Humdiddlededumhoowahaya

I got to watch The Lives Of Others last night, and while I liked it, I just don't buy into it beating out Pan's Labyrinth for the Foreign Picture Oscar. Maybe it was all the hype Pan got which often hurts movies chances of winning, or even being nominated. Although that mostly happens in other categories, especially the Documentaries (one of the reasons why the phenomenal Hoop Dreams didn't even contend). Pan's Labyrinth was just... wow, whiz-bang. But don't get me wrong, Lives was pretty darn good, if a tad draggy in places, and actor Ulrich Mühe rocked my socks as the stoic Stasi agent who used little more than his facial expressions to either mask or betray his always deeply hidden emotions. Good work all the way around.

The cough is... persisting. Not like it was, but... yeah. Last night was kinda rough.

I suppose it's been awhile since I updated some of the stuff I got, musically, etc. but it's a little too much to encapsulate into one blog entry. Maybe a brief rundown of what's been getting me through this ordeal over the last few months:

A used copy of The Kinks' Muswell Hillbillies finally floated in, which I've been waiting for since who knows when. The first of their RCA albums where Ray Davies was starting to get all nostalgic and going into full on storytelling mode. Very folky, very lovely, as only The Kinks can be at their best. It's my first SACD hybrid and I was a bit worried that it wouldn't play on my regular CD player but it did smashingly. Am I really missing out on anything with these SACD flotchies? Anybody ever listened to one?

Seasons one and two of the defunct Showtime series Dead Like Me, which I had been hearing wonderful things about from people whose opinions I trust. The story of a sullen 18 year old girl who dies in a tragic and bizarre space toilet accident (you had to be there) she is selected among other dead entities to serve as a grim reaper and collect the souls of people within seconds of their demise. A lot of black humor and well written dialogue, my favorite being for the actor Mandy Patinkin who gruffly hands out reaper assignments on yellow Post-Its during breakfast meetings at his favorite German waffle house. I hear there are plans to make a feature of this show in the works, and now that Patinkin is no longer with whatever show he was with recently the whole cast might be signed back on again.

Heather Roberson is a young university student and peace activist who wants to prove to every counterargument she ever had that war is never an inevitable outcome, that differences can be resolved by peaceful means, no matter how hot tensions may run. So she travels alone to Macedonia, a country rife with religious and ethnic antipathies has always come to the brink of violence and civil war, only to find ways to resolve their issues before things get to that breaking point. Harvey Pekar and Ed Piskor help write and illustrate this graphic novel depicting Heather's solitary and oftentimes scary journey into this fragile land where she is constantly ripped off, leered at, and mysteriously photographed. But at the same time she meets new friends and makes unlikely allies, and eventually comes to the conclusion that conflict is a very necessary thing, and peace is a continuous balancing act, but war never has to be the final solution. A very engaging graphic novel, educational, and definitely thought-provoking.

Things at work are also a little weird right now, but I can't exactly expound upon it presently. I just wish things would finally settle down over there to some degree for a change.

Mike is coming over. I love Monday nights, with Mike and Joe downstairs in the living room playing video games and howling and cranking tunes. Their laughter is music to my ears. It feels like family. It feels like I'm home.