cleolinda | No revolution in Belgium

Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes--y'all may have actually willed my birthday to be pleasant. I got up and made blueberry muffins, and then Sister Girl, who can be quite thoughtful on occasion, called from work and asked if I wanted to get some ice cream after lunch. We came back from that and found my mother struggling with a dozen balloons in the driveway. I spent the afternoon reading some old Louisa May Alcott books, and then my grandmother came over for dinner and gave me a beautiful turquoise bracelet. I also got

ratmmjess's Encyclopedia of Fantastic Victoriana (Black Ribbon research!) and the extended Narnia and Kingdom of Heaven DVDs. I think everyone had noticed how stressed and depressed I'd been lately and went out of their way to do what they could, which in and of itself was a lovely gift. I still felt sad a few times, but I could tell it was my own depression and not anything that had happened to me. And I missed Lucky, because I'm eternally lame like that.

There's no revolution in Belgium. Really.

Golden Globes present international cast. A few points:

>> "Brad Pitt earned a supporting-actor nomination for Babel, while two of the film's co-stars, Rinko Kikuchi and Adriana Barraza, received supporting actress nominations. 'It was a huge challenge, one year of three continents and more than 1,000 people,' said Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, nominated for best director for Babel. t's a recognition for Muslims, for Catholics, for Jewish, for Germans, Italians, Mexicans, Americans. So many people were involved that it's a United Nations celebration.'"

>> "'I have been trying to let Borat know this great news, but for the last four hours, both of Kazakhstan's telephones have been engaged,' [Sacha Baron] Cohen said in a statement. 'Eventually, Premier (Nursultan) Nazarbayev answered and said he would pass on the message as soon as Borat returned from Iran, where (he) is guest of honor at the Holocaust Denial Conference.'"

>> "DiCaprio, the star of Scorsese's last three films, said he thinks this may finally be the director's year at the Oscars. 'It's pretty much like a practical joke that this hasn't happened for a director of his notoriety and with his resume and what he's given not only to audiences but the influence he has had for all of the film industry,' DiCaprio said."

Jolie says she and Pitt plan to adopt. What I like about this article is how she talks about adopting with her eldest two children in mind--wanting to adopt next so that the kids don't think Shiloh's more important for having been born to them; wanting to adopt a child who will fit in well with the older children's heritages.

Man with mechanical heart has no pulse, no blood pressure.

Miss USA's 'personal issues' scrutinized. If by "personal issues" you mean "carousing at bars."

Yoko Ono's driver jailed; high bail set.

Ousted tenor blames low blood sugar.

More Golden Compass stills!

trede: "Basically, journalist criticizes author Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Prey, etc). So, Michael Crichton then writes said journalist into new book, making him into a (all from the book) small-penised, toddler anal-raper." Yeah... I saw something about this last night. That's... that's just classy.

Awesome posters at the IMPA: a lenticular Ghost Rider poster in gif form (okay, it's not that great, but I appreciate the effort); fantastic Perfume posters (scroll to the bottom to see all three); several awesome Prestige posters (again, scroll down).

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww.

And lo, 90% of the nation's movie critics did join the Eragon-bashing.