Note: Out of Time is discussed below and the ending (though not expressly described) is discussed. Consider this a possible. spoiler alert.

The Cubs are one game closer to the World Series for the first time in nearly sixty years, but not quite there yet ... the Marlins finally had a truly excellent pitching performance, making the series 3-2, Cubs. The Jets, unlike the Giants, finally had a good game ... no, a very good game, beating the Bills 30-3. Every dog has his day, and Jets fans deserved a laugher after the drudgery that had to bear thus far. Meanwhile, Carolina beat the Colts (under ex-defensive coordinator of the Giants, John Fox) to regain unbeaten, coming from behind to do so as did the Kansas City Chiefs (KC has a reason to smile still). Dallas beat Philly to retain their surprising early division lead. Thus, three teams are unbeated, one team (bye week San Diego) has no win.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer was one of the few cases where the television show was better than the original movie; Legally Blonde was one of those times when the movie was better than the book. Amanda Brown's (formerly a blonde law student, but of Stanford, not Harvard) original was easy reading, but lacked some of the depth of the movie. For instance, the enjoyable supporting character (the manicurist) that might not have been her social equal, but was her emotional one, was only a trivial one in the book. Elle Woods also had it too easy in the book (perfect LSAT? in the movie she had to get a certain score, doing so barely, to enter) and the "diversity" concept (she was chosen as a sort of "blonde" representative) was lacking. Also, no love interest. Brown's second novel, Family Trust, was also easy reading (perfect for plane trips), but even more trivial. All the same, one can get rich on such fare.

The book did have a good bit about Elle's idea of a "Blonde Defense Fund" to protect the interests of blondes everywhere ... great idea for a comedy bit. She also defined the true blonde: "True blondes, whether natural or not, could be identified by their inner light of buoyant, charmed confidence." The airy tone, on target satire of law school life (done rather thinly all the same), and pleasant story saved the book from being dreck ... and bits like this shows the hints of intelligence there. All the same, material was rather thin. The movie had its trite touches (the trial lawyer of the book was not a sexual harasser like the one in the movie), but it had more meat to it, which overall made it light, but still left you content after consumption.

As to movies, a word about the end of Out of Time. It was too easy, but fairly typical of the genre. My general annoyance is that such endings allow things to be tied together in a bow without the messiness of real life. Real life messiness is not pleasant, so this is sometimes not a bad thing, but sometimes the ending forces us to give something up along the way so how easy is it? Just how pleasant is it to have our hero finish up as he did, but having to do what he had to do to get there? I leave the blanks in place given the recent vintage of the movie, but the viewer can decide.