I’ve got a few days of vacation coming at the end of the week so I’m gonna use some of that time to blather here a bit.

Speaking of the weekend, give a look at stopping by the local movie house and seeing “Ray,” the biopic about Ray Charles. Wonderful acting, wonderful music, nice direction and pacing. Probably owes a bit too much to “Bird,” Clint Eastwood’s movie about Charlie Parker, but it’s far more upbeat, mostly because Ray lived long enough to realize he needed to kick heroin or lose everything. It’s not all hearts-and-flowers: Ray was a shrewd businessman and a notorious womanizer, and the movie doesn’t gloss over any of the pain he caused. If anything, the director zeroes in a bit too much on the melodrama at the expense of exploring the wonder of Charles’ music. But if you like R&B you can’t go wrong.

Another thought before I call it a night: I’m beginning to entertain the possibility of Kerry winning the election. If he loses, though, I’m comforted by the notion that all previous predictions of the apocalypse have proved premature.