Burn After Reading – Meh. The characters were really bland an the actors didn’t really do anything interesting with them. The plot was also kind of shitty. I guess they really blew their wad adapting No Country for Old Men.

Doomsday – Shot really well, but there was no story. Bland, not campy enough, not scary enough, which for a movie that wants to be a John Carpenter movie equals TOTAL FAILURE.

The House Bunny – Funny, but needed more irony or, and I hate to say it, gross outs to be LOL. I think because it’s about young women, the filmmakers just weren’t willing to go there even though the cast seemed very game.

Last Chance Harvey – Very good. Predictable, but it just goes to show that you don’t need to innovate to make a really good movie. Dustin Hoffman really gave something subtle and Emma Thompson was just wonderful (as usual).

The Ramen Girl - Cute & predictable, no new territory, and Brittany Murphy needs to push herself a lot harder because cute don’t cut it when you have a bad dye job and can’t cry on cue. The Japanese cast made her look like a high school theater kid. Wants to be parts Tampopo, Like Water for Chocotlate, and Lost in Translation – which should work and maybe with a stronger lead, could have. After making the theater comment, now I want to see it staged as a single-set play. Could be fun.

Slumdog Millionaire – The cast was wonderful. The story was interesting, but that “fairy tale magic” element was elusive. Still, I can see why it won Best Picture at the Oscars, it was miles better than any of the other nominees.

The Wrestler – Good character study. Not a lot of surprises here.

Next up: Defiance. I’m really looking forward to this one.

I don’t have a lot of new things to add about Michael Jackson’s death – in the last 15-20 years of his life, he was an out of control and dangerous freak. I made fun of him and I still laugh at his expense and take cheap shots.

I also still listen to his music.

When I was five, “Thriller” was HUGE. We had the record at my house, and I would lie on the floor, looking at the gate fold of Michael and a baby tiger, and I would think, “They should have made the tiger fuzzy so you could pet it.”

That was the last Michael Jackson album that I’ve had any ownership of.

There is a place that I thought of, that I’m pretty sure doesn’t exist and that it’s mine.

There are people who live there, who I’m pretty sure don’t exist except for inside me.

This could be interesting.

I made yogurt a few weeks ago. I used whole organic milk, organic whole-milk yogurt as a starter, and my gas oven to incubate it.

It turned out like real regular plain yogurt! Which was pretty cool.

I probably won’t do it regularly. The amount of money I saved wasn’t worth the time it took me to make and incubate the stuff. But I’m glad I tried it out. Not as exciting as making butter, though.

But it reminded me of how much I like yogurt, so I’ve been eating a lot of yogurt lately. I like to take a little bit of cereal and add it to my yogurt. It doesn’t have to be granola. I’ve used Honey Bunches of Oats, Cinnamon Life, Cheerios… basically whatever is around. It’s my new favorite thing to eat.

Obviously, given the circumstances, I feel horrible and I’m in a weird mood.

On top of this, Arrow was being a total pain in the ass this morning. She got into a space bag full of knitting and pulled out a bunch of stuff to chew on.

Then she unwound a yarn ball.

All in the two minutes I took to put on my mascara.

I cleaned up quickly, and was fuming at her, this little doggy who is just having fun, and I was almost ready to go, but I needed to get my shoes on, so I walked by her crate to get them.

And she went in.

I didn’t tell her to, I didn’t lure her with a goodie, and I didn’t do it to punish her.

She went in because that’s what we do next. Before I leave.

It made me late, but I stayed to pet her for a little while, because in spite of her being a huge pain in the ass this morning, she is a really good dog and she’s just trying to earn a goodie.

Today she got two.