I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I had a great day. Josh and Liz and Carlos came over for dinner, which went really well, dispite the fact that Liz had brought over pomegranate cocktails and we were both rather tipsy, to put it mildly. And that was before I had even put the roast into the oven. I had everyone decorate cookies while we waited for dinner, which was fun, and for dinner we had roast rib eye of beef with a horseradish and Hawaiian sea salt crust, creamed spinach, corn with herbs, and a really wonderful crispy/creamy mashed potato bake.

I've been trying to adjust my sleeping schedule, staying up late, sleeping in, by going to see very late movies and drinking coffee at 9pm. So far, so good. I've seen Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood, both quite good. Sweeney Todd was really great, as only Tim Burton and Johnny Depp Movies can be. Steve and Carlos even enjoyed it, despite the music, although they both wished it were a straight film and not a musical and I enjoyed it despite all of the blood and killing. There Will Be Blood, however, was mindblowing. It's been called one of the most important films ever, compared to Citizen Kane and Stanley Kubrik films. And this is completely deserved. The cinematography is stunning, Johnny Greenwood's score is breathtaking, even if you're not preoccupied with the fact that it was written by the same person who wrote Idioteque. Paul Thomas Anderson manages to maintain constant tension, and built complex relationships throughout. While the acting is not necessarily the most subtle, the characters don't call for it. Daniel Day-Lewis is sublime as usual, and Paul Dano definitely lives up to his earlier promise. Tonight we're going to lighten it up and go see Walk Hard. Enough serious films for one week. Bring on the sushi and low-brow comedy.