Leaning Into It

Somebody's trying to tell me that when things get hard,

I've got to lean into it.

Read all about it on my Buddhist blog, Buddha Mama Sans Drama.

Vive Le Nerd: Foreign Language Film Edition

Over on my blog friend Joshua's site, Vive Le Nerd, he's got a foreign film conversation started. This is why I love his blog. I can go there and nerd it up to my heart's content.

He posted his top five foreign films list and I gave him my top ten. Does that make me a gigantic nerd that I even have a top ten foreign films list? Or am I just a nerd one-upper and I had to take his top five and raise it five? Oh, it's a nerd battle royale and it's on like Donkey Kong.

Just kidding. I don't play chess or video games. I lose.

Is it just me, or did your college professors make you watch foreign films up the wazoo? Now that I think about it, I did take one (and only one) film class in college, and it was a French language class so it was like, doubly nerdy. My Chinese Civilization prof also had us watch a ton of Chinese flicks. This may be why my top ten list is dominated by French and Chinese movies of the early 90s.

For your viewing pleasure:

1. Raise the Red Lantern (Chinese)
2. Life Is Beautiful (Italian)
3. Camille Claudel (French)
4. Au Revoir Les Enfants (French)
5. The Wedding Banquet (Chinese)
6. Journey of Hope (Turkish)
7. Shall We Dance (Japanese)
8. Jean de Fleurette (French)
9. Red Sorghum (Chinese)
10. Ran (Japanese)

Those are my top ten. May not be the critic's top ten but there you go. Be warned, however, that I like insanely, slit-your-throat, depressing kinds of films. It's called catharsis. Though I don't know how to say that in French. (It's probably the same thing.)

Go on over to Joshua's blog and celebrate your inner (or outer) nerd.

Dexter: I Just Can't Quit You.

I'm back to being hooked on Dexter.

Last night's episode cinched the deal.