I heard on NPR this morning that, for whatever reason, January's approval rating for The Impending War soared to 66% -- up from December's 53% -- and reversed the downward trend of the last few months. Great. Fine. Whatever. I give up (not that it mattered what I thought anyway) and I'll stop talking about it here. For today, at least.

I saw 25th Hour last night. Liked it a lot. I honestly think Spike Lee is pretty brilliant. Sure, he needs an editor and stuff, but his movies are really entertaining and I think it's amazing that he's not afraid to bang the same drum he's been banging since forever. That drum is still relevant, and his perseverance is admirable. Racial tensions still exist, even if we're all sick of talking about them. Plus, I think I could watch Philip Seymour Hoffman and Edward Norton stare at a wall for three hours and be entertained... those two, in that order, might be my favorite living actors . Both of them tend to play the same roles over and over, but I like both of their signature characters enough that I don't care. One of my favorite journal-writing people said that already, but I thought it too, I swear. She augments hers with a funny story about my pal Phil, too, so you should go read hers.

OK, I just erased something here because it would spoil the movie for any of you who might see it. But the ending is so good. Oh, what an ending. Really, really good. I'll stop babbling now, but only if go see it for yourself.