Beltmann

Same here. I don't like giving gift cards because they don't show a lot of thought and they aren't fun to wrap or unwrap. But there's something to be said for giving a gift card rather than giving a present that has the potential to disappoint or go to waste. (I'd much rather get a gift card from my mom than another sweater that I will never, ever wear.) Side note: I read somewhere recently that about 30% of all holiday gifts are now gift cards / certificates.

Was well enough to see a double feature today. The Fighter had a terrific sense of time and place, and the Coens' True Grit was surprisingly old-fashioned (I mean that as a compliment).

The pic isn't showing up, but I'm assuming this is Let the Right One In, right? Definitely one of the best horror movies I've seen, mostly because it's so much more than just a horror movie. (I haven't seen the American remake, but it looks okay... I'll check it out eventually.)

Sick in bed all day (I'm the last in the family to catch it, so it's been a pretty awful four days around here), but I managed to watch these two: I first learned about Temple Grandin in 2000, when she was the subject of an episode of First Person, Errol Morris' documentary TV series. The HBO movie is an engaging and curious version of her story--diagnosed with autism as a child in the 1960s, Temple still managed to go to grad school and become a famous animal behaviorist and inventor of humane treatments of livestock--and features a persuasive performance by Claire Danes. Liked it a

Seconded. My best music experience of 2010 was attending a Jeff Tweedy LRS in July. After that, these were my five favorite shows: 1. Eels [opener: Jesca Hoop], October 2 at the Pabst in Milwaukee 2. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings [The Heavy], May 22 at the Pabst in Milwaukee 3. The New Pornographers [The Dodos; The Dutchess and the Duke], June 12 at the Pabst in Milwaukee 4. The National [The Antlers], August 4 at the Riverside in Milwaukee 5. Heartless Bastards [Peter Wolf Crier; The Builders and the Butchers], July 26 at Turner Hall in Milwaukee The worst was probably The Gasligh

I bought my father this book: Walk-Don't Run: The Story of the Ventures.

Indeed! Oops.

I haven't been this giddy about a Wisconsin sports deal since Reggie White signed with the Packers. Things like this just don't happen to Brewers fans. We gave up a lot, but in my view the only painful loss was Lorenzo Cain. Does this make the Brewers a contender? I think it does. The Cards (who also upgraded) are still the team to beat in the NL Central, but the Brewers ought to be competitive and at least figure in a wild card hunt. Last year the Brewers had the 4th best offense in the NL; what ruined the Brewers was their miserable pitching, which was ranked 14th. Consider the 2009

I'm a big Andrea Arnold fan, so I'm happy to see that Fish Tank is finally available in North America. It's not quite as solid as her previous works of social realism, but there's plenty to recommend it, including a terrific lead performance by Katie Jarvis.

Holy awesome.

Similar things have happened to me several times. Once I turned down an invitation to serve on a film festival jury (Milwaukee) because it would have required being gone the weekend of my daughter's first birthday. No regrets, though; I was able to catch up with the films later, but you can't catch up with a missed milestone.

I use Winamp with external drives at both home and work, and it has always worked beautifully.

That's pretty much all I ever use, too.

It totally sucks. I'm not buying this or any other album twice in one year. (In this case, though, I somehow had a nice credit at Amazon for audio downloads and used them on the bonus tracks.)

This might prove to be instructive: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkUdGkIwMFQ

Me too. That might be my favorite song of the year (any version).

One of the very first VHS tapes I ever rented was the collection of Police Squad! episodes. Like a lot of people here, that show and Airplane! were important facts of my childhood. Few movies make me helplessly laugh out loud, but Leslie Nielsen's delivery still gets me rolling... R.I.P.

This is an Internet message board. This is no place for keeping things in perspective.

Another really great new company is Oscilloscope. Great list of films, and the DVDs get top-notch treatment and unique extras. Plus, it's headed up by Adam Yauch!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4IWmNBKN3o

Hell of a list.