friday night lights

i'm almost embarrassed to admit how much marg and i like this show. it is an ensemble piece w/ an almost soap opera type series of plotlines but it is genuine and authentic and never condescends to the characters. proof of how good it is rests in the fact that margaret loathes, abhors, hates football and not only is cheering for the team (on the show) but last week she let slip that she was starting to have the teeniest bit of appreciation for the sport. a major coup in my book. check it.

In America

This was just a beautiful movie. I know you've probably all seen it already by now but I got it from netflix a week ago and it has been sitting on my nightstand waiting for the perfect moment to be watched and tonight was it. I really expected it to be much more blunt with the themes of a young family struggling to make their life work in New York but it was about so much more than that. I cried at the end. A lot.

king of kong: a fistful of quarters

mm and i finally saw this and it's real good. a documentary about two men battling for the highest score in donkey kong but really about more than that. even mom and dad will like this.

girls in trucks

this is not the sort of fiction i normally read or gravitate to. i guess they call it 'chick lit' but that sound pejorative, doesnt' it? anyway, i went to duke young writer's camp w/ the author way back when. it's not a great book per se but it's a good read and a good debut. check it.

together

watched this the other day.
hilarious and awesome
check it

The Decemberists - Picaresque

Okay, so Corrina does the merchandising for The Decemberists and knows all the gossip and apparently there is some drama behind the scenes, but you know, I still absolutely love them. They have a unique sound and a fairly skewed, dark viewpoint, and listening to their albums just makes me happy. Here are a few songs to try. As usual, if prompted for a username and password, use cpadian and 020276:

The Sporting Life

16 Military Wives

The Mariner's Revenge Song

Bee Movie

Theresa and I watched this the other night and let me just say, it was appalling. The main characters were annoying, the script didn't bother to use logic of any kind, the big plot device was ridiculous, Jerry Seinfeld was incredibly annoying, and when it was all over I totally wanted my money back. Wondering 'who wrote this piece of crap?' at the end, I watched the credits. It turns out, there were four separate (credited) writers. Not a good sign, fellas. Can you see the tag line in the photo over there? "Honey just got funny"? No, no it really didn't. My advice? Skip it.