thought she was pretty good in the role.

TOTAL chick flick, but I enjoyed it. The pace was very slow and nostalgic of small town farm life. If you need a cry, this is a good one.

This movie endlessly cracks me up. I wish I knew if it was supposed to be funny when it was made. I have the impression it was not, but maybe that’s just my low opinion of people in the 60s.

The movie is SO 60s, oh my goodness. The filmmakers are excited about symbolism; they chose ‘water’ as a symbol and throw it in as often as possible. It feels very adolescent, like they are saying, “Look ma! Symbolism!”

I will say that Hoffman was pretty hunky in his younger years. Not bad, him lounging around in the pool. He puts on these huge sunglasses and he looks very Tom Cruise.

His performance as the awkward college graduate in his parent’s house was SO awkward, it pre-shadowed his performance as the autistic in Rain Man. There was no mistaken he was a fish out of water…Oh look! Symbolism!

Anyway, this is a great funny movie, even it they didn’t know it was funny when they made it.

SO, I’ve read the book and loved it. Movies have a tough act to follow, when they are first great books.

And the story is very complicated. It’s easy to say on paper, “He was a black man passing as jewish” It’s harder to find a real life person who can do that. I confess, I was very leery of Anthony Hopkins as the lead.

But you know, I really really liked the movie. Hopkins did a great job. The movie was not a disappointment at all. It’s a great movie, a movie that says things people ought to think about.

And I will say I really really want to see more of Wentworth Miller. MMMmmm MM!

My honey has been away on a business trip this weekend. Which makes me miss him. Which makes me feel sort of mushy.

There are all kinds of excellent mushy movies on tv this weekend.

The first one I watched was called Beautiful Girl on ABC family channel. It was so formula, but I loved it! The story was about a fat, short girl who joins a beauty contest so that she can get the trip to hawaii for her honeymoon.

And her fiancee was so supportive, and there was all the discussion of beng yourself and what true beauty was. Of course, the old cheerleader from her high school that was mean to her but saw the light at the end.

I loved it.

And then there was Sabrina, I foget which channel, but it was the one with Harrison Ford. Oh, it made me cry! What a great fabulous movie. I have to see the original one now.

And I just finished watching One Fine Day, which was also sweet.

I loved all the women in these stories. I felt like they were people like me. And the men! They can be such bastards when they’re bad, but OH! they can be so good. When they’re good, they’re very very good. I love men.

Mmm…And these shows made me feel all mushy and romantic. I guess that’s what movies can do for you.