In which my friends engage in douchebaggery

I woke up this morning to discover that I was linked from www.paulandstorm.com as a result of my post last week.

Now, a bit of background: one of my friends, having read said post and being familiar with their podcast, has been mocking me mercilessly for what was described as "rampant linkbaiting". And once I had looked that up and found out what it meant, I must say that this is untrue.

Anyway, this morning, said friend sent me an e-mail saying "Hey, check it out, the podcast came out this morning and they spent a good 30 seconds mocking your linkbaiting."

They did not. But since I can't listen to the podcast at work (as this person knows well), I spent all day thinking that two of my favorite artists had devoted time to PERSONALLY MOCKING ME.

Grrr...

In which the best movie of the year is discussed

So perhaps the title is a bit of hyperbole, but I sadly just realized that it's almost Not-Monday-Anymore and I hadn't yet posted anything today.

So, on Saturday, I saw Slumdog Millionaire. Never before I have I seen a movie that was quite so perfectly put together. The direction, the acting, the soundtrack, the editing... hell, if I ever go from stage to film directing, I will almost certainly look back at this movie as a lesson in pacing in film. Every so often, I see art that is perfectly executed, that lets you know exactly what the artist intended because it demonstrates that intention flawlessly. It's a rare quality, but this movie has it and it's really something amazing to see.

One caveat: the movie is, at several points, brutal. The first half of the movie is very close to Bollywood through the lens of Naturalism. It's jarring and at times disturbing, but it's still a damn fine movie.