Beltmann

We take down the Halloween decorations on Nov. 1, but leave the fall decorations up through Thanksgiving day. One of our family traditions is to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner at an uncle's home, and then we come home to put up the Christmas tree while The Grinch or Christmas Vacation plays in the background. All Christmas decorations are put away Jan. 1 or 2, before school starts again.

I miss Leroy plenty.

Yes! I think it was!

Man, that sounds like a perfect double bill. Love that band. Probably the best opener for Wilco that I've seen is the aforementioned Dr. Dog. Side question: Does anybody remember who opened for Wilco at Milwaukee's Eagles Ballroom on August 2, 2004? I was there with a few friends, and recently it came up in conversation... none of us could recall who opened.

I'm planning to buy a new HD camcorder, mostly because I'm not happy with my current JVC GZ-HD300, which saves everything as obscure .MTS files and uses lousy Everio software, among other annoyances. I'd like the new machine to do at least this: Record in full HD Record to HDD (60GB minimum) Easy drag-and-drop manipulation of files on the HDD Easy backup to PC and easy upload to YouTube Simple standard DVD creation (my kids love to watch DVDs of themselves) Imprint date (superimpose) when making standard DVDs (my current JVC offers no way of getting the date on screen except when playing bac

Me too.

I have been loyal to eMusic for years, but this might be it for me, too.

That's one of my all-time favorite songs, but I never noticed a similarity between them until you mentioned it--but I hear it now, at least a little.

I assume these are included in the JHamm DVD Project... can anyone confirm that? (If I have time tonight, I'll check my discs...)

Maybe the soundtrack to The Yes Man--which was loaded with Eels--made him a fan!

Going on Saturday. Can't wait.

I liked Blue Valentine, but I'm not sure how much I liked it. Still, there's no doubt about the terrific acting by Michelle Williams and especially Ryan Gosling.

Ditto. I've been listening all week, mostly because I can't stop. Right now I'd say it ranks among my favorites of the year. Side comment 1: Would I have purchased You Are Not Alone if Tweedy was not the producer? I dunno, but I'd like to think that if I heard those snippets and read those reviews, my ears would have been interested, Jeff or no Jeff. Side comment 2: One sign that I'm getting older might be that I bought six albums this week--including Weezer, Of Montreal, James, and Florence + The Machine--but my two favorites (by a wide margin) are Mavis Staples and Robert Plant.

I just bought this album today and wasn't aware of this track until it came on--what a terrific surprise to hear it! (I must have somehow missed this thread last week...)

One of your finest qualities, I must say.

Won't be the same without him. I've seen a lot of Chabrol's films, but my favorite is probably Le Boucher.

OSS 117: Lost in Rio is not as fresh and inspired as the first OSS 117 movie, but the lead performance is still enjoyable and a welcome parody of how James Bond always was a bit of a dandy.

That's probably one of my ten favorite movies of all-time. I re-watch it every few years, and get the same jolt every time. (I'm not saying it's one of the ten best movies of all time...) No, it's not. But I wish it was!

I'm gearing up for the Milwaukee Film Festival, which starts Sept. 23. I'm enthused to see Blue Valentine, A Film Unfinished, Cell 211, Jack Goes Boating, Waiting for Superman, It's Kind of a Funny Story, Vengeance, Last Train Home, No One Knows About Persian Cats, Katalin Varga, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, A Somewhat Gentle Man, and Buried, among others.

I had read about that series, and was very intrigued. Hopefully I'll be able to see it on DVD at some point. Glad to hear your positive review!

It was actually one of my favorite movies that year. Here's what I said at the time: "Mining his own memories of wearing steel-toe boots, Shane Meadows crafts a convincing, social-realist portrait of tribalism and forgotten youth. At stake is the soul of a prickly, 12-year-old outcast taken under the wings of two surrogate dads, first a genial skinhead and later a bullying ex-con spewing National Front propaganda. This is about England in the post-punk Eighties, yes, but it’s also about the serious choices of every childhood, including how to search for an identity, how to pick friends, an

I am a huge fan of both The Hit and This Is England. Now watching:

Very entertaining and informative piece of activist filmmaking.

More Wisconsin pride! This project sounds awesome... I'm going to start downloading right now. Thanks, Ryan!

That's probably my favorite Lancaster movie (and I share your opinion of his acting in general). He's been in quite a few good movies, but he's not usually what's memorable about them.