Nebraska:

Bleak. Depressive. Stark. Cold. Ruthless with a dash of heart. Frustrating. Isolating. Gritty, seedy, and too realistic. Stellar acting. Watch the hell out, headstones! Nutty, dirty, and entrancing. 8.5/10

Dan

Inside Llewyn Davis:

Bleak. Depressive. Stark. Cold. Ruthless with a dash of heart. Frustrating. Isolating. Good music but just a breath shy of great. Gritty, seedy, and too realistic. Excellent but not stellar acting. Carey Mulligan actually CAN be a bad girl. 7.5/10

Dan

The Wolf Of Wall Street:

I have never seen so many naked people in one movie. I don't know what was more naked, the asses or the greed. Over-the-top excesses in every area you can imagine, and then some. There are some incredibly funny and some incredibly intense moments. If you don't know anything in this flick, you should. Well, maybe not some of the sex deviancy maybe, but about Wall Street's insanity. All the same, I spent three hours amazed at the slow-mo train wreck. 9/10

Bring extra popcorn. You'll need it.

Dan

47 Ronin:

Everything you expect; beautiful cinematography, graceful martial arts, mystical ancient Japanese magic, honor, unrequited but mutual love, jealousy, greed...a wonderful example of the genre exquisitely acted. Just no surprises. I thoroughly enjoyed this film. I love this stuff. 7.5/10 and would've been higher if I had something shocking or completely new.

Pass the popcorn.

Dan

The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty:

I loved it. There is an "artists' heart" sweetness and flow to the film. The characters are gritty and real and loveable. Integrity, courage, dedication, and heart matter. So does keen observation...and catching your ride before everything blows up on you. Beautiful take on a modern literary classic. 8/10

Dan

American Hustle:

OMG. I think Hollywood has rediscovered the lost art of storytelling. I think these actors were all beyond phenomenal. I totally expect Oscar noms out of this. Jennifer Lawrence is supernaturally funny and brilliant, and Amy Adams and Christian Bale are the chess masters of emotional manipulation extraordinaire...maybe. I don't know who conned who...I think it changes minute-by-minute. More twists than a spinning windmill. But Jen & Amy alone together is a fire waiting to burn down the house. I need a new scale for this one. 100/100.

Dan

Our Lady of the Assumption Eracer Races, Circa 1974-1975, Beloit, WI:

The Hobbit - The Desolation Of Smaug:

Tippsssesss on your toesssesss preciousss, yesss, on your toesssesss! It'sss MINE! MINE!! Sneaking and fire and fighting and eatingsss! Don't losssse our Preciousss little hobbitsess! Puts itss ON! * This has to be the penultimate Celtic dragon story, and the technology has finally caught up with the imagination! I'm seeing awards appearing like magic! Like an arrow from an elven bow, like a fish in a barrel! Love and faith are what everyone need, and courage, for where the dark things lie, biding and biding the time to BITE! 10/10...11/10...

Dan

Thought As Autumn Passes To Winter...

Hunger Games - Catching Fire:

Better than the first movie. Acting: Top-notch. Casting: Awesome. Cinematography and graphics: phenomenal. Depth of plot: Amazing. This movie was timely and played perfectly on mordern psychology. Jennifer Lawrence deserves at the least a nomination. And it's just great storytelling. We're up two-fer this week in film. 10/10

Dan

The Book Thief:

Words have long ago stolen my heart, and this story did the same. This was written and filmed with the soft, magical eyes of a poet, and it will make and break your heart with ease. Beautiful cinematography, outstanding narration, incredible writing. Love, peace, and education are both gifts and privileges for those who guard them. So is memory. Just goes to show, smoke and shadows can hide beauty until the light is ready to show it. 10/10

Dan

Martin's Big & Tall Clothing...

