I needed to design my client's web site. I didn't want to purchase Photo Shop, or whatever the big kids are using these days. What were my options?

* Word (or, in my case, OpenOffice Writer)
* OpenOffice Draw
* Visio
* Paper
* TopDraw

Word/OpenOffice/Draw were no good. I needed pre-defined shapes that looked like web elements, not my usual black rectangles and pseudo form elements. I want to like OpenOffice Draw, but I don't.

TopDraw is a great drawing program written back when Windows 95 was cool. It's long out of print, but I still use it on occasion because it has exemplary ease-of-use. However, no predefined shapes. Blamo.

Paper is tempting. It's fast, and for prototyping no one expects it to look great. But, alas, I wanted something nicer looking, and I draw like a blind baboon.

Visio. I own the 2000 version, and I'm not going to upgrade and spend more money on your company if I don't have to Mr. Ballmer and Mr. Gates so there! But, Visio is a pretty darn good program. Trouble is, there are no web UI shapes. There's Windows UI. But...no, no, no. I want the right tool for the job. So, I search the web for "visio web stencil". I hope that Microsoft has released their own (apparently not).

But this fellow from Denmark has, and it's good. He also has a nice site full of info that I could stand to read more of. Thank you, Henrik Olsen.

Visio Web Prototyping Tools <--several features of Visio I didn't know about, clearly written.
GUUUI! <--Main site

I don't get to say this often: I was utterly confused by this movie.

It's not that I didn't understand the plot of The Graduate (1967), directed by Mike Nichols. No one could misunderstand it. A college graduate has an affair with his married neighbor, then falls in love with her teenage daughter and ultimately tries to persuade the daughter to marry him.

I was confused by the characters' often inexplicable decisions. Except for Mrs. Robinson, played superbly by Anne Bancroft, I found the behaviors unbelievable. That's not to say people just don't do the things these people did. But there seemed to be no natural motivation to do them.

Especially bizarre was Elaine's (played by lovely Katharine Ross) love for Benjamin (the eerily self-contained Dustin Hoffman). Has any man so lacking in appeal really made a girl love him just because he wants her to? Especially after sleeping with her mother? If Elaine had been an idiot, or abused, I could see it. But she was reasonably normal.

The soundtrack was annoying. Not the music--I happen to love Simon & Garfunkle--but its repetition was awkward.

Sorry. I recognize the craft of the film, the portrayal of people who lead expensively empty lives. But I just don't get it.

Elizabeth Wilson, Hoffman's head, and William Daniels

Anne Bancroft. Her performance was exactly right.

Dustin Hoffman, in a less moody moment.

Katharine Ross, fine work.

I awoke aggravated this morning. It was a combination of health, work, personal items and, who knows, phase of the moon and the migration of mosquitos in Alabama.

After breakfast, I decided to do some work. Then I decided against it, as I just didn't have the heart. Thankfully, this was the next movie in my AFI tour.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) couldn't be better. The cast are stellar, the writing flows perfectly, and the direction is seamless. This is not only a great film, it remains an important social lighthouse.

Everyone knows the plot: A young white woman comes home after a vacation and introduces to them her fiance�--a black doctor. She expects immediate approval from her parents, who have raised her to be without racial prejudice. The man's parents end up being invited to dinner. There is a black housekeeper, and a white, beneficent monsignor. Things do not go smoothly.

The film enjoyes three powerhouse performers: the commanding Sidney Poitier, the excellent Katharine Hepburn, and the perfect Spencer Tracy in his last film role. This is not to take away from the other actors, who deliver exactly the right performances. I only want to give great credit where it's due.

I'm especially pleased to have seen this so close to Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. On Monday, I'll take time to do something I always try to, which is to watch a video of Dr. King's speeches.

Rent this movie. I hope that you, like I, feel ennobled afterward.

The handsome, uncanny Sidney Poitier and Katharine Houghton

Cecil Kellaway delivering the perfect touch.

Apparently "Mel's" is a popular name for Drive Ins. (See my photos for American Graffiti).

Isabel Sanford, who I wish had been given a more complex role, and a terrified Sidney Poitier.

Katharine Hepburn. She probably didn't have to reach far for tears. A man she loved, Spencer Tracy, was dying and would only be alive another seventeen days after filming ended.

The strong Roy Glenn, restrained Beah Richards, and Sidney Poitier.

Tremendous, sensitive work from Beah Richards and Spencer Tracy.

A lovely shot of Tracy.

Beah Richards recognizing the love of his family Tracy is about to reveal.

A fine performance from Katharine Houghton

Katharine Hepburn

Spencer Tracy