h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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Yes, Marv, we do. Any other questions??"

Why? They are good. But there were better films out there this year. Old Country seems to just follow along in their schtick. It was not new, it was not amazing.

[lil]

Marv, as I mentioned last night, I wanted to see "There Will Be Blood" but wasn't able to. As for Charlie Wilson's War, it was fun, but not a best picture. And come on, I get it, Tom Hanks does funny, and he does drama. But do we really need to keep heaping accolades on him?

i don't think no country was a typical (that is to say, atypical) coen film. and while i do wish that there will be blood one best picture, i don't think awarding it to no country was a bad choice either - they were both great films and i don't mind that one had to lose and the other had to win.

no country's story and characters were gripping. it wasn't full of gaffaws, there weren't any wildly eccentric characters (not even anton could be called eccentric, though he could be called bat sh!# crazy), the whole film revolved around one character without going off on crazy tangents. all of those happen in a "typical" coen brothers film and i really think this set a different, welcome pace for them (especially after the last few stinkers they had - tom hanks and catherine zeta-jones, may you never show up in another coen film again!).

i think there will be blood lost simply because it was such a character film and you either liked the character and bought into the whole film or you thought the whole film was over-the-top and couldn't see past the rather paper thin analogies between greed and religion. plus, i feel it should be pointed out that the "protagonist" was largely seen as a villainous character - a view i don't share, but which would nonetheless color certain people's feeling towards awarding the film best picture (see also last year's the last king of scotland).

no country didn't really draw you a map on how you should feel about the whole movie, which left some viewers wondering if anton's character was even real or if he was just an epitomization of how crazy f'd up this world is nowadays, leaving jones' character to wonder at it all. the ending felt a bit rushed and we lose a few characters without much hoopla - again, the senselessness - and you're left to wonder what happens in the end. i thought it was a thoughtful film that left the viewer to fill in much in the ways of morality and for them to decide what was really being told.

*switches out one one with a won *

I loved Day Lewis' performance--his accent alone was divine--but I think No Country was the more nuanced film. Unbelieveable, I know, given the amount of gore, but as much as I liked There Will Be Blood, I preferred No Country.

Really, either film could have won and I'd be happy. I guess this all comes down to personal opinion. I'll take all the accolades for the Coens any day most of the utter dreck Hollywood churns out. Do we really need another Epic Movie? Ugh.

We haven't had an Epic movie about Njal's Saga yet.

Normally I make a effort to see as many nominated films as possible. It's more difficult up here in the mountains, as we have only the one theatre, and very limited movie rental locations. So with all that, and the fact that I was certain that the only Best Picture nominee I'd seen couldn't possibly win, I didn't watch. Turns out I was wrong about that last thing...

Of course, Daniel Day Lewis did win best actor... So while they may not have awarded There Will Be Blood the best movie title, they thought Lewis' performance was worth a mention.

Well, here are four favorite pictures from my trip this last weekend to Yellowstone National Park.

This is the Fountain Paint Pots, one of the centers of geyser activity in the park:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36208045@N00/2289792341/

Look at all those strange little fumaroles. Our planet is truly a wonderful place. Speaking of geysers, here's Castle Geyser mid-eruption:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36208045@N00/2290578490/

One of the icons of Yellowstone is the park's bison. Sometimes they travel in herds (and block the roads)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36208045@N00/2289769447/

And sometimes, you find only one or two who are happy to approach your car for a peek inside:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/36208045@N00/2289720085/

I'd ask for a backlog exemption pass, 'cause I've been sick, but I just finished the backlog

Congrats Sol!

Oxygen levels to my brain have been too low for the last 2 weeks to remember what else I was going to say

Mornin All

Cool and breezy this morning but not breezy enough yet. We're meant to be getting a good going over by severe gales. Big fat old /2 in the Southern sky at dawn.

Nothing but gray cloudy skies and drizzle 'ere

A Danish publisher has this ad for a new online dictionary that I thought I'd share for general amusement (but probably more for our Scottish salonistas): http://ordbog.gyldendal.subsero.dk/

Is that guy saying anything that makes sense? (obviously I only have trouble finding out because I have to keep the volume on the PC low at w**k... )

That's too thick even for me, Santra.
And his kilt's too long.
I think the first exerpt was Burns - and the rest seemed to be random chuntering with odd words making sense.

In the last one, where he wears that fetching yellow lycra, he says "Coup the cran doon the brae" - which means empty the contents of the fish basket down the hill.

The first ipod met its demise due to increased humidity. The glue dissolved

ltp -

Fillums?
I saw Sylvester Stallone interviewed the other day. Apparently his latest offering has the highest body count of anything he's done to date.
Not my preferred genre, to say the least.
And men that age? Why?
Mind you - his face is fascinating - in a sort of car-crash way.

* tucks her harrrumph back out of sight and goes to have a proper look at FG's photies

[p]

I'm just a little curious, ... How many Salonista's are cultists, as defined by F19585?thread=5140180

Santra,

The scots is the beginning of the Address to a Haggis by Robbie Burns. It is the first poem that is performed during a Burns Supper. Aye.

I still have and use my first ipod, the original model that must be 6 or 7 years old now. It's survived being dropped, getting the headphone cord caught in the leash of a 100 pound dog chasing a squirrel with a resulting slingshot effect (thrown at least 20 feet and knocking the back off, but it just snapped back on), and horror of horrors, being used to greet me when I came home from work . It's dented and scuffed and the battery only lasts an hour or two but it does still work.

<-- destroyed a digital camera by using it to greet me, with just one chomp.

[GDZ]

Now, I'm not sure how may Salonistas that are subscribed to 'What new's story has caught your attention today' thread, but I definitely recommend it!

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