Dirty candy: Based on a true story

I was about to eat a piece of candy I'd dropped on the floor but then a woman walked by and looked at me. She saw me throw away the candy wrapper as I was getting ready to eat the candy itself, so I just pretended I was next to the trash can to throw away the dirty piece of candy, too.

But I wasn't.

I wanted to joke with her about how it really wasn't that unacceptable to eat a piece of candy off the floor, but then I would have had to admit I wanted to eat a dirty piece of candy.

I didn't know when I'd see the woman or her friends again, either, and I didn't know how any of them even felt about candy in general.

Really, I guess the explanation for me eating dirty candy would be as ineffective as the defense of bad movies based on true stories.

"Wait," people say about bad movies based on true stories. "It's based on a true story."

And it works. People will even change their opinion of a movie if they learn afterward that the movie was based on a true story.

"That movie was terrible," someone might say to a friend. "Why did you make me see that?"

"Well," the friend will respond. "It was based on a true story."

"It was based on a true story?" the person will apologize to their friend. "I didn't know it was based on a true story."

Movie makers seem to anticipate that a justification will be needed to see their bad movies based on people who die, recover or play sports or music. The fact that the movie is based on a true story, then, is one of the first things you see in a preview.

"Harold Johnson had wanted to play basketball since he was a child," the preview narrator might say. "But there was always something holding him back from his dream - glasses. Based on the true story of one man's journey to find himself, Miramax Pictures brings you the greatest movie of all time."

The only time, at least I can think of, someone doesn't immediately tell you a movie is based on a true story is when that person has already seen and loves that movie. Then they wait to tell you the fact at the end of their description of the plot.

"And guess what," that person says. "It's based on a true story."

Anyway, I don't want to see any movie based on anything true. I want something completely convoluted - something as raw, wonderful, dirty and delicious as a piece of candy I've dropped on the floor.

•••

The following Sierra Nevada Association of Realtors members were honored as "stars" last month at the 45th Annual Installation of Officers and Directors:

Kathy Dean from Realty Executives Nevada's Choice for her contribution to the Community Service Committee.

Sara Ellis, Governmental Affairs Director for the Sierra Nevada Association of Realtors, who works to protect private property rights.

Chick James from Realty Executives Nevada's Choice who chaired the annual Golf Tournament, a fundraising event for the association's scholarship program.

Stephen Lincoln from RE/MAX Realty Affiliates who was the chairman for the 2007 Strategic Planning Committee and also vice chairman of the Political Affairs Committee.

Dan Smith from Coldwell Banker Best Sellers who has served as Treasurer of the Sierra Nevada Association of Realtors for the past two years and is starting another two-year term. He also devotes his time and efforts as Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee.

Brad Spires from RE/MAX Realty Affiliates in Gardnerville who served as the Nevada Association of Realtors Legislative Committee Chairman.

Ken Dillon president of D & D Roofing and Sheet Metal announced that the company has $3.2 million in new job contracts. These include the 600,000 square-foot McShane Co. building in he Tahoe Reno Industrial Center; Acura of Reno; BMW of Reno; Pioneer Meadows, Wingfield Springs; Reno Women's Shelter; RTIA, Reno Tahoe Airport; DRI, Reno; Starbucks warehouse in Sparks; Damonte T.C. in Reno; Horseshoe Ranch in Elko; Snowdown Condos in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.; Feather River Inn in Beckworth, Calif., and Craftec Systems in Susanville, Calif.

• Contact reporter Dave Frank at dfrank@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1212.