January 2005 Archives

Sure, you could pay $200 for this trendy spice rack (as seen on Oprah), or you could make your own instead. Which is what we did. For about $40 in parts from Specialty Bottle and K&J Magnetics (you'll want at least two magnets per tin, more for heavier spices), we have even more storage capacity and it looks über-cool on our 'fridge.

I've gone back and added blog entries for most of the news that was on my old news page, so if you're really bored...

Leonardo DiCaprio is brilliant once again in his portrayal of the reclusive and enigmatic Howard Hughes. I've never considered myself a fan of DiCaprio, but I must admit his talent is hard to dismiss. Strong performances in this film, and Catch Me If You Can immediately come to mind. I believe some artistic license was taken with the details in this movie -- it has always been my impression that the eccentricities that Hughes became famous for did not begin manifesting themselves until late in his life, but this movie portrays him as being tormented by them in his early 40s. I'm not sure how accurate that is, historically, but the rest of the film is fantastic.

Thoroughly enjoyable yet ultimately disappointing. I cant figure out why Paul Weitz would feel the need to tease his audience so much. An interesting story combined with brilliant acting keeps the audience enthralled for almost two hours and then, without remorse, denies us the satisfaction of the formulaic Hollywood ending that we crave so badly. The ending was so obvious, and telegraphed from such a great distance, I'm quite sure he actually filmed it, but then during a bad day in the editing suite decided to play a cruel joke on his audience and left it instead as an extra on the DVD. I feel so betrayed.