... not quite, but close! I was wearing a green hooded sweatshirt and green cargo pants when we went out to the Irish buffet at a local restaurant this evening. We heard about it on the radio this morning and decided to check it out after taking care of our tax return.

They had some tasty stuff there - beef and Guiness pie, corned beef, cabbage, creamed corn, soda bread, soups, bread pudding, and several other things. They had live music, but they weren't playing Irish music, which was a bit disappointing. It would've been great to listen to a band like the one we saw at the Irish-themed hotel near Galena, IL last year.

We weren't feeling up to any green beer or Guiness (I'm not that fond of the stuff, myself) today. One of these days we'll have to visit Chicago on St. Patrick's Day and see the parade, marvel over the green water, and partake of some beverages at an Irish pub. I guess I'll have to be content with watching the parade scene in The Fugitive for now.

Right now I'm listening to the St. Patrick's Day online radio station on Rhapsody. There's lots of foot-tapping music and celtic ballads playing, along with plenty of Irish bands. Great stuff :)

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Last weekend I reckon we must've had square eyes with all the movies we watched! On Friday night it was School of Rock, which was tres cool. Jack Black did a great job acting like a rock-star wannabe on speed, contorting his face and really getting into the role. The scene where he's driving along with Led Zeppelin's Immigrant Song blaring was rather amusing, as was the DVD extra where he begs the band for the use of their song. I've still got that damn tune running through my head!

The kids were great too, and I was surprised to learn that they were actually playing the instruments for real. Apparently they auditioned them based on musical ability rather than acting, although the kids they ended up with did a good job of both. It's not the most believable movie, but it was still a load of fun :)

On Saturday we went to the movie theatre to see Secret Window, starring Johnny Depp. Secret Window is based on a Stephen King novella (Secret Window, Secret Garden) in his Four Past Midnight collection.

Most of the critics weren't fond of it, but I thought it was a good yarn with plenty of suspense and atmospheric scenes. Johnny Depp does a tremendous job as tormented writer Mort Rainey and John Turturro is suitably menacing as the crazed stalker, John Shooter. Depp imbues his character with all sorts of personality quirks, adding an extra dimension to what would otherwise be a fairly boring character.

While the twist at the end is rather cliched and predictable, the movie as a whole still held my attention throughout. I don't think it would've been nearly as good with an actor other than Depp playing the lead, though. In summary, I'd have to say that this is one of the better movie translations of King's work and it certainly sounds like it'd be light years ahead of last year's Dreamcatcher. Sooner or later I've got to get around to reading Four Past Midnight to see how the story compares with the movie.

On Monday night we watched Lost in Translation, for which director Sofia Coppola won the Academy Award for Best Screenplay. I quite enjoyed that and found it interesting to compare with my own brief visits to Japan on business.

Bill Murray does a great job playing an actor in Japan to film a commercial for big dollars, as does Scarlett Johansson as the wife of an annoying and neglectful photographer. The film has plenty of funny moments, mainly involving Murray's character's constant struggles with the language barrier and the misunderstandings that result. I found the cinematography to be very eye-pleasing also.

I've seen some accusations that the movie presents a distorted image of Japanese culture, and I agree with that to a certain extent. Obviously the movie has chosen to focus on some of the more colourful and outlandish aspects of Japanese culture to add to the sense of confusion and strangeness felt by the two main characters, but based on my impressions of Japan, I don't feel that it is offensive. At the end of the day, there's always a certain element of artistic license necessary, since it'd be practically impossible to encompass every element of Japanese culture in the limited time available in the film.

In my opinion, Coppola did a tremendous job conveying what it feels like to be immersed in another culture, and her Oscar was well deserved. I highly recommend Lost in Translation - it definitely ranks up there with the top movies of 2003!

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I've rambled on enough for one day! I think I'll wait until tomorrow to post some more. Stay tuned...