Random Smatterings from the Past Couple Weeks.

Here are some random thoughts from the past week, in bulleted format:

• Had Once, the delightfully simple Irish movie that almost no one saw, ($14 mil in revenues (maybe that's a lot for a movie that cost only $100k to make? (I apologize for the triple parentheses))) not won the Academy Award for Best Song for the stunning "Falling Slowly," I'd have written hate mail the entire cast of Enchanted -- animated characters included. Not even kidding. I'm not typically the hate mailing kind, and I know the Academy Awards often honor the wrong film, but it would have honestly made me a disgruntled human; because Falling Slowly was the best song in a movie last year. All that said, I was extraordinarily happy when Glen and Marketa won. If you get a chance, rent it. It'll give you goose bumps and the feel-goods. And **(For Guys Eyes Only Section)** you might end up holding hands with whomever you see it. Unless it's Brian Pattillo because that's who I saw it with (the first time). He wasn't too into that hand holding business. Prude! Here's a link to an interview with the two stars of the movie -- it's great to see a couple of wonderfully gracious people get some recognition.

• I saw There Will Be Blood with my Pop on Wednesday. Interesting movie to see with your Pop (or your Old Man or Dad or Mom -- whatever you call the father figure in your life) because of all the relationship dynamics between father-son. Frankly, it's a painful movie to take in (or probably more accurately -- it takes you in), but it sticks in your stomach like the marble pound cake I just consumed at the World's Largest Coffee Chain. Pop and I have talked about it quite a bit, trying to figure out what in the world it was supposed to mean. One thing we and the rest of the world agree on is that Daniel Day-Lewis is mesmerizing -- in the same way that baseball-sized hail is mesmerizing. And Furbies. Hideous, destructive (I can think of at least 10 ways Furbies are destructive!), but just try to look away. You judge who looks more frightening:

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• Life outside of relationship is not life. This has never been more obvious to me. Nothing has been beaten into my head more the past year. It has probably been the loneliest year of my life so far. Not in a woe-is-me, curled-up-in-the-fetal-position-quoting-Poe sense. More in the literal, I-have-been-alone-A-LOT sense. In hotels. In airports. In small Midwestern towns. In massive neon-tinged cities. In rental cars. Deep relationship with God and deep relationship with other people make life worth it, but they have been hard to come by. Deep relationship with myself does not. And frankly life falls apart when I don't recognize this -- or do recognize this, and choose to live otherwise. As a consequence, I have never craved deep, messy, honest relationship more than I do right now. As a consequence, the ugly part of me is waging a fairly successful assault against that very idea with the shallow ("I'm doing fine"), clean ("I'm doing fine") and dishonest ("I'm doing fine"). So, let's be friends. And if I ever say "I'm doing fine," threaten me with Furbies until the truth comes out.

• Quickly, go check out these 3 bands!:

1. The Grand Archives
2. The Felice Brothers
3. Headlights