I finally did see 127 Hours, and yes it was as viscerally uncomfortable as I had anticipated!  His hand is literally stuck between that rock and a hard place for so long, that eventually I was actually rooting for him to cut it off already!  Still, I was not prepared for how much it grossed me out! But then I am a pretty big baby when it comes to gory bodily details.  I thought it was a moving portrayal of a survivor's harrowing story (I was even moved to tears when he finally makes it out and finds people to help him. I mean, complete strangers came to his rescue, no questions asked, and it was just so reassuring to witness the generosity of the human spirit for once!)  But still, a best picture of the year? I'm not so convinced.  I thought The Ghost Writer was a better film- superbly acted, even Hitchcockian in its quietly thrilling tone.  If you haven't seen it, or even heard of it, check it out on dvd. Oooh, I also thought that The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo should have gotten some Oscar love.  Those Swedes did a fantastic job with the first of Steig Larson's incredibly engrossing Millenium Trilogy, and Noomi Rapace is beyond compare as Lisbeth Salander. 

  Ok, enough movie talk?

Yes, back to writing...