On the mend?

Yesterday I did .nothing. at.all. I was that sick. I sat miserably, mostly in my bed, and secretly wished to die. Or be better but enough of this suck-ass middle of the road business.

Today has been marginally better. I actually slept some (from 7AM to 10:15AM), sat on the couch DOWNSTAIRS for a couple of hours --- and --- maintained enough interest and concentration to watch a movie and knit a little.

The Movie: Once
This film was directed to my attention by a cherished colleague from the good ol' days in public health; she and I share a love of all things musical, bookish and often ribald. And men. And children. Its a set of common affinities that makes for the greatest of fun---sometimes inappropriately. I tried to see it about three times last year when it was running in the art theaters; Dave declined (bastard). Rob opted for something else (that blew; he doesn't get to pick for a while).

Today I bought it "on demand" from Comcast. And watched it twice. I checked around the blogs of the guys I know of who usually know all the good movies and every single one of them failed to mention it which means that even at more than one year post-release, I still get the cool-girl cred for pointing it out.

Breathtaking, intimate (astonishingly so), so real you can nearly feel it. Heartbreaking. An indie by (I believe) a first-time Irish director, this movie got loads of award attention including winning the audience award at Sundance 2007. The soundtrack absolutely kills and did even better in the critic/award circles. The score was written by the two leads and performed live on-camera. I think I mentioned it here when aforementioned colleague offered it as enticement to get my arse to the theater.

Snowy weekend, or heaven forbid, ill, grab this movie and the soundtrack. Could not be better. I'll leave you with a moment of levity from the film, an "impromptu" ditty relating the reasons behind a nasty breakup (you should know that "the Guy" is also a vaccuum repairman):

Ten years ago, I fell in love
with an average girl, she took my heart
but she went and screwed some guy that she knew
and now I'm in Dublin with a broken heart

Oh broken hearted hoover fixer sucker guy
Oh broken hearted hoover fixer sucker, sucker guy

One day I'll go there and win her once again
but until then, I'm just a sucker of a guy.

At only 59 seconds, I could stand much more of this self-effacing silly song. In case you're wondering, I wouldn't think of this as a Valentine's Day movie...