Absolutely FANTASTIC store. Great clothes for tall guys, (I'm 6'6") and great deals. They also have layaway plans & will hold items up to a week. 10/10

The Spectacular Now:

Young love, tough love, secrets and shadows battle love and light. Extremely good acting, and a much deeper-than-average coming-of-age plot mix it up in this splendid little sleeper. It's easy to love the leading couple in this, but it hurts to watch what looks like it might be a train wreck in slow motion. The supporting cast is very good as well. If whiskey were a woman, she'd get a Screen Actors' Guild card and good money out of this role. This one's good to the last drop. Here's to young hearts on fire! 8/10

Pass the popcorn,

Dan

All Is Lost:

Robert Redford as the Old Man of the Sea, gaining intimate knowledge of the spin cycle. No one will ever find a floating pickle jar, but they may or may not find this guy tumbling around in the Indian Ocean. Very few actors can make you feel completely gripped in Poseidon's clutches for almost two hours with maybe ten words of dialogue the entire time, but Robert does it with ease. No shots fired, no explosions, just a damn good story. Catch the wave, or maybe an ocean breeze, or a fish...if you can. 10/10

Dan

Inequality For All...

A fastinating look into high-level macro-economics by the former US Secretary of Labor Robert Reich, in easy-to-understand terms. Thos goes beyond the "blame game" and into what's really going on in our economy. 9/10

Sony Xperia Z: How do I copy and paste text in messages? - Sony Smartphones (UK)

http://www.sonymobile.com/gb/support/faq/xperia-sola/system/how-do-i-copy-and-paste-text-in-messages-1/

We recently got the Xperia Z. It is in all other ways a fantastic phone, but even with a 140 IQ, I had to resort to Google search to find the way, and the  method changes between landscape & portrait orientation.

Above is the correct answer.

My next question is "why isn't this shit standardized across the 'droid platform????" This is way too basic to go all greedy-capitalist-proprietary nutso on.

9/10 for the phone, -9/10 for the idiots that couldn't make something so basic intuitive and easy to find.

Dan

Captain Phillips:

I actually forgot it was Tom Hanks. Phenomenal movie. Totally glagd we went. Gripping suspense and acting was amazing, as well as cinematography. I don't want to say too muchf so as not to spoil, and you don't want to miss it. 10/10

Dan

Machete Kills...

Action Comedy. And I do mean comedy. I laughed so hard at parts of this I thought I'd need  Depends to make it through the flick. It is SO over-the-top in just the right places that it's incredibly clever. So is the cast, which is full of phenomenal actors, including Lady Gaga. (That Lady G needs to do more comedy flicks.) The movie is a brain-bending mix of predictable and unpredictable. The eye-candy (both technical hardware and human software) is really cool in all the right ways to pull this off. OMG, does Sofia Vergara pull it off!! In the end, you find yourself laughing hysterically at the collective craziness of the entire North American continent, and even the whole planet, which goes at least three levels deep.10/10 for fans of the series, 10/10 for deep thinkers, and...nah. Just 10/10.

Dan

Riddick

Riddick: Taking bleak "law of the jungle" to a desert-world art form. Vin Diesel and the entire cast did a fantastic job acting. There's also at least as much plot as there is action. In a lot of ways, this felt like Goth meets sci-fi. I love the Underworld series, and like this even better. Yes, this is very dark sci-fi, with an extremely dystopian backdrop, but the desert planet isn't Earth, and there is clearly a starfaring future for humanity. It's not hopeless. Some of the tech is pretty cool, but nothing that hasn't seen another version elsewhere. The action is great, and Riddick has a "MacGuyver-style" inventiveness that I like. I'd like to read the book to clear up some questions on the storyline, though. Bust out the popcorn, and hold on to your sweetheart if they'll go with you. Adrenaline rating is a solid 8. So is my rating of this flick. 8/10

Dan

The Grand Master:

The Grand Master: Probably the best martial arts film I've ever seen. Love, Romance, Martial Skill, History, Cinematography, Acting, Philosophy...all top-notch. A must-see for lovers of the genre, and great for everyone. 10/10 - Dan