The article below from NYTimes.com has been sent to you by psa188@xxxxxxxxx /--------- E-mail Sponsored by Fox Searchlight ------------\ THE CLEARING - IN THEATERS JULY 2 - WATCH THE TRAILER NOW An official selection of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, THE CLEARING stars ROBERT REDFORD and HELEN MIRREN as Wayne and Eileen Hayes - a husband and wife living the American Dream. Together they've raised two children and struggled to build a successful business from the ground up. But there have been sacrifices along the way. When Wayne is kidnapped by an ordinary man, Arnold Mack (WILLEM DAFOE), and held for ransom in a remote forest, the couple's world is turned inside out. Watch the trailer at: http://www.foxsearchlight.com/theclearing/index_nyt.html \----------------------------------------------------------/ Every Passenger Is a Potential Case Study April 27, 2004 An airplane cabin is a fertile laboratory for the study of social interaction. One time, the man next to me was drooling and snoring. As usual, in my direction. I let my tray fall with a clunk. I tried adjusting my seat. One passenger gave me that "I feel bad for you" pout. Finally when the drool on his chin reached high tide, I nudged him. If I were in bed and this were my husband, I would have my routine perfected. But if I know him only as the guy sitting in 13B, do I have the right to wake him? On another recent flight, my seatmate was coughing and sneezing from the get-go, and out came the arsenal of cough drops and tissues. I was thinking SARS; I wanted to kill him. As we prepared to descend, he apologized and assured me and the woman in the window seat that he was on the tail end of the cold. I'm thinking, "In 20 minutes we're landing, and now he chooses to apologize?" Then he proceeds to tell us that his wife just served him with divorce papers and he has to move out after this trip. Suddenly he's transformed himself from annoying to pathetic. And he's put this burden on us: not only are we not allowed to be angry about his cold, but we have to console him about his problems - which we did. Every detail of his life we were sorting out for him. Miss Window Seat was nicer than I was. Well, she was from Iowa. Pilots, too, have their own style of choosing what bad news they tell you. After a week of brutal weather in Chicago, I was returning to New York and the pilot announced, "Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Currently the temperature in New York is 3 degrees. You heard me right." It's a 6:45 a.m. flight, we're not even awake, and I'm thinking, "Do I need a forecast?" I've also been on Chicago-bound flights where the pilot announces that the wind chill there is 20 below, but "for you lucky people who are continuing on to San Francisco, it's 62 degrees and sunny.'' Once on the way to Honolulu, the pilot told us that one of the wheels didn't want to cooperate. What do you do between California and Hawaii? Hour after hour over water. And I'm thinking, "You really think we can help you get those wheels down?'' Did you ever see that "Lucy'' episode where she wants to bring home a big parcel of cheese from Europe, so she dresses it up for the plane like a baby? I can't believe some of the things that people carry on. There was a family of four, and they were each schlepping two shopping bags, plus toys and baby bottles. They commandeered at least four overhead bins. For some people, deciding which bin to use is like window shopping. Never mind that 50 people are waiting behind them in the aisle. But I marvel at businesspeople who can fold sports coats and trench coats for the overhead bin as effortlessly as subway riders fold The New York Times into one neat little package. It's like Martha Stewart demonstrating how to fold a fitted sheet. Recently, on the plane I noticed a young man - with a fresh haircut, new-looking suit and shiny shoes - who I imagined was going for an interview. When he took off that trench coat and folded it, my impression was, "If he's not already in business school, that's grounds for admission right there." As told to Francine Parnes. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/business/27flier.html?ex=1084073908&ei=1&en=ff0df6fee1e9fcd7 --------------------------------- Get Home Delivery of The New York Times Newspaper. Imagine reading The New York Times any time & anywhere you like! Leisurely catch up on events & expand your horizons. Enjoy now for 50% off Home Delivery! Click here: http://homedelivery.nytimes.com/HDS/SubscriptionT1.do?mode=SubscriptionT1&ExternalMediaCode=W24AF HOW TO ADVERTISE --------------------------------- For information on advertising in e-mail newsletters or other creative advertising opportunities with The New York Times on the Web, please contact onlinesales@xxxxxxxxxxx or visit our online media kit at http://www.nytimes.com/adinfo For general information about NYTimes.com, write to help@xxxxxxxxxxxx Copyright 2004 The New York Times Company