Happy Oscar Day

The last 2 Saturdays we spent watching the Academy Award Nominees for best picture. I really have no idea which one is going to win, they're all good movies but none are great. The one with dramatic 'Oscar' power was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, which wrung you out mentally. George Clooney was amazing in The Descendants, seriously he is more Cary Grantish every year. I think he's Cary Grant reincarnated. Hugo was touching, Moneyball was fun and really well done, it even made me root for the A's for the first and only time, but of course still not against the Mariners. I skipped Warhorse, I didn't think I could handle a war movie with horses dying. Too traumatic. Tree of Life was like studying a painting for 2 hours, complex and thought provoking but not for everyone. The Help was meaningful, better than the book in my opinion but rather Civil Rights light, I thought it could have been more dramatic, and would have been in reality. Midnight in Paris was a vacation, and The Artist was touching and heartwarming.

Of course the best part..

Of the movies...

Is the popcorn!

Ramses 8 Months

And with another new haircut. This one my own creation. Having a poodle is definitely an exercise in artistic expression..

Photo Fun

For Christmas I received a note entitling me to a new SLR camera so I could start to study how photography really works. I have outgrown my faithful P80, and was ready for the next step.

Today, my brand new Nikon D5100 arrived in the mail. Of course we almost immediately had to leave for lesson night, but I took it with me and had some fun taking random photos. Tomorrow the book comes that I ordered, and I can really get busy studying all the cool things I can do.

A lot of these were really low light, as I wanted to test that. And yes, we have wild turkeys in yards roaming the suburbs. It's rather charming, though slightly weird.