A ray of Sunshine

#6

I could be vacuuming my apartment. Or putting a load of dishes in the dishwasher. Or a load of laundry in the washer. Or cleaning the tub. Or even calling my parents.

Instead I'm upstairs watching "Little Miss Sunshine" at Joe and Bob's apartment. Bored out of our minds and with no interest in vacuuming, dishwashing, laundry, tub-cleaning, or calling our parents -- and with no girls in sight -- we fall back to what we are good at. Watching a movie.

And we picked a good movie to watch. Nominated for an Oscar, "Little Miss Sunshine" is even funnier than expected. Greg Kinnear, Steve Carrell, Alan Arkin, and Toni Collette you probably know, but their work here is different then I've ever seen before yet still excellent. Newcomers (to me) Abigail Breslin and Paul Dano are worth watching both here and in the future.

With this and "Babel", I've now seen two nominees for Best Picture. And I saw each in the perfect context -- "Babel" alone in a large-screen theater with time to think and reflect on it, "Little Miss Sunshine" with my buds in their living room ready to have a rollicking good time.

If the other three are as good as these two, I've got some movie-watching to look forward to. And I'll probably be putting off vacuuming, dishwashing, laundry, and tub-cleaning to do it. Calling my parents, well, we'll fit that in.