Crash is beautiful to look at, wonderfully acted, and has a great soundtrack. How unfortunate that it has to be torpedoed by a completely unbelievable plot. Complex storylines and crossing paths can make a movie when they make sense—Syriana was challenging but believable in this regard—but Crash eventually collapses under the weight of its own coincidences.

It’s unfortunate, but the movie is a mess, and it doesn’t hold up to scrutiny. 6/10.

Yeah, I know it’s been quiet around here. I’ve been busy, but I’ve also been in the midst of a fairly severe writing funk. (It’s not just for this site, either. I’m seriously behind on email.) The fog has lifted somewhat this evening, though, so here I am.

What started as a random vacation idea after seeing a Vermont license plate has morphed into a fairly extensive late May/early June road trip. In addition to one day in Vermont, Lisa and I will be spending two in the Adirondacks, two in Montreal, three in Nova Scotia, two in Boston, one in Maine and one in New Brunswick. New Hampshire will see significant time as well, although no evenings. Six of the nights we’ll be in hotels, the other six nights in tents. That’s a bit concerning as we’ll be out there during black fly season, but I’m sure we’ll live. (The other night I tried to gently break the fact to Lisa that, yes, she will have to use deet, as whatever earth-friendly repellant she’d like to use just isn’t going to work.) Besides, bug bites build character.

Nova Scotia is causing a huge logistical challenge. I expect the Cape Breton Highlands to be one of the highlights of the trip, but there doesn’t seem to be any way to prevent it from adding 10+ hours of driving. I’d been aiming to restrict days lost to driving to one day—and we’ll be getting a heck of a driving day in the form of a 14-hour trek from Montreal to the Bay of Fundy—but it now looks like there will be two big driving days instead. (Halifax and the southern coast of Nova Scotia will likely be the victims.) This has made me consider cutting out Cape Breton, but, really, when are we going to be in Nova Scotia again?

Maybe we’ll cut out the western half of the province. That wouldn’t be a great solution, but probably better than the alternatives.