Misc. notes

-- Kirkpatrick on Egypt: David Kirkpatrick (of the NYT) interviewed by Terri Gross.

-- Saw the movie Before Midnight last night. The poignant opening scene, whose background would take too long to describe but which has the Ethan Hawke character putting his 14-year-old son on a plane to return home, gets the film off to a strong start. It's not exactly downhill all the way from there, and Hawke and Julie Delpy do turn in good performances, but the screenplay lurches from the near-brilliant to the pedestrian and back again -- a problem in a film which is mostly conversation of one kind or another. Still, several cuts above most summer movies. Also recently saw M. von Trotta's very good Hannah Arendt.