I’m really excited about Brokeback Mountain… it looks like a movie worth watching. I’ve been reading reports about what a bummer year this has been for Hollywood and I guess the beginning of the year was a pretty low point and god know, if I never see a sequel or fantasy extravaganza again, it will be too soon. But the end of the year has had a few surprises that I enjoyed. Walk the Line made me fall in love with Joaquin Phoenix all over again. I never much subscribed to the cult of the Phoenix clan but this one really intrigues me. It’s the eyes I think. Wooooooooo! Syriana was great, even if one of the Pakistanis in the flick says “satyanash!” Lolz… and Pride and Prejudice was sweet. I was completely prepared to hate it coz I’ve always loved the BBC one with Colin Firth [purrfect casting, I tell you] and the Greer Garson-Laurence Olivier one [god, I’m such a geek] but I enjoyed it.

I’d lost my copies of both Pride and Prejudice and Jane Eyre years ago when I lent them to a visiting friend and never got them back, which makes me sad coz they were really great editions. You know how you find that one edition that’s just perfect? The font, the typeset, the cover, the blurb, everything is just right? Well, these were those copies. I don’t know who coined the phrase, never judge a book by its cover but I think he was a moron. All too often the cover tells you exactly the state of affairs inside. And when I think of the olden days with all that lovely binding and those creamy sheets of heavy paper – oooooo! All right, I’m weird. I admit it. So what?

Whatchu gonna do?

Anyway, I went out and bought me some copies. For 2 bucks. Can u believe it? Maureen fucking Dowd retails for 20 plus bucks and Jane Austen sells for 2. What a world we live in.

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I saw Ocean’s Twelve for the first time the other day. All the reviews kept telling me how awful it was so I didn’t bother to go out to the movies when it came out and now that I’ve seen I’m busy kicking myself. Damn, that was funny. The whole Bruce Willis thing killed me. And as for the café scene with Matt Damon – LOL!! And you know, there are some directors who just strike gold with their soundtracks. Like they know what song to use and when and how. Quentin Tarantino for one – what he did for Nancy Sinatra’s dead and buried career with Kill Bill is unbelievable. And Steven Soderbergh is another such guy.

Talking of music, I’m stuck on Yo Yo Ma. I think I’m becoming an old lady. And I don’t even know it. God knows my arthritis is playing up. Yeah, I got me some arthritis. Can you believe it? I was diagnosed when I was nine and its absolutely absurd. Right up till the point my knee gives out from under me when I’m walking down the subway stairs in the bitter cold. Then its not fun.

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And talking of subways and not fun, I have to say I was feeling pissy on Friday. See, I’m all for the strike if they don’t get what they want. Not so much coz I think MTA workers should live like kings but because I think the MTA is a scandal and have it coming to them, the smug bastards. But I didn’t figure my sympathy was gonna get me stuck in rush hour traffic.

It was past 4.30 when I got into the station and I was like, wow I lucked out. There’s just enuff time for me to catch the last train or two before the start of rush hour. And then I settled down to wait for the next express train… and I waited and I waited and… I waited. Finally, right after all the screaming hordes of lower Manhattan came streaming into the station, there limps the train into the station. Grrrrr.

See, I don’t mind being stuck without transport. I mind being in the rush hour when I don’t even have a rush hourly job. Humpf.

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Does anybody here watch the West Wing? John Spencer who plays Leo McGarry on the show just passed away. RIP Mr. Spencer, you will be remembered… and missed.