Mother: «What does this teach us, Jack?»
Son (Jack): «Next time have gun.»

— Mother & Son, from: «Defendor»

«No man can walk out on his own story.»

—Spirit of the West, from «Rango»

«[…] the story of Uxbal – a single father who struggles to reconcile fatherhood, love, spirituality, crime, guilt and mortality amid the dangerous underworld of modern Barcelona — all before his time is up»

— Wikipedia

Last night movie — or better: the search for the soundtrack — lead me to this hardcore-to-the-bone-and-makes-you-cry movie w/ the great actor from «No Country for Old Men» Javier Bardem. It’s another jewel from the mexican director Alejandro González Iñárritu («Babel» and «21 Grams»). 7 out of 10 stars.

Update: Straight to the point in haiku words → «Ein spanischer Film (Biutiful)».

Emptying the film list queue. Tonight: «First Snow» … 7 out of 10 stars. Dark, slow, angry, hopeless. No rain but snow — I can live w/ that. And a great soundtrack by a former Red Hot Chili Peppers Drummer Cliff Martinez — which lead me to tomorrows movie «Biutiful».

«Oh, they tell them to get ready when their kids deploy … but they never really listen, do they?

Soldiers go to war and everyone waves flags and applauds … look at charts, study strategies, have «informed opinions».

And then bullets fly and soldiers die and it’s such a shock.

Fuck that! What did they think it was gonna be like, Fear Factor?»

— Captain Tony Stone

After having this movie — by Oren Moverman w/ Ben Foster and Woody Harrelson — a long time in the «to watch» list, finally we did it today.

«Where’s your head?»

«I was wondering what it would be like to fly.»

«Why would you spend your time thinking about such an impossible thing?»

«Why wouldn’t I? My father said he sometimes believed in six impossible things before breakfast.»

A typical Tim Burton, phantasmagorical and a pleasure to see the Lewis Carroll characters getting darker through eg. Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter … and the drift to more «Through the Looking-Glass» than in the movies before. Ay, nice one.

«In The Valley of Elah» for the 2nd time — now w/ T.

Again a great movie and – like «In The Electric Mist» two days ago – a great Tommy Lee Jones performance.

«In The Electric Mist» by Bertrand Tavernier with Tommy Lee Jones and John Goodman from 2009, based on the novel In the Electric Mist with Confederate Dead by James Lee Burke.

Wow. Solid movie w/o «schnick-schnack». Telling a good story w/ great photography and actors where it’s a pleasure to watch their skills. Eight out of ten stars.

«It is a bit of a joke in our family that I use FB to ‘stalk’ my young adult children (19 -22). And my youngest and I had a great exchange the other month. He posted something (as a joke) that I found a bit offensive … so I left a little short comment along the lines of … “I do not think this appropriate …” (yes that is the ‘mother tone’ you hear). It is what happened next that really impressed me and gave me a real AHA moment.
He ‘inboxed’ me (so it was private) .. and said this was his space and I should really respect that. He said he found my comment on his comment ‘inappropriate’ not only for the tone but also for the fact that I had posted it on his site (ie all his friends could see it). He then went on to say (along the lines of ..) that while he likes me being his friend on FB and enjoys our on-line interactions .. if I can not respect / accept his space, opinions and jokes (and if I DO have a problem – then deal with it privately) .. – then he suggested either A) I ‘unfriend him’ (so you don’t have t see it Mum!) .. or B) if I do it again he will block me (LOL).
What impressed me the most .. was his choice of reply (ie private .. not ‘ridiculing me in public) and the incredibly respectful but honest and assertive way he (1) put his case forward … (2) said what he wanted from me … (3) and then gave me an alterative option .. and (4) finished off with a final possible consequence.
I sat back, had a laugh, went to his FB page and removed my comment. I then sent him a reply email thanking him for the way he handled this & acknowledged all of his points .. and thought.. I am so proud of my son. 
I am sharing this story here because it is an example of the way on line interactions with our (adult) children can actually enhance our relationship .. (I think) .. But I also do acknowledge it is different with younger children and I guess parents do have more of stronger role in that situation.»

— Kathleenz, Comment on: «Facebook & helicopter parenting»

«[…] Mikalah uses Facebook but when she goes to log out, she deactivates her Facebook account. She knows that this doesn’t delete the account – that’s the point. She knows that when she logs back in, she’ll be able to reactivate the account and have all of her friend connections back. But when she’s not logged in, no one can post messages on her wall or send her messages privately or browse her content. But when she’s logged in, they can do all of that. And she can delete anything that she doesn’t like. Michael Ducker calls this practice “super-logoff” when he noticed a group of gay male adults doing the exact same thing. […]»

— Danah Boyd, «Risk Reduction Strategies on Facebook»