waltzing matilda looked at her wallet, a sexy boy smiled in dismay

The Squid and the Whale is a damn good film. Painful in its realism and frankness, filled with so many gasper moments. It wasn't surprising to see it was directed by Wes Anderson; it felt like Rushmore or Royal Tennenbaums but without the surrealism. Or Napoleon Dynamite with stuff actually happening. Fans of either should check this out, as should fans of neither.

Jeff Daniels was elegant and subtle in his performance as a maddening, insufferable asshole snob. We've all, especially those of us who've gone to college, have all known his type. And holy shit, Anna Paquin is so fucking hot in this film. Holy bejeezus. Wow. Whoo.

Great soundtrack too. Excellent use of my man Loudon Wainwright III (including the wonderful "Swimming Song") as well as Lou Reed's "Street Hassle."

A great film. Best of the year as many have said? I'm not sure about that. But a solid, excellent, wonderful movie.

but we go on pretending stories like ours have happy endings

Sometimes the only way to deal with the drama in one's life is to write a play about it.

Doritos now come in a BADAZZOMG package. Yyyeah, nice try, Doritos. You're still chips that leave orange dust on my fingers.

I am now the proud owner of the new Criterion Collection edition DVD of Diabolique, the thriller that out-Hitchcocks Hitchcock. This is a masterful little film, although it seems that nobody's ever heard of it. I'd love to have a movie night with somebody with this one, but I'm not sure how many people would necessarily go for a film with this much of a OMGWTFBBQ factor.

Even better, I should have a double-feature. Diabolique and the Coen Brothers' first film, Blood Simple. It's actually my favorite of their films, far above Big Lebowski, Fargo, and O Brother Where Art Thou?. It's just a perfect film.

These both deserve more attention. There are two films that are technically thrillers, but are so damn suspenseful and twisted and OMGWTFBBQ in parts I could easily quantify them as horror. I dunno to whom I can show these.

Cutting caffeine out of my diet is one of the smarter things I've ever done. On one hand, I'm really tired a lot of the time, but on the other, I no longer feel on the verge of snapping and strutting around in the home-made Doctor Doom costume.