United 93

Went and saw "United 93" last night. The movie is literally gut-wrenching. When I walked out at the end, the theater (largest in the multiplex) was silent except for sobbing - at least half a dozen people. My eyes weren't dry either.

I think the movie was so effective because it was simple. None of the characters were really introduced, not even by name. Also, the director / screenwriter kept the focus on "real people." The most senior person shown (playing himself, which I didn't know at the time) was the director of the FAA command center. That and a pair of Air Force Colonels (one played by a very overweight actor) were the "voices of authority."

Everybody else were just folk, scared and confused.

9/11 revisited

It's raining in Chicago today, so I'm futzing with the computer instead of golfing. Here's a mixture of "stuff" to read.

Serious - one man's account of, as he puts it, a front-row seat to the WTC attack. http://www.bjkresearch.com/ny/index.html

Funny - Teresa and Patrick Neilsen Hayden are book editors for Tor, a science-fiction publishing company in New York. Teresa is the only person I can think of who'd speak Middle English when drunk. http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/007489.html#007489