I had to start catching up on the Oscar nominees, so I went to Solon after work to see "An Education". This was written by Nick Hornby ("High Fidelity") and he nabbed a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, Carey Mulligan got a Best Actress nomination, and the picture itself is nominated.

Peter Sarsgaard stars as a guy in his thirties who is, oh, a bit of a rogue. He meets Mulligan as she is waiting for a bus after school. You see, she's only (ahem) 16 and studying to get into Oxford. So, he charms the pants off her parents (and hopefully Mulligan's pants, he thinks) and soon, she realizes there is a life outside of the boring world of going to school. Or is there?

Mulligan plays the role really well. Pretty sophisticated for a kid, but not totally aware of what goes on in the real world. This story is set in 1961 London, so you get a lot of men wearing hats, some cool chick fashion from the early '60's, and I heard Wanda Jackson on the soundtrack. Rosamund Pike played the girlfriend of one of Sarsgaard's friends and it took me a long time to figure out. She was the robot wife of Bruce Willis in "Surrogates"!

The movie probably won't win anything. I checked, it's made $9 mil at the box office. But it's one of those small films that comes to town, and you're lucky if you find the time to see it.

Meal of Links

I am lax in posting this, but you have to see Ruhlman and Bourdain in the Hudson Valley. Look for the repeat. Here's Ruhlman's original post on the filming.

Another late posting, but how did this happen? They have filmed a movie about Danny Greene! With Val Kilmer and Christopher Walken! But filmed in Detroit.

More love for the MagicJack! Annoying ads (and they are on all the time), but it works.

How to look for airfares. The frugal way.

11 real people who sound like Star Wars characters. KRS-One and Padma Lakshmi. And, of course, Yngwie Malmsteen.

Hey, it's Liz Phair. She attends an environmental conference and a NASCAR race.

Exercise Yard

Tony Kornheiser blasts fellow ESPN employee, Hannah Storm. The debate about Hannah Storm's fashion choices will never end.

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55 Across: Explorer Hernando de ____ (4 letters) Answer: Soto