That's Burma, Liberia, and the US.

(via Digg)

This may sound funny, but I've been a fan of Sarah Polley's since she starred in Avonlea, which I watched when I was younger. As she grew up, I'd catch movies just to see what she was up to (see: The Sweet Hereafter, eXistenZ) and it turns out she seems to choose her roles and projects carefully. This time around, she's behind the camera as writer and director of Away From Her, which shows us that she's talented in more ways than just acting. The story of this movie features a husband's journey as his wife loses herself to Alzheimer's and has to be institutionalized.

Gordon Pinsent gives one of the most moving performances I've seen this year as Grant, who faithfully visits his wife in her nursing home, only to see her grow more and more distant from him--to the point where she has forgotten her relationship with him and started up an affection for one of her fellow patients.

The combination of Polley's direction and writing and Pinsent's performance make this movie more than Julie Christie's performance, which has gotten more attention from critics. While she does an excellent job (as always), the movie is more a story of Grant than anything else. He and his wife didn't have a perfect relationship, but their situation changes their dynamic in more ways than one.

With a story that sounds so simple, Polley was able to take it in more directions than I expected, and it was definitely a success. Let me tell you, it's difficult to watch because it's so heartbreaking, especially for audience member who has a loved one affected by Alzheimer's. I don't know anyone personally, but thinking about the possibility of something like this in Ric and my old age was enough to make me feel pretty affected by the end. I'm definitely looking forward to future projects of Polley's.

I played this game a few days ago and I didn't really get it. After giving it another go, it's become one of my faves out of the recent crop of games. The real secret to this one is learning to shoot your bow while you are in mid-air. I'm still getting the hang of it so I haven't been able to finish with a good score, but it's a lot of fun.

Woo... Thanks guys for making my 27th birthday awesome. We went to this awesome Mexican restaurant I had never been to called La Capilla. I chose it because Phil and Janelle told me about it and they give you free food on your birthday. IT ended up being quite awesome. Folks just now left my house since we were all hanging out afterwards. I got some good stuff. Jeri got me a pre-order of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows which I was so stoked about since she had hear me say I hadn't ordered it yet when we went to the morrissey show. Thanks Jeri! Greg got me a Castle Greyskull shirt as well as some Duck Tales DVDs (yes!) and he also got me tickets to the True Colors tour next week with Erasure and Cyndi Lauper and Debbie Harry. Greg is quite awesome. I also got a great assortment of gift cards. But the most awesome thing was i had the best attendance at a birthday party that I've had in ages. I think we ended up with 19 people. Yay! Thanks to all you folks around the internets with your assorted birthday wishes. Things have been kind of rough lately and it put a big smile on my face. Peace and love...