The Travels and Rants Journal

Movies:

The Young One: Luis Buñuel’s 1960 film about racism, abuse and injustice, set on a southern coastal island. Thoughtful, difficult, challenging, sometimes beautiful. Worth seeing. 4/5 *

Wit: Once you get past the rather depressing subject matter, this is a well-made and smart look at death, character, and the health care system. Emma Thompson is an actor’s actor. 4/5

Kilmt: From the “If you have nothing good to say, say nothing” line of criticism… ummm… welllll… This movie had some really pretty naked girls in it. 1/5.

Thank You for Smoking: This was funny in some ways, with some well-drawn characters, but it was never really clear to me what the point was…? 3/5.

The Long, Hot Summer: Based on stories by William Faulkner, this well-written movie is full of great performances (if you get past the bad southern accents) by a stunning cast: Paul Newman, Orson Welles, Tony Franciosa (used to date my ma), Lee Remick, Angela Lansbury. But make no mistake, it’s Joanne Woodward who makes this movie what it is. She is the spark and the life of this great film. 5/5 *

Mrs. Henderson Presents: One wonders how a film with Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins could be less than great. Well, somehow they pulled it off. Nice production values, and the makings of a good story, but the script didn’t fly. See comments from Klimt above re: naked girls. 3/5.

Secretary: Seck. Say. I think that sums it up. 4/5.

* Highly recommended.

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And now, Refrain.

1. Ran the Frostbite 15k in Richmond yesterday. I hadn’t planned on doing well - I’m pretty much over my cold, but I’m still coughing some and my energy level is way down - but I had a pretty good showing: 1:15:07 - well slower than last year, but a good bit faster than I thought I could do. It was a fun race.

2. Winter kickball season started yesterday as well - my team (Skanky Pete) won by forfeit when the other side didn’t have enough people, but then we beat them in a practice game too. Good to be kicking again.

3. Has anyone else noticed Netflix’s serious drop-off in service over the last month or so? I called about the problem last week - they offered no reason for it, but did send me a bonus DVD and half off on next month’s fee. Still, the bad service seems to be continuing. Anyone else having problems?

4. From Dubya: Deaf and Blind!, a great article on slate.com about our beloved Art-Critic-In-Chief. Seems that our president’s favorite painting, a western landscape that, according to him, is about a methodist missionary spreading the gospel, is actually about a horse thief trying to escape a lynch mob. (Better yet - aforementioned Art-Critic-In-Chief proudly notes his physical resemblance to said missionary/horse thief.) There’s a message here somewhere…

5. May I have your attention please: The buttocks are not a sexual organ.

6. Not that you’ll notice, but the website, email, file servers, and life in general on andrewhersey.com may be unreachable from Friday night into Saturday morning. Go ahead, start hoarding now. And while we’re at it, there are new pics on the “Nocturnes” section.

7. Not sure I’ve ever mentioned this blog before, but if you’re a cool kid in Charlottesville and you have that intarweb thing, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be reading cVillian.

8. The blind snow dog.

Photo.

1. From Boing Boing: Mysterious, doughy, unknown blob clogs sewer.

2. Follow up to my previous post…

From Talking Points Memo, a reader’s contribution about Bill Clinton’s attack campaign on Obama:

If Hillary wins this nomination in this fashion, the Democratic party will be destroyed. After seeing this side of the Clinton machine, I have zero interest in supporting their dynasty. Not only will the entire R-side of the country be in full-throated opposition to 8 more years of Bill (at this point Hillary is sadly almost an afterthought), but my instinct is that you can count on a very deflated and divided Democratic party not exactly rallying around Team Clinton… If she wins by letting Bill kill the future of the Democratic party, the Ds are done.

Further evidence for my ongoing theory that, no matter how out of touch, divisive, incompetent, xenophobic, and otherwise useless the Republicans become, Democrats will always find a way to nominate the wrong candidate and thereby shoot themselves in the foot.

3. From the Serious Journalism department: From Fox Attacks, FOX’s John Gibson Sort of/Not Really Apologizes for Mocking and Lying About Heath Ledger’s Death. Good to know that we can always rely on Fox for some fair and balanced gay-bashing.

4. I bought a new tripod. And fixed my mysteriously-broken cable release. I am now almost like a real photographer.

Also looked at lenses for the way-too-expensive-for-me-to-afford-any-time-soon Nikon DSLR that I’ve been lusting after for months.

5. Just. There’s another “Just” that’s better. But this is the one you get to see. For now.

The Cintons have been getting negative press about their shrill and misquoting attacks on Barack Obama, with the rationale that it’s not good for the party: Whoever ends up getting the nomination will end up with bad blood from someone, and I think all that’s true, and worrisome.

But for me, I think more about the bigger picture: I always try and hold out for the romantic concept of Democrats as good guys - the party that plays fair (or at least, margainally fairer). I don’t want a candidate that has to resort to dirty tricks - we should be inspiring the country to come together. Our job should be celebrating the ideals we share, not reminding each other of our differences.

Can’t we (America, not just the party) do better?

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From last week:

1. Went wine tasting over the weekend at Barboursville Vineyards. Not that I’m an expert, but I think their wines are the best in the area. Like most Virginia wines, they’re overpriced, but wine tasting is a fun way to spend an afternoon, and Barboursville is a great place to go.

2. Almost done with my job at the UVa Art Museum. I’ve had a lot of fun working there - the work has been super-interesting, and everyone there has been very nice to me.

3. Starting this Sunday: Indoor Kickball!

4. Took some pics last week in the snow. Here’s the best one of Ruth:

Ran about 7 miles today.

Working at the studio tomorrow.

Photo:

1. Welcome to bad-snow-drivers-ville. Automobile drivers in this town are a joke to begin with - you’d think that bad roads would make people be a little more thoughtful, but the result is that you take a town full of inattentive, distracted, inconsiderate and otherwise bad drivers, throw a couple of inches of snow on the roads, and it seems like everyone has just eaten a handful of stupid pills.

2. Still getting over this cold. I’ve been sick for two weeks. It’s mostly better - really more of a cough now - but I’m tired of it.

3. Snow always makes photographers happy.

Near Amherst, Virginia.

Chicken wire bird’s nest.