Local hero

A classic this week. Always good when right prevails, and I don't mean that in a political sense.



Erin Brockovich


As you know, I don't think people's names make good titles for movies, but in this case I will make an exception. Hinkley, California - residents are getting sick even though officials from the nearby PG & E plant have explained that alleged contamination of ground water by chromium-3 is a good thing with lots of health benefits. Shame it is chromium-6 then. Solo mum Erin hires a lawyer on an unrelated matter, they lose the case, she demands a job at his law firm and stumbles across the chromium contamination thing. Thanks to her tireless efforts, justice is served. That's the story in a nutshell.

Julia Roberts plays Erin Brockovich, and this movie is an excellent vehicle for showing off her great legs and, well, she has a nice figure. That's a bit of a theme through the movie. Another thing about Julia Roberts - does she have a portrait in the attic because she is just not looking any older. Remember I sort of watched "Eat, Pray, Love". The real Erin Brockovich (did I mention this is a true story?) has a brief cameo as a waitress and she is a good looking woman too. Lots of down-home commonsense feistiness in this movie, not compromised too much by the ... trashy but enhancing outfits. There is a man, and some children, the baby is adorable, the lawyer has a heart of gold, and there are some other familiar faces. The housekeeper from "Two and a half men" (speaking of trashy - Charlie Sheen in that show, and maybe in real life too) is the secretary, and I have an idea that the first emissary from PG & E, the meek one, may be in "Bones" now.

This is a good story, moves along at a smart pace and Roberts is believable. Money talks, but not loud enough, and justice prevails. I'm sure this sort of thing goes on all over the place, with big business literally getting away with murder (or at least stupidity, incompetence and an inflated sense of their own importance and invulnerability if we are talking about GM, the big banks, Lehman brothers, Freddie Mac etc - which the public paid for). Anyways ... in the last few weeks I have seen in the news that the hexavalent chromium plume is spreading again, Hinkley is back in the spotlight and Erin Brockovich is on the case again. Thank goodness for concerned citizens and real people. Keep up the fantastic work Erin.

One thing people remember about this movie - Julia Roberts won an Oscar for her performance and famously omitted to mention the real Erin Brockovich in her acceptance speech.




One week ago we had snow and storms and roads were closed. This week it is t-shirt and shorts weather. Bizarre.