Beltmann

Celine Sciamma's Water Lilies explores the first twinges of (confused) sexuality in several teenage girls, and it has the veneer of thoughtful psychological drama. Taken as a whole, though, it is obvious, run of the mill, and rather dishonest about its reliance on sensationalism. Worse, the characters never feel like human beings; instead, they seem like pawns at the service of a needlessly morose screenplay. Ditto. Had a blast.

I support a breakdown of the two-party system, so I'm always rooting for third party candidates to make a dent. This year, though, none of the alternative candidates better represent my values than one of the major party candidates, so there's no compelling reason for me to cast a symbolic vote.

I think I really loved The Edge of Heaven. Fatih Akin is quickly becoming one of my favorite filmmakers.

If McCain has ever used a library, he supports socialism.

Last night our Obama yard sign was stolen, along with all the others on our street. Funny thing is, the thieves failed to notice that my yard had two signs.

Downloading now via eMusic, based solely upon your recommendation.

I am filled with eager anticipation. Last night:

Happy Birthday!

At our local campaign office, we were told that Obama himself would smack us down for even thinking this thing was over.

Welcome, Crush. This is a great place.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

It was a rare thing: An articulate, thoughtful, and reflective endorsement.

I did some canvassing this morning, which was an adventure since I live in one of the most conservative counties in Wisconsin. At the very first door, a woman told me that she would pray for me, and hoped that I would investigate the facts and come to realize that Obama lies about everything. Plus, she's worried about his safety should he be elected.

No iPod here, either. I buy a lot of music, and it's probably an even split between eMusic downloads (occasionally iTunes or Amazon) and CDs purchased through online stores (usually Amazon).

The Guatemalan Handshake / Todd Rohal / 2008 This is weird stuff. I think I dug it. (Bonus: Will Oldham has a role.)

I've always thought this is weird, too. By virtue of having fewer games, each game of a best-of-5 actually has higher stakes than each game of a best-of-7.

Just got back from Game 3 of the NLDS at Milwaukee's Miller Park. I've never had more fun at a sporting event, never done so much yelling, jumping up and down, and high-fiving strangers. My voice is shot. And I'm going back tomorrow. Can't wait.

Rad.

Me too.

Stephen Frears' The Deal is much smaller in scale than its sequel, The Queen, but it's equally smart, suspenseful, and brilliantly acted.

That skit has promise.

Or even offering an answer that had a coherent through-line, rather than just a pyramid of disconnected soundbites. I can't imagine hearing Palin's rolling answers and considering that strong "presentation."

The media keeps talking about how Palin exceeded the low expectations everyone had for her performance. I guess I don't see it that way, mostly because I don't think anybody besides the media expected her to fall off the stage. I never thought Palin was an idiot, and tonight I expected her to be reasonably skillful in her style and delivery. However, that very fair expectation is what made her performance so damn underwhelming. I'm still not convinced that she's an idiot--clearly, she knows some stuff--but I'm more convinced than ever that she is not qualified to be vice-president. I was

My wife just said, "I don't want folksy in my vice-president. I want folksy in my children's librarian."

Is it reasonable to suggest that Palin had her clock cleaned? After a very shaky start, Biden was in command of the facts, generally answered the questions, and spoke in paragraphs. Palin was folksy (which grew increasingly empty), set her own questions, and eschewed coherent paragraphs for lists of familiar talking points, often piled up one after another in a rambling, rapid, free-associative way devoid of any connecting thread. Sometimes I had to strain to follow her line of logic, and had to strain even harder to locate any substance underneath all those feel-good generalities and Ameri