THINGS I WISH MY KIDS WOULD ASK ME
Editor’s note: Barry Courter has a 21-year-old son who is a junior in college and a 16-year-old daughter.
Q: Dad, what career should I pursue?
A: I wouldn’t even pretend to pick one for you, but here are some things to think about. First, you had better really like doing whatever it is you choose, since you likely will be doing it for 40 years. You might also consider whether you see yourself as a desk person or an outside person. If you think you might want to travel, do you hope to one day coach your kids in sports or attend their dance or music recitals? Because being gone a lot can make that tough. Are you happier being the boss or working for someone else? You might also want to look at whether you are willing to move away from here if there are no jobs in the field you choose.
— Barry Courter
SCREEN SCENE
NOW SHOWING: “Robin Hood”
First came Errol Flynn, then Kevin Costner and now Russell Crowe takes over the role of the mythical English b rich and gave to the poor, while also making time to harrass the Sherrif of Nottingham and woo the lovely Maid Marian. Actually, Ridley Scott’s epic has little to do with the legend of Robin Hood, instead focusing on the history of the time in which he may or may not have lived. Beginning with the death of King Richard the Lionheart, the film is as much about the the political intrigue of medeival England as it is about Robin Hood gallivanting through Sherwood Forest. Cate Blanchett, William Hurt and Danny Huston co-star. — Ethan Alter
WEB WATCH
In 2002 I had $2,300 to spend. I had a choice between buying my first laptop or investing it. I chose an Apple PowerBook G4 867 Titanium that lasted me a bit over three and half years. Yeah, both hinges on it snapped, the paint flaked and it eventually ceased to function. Had I invested it in Apple stock instead, according to current stock value I would have $72,000. Ouch. So if you are masochistic and want to see what you could have done with your casof taking home that shiny new gadget check out Kyle Conroy’s What if I had bought Apple stock instead?: www.kyleconroy.com/apple-stock.php. — Matthew Fortner
— McClatchy Newspapers
POP PICKS
ARTIST OF THE WEEK: The National, “High Violet” (CD)
Loving the National’s music has often meant reveling in the twinge of pain that comes when someone else manages to perfectly pin down and dissect a little piece of your psyche. As Felix Mendelssohn said, “The thoughts that are expressed to me by music that I love are not too indefinite to be put into words, but on the contrary, too definite.” In addition to its gorgeously arranged and performed songs of surprising tensile strength and grace, “High Violet” rests its finger on some uncomfortably relevant truths about life. — Ian Mathers
READ: “Noir,” by Robert Coover
The author of 23 works of fiction, Coover is perhaps most famous, or infamous, for his hilarious satire on Richard Nixon and the Rosenberg Trials, “The Public Burning.” Among other things, his oir,” is a hard-boiled detective novel about film noir. The entire novel is told in the second person, putting “you” at the center of the story. The book is also a compendium of noir cliches, each one twisted to Coover’s purpose, which is to repurpose noir into a metaphor for existence itself. — Christopher Guerin
— PopMatters.com