Spending cuts warning

A cautionary tale my dad used to tell, long long ago:  Once a man decided his mule was too expensive to feed so tried to wean it from eating.  Every day he gave it a little less feed than he had given the day before.  Then just when the mule was completely conditioned to living without eating, it up and died on him. 

my year in movies

By rough count, I saw over 30 movies in theaters (you know the kind of place: darkened room, other people, large-ish* screen, admission charge) in 2010.  13 French, 5 American, 5 English, 3 German, 2 Italian, 1 each Mexican, Argentinean, Portuguese,and Iranian.  The high French count is because more French films are available here than other foreign ones.  If I had to nominate:  Winter's Bone (American) for real true grit; White Material (French) for totally engaging yet surprising and puzzling experience; White Nights (Italian, 1957) for director Visconti's combo of neo-realism and dreamscape, and Marcello Mastroanni holding the screen already as he always would.  So far this year, one each English, Romanian, & Portuguese. 

*bigger than a tv set, smaller than IMAX