I finally finished watching Casablanca a few minutes ago.

Most of the movie was slow yet slightly difficult to follow. It suffered from too much unnecessary set-up; the movie might have been better off without the news-reel-style opening (which seems like it was popular at the time). Also, and more importantly, I found myself disliking characters (both Rick and Ilsa) whom I was pretty sure I was supposed to like. I started to wonder why it was considered a classic. It seemed over-hyped, much like Citizen Kane.

The ending of the movie, however, redeemed its status. It got to the point at which Rick delivers one of his famous lines to Ilsa, “If that plane leaves the ground and you’re not with him, you’ll regret it,” and suddenly I realized that I didn’t know the rest of the story. I knew that Rick would say that, but I had no idea what would actually happen. I didn’t know whether Ilsa would get on the plane. I didn’t know what would happen to Rick, or to Victor, or to Captain Renault. Suddenly, the movie became exciting, and I ended up really enjoying it as a result.

It really bothers me when a restroom has toilets that automatically flush, but you still have to “push” the faucet to wash your hands. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal to me, but I feel like the two technologies need to go together. If the toilet flushes itself, the faucet should open itself.

I think the reason it bothers me so much is that you don’t just have to push the faucet once; you have to push it several times while washing your hands. Really, I just want to stick my hands under it and have it pour water. They did it for the goddamn toilets, and I’m sure that was equally (if not more) difficult to install.

Naturally, I’d also like automatic hand dryers and automatic soap dispensers, but I’m not partial. Hand dryers may work better, but they also take longer, so I’m fine with paper towels.

Also, I know they exist, but someone is apparently doing a horrible job marketing automatic soap dispensers. I rarely see them.