Words by Warren

–slight spoiler alert–

An Education is about a bright 16-year-old girl (Carey Mulligan), in 1960s London, working her way towards Oxford. However, she is mostly bored with her life until she meets and starts dating an older and wealthier man (Peter Sarsgaard). She doesn’t fall in love with him, so much as she falls in love with the glamor he represents. Hijinx ensues as she begins to choose life with him over her education. Guess which one prevails? With a stellar breakthrough performance by Carey Mulligan, my new favorite actress, this movie stands a chance at winning the top honor this year.

ps. I didn’t much agree with the convenient ending, which obviously highlights the value of an education, but it is what it is. Also, you have to tolerate Peter Sarsgaard’s british accent.

pps. can you really just pick up a girl on the side of the road like that? boy got skills, as they say.

So the first thing that came to mind when I sat down to write this entry was, what the heck would I do about a movie image? If you want to know, I spent about half an hour perusing through various forums and sites looking for an answer to my simple question, can i upload an image of a movie poster to my blog and deem it fair use? You can’t imagine how annoying defining fair use is. So anyway, without getting into any legal muck, and in the far-off chance that one day this site goes on to generate lots of money, I’ll just stick to the words.

-slight spoiler alert-

So Inglourious Basterds. There’s a movie, eh? It was the first nominee I saw out of the ten. I loved it. Most people who have seen this tell me they really liked it too, except for one critic who will use words like “hack” and “Tarantino” and “already peaked” in the same sentence.

Well, I was a fan of the Basterds right from the beginning. All that mysticism and lore surrounding them appealed to my love for the whole men-on-a-mission theme (a la Seven Samurai). Well, they are cool as hell. The scene where they are pretending to be Italian filmmakers is hilarious. Aside from them, Christoph Waltz really makes the film, playing Hans Landa, one of the funniest villains I can remember. Also, the leading ladies are hot, which makes this worthwhile for the males. Some of the aspects of the plot, I found holes with, such as how big a deal they make of that Nazi-killing brute for nothing. Overall, I was very entertained, though, to be honest, I was a bit impatient with a lot of the second half, mostly because I had to pee the whole time. But if that says anything, it says I didn’t want to miss any part of the film!

Best picture worthy? I think it’s certainly worth consideration, but I don’t think it ultimately will win out. I will be surprised if it wins is what I mean.

So I’ve decided this year I’d watch all the films that are nominated for best picture, excluding Avatar (sorry, fan boys and girls). I don’t really have a definitive reason for not wanting to watch it besides not wanting to overpay to see empty glamor.

So here are the nominees, in case you’ve forgotten or need a reference. Oh, and there are 10 this year, as opposed to the usual five, because I heard the academy wanted to include more commercially popular films.

-A Serious Man
-An Education
-Avatar
-District 9
-Inglourious Basterds
-Precious: Based on the Novel “Push” by Sapphire
-The Blind Side
-The Hurt Locker
-Up
-Up in the Air

I don’t consider myself a film critic, or even a modest reviewer for that matter, but I’m going to attempt to write up a little blog entry about each film individually. It will be like elementary school reporting all over again (ie “This book was good. It made me feel happy.”), so don’t expect sage analysis on my part. Spoiler alerts to be included, obviously.

So far, I’ve watched six of them, so reports to come soon! And about the Avatar thing, I won’t be able to complain if it wins because I will not have seen it (for all you… avatarists…).

quickly now. hope you all had a great holiday weekend. it was quite an eventful one. so many things happened at the same time, if you think about it. There was Lincoln’s/Washington’s birthdays aka Presidents Day, the start of the Winter Olympics (RIP Nodar Kumaritashvili), the NBA All-Star Game (that screen in Cowboy Stadium is gargantuan), Valentine’s Day, and Lunar New Year. I’m sure somebody somewhere had a birthday over the weekend. Sorry that attention was detracted from you. Go holiday alignment (like planets)!

There’s lots of snow outside and I’m rationing food like it’s the apocalypse.
These are tasteeos. But don’t let the happy yellow box fool you! Initially, I was surprised it closely resembled cheerios. But sadly, the cardboardy aftertaste kicks in. Tastee-not.

So I was at Target and wanted Cocoa Puffs for about 3 dollars or so. But then I saw the generic Market Pantry brand of Cocoa Comets for about 70 cents cheaper. So I went with that instead. Verdict?

Don’t cheap out on Cocoa Puffs. The generic Cocoa Comets leave a gritty taste in your mouth, not worth the money saved. Leaves you feeling unsatisfied and dirty actually, like you’ve been used. This is definitely not where you need to be pinching pennies. Next.

Hello Outside World,

Our Internet went down here at work. And seeing as how we are a web site, this makes it kind of difficult for us to function. SOS. Smoke signals coming your way.

Is this what life was like before the Internet? I can’t remember.

Go iPhone.

There’s no way I’d let Salinger’s death go unnoticed in my life, so I’ve begun to read Franny and Zooey once again. Last time I read it I was but a naive college kid. Let’s see how I view it now. Not that I’m any less naive necessarily. In any case, I should read it again anyway seeing how I claim it’s my favorite book. You ever notice that though? Not in all cases but sometimes you’ll call something your favorite book or movie or song but you won’t revisit it at all. Maybe because you got sick of it.

My hand froze carrying my breakfast smoothie to work this morning. They’re healthy as hell. Healthy enough to endure the cold?

Millions of people across the country will be parked in front of their TVs today. Will you be one of them?

And please don’t tell me your one of those people who isn’t into football. It’s football! Besides, it’s about social gathering and eating junk food. Consider it the extra holiday after the holidays. Enjoy it!