Santos for President! Or John McClane!

Having watched West Wing I found the Iowa caucus far more interesting than it might otherwise have been. I understand a little of the process and what's going on. Now come on, let's get those voters out there putting their cross by the name of Matt Santos!

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I watched the original Die Hard with some apprehension: would I be able to sit all the way through a feast of Bruce Willis and bloody violence?

I loved it!

Two was forgettable but three was excellent. We approached Die Hard IV with eager anticipation. And we weren't disappointed.

Die Hard has its roots in comic book stories I'm sure. Fantastic violence but you don't worry that anyone's really hurt. It's so unreal and over the top, all they need to do is add ZAP! and KAPOW! for us to know for certain it's just a fantasy, dreamed up by a nerdy boy who always wanted to be the hero.

Best line of the film: 'You just killed a helicopter with a car!' But of course. This is John McClane, after all. Even if he's not wearing a vest.

xx

What not to say

Last year Mark was diagnosed with MS.

The first time I saw him after his diagnosis was when I was on the door at church welcoming people to the Sunday morning meeting. He and his wife arrived and I said the standard things and then, feeling I had to say something, I started talking. 'Do you watch West Wing?'

They shook their heads.

'Well, the President in that has MS and he does fine; he manages to run the country.' I could feel my sentence shrivelling up as it came out of my mouth.

They smiled weakly at me and moved on into the main hall.

The next people who arrived found me, statue-like, staring at the wall, muttering to myself, 'I didn't really say that, did I? I couldn't have; I couldn't be that stupid. Oh, I did, ohmigosh ...'

P.S. I apologised to them afterwards, and I've spoken to them lots of times since and we're fine.

xx