Yo, Adrien!: His win was the most thrilling moment I've had in almost 30 years of Oscar viewing.

Wait - you're supposed to love thy neighbor, not pile snow in front of his driveway

I've waited long enough: it's time to post my top Oscar picks:

Picture: Should win - Chicago; Will win: Chicago
Actor: Should win - Adrian Brody; Will win: Daniel Day-Lewis
Actress: Should win - Julianne Moore; Will win - Renee Zellweger
Supporting Actor: Should win - Chris Cooper; Will win - John C. Reilly
Supporting Actress: Should win: Meryl Streep; Will win - Catherine Zeta-Jones
Director: Should win: Rob Marshall; Will win: Rob Marshall
Adapted Screenplay: Should win: Adaptation; Will win: The Hours
Original Screenplay: Should win: Far From Heaven; Will win: Far From Heaven

I've been tuning into the BBC , which my local PSB station (KBDI) has been running on-stop. While they are slower to report new developments, and seem to rely a lot on Reuters and others, there is something comforting about listening to newpeople whom I don't know simply reporting the facts. And the fact that there are no US-centric assumptions, and certainly no jingoism, doesn't hurt eitehr.

FoxNews is leading the pack in war coverage, IMHO. They are breaking news - reports of oil fires, new scud attackes, caution about the Saddam video tape. Shep Smith did a wonderfully even-handed job of straight "we report, you decide." Who knew Dan Rather would start to grow on me after all these years? I find myself tuning in to him more and more, and to Peter Jennings less and less. Dan makes up for the teadiousness of his quirky, homespun colloqualisms with strong, clear reporting. I noticed this first after the shuttle disaster in January. Peter, on the other hand, seems so flip sometimes, and hardly unbiased in his commentary. And why does a great reporter like ABC's John McWethy seem to be relying on general knowledge, when CSB's guy at the Pentagon, David Martin keeps sharing new, breaking information each time Dan turns to him in his tiny cubicle?

The snow continues to fall for the second day in a row, and they're saying it will continue until tomorrow. I guess we need the moisture - but boy, this snow sure is heavy! Here's what the house looks like:

After talking David into playing hookey with me this noontime, we went to see the first showing of The Hours. The film is true to the spirit and tone of Cunningham's novel, and David Hare has done a wonderful job of presenting fully-realized characters without resorting to voice-over or stilted soliloquies to represent their rich interior lives. A perfect cast, not an untruthful note in any performance.

So, I've finally gotten it together and have joined the blogger brigade. As a daily reader of blogs [AS, Jonno, JMM], I figure that from time to time I have enough of my own ideas that other people might like to read (or not, in which case I don't care since I'll be posting anyway). So, in this space you'll find my random rants and exortations about politics, culture, world events, and of course my life - shared here in Boulder, CO with my man and my dog.

So, in today's NYT Elvis Mitchell writes about actors who decide to direct feature films and their motivations for so doing, and the only actress-turned-director he can mention is Penny Marshall? How's about Barbra Streisand, who's directed three feature films, won a Golden Globe award for best director (Yentl), and whose work has resulted in a handful of acting nominations for her cast members as well?