It's over, finally. Only slightly less anticipated than the results of the election, the big game has come and gone and now we can move on, right? One of the women I work with came into my office this morning and asked one of the eternal questions: "Why is it that the outcome of a game actually matters to men? It's not as if it affects their lives in any way." Apparently we need to wallow in the loss for a while. Some would say I should empathize with this, considering the certain sign that still adorns my front yard, rising proudly above the snow. But by tomorrow I hope not to hear about any Philadelphia sports team again until the spring.

Movies: Dogville. Roger Ebert remarked that the look of this film is like a stage production of Our Town, but should have been titled Our Hell. This is a kind description. I was looking forward to watching this and the opening scene in which the layout of the town is seen from above, outlines of each house (and of the one dog in town) drawn on the floor, only a few actual pieces of scenery in place. The storyline, such as there is, was incomprehensible and the tone was one of a high school drama production. I only made it a couple of chapters into this before deciding that watching the Super Bowl (commercials) was preferable.