Movies - watched There Will be Blood last night. I was anticipating this event because this movie has received a lot of hype, and Daniel Day-Lewis is quite an actor. All I can say is eeeccchhh! I really didn't like this, and I don't think it's because I don't appreciate good cinema. I think Turan in the Los Angeles Times hit the nail on the head (though he clearly liked the film) when he said the weakness of this movie was in characterization. I would have thought more of this film if I'd seen some character development of Daniel Plainview - and that wasn't Day-Lewis' fault. None of the characters in this film had any redeeming features, but I can live with a dark film like this if I understand where the characters come from. I didn't for this. Of the nominees for Best Picture that year, the only one I haven't seen is Michael Clayton. My sentimental favorite for that year was Juno - a really remarkable film. But I thought No Country for Old Men was tremendous and am not disappointed it won "best picture". I would have been VERY disappointed if There Will be Blood had won!

We took a walk last evening to The Hill of the Mother Oak and in that rather brief time saw an Oriole and a baby Red-winged Blackbird, whose parent was quite upset that we were close to his baby (yes, it was the male scolding us - mom wasn't around). Also saw a small flock of Cedar Waxwings fly over as we lay back on the grass. Their yellow tail tips really stood out against the blue sky, even though they were about 100' up. It was a beautiful day yesterday, after all this rain and heat and humidity.