Friday, January 30, 2009

took a whole lot of tr-y-in', just to get up-a that hill



WASHINGTON - The US House defeated a bill Wednesday to postpone the upcoming transition from analog to digital television broadcasting by four months to June 12th.


Good. 

The argument that folks should be given more time to prepare for the switch is a bunch of bull-butter. News of the analog-to-digital switch has been before us for over a year and a half. People won't be more prepared four months from now or four years from now. If you don't have cable and you're concerned about having to spend the $40 - $60 for the converter box, then just take the next few months to save up for it. You won't miss anything in the meantime. Otherwise, buy a newspaper once a week and you'll be all caught up on the week's events. Flip the switch! Forward I say! Forward! THE FUTURE IS NIGH!


 





Sharon and I have seen five of the movies up for awards in a few weeks. Gravity reigns, though inspiration and hope always land on top. 


Richard Jenkins in The Visitor, lead actor. Beautiful movie, though quiet and melancholy. Jenkins is a master character actor. You've seen him many times. If you have a problem with immigrants, legal or illegal, or with the ridiculous immigration policies of our country, this movie is tender and frustrating and worthy of your time.

In a year of heavy, tense movies, Doubt applies the gravity in buckets. Meryl Streep in Doubt, lead actress, Amy Adams in Doubt, supporting actress, Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Doubt, supporting actor, Viola Davis in Doubt, supporting actress. All excellent performances, no doubt. 

Michael Shannon, supporting actor, in Revolutionary Road, another serious and tragic story, set in the mid-50's, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Michael Shannon plays a small part as a WWII vet suffering from mental illness. He delivers some of the most honest and devastating lines of the movie. Sharon and I just caught this one last Saturday. If you enjoy the traditional life, you might not like it, but interestingly, the tragedy of the characters was somehow reassuring to us as we examined and compared our own life choices.

Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight, supporting actor. Creepiest performance of the last several years. Impossible to forget.

WALL-E for best animated feature. Great film.

Slumdog Millionaire, both up for best picture and best director, Danny Boyle. This has been our favorite film so far in the last several months. Please see this one. I can count at least forty-seven emotions that we are capable of feeling as humans. You'll feel fifteen-twenty of them as you watch this film, but you'll sigh a happy sigh as the credits roll. Hooray for Bollywood! 








...and speaking of happy sighs, Congratulations Mr. President.









Have a good weekend, and Godspeed, John Glenn,


Dave



6 comments:

Crazy family of 5 said...

I forgot to tell you thanks for the link with Belle's painting!! That is really cool! We plan on seeing some of the movies up for nomination. Wall-E was great!!

Anonymous said...

Yep, time to move this TV thing forward.
I highly recommend "Gran Torino."
Perceptions of other people can cange.
See you next week! :)
Mom

problem child said...

HAVE WANTED TO GO SEE REVOULUTIOARY ROAD OR GRAN TORINO THIS WEEKEND.CANT DECIDE BUT IF YOU SAY REV ROAD WAS GOOD THEN ILL PROBABLLY GO SEE GRAN TORINO. I WOULD ALSO LIKE TO RECOMEND SOME BOOKS FOR YOU. TRY READING THE SELF HELP COLLECTION BY JIM AND TAMMY BAKER.

problem child said...

WANT TO SEE MY PROFILE??????

problem child said...

Gran Torino was sold out. Took your advise and seen rev road.My review of the movie; PORN. Should of known how you are. Since you insist on all the offensivness I will have to put you through my 12 step program. Im sure your wife will be happy to have you cured because we both know porn, boozing and wife beating go hand in hand. The first step in program is an excersice that we like to call:

Is that sculpture porn...? No just the bust.

what we usually have wackos do is sculpt a statue of them selfs in thier birthday suits and put it on the internet but since you are a self proclaimed painter i will accept a painted picture.I am not worried the quality of work , just make sure you can make sence of the picture, in other words make it a couple of steps better then your self portrait. Then post it on your blog.If you are embarassed then you are out of denile if not will move to step 2.I have given an example below.

problem child said...

example 1