Beltmann

I don't have time to elaborate, so I'll just say this: Right on.

It's best not to get worked up about anything related to the Oscars. The Oscars have always been a terrible barometer of artistic merit; better to just enjoy the show for what it is rather than complain about what it isn't.

The irony, of course, is that Walker's bill is going to force all teachers to make that same choice simply to survive. Right now I work an average of 65-70 hours a week. (And that's real hours with no breaks, not merely time spent at the office checking out message boards, playing Solitaire, or reading the newspaper. I even work right through my 25-minute lunch, because I simply don't have time to spare.) If the bill passes, my school is going to dramatically increase class sizes and make teachers teach an extra class. I simply cannot take on that kind of extra workload without taking sev

Thank you, virtualreason. My wife is a teacher as well, which means we will be double hit by this bill. There is a very strong likelihood that we will have to sell our (modest) house after this bill passes. We have always lived extremely frugally, but the crushing debt of multiple graduate programs--all done in the hopes of eventual return on investment--has made it difficult to make ends meet. This bill will make it nearly impossible.

I watch pretty much every inning of the Brewers, and had no prior knowledge that Tweedy was going to be there. I knew the band were in town for the two-night stand at the Pabst (I went to both), but was still stunned to see Tweedy in the booth and then several other band members run in the sausage race. The announcers clearly had no interest--Bill Schroeder seemed especially confused about what a Wilco was--and the inning ended up being painfully long. But Tweedy seemed genuinely happy to receive a Brewers cap. At a living room show last summer, I was fortunate to have a moment alone with

I'm actually about 90 minutes east of Madison, but I'll take it!

Exactly. Workers have already agreed to all economic concessions. This bill is about breaking the union as much as it is about balancing the budget.

Immune? Do you really think teachers haven't already sacrificed a great deal in the wake of the Great Recession? Would you like me to explain how I recently accepted a pay freeze and, before that, a devastating step freeze? Would you like me explain the slow erosion in medical benefits over the last few years? Should I list the names of dozens of colleagues who were let go in the last few years? Should I explain how I routinely work 70 hours a week because of the increased workload as a result of those layoffs? And our losses will never be restored, even after the economy recovers. Unl

Wish I could help you... but I stopped in here to say, Holy schnikes, old friend, how have you been?

I'm laughing to keep from cryin'. But at least there's reason for a little hope this season!

Yeah, my wife said the exact same thing.

That's a good analogy, and as lifelong Brewers fans, we know a thing or two about sticking through the thick and thin.

These are the truest words in this thread.

Last few films viewed: The Secret In Their Eyes / Juan Jose Campenella / Argentina / 2009 Inside Job / Charles Ferguson / USA / 2010 Restrepo / Sebastian Junger and Tim Hetherington / USA / 2010 Dogtooth / Giorgos Lanthimos / Greece / 2009

U2roolz, I agree with your assessments about all of the movies in your last few posts, and share your disappointment that Blue Valentine hasn't received the attention it deserves. I'm still rather stunned, too, that Buried flopped so badly. It’s a blunt instrument--especially when it adds that subtext regarding foreign policy--but Cortes has enough wit to suggest dealing with bureaucracies is a lot like suffocating under sand, and there’s no doubt he delivers a primal, throat-gripping thriller about claustrophobia and panic. I hadn't thought about contrasting Buried with 127 Hours, perhaps

:cheers

Yesterday I sat down to watch the Letterman performance on my DVR, and was deeply disappointed to discover that twice the local station had technical difficulties that caused the picture to blank out for 30 seconds each time. I'll have to settle for YouTube, I guess.

Even though it's slicker and more willing to exist as a genre picture, Atom Egoyan's remake of Nathalie... (2003) may actually improve upon the (very good) original--despite the new thriller elements, Egoyan still winds up mining deeper psychological territory.

I'm still a bit hoarse from all the cheering.

"You and I" in a Pick 'n Save grocery store last week.

Holy hell.

There's plenty of similar tactics among the fringes of both sides (which has always been true). The difference right now, though, is that one side has become far more willing to tolerate such rhetoric within their mainstream channels, too.

Ditto (on both counts).

Let me second this recommendation. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it, and Christian McKay's expert channeling of Orson Welles makes it a must-see. I'm a big fan of Linklater, too--although I'd say only Before Sunset is a bona fide classic, and largely because it's such a spellbinding ode to the magic of good conversation. Its real-time eruption of language and emotion feels exactly like two old friends rediscovering each other. While his camera gently eavesdrops, Linklater draws poetic, thorny blossoms of talk from Hawke and Delpy, who surely deserve equal credit for the screenplay

Really can't go wrong here. I've seen 13 Marx brothers features, and those are my two favorites. Night at the Opera is perhaps more unhinged, but Duck Soup has the benefit of a fairly serious war satire. Both, however, present the brothers at the height of their anarchical power. (After those two, their movies began to weaken, mostly because MGM unwisely tried to contain them in more conventional song-and-romance formulas.)