New Year's Eve

We have a tradition on new year's eve -- we go to the market to the mongolian bbq early, then go see the fireworks, which are at 7. i guess omaha is really that provincial that we have the fireworks at 7 instead of midnight like real people -- it's for the families. but anyway, that way we can get home before there are too many crazies out and then just watch tv or something until midnight, if gordi can stay up until midnight. so that's what we did again. and the mongolian bbq was great. and the fireworks were amazing. we were very close and they were all very boomy. the concussions set off all the car alarms in the area -- so we had noisemakers all around, from the fireworks and from all the car alarms. it was cool. then came home and watched the ball drop in times square at 11 (central time) and gordi did fall asleep before midnight but at midnight (central time) i made sure he got a new year's kiss. happy new year.

i've unofficially started Oscar-quest. the nominations do not come out until January 22 so i have to guess what might be nominated. i'm looking at the Golden Globes as possibilities and checking out the buzz. This week i saw Slumdog Millionaire, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, and Milk. and i thought they were all great and Oscar-worthy. Slumdog Millionaire really blew me away. it's about a poor kid from the slums of Mumbai who gets on a game show and knows all the answers. the host thinks he must be cheating, because how could an uneducated kid from the slums know this stuff, but then we see in flashbacks from his life how he knows the stuff. it's fascinating. I had thought Benjamin Button might be hokey, but it wasn't at all. I'd also heard that Kate was great and Brad wasn't all that, but i disagree there too. i thought both acting jobs were wonderful and you really get the sense of the despair at the futility of the situation. and the acting in Milk was great too -- Sean Penn was wonderful in the title role, but Josh Brolin was also amazing as the antagonist, i ended up seeing him as a victim too. Even if these films are not nominated (but they probably will be) i don't regret the time spent at the movies. Last year gordi complained because all the Oscar movies were really depressing, and while all of these have their happy and sadder moments, they are not depressing at all.