Ahhh, the last day of vacation. I’m not really sure why we were given today off as it seems most people who were off last week are back today, but I’ll take it. Normally, every Sunday brings an odd combination of glory (of a day off) and gloom. However, when you’ve been off for almost two weeks, the day before going back is excessively gloomy. What a bummer. But I’m not bitching, because I’ll be off to Kauai, Hawaii for two weeks effective January 23rd.
Anyway, I thought I’d post my top movies of 2004. My wife actually writes down all the movies we see, so if it wasn’t for her, I’d never remember the list of films we saw during any given time period. So thanks to Steph, you get to find out what I liked the most. I’m sure you’re thrilled.
1. Garden State
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Dirty Pretty Things
4. Spanglish
5. Sideways

Over the holidays I did manage to see Napoleon Dynamite, which barely missed my top five, but definitely wins for funniest movie I saw in 2004 (and probably 2003, too). A year from now I may not remember many of the funny lines or the hilarious events that happened in this movie, but I won’t forget the Napoleon character and the consistent dumbfounded look on this kid’s face (see picture) as events unfold around him. This movie should end up being one of those classic indie films. It’s priceless.
Other neat stuff: received the Deluxe version of Scrabble for Christmas. Also got one of those neat Altec Lansing portable IPod accessories, which is great!
Finally, if you can’t get your arms around the power of water, I recommend you have a look at a couple of captivating amateur videos taken in Sri Lanka, Thailand and India when the tsunami hit. We’re not getting these videos here in the U.S. media and that’s probably ok. I didn’t watch all of these, but the ones I saw were not graphic, just powerful. Much like 9/11, this is something that you just can’t imagine unless you’re witnessing it. A horrific, sad time right now.