Weekend Writing #2: Abbreviated Edition

This weekend hasn't been technically good in terms of writing, so here's a Weekend Writing for you, responding to several news stories that have come up and give my thoughts on a few things I did earlier this week:

First, I want to respond to news of the untimely and sad death of Cory Monteith.  For those who did not know who he was, he was Finn Hudson on Glee, and did several guest shots on shows like The Simpsons, The Cleveland Show, et al.  Addiction is a slow, painful process that sometimes results in relapses, and Cory Monteith knew that better than anyone in Hollywood.  While the details thus far have been quite scant, the response, both on Twitter and elsewhere, has been overwhelmingly in support of what Cory was *trying* to do.  I send my deepest, most heartfelt condolences and love and light to the entire cast and crew of Glee, both past and present, along with Monteith's family at this difficult time.

Second, I want to bring to the light something I heard about only today.  And that is that Barbara Robinson, who wrote the classic kids book "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever" passed away this past week at the age of 85. Anyone under the age of 30 more than likely read the book as part of a class in school (as I did).  This was one of, if not the most hilarious kids book I ever read in school.  The idea of a family of kids that were totally rotten making the pageant really interesting was probably why it worked so well as a book.  Apparently she wrote a couple more books but not anything to the level of Best Christmas Pageant Ever, so she will always be remembered as the author of the funniest kids book I ever read.  I extend my deepest condolences to Ms. Robinson's family.

Third, I want to respond to the "aggressive hiring" for the iWatch rumors.  I am (admittedly) an Apple guy, as most of my computer equipment save for my desktop PC is all Apple gear, and I would absolutely wear an iWatch (certainly better than Google Glasses... yeesh)!  However, why would you aggressively hire people for a product that is supposedly a year away?  Isn't aggressive hiring for a product that's coming quite soon a better idea?  And this sounds SO cool, sort of like a Dick Tracy watch (for those that actually REMEMBER Dick Tracy), but functionally we have no idea where the iWatch is supposed to fit in the Apple-centric lifestyle.  So, I guess only time will tell on that one.

And finally, some of my thoughts on 2 separate things this past week.

First, I went to go see The Lone Ranger on Wednesday.

WRITER'S NOTE: If you do NOT want to be spoiled about the movie The Lone Ranger, please skip the next paragraph.  That is all.

I had a basically free movie ticket to go see this movie, and I will say that when the opening said "San Francisco, 1933", I was a bit concerned, and I wondered if I hadn't made a huge mistake.  But, I kept an open mind (even when it depicted The Lone Ranger and Tonto robbing a bank), and after the movie truly got going, the movie just got better and better and better.

What was even better, at the very end you hear that iconic Lone Ranger theme (aka The William Tell Overture), so you start cheering the Lone Ranger on, and eventually you leave the movie theatre on a humongous high note.  At least, that's how it happened to me, and it is a criminally underrated movie, and the underdog feel-good movie this summer.  So go see it!

Second, 7 Eleven Day was this past week (July 11th, or 7-11).  Basically the idea is that you go to your local 7-Eleven store (if you happen to have any in your area) and get yourself a free small Slurpee of your choosing.  I'll be honest, this was my first 7 Eleven Day and I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but you cannot look a free small Slurpee in the mouth, so if you have a 7 Eleven near you and you didn't take advantage this year, please do so next year.  This is literally a cool freebie that not everyone knows about.