Hat tip to "Mr. Kevin Wilder" for this jewel. Hours of enjoyment await.

In other news, chicken fingers almost certainly factor into today's lunch plans. Hallelujah. There's nothing like a coupon's expiration date to prompt spontaneous lunch decisions.

Steven Soderbergh and Benicio Del Toro's Che is playing in it's full four-and-a-half-hour glory this week at The Belcourt. It should definitely be worth seeing for maybe a brief history lesson amid the sensationalism, not to mention we already know the happy ending.

Radiohead is performing live at the Grammy's. Is this good news?

This story has the makings of a Joe Dirt sequel. If for no other reason, because he tried to sell to the French government.

A Sunday afternoon spent exhaustively cleaning a too long-neglected bathroom is made almost tolerable by a 50" plasma TV sitting only 5 feet from said bathroom. Normally, this wouldn't seem so great since today is the first Sunday since Labor Day weekend without NFL football. This grievous loss is tempered by Palladia, the HD-only channel that shows concerts and other live music programming around the clock. Unfortunately much of what they show is frequently repeated and much of it is quite awful. However, sometimes, such as today, they do pretty well. The past few hours have consisted of Oasis (live in England), Foo Fighters (live in London) and Pearl Jam (VH1 Storytellers). Next up? Kid Rock's VH1 Storytellers. Oh well, it had to end eventually.

After watching the MTV Europe Awards yesterday, the Kid Rock quota has been met for many months. Apparently MTV Europe still loves Kid Rock, as evident by his prominence on their award shows. Of course, this is the same award show hosted by Katy Perry. There is also a "lounge" of sofas with Jared Leto (and 30 Seconds to Mars) talking to many of the acts, including Grace Jones (seriously?) and...Kid Rock. It's just funny hearing Jared Leto talk about how big of a Kid Rock fan he is. Maybe Jared will be singing along at the BamaJam Music Festival in Enterprise, Alabama.

If this post does nothing else for you, let it remind you that life is sometimes best enjoyed on a couch with five pillows, a laptop, lemonade and Cheez-its...just a few feet away from a disinfectant scented (the smell of clean) bathroom.

It's really too bad that the Presidential Inauguration had to be the day before the season premiere of Lost. This is mainly because Lost ended up not getting the attention it deserved. People seriously need to get their priorities straight. It's also unfortunate because a huge slice of the American population probably didn't get enough sleep and weren't productive with their lives for at least 2 days. It's hard to be productive when you must commit 100% of your time to feeding TWO different hype machines. Thank God for Facebook status updates, blogs such as this and TV coverage. If not for those saviors of modern technology, you might not have been able to broadcast sentiments of love and adoration for the President and Lost to millions of people who ARE. NOT. INTERESTED. IN. YOUR. BLABBING.

OK, moving on...

The inauguration was impressive, no matter who you did or didn't vote for in November, but it had to be impressive. Even if it weren't impressive, it would still be the most impressive thing anyone had ever seen. That's how it works. When else can an event be so "perfect", yet still include:

-Crappy weather?
-Exaggerated attendance estimates?
-Three shades of green?
-Flubbing (by BOTH of them) of the most singularly significant moment, requiring a reoathing?
-That poem, that poem...that...poem?

Of course, it's a big deal, but it's a big deal anytime this country swears in a new leader. It's a big deal to us here and to virtually everyone else in the world. However, the way it makes you feel is simply that: your feelings. Not everyone will react the same way or with the same level of interest. That isn't a flaw in the character of some and not others. It is simply human nature. If the inauguration's significance held added meaning to you, then enjoy it, remember it, cherish it. Just don't think that someone is unpatriotic, uncompassionate or unfair if they don't hold the same opinion.

For those who want to remember and commemorate this historical (albeit not in a high school rivalry game kind of way), there are plenty of opportunities to do so. Thankfully, you don't have to buy commemorative items such as the "Yes We..." can of soup or the O-balm-a lip balm. The internet (aka: public enemy #1 in times like these) has plenty to keep you busy...and for free:

-A collection of newspaper front pages from around the country and globe. They are seperated by state, so it's nice to see Alabama's first. Be patient while it loads, there's a lot to see.

