Saturday night, I joked with the closing manager at the Indy - Robin - that I was probably going to have the day off today. This after we watched a preview for the 11:00 News which featured heavily the news of the impending “weather event” scheduled for today.

Supposedly, it was going to start around dawn. No such luck, and I showered and went in to work as scheduled. It had by this point begun to snow, but the roads were, when I went in, damp but fine.

Too bad they didn’t stay that way.

I was only scheduled until four, and a little after noon, I called in an insider to come in early so I could leave, and Chewbacca, the opening manager and closing driver, could go on the road. That insider came in about 1:30 and I departed. Leaving wasn’t easy — the snow had been coming down for some time, and the roads were largely unplowed, unclear, and made driving slightly difficult.

(I know I’m going to get shit from Greg for leaving early. Bah.)

I got home okay — I took my time, I didn’t rush. As I drove east on Cranbrook Road, up that steep hill past where the Coliseum used to be located, I noticed that some moron decided not to take it slow and easy. A small red car was jammed up on the sidewalk, with the engine revving, and a woman standing outside the open door shaking her head at the invidiual in the driver’s seat. I imagine she was thinking, “Moron.” It looks like he was coming west down the hill too fast, tried to brake or change lanes, lost control, did a hundred-and-eighty degree spin and bounced up on the curb. I’ve got no idea how he’s planning on getting that car off the curb, but I sure hope the next time it snows and he decided to drive like a fuckwad, maybe he’ll think, “Gosh, I’d really rather not get my car humped on the curb again.” I doubt it, though.

Anyway, so I spent most of today writing a response for my ItCM class — Patroklos’ downfall — and making up flash-cards to study at work tomorrow for Tuesday’s HEL test. Good stuff.

I mean, y’know, besides the standard fare: Hollywood back-slapping popularity contest.

The truth is, I don’t know a lot about most of the films up for awards this year, so I don’t feel like I can really offer a critical evaluation of what films and actors should or shouldn’t win. I don’t think Babel deserves any nominations; while I enjoyed the Departed, I don’t know why it is up for any awards (it’s a glorified bloods-and-bullets flick, and if Scorsese wins, I think it’ll be more for previous films and less for this). I’d be very surprised if Pan’s Labyrinth wins any major awards (I think “Foreign Language Film” is an obvious win, but I doubt it’ll take anything more prestigious*)

Here’s one thing to look for, something I read several months ago from a respected political blog. When the nominees for Best Documentary Feature are announced, look to see if Al Gore is around. If An Inconvenient Truth wins, and Al Gore isn’t on the stage, it’s a good bet he’s making a run for the White House.

*Didn’t Pan’s Labyrinth come out in 2007? And don’t get me wrong: I think Pan’s Labyrinth probably deserves to do better than I’m betting it will, but I think the Academy has some biases against non-English speaking movies.