I watched the commentary on 'Patton' by Francis Ford Coppola and he was actually fired from the film after writing the screenplay and was working on the 'Godfather' when 'Patton' won the Oscar for best screenplay. He was just about to be fired from The Godfather too until he got the 'Patton' Oscar and I guess the moguls finally realized he may actually have some talent.

Went to see 'The King's Speech' last night. I was surprised at how crowded the theater was. (We then went home after the matinee and watched the Oscars). But it was a great movie and I'm glad it got the Oscars.

Something I put together about our library movie and I'm a rank amateur editor. The lyrics are by my friend Judy (she's a librarian), music is by Jeremy Kerslake and Perry D'Armand and vocal harmonies by Colleen Bjurstrom who opens the video.

Watched 'Inglourious Basterds' again last night. Jeez, I wish I could film like that.

In 'Mr. Hobbs Takes A Vacation' Jimmy Stewart asks the family if they want to get some 'sun off the beach' and his Swedish maid thought he had cussed at her and she quit.

It looks like both filmmakers took liberties with the book. Poetic license I s'pose. Yeah, I always like to watch the extras and commentary on dvd's. I'll be doing that tonight with 'Pieces Of April' with Katie Holmes. I never really noticed the G rating thing. SOB is a common thing now even on TV.

I did laugh at some things for sure, but I don't know why they left out the 'Rat Writ' scene? It was in the book too and I thought it was hilarious. In the book LaBouef was also in the dugout when they caught Quincy and Moon (Dennis Hopper, for those who don't know) and the Coen's changed that scene completely. I was watching 'Psycho' last night mainly to check out the editing and they also used the dark filter technique on the scene where he shoves the car into the bog.

I think Bridges seemed more depressed in the film and didn't appear as 'game' as Wayne did. The new version really didn't have much humor and maybe the Coen's were depressed when they made it? As for the color, it just seems a lot of new movies have that dark green/black look to them and I don't know who first did it but I'd say it's time for the fad to die and to bring back real color. But I know what you mean about the older films and TV shows. They used a special filter to get a 'night effect' while filming in broad daylight. A good example is in 'SHANE' when they are riding home from town after the big barroom brawl. It looks like night but you can tell it's daytime. I watched 'Punch Drunk Love' with Adam Sandler again last night. I think he's a great serious actor and he was scary when he went after the asshole brothers who attacked him.

We watched the John Wayne version the night before we went to see the new one. I still prefer the Duke mainly because I think the film had better humor and color. I don't know what this thing is with Hollywood these days where they all seem to want to mute the color. They may as well have filmed it in black & white. But I did like it nonetheless even though they didn't show the cat or the 'rat writ' scene. I'm reading the book again and even the Coen's didn't follow it that exact.

Currently reading George Washington's illustrated biography. I absolutely love the Dodge Challenger commercial where Washington comes out of the woods driving a Challenger with a bunch of others to chase the redcoats back to England.

Recently watched: 'MILK' (As a kid I lived 2 blocks from Castro St.) 'SOPHIE'S CHOICE' (The scene where she was in Auschwitz was hard to watch when commandant Hoess gave her the option to choose the boy or the girl) 'SHERLOCK HOLMES' (Sorry, but this was a sleeper-fest and all the fancy slo-mo and computer generated images couldn't save the deadpan dialogue or the movie. Please God, no sequel.) 'CAPOTE' (I didn't think I would ever watch this because I figured I wouldn't be able to bear his nasal whine. But Hoffman's voice was actually not as grating as Capote's. I liked the movie but will never understand Capote trying to figure these 2 guys out. A bad childhood still doesn't give you the right to commit mass murder.) Hope to see 'TRUE GRIT' this weekend.

Yes, they were great.

'The Rat City Roller Girls'-Seattle

My friend Val (Owl) from Victoria. She's one of the best classical guitar players I've ever heard and I'm talking right up there with Segovia and Bream.

Watched 'The Last Detail' w/Jack Nicholson again. He was perfect for the role. Bravo! Yankee! Bravo! Yankee! Bye Bye!

Starting Jan. 1st we will be getting a new station on digital TV ('Gov't. TV' I call it) called 'Antenna TV' that will only show TV shows from the 70's and 80's. Hopefully, not too many from the 80's.

'The Chesty Young Thing'

I was going to watch 'Public Enemies' with Johnny Depp the other night and when I put it on I realized I'd already watched it. That just proves to me how a lot of new movies are so forgettable. Now the version with Warren Oates (Dillinger) was absolute classic and I can remember all kinds of scenes from it, especially with Harry Dean Stanton when he gets the 180* circle shotgun blast in the street. I'm now watching 'Ghost Writer' and man, talk about a blatant put down of Tony Blair and Bush in a not so subtle way. These types of films show the real Hollywood leftism. And I'm also betting it was a flop at the box office even with Pierce Brosnan's star power. Stay in Europe, Polanski. (But I did like The Pianist)

Ah, the do-nut scene. Try to find a copy of 'The D.I.' with Jack Webb.

Just watched an independant film called 'The Talent Given Us' (2004) by Andrew Wagner. The film revolves around his real parents and siblings as they travel from New York to L.A. I love the mostly hand held camera work.

And that's one of my favorite female poses.

Just received the Sony Vegas HD Platinum movie editing program.

Nice ornaments.

O Mio Babbino Caro

It's now 11PM and there's actually a break in the clouds and it's coming through.