First day back at work… been more productive than I’d anticipated, which is good. The only real downside is realizing that my next holiday, unless I spontaneously decide to use vacation days, is Easter. That’s, like three and a half months from now! Oh the humanity.

Having a hell of a time using the normal keyboard I have here at work, having gotten used to the natural keyboard I’m using at home. Everything is so cramped. My hands aren’t used to bumping into each other on the keyboard, they’re confused and angry.

Another New Year’s resolution – always keep a toothpick on me. Had a steak sandwich for lunch, and DAMN these wisdom teeth and the little hiding places for food that they create…

np – The Clash / Give ‘Em Enough Rope

God bless Mark Eitzel. He’s doing a residency this month at the Knitting Factory in New York City, and is offering to write a song for a person every week. All they need do is email him the following information: Who they love, who they hate, what they do, what they don’t do, the name of their dog and maybe a picture. Is that too much or what.

My New Year’s Day was spent cleaning. Cleaning my room to Sleater-Kinney, cleaning the bathroom to Mission Of Burma.

Seeing the very bad Behind Enemy Lines last night put me in the mood to see a good war movie. Well after seeing Enemy At The Gates, I still want to see a good war movie, but the foul taste in my mouth is somewhat diminished. The visuals were very impressive – rebuilding a destroyed Stalingrad is some piece of work. The acting was adequate, though Ed Harris seemed more indifferent than intense and Jude Law was a little too perky. Bob Hoskins was just short as Kruschev. I won’t bother commenting on the fact that the Russians all had thick English accents and the Germans spoke German until Ed Harris showed up and spoke American English. Whatever, that’s not important. And I can finally tell the difference between Ralph and Joseph Fiennes.

I also rented The Man Who Wasn’t There for a later date.

np – Red House Painters / Retrospective

Again, Happy New Year. My New Year’s Eve was pretty quiet. Went to catch a late afternoon showing of Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, then watched Behind Enemy Lines on DVD followed by the Leafs / Canucks game. That took me to around 12:30. A little reading, then to bed. Suits me fine.

Dangerous Mind was okay… I was expecting more, but it was just alright. George Clooney acquitted himself nicely in his directorial debut – it was stylish and had personality, but never overwhelmed. Sam Rockwell was terrific as Chuck Barris. I found that I couldn’t take the CIA assassin bits too seriously, and not just because they were probably fictional. Even though the movie plays it all as fact, it doesn’t manage to overcome the unbelievability of the premise, and I didn’t go in as a skeptic thinking, “There’s no way this could have happened”. They couldn’t convince someone who wanted to believe. Still, I have the book on hold at the library, it should be an interesting read anyway. And I think Rockwell beats Kevin Bacon’s record for most gratuitous naked butt shots in a single film. Geez.

Behind Enemy Lines was pretty awful. Dull, brainless and unrelentingly macho. Heavy-handed and just BAD direction from some guy who’s previous claim to fame was directing a commercial or something. Terrible soundtrack, in both song selection and application. There are two Owen Wilsons – the one who writes and produces terrific films like Rushmore and The Royal Tennenbaums, and the one who makes crap movies to finance the first Owen Wilson’s projects. This is SOOOO the second Owen Wilson. Yeck.

Finally, a 2003 concert date that I’m interested in! Sleater-Kinney are at the Opera House on February 17. Yay.

The Longwave album has apparently been pushed back a month to March 18. Boo.

I have to go back to work tomorrow! Boooooo.

np – Beth Orton / Daybreaker