Guus Bosman

Saturday morning started off with a home made breakfast.

The breakfast was a great start of the day, good food and coffee on a beautiful table in the living room. We had coffee on the porch and then went for a long walk through the city.

Tonight we sat on our own balcony. We had dinner outside, and watched a thunderstorm passing by -- beautiful lightning.

Today were the primaries in North Carolina and Indiana. Mr. Obama won, as expected, in North Carolina, but with a surprisingly large margin.

With Indiana being so closely tied (52% to 48% for Clinton at the time I write this), this looks like a very important night for Mr. Obama. The mathematics have been very difficult for Clinton for about two months now. Tonight's lack of a convincing victory, even after all the Wright publicity, bode bad for Clinton.

There were lots of other elections today. Ms. Perdue and Mr. McCrory won their parties nominations for governor. Mr. Walter Dalton seemed to have benefited from his annoying commercials and won the nomination for Lt. Governor.

This morning I brought the car to the dealership for maintenance service. We've driven more than 30,000 miles in the car by now.

The maintenance took a while, they cleaned the fuel injector and some other internals, but with their wireless access and a cellphone I could work pretty well.

A car wash was included, so the car is shiny inside and out. It drives better now, more smooth, and the brakes feel more responsive, especially the parking brake. In a few minutes I'll go back to the car for some final cleaning.

All this in preparation for the road trip that we'll start tomorrow afternoon. We're going to Savannah, Georgia and I'm really looking forward to it. We'll arrive late on Friday night but we'll have 2 full days in the city. The weather forecast is good; it's going to be 81 degrees.

Friday afternoon on the Full Frame Festival I saw Bigger, Faster, Stronger*, a movie about American sport culture. The films asks why anabolic steroids are illegal and forbidden in sports, while so many athletes use it and there are so many similar drugs and techniques in use. "Is it still cheating if everybody is doing it?"

It was an amusing documentary, but it fails to make a strong case. The style of argumentation is that of Michael Moore, albeit less stark. There are lots of insinuations but hard data and solid arguments are lacking. I didn't care for the part where the main character talks to his congressman, who is not completely up-to-date of all the facts and has to consult with an assistant. A cheap shot on somebody who was only sideways involved. Over-all, I don't believe this movie made a compelling case.

Nevertheless, it is an entertaining and interesting film. It does a really good job of mixing general commentary with the personal history and developments of the family of the main characters, three brothers who grew up working in a culture of weight-lifting. The main character is trying to determine for himself whether or not it is all right to use steroids, and among other things looks at his brother, a failed WWE wrestler. The film keeps an upbeat tone, and the part about the LA Times picture was very funny. The incorporation of old family video material is well done.

The asterisk (*) in the title refers to the by-line: "* The side-effects of being American". A good film, interesting and entertaining.