-Per usual, great photography on display at The Big Picture of preparations and the inauguration itself.

-The highest-resolution available satellite photo of the attendees is here.

Just because...

Since so many folks are pregnant these days, it is important to know that this blog is family-friendly. Just for full disclosure, this rating was based on 2 uses of the word "kill" and one "crap".

Unfortunately, this little thing is sponsored by a dating website. Their link has been removed for all you happily-married, baby-making folks.

Two straight days of fatigue and lousy weather apparently lends itself well to two things: blogging and watching NFL playoff games. Granted, there's been some other activities (grocery store trip, reading, napping, a good run in the mist, New Year resolving, online traffic school, movie watching), but much of the past 36 hours can be directly linked to the NFL and blogging. It's time those came together in the form of random musings (Disclaimer: The rest of this post is about football, but not just inane football-speak. There might actually be substance buried deep within):

-It seemed unfair that Arizona (9-7) was in the playoffs ahead of teams with the same record, namely Tampa Bay, since Arizona plays in a horrible division and got 6 of their 9 wins against their lowly division mates San Francisco, Seattle and St. Louis. Tampa Bay, meanwhile, went 9-7 playing in the very tough NFC South, where the "worst" team was New Orleans, who were in the playoff hunt until the very end and could potentially beat any team in the league if their defense showed up on the same day as their huge offense. Then again, Tampa could have been in the playoffs if they had beaten Oakland (at home, mind you) on the last day of the season. They didn't, so tough luck. Of course, Arizona got to host Atlanta (11-5 in that aforementioned tough NFC South) since Atlanta was a wild card team (Carolina won the division) and Arizona was "champion" of their sucky division. Maybe it was the homefield advantage, or maybe it was something else, but Arizona beat Atlanta and life goes on.

-Almost the same thing happened in the AFC with San Diego and Indianapolis. San Diego (8-8) won their crappy division, while Indianapolis (10-6) finished second in their much tougher division, so San Diego got to host (and win). A troubling paradox emerged from this game, that has probably been obvious all along: Peyton Manning, despite going to UT and leading their band in "Rocky Top" after beating Alabama (yeah, he did that too), is painfully likable. His approach to the game is amazing and it shows when he plays. Very rarely does his team lose because of his actions, which says a lot for a quarterback. And yes, more importantly, his TV commercials (see?) are very entertaining. Meanwhile, San Diego's quarterback, Alabama-native Phillip Rivers comes off as a bit of a hick-turd much of the time. This is painful to admit, since he's from Alabama and has worn Piggly Wiggly t-shirts to press conferences, but lest we forget that Terrell Owens is from Alabama too.

-Speaking of TO, the best news this NFL season is that the Dallas Cowboys did not make the playoffs and they looked like total fools in doing so. The Cowboys were great in the early 90s with Aikman/Smith/Irvin/etc, but this new version is positively unlikable, with the exception of Demarcus Ware. Thankfully, them not making the playoffs will mean that Sportscenter will only talk about the Cowboys for 60% of its broadcast, instead of the customary 80% and more importantly, there will be no "WOO!" parties downstairs until at least next September.

-Even though the Dolphins are one of those generally iconic and likable teams, it's still hard to get behind a team that is decked out in bright aqua (or it that teal?), bright orange and bright white. It definitely has a "Miami" look to it, but that's why Miami ain't that great. It's tacky. Somehow this negative dissection of the Dolphins has managed to not include Joey Porter, but yes, he still blows in the most obnoxious way possible. Now, Ray Lewis isn't much more likable as a person or a linebacker, but at least he represents Baltimore and does so in black and a surprisingly digestible dose of purple. He does lead a really great defense, though, even though the best member of said defense is Ed Reed. That dude is impressive. Almost as impressive as LeRon McClain, who has gone from greatly appreciated, but admittedly uninspiring, fullback at Alabama to NFL Pro Bowler in his rookie season. With today's effort, he sits 23 yards short of 1000 for the season, despite sharing carries with two higher-profile tailbacks most of the season.

