12...

Word of the day : counterfoil
                                                : a detachable stub (as in a ticket or check) usually serving as a record
                                                  or receipt 

12 Days till Christmas...

Movie awards season...

David arriving tomorrow...

Jeez!  

Here are the films opening this weekend: 

The Hobbit    Heard of this one?  Then I need not tell you what is about.  The reviews have been somewhat lackluster, however.  No one hates it, but no one loves it either. 
Verdict: Not Interested 

Save the Date    A comedy about thirtysomething inertia and romantic vulnerability and apprehension, this comedy stars two talented young actresses - Alison Brie and Lizzy Caplan - as sisters at opposite ends of the relationship spectrum.  The critics aren't digging it, however.
Verdict: Interested 

Stand Up Guys    Director Fisher Stevens ropes together an impressive trio of actors - Al Pacino, Christopher Walken, and Alan Arkin - for this poorly-reviewed comedy about a man released from prison (Pacino) who gets back together with an old friend (Walken) who has been ordered by a Mob boss to kill Al.  It sounds more dramatic than funny, but there are a lot of sex (read: Viagra) jokes and raunch.
Verdict: Mildly Interested  

 
Any Day Now    Alan Cumming, usually camping up, drag-style, is said to give the best film performance of his career, as one of half of a gay couple (Garrett Dillahunt is his partner) who adopt a teenager with Down's Syndrome in the 1970s and then get involved in a drawn-out court case to determine whether or not they are fit for custody of him.  Critics like it, calling it moving and sometimes funny, avoiding the melodramatic. 
Verdict: Interested

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Animal of the day:

Reindeer 

Well, it is that time of year, right?  Did you know that reindeer, unlike humans, can perceive ultraviolet light?  It helps them be able to detect prey and predators in the blindingly white Arctic snow.  They most lively in the Arctic and sub-Arctic north - for about 10 to 15 years.  Both males and females grow antlers (no other female species of deer do so).  They are more domesticated (having been domesticated in Eurasia for over 7000 years) than their wilder cousins, the caribou.  They mostly eat grass and lichen, mushrooms.  Their mortal enemy?  The mosquito!   

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Check out my other blog, http://mybookylife.blogspot.com/, later today for book reviews! 








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