-This Philadelphia/Minnesota game has been fairly entertaining and the Eagles' imminent victory creates a situation where both of today's games have been won by the visiting team, while both of yesterday's games were won by the home team. Interestingly, the visiting teams has been considered the favorites in all four of the weekend's games, further illustrating one of the few fallacies in how the NFL does business. Home-field advantage should be based on record, not whether you can win a bad division while feasting on those six division games each season. The only remarkable thing about Minnesota (other than a starting quarterback that went to Alabama State) is their defensive lineman Jared Allen. He has to be the most white trash player in the NFL, but he's also kinda awesome. If he could get that DUI thing under control (he has 3 of 'em), he could qualify as totally awesome. He does, however, somehow manage to look more civilized in his mugshot. It also looks like his mugshot was taken in the barber's chair, complete with neck-tight smock.

Ok, the games are over, so this entry is too.

This blog may seem to harp on certain things, among them television commercials. The most recent to really make an impact is the Arby's spot where a wife seduces her husband on his birthday. She does so in an Arby's employee uniform and carries a tray of food. There are obvious sexual undertones about the whole thing, so maybe they're not undertones at all. Not much else can really be said about that, other than advertising "idea makers" must led their minds stay in a weird place most of the time.

See fer yersef.

There seems to be quite a rush to make feature films about one happy little group of people in history: Nazis. Recently and in the near future, you can choose to eschew Slumdog Millionaire in favor of no fewer than 4 films that have varying degrees of focus on Nazis. Of course, none of these are glowing endorsements of Nazism, Hilter or the Third Reich in general, but it is a bit odd. A quick look at these:

Valkyrie:
As previously discussed about a month ago, Tom Cruise is a Nazi that wears and eyepatch and plots to kill Hitler. Contrary to what the commercials say, most seem to think a movie should be made about someone plotting to kill Tom Cruise. Ok, that wasn't nice.

Defiance:
This one is about Daniel Craig not being James Bond. Based on the previews, he does lots of heroic things in an effort to resist Nazis. Nobody seems to like this one either.

Good:
Not really sure about the specifics on this, but Viggo Mortensen does not play Stryder. He's a German professor that have some type of involvement with the Nazis in the 1930s. If you're interested in finding out more, you might be the only one.

The Reader:
Something about reading to someone. And Nazis. Probably not great either.

Ok, so it's the best of times and the worst of times if you're into movies about Nazis. On one hand, you've got quite a group of A-List actors playing roles in these movies, but on the other hand, none of them appear to be any good. Thankfully there are still good movies being made, but you might have to get your Nazi fix elsewhere.

The opportunity to see Slumdog Millionaire is one that should not escape you. It's very, very good and succeeds in spite of it's otherwise lame title. Sure, the title fits the movie, but such a well-made film should have a title that doesn't make anyone speaking it's name sound like they're inexplicably raving about a biopic of gangsta rappers.

At least from a personal standpoint, Slumdog Millionaire may be the best movie to hit major theaters since The Darjeeling Limited, which of course creates this strange theme of excellent films set in India with glimpses into Indian life, culture, society that are rarely found in Western cinema. They're both primarily in English, to boot.

Toss in The Namesake and an effective trifecta of perspectives is created by recent films. Maybe what makes Slumdog Millionaire so good is that it makes creative use of many of the most common and generic associations of modern life in India. Among these are the opulent Taj Mahal, the slums (albeit in Mumbai and not Mother Teresa's Kolkata) and telephone call centers. Very little of this is portrayed in a positive light, but the film is positive in tone and actually lets you feel good. Of course, this doesn't mean there aren't "difficult" parts of the story within, but those are the foundation for what makes the story so great.

Maybe the most unifying characteristic of both Slumdog Millionaire and The Darjeeling Limited, other than India (duh) is the railroad. The characters of both films ride the train a good bit, but in both cases, the significance of this activity isn't the the origin or the destination of the trip. Both movies' main characters use their time on the train to develop relationships, mature and experience life. Once this element is accomplished, the movie can let the uniqueness of India's visuals hold the audience's attention.

So yeah, see Slumdog Millionaire when you have a chance. If further encouragement is needed, check out the trusty Metacritic. That said, how inadequate must the film critic for the San Francisco Chronicle be seen?